I am not in Ft. Collins anymore, but we lived there for 3 years. We live east of Longmont now. If you are really interested in looking at some Memoria Press products, I'm pretty sure there are some things from MP for sale at Salt & Light Learning (a used curriculum store if you aren't familiar with it) in Loveland. I just bought MP's Famous Men of Rome there two weeks ago and she had several other MP things on the shelf. We aren't using MP right now, but I have been looking at it for a while and I would agree that the forums on the MP website are really helpful.. Send me a PM if you would like more info..

I freecycled my 1st edition after the 3rd came out. I regret it, but that is life when you are a ruthless declutterer.

Our library district has this book and I just put it on hold. I'm looking forward to reading it!

I agree with this. We use an exercise ball to sit on (i.e. roll alll over the room) while I read for my 10 year old and just turned 9 year old. We also have "Thinking Putty" and other quiet activities for all the kids to do during read alouds. Drawing works well if we haven't done a lot of seatwork first. In regard to the Burgesss books . . . my 13 yo daughter LOVED the Burgess books, and has since begged me to buy every single one from the Dover catalog. She still likes to read them occasionally, even though she is reading the Lord of the Rings books right now. When I read them aloud to my younger two boys, they were not as enthusiastic about them. I do agree with the others that the vocabulary/language is something that takes time to get used to. They warmed up to them, but they didn't love them like their sister did. I would keep reading them, but allow him to be in action while you read, and maybe cut back on how much you read at one time. HTH.

Core F is the core that focuses on various cultures. However, there are books in other cores that would fit too. i.e.: The Lion Storyteller Book from Core P4/5 has tales from other cultures. My 12 year old enjoyed hearing them (remembering them from years ago), right along with my 8 year old. Another would be A Grain of Rice from Core A. Then Little Pear and Owls in the Family from Core B; both of these are listed in the lists in the ECC book lists already, and there are more. I would request a free catalog from Sonlight and then look through the booklists. HTH!

Now, after reading this thread, I had to get up out of my chair and go get The Read-Aloud Handbook off my bookshelf and put it on my nightstand. I need some new enthusiasm, even though I have read aloud, in addition to "school" read-alouds, almost every night during our bedtime routine to my kiddos since my first was a newborn. I bought The Read-Aloud Handbook last year and haven't even looked at it. I am now anxiously awaiting bedtime so I can start reading. :001_smile:

I see myself in the article link, as well as the above quote. I've had the same struggle with parenting "experts". I am too easily swayed. What matters is what is best for OUR family, not someone else's family. This thread has been most enlightening!

My oldest was 12 last year when he started 7th grade. My dd will start 7th grade at age 12 in the 2012-13 school year. My next ds is 2 years younger than his sister, but I didn't start him in 1st grade until he was 7 (legally required age to start officially in our state), so he will be starting 6th grade when he is 12. Same for his younger brother. I wish I had thought to start my older two at a later age, but they are doing fine. The younger two can use the extra time to mature. I really like the idea that they will have more time to enhance their transcripts as someone mentioned earlier in this thread.

You are not alone! We've taken a very laid back approach to school this year and we are ready to ramp up with a more academic focus in 2011-12. I'm getting overwhelmed as there are just too many choices! We've used enough things to know what definitely does NOT work, but then I come read here and start to question my decisions. Momma to 4: ages 7,9,11 and 13 (I need to decide what curriculum we are using before making a sig line.)

My kids- ages 7,9,11 and 13 - orally narrate spontaneously about almost everything they read. It is just a natural thing in our house to tell each other about what we are reading. I have read aloud to my children almost every single night since my oldest was a newborn. When we started to read chapter books, I would play dumb and ask them to remind me what happened in the previous chapter. (Ok, when I had really little ones, I was often sleep deprived and wasn't actually "playing" dumb.) I also model narration by narrating to them about books I am reading. Now written narration has been a weakness here, so I don't have any advice in that area. We'll be working on that this next year with concerted effort. But we have had great success with oral narration.

Amazon.com has the release date for Writing With Skill as January 1, 2012, but fall would be great! You can pre-order it now from amazon.

As I get ready for the new year, I print out a yearly calendar that starts with July 2010 - June 2011, for example. Then I highlight each day we do school with a yellow highlighter.

We love living in Colorado after living in Southern CA for 8 years! We lived in Fort Collins for 3 years before moving closer to DHs work, so we are about 1/2 way between Denver and Ft. Collins currently. There are some nice areas west of Ft. Collins. I think the Red Feather Lakes area is nice. We were looking at property out there 2 years ago, before we bought our current home (unfortunately, we are back in the suburbs . . . long story). Our favorite property was in Lyons, but it was sold before we could make an offer. We have friends in the Masonville area which is nice, and also in Lyons which is a bit further south. Nederland area would be a nice area too. Our friends near Masonville used to homeschool, but now drive to town every day to take their boys to a private school. I agree with Satori, 4WD is a necessity, snow tires are nice, but chains aren't necessary. As long as you drive smart, you will adjust to winter driving. :001_smile:

I think I've made up my mind for next year . . . but can't be sure till we have the money in hand. I have a couple of weeks until then. I'm always excited by the "hunt", though it can be overwhelming at times. I think I'm a curriculum addict. :blushing: I'm struggling with grammar and writing curriculum decisions. Defintely planning to get some fun stuff this year from Timberdoodle.

I have spent a lot of money on things that did not work for our family - expensive math curriculum and other things. I made one big purchase of a complete curriculum that I thought would be great for our family. Many people I talked to loved it. I purchased it over a year before we needed to use it and then when we got to that point, I knew it wouldn't work. It was too late then and I couldn't take advantage of the 18 week money back guarantee. I sold it and made someone else very happy with a good deal, but it was a loss for us. I know I must be insane, because I was just looking at that same curriculum again last week. :tongue_smilie: I've since come to my ssenses. As good as it looks and sounds, it doesn't fit our style.