That is perfect-thank you so much! I'm hoping to turn this into a 2 year thing and having the next two boys join in (in a grade appropriate way). I've ordered a comparative religions book (which I see is what you did with yours also). We also plan on having dinner with a friend once a month to explore recipes from some of the countries, so thank you for the recipe links too. And games are a great idea! Follow up question: I was thinking of tying this to our history (mostly SOTW3), but that would have us jumping all over the world. I've listed all the places it touches on and added some from other regions not covered (mostly for the sake of the family doing this with us-that way we get to every continent at least). Is that going to be too chaotic to be in Mexico, then Poland, then Japan, then Central America for example? I was thinking recipe/meal wise it would be better to jump around than to have a couple months of very similar recipes.

Oh boy does that make me feel old to see the copyright of that book... And I was 10 when it was written... And it's considered "older" now 😭. Just kidding. Thanks! I will look into this and see if I can find some example pages somewhere in the Internet.

Have you used it? I'm a little confused looking at it on Amazon: is it book suggestions? Are there other things that go along with it? Amazon has only given me a few pages to look through.

Thanks! I actually have that in my line up of options to use if there is a people group in the area we are studying. I had purchased it several years ago, but we never really used it. I'm excited to get good use of it this next year!

I love things like that. We are winding down our year-aka I'm feeling burned out. Ds6 is barely getting any time with me. We are maybe doing reading every day. On the flip side, I've ordered most of our stuff for next year and I'm looking forward to that (after a much needed break, of course). I'm planning on doing more of a family type geography, leveling up for the two older boys. Ds6 still doesn't know how continents, but I think as we do our geography next year he will pick it up. Ds6 finished his Frog and Toad book today-he read almost the whole thing by himself with only a little help from me. I'm trying to decide what to read next. Right around this age I really challenged his brothers with something like Paddle to the Sea where I had to help with just about every word. I might do that book next-it will definitely be a challenge, but will be a fun read too.

I know what I'm doing now... Just need to find the time to sit down and price shop various sites. Maybe this weekend.

I agree. I was trying to have OP think about what it would look like to have a writing curriculum that has an answers book or is more self directed-I just can't really fathom what that would look like. (But, also, writing is not my favorite thing, it is one of the things that involves the most undirected teacher interaction, and that definitely overwhelms me sometimes. I commiserate with those who wish it were different 😉).

Oh, and for punctuation, we used Analytical Grammar Jr Mechanics last year and that was very helpful.

We use the old writing stands (oldest is 11 and in book 6) and have used them for 5 years. I love them because the writing assignments can be a bit open ended, which fits our family well. Writing is a teacher intensive subject, in my opinion. My 11yo can read the assignment and write it on his own, but I have to read it and go over it with him. I'm not sure a teacher manual would help.

😂😂😂. I'm sorry-definitely one of those things that is super frustrating in the moment but hilarious 10 min later. Glad your week improved. We have 3 more official weeks of school. Ds6 is a ways into his 2nd grade math book, so we're only doing math when we feel like it. Reading is going well. We usually do an I-read-a-line-he-reads-a-line thing, but a couple times this week he wanted to read the whole thing. This week in his copywork he wrote on some smaller lined paper and his handwriting was pretty impressive (better than ds11...)-still need to work on differentiating between capitals and lower case. My geography goal this year was for him to be able to identify continents-he can't seem to remember them yet. I'm only reviewing with him a couple times a week, so probably just need to increase that to every day. I'm so much more relaxed with kid #3 -hopefully I can keep that attitude with his future schooling. Next year he'll be adding a couple more subjects, so we'll see how eager he continues to be.

I found someone's booklist to go along with sotw (I think vol 3 & 4). Just sharing because I am finding it useful 😊 https://indypl.bibliocommons.com/lists/show/1339536469

I'm a recent convert. I have used Earth Breeze and Clearalif. Things seem to be getting as clean as they did with regular laundry detergent.

Hive shoppers-help me find a shoe Have you checked the side of the highway? Or maybe on the telephone wires?

I'm usually all ordered by this time of year or earlier, but this year...nope. Hopefully I'll be able to finally sit down and plan in the next month.

I love the idea of a chat! Ds6 has a fall birthday, so I'm doing 1st grade with him, but not worried if he's more K level in some things. He is doing really well with reading (we're using OPG). He is very motivated (seeing his older 2 brokers helps) which I am thankful for, because since dd was born a few months ago it has been very hard to do school with him. He just finished reading an easy star wars reader he got from the library. We're off school this week, but last week we did kind of a pre break break where I taught the kids different skills. His was tying a shoe. He kept wanting to practice all week. That kid is an enthusiastic learner right now. I'm struggling to find the time to sit down with him every day, but trying to give myself grace.

Oo-thank you! I do like some of those spines. I also saw The Flag Book as I was looking at some of those resources-that will be a fun one for him!

I'm working on curriculum for next year for ds11 (will be 7th grade). He's pretty proficient in general geographical knowledge: where countries are located, physical features, major cities around the world, etc. I was thinking of having him choose a country every two weeks or so and read about it using nonfiction books from the library. I still like that idea, but our library stinks-an extremely limited selection. Anyone have any recommendations for books? I'd rather not have to purchase separate books on each country-maybe one book that has several pages on each country? I'm also open to any other geography ideas-I don't want a workbook, it will suck all of the joy and learning from this child, just informational type books.

I saw this article and thought of this topic: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65102150 My take aways are, yes, it's likely that AI is going to end a lot of jobs, but it will also open up a ton of opportunities. One of the things I'm trying to do for my kids is not pigeon hole them into a career. So often we ask our kids what they want to be. DS11 will respond with "author". I'm trying to show him the things he enjoys: he enjoys being creative with words and telling a story. Where can you use that ability? In a million different jobs-not just "author". I enjoyed photography and pursued a degree in photography. I ended up switching majors half way through because I could see that there were a lot of aspects about being a photographer that weren't going to work for me. I don't take a ton of pictures anymore, but I do enjoy thinking about things in a creative way-part of my personality that made me think photography was what I wanted. All that to say, we can't predict the future and what society will look like or what jobs will be available (but we've never been able to do that!)-we can encourage our kids in the things they are gifted in, I think in a general sense rather than a specific sense-even if those things don't turn out to be careers for them.

This week we are doing our state required testing (which actually takes way less time to complete each day than our normal workload), 4/10 we are on spring break, which leaves next week. I thought I might do some different educational kinds of things. My kids are 11, 9, and 6 (plus 3 and baby). My current ideas: clean a room each day (education on properly cleaning things), teach ds11 an intro to sewing, read a math book (we have Math in Camelot), teach ds6 how to tie a shoe, go to a museum. Any other ideas? The kids will be so excited!

I frequently take a nap with dd, who is 2 months, on me and have from the start. Sometimes I have her wrapped on me and sometimes I just have her tucked in a way that feels safe. I'm a light sleeper and feel confident napping this way. As I understand it, a lot of the cosleeping danger is from parents under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I would assume that sleeping in the carrier would be the same risk. 🤷‍♀️

5ish for my 11 yo. 3ish for my 9 yo. 1ish for my 6yo.

Is Dictation Day by Day CM? I think I'm reading that it would be? I switched to using that around 3rd grade for my oldest because the list approach was not working. The first year and a half was rough-he missed a lot of words. But he only misses one or two usually now (6th grade). The next ds (4th) is still struggling, but I'm starting to see some improvement lately-I don't think a list approach would be great for him either. Here's what we do: Day before: I give them the list of new words for the upcoming day and they write them Day of: I dictate their sentence(s). I correct any mistakes and they fix them. Ds4th alternates between typing the sentences and writing a silly cursive sentence using some of his missed words. Once a week: I make silly sentences from the review words to dictate to them. It's their favorite day. I mostly do the classical approach, but there are elements of CM that I enjoy and try to incorporate into our homeschool.

We just had our 5th baby. We have been given showers/sprinkles for every one (even though I tried my best to discourage them-haha!) -the first four babies were all the same gender and we literally needed nothing for 2-4 (we cloth diaper mostly). Most of the gifts for babies 2-4 were diapers/wipes. For baby #2 my church threw me a praying shower which was my favorite-no gifts, just praying over me and baby. But, if you're invited to a sprinkle and it doesn't specifically say no gifts I would assume they are expected. I do think showers for subsequent babies is based somewhat on location. I grew up in Michigan and there is no way I would have been given a shower for babies of the same gender. I live in North Carolina now, and it is very common.

Oh how precious! Welcome, little one!

Come on baby! Ds #3 was nearly born before I was fully checked in at the hospital. The first two babies had been quick-ish-6 hours or so of labor-so I figured I had a little time. I apparently have a pretty high pain tolerance and wasn't too concerned because I could still "talk through the contractions", not pleasantly, but I could make myself talk through them. When I finally called dh to come home I figured we still had time. He closed all the storm windows, I sprayed bleach in the shower, we stopped at the bank to make a deposit on the way, he almost stopped to get lunch. I had an epidural with the first two babies, but when they checked me once I arrived at the hospital with #3 I was at a 9-epidural was not happening. But, not having an epidural was the best experience and I didn't have one with the next two babies either. Dh has been very nervous about getting to the hospital on time with babies #4 and #5 (I kept my labor a secret for an hour with baby #5 because I didn't want him riding me off early to the hospital-lol!) Looking forward to reading your post of baby's arrival!!