I know cursive curriculums have been discussed a tremendous number of times here, but please allow me to ask again: My daughter will be in 3d grade this fall, and thus far she has only printed. She and I want to start a cursive program in September. For aesthetic reasons, I don't like the mid-20th century traditional grade school cursive style that I was taught as a child (with it's big loopy capitals that often bear little resemblance to printed letters and its mountainous undulations.) I know that is not a very helpful description, especially since most cursive curriculums seem to be slight variations on a theme, but it's the best I can offer at the moment. HWT, NAC seem to me to be slightly better examples of this style (one slanted and one not-slanted, of course), but I would like to push a little further away. When I look at folks' cursive who have great penmanship, I see a smooth, fluid, style that isn't overly stylized. It's also not big and loopy, and the capital letters usually look much like their print counterparts. Sometimes, it has even been personalized a bit. I'd love to find a cursive curriculum that starts us down this road. My basic research leads me to the Getty-Dubay Italic curriculum. For those of you familiar with a variety of cursive curricula, am I heading down the right road? Am I missing anything? If I went with the Getty-Dubay Italic, should I pick up with book C or D? As a side note, sadly, I cannot offer my own style to her since, (1) I learned an aesthetically unappealing handwriting style as a child, and (2) I was forced in the 8th grade (along with my entire class) to stop handwriting and take up printing by a particular science teacher who couldn't read cursive! Making the transition to print was tough, but after doing it, I couldn't go back. So, to this day, I can only print.

I'm pulling together books for this year for my 2d grader to read, and I'd love some help selecting Medieval/Early Renaissance literature. Last year, I felt like we had an abundance of ancients to read, but I'm feeling like this period is a bit sparser. I don't want to introduce Shakespeare just yet. I know some classical authors promote Shakespeare for kids books, but I'd rather hold off until they are ready for Shakespeare himself. I'm also not too sure about introducing Dante just yet. That leaves the Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain, Beowulf, the Fairie Queen, and the Knights of the Round Table materials. What else? Keep in mind, I'm looking for literature, as distinguished from history. I know there is ample reading material about this period and important characters from this period, but what am I missing from a literary perspective? Thanks so much! Jeremy

HI, I didn't read all the responses, but, as I live in Boston, I'll chime in too. Sorry if any of this is repetitive. First, the Freedom Trail is a nice urban walking "trail" that takes you past most of the major downtown colonial historic sites. Here is the City of Boston page with links to video snippets about the trail: http://www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail/ More info here: http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/index.html Honestly, I'm not sure I'd take a guided tour. It could be very cool, and if you have time to circle back to anything you want to explore in more depth, it might be valuable. I'd lean more toward researching the sites I want to see before going and really immersing myself in them. But, this really comes down to preference. If this is about history, I would not miss Plymouth (maybe stop there for half a day on the way in or out), nor would I miss Lexington and Concord. Take the drive along the old battle road from the historic Lexington Green (where it all got started) out to the Concord Bridge (where the Brits found out we meant business ;) ). Don't forget the literary avenues to explore as well. Thoreau was at Walden Pond in Concord--a great place to swim, walk, read, and think. The Emerson and Alcott houses are in Concord as well. The Longfellow home, which was also Washington's headquarter in 75--76, is in Cambridge. If your children are into coastal, fishing, or whaling history, consider Nantucket (or to a lesser extent Gloucester). These would take a bit more travel and planning, but Nantucket would be a place to explore this aspect of New England history: http://www.nha.org/sites/ If they like sports (baseball particularly) Fenway park is now the oldest major league ballpark in the US. You could do a tour or catch a game (I'd recommend stubhub for tickets--it's just easier and usually cheaper than ebay or CL). For art history, the MFA is great, and the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum is a gold mine. It is dense and crowded, but it is loaded. If you head to the North Shore at all, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem is a great little museum. Lastly, on this short list, I would add Harvard square. The university and the City of Cambridge are worth visiting. You could do a little section on the history and purpose of higher education in early America (Harvard was founded in 1636). William and Mary is almost as old, so you could do the same type of thing in VA, but Harvard is fun. This really is a short list, as there is so much more here it explore. If you have any particular areas you want to explore, let us know and we can taylor some recommendations. For example, if you wanted to teach colonial religious history, you might want to visit Plymouth to talk about importance of faith in the founding of the colonies, Salem to discuss views on witchcraft, and Newburyport's Old South Church (burial place of George Whitefield) to discuss the Great Awakening. Early Colonial history and Revolutionary American history is obvious and 18th--19th century literary history is pretty easy to ferret out as well, but there is so much more you could do too. This just depends on your particular interests. As to logistics, I'll keep this really short. Stay near where you want to explore and move around Eastern Mass as you delve into different aspects of its history. If you explore Plymouth and/or Nantucket, maybe stay on the South Shore. Stay in or near Boston for your Boston days. And I'd stay out near Lexington and Concord for a day or so. If you want to stay in one place, I'd pick a spot either in the City (expensive) or just outside the City but within striking distance of the T. For example, if you stay in the Cambridge/Arlington/Lexington area (Route 2 corridor), getting either into the city or to historic site outside and around the city will be fairly easy. Getting around Boston is easy. It is a great walking city, and, as an alternative, the T is very accessible. Get a good map of downtown and plan on walking most places and hopping on the T for longer shots. I hope this helps a bit! Jeremy

We don't have a school room, but we have a narrow kitchen that is easy for the kids to run through as they make laps around the house. As you can imagine, this creates a dangerous situation during meal prep. We have a rule about not passing through the kitchen when an adult is working there, but without a barrier, it can be hard for them to realize (i.e. merely to be cognizant) when they are breaking the rule. So, I temporarily placed a line of blue painter's masking tape on the floor at each end of the kitchen to create a visible line and mental barrier for them. You would have thought it was a wall. Because they could see a line they were not supposed to cross, they would come to a sliding halt as they approached the line. They would even stand with toes on the line peering into the kitchen to watch me cooking. I left it up for a week or two and then took it down, and by-and-large the effect has lasted. It's not perfect, but it was a huge improvement. The point being, I wonder if some physical marker or boundary--it could be a line, a curtain, or a gate--would help you in creating the boundary. It doesn't have to be impenetrable, but it does need to be concrete and distinct.

This may sound odd, but we have a large area rug (8"x10") in our living room, and I keep maps and large (poster sized) stuff under it. When we want to pore over maps, we roll 1/3 of the rug back to expose all the maps, and lay with our elbows propped up on the rug roll and study the maps. It works like a charm, and you can get about 12 laminated maps between a thick rug and its pad before you feel or see a 'bump' in the rug. This may not work for the OP, but for anyone looking to deal with posters and maps it might be helpful.

I am thinking about moving from a paper notebook to a digital notebook for ease. I just want it actually to be easier. Has anyone here actually completely left paper for digital? My thought is to get an iPad with a lot of memory and a good note app (like the CircusPonies NoteBook). I'm figuring we could keep all records in the app, record oral narrations and put them in the app, and photograph art and and-written exercises, but at that point, I'm wondering if it would, in fact, be a time saver. I'd love your thoughts and strategies for digital notebooking! I really want something integrated that helps me (1) be more efficient and more accurate in record keeping, (2) eliminate clutter, (3) integrate everything, and (4) saves time. Maybe I expect too much, but for now, those are my goals. Thanks! Jeremy

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As a relatively new homeschooler and user of this site, I have a request. Would it be possible for everyone to write out the name of something at least once in their post before moving to abbreviations. It would make things a lot less cryptic to newcomers! As an example, I saw this thread this morning: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/479559-i-feel-inadequate-to-teach-iew-bible-heros/ The original poster ("OP") uses three abbreviations in the title and post that are not introduced--IEW, TWSS, and SWI-A. I, and certainly others, don't know any of those abbreviations. Maybe a few years down the road they will be common knowledge, but they are not yet. If the OP had used the full name at least once in the title or post before shifting to the abbreviation, this thread would have much more value. Thanks! Jeremy

Honestly, lack of clutter. Clutter distracts the eyes and the mind (at least in my opinion). I'd keeps the walls nicely decorated with a few important pieces--maps or works of art--but I'd avoid posters or over-decorating. I'd also try to keep everything put away and off the table surfaces, except for what is being used at the moment. Virtually all of our school work (desk-based school work as opposed to nature based, of course) happens either at the kitchen counter while seated on stools or at the dining table while seated on a bench. The seating in both cases is simple wood--no upholstery. It's comfortable but not soft and 'bed-like.' The couch puts them to sleep. So, I agree to some extent about the inverse correlation between cushy-comfort and thoughtfulness! As far as a specific chair recommendation, I'd recommend looking on craigslist, if it is active in your area. You should be able to find some nice chairs for a much better price than new. If it were me, I'd be looking for wood/chrome school chairs or eames / other mid century fiberglass or bent plywood chairs. I'd start rooting around for something that has a certain design aesthetic to add to the room.

In light of this conversation, I found this New York Times 'interview' with the mother from the Cat in the Hat particularly interesting. Imagine the "morals" we could draw from that story! (Staying home alone; tearing the house apart is ok; allowing strangers into your home, etc.). At any rate, this is really funny: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/the-mom-from-the-cat-in-the-hat-finally-speaks/

Everyone here appears to object to the illegal harvesting or collecting of animals, and it is clear that the man with the yellow hat engages in what today would be illegal harvesting, but how does that event in the story translate to a "moral" of the story? Those who are objecting to the first CG story seem to elevate the bad act to a level that the story never intended. It's laughable that the Rey's ever intended, or that most readers would think, that the moral of the story is that it is ok to go take wildlife from the jungle and bring it home to the city. It's merely a catalyzing event in the story. The story requires interpretation.

Sarah, I get it; I do, but I don't think that there is a line that a child crosses where they are, all-of-a-sudden ready to be exposed to bad things. The process can be gradual. My example was admittedly a teenage example, but I went there to show the problem with the approach. A six year old version of my example might simply be pointing out that it was sad or wrong for George to be taken from his proper jungle home and family. You could even take it so far as to point out to your child that all the havoc George wreaks is consequent from his being forced into a context where he doesn't belong, and even though he may be adored by people he meets, his home is in the jungle. I am not exactly a fan of Curious George, and I might not include it on any short list of recommended books, except that would be good to be familiar with a character that is so ubiquitous. I do, however, question your approach to bad/immoral acts and attitudes in literature. The inclusion of bad acts or attitudes in a story is not necessarily a glorification of those acts and attitudes, even when the story itself doesn't make it clear that they are bad. Those acts are even sometimes essential to the story. Jeremy

While I understand and agree that you wouldn't want to teach your child to think of any other person as less than human, do you think this carte blanche approach might be like throwing the baby out with the bath water? How will you teach history or any form of literature (that isn't current)? So much of American Literature reflects the racist attitudes of its social context. When you bring in other objectionable issues like sexism, imperialism, and wanton disregard for creatures and natural resources, you won't have much left to pick from. I think that part of providing an education is teaching your children where we (as a human species) once were, how we are different today, and why we changed. Simply calling a once acceptable social norm morally wrong isn't good enough. Without a good understanding of how we used to be and why we changed, we, as people, are likely to repeat histories mistakes. Reading antebellum American Literature could be the best way for a young person to see, and be disgusted by, the racist attitudes that form the backdrop for the American Civil War, the Civil Rights movement, and even lingering race issues today.

I also have two that are about 2 years apart (20 months), and, like others above, I teach history and science at my older child's 'level' and adjust as needed for the younger child.

Thank you for the answers so far! Which among the Cricket are considered the best. Cricket itself sounds great, as does Muse, but which are generally considered the best? And thanks for the tip on Granta--I'll be sure to check it out.