I thought the Season 2 premiere was really good. Anyone else watching and want to chat about it? I am a Sunday night Showtime junkie -- Homeland + The Affair. :)

I agree that there is a fair amount of cleavage. I think that we are still going to buy it. I set it to remind me when it was getting close to the end, so I could chew on it a little more.

I listen on the Amazon Echo, which also streams Pandora. Love my Echo.

We love BA here. My son doesn't even want to do Singapore anymore because he thinks BA is so awesome. I'm not sure I'm ready to drop Singapore entirely, but we've only ever used the IP and CWP. I imagine we will continue to do a bit of Singapore for review, but BA is definitely our main math program now.

I hope I didn't make you feel as though I don't appreciate the wisdom of the oldschoolers. I was just agreeing with Hunter's observation that there are many people like me out there who initially made this decision purely for academic reasons. I cannot emphasize enough how much our fledgling homeschool has been enriched by the collective perspective of the more experienced home educators here, and I hope that you (and others) will continue to carve out time for us.

Or law school. And I was totally crushed by the weight of failure. I am no help; we actually have the opposite problem here. My kid seriously told me that he is a "genius" the other day while working through Beast Academy. Ugh. I keep trying to find ways to reign in his [over]confidence in his abilities (this issue extends beyond academic overconfidence). :grouphug:

A very interesting discussion. Thank you for bumping it. As a reluctant homeschooler, I can definitely say that we have a homeSCHOOL. It's not that our days resemble the public school so much as my primary motivation for this undertaking is overwhelmingly academic in nature. And it's only because of time spent on this board that I've even begun to think about philosophical issues relating to homeschooling, or about homeschooling as a lifestyle for our family. I am truly grateful to the oldschoolers for that. In my neck of the woods, most homeschoolers are enrolled in public charters, where you are much less likely to find people homeschooling for strongly religious and/or philosophical reasons. There are still the old school and the independents around, but the technological advancements, the camaraderie of so many homeschooling activities, and the financial incentives offered by charter schools, have made homeschooling a much more acceptable (and easy) choice. I've yet to actually encounter any negativity about our decision to homeschool because it has become so mainstream. I realize that my experience is very regional. I would never have considered homeschooling through high school, but this board has opened my eyes to the possibility -- to so many possibilities for our homeschool, actually. You all are a wonderful wealth of information and encouragement.

For anyone interested, there is a mythology-based strategy game currently on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/game-o-gami/immortal-expanded-game-and-playing-cards?ref=nav_search

Wow! Thank you for taking the time to list them all out. I will definitely get a copy of the books from my facilitator. :)

The jury is still out for me on Mosdos for Lit (I make my DS6 read the stories to me for practice). We bought the 3rd grade level, but I think it might be too simplistic. My son likes it enough, but it just doesn't seem very challenging. I might need to bump him up another level. I'm not a fan of the accompanying workbook at all. It would make some nice samples for our charter school, so we might do a page once a month for that, but it just feels like busywork to me.

Thank you! No, I haven't seen the list because we are listening on the audio version. I don't have the books at all, but I can get them from our charter school. Thank you again!

Thanks for this. I was thinking more broadly about a reading list to go with the entire History of US series. I'd prefer not to remake the wheel if it's already been thought through by someone, or if it is contained in one of the accompanying study guides that I don't own. I know that Sonlight has a couple of American history cores, but I don't know the quality of all the books they have listed. Thanks again for the recommendations.

We are currently enjoying the audiobook version of Hakim's A History of US. We are in the first volume, which is about the first (i.e. Native) Americans. I would love to explore supplemental reading to accompany our studies -- preferably historical fiction, but non-fiction is fine too (if it's exciting). Does anyone know if there is a booklist that accompanies A History of US, or has anyone seen one put together? Do the teacher's/study guides have such a list? I could get them from our charter school, if needed. Today, we learned about the mound-building Native Americans, as well as Hiawatha and the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy. It would be awesome to bring this history more to life with additional reading that we could do during our read-aloud time. Thanks so much for any suggestions.

We used the combo of Progressive Phonics, all the books from Innovative Kids (there are a lot besides just Nora Gaydos' books... see http://www.innovativekids.com/shop/245/learn-to-read),and the AAR Readers (excellent!). We crashed and burned on OPGTR, but the combo of the above took my son up 4-5 reading levels in his K year. Highly recommend that combo!

Dealing With Dragons: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/150739.Dealing_with_Dragons Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/770614.Jeremy_Thatcher_Dragon_Hatcher?from_search=true&search_version=service

My DS wants to play Go Piscis with some Latin cards. If I buy the SSL2 cards, do they also cover the words in SSL1, or do I need to buy both sets? Yes, I know that I could make them, but I am lazy like that. Also, has anyone used the Headventureland pay site? Is it fun/worth the money? Thanks!

I'm in the thick of it with my youngest DS (2), and most days, I feel way too old for this sh*t. I seriously doubt that I will miss it.

Sacha (6) and I are doing earth/space this year for science, breaking it up into Astronomy, Geology, Meteorology, and Oceanography. To say that he is eating up Astronomy would be an understatement. My plan was to cover the following topics with books and documentaries: The Big Bang/Origin Theory, Galaxies, Nebulae, Stars: Birth and Death, The Sun, The Solar System, The Earth, The Moon and Its Phases, Tides, Compact Objects and Black Holes, Comets, Meteors, & Asteroids, Famous Astronomers, Astronauts & The Space Race So far, Sacha has devoured the documentaries, "How the Universe Works" and "Cosmos (the new version)." I also have queued up, "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking," "Wonders of the Universe," and episodes of "The Universe." He is bordering on obsessed with black holes, dark matter, anti matter, dark energy, nuclear energy, wormholes, and multiverse/portal theory, and I am not sure how to support this at his age/with his level of math. This stuff is so far out of my wheelhouse, my head hurts just thinking about it. Does anyone have any books or documentaries that they could recommend?

I don't know if it's as high as 90% in San Diego County, but it definitely seems the overwhelming majority here as well. And for the same reason -- large $$$$ with few requirements.

I have no interest in parenting in an authoritarian manner. I strive for a peaceful and gentle parenting approach, but, being human, I end up more middle of the road. We have a happy life and (relatively) harmonious homeschool, and I have zero desire to change. If others consider me too permissive, so be it.

My parents moved from Southern California to the Olympic Peninsula several years ago. They love it there. I've visited during all seasons, and, even in the supposed 'banana belt,' my husband and I would most certainly get seasonal depression. It's dark and dreary. I don't mind it being chilly (within moderation), but I need sun. We're considering Bend, Oregon, as it is in the high desert and is not as gloomy as the Pacific coast.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/09/25/what-one-college-discovered-when-it-stopped-accepting-satact-scores/?tid=sm_fb

There is nothing in San Diego yet, which seemed odd. Thanks for letting us know that more centers should open. Hopefully, something will pop up.

You might also check out the Junior Great Books series and Mosdos Press literature. They have 3rd grade reading selections that are high quality and inspire good conversation.

Melaleuca is the worst. You can't even advertise the name of the company on a website. It's all secret secret, hush hush. Otherwise, their big brother "compliance department" will come and hunt you down. Ask me how I know. They will probably find this post, and ask SWB to delete it. They are seriously paranoid.