I agree. It's a great article and very insightful.

This is a copy and paste of my carschooling resource list, so does include some mentioned already and some I haven't used personally... most were recommended on the WTM boards over the years. Geography * Geography Songs by Troxel ((http:// http://www.singnlearn.org/khxc/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=prodshow&ref=136) * Lyrical Earth Science Volume 1 (http://www.lyricallearning.com'>http://www.lyricallearning.com) Science * Singing Science Records (http://www.acme.com/jef/singing_science/) Free resource * 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

Many books are only available to those in the USA - determined by your IP address. From Google Books Help: Depending on where you live outside of the USA, "conservative in our reading" means that you can't download all books - even if they were publsihed before 1923.

Here's an old thread listing a lot of free (but for the printing) curriculum for the lower grades.

Western painters - grouped by period. Gothic Duccio Giotto Simone Martini Robert Campin Rogier van der Weyden Jan van Eyck Hieronymous Bosch Matthias Grunewald Italian Renaissance Andrea Mantegna Fra Angelico Sandra Botticelli Leonardo da Vinci Michelangelo Raphael Tintoretto Titian El Greco Northern Renaissance Albrecht Durer Hans Holbein (the younger) Pieter Breughel the Elder Baroque and Rococco Caravaggio Rubens Velazquez Vermeer Rembrandt Watteau Hogarth Tiepolo Chardin Fragonard Neoclassicism and Romaticism Thomas Gainsborough George Stubbs John Singleton Copley Sir Joshua Reynolds Jacques-Louis David Jean-Auguste Ingres Francisco Goya John Constable Eugene Delacroix JMW Turner Impressionism Gustave Courbet Camille Corot Euouard Manet Alfred Sisley James Whistler Auguste Renoir Edgar Degas Claude Monet Post-Impressionism Georges Seurat Vincent Van Gogh Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec Edourd Vuillard Paul Gouguin Edvard Munch Paul Cezanne Gustav Klimt Pierre Bonnard 20-th Century Pablo Picasso Henri Matisse Piet Mondrian Salvador Dali Joan Miro Paul Klee Jackson Pollock Andy Warhol Mark Rothko Jasper Johns Lucian Freud

We do a composer and artist of the month. For artists study, I print off a few paintings from Artchive, laminate and stick up on the wall. We get children's biographies from the library. This year, dd is reading aloud the biographies in Afrikaans, our 2nd language, so it's part of language arts too. For composer study, I print off the composer's portrait and stick it on the wall, we listen to music we already own and read biographies.

It is the norm here too. Those that think about it consider it socially responsible and others are just used to the practice of getting help as soon as it is affordable. I have an au pair who cares for and helps with homeschooling my eldest while I work in the mornings, a cleaner 3 times a week and garden help. To my Dutch family this sounded extravagant and lazy until they came to visit and realized that these people would not have any income at all if they were not working for me. There is 43% unemployment in South Africa and social services are extremely limited and difficult to access. I pay way above the minimum wage, have the cleaner more days than we need because she lost another job and the wages we pay support at least 14 other people. I prefer to work 25 hours a week in a professional job that I enjoy and pay 35% of my after tax salary for childcare and services at home. I'm fulfilled in my job and have loads of free time to homeschool, afterschool and spend with my children in the afternoon. My children have to tidy up after themselves, pick up their rooms, make their beds, set the table, pack the dishwasher (but usually they don't unpack it), get the laundry washed and hung (our cleaner irons for us), help with cooking, etc. So they are still tought a sense of routine and personal responsibility. When they are older, we'll make sure they can iron and do a proper clean, but these are skills that can be taught later. My sisters who grew up with help now live in the UK where they don't have it and both have well-kept houses. One more so than the other, but that is their personality.

It's highly unlikely that we'll end up on the same continent - my family is already living on 3 continents - so whatever I keep will be for visiting children and not with the intention to pass on.

I guess you're right. I did think, "Wow, that's generous" and then when the checkout allowed me to go through the whole process, inclduing payment, I thought they really meant it. Websites like Rainbow Resource and Sonlight from whom I've bought in the past are clear with the disclaimer and their checkouts are setup for shipping calculations.

"Always free shopping" only applies to the USA. There is an online homeschool store that in its website header advertises "Always Free Shipping". Further down on the opening page it promises... "Never spend a dime on shipping! Shop at the XXXX where the shipping is always FREE! " I was extremely excited to place an order and it went through the whole checkout process and no shipping charge was added. In fact it stated "always free" as the shipping cost. Yesterday I got a mail from the company advising me that free shipping only applies to US orders and that I could still get the item if I payed the shipping fee. I cancelled the order and suggested that the website header and checkout process on the site be changed to make it clear that "Always" is only for the USA. I've not had a reply to this suggestion and there has been no change to the site. I believe the advertising on the site is misleading. Is there a advertising authority or onbutsman where this can be reported?

I am in tears - you did the most beautiful, thoughtful thing possible for your friend!

That puts a bit of a different angle on it. Is it the only copy of the photograph? If there are others, I'd get rid of the huge one. Another option might be to have smaller copies of the photograph made. Or offer it to the grandparents? Wow!! That is incredibly generous of you. You sound like a loving, caring and incredible 2nd mom.

If the estate is wrapped up, I'd throw away any financial or other business papers. If you're up to it, a life memory box for each child would be a wonderful gift. Could you just add to the keepsake boxes? I was 18 when my mother passed on and my sisters were younger. My father threw away a huge amount of sentimental stuff that we now wish we had. I have a short letter, a recipe and a birthday card with my mom's handwriting on it. I treasure them. It gives me a small glimpse of her character - especially as an adult looking back. As far as pictures go, I think a family portrait would be appropriate in the children's bedroom (that's where my sisters kept ours). It would also be really kind to give each of her children a copy of the portrait. Single pictures of their mother in the children's bedroom is also special. I don't think it is necessary to have anything in the living areas. You are acknowledging the children's mother by putting it in their bedrooms, but your lives have also moved on together, so new pictures go in shared spaces.

We are doing the same with a South African course alongside SOTW.

We're experiencing floods. Temps at around 20 degrees C, so pretty comfortable. Just very soggy right now. Some additional rain coming your way..... :001_smile:

We (dd helps choose) get the picture from Google Images and then I add the name of the person or event and the date. We then stick it on the wall timeline. You can see what it looks like at the files section of this Yahoo Group.

Mamma is also the spelling in Afrikaans. My mom was Mamma when I was little, and Ma as I grew older. My sister's English-speaking children call here Mamma. It is pronounced similarly to the Mamma in "Mamma Mia". We use Mommy at home, but I'm slowly turning into Mom.

This is completely off-topic, but I'm just soooo jealous that you can order something today and have it tomorrow!! If I get something within 3 weeks, I think it was quick!

Thank you very much for sharing this Kimber!! I've been agonizing about writing and you've just clarified it for me and given me some comfort that we're on the right course.

We use a wall timeline with pictures from Google Image for Story of the World. You can get the files and see a picture of it on the wall at the files section of this Yahoo group.

I voted "other" because I didn't even know what it was before a few months back. They're not a standard item here.

Tara, I'm hoping that someone else answers your question, but in the meantime, I've been searching and this thread might be helpful.

Thanks for linking this!

You've not been a know-it-all at all, you've been extremely helpful - thank you very much! Good luck with your presentation to the co-op directors!

Would I need to get the full DVD course, or would just the seminar workbook suffice? I can get Writing Strands locally and have considered it too.