It definitely is a huge help! Thank you so much!

That's how I've approached CC with him. He participates in our at home review, but I don't worry if he really remembers much, as I'm sure much of it sounds like a foreign language to him. I have him read a lot of the memory work to me also since he loves to read. I am learning a lot about individual learning styles, age appropriate learning, and patience in this first year!! I think being a bit of an overachiever myself, I have to remember he is wired more like his father...laid back Jack! lol My oldest is more like myself, he just stays focused and enjoys being challenged, moves very quickly through new concepts. The library is one of our favorite places. I actually was able to check out SOTW audio and books, but never really had time to get into them. But they are there, so I will check them out again sometime before purchasing our own copy. Thank you to Mom in AZ for that wealth of information!! It will be very helpful as I sort some things out!!! I know things can change as years go by, but a general plan and direction, doing the homework as it says, will be very beneficial and reduce some stress for me in thinking about the plan.

Tmhearn- Thank you also! I am learning the acronyms and have a page open to help when I don't know what something is! Thanks for expanding on what you were sharing! My 5 year old will be 6 in May and we will attempt to start a 1st grade style with him. I have seen that he has done better over the year, but it's kind of a day to day thing with his ability to focus some days better than others. I have not given him much seatwork at all due to seeing how he only can focus for about 10 minutes max. lol. He does like being read to and reading to me so I do that a lot with him. As well as my 3 year old. I will check out your suggestions as well! I really like Confessions of a Homeschooler blog also! She rocks! We are doing her calendar print out this year and they love doing that as well.

MMASC- Thank you so much for taking the time to respond and address each child! I am going to check out all your suggestions! I think in the wealth of information out there, it feels complicated to keep it simple. I like your approach a lot, seems a lot more enjoyable and a better fit for us. I think a good starting place for our family will be to implement the reading of quality novels first and work out from there. We have been doing reading The Boxcar Children for our bedtime reading and they love it! I will be checking into Memoria Press asap! Did you build upon any of the CC memory work topics? I am interested in using SOTW, but then again, I don't want to add too much too quick and feel overwhelmed. I still struggle with digging into some of the topics, like history and timeline, as we are learning them, but it has felt like it moves so quickly from week to week that I haven't been able to do that.

I have been browsing posts here for a while and noticing there are seemingly a million ways to implement a classical education at home. Homeschooling methods in general, finding where we "fit", is where I'm at. So I am just going to start by giving a background of my homeschool experience and see what guidance will transpire.... I have 3 children. An 8 year old son, an almost 6 year old son, and an almost 4 year old daughter. My 8 year old attending a private Christian school for Kindergarten and First grade using strictly A Beka curriculum. My 6 year old attended K4 there also, using A Beka. I decided to homeschool starting this year, and have been at it since August. Due to being completely overwhelmed at the insane amount of curriculum, I decided to purchase A Beka 2nd grade phonics, reading, and writing for my 2nd grader. He was used to the program and seemed to enjoy it, so I found a used curriculum and ordered the student manuals. I bought a used version of Sing, Spell, Read, and Write for my kindergartener.(which I found out quickly was a nightmare for him and sold it!) So we have been doing a more relaxed version for him since he is only five. I chose to use Math U See for both boys. I was still trying to figure out how to implement the other subjects in the early stages of planning. Literally two weeks before I started homeschooling, I checked out TWTM from the local library and classical just seemed to make sense to me. Seemed to give me a bit of clarity on a little more direction. I also was reading about Charlotte Mason and liked her approach too, but I felt like I needed more structure being a newbie and all. I had signed my boys up for an art and music class and after their first class saw a flyer on the door for a new homeschool opportunity called Classical Conversations. I have read through some posts here in the past few days and know that it's a touchy subject at times. I am a Christian, and had been praying about direction for our year. So I called to talk to the director of CC and prayed more, a lot more. It sounded great, but the price was steep, so I gave it a lot of thought. This would make my weekly plan look quite different than I had been planning on, but I felt led to try it, so we did. I figured it would help cover the subjects I was struggling with implementing, so I signed up my 2 boys and we just completed the 24th week last week. After only getting through 50 lessons of A Beka 2nd grade, I sold it last week. I sold most everything A Beka I had been collecting over the year. I kept the K4 Guide to use for my 4 year old when she's ready to learn to read, but pretty much sold everything else. I realized it just was not working for us. My 2nd grader didn't complain, but it seemed so time consuming and repetitive for him. He is a wise little owl, and I could see he wasn't being challenged whatsoever. I believe the instructional part of teaching phonics via A Beka is very effective, as both of my boys are great readers, but past that, I'm not sold on it for us. We LOVE Math U See and will continue using that. So now here I am, contemplating how to proceed from here. I've sold both language arts choices we started with, and now am doing nothing. I bought my own copy of TWTM and have been reading lots of books and websites on educational philosophies. I grew up in a very small town, my primary education was very lacking even though I graduated 6th in my class. I have a B.S. degree, but do not work outside the home. I feel like homeschooling my children is where I am called to be plugged into right now. However, I didn't have a classical education, so it's all new to me. I have read all about why teaching Latin is so important, yet I do not understand it at all. I feel like I want to maximize my time with my children while I am teaching them, and I will just be honest to say, I do not "get" why it's important because I have no experience with it long term. My kids have memorized Latin declensions(I think that's what they are called) this year with CC to song, but that's the extent of my experience. I love to read and want my children to love it also. I have not read most of the classics because I was never required to, other than a few titles in college literature. However, I can't wait to read them to my children, or read along with them as they get older. As far as CC goes, we have enjoyed it for the most part. My 6 year old is very hyper and has a short attention span. He is the opposite of his eager to learn older brother. He'd rather be doing flips and karate kicks and socializing with those who like the same. It has been a bit stressful to me concerning his interest in CC, because it's purely social. He likes to play constantly and distracts from the class quite often, so I felt like I had to discipline him a lot until I realized it was doing no good. It was driving me crazy, so the last half of the year, I spent most of my time with my daughter who didn't want to be left in the nursery without me. My eight year old loves CC. The first half of the year with CC was great, but when a few outside life stressors came along, attending the weekly class was hard for a time. However, the social aspect has been great for them and for me, it is a great group of families. I have really enjoyed getting to know other homeschool moms. My children have done good with the memory work, and we all have loved doing it at home. The songs are a big hit with my crew. They ask to listen to the timeline song often and my 3 year old can sing the majority of it! Blows me away how much she has picked up on this year just listening to me and the boys review. So she loves going as well. I am still praying and thinking on whether or not to do CC next year. Most of it, I have been really happy with but I still question the price. But on the other hand, I feel that for a while, I will need some structured guidance. I have just felt confused on what to do in addition to CC. I do not know where to go from here with language arts for both boys. I want to keep my 6 year old's interest and foster his love of reading more. I also want my 8 year old to feel challenged somewhat, since he has a natural love of learning that I've never had to teach him. And to give my daughter a great start in her education as well. But where to go from here?? I don't want to model traditional education and do "school at home." I know this has turned into a novel, but I hope in this post, my confusion on direction makes sense. I am going back and forth on how I feel about many aspects of homeschooling. I have 3 children with seemingly different learning styles. I tend to get overwhelmed easily with too much on my plate. I like simplicity but want community as well. So I am seeking advice on implementing an educational philosophy that "fits" my family, some structure advice, and curriculum choices that maybe I'm not aware of(and that is many). I could spend all day looking for the "perfect" scenario, and sometimes I feel that's what I am doing while missing opportunities in the present. I want learning to be enjoyable and desirable for me and my children. This first year has been wonderful at times and very challenging at times. I would like to come to place of peace with direction so next year seems less chaotic. Thank you if you took the time to read all of this!! I appreciate any advice.