It was a "smh" read for me. Had I been his mother, I would have said -sweetie, it's great you want to be a writer, but you can take writing classes at the REALLY CHEAP community college. Instead, why not major in something that will actually have a paying job at the end, or look at learning a Trade? You don't have to have a BA in Lit from Small Spendy U. :lol:

Girls are going to Girl Scout camp this week so I am really looking to get down to business! I have done clothes and shoes. I really liked the "does it spark joy" question to ask myself. It's a much more positive vibe.

If you have Netflix- we watched a great series called "Filthy Cities". The episode on London was all about sanitation in medieval London. The episode on Paris was the time of the French Revolution, and then there was an episode of NYC, at the industrial age. We all loved them!

Thank you! I am always in awe of people who can do stuff like this! Thanks for all of your hard work!,

How exciting! Thank you! Question- I have been looking for a U.S. History program and yours looks great- I have a 9 & 7 yr old do we do part 1 and then part 2? Couldn't quite tell....

Hey, thanks for the encouragement and advice! I'm off to check on those other options....

I like the looks of the CLE LA books I saw on their website. Could someone tell me how many lessons? Do they have a typical 36 week lesson format? Something different?

My two are two years apart. We do English, History, Science together. This coming year we will throw some latin in the mix! I am excited for that, and excited to do more with Music and Art. We have no room for pianos here, and no extra income for other music lessons, but long ago I played the flute and still remember basic theory. So I ordered two Recorders today, and we are gonna learn to read music and play songs! Watch out family Christmas parties! :lol:

I think I am rather leaning toward this. We can always move faster/slower as needed and revisit the parts in ELTL3 where I was starting to get nervous! I appreciate all the replies and soothing of my wounded ego.... :lol:

I think if I try that I may have a major revolt on my hands. :crying:

Just as the title says: I am an Idiot! I have NO idea what I was thinking last year. Last year we finished up with FLL1, and since I found it rather boring and too repetitive with WWE1, I switched to ELTL for this year. Why does this make me an idiot? Because I went with ELTL 3 instead of 2! The kids have done ok, but since January, I have felt that this might not have been the best decision, but we limped along with ELTL3 and are nearly done. I am very impressed how easily these two can diagram a sentence, but all the other grammatical facts escape us all, I don't really understand it/know it to teach it effectively. I should have stopped with 3 in Jan, bought 2, and started over. But no! cuz I'm an idiot! I LOVE ELTL though, great program! NOW- Where should I go from here? Get ELTL 2 and somewhat backtrack? Go with an entirely different program/approach? I am scared to go to ELTL 4. I feel like we don't know enough yet. Guide me, Oh wise (non-idiot) homeschool educators....... :001_smile:

You can take your CD-ROM or thumb drive to any office supply place or copy center and they will hook you up. It can get pricey tho...

Keyboarding Without Tears. Both girls like it and we use a Mac as well. Once you get your code, it installs the program and a small icon appears at the bottom of the screen. The kids click that and then sign into their own account. And away they go!

I have let my girls do their copywork in pen since January. They use the Pilot Frixion pens that have erasable ink. The ink really does erase with NO crumbs like the old erasable pens of my youth (Class of '88!) So that might be an option?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Moran They had a lot of his stuff hanging up at the Ranger Station in Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone NP a few years back, I fell in love with his work.

THIS! This is my thinking as well. There are SO MANY of the words used in the English language that have latin roots. I can't help but think a basic understanding would be nothing but beneficial. I learned more about English grammar in Spanish class than I did in English class! HA-HA!

Thinking about this as well...

Do you have a local teacher supply store? I know our store has a bunch of maps, I need some myself....

THANK YOU! For your insight on this. I will be starting our third year of homeschool and really considering going to mostly e-books and PDFs this fall. Between my iPad, the OneNote app, and the kids kindle fires we could just make it work!

I have an iPad. I just recently rediscovered this thread http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/475290-how-did-i-just-find-out-about-this-great-planning-software-one-note/ It dawned on me that my girls each got a Kids Kindle Fire for Christmas from granny- sure enough OneNote has an app for that. So for the last few days I have been goofing around with OneNote. I have all the assignments typed in for our last three weeks of school. The possibilities appear to be endless! I think the kids Kindle Fire is around $150. There are tablets for less, also check the refurbs. There is a Fire HD 6 for $99. Anyway, there are a ton of other types of tablets, i am just a little familiar with the Kindles.

I jokingly call our homeschool "The Rimrock Lane Academy for Girls" and since we have a pet mini schnauzer, our mascot is the "Fighting Schnauzers" haha! :lol:

Gonna have to follow this. I also have BA 3a and while the kids enjoy reading the stories and the characters, we didn't do many problems in the wkbk, because I couldn't figure them out. And teacher always looking in the back of the book at the answers sets a bad example..... haha!

They are called Better Binders, a quick google will show you the way....

Finishing up the second year. I learned last fall that a 2 month break from math was a recipe for disaster. So for the summer, I am planning lots of reading, and a math page a day. Maybe some fun science experiments thrown in here and there. HITS: Love the SOTW 2, they would do history daily if I would! Elemental Science Earth Sciences- kids like it, but it has been a struggle for me- last years Biology was much more my thing. English Lessons thru Literature 3- I debated whether or not to get bk 2 or 3. I wished I would have got 2 for my sake- I have a difficult time with Grammar, and don't really feel I am teaching it very well. Maybe a miss? Spelling Workout HWOT and KWOT Balance Math/Mind Benders/Math Analogies from Critical Thinking Co Horizon Math- More about that below... MISSES: Started our 2nd year with MM. Both kids. About Nov my oldest was having a heck of a time with it. Lots of problems, and I only have a B/W printer. I think it just boggled her little ADHD brain. I talked to my sis, she HS too. She really liked the Horizon books. So I got them and we haven't looked back. I like how I can give them a page, and say "do front and back". NO hassle. Started DD7 in cursive HWOT but she began to balk so I ordered her another printing book (that she had already gone thru) and her writing is getting better. Did not get more than 10 lessons into Latin, and I am dismal with art and music study. Hope to improve that next year. ETA: I started the year with Beast Academy 3A. I didn't even get thru the book, it made me feel really stupid. The kids did enjoy the comic book format- I just didn't like the hit to my self esteem... :lol:

Bone, CalamityJack, and Rapinzels Revenge. Also, Nancy Drew is now in graphic novel form- new, modern stories. My 9 and 7 yr olds like those.