So my kids haven't done a lot of 'formal grammar'. We mostly have been getting to grammar through our Brave Writer Arrows and our copywork. My oldest did the Grammar Island level of MCT a couple of years back, so I think for him he might zip through WOL 1A/1B faster than his sister. I'm thinking about trying WOL for both my kids to work through together, but I'm wondering a few things: 1. Is the cd of chants/songs a necessary purchase? Are they available anywhere online that we can listen to without having to buy the cd? 2. Would it be possible to answer the student questions orally, or on a whiteboard? My oldest has some language issues, so sometimes having to write in a workbook freaks him out. But if we do things orally or together on a whiteboard, that would be a big help to him. This would also make it so I didn't have to buy two workbooks, and here in Ontario its not cheap to buy CAP products. I think that's all! Thanks!

Such a cute haircut! I've spent the last TWO YEARS growing out my short hair, and now that it's past my shoulders I keep thinking I want my short hair back. There is nothing quite like the feeling of LOVING a great haircut :) Congrats, and it's super cute!

You're right! Ha, that was another movie my husband was super pumped about and I was like "eh...not for me" until I looked up and said "OH! My boyfriend is in this one!" Then I tuned in a little more closely. Clearly not closely enough to pay attention to which movie it was. Edited to add: after a quick google, it was the new Batman/Superman movie (as an aside: other than Momoa, i think the casting in this one was HORRIBLE)

Keep us posted. I'll be cheering him on from afar. It's not an easy journey he'll be on but it sounds like he wants it, and that's a big part of the battle. I saw a sibling through detox and treatment from alcoholism - one of the things the addictions counsellor told our family was that slip-ups and bumps in the road are often a part of the journey to sobriety and that we should keep supporting as best we can (within our own boundaries). He's been sober now for the better part of a year, with a few slips here and there. He wants it, and he's turning his life around and back in school with his eyes on a career path. All that to say, it's not easy. I hope he has a smooth journey and gets through these next days/weeks.

I am not normally a huge fan of the comic book movies - but Deadpool is one of my all time faves! I was sitting in the room while my husband watched the new Thor, and I ended up putting my book away so I could keep watching the movie. It is SO funny, the writing is very well done and witty. I do agree that it'll be even better if you watch the other Thor movies at a minimum, and the other Avenger movies if you can. But even as a standalone, it's a good movie. Also... Jason Momoa is Aquaman and he makes any movie worth watching IMO lol

I am so sorry. Is he still at the detox centre? Can someone go, with his permission obviously, and do a clean at his home and get rid of drugs/booze/whatever? He's facing a long road, and I'm so sorry that your loved one (and you) are having to navigate this.

My primary care won't offer narcotic pain relief, or opioids, without exhausting as many other options as possible. I have a herniated disc in my low low back and I have a disc that's showing signs of degeneration in my upper back/neck area. There are times that the pain is absolutely agony, and I'm in crying pain. But I refuse to go the narcotic route, and will do physiotherapy, aquatherapy, ibuprofen-and-wait-it-out, anything else besides opioids. Luckily my nurse practitioner and my physician, neither will go to narcotics right off the hop. I think that's something that needs to happen more. More...I dunno, responsible?, handling of pain and chronic pain by medical professionals. My husband was in a very minor fender bender but he had a stiff neck so he went to a walk in clinic just to get an X-ray and get checked out (he was rear ended by someone), and the doctor offered him a prescription for oxycodone AND one for some muscle relaxant. He refused both and we were flabergasted that for a stiff neck with no actual injury, this is what the first offer of treatment was.

This really is the crux of it. There are people who truly benefit from opioids. There are doctors who overprescribe and hand it out a bit too freely. Which leads people to become physically addicted. But once people are using opioids, one of the worst things you can do that person is yank them off of it without any sort of detox/weaning process. There seem to be a lot of facets to this issue and all jumbled together. Now that it's out there, we have to deal with it and can't just *poof* opioids be gone, leaving people incredibly sick (and prone to looking to illegal drugs to help themselves).

The city I live in has a nearly-epidemic level of opioid abuse. Post-divorce and pre-current marriage, I made the mistake of living with an opioid addict. It was hellish, and one of the most nightmarish things I've ever put myself through. I am so happy he was neither my husband nor the father of my children, because I could just...walk away from it. Prior to his addiction, by all family and friend accounts, this person was just a normal every day guy going about his life. He was overprescribed for a chronic pain condition, for years, by a med-happy doctor. Once he finally decided to kick it, he was completely addicted and the rest of his life has been a constant battle. He had to see a methodone clinic daily, had all sorts of therapy to go through, and he kept relapsing because he said it's easier to get high than it is to live trying to stay sober. I left, fairly soon into our living together. I think he's doing alright these days, we don't keep in touch. Those were the darkest days of my life and I get a bit shaky just remembering the crap my kids and I went through. *please dont quote any of the bottom part of this, as I may not keep this up due to sensitive info* As it happens, my now-husband's mother worked at a methodone clinic as a nurse, for years. She said it's heartbreaking to see how many people will need treatment for the rest of their lives, or a large portion of it, and surprising how many of these people aren't "junkies". Just people who were overprescribed for too long, and now live a life of a recovering addict because their bodies just can't deal. MIL said she saw senior citizens who need addictions treatment for opioids. SENIORS. And young parents, or teens who previously had just your average day to day life until they got hurt or in an accident or whatever else caused them to take opioids. Yes, lots of "lifetime addicts" looking for a high. But she said too large a portion of the people she saw every single day, were not who you'd think of when you picture an opioid addict. Opioids are insidious and life-killers. For the people addicted - and the people who have to live with and care for and treat the addicted.

I'm just starting the figuring out, but so far this is what we're thinking for my 5th grader for next year: Math: we've been using Book One from the Strayer Upton series, and actually she likes it quite a lot. I think, barring any major changes, we'll stick with that and move into Book Two for her fifth grade year. Science: life science and/or botany - not sure which we'll use yet. I don't care for the layout of RSO's level one sciences, but we need a secular curriculum so the search is still on for that. LA: W&R book two, Well-ordered language, some Brave Writer lifestyle things thrown in there too. We'd like to find a spelling program, but haven't decided on one just yet. Language: Lively Latin Book 1 and she's also begging to do Greek so...we'll feel out how Latin is going and we may add Greek for Children. Or we may do Greek for 5th grade and do Latin starting in 6th. History: Ancient Rome (not sure which spine yet, but probably just a few good books and she'll start a history notebook). Other stuff: Continue with Philosophy For Children, probably start on some logic. She reads very well and voraciously, so lit and reading will all just happen because she reads like she breathes lol.

Not sure if this counts as a "curriculum" per se, but the ladies who host the A Delectable Education podcast offer individual consultations. They speak with you on the phone, then offer you schedule and resources as well as implementation ideas. It seems to work for a lot of people, and ADE is definitely on my "CM purist" list.

I'd probably choose a pour-over. I'm not a big fan of Keurig machines, but I absolutely love love love my French press (we like getting our beans from a local roastery and get them pre-grinded for the Press) I found when I had a Keurig machine, I was "whipping up" a quick cup of coffee all day long. With my press, I have a big enough one that I can make enough for two good sized cups, in the morning, and then I'm done with coffee for the most part. And the taste is SO much nicer than anything I've tried in a Keurig. Coffee is an important part of my life apparently lol.

I have a *slight* addiction to 31 products. And this was going to be my first recommendation. I love love love these fold'n'file things. I also really like the double-duty caddy.

I'm not sure if this is just a Canadian product, or if you could find this in the US, but I used this for a while and found it helpful. I was waiting to see my doc about anxiety medication, and this was highly recommended at the natural foods store I go to so I gave it a shot. It's good, but for some people supplements like this won't work as well as anti-anxiety medications. https://www.veeva.ca/veeva-anxiety-formula

We got rid of our landline ages ago, so my cell stays on my bedside table. We use it as our alarm, since I sleep so lightly that I just leave it on a vibrate alarm. I don't keep any notifications on my phone as a general rule, so other than a text or phone call (which would probably mean something important), it doesn't go off much once we're in bed.

I would have a very hard time keeping all my tattoos covered - they cover my arms, the calf of one leg, and my chest (more like collarbone area, actually). I really think perceptions are changing though. In my "life before homeschooling", I was a designer and showroom manager at a stone and flooring place. I told my boss when he hired me that I have a fair amount of ink, and I won't be able to cover them - particularly in the summertime. He didn't seem that concerned. I hadn't been there for very long at all, and one of the designers came in from one of the architect firms that we dealt with, and when my boss got the "usual" employee who dealt with architects and interior firms, this guy said "nah, I'd like to deal with the new girl, this is kind of a different project and I bet she'll have the right eye for it". It was very weird. I am used to getting the OPPOSITE of that, but never was I "stereotyped" in a positive way because of my tattoos lol. That long story just to say, I think people's views on ink are changing. Maybe because the reasons for getting tattoos are changing. I probably don't associate facial tattoos with criminal behaviour like gang activity, because we just don't really have gang activity where I live. Not to speak of. A few biker gangs but they're pretty low-key and the members don't often get facial tattoos. So here, if someone has facial ink, they're probably more 'artsy' than criminal.

My daughter was not much past her 8th bday when she started developing breast buds. At 9.5 she most definitely needs a bralette under her shirts - she said it feels very uncomfortable to just have nothing under her shirt. She's tall and slender for her age, so it became really noticeable very quickly and she was a bit self conscious at first. I really wasn't ready for this to be happening this early!

I live in a province with zero oversight/regulations. If our kids were once registered in a public school board, then all we have to do is sign a letter of intent at the start of every school year saying we are homeschooling for that school year. And even that isn't *actually* written in stone law really. More of a "should", than a "must". Some provinces have more oversight (sometimes that oversight comes along with funding to the homeschool family, which many families really appreciate). I'd actually be quite alright with oversight in my province - - BUT, not from the ministry of education, nor my local school board. The way I see it, they've messed up enough on their own jobs - I don't think they've got any business telling me how to educate my kids. I would, most probably, be fine with oversight via mandatory check-ins or bi-yearly "eyes on the kids" visits through our healthcare system. Or regulations handled by a third party organization. But NOT our provincial education ministry because...well, if I thought they knew what they were doing I would probably have left my kids in their school system. As it stands, I'd rather no regs than having regulations overseen by the very people I'm trying to keep my kids AWAY from.

This is basically how I see *most* facial tattoos. I am around a lot of heavily tattooed folks, and the ones with facial tattoos aren't like over the top, super crazy stuff. For a lot of people, myself included, tattoos are a form of decorating the body - and for people like that a tattoo on the face would be no different than people who wear a lot of make up, or do crazy hairstyles. Sure its more permanent, but really for most tattoo-lovers, they're just not a huge deal. I'm way more distracted by some of the current cosmetic/make-up trends than I ever am by tattoos. Some tattoos have stories, some are just...beauty for the sake of beauty (and whether you or I think its beautiful is probably irrelevant to the person who sat through 2+ hours of painful tattooing). Art for the sake of art. Not everyone cares if it's bothersome to other people. My hairstylist has many tattoos on or near her face, and I think they're gorgeous. She's also a bombshell who puts most pinup models to shame, so she can really pull it off. If I did it, as a almost-40-yr-old mama, it would have a much different effect lol Having a face tattoo is obviously quite "counter-cultural" in that it's still pretty uncommon. But not everyone does it to distance themselves from society or because of anger or deeper issues.

All my tattoos are visible. I do not have one on my face - but it's no 'worse' than having one on the tops of the hand or fingers. I've seen some beautiful tattoos on the face/jawline/temple kind of areas, but I think when something is RIGHT THERE like that, it had BETTER be a good design and a talented tattooist. My next tattoo design is going to extend my sleeve down onto the top of my left hand, and my tattoo girl told me she wanted me to wait and make sure I'm ready for "that level of commitment" because unless I go around wearing gloves all the time, there's no covering up a hand tattoo. I dont think it's a sign of a trouble person hiding behind rebellion, and honestly - I think it's someone who doesn't give a rat's behind what other people think. Could some people who get super visible tattoos be hurting? I think so, yes. But that wouldn't even register on my list of reasons "why would she do that?" Mostly I would just think I'm way too much of a wuss to get a face tattoo. Ouch.

We usually have: a read aloud we're doing together, a poetry book, our artist study portfolio, Shakespeare, and usually one or two other things that my kids can learn at the same time (they both for the most part have their own resources for most subjects, but some things we can still study together). I'll also throw in cool stuff I want to do with them that doesn't really need its own "spot' in the schedule or that I don't quite know where to put it, but don't want to neglect it either. We don't do all the stuff each morning. I usually just loop through them - depending on if our day is busy with outside stuff and we need to get the day moving faster, or if we've got more time that morning, we'll do as much as we can from our MB before we stop. The next day we just pick up where we were on the looping list and do what we can, and so on. I have a post on my blog I wrote a year or two ago about our morning basket (we're secular homeschoolers), but I'm not sure if I can link to my own stuff on here. It needs an update to show what we're currently using, but my blog is in my signature if you're interested.

I was really hoping Y6 would be up before our next term starts after the holidays. It doesn't appear so. Patience is not my biggest virtue lol. I'll probably look at starting my oldest in Y7 next fall.

I agree. I often find myself thinking and considering and discussing a lot of new curricula that I may never consider using in my own homeschool. I think these conversations are great, and worthwhile to the authors of the curricula also - it's good for them to hear what people are thinking and saying about what they're creating. I would think, anyway.

I reached out to the UM people through their contact form on their blog - because now I was very curious after this discussion, whether BFSU would be the focus or if they would also offer natural history/nature study recommendations. I asked, and this was their reply (and I'm sharing here with their permission). "Yes, that is definitely part of our goal. We love BFSU, but we aren't scheduling anything pre-Year 1 and we want Year 1-3 to be a very slow almost supplemental use of BFSU where nature study and natural history really shine. One of the things that drew us to Charlotte Mason is the idea of inculcating wonder and joy in the natural world in our kids. "

Short lessons, yes. Experiential/hands-on/observational, and also systematic learning through good, modern living books. But also - it's very tricky to follow a science curric and 'stay out of the way of the child's learning' and not over-teach to the child.