[History of Us: Original vs. Concise]

We're doing the 10 volume set right now. We're on volume 4 right now, intending to do 1-6 this year, and 7-10 next year alongside SOTW4. I have the concise version on my shelf but decided to go with the slightly longer version. We read 2 chapters a day, 3-4 times a week, and we're getting through it easily. We're reading various novels that go along with the time period and have interesting discussions. Occasionally we go on field trips that fit in. 

[feedback on Integrate curriculum from Biologos?]

This is really interesting to me. It looks like a science-y Bible study more than a science course to me. Is that right? Since my kids will likely hear a lot of "Christians against evolution" talk from their home school peers, it might be good to have something like this to help them think through things. I'd want to look it over to be sure it wasn't weirdly dogmatic in some other way.

[Does anyone have a kid who showed a lot of athletic potential ? What happened? Lessons learned?]

My cousin was a soccer kid. He played some baseball, too, on a really great team that had been to the LL World Series, though not when he was on it, haha, but he shone at soccer. Travel team, high school, college scholarship, and even a year or two of the lowest-level of professional. He's a big guy (goalie) and lived in football country, so in high school, he let a coach convince him to play football. The only thing about his sports career he really regrets was allowing himself to be convinced to play football as he got a few concussions that had lasting consequences. He got knocked about a bit with soccer, but football was a totally different level. His soccer team friends seem to be lasting friends, and he coaches part-time, so he's continued to benefit from soccer even though his active playing days are pretty much done.

[Question, especially if you are a non-Christian religion or agnostic or atheist]

I'm a Christian and it's a meaningful part of my life, but I've struggled with this as people who assume don't just assume a little. They typically figure that if you share the same basic religious beliefs, you share the same political ones as well. For a lot of folks, I think, "where do you go to church?" is less a religious than a political question. 

I was sitting with some moms while or kids did some homeschool sports together. The other moms are all missionaries working with refugees after having to leave the mission field. They try to be nice and include me to various extents, but I'm not in their circle, and that's ok. From other sources, including my husband's work, I know some things about the area where they are working that they don't know, and I try to share when appropriate and I take part in city chat sometimes. Once, one was talking about how a very recent refugee was talking with her husband about how often they ate ham in particular and meat in general and what the rules were about that. She and the other ladies began talking about how very sad it was that he didn't have freedom in Jesus to not worry about rules. I brought up that it was likely a cultural/poverty difference as much as religious and that many Christians throughout history and today have rules to help them avoid gluttony. That wasn't acceptable input as anyone who practiced Christianity differently also didn't have "freedom in Jesus" and so didn't count. It's tiring to have to choose between smiling and nodding even when I don't agree or outing myself as someone strange, and trying to guess in every new setting whether it'll ever be safe to share ideas.

[Question, especially if you are a non-Christian religion or agnostic or atheist]

7 minutes ago, Wheres Toto said:

What I am seeing a ton lately is people looking for "like minded people", "fresh air events" and lots of venting about "freedom".  

Is a "fresh air event" one that meets outside for Covid safety, or one where people don't wear masks? If it's the second, they need to work on their code words because I would show up confused!

[struggling with commas]

Similar to the resource above, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/commas/index.html is a good resource for college/adult learners.

[Grandbaby Book Wishlist]

Muncha, Muncha, Muncha is my number 1 choice to read to little ones.

[struggling with commas]

What age/level? And what's the problem? Comma usage is one of those frustrating areas that lacks consensus in certain aspects, so if you have a particular standard you want to require, you'll need to make sure the resource you use doesn't conflict with that.

[Banks and masks and signs...oh my!]

He's just being silly.

That being said, I've been trying to get to know a group of Kindergartners, many of whom I've only seen wearing a ball cap and a covid-mask. There are 3 groups of 3 each that I have a hard time telling apart from the others in their "group" because they are about the same size and coloration as each other, and I feel pretty bad about it. Add in a set of twins, and I'm lost. I've always had a hard time telling people apart and remembering names and faces, but when I put my mind to it, I can be decent at it. Right now, not so much.

[SOTW Activity Book Companion]

From flipping through, it looks like the old version is close enough that the new outlines can be filled out using the older text. There are a few chapters from WW2 on that look like they may have been re-organized as the sub-headings were different, though the chapter titles were the same. There seem to be more pages in the new edition, whether that's due to a more extensive preface, more illustrations, different typeset, or more information, I don't know.

[SOTW Activity Book Companion]

I have the old version of text and audio book, but the new version of the activity book on PDF. I'm looking at them right now to see if the changes look extensive.

[BSA Scout experts - Rather wild update]

I want to thank y'all for having this conversation here. My oldest, a daughter, is a first year Webelos this year, so we're trying to think about what troop to join. Our pack, like others in the area, has been de facto coed, with boy and girl dens meeting in the same time and place as each other. She's gotten along really well with some of the boys, and there are just 3 girls her age. The current thought is to make the 50+ year old troop essentially co-ed as well. On paper a boy troop and girl troop, but in practice a girl patrol meeting with the established boys. If we do this, we'll likely have less of the drama that comes from entirely new leadership. The troop and pack are more "progressive" than some, so there wouldn't be much "this is boy stuff" attitude. There are a couple of girl troops 15 minutes from us, in different directions, but then she'd leave her friends. Her brothers, including the one with whom she likes to pretend she's a twin, would want to join "our" troop, almost certainly. Right now I'm just a Lion Den leader, so this all feels very foreign, and reading posts like this helps me get a feel for the issues that may arise.

[SOTW Activity Book Companion]

I just looked at the Store site here, and it says it is the questions from the Activity book written up as worksheets. It seems intended to provide independent work/seatwork for older students, if desired, but isn't any new content, just new format.

[Change now or finish the year]

My kids have really been enjoying Hakim's History of US this year. I read it aloud, and we typically have a related novel and movie each month, and a field trip when we can. I think it's very age appropriate but honest, with the assumption that America is a noble experiment that has made and still makes mistakes while working towards high ideals. There are 10 books (we're doing 6 this year), and I would guess you could just start at wherever point in American history you've gotten so far in the disliked curriculum.

[Lightning Lit 6 Errors?]

At least the first point could be a British vs American issue. In England, they really do use plural verbs with collective nouns, like "the team are playing well."

[free milkweed seeds for monarch butterflies]

This is cool, but I think I've heard that there's some scientists worried about Monarch's breeding being disrupted by people planting milkweed in the wrong places. Do you know if the above organization provides any guidance about that, or do people just need to research on their own? 

[Confederate Grave, Part II. (Warning: dubious moral behavior mentioned)]

Most of what I have to say would be repetitive and not add anything to the conversation at this point.

On the confederate flag, though. It was always very, very jarring to see it being worn/flown when I was in Russia. It only happened a few times, but it was a signal to me to get out of the situation as fast as possible. There, people who hated minorities couldn't use swastikas or nazi symbolism because of how hated Nazi Germany was because of the "Great Patriotic War" (WWII), so some just subbed in the Confederate flag to signal that they hated all people who weren't "the Rus." I could easily be mistaken for Russian and was pretty defenseless, so I had to smile and nod through some super uncomfortable conversations.

[Omicron and school question]

20 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

Early on, schools were hoping for waivers from the state to be able to count the days as school days and not make them up. Last I heard, those hadn't come, so now they will have to make them up at the end of June. We've been lucky so far in my school - haven't been under 50% attendance yet (under 50% does not count as a school day, so we'd have to make it up). Still a dumb policy though - when we were remote, we were synchronous, kids had as much teacher "face" time as when we're in person and all special ed services were being fulfilled as well. That can't happen when 60% of kids are in school and 40% out - we're told to focus on the kids in person. 🙄

Our area doesn't have this policy, so I hadn't thought of it, but it seems reasonable to require that the school offer free optional summer school equal to the number of days that are virtual, up to 35 days or something. Virtual school doesn't work well for some kids, and just because they manage a "pass" doesn't mean they are ready to move on.

Our country is virtual for a week, but the county five minutes away is going to be in person, so it'll be an interesting experiment to watch, I guess. Another nearby county is still famously refusing a mask mandate.

[Classical Curriculums - Memoria Press and whatelse?]

@KrisTom Have you read The Well Trained Mind by the host of this site? She also has a lot of great articles up here to read for free. Reading (again) through that might help you come up with a vision for how you can do the elements of classical education that you value while also valuing your children's preference for color and beauty. Don't forget to really, really focus on only including what you know you can do well, at least to start. You can always add in more later. (I am assuming you have a way of doing math and reading well. Don't wait until later to add those, haha.)

[Classical Curriculums - Memoria Press and whatelse?]

2 hours ago, KrisTom said:

I wish things were more streamlined with MP.  I feel like if I choose one of those, it won't allow us to do the parts of MP we like.  A lot of the traditional programs seem to combine the language arts.  I would love to keep MP's writing and Latin, but it seems like Latin on a complete other grammar curriculum would be a lot.  History with MP is timelines, classical, geography, and optional American History living books--and sometimes it just feels like a lot to keep track of.

Maybe a good first step would be to list out the areas you want your children to study, then look at the curriculum you already have and like and see how many areas it covers. For example, if you have Latin that includes grammar, plus writing in English, you probably don't need separate grammar and vocabulary programs. You could get a simple, run-of-the-mill LA workbook to hand the kids as independent work, which would check those boxes and allow them to stay busy when you are attending to the needs of your toddler. 

After you've assessed what you've already selected and enjoyed, look at your time/attention budget. This is a very real issue in our house, too. There are only so many one-on-one sessions I can have and only so many things I can keep track of. You can rotate which things get close attention. That might mean one month you just watch science videos over lunch while you do the mapping and fun projects in history/geography, then the next you just listen to SOTW audiobooks in the car while doing science demonstrations. 

You said above that you lack confidence to exclude things, which is why I would encourage you to start with thinking about your goals and your children's needs and build up from there rather than starting with a list of what someone who doesn't know your children is trying to sell you and paring down.

[Classical Curriculums - Memoria Press and whatelse?]

People have different things they mean when they say "complete curriculum." Are you wanting a grade level package that includes all subjects and tells you when to do what? Are you wanting to streamline and have one curriculum per area, for example a LA curriculum that includes all reading, writing, grammar, etc in one place? Something that combines most subjects, like weaving together LA, history, science, and art? 

I think classical educators are less likely to use a grade level package, so those are probably going to be pretty sparse. There seem to be a number of choices that do most everything except math, which you add in at your child's level. 

[My parents were in a bad car accident today]

I'm praying for your parents, you, and your whole family, and I'm glad it sounds like things are going as well as can be.

[Why does "Simple" seem so...Difficult?]

I hear you! I have kids who are very capable and can do amazing things, but they are kids and have lots of time. Letting them have their mental space to play and be creative is really important. 

I "benefit" from being stretched thin between 4 kids. If I only had one kid like this, I would be tempted to add more and more to keep myself entertained. If you think that might be part of your antsiness, I would find something you want to study and study that where he can see you. Not only will you be learning, he'll get a wonderful example of life long learning. When I do that sort of thing, my kids become really interested in what I'm learning, too.

[Is Ballet the answer for a Shy, Homeschooled Boy?]

The Cub scout den I lead has at least 3 little 5-6 year old boys who dance. I wonder where you live that this would be unusual. Yes, dance is more common for girls, like marital arts is more common for boys, but no one is supposed at all to learn a boy dances or a girl does taekwondo. It's healthy for kids to try out different things. Relax a bit.

[Changing perspective on COVID....maybe a good time to get it]

5 hours ago, katilac said:

You are supposed to notify your primary doctor. 

I've been meaning to find a good family Dr for me and my husband but haven't yet. Most people I know who are my age see their obgyn (if female) as they're only Dr, or no one of they are male. Dh gets annual checkups from random army Dr once a year.