...but we're still working on it! I love Tapestry of Grace, but it is so time and labor intensive, maybe even more so because T is only 7. I have her doing UG, because I consider her 3rd grade, but I have to keep reminding myself that she has the maturity of a 2nd grader. We are definitely not doing the full TOG program, but we're still getting so much out of it. I am confident that we will continue to get even more mileage out of it as we progress. I love how it merges OT history with Egyptian history with geography and literature. If only there was a Catholic program that did such a great job. If only I had nothing else to do, I would create one. Sometimes I wonder if that's the reason that I got a Ph.D. - to give such ventures the necessary credibility.MC and M started working on Getting Ready for the Code again today, and this time they were prepared for it. I think it was probably January when I started them on the series, and they just weren't ready. Now, though, they are definitely ready, and they loved it. They usually like to work for about 45 minutes in the morning when we first begin school, and the Code, either with or with HWOT and scissor practice, is just about right.Today we begin after school activities again, and I have to admit that I'm not really looking forward to them. T is taking jazz for the first time, which means that her dance classes are now 1 1/2 hours long, which is a long time to entertain 3 younger children. We can do phonics during dance, but it only occupies a short portion of the time. They will bring some of the activity books that I have made for them, and we'll see how that goes. MC starts dance tomorrow morning, and T has choir practice after that. The boys will start T-ball in a few weeks. Things are starting to hum. I don't know where the time goes.I am using the Homeschool Tracker to keep track of what we do each day (a method that I use instead of formal lesson planning - at this age I find it so much easier. We do essentially the same things every day; I don't actually need to write down what we're going to do, as I pretty much know. What I do need to write down is what actually got done each day, mostly for my own record keeping purposes). I just love this wonderful free software, which can be found here: http://www.homeschooltracker.com/default.aspx What this software does is just amazing. I don't have need of the features in the "plus" version right now, but as my kids get older, I may very well upgrade. Organization remains my biggest challenge in my homeschool life, as in my personal life. Some people would be amazed at my level of organization, but for a person with CDO (OCD, but with the letters in alphabetical order as they should be), things are never as they should be, and so I continue to struggle. I use the Homeschool Tracker for homeschool things, and I would be lost without http://www.cozi.com to schedule our family life, but I remain at heart a Luddite, and so I need a pencil and paper organizer as well. Cobbling together that behemoth is a task that I hope to finish this week. My dear friend the comb binder will bind it so that I can add and remove pages at will, which will no doubt happen on a routine basis.One more quick kudo to a site that I love: http://www.schoolexpress.com/ has many nifty workbooks that are terrific for my twinners. Again, the old binding machine turns them into bona fide workbooks, which makes the twins feel special, and which frees me to teach the older two. Because of all of the printing that I do (to justify the purchase of the binding machine, of course, in my backwardly logical mind), we bought a printer just for my schoolroom computer - a $30 HP inkjet that can really crank out the pages and doesn't suck up the ink the way my multi-function Epson (on the study computer) does. It sits at my feet and is so quiet that I can have it working the whole time that I am teaching. Did I say that I was a Luddite? Hmmm....I may have to reevaluate that one. I am not proud of my attachment to things. Granted, it really only extends to things related to school (well, and crossword puzzle books, but I can make the connection if you press me!), but it is still not very holy.Speaking of holy, one last note. I have been seeking a Bible study for some time. Introverted loner that I am (and, okay, time constraints play a role), I wanted one that I could do by myself, and I found one on the internet (http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/) that I think fits the bill. It is Catholic (obviously), and seems to be exactly what I was seeking. I don't really want to start from ground zero, because I have a very good foundation, with a minor in Theology, but I think that this will work. I am waiting on my Douay-Rheims Bible, and then I'll start. I wish that I could get the original DR Bible, but I don't have that kind of money. I realize that I am essentially getting a Catholic KJR, but I have to stay as close to the original word choice as possible in order for word study to be in any way meaningful. My goal is to go through this study, and then to focus on certain books with Scott Hahn's studies.Time to head off to T's dance. I have to pack that activity bag nice and full...