I haven't heard anything either.

Also a feminist here, and also don't want my sons growing up expecting to be idiots, but ... I don't think the BBs are going to teach them that. Often in literature one or another character is not very bright, and it makes the stories more interesting. I don't believe the authors tried to set Papa Bear up as a model of masculinity, then made him dumb because they wanted to teach kids that men bumble. They wanted a goofball character and one with a certain amount of power so that he could get away with some truly absurd things before someone stopped him, so they made him an adult. But there are plenty of intelligent, humble male bears in the series. And Papa himself has some shining moments here and there. I think it's a little strange to freak out because it's the dad or the adult male who is portrayed as the idiot of the story. Do men always have to be respectable? If there was a sibling bear or a neighbor bear who was the comedic relief, would that be more acceptable? Why?

WinterPromise sells secular kits for the charter school market. You have to ask them about it directly.

You can also contact local churches to find a food pantry. They usually have lots and lots of bread, so don't buy any.

I have regretted selling things. Often later versions are significantly different. Small companies go out of business. Shipping costs only increase over time. These days I just keep stuff, and if I really like using something I buy more copies for future children. I will sell stuff after my youngest outgrows it.

Probably a tie between Hagrid and McGonagall.

I have been doing some reorganizing of toys, some scrubbing of the bathroom, and other deep cleaning, getting ready for my brother and his best friend to come visit tomorrow. My children are playing some kind of war game they made up that uses Cuisenaire rods and pattern blocks. In about half an hour we'll put pizzas in the oven for our weekly "fen church," a night devoted to root beer floats and multiple episodes of Doctor Who.

Hello, and welcome! Most curricula designed for the homeschool market is perfectly suitable for "starting in the middle". Many if not most homeschoolers do start in the middle, and the writers of such programs know it. Many math programs have placement tests on their websites, and history programs will often have a FAQ that answers questions like, "What level should we start with if we've never studied ancient history before but are the right age for medieval?" Don't worry too much about math and science. There are folks who LOVE math and science and understand it very well, and write well, and will pass on their understanding and their joy directly to your children. Life of Fred comes to mind for mathematics right away, or The Art of Problem Solving, especially since you mention your children are gifted. I think The Happy Scientist or the Nebel books for science would meet those criteria, also. Our children are the same ages. Mine were born 7/00, 1/03, and 10/05. The oldest is quick but not accelerated. The middle is accelerated. The youngest is normal. I'll tell you what I plan to do next year for the older two, since it doesn't sound like our youngest are working at the same level. For my seventh grader -- Science - The MakerShed Ultimate Microcontroller Pack Math - Art of Problem-Solving Intro to Algebra Composition - Institute for Excellence in Writing's Student Writing Intensive B Visual Arts -- drafting with the resources from Complete-A-Sketch Foreign Language - probably Spanish with Power Glide but we are still negotiating about Latin and Greek (which we've always done before) For history and literature, he'll be reading from a fairly long list of books on and from ancient times, similar to the list found in The Well-Trained Mind. My nine-year-old will be doing all of the same things, except that he'll doing his own stuff for science instead of working through the microcontroller kit. I haven't decided exactly what that will be yet, though. I may just throw some Thames & Kosmos kits at him, like this one, see what my library has that's related, like this, and call it good. I hope that helps some. This forum will answer any question with all the possible answers and a couple you would've thought improbable. You've come to the right place.

My paternal grandfather was a boxer. When he retired he became a police officer. His wife was a stay-at-home mom. They raised seven children on a single income with a middle class lifestyle. It wasn't until the kids were grown and Grandma wanted something to do out in the world that she started her own little business, and it wasn't because she needed the money. My mother was raised by an uncle and aunt. The uncle was a contractor who built homes. His wife was a stay-at-home mom. They had five dependents on a single income and did very well, retiring early and sending kids on to get doctorates. My mother's grandfather owned a plantation in Puerto Rico. He was a businessman, not a hands-on kind of farmer. His wife never worked. They raised six children on a single income. They were very well off on a single income. My father's grandfather was a miner in Pennsylvania. His wife kept a garden and chickens but didn't otherwise work. They had three children. When he became sick, they moved to Manhattan and became property managers in a tenement building. Technically the job was his, but he was sick so she did all the work. I think I would count that as a single income. They were poor on a single income, but better off than most of the other families in the tenements. So, YES, I have always been under the impression that a family wage was the norm back then. My parents, though, who came of age in the late seventies, have always both worked full-time jobs.

Sure. Enter your information here.

I do not. The women over at the Homespun Waldorf forums are usually very helpful.

It's sort of like a unit study, but a unit study takes a theme and uses it to teach all subjects. You'd have firefighter math problems, a visit to a firehouse for social studies, a look at the chemistry behind fire for science, and interviews with firefighters for English. But in a Waldorf school main lesson block, just one subject is taught. It is taught in an artsy way, through a narrative presented by a teacher plus drawing pictures of the subject, but the focus is entirely on, say, parts of speech, for those two weeks. Only one subject is taught in each block.

It seems at least as effective as approaches used by traditional schools. I have heard folks theorize that what makes it work is that the information goes into a child's long term memory instead of remaining constantly in the short.

In Waldorf schools, instead of doing every subject every day, one subject is taught all morning long for a few weeks. A block refers to that one intensive that is currently going on. So, Waldorf schooled kids don't have a grammar period every day. They have two weeks of all-day grammar once or twice a year. Likewise with math, science, visual arts and social studies.

Hmm, maybe it's camouflaged because it's all in green? On the left sidebar on my blog, look at the pictures of my kids, then the picture of the dragon, and right under the photo of the dragon, right above the Scholaric badge, should be the links.

I use OpenOffice. Free and compatible with lots.

The WTM Forums blog ring has been updated. There should be no dead links on it anymore. Just a reminder, folks: pleease with a cherry on top send me an email so I can deactivate you when you take your link-a-ma-jig down. Otherwise, folks trying to go for a whirl round the ring don't end up at a dead end. If you were removed and don't know why, shoot me an e-mail (not a PM). To sign up for the blogring, just go here, make sure you meet the criteria, and follow the simple instructions.

I teach grammar through Latin and through the dictation and copywork exercises in WWE. Comprehension is covered through narrating aloud to me in history and science. For vocabulary, I just make sure he looks up new words he finds in the books he reads, and that he continues to read gradually more challenging material. Latin also replaces vocabulary for us. If I wasn't ready to put him in Latin, or decided not to, I would use a vocab program like Dynamic Literacy that teaches Latin & Greek roots. Oh, yes, that is young. Honestly, my son has always seemed young for his age, and he is only six, too, but Song School Latin is gentle and playful. WWE is a composition program that assigns copywork, dictation, and narration exercises that are very gradually more difficult. I know my approach is unique and not everyone's cuppa. :)

After my six year old finished our phonics program, I began using Writing With Ease. He has never had a handwriting course. I discovered that my boys were less reluctant to write if I never told them how (and everyone's handwriting is still perfectly legible and speedy). Next year I will continue with WWE and add Latin. He also reads books of his own choosing for a certain amount of time each day.

*waves hand wildly high* I was doing pretty well, and then I got ideas. Now I'm lost again.

I'm planning a biology year for my youngest son next year. What books are so great that we shouldn't miss reading them together? (My older boys hate life science and were really into physical science so I never studied this with a little one.)

I don't know. I wasn't planning on it, but I miss it. We read more when we do a more WTMish approach, but we get more output produced when we do an LCC approach. I am feeling pretty torn about it right now.

LCC stands for Latin-centered curriculum, a scope and sequence that is centered around study of classical languages and the literature written in them. An LCC year for us then would typically include one or two living books each for classical studies, religious studies, modern studies and English studies. On Monday we'd read a chapter of the classical studies book, on Tuesday a chapter of the religious studies book, and so on. So it's simpler and I think more rich because you can really pick apart and focus in on a chapter of a living book this way.

It's been trial and error with my oldest, so he did K -- Core Knowledge first grade topics like what the continents are and intro to the big three religions, then switched to SOTW1, ancient history, when his older stepbrother came home for school 1st - WP AS1, early American history 2nd - CATW, so, world geography 3rd & 4th - a Latin-centered approach, so a little bit of everything, but a lot of medieval lit 5th - tried out a little democratic/Sudbury school (think unschool inside a school) 6th - moderns So now I'm hoping to do 7th - ancients 8th - medieval 9th - early mod 10th - mod 11th - donno 12th - donno this either In part because his little brother is entering 1st grade next year and his cycle could be 1st - ancients 2nd - medieval 3rd - early mod 4th - mod 5th - world geo yr 1 of 2 6th - world geo yr 2 of 2 7th - American history yr 1 of 2 8th - American history yr 2 of 2 9th - ancients 10th - medieval 11th - early mod 12th - mod Even while I say this, though, the delight of an LCC approach returns to me and I wonder if I should go back to that instead of trying to WTM. My youngest is very people-oriented and I think he'll do well with a history-centric approach. That's all that keeps me on WTM methods. I miss LCC.

It looks to me like copywork, dictation, narration, plus some extra standard school stuff like literary terms and creative writing prompts. What is it that you don't like about it?