For $2.95/month or $19.95/year, you can subscribe to the Visual Thesaurus. (It used to be free and I used it in college, but now it is subscription-based.) But it is SUPER COOL. Basically, you type in a word, and then this visual map pops up, showing the relationship between words. The visual aspect clearly illustrates how certain words mean very much the same thing, but other words are only kinda similar. If you scroll down just a little bit on this page, it will take you to a video, "Introduction to the Visual Thesaurus" that describes how it works.

Yes, reading is the same in our house...the kids read constantly year-round and we read aloud every day at bedtime year-round, but it's nice to keep our 45-minute "cuddle on the couch with our independent reading" part of our formal daily routine throughout the summer, too. Keeps our habits strong. But yes, the overall mindset of "light summer schooling" really has made a big difference for us! It works for me because nothing about it is overwhelming. We can start out our school day at 8:00 AM and be done by 9:30 AM and then...it's only 9:30 AM and a full summer day still stretches out before us! It feels easy, especially since the math and spelling curricula we use (Math U See and AAS) are both open-and-go. I don't have to do any special planning for light summer schooling, so it's pretty painless! Then the kids just spend the rest of their day doing arts and crafts and creative stuff and the pool, etc.

I agree with lots of other previous posters who believe WWE is necessary and worthwhile. I don't use SOTW, but we do use WWE and FLL. We do everything in WWE, and then do only the actual grammar in FLL. (So, I just use FLL for the actual grammar rules and the other useful stuff like learning your address, etc. I skip lots of the copywork and some of the picture narrations, etc. because there is overlap.) What I find so beneficial about WWE is the way it has trained my daughters' brains to think about writing. It has trained them to always answer questions in complete sentences (even in everyday life) and I feel like I am seeing order and organization in their thinking in all areas of academics. This year we are incorporating some Brave Writer stuff into our language arts schedule (because I love so much about the Brave Writer philosophy), but I will never give up WWE because I'm seeing it build a solid foundation in academic writing in my children. I wish I had it in me to just use the WWE guidebook and pull my own copywork and dictations, etc. from our read alouds, but I just don't have the time to do that, so we happily use the WWE workbooks. We've had success with them so far and I agree with the others who mentioned the way the skills build on one another over the years.

I normally hate workbook-type stuff, but my younger daughter was begging to "do school" as a preschooler, so she could be like her big sister. These "Get Ready for School" workbooks are beautiful--full color, spiral bound, and great activities that my daughter loved. (Stuff like tracing lines and making letter shapes, learning colors and numbers, etc.) I only used the preschool and K aged ones, but I was really impressed with the quality of the paper and design and the quality of the actual learning tasks. Highly recommend for any parent who needs something to keep the little kids busy at the other end of the table.

We do a four-day week, but the fifth day is for our co-op, so I don't think of it as a day off from school. (My kids are doing valid work at co-op, even if it's mostly "enrichment"-type stuff.) So, I plan for 36 weeks during the school year, and then, all through the summer we do "light" daily homeschooling (typically just math, spelling, and reading; takes about an hour/hour and a half). The summer homeschooling pretty much allows us to finish out any curriculum that wasn't completed in the 36 weeks, so I stay on track without going crazy during the school year. The bonus of light summer homeschooling has been that my children don't seem to lose their math skills they way they did when I first started and completely took summers off.

We have a monthly subscription ($4.95) to Creativebug.com. We love, love, love it! The site offers beautifully produced classes in virtually every craft discipline: painting, drawing, sewing, knitting, cake decorating, etc., etc. -- all kinds of art classes available. Highly recommend!

Good for you--Congrats!! I'm still working on it, but I'm almost there!

Hi, friends! I'm considering applying for part-time work, so I am trying to get my resume in order (having homeschooled for years now, I have not worked on a resume in a long time!). I'm obviously explaining that I haven't worked professionally for a long time because I've been busy homeschooling, but I'm debating the best ways to articulate the duties of homeschooling on a resume. What would you include and how might you word it? Thanks in advance for any help!

We have a roughly 3'x4' table in our homeschool room that has three chairs (so the two kids and I can sit together at it). I like that it has a big surface for projects and for spreading out all our books. (We do skill subjects one-on-one, so there is plenty of room for me and one child at the table.) We bought ours a couple years ago now from Land of Nod (on sale). They don't have the exact same model available now, but this one is very similar. We bought the extra legs to make it taller so it grows with our children. (Though, my ideal would be two tables like this--one for each child. But we don't have the space or money for that right now.)

Oh, and I wanted to add that in my experience, it gets much easier as they get older because eventually, they can READ! Reading is a non-issue for lots of projects (play-doh and building stuff, etc.) but years ago, I had to be very involved in my older daughter's projects, simply because she needed me to read things to her. So if I got her, say, a book on origami, she could happily page through it and look at the pictures on her own, but she would still need me to actually read her the directions, and physically help her make the projects. (Your robot-loving son might need this sort of help at first.) But now that both girls are reading well on their own, I can often hand them books and leave them to their own devices and not really have to "do" anything other than get them their supplies. (We still read aloud novels, of course, but I happily let them read independently when it comes to their own interests.) So...just wanted to throw that out there. But I would say that it's still worth it to build the self-directed routines now; creativity will become a habit and you can be less hands-on as the years go by, as their skills and abilities start to match their desire to create. Editing for spelling!

I really enjoyed that book as well! This is how we incorporate the ideas into our life: We do our formal desk-type (mostly classical-ish) school in the mornings from about 8 or 9 until about 12 or 1. (So, this is when we do math, language arts...all our core subjects, etc.) After lunch, the girls are then free to pursue their own interests and projects. There are several things I do to facilitate this: (1) get information (2) gather supplies (3) strew interesting/related books (4) make space for their interests (5) seek out additional learning opportunities (such as museum visits or field trips), and (6) let them see my husband and me pursuing our own interests. Some details: (1) Get information: At the beginning of each semester (when I plan), I ask the girls to make a list of things (and it can be anything!) they'd like to study this semester. They both think about it for a couple of days then give me a little list. (2) Gather supplies: Once I have their lists and I am shopping for school supplies, I am sure to pick up any items they will need to do their studies. For instance, my oldest daughter is really interested in art and learning how to draw this semester, so I was sure to buy her the special pencils, brush pens, and sketchbooks she would need to complete the activities in the online art instruction videos she wants to do this semester. Likewise, my younger daughter is really into building these elaborate cardboard box houses for her Calico Critters, so I am sure to keep collecting empty food boxes and paper towel rolls and fabric scraps, etc., for her to have on hand. And I was sure to order lots of glue and tape for her, too. (3) Strew books: I take some time to search for book titles that are relevant to the interests they listed, then I get those books from the library and leave them in the girls' rooms where they can find them and look at them on their own time. (So, books on drawing for the older one, and books about architecture or with cute illustrations of houses for the little one.) (4) Make space for their interests: Usually, this comes naturally. (The girls are generally eager to work on their stuff!) But the way we structure our day emphasizes this, too. For instance, in our house, you are not allowed to watch a Netflix show until you have done school, read independently, played physically (park, biking, etc.), and done something creative. (This sounds stricter than the system actually works in practice...really, our routine is just that we do school, reading, and creative things before we watch TV.) But they almost always would rather be doing something creative than loafing around. Sometimes all it takes is a little nudge like, "I noticed your most recent house now has a ladder to the second floor! Did you have any plans to add something new today?" And the little one is off and running to work on her newest little house instead of flipping on the TV. (5) Seek out additional learning opportunities: This is just something that happens a couple times per semester, when I can make it happen. Is there a cool documentary related to this topic we can watch? Is there a museum we can visit that is related to this area of study? Can we read aloud a book about a famous person who does this thing for a living? (6) Let them see my husband and me pursuing our own interests: Honestly, I think this idea is one of the most important. I'm super into sewing/quilting/knitting/needleworks as well as literature, so I am always working on a project of some kind or reading or writing. Likewise, my husband loves to bake and cook and is always perfecting a new recipe or learning how to make something new. Your process doesn't have to be fancy and your interests could be in anything; I just think having your kids see you learning all the time shows them that's it's a natural state of being in the world, and they follow suit. (To be sure, I don't have hours in the day to pursue my own projects! But I do make it a priority. I would rather sew or run or read than watch TV. Even just seeing me add a row of stitches to the scarf I'm knitting is enough to show them that adults are always trying to get better at things. It's also great that they can see me mess up. It doesn't matter if it takes me 10 days or 10 weeks to complete the project.) So, that's the basic way we approach it (as a way of living), but new interests crop up all the time. The kids are always stumbling on a new library book and setting off in a new direction. I encourage this exploration and don't police it. (As long as the kids are interested in something at any given moment, I don't really care what it is--we just want them to be endlessly curious!) The other thing I would add is that I don't judge their work. I don't correct it, I don't assess it, I just observe it. (I say, "I see you added a roof!" NOT, "Oh, if you just added a support beam here, the roof would stand up straighter.") I figure, I correct the girls in math, where it is necessary. I correct their behavior when they're acting out. My 6-year-old doesn't, however, need my advice or corrections on her independent projects. (And she always figures out on her own a way to make the roof straighter.) I'm pretty sure that idea was stressed in the book--the projects are theirs. Nothing will shut down self-directed projects faster than meddling adults. So, like Evanthe said above, for your robot kid, just get some kits, get some books, maybe some tools or raw materials, and strew them around the house. Let him discover them and explore them freely, on his own time. Don't create artificial deadlines or anything. As for your daughter, you could take her to the ballet or enroll her in a ballet class. Watch ballet videos online together. Get books on the Nutcracker, etc. But honestly I think the most important thing is making space for their interests, both physical space (does your son have a place to build and store his robots-in-progress?), and space in the day (are you giving them enough time in the day to really dig into projects?). Good luck!

We just do four days of school per week. (Like Ellie said above, we don't try to cram that fifth day of work into the other four days somewhere! That would be nutty. The activities they do at co-op is their "school" for the day.) So, we have co-op one day per week and we do Poetry Tea Time on that same day when we get home, but we don't try to do any other school at home on that day. This works out well for us. (For reference, I plan a 36-week school year.) My kids are still young, so right now the benefits of co-op outweigh the time we give up at home. That might not always be true...I can see us letting go of co-op when the girls are older and there are more conflicts with academics and other learning opportunities, etc., but for now, a 4-day week + co-op works well.

Audible is totally worth it! We had to go without it for a couple of years because our budget has been really tight, but we just got it again last month and I love it so much. The best part is that you get to keep all your audiobooks (even if you cancel your subscription for awhile, like we had to), so over time you build up a huge library of choices to pick from. We use audiobooks from the library a ton, too, but I love having Audible.

I don't get the impression SWB is insisting your child needs to read by a certain date. But classical education is fundamentally language-based, so learning to read is obviously a priority. (TWTM itself comes across as sort of strict, but I've seen SWB speak and listened to lots of her lectures, and in those contexts, she supports responding to the real, actual child you are homeschooling, not a hypothetical one. I suspect she would encourage you to read aloud to your child constantly and then strike while the iron is hot whenever he or she shows an interest in reading.) And following the child is what I ended up doing.... It's funny, when I first started homeschooling, I was taking a Waldorf-inspired approach, and was fully prepared not to teach my children to read until age 7 or even later. The only "problem" was that they both started reading early and insisted on reading instruction around age 4/4.5. Both were fluent readers by age 5. This was not what I meant to do; it's just who they were! I think, too, any classical household is likely to value books and reading in general. Kids being raised in such an environment are likely to see reading as an ordinary part of life, making reading at early ages more likely. (I know my younger daughter started reading even earlier than my oldest, simply because she wanted to do what the rest of us were doing. Nobody pushed her; she just wanted to become a reader.) ETA: In a nutshell, I don't think there is an "ideal" age. I think you mix a house full of books + tons of reading aloud + respect for the human child in front of you, and the reading will come when it comes. (Assuming, of course, there are no disabilities, etc.)

I hated the tiles until I bought an actual magnetic white board. (I had kept them in a baggie and it was maddening to get them out each time!) But now that we have a real 2' x 3' whiteboard like the program recommends, the alphabet just stays up all the time along the top of the board and the special tiles stay along the sides. My girls love it. That said, if you've tried the white board method and you still hate the tiles, then I recommend getting a white board anyway and using red and blue dry erase markers with it. (Sometimes, if we need to get through a lesson quickly, we'll just use a blue marker for the consonants and a red marker for the vowels and we are good.)

I keep a wishlist on Amazon. I add to it whenever I think of something, and then just refer to it when I am actually making my big beginning-of-semester purchase.

I don't keep hard copies of anything! I scan anything that is flat (like drawings) and I take digital photographs of anything 3-dimensional. My children are very willing to discard of the original pieces of artwork because they know I keep photos of all their creations in a private, password-protected blog (that I use for homeschool record keeping) and in the cloud. We let the kids enjoy their creations as long as they want to, of course, and there are a few very, very special items (like the doll quilt my daughter recently sewed) that I have no intention of ever discarding, but for things like various drawings, paintings, and popsicle stick houses...those are scanned and recycled at the end of every semester when I am preparing the girls' portfolios for review. I just collect the stuff in a box all semester, then spend an afternoon scanning it all while I listen to an audiobook. My kids are very artistic; they create so much art that we would be literally drowning in it if we kept things! Plus, I am a minimalist (well, as much as it is possible to be one as a homeschooler!) and I want to teach my kids that they don't need to hoard stuff. Because really, what are they going to do with boxes and boxes of artwork when they're 30? I'd rather them be able to hop online and look at photos of their well-preserved work anytime they want instead of digging through moldy boxes in their future basement only to find items crumbling, yellowed, and moth-eaten.)

I keep everything in Google Drive (divided into subject folders--language arts, etc.), and I also save all original emails (that contain links to various downloads and accounts), under a "homeschool" label.

I typically try to get the audiobook from the library, just to sort of scan through it to get the pronunciations, then go back to reading silently. ETA: My library has tons of audiobooks I can listen to online, so it's pretty easy for me to get the audiobook via computer, then I can just skip around (to, say, the chapter in question) to hear the pronunciation of names of locations and characters, etc. So, I might hop on to the audiobook when a new character is introduced, learn how to say her name, then I go back to reading. I like being able to say the word in my head the way it is intended. This problem doesn't come up often, so it's not like I need to do it all the time, but this strategy is a big help with the occasional fantasy or foreign novel, etc.

Thanks so much for sharing your schedule!! So helpful to me as I am planning this exact thing right now!

Yes, we are huge Kate DiCamillo fans here! I think there are one or two we haven't read yet, though, so that's a great suggestion!

I can't seem to keep my older daughter in books right now! lol. (She is 9.) Would love to know what your tween has recently read independently and loved. Note: I read aloud from a literary classic every night at bedtime, so I'm looking mainly for pleasure reading that my daughter can relax with and just enjoy. (So, I'm fine with it being "below" her reading level.) Not that "quality" and "fun" are mutually exclusive, of course, but you know...I'm looking for tween "beach reads." For reference, she loves all the American Girl books (really likes historical fiction) and would love to find a great adventure or fantasy book. Thanks in advance for any recs! (Edited to add her age.)

I KNOW!! When I found this ink online, I was SO skeptical. I fully expected it to be awful, but...nope! It is GREAT! I print in color ALL THE TIME and I cannot tell any difference from the Canon ink I used to use. So now, I usually buy 5 packs of the cheap ink (about $40.00) and it lasts me through the entire school year. I will never go back to the name-brand ink. Highly recommend!

I have not felt the need to upgrade! (Particularly since we found that super inexpensive ink online. For a couple of years, we were spending nearly 50 bucks a pop on ink and that definitely started to hurt financially, but now that I found that great, cheap ink, things have been great! I order probably five packs of the ink at the beginning of the school year and that usually makes it all the way through. So...about $40.00 in ink per year.) And, off the top of my head, in the past year, I have printed: Well over 400 pages for co-op, each semester. (I teach a different class each semester at my co-op; for each class, I typically create my own workbook for the students. So, for a 10-student class, I might make each student a 30-40+ page workbook.) I just printed out the PDF version of The Writer's Jungle to put in a binder (over 200 pages). I printed out student pages of the PDF version of Writing With Ease. (We bought the hard copy workbook for my older daughter, so I bought and printed out just the PDF student pages for my younger daughter--over 100 pages, probably). 200+ pages from a online workshop I took about whole food cooking (put the printed pages into a binder). All kinds of coloring pages, maps, random stuff from the internet over the course of the year. Lots of personal printing (bank forms, life insurance paperwork, tax stuff, etc.) And I just ordered The Big Book of Lively Latin, which I plan to print sometime in the next couple weeks. So, I feel like I do a ton of printing, and I definitely do a ton of printing for co-op (because I always design my own curriculum for that). And I print in color constantly, because things look so much more appealing in color. (My co-op booklets are always in color.) We have had this printer for a couple of years now and I've had no problems whatsoever. Now, it's not teeny-tiny, but it's not enormous, either. We keep it on a slim console table and it never feels in the way at all. And the wireless function is so nice because my husband works from home a lot, so we can both print from our laptops, from anywhere in the house. So, I think it's a pretty awesome printer for a hundred bucks; I've been very happy so far!

We have this and love it: the Canon MX922. Currently $99.00 on Amazon Prime! Wireless. Color. Scans. Photocopies. Prints double-sided. Not gigantic. Now, it is inkjet, but we use this inexpensive ink in it and get beautiful results. I print tons and tons and tons of stuff for homeschool and have never had a problem with this printer. Maybe it will work for you? (Edited for spelling.)