Thank you so much for sharing! So generous; I really appreciate it!

I recommend Creativebug on here all the time because we love, love, love it! (It's online subscription-based video art lessons for everything from knitting to cake decorating to painting and drawing.) We're super into art in our house and this is a resource we all use constantly. It's $4.95/month for super high-quality videos, all taught by professional artists and designers. Highly recommend!

We're still only about halfway through BB1, but I'd love for you to share your BB2 schedule for future reference! Thanks for offering! :-)

We have been using AAS for two years now. (Tried Spelling Workout in the beginning and it didn't do anything for us.) Pros: -AAS is actually working! My children's spelling has definitely improved as a result of the program. -It is very open-and-go. Once the tiles are set up, I don't have to plan or think about anything, I just do the next thing. -It is colorful and I think the materials are very high-quality. -Concepts are presented in a very logical order. -I use the tiles on a magnetic white board (as recommended) and I think that makes all the difference. (Getting them out every day would be a huge pain!) But sometimes, when we're trying to get through a little more quickly, we'll just write with red and blue dry erase markers and that works great, too. So you don't necessarily always have to use the tiles. (But, like I said, they are good quality, so I find them useful and pretty to look at all set up on my white board.) Cons: -Sometimes I think the program tells me more than I ever wanted to know about spelling, lol. (But, you can't deny that knowing all the rules helps you understand why things are the spelled the way they are.) -It takes longer than I would like to spend on spelling, but I'm not sure there's another way around this, honestly. (If I want my kids to learn spelling, I think I simply have to put in the time, you know?) That said, we only do it twice per week, about 15-20 minutes per session. I find that just when it's about to feel tedious, a new element or activity is introduced. So, I wish there was a way to make it magically faster, but AAS is the best program I've found. I'm happy with it! It's incredibly well-ordered and well-organized, the materials are of high quality, and I can't imagine it not working if you actually follow the program and do all the work. We definitely plan to continue with it. Hope that helps!

We started AAS 1 and FLL1 at the same time (first grade), but I don't see how it would make a bit of difference when/in what order you begin either grammar or spelling. Like the others have said, FLL is super easy and gentle and very easy to weave into your school day. Good luck!

If the journal is just for fun and for encouraging writing, I would let her use it as she likes and not correct anything (unless she asks for correction). But if you want to use it specifically as a tool for teaching writing, I would suggest making the sentence writing copywork. (With copywork, there is no chance of misspelling in the first place.) In other words, you could have her draw the picture, then ask her to dictate her sentence to you while you write it down (using proper spelling, capitalization, and punctuation). Then, she can copy this sentence into her book under her picture. Basically, I would decide what your main purpose is for the journal and go from there. (Have fun! It sounds like a fun project!) ETA: You could print out a bunch of story writing paper and put it into a binder. (Just Google "story writing paper.") This kind of paper would give her space to draw her picture, but it also provides lines beneath that you could use to write the model sentence. Then, she could write her copywork sentence below yours. Just a thought!

We have used Math U See from the beginning and I definitely plan to keep using it because it just plain works for us. (My oldest daughter is finishing up 4th grade, so we have used MUS for five years now - Primer to Delta.) We love the manipulatives, the DVDs, the mastery approach, just all of it. I feel like my kids are really understanding math from the ground up in a way I never did (I struggled with math my entire schooling career). I also feel like the workload is very manageable; we complete one lesson per week and it feels like the perfect amount. Mystie Winckler writes a lot about Math U See on her blog. (You can search her blog for MUS posts.) I basically agree with everything she says about MUS, so if you're interested in learning more, I'd head to her site! ETA: No regrets at all! I feel lucky to have found "the one" that works for us from the very beginning and I think my kids have benefitted from not switching around. Both my girls would tell you they enjoy math; it hasn't been a scary or difficult subject for them. (Challenging, yes, but it never feels impossible or miserable to them. They always seem to go into a lesson with a belief that they will "get it," and so far, they always do!)

I can't speak to the Brother laser, but I've had such good luck with the Canon! I stock up on ink at the beginning of every school year. (I just include it as a line item in our homeschool budget.) This year, I bought 4 sets of the cheap cartridges, and they have lasted the entire school year. (In fact, I think I'm still only on set #3.) So, I'd estimate I spend about $30.00 on ink every school year. I have never had any problem with any kind of drying out. I mentioned this someplace else, but for reference, I print hundreds of pages a year (printing booklets for co-op and our WWE pages, etc. I even printed out The Writer's Jungle last summer.) In top of that, my girls also use the photocopier a ton for their own creative projects (for instance, they'll make their own paper dolls by photocopying pages from story books)... So, the printer just gets tons of use--both B&W and color, and I find the ink to last a really long time. Hope that helps!

I'm so sorry you're feeling this way. :grouphug: I totally get it. We belong to a great co-op and I love the people, but the nature of homeschooling in our particular community seems to be constant change; people come and go from the co-op and it's kind of heartbreaking every time one of your child's beloved homeschool friends starts school or stops co-op for other reasons, etc. I've definitely felt it sometimes--that feeling of "Oh, it would be so much easier (socially) to just put them in school!" But personally, we love homeschooling and it works so well for us, so I just have to remind myself that we have to focus on what works best for our family overall. (So far, the cons of homeschooling do not outweigh the pros.) But it gets hard when the people around you always seem to be changing or making different choices. Living out your dreams can be surprisingly lonely sometimes!

No! We have only been doing grammar 2x per week and it's worked well! We'll take a little longer to get through our curriculum (FLL), but I know it will all get done in the end. (Plus, I have found that we have gotten so much unintentional grammar in our schedule through Latin and writing, that 2x per week of formal grammar has been plenty!)

Just wanted to send you lots of hugs and support. (FTR, I don't think there is anything wrong with you! You have a large family and a lot on your plate, and it would be a lot for anyone to handle. I think it is absolutely normal to feel overwhelmed, unsure, etc. Please allow yourself some grace for your particular situation.) For me, to help myself make this decision, I would think of this along the lines of: What will my day-to-day life look like with each scenario? That is, I would try to imagine what an average day will look like next year with choice (a) the kids in school, and choice (b) the kids homeschooling. Because I think it's the day-to-day reality of our lives that either creates happiness or causes distress. With choice A, I'd make a list of what the reality will be. "If my kids were in school, the average day would involve...." -Drop offs and pick ups. Will you be the one dropping them off and picking them up for school, or will DH be able to take care of that? (Personally, I would find wrangling 2 big kids and 4 little kids into the car twice per day pretty stressful/aggravating, but for you or someone else, that might be a welcome breath of fresh air two times per day.) -Lunch-making for the school kids, managing homework/assignments/forms, etc. for the school kids, etc. -Any extracurriculars and the tighter schedule of school. -And so on. Just write out everything you can think of. Then do the same with the homeschooling scenario. Perhaps getting a sense of the day-to-day will help focus your mind and help you ease into a decision. I will say that if you do decide on homeschooling, there is no reason you can't make it a "survival mode" year and just do the bare minimum. (Ask yourself: What is the bare minimum I have to do this year in order to not be negligent/to fulfill my state's requirements? THEN DO ONLY THAT. This is short-term--a year or so--to get you on your feet. Your children will be fine! You could just make it a low-key year--do math, reading, and some writing, and let your read-alouds cover everything else. If it were me, I'd also consider putting a hold on extracurriculars, co-ops, or anything "extra." Just...do as little as you need to get by and spend your time focusing on caring for yourself, the baby, and the kids in general. But, let the house go, let the cooking go, let the extra things fall away for a year. Another way to think of it: Next year, you do not need to be a SUPER AMAZING homeschool mom. You simply need to be a good-enough homeschool mom. So, maybe seek out curriculum that is Good Enough and will get done, even if it isn't your perfect "dream" curriculum, you know? And here's a thought, too: there are years at school where kids get stuck with a truly awful teacher. My sixth-grade teacher was terrible and I still remember the classroom was chaos every single day and I learned nothing. But the year before, in fifth grade, I had an incredible teacher. The bad teacher was a bummer, but did it really matter in the context of my entire education? No! In other words, I think homeschoolers deserve that same grace--I think it's okay if we aren't super amazing teachers when life is hard for a period of time. I feel like I'm trying to convince you to homeschool, and I'm honestly not trying to do that at all! If your heart is screaming for relief and school is calling to you, by all means, use school! It's a totally viable (and free!) option. There is nothing wrong with taking advantage of it for a year, or forever. I guess I'm just trying to convince you that you're not a failure, that it's okay to be ambivalent, that it's okay to feel like you want space, that it's okay not to be perfect. Do not feel guilty; just be honest about what you want in your heart. I do agree with the previous poster who suggested that you wait a little while to decide. I think we can probably all agree that the pregnant brain is not always the most rational/clear-thinking one (at least mine wasn't!). Maybe once the new baby arrives in July, all will become clear. In most states, you don't have to decide on school enrollment until 15 days before the start of the school year, so maybe just set the whole thing aside for a while, daydream about the new baby, binge-watch some Netflix, or relax with a novel, and decide not to decide for a bit. But above all, be kind to yourself. Wishing you all the best!

Okay, I am a Type-A planner, so this might be too much organization for you, but I tried the 36-week folder system this year and it has worked so well for us! I admit there have been moments when the plan was a little too strict and I didn't have as much margin as I hoped, but overall, it was awesome and we definitely stayed on track more than we have in any previous year. I am really happy with our progress. The change I will make for next year is to build in maybe 2 extra "blank days" (school days where I schedule nothing) every six weeks. This way, if we are a tiny bit "behind" due to an impromptu play date or field trip, I'll know I have even more margin than I built into this year. (We will use the blank days to do catch-up work, and if it turns out there is nothing to catch up on, then we will have a full-on day or two of unschooling.) I wrote about our system in detail here (scroll down a bit for lots of info), and now that we are almost finished with the entire school year, I can say that it worked well for us!

I love to clean and can totally relate to "cleaning moods," but I would (gently) recommend that for long-term sustainability, it might work best if you try to fit cleaning in around your homeschool schedule and not the other way around. Of course, putting school on hold this once and taking a week or two off will not harm your children, but if it's a repeating pattern, you might find that over time it becomes too disruptive to your kids' education. May I suggest scheduling your cleaning? That's what I've discovered to work best for my family. I do two week-long marathon cleaning sessions per year, one over summer break and one right after the New Year in January. My husband either takes the kids to my in-laws', or my family just knows they're basically on their own for the week while mama goes into deep work cleaning mode, lol. But scheduling my cleaning marathons this way is great for two reasons: (1) The house is spotless right before fall semester and right before spring semester, so I go into the new school semester with everything feeling bright and shiny and ready to go, and (2) when I do the summer cleaning session, the kids are on summer vacation, and when I do the winter one, the kids are on Christmas break, so it's built right into our vacation calendar and does not affect our homeschooling. This has worked really well for us the past couple years and allows me to avoid any conflict with homeschool. (It can be really hard to wait when I feel the hardcore cleaning itch come on, but I know in my heart that school always has to come first.) Beyond that, we deep-clean the house as a family once per week (everyone--kids and adults--do chores, laundry, bathrooms, etc.), and on a daily basis, we try to pick up for 15 minutes every night before dinner, putting everything back in its place. This is a system that keeps my house in good shape almost all the time and keeps me sane. So, just throwing that out there as an option for a fellow marathon cleaner. Hope you find something that works for you!

I use classic books as an opportunity for discussion about history/context/how society has evolved. For instance, we read all 9 of the Little House books earlier this year, and there are many racist scenes throughout the series. (For example, there's a scene in which Pa literally participates in a minstrel show wearing black face! It's pretty horrifying to read through our contemporary lens; it was really quite shocking to me the way Laura's character portrays the show as utterly hilarious and entertaining. Ma is also openly racist toward native people, etc.) But there is so much goodness in the books that I couldn't dream of leaving them out; they are still worthy of reading. I just spent lots and lots of time in discussion with my children about how the Ingalls family and others like them viewed the world and how evolved people view things differently now. So, I think of the issues in classic books as opportunities to learn; we use the racism and other problems in classic texts as springboards for discussion. But lack of diversity is one of my problems with classical education in general. There is so much of the classical method we embrace, but...there are so, so many white males, lol. So, when it comes to literature especially, I really aim to incorporate new authors and diverse perspectives alongside the classics. For us, it's not either/or, it's always both.

We have the Canon MX922 and I've been really happy with it; have had it for years. It does color, double-sided, scanning, and copying. (For reference, I print literally hundreds and hundreds of pages each year for co-op, as well as lots of digital homeschool curricula, etc. and have never had a problem.) We use this super cheap ink with it, with no problems whatsoever. (Tip: don't ever buy the name-brand ink, it's insane. There is no difference in the quality that I can tell. We print in both black and white and color and it always looks great.) Hope this helps!

Let them see you fail! My husband and I both make a point of showing our children our failures. We don't make it an overtly didactic moment, but we both make a point of narrating our mistakes in front of both our girls. For instance, if I'm sewing something and I mess up a seam, I'll call one of them over and say, "Ha! Look! I totally messed up my seam, isn't that silly?! Want to watch how I pick out the stitches with my seam ripper?" And then I let her watch me fix the mistake and move forward so she can see that it's pretty impossible to truly ruin something. Or if my husband is baking and he makes his frosting too runny, he'll make a point to call our kids over and demonstrate how he plans to compensate and solve the problem. So, for us what has really helped is just showing that mistakes are a daily process and even adults make mistakes all the time. A line I often find myself repeating is, "You have to allow yourself to be bad at something in order to become good at it. Remember, every expert was once a beginner!" We also frequently remind our children that Mommy and Daddy have been doing math (or whatever) for over 30 years, so of course we are good at it! You will eventually be this good, too, you're just a beginner, is all. Some other thoughts: -It might help to create everyday low-risk opportunities to make mistakes. So, for instance, you can do a make-your-own pizza night where everyone does their pizza differently. She'll have to do hers her own way, but there's no real way to mess up when you're topping a pizza. (Or setting the table, or folding towels, or whatever.) -I check my reactions to everyday kid mistakes. (When a child accidentally spills her water at the table, do I get all annoyed and angry and huffy, or do I simply say a cheerful "Oops! Let's grab a rag and wipe that up together!"? I'm definitely not perfect at this, but I've found that when I am reliably cheerful and forgiving of little everyday mistakes, my children trust me not to freak out during school mistakes, either. I think creating an "emotionally safe" environment is really important. Hope that helps. If it's about reading and writing, maybe she just needs some private practice that she doesn't have to share. Maybe give her a private journal to scribble her letters in on her own terms. Or, try pairing audiobooks with hard copies. When my younger daughter was learning to read, she loved Mercy Watson. I bought her the books and then I got her the audiobooks on CD from the library. She loved to listen to the audio while reading along in the printed text. This way, she could find out if she was reading correctly without an adult's intervention or correction. And after she read/listened to it a bunch of times, she couldn't wait to read it aloud to me all on her own, knowing she was reading it exactly right. Best of luck; it's likely just a stage!

Happy to help! :-)

We've used 365 Manners Kids Should Know as part of our Morning Basket before. (Not all the time, but we work through it here and there; the kids think it's fun!) Maybe something like that would work for you? This book, Modern Manners also looks good. (I've never read it, but it came up in my Amazon search when I was looking for the other one, and it looks like a good resource for adults! I added it to my future reference wishlist...)

Me too! We are crafty project people, so we look forward to this summer for all the extra crafting time! :-) Sewing and knitting are always happening in our house, so those crafts go into high gear in the summer! Some other ideas: -Cross stitch and embroidery (This craft travels well, so we work on them during Adult Swim at the pool, or my girls will do it during read-alouds. It's also less hot to have on your lap than wool knitting.) -Clay Charms. Pretty sure my girls could spend weeks making these. -Latch hook kits (Latch hook is hideous, really, but it's so much fun to make! Kids love it. I have the fondest summer memories of making latch hook stuff in my bedroom with my sisters.) -Fancy coloring books with great pencils and pens. -Friendship bracelets and/or seed bead jewelry making. (I've seen all sorts of kits for these on Amazon, etc. I remember making a million different seed bead necklaces the summer before 7th grade....) -Family jigsaw puzzle. Something with a thousand + pieces that stays set up for weeks on a small table and everyone in the family works on it here and there throughout the summer. (Add audiobooks for even more fun, lol.) -If you love crafting, you might want consider getting a $4.95/month subscription to Creativebug.com. It's the best thing in the world if your family loves to make things! (Creativebug has it all: drawing, painting, sewing, knitting, journaling, jewelry making, cake decorating. It's the only computer time our kids get and it is always time well spent! We love it so much and every member of the family uses it.) -And I remember, too, my parents sometimes used to get us each a giant crossword or word search book at the beginning of the summer. (Sneaky vocabulary and spelling practice!) I loved working on those! Sudoku books would also be fun. And then we do all the usual summer stuff like hiking, biking, swimming, tons of summer reading, etc. Pinterest is full of "Summer Bucket Lists," too, for all sorts of ideas. I like your idea of doing a family service project each summer...I'll have to think about that in more depth! ETA: Just looked back at your sig in your OP and realized your kids are maybe a bit young for some of my suggestions, but you can adapt most of them to the younger set! For instance, you can use pony beads instead of seed beads, simpler coloring books and puzzles, etc. Your 6-year-old might love Perler beads; my girls still love that! And when my girls were younger, their first introduction to embroidery was with yarn and burlap. (Get a bit of burlap fabric from Joann, stick it in an embroidery hoop, grab some variegated yarn and a giant plastic needle, and your child will likely spend hours just embroidering on the burlap.) My girls also loved embroidering yarn on plastic canvases from Joann. They come in square shapes, heart shapes, etc. Variegated yarn is very motivating, because they can't wait to see what the next bit of color will look like! Hope that helps!

Congratulations!!

I have two girls--4th and 1st grade. Thus far, we've been doing all skill subjects individually and combining history, science, and health (our state requires health). It has been working pretty well so far, but my older daughter will shift to the logic stage next year, and I'm thinking about using that as a good moment to shift to doing all academics individually. (I'm pretty sure we will always combine read alouds, art, Poetry Tea Time, and any Morning Basket-type stuff, but I'm feeling like maybe it's time to make all the academic subjects separate.) Maybe it's easier to combine when you have a large brood of kids and school feels inherently collaborative? I'm not sure; with just two, the dynamic is intense and sometimes it feels competitive. (For the record, I don't think I create a competitive environment at all. I strive really hard to do the opposite; I NEVER compare them or their work, I always explain that the goal is for all of us to learn together, I am always going on about "collaboration" and "sharing," etc., etc. but sometimes they can't help seeing things in competitive terms. I think it's just their personalities; my oldest, especially, is more naturally competitive. For instance, when we do narrations after our history read-aloud, they'll often get upset with one another because one of them said something the other really wanted to say, etc. Or one will just get impatient with the other, etc. It's mostly bickering-type stuff.) So, I'm thinking of separating academics to put their relationship first and maintain peace throughout the day. The last thing I want for my daughters is for them to feel like they're competing with one another! They are best friends and they have such a close, beautiful bond, and they play together so sweetly every single day, but I feel like they kinda drive each other crazy during school. I think maybe it's as simple as they just are getting a little too much time together? I think, too, my older daughter is growing up and needs to feel like she is working at a "big kid" level. By combining history and science, I think she perceives it as doing "little kid work"--like I somehow don't think she's capable of "harder" work than her sister, even though I require much more of her as far as writing, etc. goes. I think she's craving more independence and more individuality and I'd like to give that to her with the next school year. Long story short, I feel like the best way to nurture both their relationship and their education is to keep all the academic subjects separate moving forward and keep the fun stuff that is working (poetry, read alouds, games) collaborative. The only "problem" is that it will mean a lot more work for me and I will have even less time during the day that is not dedicated to school. I'm not opposed to that at all--I want to do what's best--but I am a little worried about burn-out, etc. on my end. I don't know what my question is, exactly, lol, maybe just looking to hear how others divide up their subjects/kids? If you have experimented with keeping academics separate, I'd love to hear how you make it all work. Thanks!

Thank you!! These responses are so helpful!!

I'm deciding on logic stage biology for my rising 5th grader. I'm debating between (a) DIY-ing science (as I have thus far) using the spines, etc. recommended in TWTM, and (b) buying an actual curriculum. Elemental Science (Biology for the Logic Stage) is super appealing because it seems all-in-one and you can even buy the materials kit to make prep easier. At the same time, though, I'm a little fearful that over the course of the year, the program will become tedious/too dry/too "textbook-y," or that all those experiments will be a pain to prepare, set up, and actually do. The expense will stretch our budget, especially if we have to purchase a microscope, so I want to be sure about this one. I would love you hear your thoughts. In other words, the program seems great on paper, but how did its use play out for you in real life? Did your kids enjoy it? Thanks!

Can you elaborate on how you combined them? I'm still deciding between Brave Writer's PW and FO for my rising 5th grader (she is a strong writer, so I'm thinking she'll lean more toward FO), but no matter which one I go with, I'd like to use it alongside (newer issues) of The Arrow. (I love that The Arrow is literature-based and has copywork, etc, so I definitely want to include this.) BUT, that is a lot of moving parts and I'm trying to visualize how to map it all out into a monthly schedule and still include other Brave Writer Lifestyle elements like Poetry Teatime and possibly the Friday Freewrites. (If I had my way, our homeschool day would be nothing but language arts, lol, but we still have to get all the other subjects in, so I'm trying to be sane about what I include.) So, if you combined the two programs (and other BWL stuff), I'd love it if you could share the ways you scheduled it all out in a typical month. (And I'd love your general reviews of the materials as well, if you're inclined to share. BW is expensive, so I want to be totally certain it's right for us before I take the plunge.) Thanks in advance!

Thank you for the info; this is good! I feel like we're going to have so much writing across the curriculum that I didn't necessarily want there to be even more writing in science. So...it looks like Mystery Science is more about activities rather than formal experiments, which I think might work for us. Thanks!