This reminds me so much of the depth and breadth conversations that have been on this board in the past. Excellent thinking and sharing going on and so much to the benefit of our children. I love the idea of letting my children persue their interests AND I know that without introducing them to new ideas, art, music, literature, math, grammar, vocabulary, language, etc. their interests will be limited by their lack of knowledge. When my children are truly interested in something nothing I do will stop them from learning about it. When they are passionate about something there is no way that I can prevent the glorious excitement of acquiring knowledge. By leading them through a world of new ideas and opportunities in a (sometimes) organized way I allow my children the luxury of finding things that interest them. The structure and tools that I provide through a classical education allow them to build the wings they will use to soar.

Fabulous projects! I made one, very sad pillowcase dress for my dd7. Tomorrow I'm going to buy material to make my sister and nieces matching gathered skirts.

That would require typing, then probably deleting.... It's a vicious cycle.:tongue_smilie:

Unfortunately, we don't have anyone that we trust that is willing to stay at the house. My daughter's boyfriend is coming daily to take care of the other farm animals. He'll take care of the dogs while he's here. A neighbor will be check on the dogs at least once each day as well.

It's good to know that there are those that delete and those that post without over editing. It takes all kinds. I write answers and then move on without submitting for a variety of reasons. I also answer in my head without typing a thing for many posts, especially the threads that ask a question in the title. My answers to those are almost always sarcastic or silly and only in my head.

Neither of the kennels that will let the dogs share a run will give a break on the cost. The other cheaper kennels will not let the dogs share a run. Separating the dogs is not a possibility. They are litter mates and have never been apart. I've asked around about friends/neighbors that would do in home care. No takers. I've also checked Craigslist and there is no one willing to drive to our place. We are a bit out of the way.

We are going to be going on vacation for two weeks. I am having difficulty finding affordable care for our dogs. Both local kennel options charge $20 per dog, per night. We are going to be gone 13 nights. That's $520 plus tax for dog care. They'll be kennel kept and allowed out to play twice a day. We have a neighbors and friends that can come to our home twice a day and let the dogs out. We have a large kennel where we keep them when we are out of the house during the day. The cost would be less than half than that at the kennel and the dogs would be in a familiar environment. What would you do? If you have other options/ideas, please, feel free to share them. I'm not wild about what I've come up with so far.

I often find myself taking the time to respond to a post but then not hitting the submit button. I do this for a variety of reasons. I was wondering how many others respond in private but never submit. How often do you answer a post and but never hit the submit button?

Nice! It's great to see you!

A cheap metal cookie sheet and alphabet/number magnets is a great addition to a pre-school activity center. I also had a variety of shape magnets, animals, colors, etc. Busy Bugs by Discovery Toys were a big hit for my dd, as well. Paper, crayons, glue sticks, pipe cleaners, tape, scissors, etc. I also picked up a bag of various shape and color counters from an education store. She used these for all kinds of activities. A cd player and headphones with books/music to listen to. We had Hooked on Phonics that dd loved to play with.

Here are the plans for my fifth grader. S10 - Fifth Grade Bible – Explorer’s Bible Study – Discovery: God’s Perfect Plan - daily Logic – 3 hours weekly – Logic puzzles (Mind Benders, Red Herrings) Language - spelling -15 minutes - Spelling Power reading - 30 minutes grammar - 40 minutes - Rod & Staff 5 memory work - 10 minutes fun reading - 60 minutes Writing – 30-60 minutes each day friendly letters - once every two weeks dictation - 2 days per week writing program – 3x weekly - Writing Strands 3 & 4 Math - 45-60 minutes daily - Math on the Level Lial BCM History - read - narrate - make notebook pages 3 hours per week - Story of the World: Early Modern Times Begin Kingfisher and single sentence outlines Science - 3 hours weekly – Physics – NOEO Physics Latin - 45 minutes daily – First Form Latin Art - 1 hour weekly - Great Artists Music - 1 hour weekly – violin P.E. – football, Wii, shooting sports

We moved onto our farm in January 2011. Last year we raised a milk steer, 8 laying hens, 100 meat chickens and 2 bee hives. We still have our laying hens and bees. My bees did great over the winter. I am really hoping to have honey this year. We got two calves last weekend. Mid-June our 25 Buckeye chicks and 10 Bourbon Red turkeys will arrive. I'm really interested in heritage breeds so our livestock choices reflect that. I'm hoping to develop a breeding flock for both the Buckeye's and the Bourbon Reds. Also in mid-June, we'll be getting 100 meat chickens. We order the hatchery's choice. Last year they were Rhode Island Reds. Our garden is in and doing well. Watermelon, cantalope, pumpkins, cucumber, two types of tomatoes, three varieties of peppers, onions, carrots, radishes, two types of lettuce, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes and corn. I also planted herbs (thyme, rosemary, cilantro, basil, oregano, sage, parsley, and mint) in various places through the garden and in our landscaping closer to the house. Preserving food will be a new thing for me. Last year I froze spaghetti sauce, salsa, pizza sauce and some fruit and vegetables along with our chicken and beef. I have yet to try any kind of canning. Hearing all the successes here make me feel a little more inclined to give it a try. We have several pick-your-own places near us along with a large Amish auction twice a week. I haven't explored those options yet.

I can hear the conversation going something like this: You: "What can I offer you to drink? I have lemonade, tea and water." Coke loving guest: "I'd love a coke." Uncomfortable pause during which you have to decide whether you are going to refuse the coke or serve it even though you hadn't planned to do so. Just because a guest shouldn't ask for what isn't offered doesn't mean that they won't ask for what they can clearly see on your shelf.

I have a list of books that I want my children to read. I keep it to myself. If I showed them a list like that I'm afraid they'd be overwhelmed before they even began. Instead of giving them a list, I usually give them a choice between two or three different books concerning the history topic we are studying. Sometimes I just assign a book to them. I do have them keep track of their reading by writing a summary and recommendation for each assigned book. Their free reading time is their own.

:party:We are calling it officially DONE!

The Penderwick books are the only series that I'd recommend that I haven't seen on the list so far. I second so many of the others, especially Tumtum and Nutmeg and the Mysterious Benedict Society.

Yes, I do leave them home alone occassionally. DD15 & dd13 are both well-trained sitters . Ds10 is now allowed to stay home alone for short periods of time if I'm running errands locally.

Thanks for the information. I'm going to give it another shot in August and make a decision from there.

I was moving back to informal logic because dd enjoyed that so much more than the formal logic. I'm sure that the style of presentation had a lot to do with her preference. I'll have to think about whether it would be better to go deeper in informal logic or get a firm grip on formal logic. We may be able to do both and spread it out a bit more. As you said, the formal logic needed more of my attention. Going over the chapters with her wasn't enough. She was always able to give the correct answer so I didn't realize her lack of understanding until it came to applying the concepts. I'll take a look at Discovery of Deduction and see if that would be a better fit. Thanks!

I just have to put in my plug for Chevy. I have a 2002 Chevy Venture with over 230,000 miles on it. We bought it because it was the only van, at that time, that would seat eight. It has been an amazing vehicle. Other than routine maintenance, we've had no issues. It is by far the best vehicle I've ever owned.

That's what I had planned for next year anyway. Thanks! I think the problem right now is being ready for a break. I think we probably will go back over the material but I'm thinking that removing it from the book might get better results. Maybe in August I can present the concepts without the text and we can work through the problems together. I'll call it a refresher. What do you think?

Help! Pretty please.

My dd13 has been struggling through Traditional Logic 1. At her request, she's been doing logic independently and then I check the work. She completed the first 12 lessons without too much difficulty. Most of the answers to the questions could be found directly in the text. We discussed any she couldn't find or got wrong. Chapter 13 & 14 were a disaster. Those lessons required that she be able to apply the lessons in the previous chapters. She claims that she didn't understand any of what she read in the text. Unfortunately she didn't let me know she was struggling because she really just wanted to get through. Now what? Earlier this year dd completed and enjoyed Thinking Toolbox and Fallacy Detective. Is that enough of a foundation in logic to move forward or do we go back and do Traditional Logic together? Do we redo now or wait until the fall? Do I move the plans I had for her back and try another logic program in the fall? Do we call it good enough and move forward without mastery of this book?

I posted pictures on both blogs today. A place we really enjoy on the home/family blog and the new additions at the farm.

You may be able to serve that to your family but my family would want to know where the rest of dinner was. At the very least I'd need to add some meat (ham or pepperoni) and cheese to the salad.