I'm from New Orleans, and the joke is that we put coffee in baby bottles. I didn't start QUITE that young, but I can't remember when I didn't drink coffee. As young children, we drank cafe au lait nearly every morning. I still love coffee, and drink it every day, french roast with chicory. Occasionally, someone will post and ask if it's okay to allow their teen a cup of coffee now and then, and that always gives me the giggles. It just never occurred to me that it would be an issue. My own two are 8 and 10, and they don't drink coffee the way I did when I was a kid. Vanilla lattes from Starbucks are always in danger, though.

:D he was cute even then, *g*!!

dh and I are both list makers, and we joke that our 10-yr-old dd was born with a notebook and pencil clutcher in her hand. when we went to chicago, she spent her souvenir money on a 'travel packing list' notepad! there was a variety of them, and she was in a tizzy choosing - - so many lovely checkie boxes and shaded rows.

I'll add one more: "How to Cook without a Book." Although it's not intended for children, it would be a great reference for you to use in teaching. The idea is to learn the basics of different cooking techniques and be able to apply them with or without a recipe. For example, how to make a white sauce, how to sear different cuts of meat, etc.

We did bits from books they had read - - they liked spotting favorite lines, or figuring out which book a familiar quote came from. Or I would use things related to the school day, such as "We have a field trip today." But for a first foray into cursive, I'd start with letters only, with her name being the first connected word to learn (my kids love having a 'signature'). This year, I plan to do mostly Latin sayings and their catechism questions, with 'fun' stuff near the holidays for a break.

We listen to the audio together and discuss. We don't read from the book, but the 5th grader does use the book as reference for her outlines and reports. We also listen in the car sometimes; nice little time saver, and we can discuss in the car just as easily as home. It's the extra books that I read aloud.

ooooh, edible projects are my favorite! thanks for sharing.

I didn't know about the Sharpies and rubbing alcohol - - thanks, guys! The smearing of the wet erase markers is about to drive me out of my mind.

I have a 10 yr old and an 8 yr old, and yes, I have had to separate their work for the most part this year. The level and quantity of academics tends to make a big jump around 4th/5th grade, and keeping them together throughout the day is nearly impossible. We are trying a new schedule, three weeks of book work followed by a project week, which I hope will keep a balance of working together and independently. They are separate for science (Singapore i-Science), as far as daily reading and workbooks go. Experiments are done during project week, and we do them together or share the results. We listen to and discuss history chapters together (SOTW 1 cds); map work is together also, with the extra work like outlines and reports done separately. Projects from activity guide are together during project week. Language arts is separate for the most part. When the oldest does activities for literary elements, etc, her sister may choose to join in. We are using My Access writing program online for her as well, which can be done very independently ($100 per year). Math is separate, except for skip counting and mental math during recitation time. Art is together. Latin is together. If your oldest is keen on independence, might she be a help to the younger ones? Mine helps quite a bit, checking work and answering questions, and it really saves me time. The youngest one will also check her sister's work sometimes, when there's an answer key.

I have an old book called "Plot Outlines of 100 Novels." It appears to be out of print, but I would guess there's something similar out there. When you're wondering about a particular book, you can google it or look it up on Amazon for a summary. If her casual reading includes any 'teen' or 'young adult' novels, that is truly where you need to be most cautious, imo. I'm utterly amazed at the huge number of 'issue' books geared as low as 5th grade. Suicide, drugs, murder, mental illness, violent parents, violent parents with mental illness . . . It's not that I think young people shouldn't read about these issues, but if they do, it should be in the context of quality writing that treats the issue seriously, not just as a plot device or dramatic hook. I'll let my kids read about serious issues, and I'll let them read the occasional junky novel, but a combination of the two should be avoided at all costs!

I would do the basic plan, especially with kids that young. We've done the dining plan twice, and both times we've had meals left over, even though we got plenty of snacks, bottled water, extra snacks in the food court for the way home - - it's just a lot of food as far as we're concerned. You can 'downgrade' - - that is, use table service at a counter service, or counter service for snacks. So we often EASILY got by with two meals for 2 adults and 2 kids. We found the food abundant just about everywhere, but really good places for splitting meals are Cosmic Ray's (which also has pretty good iced lattes), the Village Haus, and, hmmm, others I know! We were turning down parts of meals by the end of the week (please, no, keep the dessert!). The only places that require you to get a meal per person are the sit down restaurants. The Grand Floridian Cafe has really good food and fun desserts, and if you do a breakfast, I'd really recommend Park Faire (also at the Grand Floridian). The food's a bit better than Crystal Palace, imo, and it's a great, fun atmosphere. We were pleased with all of the characters in the park, but they were even more outstanding at Park Faire, spending lots of time with the kids and really interacting and making them laugh. Dang, now I want to go to Disney. :sad: Oh, the food courts usually let you use a meal to get the refillable drink mug, which you can then use all week for coffee, tea, soft drinks. And it's a souvenir in the bargain.

If you know for sure that they are all 4-for-3 books, I would place the order and then query if the total isn't correct. I've never had a problem with Amazon adjusting prices when needed. I've also cancelled orders hours after making them (never tried any longer than that, but I think you're okay until they start processing).

I think she just means, "How do you keep track of the home school material you own?" Apparently, some of us either have more home school materials than others, or perhaps just a worse memory. :D Actual curriculum, like Singapore math, is easy enough to keep track of, but the extra little supplements and games tend to get away from me, and I don't have enough kids to be happy discovering a lost treasure in a few years.

Keep in mind, I'm approaching this from the perspective of believing that you don't have to require 5-yr-olds to do schoolwork. Academic ability is not the same as having the maturity level for regular academics, imo. Therefore, if my kinder had said it was too many problems, I would have said fine; HOWEVER, our situation was 'set up' that way. They knew it was their choice. In your situation, I would have insisted she finish, because one of our rules is that you can ask (politely) to delay or not do a parental request, but you cannot inform us you won't be doing it (no matter how politely you do so). If you tell instead of ask, or ask impolitely or with a whine in your voice, the answer will be no. As far as self motivation and discipline, yes, it's a very long road. And very variable from kid to kid! I have one kid who was born with a task list and ink pen in her hand, and another one who . . . was not :D My, hmmm, less-task-oriented child is often inspired by games and competitions, in schoolwork and everything else: Do you think we can get all of our groceries in forty minutes? I bet we can finish history before lunch, what do you think? And simple stuff like doing work on the whiteboard instead of the workbook, letting Barbie sit in on lessons, etc.

Our first day is tomorrow! fyi, my girls are entering 3rd and 5th. *I always have a welcome letter for them, printed in a fancy font on bright paper. It just says how excited I am to start the new year, and mentions some of the things we'll be learning/doing. They really like this. *We have a special breakfast of some kind, probably chocolate waffles this year. If we don't cook for some reason, we'll have cookies for breakfast. The kitchen table is decorated with whatever I have on hand. *Some of their fun new supplies are laid out for them to see, like pink binders, new crayons, etc. *We don't really work the first day, but go over all our new books, talk about things they'd like to do throughout the year (field trips, read certain books, etc), and set up binders and so forth. *We've never done this, but I might follow the lead of other posters and take them out for a treat, maybe Starbucks.

Do you have a thrift store near you? The books seem to pop up there fairly often, and I find owning the book REALLY helpful. My dd just got a hair beader for her birthday, and they've been having fun with that. It was less than $10, works fine, and you can use any beads that are the correct size.

I'd try out K12 for sure. It's a very WTM approach for the most part, but pricey and a bit too schoolish for us. If I had lotsa lotsa money, I'd have it and use it only as much as we wanted to.

thanks! I like knowing the TOTAL price before ordering :D (and I've been on vacation; please excuse the belated thanks)

I'm also working on getting everything into Library Thing.

I don't think a great deal of time needs to be spent on grammar in the very early years, but I certainly think a 3rd grader should know the parts of speech, basic punctuation, and complete sentences vs. fragments. A 4th grader should begin applying it with more consistency in their writing, and by the end of 5th grade, a student should be able to write a five-paragraph report with few errors. Starting in 6th grade is way too late, imo. Would the student simply not be writing ANY reports before then? Or would the teacher simply not correct the grammar? By middle school, I was writing fairly lengthy reports and compositions. Term papers started in high school, and 'first draft' did not in any way mean you could turn in a paper fraught with errors. In middle school, students should be concentrating on ratcheting up their writing skills, not learning the very basics of grammar. I have found that habit is a huge factor in grammar skills; the proper forms need to be used early and often to 'stick.' As far as the time involved, there are two factors I would consider. One is that very few people work on grammar daily for the entire year, every year. Most programs would be finished in January or so if done every day, so it is scheduled a couple of times per week or in blocks (this is true of most schools as well). The other is that it takes very little time out of the day. My dd is generally finished with GWG in five to ten minutes; a bit longer if there is a writing exercise. We didn't do formal programs before 4th grade, and the worksheets we did before then took five minutes, tops. So, while I can see not choosing a program that takes 20 minutes a day, every day, I can't see not touching grammar until sixth grade.

I can't quite figure out their shipping info - - anyone remember what shipping is for the $40 starter kit?

While I think that lumping teachers, or any group, together is wrong, I also think that criticizing someone for bashing you is legitimate enough:D Honestly, I've been on this board for years, and I've rarely seen truly negative, stereotyping posts about school teachers. As far as being bashed myself, the only truly negative comment I've gotten was from someone in administration - - the teachers are generally supportive (and yes, the negative comment was about socialization).

Is it possible for you to offer to sit in the classroom, or on a chair in the hallway in case of a reaction? Or could you help them recruit a volunteer with this specific duty in mind? If the classrooms are close, one volunteer in the hallway could cover them all. I can understand how much it stinks that she can't participate, especially because she was looking forward to it. But I can also see where a lot of volunteers would be leery of this situation - - it's one thing to offer to lead a group of kids in discussion, and another thing to be told, "If this kid stops breathing, just use this Epi-pen!" In a school or paid camp situation, there are usually provisions in place for certain people to be trained and ready to deal with these situations. Volunteer situations are just really hard to deal with, and people are always afraid of the unknown. I think it would help tremendously to have someone 'in the know' work on a policy and recruiting trained volunteers.

We have the cds and I find they are well worth it. I don't send them off to listen, though - - we pause the cd as needed for discussion and questions, just as we would if I were reading aloud. It's still great because it's quite a bit of time that I'm NOT reading aloud. When I had to read every chapter, it was hard to motivate myself to read corresponding literature aloud as well.

We're trying something new this year - - project week, a suggestion from one of the Charlotte Mason sites. Instead of taking one day per week for projects, field trips, etc you take every fourth week. The idea is that it is easier to get more done, project-wise, if you devote a week to it rather than five separate days, because you stay in that 'mode' for a longer period of time and have more leeway for leaving things out, etc. So we will use project week for science experiments, more involved arts and crafts, any type of hands-on learning that's difficult to fit into a routine day. I also intend it as a time for planning menus and cooking ahead, working on home projects, and staying on top of school organization and planning. The cooking and home projects will involve the kids; again, I think project week will make it easier to let them participate (as opposed to the git-'er-done mentality I often have when we have to also fit in school, outside lessons, etc). My kids are entering 3rd and 5th. I don't find it works well anymore to routinely have a four-day week, even though we don't take the entire summer off.