What a beautiful name!

Agreeing about Further Up and Further In. I used it with my fourth grader last year and, according to him, it was his "best year ever."

I flirt with this idea from time to time myself. Unit studies are one way to get closer to this.

My blog is in my siggy. I blog about homeschool, life, and being a special needs family. Our curriculum is a mix of a lot of different things. For my girls, the main curriculum I use is Oak Meadow. For my ds10, it's unit studies. Last year he used Further Up and Further In, a Narnia unit study. This coming year he will be using The Weaver Curriculum Volume 2 (Bible, History, Geography, Science, Language Arts, Literature), which my dd12 will use for her Bible portion of school-and hopefully my dd5 will be able to listen in & grasp some of the concepts. I use Saxon Math with my ds10 and dd12. Dd5 is not using a math program yet due to her developmental delays. She counts M&M's, Chex, etc. and I talk to her about colors and shapes using wooden blocks. Also, I use Wynstone's Kindergarten Series and A Child's Seasonal Treasury with dd5. I hope to add in Waldorf Essentials A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling Kindergarten with dd5 soon. We also use http://www.amblesideonline.org/ for nature study, composer/music studies, art study, and poetry. Ds10 will be using Latina Christiana for Latin this year, and dd12 will be using a few different books for Spanish. We attend a weekly co-op, where dd12 will take P.E. and theater, ds10 will take Literature & Science, and I will teach Five in a Row. Dd5 will stay with me in class or go to the nursery with another mom, depending on how she is that particular day. Her developmental level is not at the point of her understanding classes and participating in them.

Rainy and stormy here, too. I did some cleaning this morning. I need to run errands this afternoon, and it is so nasty. I have a bad attitude about that.

I "prettied" up our dining room/school area. That helped. I will also be teaching my children together for Bible, art, music/composer, poetry, and nature studies. That way we will have interaction time as a group as well as one-one-one time for individual subjects.

Love "Don't Dream It's Over." Brings back memories of the 80's...best decade ever. :)

I use Oak Meadow with my daughters. It is a great fit for us. I wake my 10yo and 12yo at 7:30 for showers. My 5yo usually wakes anywhere between 6:30 and 8:30. We have breakfast and Bible together. Then my 12yo does her independent reading, grammar, writing, science, and history while I work on read-alouds, grammar, spelling,history, and science with my 10yo (he uses a unit study.) While those two have a 15-30 minute break, I do "circle time" with my 5yo. Circle Time is when I use Oak Meadow Preschool with my 5yo, as well as Wynstone's Kindergarten Series. Then I teach math lessons to my 10yo and 12yo, and they work on their lessons and watch my 5yo while I exercise. After that, we have lunch and my 5yo takes a nap. This coming year I will use this time to teach Latin to my 10yo and Spanish to my 12yo. When my 5yo wakes up from her nap, we read a book. When she's ready to get down, then we work on writing on her dry erase easel and our current activity, which right now is putting shapes in containers. We have a weekly "tea time" during which we do poetry, art, or music/composer studies. That is the short version of our school day. You will probably do fine purchasing Oak Meadow used. I bought my 12yo's 6th grade package used. There is an Oak Meadow Group on Yahoo that you should join. That is where I got my used curriculum package. Also, you can get your questions answered there, too. There is a Facebook group for Oak Meadow, too. Both groups are very active. I follow a daily rhythm, but it's not a strict schedule. Google Waldorf homeschooling and you'll get some ideas about what inspires my days. Also, the book Seven Times the Sun is a daily guide for me. We used to do year round schooling, but now that my kids are older, we take summers off because of friends and activities. We also attend a homeschool co-op every Monday from the second week of September through the second week of May. We take a week off for spring break, a week off in November for Thanksgiving, three weeks off in December for Christmas, and one week off in January for the New Year. We plan to start our new school year on August 12, and if all goes according to plan, we will finish the last week of May. I hope that helps. :)

I love cold weather. I detest hot weather and humidity. This is not good, since I live in south Alabama!

Praying.

Great blog post. Thanks for sharing.

Agree about naming the baby. I named both of the babies that I lost. There were several friends and family members who were expecting babies around the same time that both of mine would have been born. That was VERY hard on me. I had to avoid all things pregnancy and baby related for a while until I healed emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Let your daughter know that it's okay if she has to do the same. I am praying for her, and I am sorry for the loss.

I voted #3. I wanted to come through the screen and eat it! Now I'm hungry. ;)

Oak Meadow might be a good fit for both.

Welcome! That is a great homeschooler moment. :)

Tress, I am sorry to hear that. My planning? Well, I have all of our stuff. I know we'll be starting back on August 12. That's all of my plan so far. :)

Battle of the Sexes. We usually play it with friends, but I think it could work with two people.

Agreeing that it's easy to homeschool in Alabama. Our church is our cover school. We are also a part of a homeschool co-op and they offer the option of being a cover school as well. I have a good friend who is not a Christian and she uses a statewide cover that is called Dayspring, or at least I think that's the name.

If he's a great guy, and you are both interested in getting to know one another better, then go for it. :)

Mine is a special post this week, focused on my little one. Here's the link: http://freeindeed-redkitchen.blogspot.com/2013/07/baby-girl-and-me-week-of-july-6-11-2013.html Also, here's a fun post about my Twilight Marathon Party: http://freeindeed-redkitchen.blogspot.com/2013/06/twilight-marathon-party.html

Rainbow Resource has literature packages for each FIAR volume. The packages have most of the books, except for the ones that are out of print. Purple House Press reprinted Cranberry Thanksgiving and The Giraffe That Walked to Paris. My older children loved our FIAR years, and I'll be teaching FIAR to the K-2nd class at our co-op this coming school year. But, if you still want a different program, you could look into Peak With Books or Picture Book Activites. I have not used either of these.

I saw this on FB earlier and ordered. What a great deal!

Trying to schedule the right amount of work, without overkill. Remembering to add in "extras" (picture study, composer study) each week.

Congrats! :)

My hubby is one year younger than I am.