It's been 21 years, but I still miss my mom terribly every Christmas. She held our family together. We always did a big family Christmas Eve meal on the 24th (from the Dutch tradition) with her side of the family and then drove out to be with my Dad's mom and his side of the family on Christmas Day. My Gran lived close to the beach, so all the cousins would go swimming together (it's summer here!!) and gather mussels as part of the meal. When I eat fresh, salty mussels, I think of my Gran and big family Christmases! Our own Christmas is very modest. We go to Mass on the 24th, open presents on the morning of the 25th and my mil comes for lunch. This year another couple is joining us. It's nothing like the Christmasses of my childhood and I don't really know how to recreate that for my children. My siblings (and cousins) are living all over the world.

Drew, Would you consider making a download available too? The cost of shipping is a killer for international customers. $38.92 Economy to South Africa. The author of one of the writing programs has a special download for international customers. Payment via Paypal.

This is a copy and paste of my carschooling resource list, so does include some mentioned already... most were recommended on the WTM boards over the years. Geography * Geography Songs by Troxel * Lyrical Earth Science Volume 1 (http://www.lyricallearning.com'>http://www.lyricallearning.com'>http://www.lyricallearning.com'>http://www.lyricallearning.com) Science * Singing Science Records (http://www.acme.com/jef/singing_science/) * Lyrical Life Science Volumes 1,2 &3 (http://www.lyricallearning.com) * Schoolhouse rock – Science rock Grammar * Grammar Songs by Troxel * Schoolhouse rock - Grammar rock History * Gombrich's A Little History of the World CD * The Story of the World volumes on CD * The CDs from Classical Conversations. * Veritas Press History Cards and CDs Maths * Schoolhouse rock – Multiplication rock Music Appreciation * Classical music selections from our composer of the month list * Classical Kids Collection (Beethoven Lives Upstairs and others) * Themes to Remember (http://www.classicalmagic.net) * The story of Classical Music by Darren Henley read by Marin Alsop * Vox Music Masters The Story of... CDs * Bernstein Children's Classics includes Peter and the Wolf, Carnival of the Animals, Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Literature * Free audiobooks from Librivox.com or Storynory.com * Audiobooks for Sonlight 3 Poetry * The Nation’s Favourite Children’s Poems Collection (BBC Radio Collection) narrated by Ronald Pickup, Tim Pigott-Smith, Andrew Sachs and Rosalind Shanks * A Child's Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll and Meredith Hamilton * Listen and Color: Favorite Poems for Children by Dover and Thea Kliros * Poetry Speaks to Children by Elise Paschen, Dominique Raccah, Nikki Giovanni, and X.J. Kennedy * Developing Linguistic Patterns Through Poetry Memorization * Poetry Speaks to Children * A Child's Introduction to Poetry * Poetry Speaks for adults * Caedmon Poetry Collection (also for older children and adults) Myths and Legends * Tales from the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborne performed by James Simmons * King Arthur read by Sean Bean (Naxos) * The Iliad read by Derek Jacobi (Naxos) * The Aeneid read by Simon Callow (Naxos) * D'Aulaire's Greek Myths on CD Shakespeare - Stories from Shakespeare (BBC Radio Collection) by Geraldine McCaughrean Phonics * Letterland CD’s (http://www.letterland.com) Foreign Language: * Berlitz Kids "Adventures With Nicholas" books+CDs in several languages. -- French: * Les Cinq Pastels"> * Une Visite Chez Grand-Mere * La Chatte Perdue * Un, Deux, Troise; First French Rhymes (no translations) --Spanish: * Los Cincos Crayones, etc... * Pio Peep (Spanish) book and cd - but be aware that the English translations are "poetic", not literal. --Latin: * Prima Latina CD (Memoria Press) * Lingua Angelica CD is Sonlight Audio Memory link

I've no comments on curriculum, but given your limited time, an idea. In the effort to "get it all done" daily and tick of a full schedue, we were not giving some subjects the time they deserve. What has worked is to go onto a rotating schedule, taking as much time as a task may do to finish it properly before moving onto the next thing. We start the day with whatever comes next in the rotation. I think some call it loop scheduling. By doing this, you don't have to cut back on anything.

While I was travellling, someone asked me if I knew their friend in Kenya....because she's also white. I guess we'd be the only two on the continent then. It would have been hilarious if I did know her! A friend recently flew to the USA and overheard the people (Americans by their accents) behind her discussing whether Poland was another name for the North Pole. They decided that it was!!

Oh WOW!! Well Done Pam! You're a wonderful inspiration. Your kids must be SO proud.

I'll mention it to him when he gets home... :lol:

I don't know what TOG uses, but there may be something you can use at these sites: Literature Lesson Plans Spark Notes Scolastics and a summary of literary analysis terms at Owl & Writing Center

You're working full time, I'm assuming 40 hours a week. In addition, you have 4 (soon to be 5) young children who need childcare. You homeschool. The house needs cleaning. Meals need to be cooked. You need some quiet time to recharge. You employed a nanny to free some time up from your other responsibilities to enable you to work. It sounds as if part of the problem is that you're not getting the money's worth from the nanny. Every time you intervene in childcare, you are reducing your productivity and losing money for the hours you are putting in, and for which you are paying the nanny. You have to be very clear about your expectations with her. What are her responsibilities? Does it include cleaning and cooking in addition to childcare? Unless she needs them occupied while she's doing something else, she needs to entertain the children without TV or computers and she needs to step into the discipline as well. You're hiring her to give you the opportunity to work without kids interrupting and she (and they) need to understand that during that time you may only be bothered in an emergency - and you'd need to define what that is...a hurt child definitely, but an argument about a toy may not be an emergency for example.. If she doesn't come to it naturally, set up a roster that you expect her to work to. With options regarding crafts, play-time, books to read, etc etc. A playgroup schedule for example includes free play with games that have been set out in advance, crafts, morning snacks, outside playtime, storytime, etc. The most important thing is to be very clear about your expectations of any employee and to fully understand what they are freeing you from so that you are more productive during the time that you set aside to work. If you are still doing the cleaning and cooking, then it may, for example be more time and cost-effective to hire a cleaning service or get someone to do your shopping and meal preperations (a retired person or someone at hotel school maybe?). You may also find it more cost-effective to get a part-time nanny. If you have a teacher's college near you, this may be a good source for a part-time nanny. A responsible teenager may be another option. Especially as your hours are flexible, you could work around class schedules. I was writing the above while you were writing your post, and from it I definitely think the nanny is not doing what you're expecting. She has to know that if she doesn't shape up, she'll have to go. If your father is willing, it would be great if he could be your part-time nanny!

Rosie, I so LOVE your sense of humor!!

If you Google "Spelling rules", there are a number of lists to work from. I couldn't find what I was looking for either, and wrote my own spelling program as well. It has the spelling rule as copywork, spelling lists using the rule and dictation sentences. Level 1 is complete and you can view it at Lulu.

We used First Lanuage Lessons for 1st and 2nd grade and have been very happy with the free program, Kiss Grammar. There are workbooks available in MSWord for 2nd and 3rd grade (we worked a year behind). Grade 4 and up is being revised.

We do a little Jesse tree for advent and put up the Christmas tree on the 24th in preparation for Christmas Eve dinner. We take it down on the 30th as my dd's birthday is on the 31st and we like to seperated her birthday from Christmas and make a big day of it.

Another vote for Dogger here. It was my elder daughter's favourite for months. I'll second Kim Lewis books. Others we've enjoyed are: Mog books by Judith Kerr Old Bob's Brown Bear and Not so Fast, Songololo by Niki Daly Fritz and the Beautiful Horses by Jan Brett Books with an African flavour: Kalinzu and the Ox-peckers by Jeremy Grimsdell. I see that it is unforetunately out of print and also sold as Kalinzu: A story from Africa Fly Eagle Fly by Christopher Gregorowski Bookchat, a South African children's book site has other great suggestions.

My Bookmooch wishlist is growing! Feel free to add what inspired you about the book.

...what are the most inspirational religious and/or spiritual book/s that you have read?

When I lived with family in the Netherlands I had to get used to using small towels. They were a bit bigger than a hand towel, but not the normal bath towel size we are used to here. Definitely not big enough to wrap around oneself. It makes sense, though, in a wet climate and in small living spaces. We have four sets of towels of 2 large bath sheets for dh and I and matching smaller bath towels for the girls. There are hand towels hanging next to every bason. Towels get washed every second day. We also have about 6 pool towels.

Hallo Melenie! Ek het geen raad oor Latyn nie, maar is bly om 'n Suid-Afrikaner hier te sien!! Hoe lank is julle al in die VSA? And translated that says: I don't have any advise about Latin, but am happy to see a South-African here! How long have you been in the USA?

Meet the Masters is available for free at this link. In case it gets cut off, it is http://www.getinvolvedineducation.com/pdfs/For-Program-Managers/Meet-the-Masters-Program-Manual.pdf

Shasta Mom, what you're doing sounds great!! We were struggling with the rushed feeling earlier in the year and since the start of October eased up a bit for the last term of our academic year. We switched to a rotating schedule (also called a loop schedule), rather than a daily one. We just do the next thing on the schedule and start where we left off the previous day. We school for a fixed amount of time, rather than aiming to complete a daily to-do list. We get to most subjects about 4 times per week. The benefit has been that dd has the opportunity to spend as much time as she needs on a writing assignment, narration, experiment, etc. without feeling that we need to rush to tick the boxes off the schedule.

I found a really comprehensive list, but before looking at it, I'd ask your son what he thinks he'd be interested in. Would he like to work with animals? Numbers? Design things? Help people? Build things? Perform in front of an audience? etc, to try and narrow down his interests... 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I voted "other". We're coming towards the end of Writing Tales 1 (our school year ends in Nov) and will be going onto Writing Tales 2 next year.

News to ME. Thanks Jessica!

We made something similar to this elastic bookmark with a charm at the bottom, followed by a couple of beeds. At the top, we put a knot in the elastic, added another bead and knotted. We then put it onto a card and wrapped it in clear plastic. We have beading supplies - wire, pliers, rings, etc. so it was all pretty easy. Another idea is to put the dry ingredients for a cupcake in a mug. Here's the cupcake in a mug recipe. Wrap up in cellophane.

So, what are the issues? :001_smile: