Also, I can not believe how much ds6 has grown mentally over the summer! His reading is so good-he's reading books probably a full year before his brothers read them. And geography has taken off too -he's got his continents down now and we're working on countries now. I'm sure it helped that he got really interested in Google maps this summer (that's 2/3 of my big kids that have enjoyed that. Can you tell we don't do video games here? Haha!) It's just fun that things I tried to explain in spring, and for which I received a blank stare, I now receive a, "oooooh!"

Week 1 complete! I started us out slow-we ended the week doing about 2/3 of the full load. Week 1 went great. Here's hoping that, when we add the other third of school in, it continues to go as smoothly. DH (a public school teacher) is still off for the summer so can occasionally help with the baby. When he goes back I'm on my own...😬

Like @caffeineandbookswe use a paper method: I put index cards on a ring labeled with the days of the week, "daily", and "odd" and "even". If you can find a consistent time of the day to do the memory work it helps make sure it gets done. For us, morning snack time as we start our homeschool day is the ideal time.

School starts tomorrow at our house! I think the boys are very ready, although they would never admit it. Ds6 asked if we could read a lesson of OPGTR the other day. I think he would like to get through that book quickly (we'll finish this year probably Christmas-ish). We're half way through R&S2-hopefully something was retained during the summer. I hate stopping in the middle of a math book. We will also be starting our wiring program this year (Writing Strands) and Greek. I think he will enjoy both. I'm excited and nervous about tomorrow. Nervous that all my planning won't matter and it won't go well. I know there's always kinks to work through, especially week 1, but I always hope...

There are several states that require a "health class". Ours is not one of them and I never had a subject dedicated to "health" in school - I guess it was just folded into general science. What are your thoughts on teaching health? Is it something you just naturally fold into your daily lives or do you sit down and do a formal curriculum?

Thank you thank you @Terabith!!!

Any chance you would be willing to post all of them or attach a pdf? I also would love to print them out. My kids love those and I even started sending links of your posts to my history-loving dad.

I've never done a major purge, but every year I'm able to get rid of a few things. For me or becomes easier once child #2 ages past the items: with child #1 I'm still figuring things out, but if I didn't use it for child #2 either then I'm definitely not going to use it for the rest of them. So, anything labeled as 4th grade or below (or general books that I would assign in the elementary years) that we didn't use for either child can go this year.

It's summer and I'm not currently doing school which is the perfect time for me to provide my schedule and make believe that we stick to it and it's not just chaos sometimes 🙂 4-I get up (ok, I've really only been doing this for the week but it has been amazing to have some time to myself!) 5-kids up (early birds...), Breakfast, chores, etc 8ish-start with Bible and memory work 8:30-12- school (independent mostly for the older two while I work with the younger two and baby) 12-I read history or science during lunch 12:30-3(?)- finish with older kids 7-bed for them 8:30-bed for me (Kids ages 11,9,6,3,baby)

CS Lewis mentioning his schooling and learning Latin first had me thinking of the classical direction. Then WTM (obviously) and Teaching the Trivium. I don't follow any of those to a 't', but they all got me thinking of what I wanted school to look like.

We enjoy Time Warp Trio-there are a handful of those. Boxcar Children is another series-probably similar reading level to Magic Tree House. Ranger in Time is good too.

On the good side: yes, all the time; and I am so thankful. Could have married a man who turned out to be a drug user and ended up in prison. Dh and I moved away from everyone we knew and were forced to grow up and be responsible together. We were led to a pastor who explained the Bible in a way that made sense (that sounds cultish, but it's not and I don't really know how else to word it-haha!), a friend offhandedly asked if we had prayed about having more children (we had 3 at the time and thought we were done), friends encouraged us financially to just purchase a house based on 1 income (I was working at the time too). Of course there's things I wish I had done differently, but like others above, I kind of try not to think about those.

What a great assignment. Dh and I were talking today and one of my concerns is that young people tend to not believe older/wiser people. So if AI says something to a young person that an older person with life experience knows to be wrong, who will the young person believe?

Ds who will be 7 in Oct has lost 5 or 6. We celebrate the first one and dh takes them out to ice cream.

We alternate grammar and writing every other day until 6th grade-that helps it not feel like so much. Everything is ordered and now I'm just trying to plan it all out and make it work for my schedule too (along with the older boys and the preschooler): LA: FLL2, Writing Strands 2, Dictation Day by Day, finish Ordinary Parents Guide and read other books. Math: R&S 2 Science: we're starting the rotation of Berean Builders books back at Creation History: SOTW 3 Geography: ds11 is doing a geography year so ds6 will be learning about the country (maybe playing a game from the area and cooking something) along with his brothers and doing some seterra. Starting Greek this year with Hey Andrew Piano, art That's all I can remember. Ds6 is thoroughly enjoying summer, although I hear "I'm bored" every once in awhile. Academic things he's doing on his own include Google map scrolling (older brother picked up a lot of geography from that) and reading (he is determined to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by himself 🤷‍♀️)

I'm currently reading The Wingfeather Saga. Boy, is that a good series!

We use Berean Builders. This next year my oldest (7th grade) will be doing his own level of Berean Builders, but the rest of the kids will just be cycling through the elementary books again. There are student work books if you want to use them, although not required.

We do read aloud mostly during eating time-lunch or snacks. My eating schedule isn't usually theirs: I eat breakfast with them, then a late snack, then a late lunch (they have an extra snack thrown in there). I read aloud books that I enjoy and that I want them to read with me. I still assign books for them to read independently, though (and I read those with them occasionally too).

My kids are 11, 9, 6, 3, and baby. I'll add more as the year goes on, but right now my plan is: Trials and Triumph (I think I'll read on Fridays) Heidi Little House series (it will be new for the 6 and 3yo) Little Women Maybe: Count of Monte Cristo-I need to review to see if there's objectionable content.

We're heading to Michigan for a couple weeks to visit family. Other than that I'm trying to get a weekly park playdate going and we will do periodic hikes. Dh is a public school teacher, so summer is our family time and catch up on house repair time.

Washing Machine in Kitchen I like to wash my machines outside-they are usually a little greasy and oily.

Just offering some encouragement: I was feeling a bit panicked about ds9 and his spelling, but my husband reminded me that he is a terrible speller and has managed to be successful anyway. That was good for me to keep in perspective. I'll be following this conversation for ideas for my child 😉

Wow is that a deal!!!! I just bought the first 10 for $100. We had read through Apples years ago and my kids enjoyed it. I thought we might start reading a chapter or so a week-maybe on Fridays- and then daily at the end of the year when they are done with math.

Thank you for this! You're right, it would be too chaotic, I was just desperately trying to make it work for some reason. As soon as I read that you confirmed I felt much more free to give that idea up-ha! On to write up a new plan (or rearrange the current plan).

Oh, and thank you-I think this book looks exactly like what I was hoping to find. Putting it in my Amazon cart now.