So-o-o many new faces. Perhaps it is time for a new intro thread.

[Hikin' Mama]

I haven't posted for quite awhile, until tonight that is. I do check in from time to time, though.

 

I am almost 42 and have homeschooled since my oldest was in kindergarten. He began going to school in the 7th grade, and that has been a good thing. :) He will be a senior next year. My younger two have always been homeschooled. However, my middle child, 14 yods, would like to try high school next year, and I am going to let him. He is a great student and tested out of three courses (algebra 1, geometry, earth science), and I am going to miss him greatly next year. My youngest is dyslexic, but the hardest worker of all three of my kids. I will homeschool her until she is at grade level and most likely through high school. She has an incredible amount of confidence for someone who struggles with so greatly with reading.

 

I have used many different curriculae (is that the proper spelling?), depending on what works best for each child. Rod and Staff has been my only choice for grammar, SOTW has been my favorite for history (we're on our second cycle, and 14 yods used HOTAW along with Spielvogel this year) and we've used both Singapore and Saxon Math. This year my 14 yos used Jacob's Geometry. I didn't love it, but he seemed to learn well from it, and even scored a 100 % on one of the four tests he had to take at the local high school. We've always read a lot of literature on the side to go with our history spine and our course of science study.

 

As far as personal info, I love to hike and read and ride my bike. I also like to do weight training, which started as a way to strengthen my bones, but has become a very enjoyable pursuit for me.

 

Well, I think that's enough info for one evening!

[jolley]

I'm Amy, 30. I've been married to my wonderful farming husband for 10 years! I read here all the time but rarely post. You all are so full of information!

 

dd 9: no issues we're aware of :). Saxon 5/4, BF Geography, Italics, BJUP English 4 and Spelling 4, Explorer's Bible, no formal science currently, reads anything she can get her hands on.

 

ds 8: multiple skeletal abnormalities(Shriner's are our friends): Explorer's Bible, Lifepac Math 3, BJUP English and Spelling 3, reading SL 2 Int. readers, Italics and BF Geography.

 

ds 7: original diagnosis of Aspergers but go July for re-evaluation (go figure): Explorer's Bible, Lifepac Math 2, BJUP Spelling 2, FLL, SL 2 Int. readers, Italics, BF Geography.

 

ds 5: FAE but are seeing geneticist sp? in July: Explorer's Bible, Lifepac Math 1, ETC, FLL, SL K readers, Italics, following along BF geography.

 

We have homeschooled all but 3 months. CS didn't work for us. Life has changed in the last 3 years when we adopted ds' 8 and 5. They have overcome MANY emotional issues and are working on others.

[Peggy in Va]

Better to be late to the party than not show up at all. :)

 

I'm Peggy (pushing 50), married to my wonderful, patient, dh Joe (55) for 18 years this past January. We have three ds, Thomas 25 (from previous marriage), Matthew 13 this October, and Michael 11.

 

I'm Va born and bred and have always lived here. Dh is a transplant from New Jersey. We left the hectic life of No. Va almost 19 years ago to move to the northern Shenandoah Valley. I still can't figure out how we left the city, moved to the country and ended up living in town.:confused: Perfect life would be living in a cabin on 20+ acres with multiple animals, but for now we'll just enjoy our 90 yo house on 1/2 acre with a view of Skyline Drive and our two dogs and a hamster.

 

Dh is a licensed Landscape Architect and we have our own company. I was an accountant in my old life, so when I'm not being mom, teacher, etc., etc., I help run the company and take care of all the financial aspects. Dh on the other hand, gets to be creative and occasionally "play" outside.

 

I first learned of homeschooling from a neighbor of mine about 17 years ago. Briefly homeschooled oldest ds for 4th grade after learning just how bad the schools here were. Ended up putting him in a classical private school. Other ds were homeschooled from K-part of 4th then put in ps (older went to private this past year). They are both coming back home next year and I'm really excited about it. The one thing I've learned through this public/private/homeschool journey is that nothing is perfect and just try to do the best for my dc.

 

I honestly can't remember if I ran across the WTM book or these boards first. But I've owned all three editions of the book and love reading each one.

 

I think I have my curriculum choices made for next year, but since we have lots of room for storage and I tend to be a curriculum junkie, I won't say the plans are set in stone. For right now, we'll be using Saxon, LofF, R&S, LL7, IEW, VCR, HOU, and PH Science Explore Life. I'm still trying to decide on logic.

 

Following the others leads: curriculum junkie, barefoot over shoes - inside and out - but when needed will wear shoes in the house, don't dye my hair - but I would if I needed to, mountains over beach, camping loving, animal loving, conservative, sarcastic, blunt, very loyal, love a good debate, circumcised, breastfed, hate to clean - but realize it's a necessity, caffeine freak.

[Satori]

Hello! I've registered here at the Hive 3 months ago, only started lurking a month ago, realized it is an AWESOME, intelligent, homeschooling forum and just now getting active. :)

 

I'm Angela, mid-30's (I lose track).

I have one daughter, age 4.5. She's in preschool/kindy.

 

In January, I enrolled her in an immersive Spanish course for 0-5 year olds. She did really well and loved learning! At the same time, I was adjusting to being a stay at home mom after selling an extremely busy/stressful online business. So I started teaching her a little bit at home. Soon she was on her way to reading, but based on feedback from other boards, I pulled way back and just did Five in a Row with her.

 

Now, I saw poo on that (keeping her back), so I will be working with her a little bit everyday, and start official kindergarten this fall (when she'll be 5).

 

We're using (will spell all out for people that aren't familiar with abbreviations):

 

 

• Math-U-See Primer (main math)
  
• Singapore Earlybird A/B (secondary supplement)
  
• Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
  
• Phonics Pathways (if needed, might steal some of their ideas)
  
• Explode the Code workbooks
  
• Handwriting Without Tears
  
• All About Spelling Level 1
  
• Artistic Pursuits
  
• All kinds of prehistory/history books
  
• All kinds of read-alouds in general
  
• All kinds of experiments, crafts, field trips
  

 

[ThatCyndiGirl]

I am Cyndi, in my thirties, married to Captain Kirk. We have three kiddos, all with Star Trek names. Katy is 12, Jake is 4.5 and Claire is 3. (I'm the only weirdo without a Star Trek name)

 

We have always homeschooled. Katy is going into 7th Grade and Jake is going into kindegarten. He learned to read this week. Claire is happily learning letters and numbers and loves having someone read to her.

 

Katy is an archer and is pretty darned good, if I do say so myself.

 

Jake is musically inclined so we are starting him on piano this year.

 

Claire? She's a Miss Priss who would probably compete in the pageant set if we'd let her. (and we would NOT let her!)

 

We have a PanaMutt named Trixie. We adopted her when we lived in Panama. She looks like a golden retriever shrunk down to a 28 pound size. We just adopted Mew, a grey kitten, who was hired to eat our scorpions. (the scorpions are not pets!) And, we have a frog named Trog who I rescued from my Physiology lab. His cohorts were not so lucky. I opened their chest cavities to stop their hearts and make them beat again.

 

My husband is in network security (computer geek) and I answer phones for a crisis line. (actually 9 crisis lines, including sexual assault and domestic violence).

 

We use Five in a Row, Beyond Five in a Row, History Odyssey, Learnables French and Teaching Textbooks. We use Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons in the beginning. I'm thinking about Song School Latin this year. We also use Real Science 4 Kids, Editor in Chief and Wordsmith.

 

 

I found this board thru Earl Grey. We are in a co-op together.

 

We are an atheist family. We used to be involved in Girl Scouts, but it got to be too clique-y and too much about make-up, boys and the latest styles. My husband was a volunteer with them but always resented the fact that he could not actually lead anything becuase of our "lack of religion". I've been considering a UU church for years, as it is the only type of congregation that appeals to us, but my work schedule never seems to cooperate. (I mostly work weekend nights)

 

Oh, and Katy is gifted in photography and I am forever trying to perfect my tap-dancing skills. And we have a blog.....

 

ohmynoodness.blogspot.com

[momtolgd]

I've been around about 5 or 6 years. My name is Michelle and I am 30-something. My husband and I have been married for 9 1/2 years.

 

We are still schooling through the summer for about 6 more weeks until we take a 3 week break. I originally started to consider homeschooling when our oldest was 4 and we found out that his birthday was a few weeks after the cutoff for school, the next year, and he would have to wait until he was 6 to start kindergarten...he was ready to learn and we didn't want to wait that long. Then our daughter had a food allergy when she was a toddler/preschooler...that further convinced me that homeschooling was the way for us, because I was worried about her food safety. These things combined with many many hours of thinking and discussing with DH made us start out our homeschool journey. I feel now we are finally finding our way and doing really well with homeschooling (sticking to a schedule is the most difficult part for me!)

 

Here is what we'll be doing in the fall:

 

2009-2010 school year plans

 

DS (turns 9 in August):

Math: CLE, continue with 300 level, then onto 400

Spelling: Megawords and Explode the Code 8 (also adding in Spelling Wisdom when I decide to.)

Grammar: Growing with Grammar 4

Writing: Writing Tales 1

Handwriting: Queen Pictures in Cursive

Logic: Logic Countdown, and Logic Safari 2

Latin: The Great Latin Adventure book 1

Computers: Scratch, maybe some logo, typing with Spongebob

History: SOTW 2 (also possibly a US History class in Co-op)

Science: A Child's Geography in the fall, Head To Toe science and Easy Make and Learn Projects Human Body in the winter, Home Science Adventures magnetism kit? in the spring

Music: Recorder and Piano Adventures

Memorization: IEW's Developing Linguistic Patterns Through Poetry Memorization

Homeschool Co-op classes

PE: Basketball

Bible/Reading: Day by Day Kid's Bible

Greek Alphabet Code Cracker

Davey and Goliath Devotions

4H in the spring

 

 

DD (turns 7 in October):

Math: CLE, finish 100 level, then onto 200

Spelling/Phonics: Explode the Code finish book 4, then 5, 6, 7

Grammar: Growing with Grammar 2

Writing: Writing With Ease 2

Handwriting: Queen Pictures in Cursive

Logic: Primarily Logic, and Logic Safari 1

Latin: The Great Latin Adventure book 1 (vocabulary and pardigms only)

History: SOTW 2 (also possibly a US History class in Co-op)

Science: A Child's Geography in the fall, Head To Toe science and Easy Make and Learn Projects Human Body in the winter, and Home Science Adventures magnetism kit? in the spring

Music: Recorder and Piano Adventures

Memorization: IEW's Developing Linguistic Patterns Through Poetry Memorization

Homeschool Co-op classes

PE: Basketball

Bible/Reading: Day by Day Begin-to-Read Bible

Greek Alphabet Code Cracker

Davey and Goliath Devotions

4H Cloverbuds in the spring

 

 

 

DS (will turn 3 in November):

Heart of Dakota’s Little Hands to Heaven

Learning to be a preschooler!

[cslbda]

My name is Crystal and I've been lurking on these boards for a while now. I have learned so much about what works and what doesn't from these boards. My husband and I have 2 boys ages 8 and 11. I did the homeschooling for our 1st 3 years and my husband has taken over for the last 2 while I've gone back to work. We primarily use Sonlight (secularly) mixed with WTM methods. We toyed with the idea of sending the boys to public school this year, but decided against it primarily because we see how much they are benefitting from spending loads of time w/ their father.

[lauracolumbus]

I'm relatively new to this board--something I truly regret, altho not new to TWTM. I'm Laura from Columbus (OH). Innovative, I know. I'm 46, a lawyer by training and a writer now. We just finished our second year of hs'ing. My dc were in a great private school, but the homework was killing ds. He was becoming unbearable and had little time for free play as he's involved in a lot of sports. DD was the perfect classroom child, and I gave her the option to stay in school, but once she saw the ds was having so much fun AND got to sleep in she decided to join the party. DD5 is also getting ready to join the party as she did preschool last year.

 

I feel like I've finally found a group of hs'ers who are as obsessive as I am. Unfortunately my wallet is paying the price. I think I now own 5 math curriucla and 4 language arts programs. ANd this is in addition to the stuff I bought b4 joining this group.

 

It's even cutting into my beauty sleep. and at 46 I shouldn't mess w/my beauty sleep.

 

Laura

[Melinda]

I am Melinda and I am 28 years old. I am married to Ivan, who is a cartographer at NOAA and will be (GASP) 37 years old on Sunday. We live in Maryland, roughly an hour or a little more from both Baltimore and Washington, DC.

 

We have 3 children. Jared just turned 6 and is finishing Kindergarten today. Hannah will be 5 on August 10th. Nathan turned 2 at the end of March. We also have 2 cats; Daisy and Dexter.

 

We have been homeschooling from birth, but officially began this past fall with Jared's Kindergarten year.

 

As far as curriculum goes, it took me until March of this year to finally settle on what we will be using for a while.

 

See you on the boards!

[kah]

Hi! I'm Kathy and I have two kids- a DD9 and a DS7. They're both in public school, but I found this board last winter when first one child, then the other, was having problems with various things at school. Those have been resolved for now, and so, for now at least, we plan to keep each of them where they are. (I'm still a little worried about DS's situation, but depending on the 2nd grade teacher, it could actually be a very good year for him, I think.)

 

Still, I love the WTM approach, and I'm trying to do some after-schooling and summer-schooling with them, to fill in gaps and provide enrichment. We've been reading SOTW1, and I just got the Kingfisher and Usborne history encyclopedias. I also have Writing With Ease (the main one, not the workbooks) and I know it's what they need, I just haven't implemented it yet- they're working their way through Handwriting W/o Tears first.

 

I have to admit that, having set up a schedule for summer, I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to motivate them, and I'm not sure that full-time homeschooling would be the best thing for us. Still, it's also empowering to know that we *do* have another option besides public school, and that I know exactly where I'd start if I chose that option.

[anotherclassicmom]

Hi, I'm not new to TWTM, or the boards, but I am new to posting and checking it out more. I was around a few years ago before the rules changed ( I guess) so I had to sign up again.

My name is Susan and I have been married to my husband for 12 years. We have three kiddos. DD 11, DS 11 (twins) and DD 7. We live in Central Oregon.

 

We have homeschooled from the beginning. When my twins were 4 I was lamenting having to send them away to school. I knew of homeschooling but figured there was no way I could actually do it. A dear friend sat down with me and spent many hours answering all my questions, and is always a phone call away when I begin to feel incapable. My wonderful husband is a huge support. With those two things we jumped in with both feet running.

 

I'm learning as we go, and figure that by the time I graduate my youngest I will have it all figured out. :D

 

So, that is me!

[tjarnold]

I'm Tiffany, mom of 3 (ds 11, dd 10, dd 3). We've been homeschooling since my oldest began Kindergarten, so that's 6 years. I do remember the first time I checked out the WTM from a library in Florida (along with every other book they owned on homeschooling). I quickly set it aside because it was too overwhelming for me at the time. I now refer to it regularly.

 

We are rather classical in our homeschooling orientation, but mix things up every once in a while. I'm a big fan of Excellence in Writing and Sonlight, but am enough of a curriculum junkie to check out anything at least once.

 

I'm also a violin teacher (offering both Suzuki and traditional or a mix, depending on the child's age), as well as a compulsive organizer. Right now, I'm obsessing over setting up new planners for my oldest two, whom I want to teach to work more independently when we jump back into our regular school year in August.

 

So glad to have found these forums ...

 

Tiffany

East Central Indiana

[Spring Pea]

Well, I am BRAND NEW here.

 

I'm 28, married for 7 yrs, homeschooling one of my two daughters. They are 5 1/2 and 2. We live in the green part of Texas. :)

 

We began homeschooling last year for kindergarten, but I'm planning to make it a little more structured this year. We used Ordinary Parent's guide to reading and Singapore Math.

 

Would anyone care to introduce me to the forums. I'm struggling to figure out all the acronyms and abbreviations. I know basics like dd, ds, and dh, and am gradually figuring out curriculum based ones, but even some of those are hard. What does it mean "bump" on the for sale pages?

[BillieBoy]

I’ve been meaning to post on this thread and found it floating by again today.

 

I’m Billie (nickname). I have been on this and the old board for about 4 years. I forgot my old username from the old board so I’ve just lurked until recently. When signing up this time I accidently used what was intended for my password as my username and I got found out in RL (I used to work with an entertainer).

 

Anyhow, I’m 40 years old and have been with my husband for 18 years. We tried, and tried, and tried :tongue_smilie:until we got our one bundle of joy and laughs that just turn 8. We decided to homeschool before she was born and after I taught in PS for 2 years. We homeschool for purely academic reasons, the non PS socialization is a huge benefit.

 

We are secular classical WTM but I’ve had to do a bit of modifying. I could say the standard: we’ve been homeschooling since birth but technically we are in our 4th year (grade 3).

 

Currently dd (her initials really are D.D.) is doing the following: Singapore 3b, History Odyssey Grammar Early Modern, Voyages in English 3, Sequential Spelling, My Pals are Here Science 3/4, Latin for Children Primer A, Artistic Pursuits, Mindbenders, Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace Jr. and several homemade curriculums for geography, philosophy, music appreciation, technology education, and cursive.

 

I sure do appreciate the collective mind of the hive. Thank you ALL.:hurray:

[mlgbug]

HELLO! Im NEw here! Im MElissa 26 and cant wait to dive into the homeschooling. I have 2 kids :

Gabriella 4

Lorenzo 1 (2 in sept)

 

so far for dd we have:

HOP K-1

!00ez lessons (we are on 6)

Signapore math is commign (old versions 1a 1b 2a 2b

fiar is comming....im hoping to get the books in the library

and so far thats it.

 

I need to get HWT, and the Bible supl would be nice for fiar :)

[lea1]

Hi, I'm Lea (46) in Oklahoma, married to my dear husband for four and a half years. I am relatively new at posting but have been reading for a year or two.

 

We have two sons, Benjamin and Nicholas, who will both be turning four years old in the fall (end of September and mid November, respectively).

 

So far we have had no official schedule. We just 'do school' when they are interested and mostly through play, although I am considering starting to do something a little more structured this year.

 

Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading

Bob books

Kumon books

Logic books (Critical Thinking Co.)

 

Lots of reading aloud, counting, sorting, matching, coloring, painting, cutting, pasting, etc.

[MOM24WONDERS]

This sounds like a safe, fun thread.

 

I am pretty new here. I'm Emily, wife to Joey and mom to 5 - 4 here with us and one angel in heaven. The kids are:

 

Rhett 14

Madalyn 13

Abigail 11

Maicee 5

 

We are a very conservative Christian family, quiverfull, the whole 9 yards. I've always been at home with the kids. We are from a small town in Mississippi where I grew up and about 1 hour from where my husband grew up.

 

Rhett is going into 10th grade and uses Notgrass World History, TT Algebra II, Apologia Chemistry, Easy Grammar High School, Typing, and a Bible class through our homeschool group. He plays soccer and guitar. He LOVES football and played little league tackle until he got too old. He is very talented in creating things with legos and has won several major awards for his creations....including a six-ft. working roller coaster. he designs roller coasters online and also creates lego sets that have been accepted to sell. He is THE easiest child anyone has ever had the pleasure of parenting. He is very helpful to me and to my husband - doing anything he is asked without complaint. He has also outgrown me this summer!

 

Madalyn is going into 8th grade and uses Sonlight, CLE Pre-Algebra, Sonlight LA, Easy Grammar, Life Science, Typing, and a Bible class through our homeschool group. She has been into many things in her life - softball, gymnastics, ballet! This year she is going to play soccer and she plays piano and sings. She is also a very talented artist. She is about to open her own Etsy boutique for the jewelry that she creates. She writes songs, stories, and Bible studies. She is an extremely easy child to parent and is very, very helpful to me. She is simply a joy.

 

Abigail will be in 6th grade and uses Sonlight, ACE math, Easy Grammar, Sonlight LA, Sonlight Science, Bible, Spelling, and Health. Abigail loves sports and is very competitive. She plays softball and soccer. She has also taken gymnastics, piano, and voice. She loves to do anything outside! She writes delightful stories and loves to act and sing. She is so full of life and energy ALL the time! She brings a smile to the face of everyone that she meets. The joy that radiates from her makes her so easy to parent - even though her bouncy demeanor can mean trouble at times :) She is also a very big help to me here at home.

 

Maicee is going into Kindergarten using Sonlight, Sonlight LA, Sonlight Science, and ACE math. She will be taking ballet for the first time this year. She is very interested in the piano and singing. She and Abigail have personalities that are immensely alike. She is rarely grumpy and is up for ANYTHING! She loves to help Mommy and her Papa (daddy) is her favorite person ever. She is a ray of sunshine. She can't wait to learn to read! I've got many helpers with her, so she's never been an ounce of trouble to raise. She is very compliant.

 

All of my children are good with younger kids and they are all best friends. I love that they love to spend time together. Rhett is often seen helping Maddy or Abby with math and Maddy has taught MANY things to Maicee! In fact, it was Maddy that was able to help her write the lower-case e in her name!

 

I think I'm married to the most amazing man on earth. He is helpful, considerate, thoughtful, and pretty darn cute! lol I thank God everyday for the blessing He gave me in this man I've married.

 

I've said over and over - my blog is even named this - I'm living my dream. Things simply couldn't get better! Well, unless God chooses to bless us with more children - now that would just be the cherry on the sundae!!!

 

I have really enjoyed reading about each of the families and their lives. It's so interesting to see how we're all different - but isn't that what makes the world go around?

 

I hope my post wasn't too long....I can get long-winded at the best of times and when I get to talking about my family, I think it's worse!

[bairnmama]

Well... I'm 34 and have been married for almost 11 years, but my "d"h and I are now separated; so I'm trying to work out homeschooling youngers with earning income, maintaining the house and going to therapy 3 days/week for dc's OT and speech. We belong to a super homeschool group, and I will teach an art class for them this year. I also teach art for the homeschooled siblings of a local MOPs group, work for my church nursery and sell Usborne books. I earned a BA in General Studies from UNT with concentrations in Archaeology, Chemistry, and Art History and was headed toward graduate school for Art Conservation before I married and my priorities changed. I still toy with the idea of pursuing that field after the kids are grown....

 

I have 2 kids. I pulled my dd, 8, out of public K after just a few months because she was in tears every night with homework and complained of stomachaches *every* day before school. We found out later she has dyspraxia; cognitive disorder, NOS; and severely delayed visual spatial skills as well as sensory issues. So I'm very committed to keeping her home instead of in the local ps system, which is disappointing to say the least [the ps is disappointing, I mean:tongue_smilie:]. I strive to follow the WTM approach, but find I have to modify things quite a bit to match dd's abilities - we're still working on copying 4 word sentences legibly going into "3rd" grade and not even attempting dictation yet!

 

Ds, 4, on the other hand, surprises me every day with what he's picking up just from me trying to teach his sister. He used to love "playing" Headsprout, but now prefers to practice his reading using McGuffy's readers and asks to do reading from them after our bedtime story! I'm sure he will quickly outpace his sister in both reading and math even though I seldom teach directly to him.

[IsabelC]

Hello, I am a brand newbie to this forum. I am in my mid 30s and have been married for about 15 years. We have 3 gorgeous and energetic children aged 6, 4 and 1, so are fairly new to the homeschooling life, although we were thinking about it for a few years before our eldest got to schooling age. Our style of home education so far - and this might change over time - is a blend of classical and unschooling with a dash of Waldorf thrown into the mix. Although we are probably far less structured than most families on here, I hope I will still be welcome as I can see that many of you are very experienced and will have some great tips to impart.

[abcinnc]

Hello, I'm Alice and have lurked here for a long time, but just recently joined the boards. I have been married for 16 years to my wonderful dh. We have three dds - 7, 11 and 14 and have homeschooled them from the beginning. We have used Sonlight, R&S, Singapore, Chalkdust, FLL, Analytical Grammar and Rainbow Science along with a few other things. I read TWTM a long time ago and it really encouraged me on this homeschool journey.

 

I wear shoes only when I am going out. We are in the country and love to go barefooted as much as possible. I love spending time with my family, chocolate, and reading. We do CHRISTmas with Santa, Easter and Halloween.

[MariannNOVA]

This post caught my eye as I am sitting on day TWO of bedrest and RICE with cuts, bruises, and heaven knows what else from a running mishap on Saturday evening - thankfully, nothing is broken or fractured, I think! :glare:

I was here 2 years ago b4 the Boards changed, left in 11/07 (why do I remember these things? :confused:). I was so happy to see so many familiar 'names' and amazed at the number of new names! I will be homeschooling all three of our children, twin b/g 3rd graders and dd, 5th grade. I homeschooled the twins for most of 1st grade and then put them in ps. They are all coming from a classical Christian private school now.

I am *probably the oldest WTM-er* on the Board! I have two grown, married daughters (29 and 30) - one lives here in Va, the other in NJ. DD in NJ has blessed us with 2 adorable grand-daughters, ages 5 and 3.

Dh and I will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary the day after tomorrow, July 29th.

I am a former classroom teacher, and decided that instead of teaching other peoples kids, this year, I would teach my own....and save a bundle on private school tuition.

We just (last week) adopted an adorable 2 yr old Blue Tick hound from a Rescue Foundation here in northern Virginia -- you can see him (and us) on my WTM page. I do not have a blog, but definitely see myself moving in that direction....or not. I would probably use it mostly to look up key facts about myself that I have forgotten....like my name, my children's names, my husband's name, the dog's name, what I'm supposed to be doing.....you get the idea!:w00t:

I am almost finished planning our upcoming school year -- we are using Rod and Staff, Saxon Math, History Odyssey-Middle Ages, Trail Guide to World Geo and Literature through World Geography, Latin Christiana, Writing Strands, IEW, Phonetic Zoo....I think that's everything. I have found that I had excellent 'classroom' habits as a teacher, and I am making a concentrated effort to have those habits in our homeschool, which is named Cannon Green Academy - named after a landmark on DH's undergrad campus, Princeton.

[Robin Hood]

Man alive... there are some young ladies here.

 

My name is Robin and I have been here for around 6 years. I am a whopping 54 years old, but didn't have kids until my 40's. They are 10yo girls. I've privately nick named them Kate and Bianca after Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" because it fits and helps me keep humor when "Kate" loses it.

 

Being a quiet and shy kid, I fell through the cracks of the school system unnoticed, and found a little trouble. I was broken hearted when I let my parents down, barely making it through. I became determined to give my own kids a little more help than I received through the decision to homeschooling . However, being privately schooled, I still came out a little more educated than my public schooled peers, an additional reason for my decision to homeschool.

 

I have found it eye opening that not only do kids go through "stages", but as I hang out with younger women I notice that we all go through them all of our lives. 30"s act like 30's and 40's act like 40's. with the same jokes and practices as we 50's did in our time. That gives me more respect for folks older than me and I wonder if they say things like... "You can sure tell she is in her 50's; she'll grow up some day."

 

With that said, having kids late in life sure levels the playing field as I go through the same doubts, misgivings, and prideful moments with my kids as ya'll do with yours as we homeschool together.

 

I don't hang out here much anymore, except when in a mindless moment. I don't have much to say since I don't do well with the written word. I am much better face to face. I check in and read up on what you are all up to and I only recognize a very few any more.

 

When I first began my homeschool journey, this spot in my world gave me much encouragement, direction, correction, ideas and strength of determination. The ladies here honed my thinking skills and helped me put words to my wordless convictions as I read through many a controversial thread. Those whom I was opposed to helped me the most forcing to think about why I think what I do. Those that I agreed with showed me how to argue maturely. irl, that is. I could never match wits with those like Peek, Colleen, Kate CA, or Spy Car, but I always enjoy watching them spar and learned a lot from their sparring. Because of them , I have insight into the thoughts of those around me and find myself in better control of my thoughts and feelings and the understanding of those different than me and I find myself saddened when a thread is locked.

 

Then there is the humor of Duran. Her quick wit makes me laugh all the time.

 

Cheers to you all as we go at it for another year.

Edited July 27, 2009 by Robin Hood

[Robin Hood]

Ooops... Christ first but Santa is fine, love Halloween, Easter is about resurrection and the Easter bunny knows that, tooth fairy brings $5 in gold dollars.

 

My kids got the wrong tooth fairly assigned to them and they are figuring that out. .50 for front teeth, $1.00 for following teeth, $2.00 for molars. Cheapskate Fairy!

[Robin Hood]

Hi, I'm Lea (46) in Oklahoma, married to my dear husband for four and a half years. I am relatively new at posting but have been reading for a year or two.

 

We have two sons, Benjamin and Nicholas, who will both be turning four years old in the fall (end of September and mid November, respectively).

 

So far we have had no official schedule. We just 'do school' when they are interested and mostly through play, although I am considering starting to do something a little more structured this year.

 

Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading

Bob books

Kumon books

Logic books (Critical Thinking Co.)

 

Lots of reading aloud, counting, sorting, matching, coloring, painting, cutting, pasting, etc.

 

Nice, someone in my court. I had my kids in my 40's also. Mine are girls, 5 months apart and 10 now.

[Robin Hood]

Kelly, I'm the mama. I'm roughly in my early thirties. :) We're expecting our ninth child and they range from expecting to 13. We've been homeschooling for 8 years now since the youngest was five. I first read The Well Trained Mind waaaaaaayyy back around 2001 when Ana was at the end of K/ beginning of 1st. We're from Iowa, though we started homeschooling when DH was in the military in California.

 

My hat is off to you!

[Cera]

I guess I should reply to this...

 

I am Cera and I will be 30 (gasp!) next year. We live near the West coast but will be moving again in the spring as we are a military family.

 

I am just starting to homeschool my almost 5 year old dd. We also have an almost 3 year old dd. Our big girl will be considered K this year.

 

We have chosen to homeschool primarily because the schools in our area are inadequate and there are no private schools that really speak to me. I was homeschooled through high school (after taking a CTY course and refusing to return to public school) so it was a natural choice for us. We also get hit with mandatory age cutoffs (since my girls have fall birthdays) which change each time we move and the idea of waiting until almost 6 to start my already reading child in school seems a bit ridiculous (as does sending a 4 year old away for 8 hours a day).

[babysparkler]

Hi! I'm Jill (34 ugh). Dh and I have been married 11 years now (though we have been together since highschool - 19 years!) Our kids and curriculum are in my siggy. This is the start of my third year of homeschooling in the Dallas, Texas area.

 

I have a BS in Early Childhood/Elementary Education with concentrations in Music and ESL and taught for a couple of years in the public school. I quit when I was expecting my first. I never imagined I would homeschool because I believed so highly in the public school system. It wasn't until the end of my ds's first grade year in ps that my frustration level was up so high that I pulled him and began to homeschool.

 

He is highly gifted, and they pretty much told me that he could spend his days teaching the other kids since he already knew the material so well!!! What?!?! Kindergarten worked for him since his teacher allowed me to come in with his other siblings (newborn and 3) and teach him myself things that would enrich & challenge him (she really appreciated the help), but in first grade they frowned on bringing the other children into the classroom and asked me to stop coming in. That year he became seriously depressed (a first grader, mind you) and I immediately began homeschooling.

 

I tried again, the next year, to send my dd to public school thinking that my little social butterfly would flourish in a school setting despite what was lacking, but I actually started seeing a decline in her use of proper English and in her attitude/behavior because of the social group she was associating with (not to mention all of the incorrect phonics and extremely poor curriculum that she was stuck with). So, again at the end of first grade, I pulled her and we are homeschooling everyone now!

 

I now wonder why I didn't think to homeschool sooner! It has been the most wonderful experience for all of us! I am just now discovering WTM (I'm a late bloomer) and am becoming a convert :lol:.

Edited August 15, 2009 by babysparkler

[babysparkler]

My kids got the wrong tooth fairly assigned to them and they are figuring that out. .50 for front teeth, $1.00 for following teeth, $2.00 for molars. Cheapskate Fairy!

 

Cheapskate Fairy here... We still do a quarter a tooth an no one is the wiser! They get so excited about that quarter :lol:.

[babysparkler]

What does it mean "bump" on the for sale pages?

 

A new post will bump a post back up to the top for more visibility, so "bump" or :lurk5: "pop" are used for this :)

[sagira]

I'm Carolyn, married to William.

Live in Key Largo, FL

 

Kids

Brandon (5 going on 6)

Angeline (2 going on 20 LOL)

 

Curriculum:

SOTW 1 and AG

MCP Math A

Handbook of Nature Study studying Trees, Birds, and Weather & Climate

Miquon Math Orange Book

Kingfisher's Young Discoverers Series: Weather & Climate, The Human Body and Flowers, Trees and Fruits

Spectrum Phonics Grade 2

The Easy Spanish

Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting Book B

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding K-2

Calculadder drills

 

Lots of living books, including the Let's Read and Find Out Science Series, which we love!

Edited August 15, 2009 by sagira

[AmeliaJade]

Hi,

 

I'm brand new. :001_smile:

My name is Amy. I'm married to Steve. We live in Las Vegas, NV but not by choice. We spent 9 incredible years in Japan and would go back in a second. All our boys were born there. Our boys are:

 

Joseph--9

Michael--6

Samuel--2

 

I found out about the boards from a friend. There are great discussions here and I look forward to jumping in with my 2 cents. :w00t:

[Lady Q]

I guess I should reply to this...

 

I am Cera and I will be 30 (gasp!) next year. We live near the West coast but will be moving again in the spring as we are a military family.

 

I am just starting to homeschool my almost 5 year old dd. We also have an almost 3 year old dd. Our big girl will be considered K this year.

 

We have chosen to homeschool primarily because the schools in our area are inadequate and there are no private schools that really speak to me. I was homeschooled through high school (after taking a CTY course and refusing to return to public school) so it was a natural choice for us. We also get hit with mandatory age cutoffs (since my girls have fall birthdays) which change each time we move and the idea of waiting until almost 6 to start my already reading child in school seems a bit ridiculous (as does sending a 4 year old away for 8 hours a day).

 

Hi, Cera.

 

Like you, I'm turning 30 next year. My oldest has a late-fall birthday as well, but we're homeschooling kindergarten this year. It makes no sense to wait because he's already doing k-level work. Enjoy your year. :)

[Lady Q]

Hi,

 

We spent 9 incredible years in Japan and would go back in a second. All our boys were born there.

 

Very Cool! Whereabouts in Japan? What were the highlights of living there? I would love to live outside the US for a year, but my place of choice would be Hong Kong (or Scotland, if my husband wins out, hee).

[Lilymax]

Total newbie here, but have been lurking for a while. I don't even remember how I found this board, but you have some interesting discussions, so I thought I'd register and chime in.

 

Lily and Max (my username) are my cats.

 

I'm Kari, and have been homeschooling my two sons since we pulled the oldest out of school in the middle of third grade. That was January '07 and we haven't looked back. The plan, for now anyway, is to HS through high school.

 

DS1 is 11 and just started 6th grade. DS2 is 7 and in 2nd grade.

 

I'm 32 weeks pg with our third boy. Since I'm going to be 41 soon, and experiencing pregnancy complications, this is probably our last child, though I'd have loved to have more.

 

We are Christians, and we live in the Southeastern US. I also work very part-time as a freelance writer.

 

And I'm hoping that my signature shows up at the bottom of this, because for the life of me I can't figure out why it didn't show on other posts! :001_smile:

[AmeliaJade]

Very Cool! Whereabouts in Japan? What were the highlights of living there? I would love to live outside the US for a year, but my place of choice would be Hong Kong (or Scotland, if my husband wins out, hee).

 

We lived up north on the main island in a town called Misawa. My husband is Air Force. When we moved there we were still in our early 20s and had nothing. I had no kids, no pets and really not much furniture and still had college debt. My own father had been military so I had never lived anywhere longer than 3 years my entire life. 9 years later we were leaving Japan with three kids, two cats and all our own things and debt free. It had become home and it was tough to leave. We loved the culture. Misawa isn't tiny but it isn't huge. It is a rather rural area and it was just a very easy, laid back lifestyle. We loved both the military community on the base and the Japanese community in town. We were never short on things to do there. We could drive a short distance and be on the coast where we'd spend the day exploring their rocky beaches. Or we could spend an entire afternoon in the science and space museum that was right outside the base. Our favorite weekend activity was to load the kids into the car and head to the large grocery store in town and buy Japanese foods. Every week we would each pick out something we'd never tried before. Since we couldn't understand a lot of the packaging we didn't always know what we were getting. That was so fun. Sometimes it was gross but it was always fun. :001_smile:

 

Now we're in Vegas and people could argue that there is a lot to do here but it isn't our kind of thing. This isn't our lifestyle at all. But we're making the most of it while we're here.

 

Hong Kong would be interesting but then again, so would Scotland. My wish is to see New Zealand but I'm not sure we'll ever get over there.

[Lady Q]

We were never short on things to do there. We could drive a short distance and be on the coast where we'd spend the day exploring their rocky beaches. Or we could spend an entire afternoon in the science and space museum that was right outside the base. Our favorite weekend activity was to load the kids into the car and head to the large grocery store in town and buy Japanese foods. Every week we would each pick out something we'd never tried before. Since we couldn't understand a lot of the packaging we didn't always know what we were getting. That was so fun. Sometimes it was gross but it was always fun. :001_smile:

 

Sounds wonderful. I'd love to visit Japan one day (just add that to my long list), but there's nothing like living in a place for a while to get to know it.

 

Now we're in Vegas and people could argue that there is a lot to do here but it isn't our kind of thing. This isn't our lifestyle at all. But we're making the most of it while we're here.

 

I agree with you about Vegas. Just doesn't sound like my type of thing, either. :)

 

Hong Kong would be interesting but then again, so would Scotland. My wish is to see New Zealand but I'm not sure we'll ever get over there.

 

Too many interesting places to see, and too little vacation time and money to see them all.

 

I'm originally from Pakistan and spent the first 18 years of my life there. I'd like for my kids to have a chance to experience a culture outside of the US for a while. They're still little so we have time to plan and save for an experience like that. :)

 

~Rabia

[Cera]

Hi, Cera.

 

Like you, I'm turning 30 next year. My oldest has a late-fall birthday as well, but we're homeschooling kindergarten this year. It makes no sense to wait because he's already doing k-level work. Enjoy your year. :)

 

We are considering our oldest K this year as well. Where we are currently the cutoff is 12/31 but we are considering an area with a 9/1 cutoff and many parents who hold back summer kids which would put her 6 months younger than the kids in her ps class. Socially that would be the wrong choice for her.

[lauracolumbus]

I pulled my oldest son out at the end of 3d grade and have been hs'ing now for 2 years. I had my youngest at 41 and would love to have more. And I'm also a part time writer!

 

Nice to 'meet' you.

 

Laura

[water2wine]

I have lurked for a long time but only posted recently.:)

 

I am 45, Conservative Christian, lean toward reformed. Been married once and only for 11 years so I got married later in life but made up for it quickly. I have six kids, four of which we adopted within a five month span. We decided when engaged we would adopt so it was planned the birth kids were more of an after thought, hahaha! But we are very blessed to have been able to receive children through adoption and by birth. One of the children we adopted has moderate Cerebral Palsy and learning delays and difficulties that go along with that so that plays into our hsing. We have five daughters and one son.

 

I started out hsing my first four and then believed the criticism that I was ruining them and that my special needs child needed ps and so I put them in ps only to find it was ruining them.:glare: So I pulled them out and am on my 4th year of hsing. My two youngest have only been hsed. Now we are hsers for life! We hs because it is best for our dd with special needs but mostly becasue we can teach them about God in everything and we feel we can give them a better education while honoring God. We use Heart of Dakota as our curriculum and have tried many things in between. HOD has hands down been the best for us and so now we are set with them for the long haul. I am now mainly researching high school and upper level science and history so that is why I lurk here from time to time. Lot's of great information here and people seem very friendly so I have enjoyed it.

[3boys_mom]

I've been a 'registered' member here for about a year or so now. I've only started posting more and more in the past six weeks or so. I came to this board via the for sale section/was referred by an acquaintance.

 

I am Lyn momma to three boys (hence the username).

Jonathan (JD) will be 7 (yikes!) in Dec. He will start first grade in two weeks. Last year for kindergarten was our trial year of homeschooling.

Boy #2 is Owen. He will be 4 in October. He loves to do 'school' like big brother. I've debated back and forth on starting a K4 program with him this year. But I've ultimately decided to stick with pre-k stuff for now.

Cody is my youngest (so far). He is my other Dec baby (2007). He is my eating machine. Put something edible in front of him and he devours it.

 

I have been with my husband Joe for nearly 10yrs (Nov), been married for six (Aug). He is my best friend and I'd be lost without him. He does a wonderful job of cleaning Cody's cloth diapers!!!

 

Joe had said before we had children that they would be homeschooled. I was not so much for it. I only had one encounter with the hs world and it was not a positive one. I was actually against the idea until I started heavily researching it. Last year in the late spring, I knew we had to make a decision regarding school for the oldest. We didn't want to register him in ps. At some point (soon I hope) we will be moving. It may or may not be in the same sd. I would hate to have to uproot my boys. SO for now they are at home. I will take it year by year. In my short time in this role I swing from absolutely confident that I/we are doing better than traditional schools, to worrying if they will turn out alright. Of course they will!

 

I took the time to read through this 14 pg thread and I have seen that I have a lot in common with a good number of ppl here. I only wish that you were closer to us. We are currently in West Chester, PA.

[ma23peas]

I'm actually an old poster from the old boards...started visiting WTM boards in 2000. I relied heavily on all the dear parents who guided me those early years....we have homeschooled ever since and plan to through high school. Strongly conservative, bound to my faith, and committed to my dh of 17 years.

 

Three children, dh is a programmer, I graduated with sciences and worked in pharmaceutical sales..we left subdivision living to run a small farm...we have a couple of horses and plan on starting a summer camp for foster children in 2 years..

 

We have used different curricula, but you can find my current in my siggie. We have three children, our outside activities include speech/debate club (CCof the SE), American Heritage Girls scouting, horse training, gymnastics, we seem to stay busy!

 

Looking forward to learning more about teaching high school over the next 4 years! have lived in Fayetteville, Ga/McDonough, GA/Atlanta, GA/Marietta, GA/Seattle, WA/Collierville, TN/Huntsville, AL and now north of HSV....to stay!! :)

 

Tara

[Shadowwolf549]

Hi. :seeya:I'm Angie and I'm 27. I've been married to my best bud DH Justin for 7 yrs and we have 4 great kiddos. Jaden is 6, and Jeremiah, Jaren and Giavanna are 4. We also have Daisy the deaf Wonder-mutt! She is 60lbs of lap dog (or so she seems to think). LOL.

 

I'm a night RN in Women's Services (L/D, nursery, postpartum and mother/baby). DH is a stay-at-home Daddy for the past yr and loving it!

 

This is our first year homeschooling (we just finished our first week, heading into our second). We are using Sonlight K with Readers 1 for DS#1 and the littles are tagging along and doing pre-K coloring sheets, math workbooks, and learning their letters and numbers. We are just really letting them enjoy learning and doing "big kid" stuff with their older brother.

 

We are planning on adding in Explode the Code and HWT K for DS#1 and Pre-K for the littles.

 

So far they are :001_tt1: LOVING :001_tt1: school. :party:

 

The first thing they ask when they get up is, "when are we going to start school?". They were upset with us this weekend b/c they didn't get to do school. Last year DS#1 begged NOT to go to school. :lol:

 

We decided to homeschool for a lot of reasons, but the 2 main ones are:

 

the public schools in our area are terrible and we want to teach them a Evangelical Conservative Christian Biblical worldview.

 

I just can't believe all the crazy stuff you hear about from public schools (now I realize that you ALWAYS hear the bad stuff b/c that's what gets ratings), but come on...a public school telling my middle-schooler it's ok to get on birth control w/o telling me???? :cursing: :banghead: I think not!!

 

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now. LOL!! I'm really happy to be here and to get to know everyone here. :001_smile: