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Elizabeth
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Real Learning
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In addition to a bountiful abundance of great books, what are the top five things that just make your home education experience a good (great?) one? My current top 5 are:
Signing Time DVDs
All things Leap Frog--videos, games, refrigerator magnets and an awesome globe.
A cabinet full of lapbooking/scrapbooking supplies
Math U See
A color printer/copier/scanner
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Chari
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Let's see.......these are my CURRENTS....not my overall
1. the school ski program (only good til the snow runs out  ).....they only charge $22 per kid....and it includes a lesson, equipment and lift pass....the kids are having a blast........this is their first year......pretty pathetic for parents who met in Lake Tahoe  ......but, we have no babies  and we can, barely, afford this cost.......so, we went for it
2. Math-u-see
3. Two acres of land to own and explore and experience, and the rest of the Mount Shasta experience
4. the library.......I can maniplate their system like a pro
5. Wonderful hsing friends who come to visit from far away  (our closest ccm friend is 3.5 hrs away)
Got two ccm families visiting this weekend, in fact!
well........I guess I will have to stop at five 
In the sweet heart of Mary,
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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Bridget
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Maps, my kids love maps!
And those cheap laminated educational placemats from Wal
Mart. We have most of them tacked up on the walls in our
bathroom.
Love the Leap Frog stuff as well.
Duct tape. (Boy, are we low tech!)
Board games.
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God Bless,
Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
Our Magnum Opus
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MacBeth
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Probably at the beach...
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Maps! Maps everywhere!!
LOTR games--video, board, card, self-made.
Suzuki violin. Paul is finally out of Book One. It only took 5 years, and now he can SUDDENLY play everything. 
CD burner/Audible.com That counts as one, right?
Bird feeders.
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God Bless!
MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
MacBeth's Blog
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alicegunther
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1. An unbelievably fantastic group of homeschooling friends;
2. Books on tape;
3. Nature Journals and outdoor time;
4. Enthusiastic, good-natured children;
5. Plenty of craft supplies;
6. Teatime;
7. Great historical fiction;
8. Latin DVDs;
9. My copy machine;
10. Our on-going Lenten project.
Elizabeth, thanks for the upbeat thread!
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Love, Alice
mother of seven!
  
Cottage Blessings
Brew yourself a cup of tea, and come for a visit!
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Leonie
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Mine varies, from season to season ( and house to house!).
1. Living in the city - we can walk to the shops, the library, the park, the river, the museum, the art gallery, the coffee shop.
2. Technology - computers, DVDs, video games, the internet.
3. Our handy and easy reference books - Cambridge Biographical Encylopedia, The Almost Complete Education, Australian Chronicles. Collins Book of Quotes, World Geography and Atlas, Childcraft Atlas...
4. Music - instruments, Cds, music DVDs.
5.An abundance of games and Lego.
6. Can I have a sixth? Food and cooking - being together in the kitchen builds our memories and experiences.
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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Chari
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Since this is a new post........and because Alice took it upon herself to do TEN
I have five more
1. our Suburban......great for car traveling........takes us to the ocean....other mountains...........loads of historical sites and nature study sites......and to hsing friends who live far away
2. CCM.............has probably kept me from feeling so isolated, I became insane
3. the phone.......because I can talk to Willa or Robynn for hours on end.........and they help keep mom sane
4. Flylady  .........she got me off the ground way back in 2000.........I may not follow her reminders.......but she has definitely added positive influences to our lives.....
5. computer.....for my own research......for staying in touch......for printing all of my homemade forms ,for helping with writing skills.........and seeing places in the world we cannot phyisically visit..........to answer all the interesting questions that I cannot answer!
and, truly, number one........it was Willa's comment about "seek ye first...." that made me think of this....
our wonderful Catholic Faith, with which we have one incredible framework to place all of these other good things.......
love, chari..........who has been pondering these things today.........driving around.....walking around...
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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Chari
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wow.......I am really taking advantage here
but.......perhaps one other improtant thing is left out:
TIME!
if our kids were away from us all day, where would we have the freedom to enjoy them, and do wonderful things with them!
enough already.........I think I am punch drunk....or just plain silly.....
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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cathhomeschool
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Texas Bluebonnets
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My current list:
Lots of scrapbooking paper and ideas (thanks to 2 great friends, Hobby Lobby, and JoAnn's)
Mind Benders -- My boys are loving these and work them w/ Tim or myself on the wipe board
Simply Grammar -- Ditto on boys loving it. They really enjoy making up silly sentences!
Alice's Lenten ideas that have totally sparked our next 2 months of study
The computer -- with it's research abilities, this message board, Paint, and tons of fonts that I downloaded. The boys spend as much time picking fonts for their narrations and making the accompanying drawings on Paint as they do actually narrating. They love it!
BTW, I love everyone's lists -- some really great ideas to further spark our learning!
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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Cindy
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Love these ideas, everyone!
1. Atmosphere of our home- pets, projects, friends, and happy, peaceful surroundings
2. Our "dueling laptops" where we spend a lot of time- Google for instant research, Word and spell check for story-writing, programing software, picture and video editing... etc. and the awesome printer that thinks its a color copier.
3. Other electronics- Dvd documentaries, Video games - give us lots to do, think and talk about. Donkey Konga (with bongo controllers) is a blast!
4. Tennis (our first sport) - with our great Coach Rod and my time on Tuesdays afternoons to relax with friends while kids play and learn.
5. 3-Ring binders.. for keeping neat ideas and to record what we do.. so fun to look back on.
MacBeth.. you have me looking into audible.com.. I love books on tape.. (oh can that be #6?)
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Cindy in Texas
It Is About The Journey
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Chari
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Hmmmm..........I am beginning to think I cannot count well.....
no wonder my kids are "behind" in math!
I MEANT to say this in my second list.......but I wrote Flylady instead
1. our piano teacher...........who is so wonderful........she has become MY good friend.....a good family friend......and a mentor to my children....esp two who will probably make piano part of their adult living........plus, she is fun to talk composers with!!
well......i will not say I am done........because I would not want to lead you on....
Am I in trouble, Elizabeth, for not following the rules? can I still stay? I hope I have not put you on the spot
love, me
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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Willa
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Chari wrote:
but.......perhaps one other improtant thing is left out:
TIME! if our kids were away from us all day, where would we have the freedom to enjoy them, and do wonderful things with them!
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Very TRUE! And I never seem to have enough of it.
I also value ENERGY!... and never seem to have enough of that either, but the little I have I can really use!
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AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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Willa
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Oh, dear, I've started a post twice and lost it... this makes number 3 
Here's mine.... just off the top of my head, aside from what Chari mentioned about TIME and our beautiful Catholic faith, without which I'd definitely not have very many of the blessings I treasure most -- my kids, the sacraments, the liturgical year, my homeschool, my wonderful devout & wise & supportive friends, my favorite books, etc.
1. DSL -- we just got it and it's great. Opens up the internet even more and the internet itself is one of our greatest blessings.
2. Our LAN (local area network for all those who aren't techno-geeks -- allows all our 7 (!) computers to talk to each other and to our dependable HP printer)
3. My comb-binder -- I LOVE it! So useful, and therapeutic punching those pages, too.
4. Babies and toddlers, even or especially 5yo toddlers. So fun, so unpredictable and entertaining. They change so much from day to day and add something that we also treasure and need lots of besides TIME and ENERGY -- LAUGHTER!!). Aidan ran a bath for himself and jumped in fully clothed a couple of days ago -- so proud and happy when we investigated the splashing and laughing coming from the bathroom! Of course, a couple of cute dogs serve some of the same function of entertainment and joy when baby/toddler days have passed, for example, Cindy's pets look like dolls!
5. Our outdoors. It's beautiful and changes all the time. As a corollary, our peace and quiet. We are so far off the beaten track. I sometimes worry that it is TOO peaceful and quiet, and I do wish we could see more of our great friends many of whom are on this message board, but I treasure it too. We have so much beauty in our lives here.
I had to cut some corners to keep it to five, but there it is!
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AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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Natalia
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My current 5:
1.- The internet
2.- Operas on DVD - just finished watching the Magic Flute. The kids
loved it. Those subtitles make a big difference!
3.- Read alouds
4.- The Burgess Bird Book for Children - my 7 yob loves this and his
enthusiasm has made us pay attention to birds.
5.- Walkaerobics- the Miracle Mile- has all of us exercising every day
Love,
Natalia
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Cindy
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Willa wrote:
2. Our LAN (local area network for all those who aren't techno-geeks -- allows all our 7 (!) computers to talk to each other and to our dependable HP printer)
4, Cindy's pets look like dolls! |
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Hi Willa!
I must admit my dog does get his share of babytalk from the whole family... he is a hoot.
My boys' collective jaws dropped when I told them of your 7 computers! But, I explained your large family and your dh's business. I just couldn't imagine keeping them all running.. but that default job came to me and I began as functionally illiterate.... I imagine your dh does a wonderful job.
I can just imagine you all, up in your beautiful woods, connected to each other and connected the world!
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Cindy in Texas
It Is About The Journey
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TracyQ
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What a great topic! Did I mention how much I love these boards????
My top five this year are:
1)DIVE into Math CD Roms (to go along with our Saxon)-
Invaluable to me..particularly with harder math)
2)All in one printer/copier/scanner
3)Our gym/swim program (through our local hs support
group)..both kids and moms fellowship! SO great!
4)Support groups....both here that we're in, and the
many online!
5)Our computer. We use it for schooling all the time
with CD Roms, PLUS the internet, etc.
Ok, one more, I can't resist....Our Beautiful Feet History of Classical music curriculum!
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Angie Mc
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Ed. Processes:
Living Books
Music of all types
Nature Study
Celebrating the Liturgical Year
Modified choral reading
Piano lessons from mom
Memorizing/copywork of traditional prayers
Glue that holds it together:
Our Catholic faith
Flexibility
On-line community of kindred spirits
Time Management project
Timers
Printer/copier plus one computer with DSL
Excellent Arizona weather!
Enthusiastic and (mostly) cooperative children
Completed projects
Gratitude
Marie Bellet CDs
Email to stay in touch with dh Dave
Good food and snacks
Naps
(I thought if I bulleted my list and wasn't real chatty that I could sneak in way more than 5 things...pretty sneaky, huh? )
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
About Me
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teachingmom
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Virginia Bluebells
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OK, here are my 5 for the moment:
* A living books approach to history -- it's our favorite subject!
* Wooden tabletop art easel sets for all of us -- we haven't done it often enough since Christmas, but it's been a great addition to our homeschool this year.
* Homeschooling email groups. And now this message board. They've been a wonderful source of support.
* A great local homeschooling group and all the activities it offers to my girls--Little Flowers, P.E., science co-op, ballet--and the friendships it offers to me. (And ballet means that I have 2 1/2 hours each week to get errands done with just my 2yo. That is a huge treat!)
* An all in one printer/scanner/copier -- It's been broken for a few months now.  I think I need to buy a new one soon. I didn't realize how much I depended on it until it broke and I had to bring out the old regular printer!
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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Meredith
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Hello group, what a great topic. I love everyone's special lists. Mine are:
 Being home and learning with my dear children living our life of faith
Having the full support and encouragement of my husband in our home schooling journey
Being pregnant and still being able to teach and learn with my kids no matter how I'm feeling
Books, books, and more books to devoure and enjoy
My new color copier, printer, scanner, what a blessing to our projects and my sanity!
OK, looking forward to hearing more about of everyone elses. *JMJ*
PS: Kudos again to this wonderful new site, it's so awesome, thank you!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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Chari
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Irene, how do you use your easel? we got two for Christmas here.......but have not remembered to get it out yet.....
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: A Few of My Favorite Things
