I have a Bachelor of Science and a degree in Middle Eastern Studies. I've been ALL over the world. I've worked oversees, studied oversees and actually saw some incredible things. I also spend my days taking care of a 2, 4, 6 and 8 year-old, doing schoolwork, finishing laundry, planning dinner, buying diapers, etc. So, would my entire life before I became a SAHM been a waste then?? :confused: My kids (the boy, especially) have a LOT of respect for the stuff I've done. They are constantly asking me to tell them stories about places I've been or things I've done...or even meeting Daddy in college. I think our pasts have a huge effect on our children's personalities, their daydreams and their aspirations - and it gets them thinking about what THEY can do when they're adults. Is any learning experience wasted?? :confused: Everyone of our kids is going to college. No exceptions. I'll pay for it, but they're goin'. :auto:

We will have finished: (drumroll) CLE Reading 1 CLE Language Arts 100 series Horizons Math 1 Sonlight Core 1+2 Read-Alouds and History Map Skills 1st Grade BJU Spelling 1st Grade Handwriting without Tears Printing Power Writing with Ease 1 Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day Mind Benders: Beginners Book 2 (1st grader is addicted to this book)

We just moved from a state that had an hours requirement and it came out to like 5 or 6 hours a day. :confused: I really agree that in middle school or high school, 5 or 6 hours is probably a bare minimum. However...:001_huh: for a 1st grader? Count gymnastics, T-Ball, co-op or music lessons...whatever extra-curricular activities you do... Count reading books on the side, coloring, etc. To break up 4 hours....you could do 2 hours of Core studies in the morning and then 2 hours of science, unit study or just independent reading-type stuff in the afternoon. Just a thought. One-on-one tutoring for 4 hours everyday with a 1st grader is just...:001_huh: CLE is kinda time-consuming (especially the reading)...you could use a curriculum like that or BJU...BJU is a nice one (we do their spelling)...

I second the Oak Meadow thing...you can always put it on ebay if it doesn't work out. I saw a bunch of the lesson books on ebay. And you can omit the circle time (we will). We plan on continuing our own math program also. The whole year for K is less than 300 bucks - which is a lot easier to stomach than other packaged curricula. I also heard their customer service was really good (OM).

I do mine in the morning, but I've been nauseated after doing this workout and having other stomach symptoms. :confused: I'm able to sleep though...

You'll probably get a lot more replies tomorrow... We started Grammar Island and Music of the Hemispheres (the poetry book). We're using it together with CLE. Grammar Island is nice, but I'm actually really impressed with Music of the Hemispheres. My daughter actually got teary one day during one of the Shakespeare passages (no kidding). :tongue_smilie:

I third CLE. At that level, she can work completely on her own. And it's CHEAP!

In 2007 - 1 week after I delivered our 4th baby via C-section, I had to drive my husband to the hospital to have cancer removed from his colon. I'm so sorry. :grouphug:

Have you seen Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks? It talks about different approaches to homeschooling and which curricula contain elements of each approach. This really helped me. Do you know what kind of approach you are looking to use? Classical? Charlotte Mason? Follow WTM suggestions? As far as religion studies...(we're Lutheran) I just have them read a passage from the Bible every morning before school starts. It's free and having a noticeable impact... Have you seen the links to the WTM curriculum (WWE, etc) on this site?

Did you see the Oak Meadow curriculum for Kindergarten?

Definitely add WTM to your library. We use Sonlight and I know there are preschool/K -age books on their site. I bought the 1000 Words book and my preschoolers are entranced with it when I get it out. :tongue_smilie:

One side of my family is from Deutschland. It always looks so familiar and luring when I see pictures of it. Howdy! :cheers2:

KJB - where do you live? Germany? (just a guess)

My husband works 14 hours a day and goes for weeks without a day off... It is VERY EASY to get yourself in the exact same rut you are talking about. I feel like a chubby, depressed Lone Ranger myself - all alone with like 2,000 kids and they are all completely incapable of taking care of themselves without adult supervision... The dirty laundry is walking around the house by itself...and the unopened mail is overflowing off the kitchen counter... OK, having said that, here's what pulls me out of my "can't get dressed until noon, lonely, dishes are piled to the ceiling and have no reason to live" feeling... 1. You gotta get up early and start your day 2. Do a 30 minute workout - FIRST THING in the morning - do the 30 Day Shred - it's like 10 bucks and it's an awesome workout 3. Write out a schedule of *** you need to get done and when you're gonna do it for the day! :smash: 4. Drag the kids to their worktable EARLY - make a list of what assignments they need to do and tell them to do them on their own! (I did this yesterday with the 8 yro and she did everything on her list) 5. Two words- IPod!!! Turn that sucker on and listen to YOUR music for a couple of hours while you get the housework under control 6. Get OUT of your house - this is probably the root of the problem...you start staying home to save money...not want to spend gas money...don't feel like leaving after depression kicks in... Even if you just get out, get the kids in the car and go for a scenic drive (get some coffee), you're going to feel a lot better and more focused when you get home. Go somewhere every day until you start feeling better. There is nothing more depressing than sitting in your home, lonely, trying to save money by not leaving and everything in the house just goes to ^%&*. Men don't sit trapped all alone in their homes for weeks at a time with no one to talk to!!! :banghead: Like I said, I have 4 kids - 8 and under - and a husband I never see...it is so easy to become overwhelmed and lose your focus. I hope you feel better soon...try the 30 day shred...:D

I also walk for 1 hour at night before bed. I do the video the first thing in the morning.

I'm on Day 6 and it's a really good workout. I am already noticing some fat missing from a certain spot...:001_huh: If you go on www.exercisetv.tv - there's a thing about it and you can download a workout schedule using the Shred 1 and 2 with her other workouts for a variety. Good luck! :D And, yes, my arms hurt really bad as I type.

I've been to 12 foreign countries...:glare: and studied overseas for awhile... When you're talking about Europe, the right to bear arms, get married quickly :D and homeschooling stick out the most in my head. In some parts of Europe, it's illegal to homeschool and getting a marriage license can take forever. As far as freedom of ideas... Here's an example: in some 13 countries in Europe, it's illegal to deny that the Holocaust happened. In America, you can embrace any bizarre conspiracy theory your heart desires (you could even have your own conspiracy theory radio show- like that Coast to Coast guy or Glenn Beck :D). There are a lot of political party restrictions that we just don't have also. You could belong to the Overthrow the Gooberment While Wearing White Pants Political Party :hat: and no one's even going to notice. I think - in particularly central Europe - there's a lot of political party control by the government. Let's not forget the different economic systems...some countries the gooberment controls the economy...in some places it doesn't... :banghead: Doh! I've been all over the world, without being arrogant or haughty (I absolutely adore some places I've been to)...but there's just something about Home... :auto: Good topic for discussion, Garga! I'd like to hear what other people think.

:iagree: It's the same with Singapore. In November, I had to completely bring math to a screeching halt and do two months of drills with Kumon books. You have to do it, though. Better slow and steady than they rush through and not have the calculations cemented in their heads.

Hi! This might not be the most helpful post...:glare: I also looked at the Enki curriculum through their website. Boy, is it vague... Unless there's a link I'm missing, it's really hard to grasp what is covered in each grade. I also noticed that the Kindergarten package is $500. :001_huh: Do you know if they have a yahoo group? I was interested in finding a curriculum similar to this (for one of my kids) and I have pretty much settled on Oak Meadow. It's a lot cheaper and it seemed to be more "grasp-able" for me as a parent. It meets state standards and I think there's a private school option. It also has all the hands-on, craft, art and literature content that I was looking to include for this kid. OM also looks pretty easy to supplement with...say, Singapore Math :D. Sorry I couldn't be more Enki-helpful. Have you seen the Oak Meadow website?

U of Chicago!! (You're right - the Chicago campuses are VERY different from colleges in other states.) You're from our neck of the woods! We both went to UIC - off Taylor and Halstead and my husband then went to the old Scholl Podiatry School off LaSalle (? - they ended up going under and merging with some big college near Gurnee Mills). The Alpha Phi Omega chapter I was talking about is on the UIC campus. Awesome! :seeya: Howdy!

I was an Alpha Phi Omega and highly recommend this to anyone looking for a fraternity/sorority. It's co-ed, so technically it's called a fraternity. It's the fraternity former President Clinton belonged to in college (not that I'm a huge Clinton fan)... It's a Service Fraternity - we were required to complete a certain number of community service hours every semester, along with 2 fellowships. So...one semester we built a haunted house for inner city kids in Chicago, we ran some kind of eyeglass donation box on campus, we worked at a food donation warehouse, etc. For our fellowships...we would meet for dinner at a restaurant in Greek Town (OK, you can tell I went to college in Chicago) or we would have a fraternity meeting in one of the conference rooms on campus. The craziest thing we ever did was have a candlelight meeting where we all had to say something interesting about someone else in the fraternity. There was no drinking, no parties, no hazing and everybody was older and using APO to get into med school or law school. :D It's called APO or Alpha Phi Omega and it's a great way to belong to a fraternity/group and make some friends. They were also telling us it looks really good on your resume - because a lot of older people belonged to fraternities like that - back in the day.

Thanks for the specific answers!! I do think it's a great curriculum - which is why so many people are attracted to it. It's funny to think of the HUGE explosion in educational avenues that didn't exist ten or fifteen years ago. None of this was around when we were kids and I had never heard of a co-op or homeschool group or Potter's School or virtual school and there was definitely no internet. :tongue_smilie: I wonder what homeschooling options will be out there in 20 years... :auto:

I don't know if I mentioned this, but 2nd grader literally F L I E S through her schoolwork.

:lurk5: OK, now if you are able to log in out-of-school activities (like, say cooking or music lessons...), how do you record those hours...in other words...is your computer system required to be logged in 30 hours a week for your kid to get credit for attendance?? The last thing I want to invite into our house is trouble... I understand that they have to have visible hour standards - or the crowd with torches and pitchforks will storm the castle doors...however, I'm generally a big rule-follower and the 30 hour committment would deter me from using this program. I would also like to hear some more specifics from parents using the TXVA system, specifically. Anyone? :lurk5:

There's a lot of people who homeschool gifted kids! :D We have a kid who qualifies for the gifted thing...she scores in the 99th percentile on standardized testing (she's 8). We never really concentrate on the gifted issue and I don't do anything special for her, but I know she's exposed to all kinds of stuff that they wouldn't have had time to cover in school (like I was saying in another post- our Leonardo da Vinci week - she's in the dining room right now designing "inventions" inspired by da Vinci's sketches). I've seen books out there on the subject, but don't have any to recommend to you now... Maybe someone else has some recommendations!