I'm not doing narration with "several" children...only two (so far), but for us, even though ds and dd are going through TOG together, they each have books on their own level. I read SOTW to ds, but dd is kind of past that. She'll listen in sometimes, but she has books she is reading independently that cover the same topic but in greater detail. I have ds narrate on what I am reading with him, and dd narrates on what she is reading. Dd and ds have about a 3 1/2 year age spread. I'm not sure how I'd handle it if my kids were closer in age and using the same material though. My younger kids are closer in age (and not schooling yet) so I am curious to see what other responses you get.

Our main math program is Singapore but I have used R&S materials to supplement. I have the Blackline masters for R&S 1 and 2. I have copied some of these worksheets off as extra practice and drill. My ds likes dot-to-dots so I've printed off some of those and I like the Blossom and Bees worksheets for learning/practicing math facts. I also have R&S 5 which I have used for extra practice with dd. I like to cherry pick assignments if I think more drill is needed. On the whole though, I use very little of R&S. I bought it because it was cheap and I am a bit of a curriculum addict :blushing:.

My kids have liked the Rainbow Rock CD. The games mesh well with program.

Edith Hamilton is what my high school used. I found a used copy years ago, before I had children. I need to get a second copy for the kids so they don't tear up my lovely hardback copy. :lol:

:iagree: Fantastic post!

We school year-round. I don't like taking a big break from school because it's hard to get into gear again. I also like the flexibility of taking breaks when we need to. I don't really have a set structure to when we take breaks. I take breaks around holidays. Instead of two weeks at Christmas, we take about a month off, a week off at Thanksgiving, Easter, 4th of July, etc. Then we take breaks for family vacations or visits from family. If the kids get sick I will sometimes call off the whole week since they are not in the mood to do school while sniffling and sneezing. I keep track of our days and I make sure we get in 180 days (at least) of school each year. I don't really see any cons myself, but then we've always done things this way.

That was one of my majors at GCC. What do you want to know?

We use R&S spelling and we have workbooks. The hardcover text isn't used for spelling until 6th grade. Perhaps some older editions are hardcovers? We have levels 2-6 right now and levels 2-5 are all workbooks. I used SWO with my dd for one year and it didn't work well for us. R&S has been a much better fit.

If you are not concerned about test scores and do not like workbooks, it sounds like what you already do serves your purposes very well. We do Wordly Wise here. My dd enjoys it (she's always been a workbook kid). She loves adding new words to her arsenal, too :001_smile:.

I think PS varies widely in what is used for math. You would have to contact your local school district to find out what they use before a comparison could be made.

I've read 36 of the books on that list in their entirety and parts of a few others (I have a bad habit of reading half a book, putting it down for several months and not picking it up again.) There was a little too much "junk" on that list imho.

Memoria Press has this PDF of the basics of Classical pronunciation.

I had my kids "change the calendar" every day starting in Pre-school. We use one of these, but I assume something similar could be made with cardstock or something. The repetition makes it stick. We have this fabric calendar hanging in the schoolroom in a prominent place along with a paper calendar and so they see the months hanging there, in order, each day. Then basically I let them "play" with it in changing the date each day.

I love Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines. Almost everything I've tried from those magazines is a "keeper" with us. I have lots of cookbooks, but I kind of like getting the magazines in the mail since it inspires me to try something new.

I guess I'm looking for something like How Should We Then Live by Francis Schaeffer....but for a Logic Stage student. I think that might be a bit heavy for a middle schooler...but I could be wrong.

I'm trying to cobble together my own Logic Stage worldview course for my kids and I'm investigating spines at the moment. Any suggestions? :bigear:

We're doing TOG Year 1 right now, too. I got a copy of the Kingfisher Atlas of the Ancient World for this year. So far, so good for us.

Blue Ribbon Country Cookbook. This is the cookbook I turn to most. Lots of basic recipes. Good information on kitchen equipment too. I bought this one as a newlywed and it (along with my mother) taught me to cook. Mine is an earlier edition and is now falling apart at the binding. I was glad to see this is still in print.

Oh my. I didn't need to see that. Thank you for the link, but really I didn't need to see that. :lol:

You didn't say what level you are using for Singapore. For DS in 1B: I schedule work according to the week "plans" in the front of the HIG. I sit next to him and we go over the lesson from the Textbook, then I set him loose on the workbook Exercise. I add in CWP and IP when I think we need a little reinforcement. We also work on a bit of drill each week; either flashcards or Rainbow Rock games, usually. For DD in 5A: I schedule her work according to the week plans in the front of the HIG as well. She works mostly independently. She reads the text and does the appropriate workbook exercise or Practice from the Text. I add in CWP or IP if needed. If she has any questions about a new concept I go over it with her trying to use example problems from the HIG. With both kids: I go over any missed problems in the exercises/text and we redo them together on the whiteboard. I follow the week plans in the HIG pretty closely for scheduling. I let DD work ahead if she wishes and I will reschedule her work accordingly.

*raises hand* I didn't work anything other than summer/part-time jobs before getting married. I met dh in college and after graduation we both agreed I would stay home. I had a double major in college. Psychology and Christian Thought. For what it's worth, DH is an engineer and I like how he thinks. I forget how his Myers-Briggs came out....

I have one of these. I LOVE the Sh-mop! I have 3 terry cloth covers that stretch over it. I use only vinegar and water to clean my kitchen floor most of the time (we have a hardwood floor in the kitchen) and the Sh-mop does a great job of it. The Sh-mop covers get moistened and wrung out. Then, they get stretched over the mop head. You just throw the terry covers in the washer when you're done. I bought mine from The Clean Team catalog. I've had the same Sh-mop (and covers) for about 5 years now.

:party: Happy Birthday!

This is one of my all time favorite books! I had to write some type of literary analysis paper in high school on any work I chose, and I chose this one :001_smile:. It's been a number of years, but if I recall correctly there is no pat answer to this. For my paper I had to read analysis of this book by other people. Both interpretations have their followings. Again, it's been awhile, but I also seem to remember Henry James being asked about this (or maybe it was another story with a ghost in it) and he seemed to acknowledge he liked to play around (imaginatively) with the idea of there being ghosts, so this would seem to support the notion that it's just a straight up ghost story. But then the governess could have just been a little loony. Who knows? But isn't it a great book? I love Henry James.

Across two kids, I probably spend about 1-1 1/2 hours reading aloud each day. We're always working through a fiction read aloud for dd9. Sometimes I will read her history to her, but she does that independently most of the time. Her read loud usually takes 30 minutes. Ds5 has a separate fiction read aloud we work through. He also gets Bible and History read to him. If I find the time I try to also read something short to dd3. Most of the time, she has to piggyback with her older siblings though. I don't think she picks up on anything, but you never know.