Ah thanks for letting me know! Maybe we will try a two week schedule, too then. I don't want any given week to be overly time consuming- but I don't want it to be where we're trying to fill time just to drag it out longer and end up losing interest, either!

Breakfast time! Usually my daughter gets up and has breakfast within a few minutes of getting up. At that time, I'm just sipping coffee and not yet eating. So I usually sit at the table and start off our school day by reading aloud to her while she eats. When she's finished eating, we might move onto the couch to finish readin somewhere more comfortable. She enjoys starting the day off that way, it's more fun than just going right into written work, it's just kind of a relaxing/enjoyable way for her to wake up and for me to start the school day.

LOL I just started this thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240516

Thanks! It looks great, I'm really excited about using it (and doing it along with her!) Of course, that art supply list looks a little intimidating, hopefully it doesn't get ridiculously expensive lol.

I have an idea. This was inspired by LibraryLover, who said: "I love blogs, and I always give parents the benefit of the doubt. Most folks are doing the best they can. However. Sometimes it takes a whole lot of parental control to look good. Nobody every takes pix of their kids crying and being bored out of their minds, or having to scrub the bathroom floor as punishment, or the minivan filled with the toys that were 'donated' or thrown away because they didn't clean up well." (the above text borrowed from this thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240485) So. Next week - from Monday, January 31st through Friday, February 4th- the goal is to take pictures of the WORST moments of the week. The messes, the tears, the bored faces, whatever comes up- all the behind the scenes stuff that we don't usually bother portraying on our blogs. And then we have to portray them on our blogs in an entry that must be posted by Monday, February 7th. Come back to this thread once you've done so and post the link. So? Are you in? C'mon, it'll be fun, and we can finally admit that none of us are perfect ALL the time ;) P.S. If you don't have a blog, you can come back here and type a summary of the "Week's Worst Moments" and attach some pics.

Hm. You're kind of inspiring me to do a blog entry of like "the week's worst moments" or something and to take pics of all those types of things and then post it as one entry. Maybe I'll do that in the near future! :D Oh and the room in that Counting Coconuts blog--- man that's beautiful! I'd love a room like that. But here, it just wouldn't ever LOOK like that.

There's http://www.vegsource.com

I already have all of my curriculum stuff and a loose schedule set. I just need to buy a new stock of art supplies, which I'll do over the summer.

I've decided to do this next year for 6th grade art. (And I have to thank this board for helping me find out about that homeschool buyer's co-op, which I had NO idea existed until today when I did a search for MTM to see what kind of reviews it was getting around here, and which enabled me to sign up and get MTM for half the price!!!!)... Anyway! I'm just wondering how you all schedule it. Do you do it once a week and stretch it out so that each artist lasts a month? If so, how do you break it down into 4 week segments? Could you give me an example of what you might aim to accomplish in a given week? Thanks!

I'm really not sure- you could maybe install it on a second computer, or call TT and ask them about it. Do you have the workbook? Maybe you can write it out or photocopy it and they can watch the lecture and then do the problems on paper instead of on the computer?

LOL I know, aren't they great? My husband and I crack up while we're reading them!

I have a 5 bedroom house but still no school room (and I'm sitting here thinking "a jacuzzi? a spa house? THAT would be nice!!!) LOL.

Yeah, it varies. If I reserve something online that they do have on their shelves, they will call me anywhere from 1-3 days later to let me know it's ready (usually 1-2 days). If I have to order something through Interlibrary Loan (which I do by emailing the ILL librarian), that could take a week, or it could take a few weeks- it really does vary! I would say MOST of the time it's within 1-2 weeks though.

I have OMK through OM8- I bought the whole set used from one person. They are the 1998 editions. Before purchasing, I contacted OM to ask if there had been any significant changes to the curriculum since then, and they said there hadn't. So I bought them, and got a really good deal on them! There seem to be some minor differences here and there but nothing that made me regret purchasing my older editions (especially at the price I got them for). I feel like it's a great curriculum and we really love it. We've used all of OM4 and more than half of OM5 so far. Plus we did like 8 weeks of K earlier this year before I decided to hold off on that til next year.

Here's what we'll be using: (subjects listed according to PA Home Ed Law) ENGLISH: Oak Meadow 6 (which is integrated w/OM6 social studies) and possibly "Story Grammar for Elementary School" (Killgallon) (We're still working through "Sentence Composing for Elementary School" now). MATH: Teaching Textbooks 6 4X a week, & Life of Fred Fractions 1X a week. SCIENCE: Oak Meadow 6 Basic Life Science GEOGRAPHY: Incorporated into Social Studies; Continuing to receive our "Little Passports" subscription as well. HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES/CIVICS: Oak Meadow 6 (Ancient Civilizations; integrated with OM6 English) PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Continuing weekly Judo lessons MUSIC: Will be starting weekly guitar lessons ART: Meet The Masters HEALTH/PHYSIOLOGY: Using the free curriculum at kidshealth.org (http://kidshealth.org/classroom/index.jsp?Grade=68&Section=personal) EXTRAS: Girl Scouts (weekly), Library Book Club (every 3 weeks), Spring Homeschool Bowling League (10 week program) We're also supposed to do "Safety Education, including fire safety" - that will probably be mainly via conversation, reading, and annual homeschool group fire safety programs, interactive websites, Red Cross swim lessons etc.

:drool:

Ah. I understand. Sell the stuff. Get something for YOU. Something that has NOTHING to do with the kids.

I don't even HAVE a school room. Our schoolwork is either done: in the kitchen at the table (said room containing all the normal things typically found in a kitchen :P) or In the "computer room" (I guess you could call it), which contains my computer desk/computer, a china cabinet I've converted into a school and art supply cabinet, two bookcases, a loveseat, a big tote full of craft supplies, our vacuum cleaner, and a large saltwater fish tank. or occasionally on the living room couch, or at the patio table in the backyard if it's a particularly nice day.

Ditto the IUD. And I would TOTALLY sell that stuff and splurge on something for me. You deserve it!

Lol it's ok, nance is short for Nancy anyway. I use OM English/History and Science and TT for math, yes. This is because I have older used versions of OM and in the version I have, they didn't used to have their own math curriculum from 5th grade on. They recommended Saxon! Blech! :) so after some research I opted for TT instead.

Yes I agree, that stuff is definitely just as important as "school stuff!" And lol I do feel like we accomplish a lot- but I also feel like I don't spend anywhere near as much time on it as a lot of people here do. It still feels thorough to me though! :)

Hi, we do almost all of the assignments. Every once in a while we skip or modify something but for the most part, we follow it. Sometimes I let her writing assignments be a bit shorter than what they ask for. And we don't necessarily do every single "extra credit" assignment- we pick and choose which ones sound the most fun. I also sit with my daughter and give her some handholding as needed to keep her focused on the things she might be slowest with or need the most help with, and the things I know she's good at doing independently I leave her alone to do (but still check on her regularly to see how it's going. Are you doing 5th grade or 6th? Maybe 6th is more time consuming than 5th? I'm not sure. Anyway, we do try to make the fun hands on stuff a priority!

Yes. I only had one relative who said she was against homeschooling in general (an aunt who is a retired schoolteacher) but even despite that, she said she would still support my decision- and times that we've shown her things my daughter has worked on, she has made positive comments.

LOL well a lot of them aren't really mine. A lot of them are directly from the Oak Meadow curriculum (like the candlemaking, the biome observation, furnishing the president's mansion, the homemade ink, the word collage, etc. Some are things I've heard about here (the book challenge, times tales, etc). Some things I just come across online (the cupcake ideas, the peace dove which was from Enchanted Learning, the printable "Let's Play" kits) Some are ideas my kids come up with and we just go with. And every once in a while, I get a little creative, too. :)

:) I posted the recipe for the cupcakes, the frosting, more pics of them, and ideas for how to decorate them in other months here: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/173018.html