Thanks for the suggestions on doing geometry first or along side the algebra. For some reason I was under the impression one needed algebra first in order to understand the geometry!

Thanks for the supplement suggestions- I had none on my list for algebra yet!

Deleted for privacy- thanks for the help!

When my kids drive me crazy about comparing one way (all the things others have that they do not have) I quickly turn it around and start comparing them to the bulk of children living in poverty. You two have to share a bedroom? Well you have a warm home, loving parents, everything you need and most of what you want. There are kids living in the streets going hungry tonight. Let's think about them for a moment and be grateful for all we have. It drives them crazy, but then they drive me crazy with the comparing so I think it is a fair trade. I do emphasize compassion for others and gratitude, but also being content with what you have without the need for more all the time. I tell them if they cannot learn the art of being content they will never truly be happy because there is always more and better. These are the conversations we have, and I honestly wonder how much is sinking in sometimes. But I still feel they are important questions to ask.

We are a family of four in an 800 square foot house with one bathroom. We downsized from a home that was around 3000 square feet with three and a half baths. Two of those baths were really never even used. I think 1 and a half is really nice and 2 full bathrooms would be a luxury (at least for a family of 4). One has been totally fine. We announce showers so every one gets a chance to go first. 2-3 of us can get showers in a row if needed, but hot water will run out on 4th (or 3rd person if the showers get too long, so the slowpoke goes last). Haven't had a flu or stomach bug all at once type issue. That doesn't sound fun but hasn't come up in the five years we have been here with elementary/middle school ages. Urgency comes up, but we name it to claim it in the car (I get to go first when we get home!) Seriously it is fine. Almost all of our parents grew up this way. I prefer having less bathrooms to clean and everyone having their own bathroom seems a bit ridiculous to me. I am sure for larger families there is an ideal toilet to person ratio lol... Most of your life bathrooms will be shared (siblings, roommates, spouses, random strangers at the stores) so I don't see the point in giving each of my kids their own bathroom now, although they would love that I am sure!

Everyone needs to be surrounded by books they love. Sometimes the ones you love can get lost in the stacks though. I have a nice collection of books I love, but when we downsized I got rid of a truckload of others I didn't really need to hang on to anymore. Very emotional letting go of some books, but the library has more space to hold them than I do and then every one can enjoy them. I tell my book worm daughter to read the books first from the library and then collect the ones she loves or enjoys rereading . She is already amassing a nice collection of her favorites but she is choosing some good quality and nice hardback versions (she wants them to last for her kids to read them later!)

Math U see is also very conceptual but it has a very different scope and sequence from traditional math programs. If it works for her you may be able to accelerate through the lower levels.

Math Mammoth? It is conceptual and it is good for filling in holes because it is set up in different formats. You can buy straight grade level workbooks (Light Blue Series), but the math is also sold separately in a format by topics (Blue Series). I started off when I switched math programs by topic with the Blue Series and once I felt we had caught up/synced with the program I switched over to the regular grade level books.

I had a college professor who taught me to read my papers aloud for proofreading. It was a very good teaching tool. I always catch more errors that way, particularly in longer papers.

I agree with reading aloud. Sometimes humor makes things stick. When my daughter was doing this I would take a gigantic breath before reading her sentences and try to read it all aloud without losing all my breath. I was very dramatic and she laughed and her punctuation got better. I explained that punctuation acts as pauses and breaths for the reader. I begged her to let me breathe, lol..

I just had my 12 year old work through key to fractions as a review. I think she probably could have used them when she was first learning fractions at a younger age, but it is a bit dry and there are more interesting ways of learning fractions the first time around. It does go through fractions conceptually from beginning to end in the four workbooks. I am not sure it would have been enough built in review for her if it had been the first time around, but she does need a lot of review in math. For a kid that just gets stuff and doesn't forget it then it might be enough. We have not used decimals yet but I plan to use those as a review as well. I think most people use them as a review/supplement and not as a full curriculum but I could be mistaken!

Ginger ale or peppermint tea?

I use bullet journaling for long term resource planning. I have a page for each kid for each year of school for each subject. When I find a new interesting resource I write it in my journal to reference later. I am always on the hunt for new resources and ideas so this was a way to keep track of all the great ideas I have for the future! I use a regular planner for my weekly/monthly homeschool plans but I can see how a bullet journal would work for that as well.

I just plan all the time. There isn't a specific time of the year. I am constantly evaluating choices for future resources. We school year round and I homeschool at the pace of life, so there isn't always this feeling of a new school year. I had overall goals for our elementary journey and now for our middle school journey. So I always have the big picture in mind. I have been lurking on the high school boards for a couple of years, getting a feel for high school resources. I keep a bullet journal full of future resource ideas roughly broken out by grade and subject to pull from when the need arises. I am a research lover though and I don't get overwhelmed by all the choices like some people do. I also love to browse curriculum fairs and used book sales or home school swaps and look at things in person I might want to use later. And snatch it up if I find a good deal!

Sounds like you were just looking for some acknowledgment that you are important to him. Not necessarily a gift. And when relationships are strong these things can seem small and unimportant. But when relationships are struggling, little things can matter. We don't do much for Valentine's day, I get the kids and my husband a box of chocolates, early in our marriage he got me flowers or chocolates. Later I told him it was more romantic to just get flowers on a random day so he did that instead. And then in the last few years, that stopped. Partly because finances were tight, but I missed getting occasional flowers. My love language is acts of service but I do adore flowers. They are romantic to me, and I am not one of those women who thinks they are a waste of money. I don't need a birthday gift, a Christmas gift, or a Valentine's day gift. But I need a little romance sometimes. So this Valentine's day I got really specific. He asked me if I wanted to go out for dinner and I said, no I just really want some flowers. I even told him what kind, lol... I know that is much less romantic than him surprising me on a Wednesday, but I was starting to feel a bit resentful so I just spelled it out. I NEED FLOWERS. And they arrived. It drives me a bit crazy that I had to do this, but he can be a very absent minded man. I can either be resentful or just spell it out sometimes. That being said, I have learned to appreciate after 20 years the many ways in which he shows me he loves me. The fact that he ran to the store at 7 am just before he was about to fall asleep after working all night was romantic. He ran out for some emergency tooth pain medication for me. I didn't have to ask. He saw I was in pain and just left. That was more romantic than my flowers. I have learned to spell out exactly what I need and want with this man but also appreciate the little things. But both parties have to make an effort. Even if he thought it was silly that I needed flowers this year for Valentine's day when I have told him not to bother in the past, he still did it. If you need the words and he is not good with them, then a card might have been nice for you, even if it is a hallmark holiday. I didn't get my husband a card, but I took the opportunity to slip a love note in his lunch box telling him how lucky I was to have had him as my Valentine for 20 years and thanking him for the flowers. I understand a lot of people don't celebrate this holiday, or can take it or leave it. I agree, and lots of years we don't do much at all. But since they have done occasional things in the past, and they are working on their marriage, a little acknowledgement would not have hurt!

Lots of new homeschool moms struggle with exactly what constitutes 'enough'. Especially when they have younger children and the school gets done very quickly (because it is gentle, short lessons, and age appropriate!) Then you have everyone comparing curriculum and you start second guessing all your choices because you are new at this and because it is so important to get it right. And probably you should be doing latin in kindergarten like family A, or you should have picked that awesome math program family B keeps bragging about. No matter what curriculum you choose, even if it should win the coveted title of 'Most rigorous, remarkable, fun and engaging curriculum guaranteed to get your child into the best college EVER' - it will have some haters. It just will. Every single choice you make will have some people agreeing, and others disagreeing. Everyone is a critic and new homeschool moms are a vulnerable population! But guess what? You are the homeschool mom who knows, loves, and teaches her kids. So you will find your own path as you go along. You get to decide. And that awesome responsibility can be terrifying I know. My advice to new homeschool moms is to set some objective goals for the year, in line with your state requirements. Pick some things you want to accomplish that you can measure. Write it down. When you are insecure compare what you are doing to your goals and see how it is going. At the end of the year (or halfway through) see if you are on track. If not, you adjust. In homeschooling, there is always a lot of adjusting and that is ok. So when you start thinking it is not enough you can ask yourself are you are doing what you set out to do that year, or that semester? If it seems light, you increase next time. If it seems too heavy, you decrease or streamline something or just wait a bit for a developmental jump. It's a journey and you will find your groove. Sounds like you are doing a great job so far! Enjoy these years and don't let comparison and insecurity be the thief of your joy. If you need outside accountability or verification of what is enough, post what you are doing on one of these boards and ask for feedback. You will get a lot of experience and perspective. But ultimately, you are choosing to drive this train. So don't forget to enjoy the ride!

I would definitely let her use charts. Another thing that might help is to learn divisability rules/tricks: http://www.helpingwithmath.com/by_subject/division/div_divisibility_rules.htm

Since you are comfortable teaching the math, why not just use what you have? She won't be left to fend for herself if you are available to help her. You may want to consider creating your own kind of review within the program if you don't think it is strong enough on review for your daughter. It would take a little extra time for you to create the review, but would be cheap or free.

I am pretty sure Harry Potter is mandatory. 😉

If he hates reading throwing a bunch of classics at him might backfire. I would try something contemporary, or even graphic novels, to see if you can find anything that ignites an interest in reading instead of filling him with dread. Especially if he is reading below grade level. I would find reading that he could be successful at and hopefully find enjoyment in first. For an actual lit class, consider audio books of the classics instead. Some people struggle with the physical act of reading so much they can't get into the storyline. Audio books are a huge help if that is the case.

I use to have a fairly large house for a family of 4 (3000 square ft) and then we did a major downsize into a 100 year old 800 square foot home. Although the other house had a better location, I love the smaller house we are in so much more. Sometimes I repeat to myself, "no matter what I will NEVER have 4 bathrooms to clean again!" The stress of upkeep took away valuable time when I had little ones. I am not someone who can let things go either. This tiny house has relieved so much stress for me and I have enjoyed my children more and focused on cleaning less. That being said my dream house would probably fall in the middle, around 1500-1800 square feet if I still had kids and 1200-1500 for just me and my husband. I want a modest,charming little farmhouse with just what I need and nothing extra. One more bathroom and some larger common areas would be great. I never see things laid out exactly as I want though, with no wasted space. I want slightly larger entertaining space (dining room/living room) and a functional but not massive kitchen. A good size pantry for freezers and food storage. Small bedrooms are fine, but I want a nice roomy master bath/master closet and a big tub. 2 or 2 and 1/2 bathrooms tops!

I am starting to learn that whatever I feel is not getting done I have to make that thing the first lesson of the day for a while. Once I get back into the habit of doing it, or into a new curriculum, etc..then I may change the schedule back around.

I used to make little 'surprise bags' with items from the dollar store, like little toys, new coloring books, bubbles, mini etch a sketches, etc... We use to get a new movie or two just for the trip, and back then (pre digital!) that DVD would be in the surprise bag. I would strategically pull things out at every hour or two of the trip, especially if I felt someone was going to get fussy during a long section. Yes bribery is one of my parenting techniques, lol... but it worked and I had long peaceful trips to the beach with two toddlers eagerly awaiting the next 'surprise' from their bag. It became a yearly vacation tradition when they were littles. As far as I was concerned it was $20-30 well spent!

Last year when I was at my top burn out point I decided to take a long summer break, a full 3 months off, which we never do. I am not sure I would have survived homeschooling this year if I hadn't done that. I think I found that advice somewhere on one of these forum threads. The down side of that decision was we lost some ground in math and had to spend time on review. I knew that would happen. But I couldn't just 'do a little math and reading, etc..' I truly needed a full stop. I was just so exhausted with it all and decided if this was really a marathon, and if I was really going to continue to home school, I needed a LONG break. My kids honestly didn't need one as bad as I did, although of course they gleefully enjoyed it. But between work, housekeeping, kids, general life AND homeschooling, I was burnt, overcooked...DONE. So even though I felt a bit guilty about 'getting behind' or 'wasting time relearning math' it was still a good decision. I still sometimes glance longingly at a school bus,but I don't feel like I am about to come unglued anymore. We will go back to our regular schedule of light school during the summer for a few years, but I am considering another long summer break before high school starts. Just though I would mention it in case it helps someone else. I started dreaming about my long summer last February and it got me through the last few months. We had an amazing carefree summer full of down time, friend time, and lots of swimming :)

So here is how my morning went if it makes you feel better... I was sitting beside my daughter on the couch ready with the dry erase board, her math books, etc to do our pre-algebra lesson. A comment was made about not having enough space which resulted in huffing and puffing, picking up dry erase boards, books, etc in an impatient and angry manner and rearranging the space in a general hissy fit like manner with a snarky comment at the end about whether there was now enough space. The person having a mini meltdown was me, not my daughter. She looked at me like I was a crazy person. To be fair I somehow managed to skip my morning cup of tea and combined with PMS that is not a good situation. But honestly I was just dreading teaching math this morning and then I snapped over the smallest thing. I did immediately apologize, but that was really a totally ridiculous overreaction on my part for a request for a little more space, lol.. I think about school all the time but they are terrible here and she really needs a lot of direct instruction. So I would be spending the same amount of time helping her with homework daily. At least that is what I tell myself. I enjoyed homeschoing in the younger years but I am not enjoying middle school as much. And high school just looks scary.