I enjoy this thread! It is a good idea to write things down and it gives me new perspective when I read it later on, - the most important skills DD8 is working on this year is to manage her time: know how to handle her school work, homework, responsibilities such as cleaning up her room independently. Two months into the new school year, she is doing well: working on her homework in her room and can focus better. - for the after school learning, we do theme based. From now to December, the themes are: Math: math circle and Beast Academy Science: FLL Language: NaNoWriMo Other: drama, reading club, hockey For next January: Math: same Science: STEM circle Language: WW3k? However she is not that interested. Other: hockey, scouts - we do not have a set weekly schedule: DD8 chooses what she wants to work on. School work takes priority. We usually focus on one, at most two items from list above everyday. - her interests change, so our themes are changing as well. Personnelly, that is the biggest advantage of after schooling.

Yes, we are watching the II now. It is purely breath taking! Another master piece: Forces of Nature: Our World's Beauty & Power Revealed Through Color, Elements, Motion, Shape

have you thought of maybe she does not like SM? Mine doesn't. She refuses to do it. So I switched to BA and it has been wonderful. DD does her BA indepedently in her own room. She usually does one page, both side each time. If it is easy, it takes about 10mins. If it is difficult, it could take half an hour or more. If she really enjoys it, she will work on As many questions as she wants and as long as she wants. Setting up a certain time period will not work with my DD, I know that for sure.

Planet earth I and II - the best documentary on nature. We do not have TV at home, so DVD only.

Agree! I am just curious If this kind of experience happens to other people.

Thank you, Tanaqui! We have been doing after schooling for quite a few years. Well, basically since DD was born. With one child, it is easier as I can image work will be more with each extra child. We started with a neighbourhood based math circle, and graduately becomes a STEM circle. I am lucky becomes i found a few moms are also interested and are willing to be fully involved into their children's learning experience. Looking back it has been a wonderful experience. I feel extremely fortunate to be a parent to my DD and a good friends to a few wonderful women. What works for me is - i focus on one or two things max a day: it could be some challenging questions from math or reading, a long library visit, or watching a documentary. - i do not teach things ahead of DD's school. I could go deeper, such as showing rotational symmetry while DD learns mirror symmetry from school. We are not in a hurry to be x grade ahead. - we do not have to follow a curricullum to make sure things are covered, since that is her school's responsibility. We can pick and choose things we are interested. - at home, we do different things from DD's school. Spelling, basic math, second language are all done at school. We are doing a lot cooler stuff at home, such as learning different cultures, programming, cook up a dish etc. so DD is engaged, will not feel it is a work. - I reasearch and does a lot of reading myself, and I spend quite bit of time with DD, so we can try out different ways to see what works. - DD has been exposed to a lot different things so she can find her interests. Eventually and hopefully one of those interests will develop into passion. - the flexbility of afterschooling allows us to focus on areas that DD is strong or has a lot of interests. For example: DD is doing BA, she is so interested that she will cheer "Hooray" if it is a math day. The interest will keep her 100 percent focused. - for the areas that DD is not strong, such as speech and writing, we did not focus on as much. Now she is 8, just by being a bit older, she can articulate things a lot better. And the NanoWriMo is perfect for her age. - for areas both DD and I are not strong, we just leave it to school, such as art.

It should be the afterschooling then. I am new to this board. People here are so amazingly helpful!

Many of the moms here are doing home schooling. I am wondering does anyone send their kids to public school and still do home school while kids are at home? I enjoy learning and for the past few years, I set up a math circle, a STEM circle, now a writing circle for my DD and her friends. The benefits come with our hybrid learning system is DD gets to try different things and be able to do some deep learning in areas interests her. And DD is really looking forward to those circle time, so learning becomes an enjoyable experience. Private school could be an opinion but so far we have not be able to find one meet our needs. Even we find one, we will continue this hybrid approach. What is your thoughts on this? I would love to hear.

thank you, Tanaqui! Could you please share some pictures book recommendations for 8yrs old? I can only think of comic books such as Amulet... After watching my DD read the same serial of books for two years (first in English, then in French), I feel compelled to suggest different varieties.

My DD loves the same kind of documentary shows! What I did is I search all the non fiction DVDs from my local libary and sort by release dates. Recently we watched one talking about nature by element, shape and color. Cannot remember exact name, but this way, we always get the latest DVDs.

8yrs old DD is hesitating to move onto more challenging chapters books after reading almost all Stilton books from library (started reading those two years ago). She also read all Ronald Dahl again and again. Is there a way to encourage a child to move onto books with less pictures? My current strategy is to ask her to read the first chapter, then decide if she wants to continue to read it or not. She enjoyed the Wizard of Oz. But feel Nadia and Harry Potter are too scary. Is there a recommend book list for kids who are not a big fan of witches or dragons? Thanks a lot!

Thanks everyone for replies! I asked DD again today and here is her answer: "I love learning but it does not have a lot of pictures or colors. So it is boring for me." I have to agree that TedEd did much better job in that front. Agree with Jean that Khan could be a good resource to test if kids understand the concepts.

8yrs old DD does not like Khan. She feels the lessons are boring, though people constant praise the program. I am wondering if she will enjoy it more if she is a bit older, since she is a big fan of Teded. Does anyone have any success story with Khan?

Thanks, HomeAgain! I was able to find some sample pages on Amazon and it is exact what I was looking for! My DD is doing NaNoWriMo right now. After it is finished, we should be able to start with SOTW book 1. It would be an exciting experience!

Thank you, lori and HomeAgain! One more question for the activity book for the SOTW: does it mostly contain questions and a coloring paper for each chapter? If that is the case, it is not what I am looking for. The other hand on books might be better.

Thank you for the detailed list! I did the sticker book activities when my DD was 4-5, and she loved it. I will try it again to see if she is still interested. and we also made a mummy using play dough and paper tissue, which is a ton's of fun. I will try out the books you recommend, thanks! We always, or try to learn different subjects together, for example, history, geography, science and art all mixed together. Is there anyone have experience on this, not limited to acient civilization? Another question is I encourage DD to learn on her own, same for me. Is there a good resource for self learning with minimal teaching? I am looking into Teded right now.

A few lessons from my math circle: - the activities have to be hands on: we used cubes, strings, paper, paper boxes to help to understand concepts. - some concepts might sound advanced for us, but inituitive for kids, such as, we played a few games to explain what is torrent and the universe is a torrent shape. Once kids are a bit older, the bent of light comes earsy to understand. We also showed kids concept of mod: 10mod3=1, at the same time they start develop number sense. This is so simple and I learned it in my university! - give differnt maturity level kids different challenges. - if younger kids may not seem interested, just being there is helpful for them. - kids have the freedom to participate or not participate the circle. If they feel it is fun, they will! - math and other part of science are entwined, so be prepared to expend your math circle into an STEM circle. We started that 3 yrs ago. Find other moms/dads who might be interested is the key. Good luck!

My DD is 8 and I am thinking of learning ancient civilization with her for the next few monthes. The problem is I do not know where to start. I ordered a few DK books on civilization from library. But to me, history should be learned with geography, videos, and hands on projects. I remember when DD was young, we learned early explorers using a sticker book, maps and a more detailed book for myself. I introduced each explorer by telling a story, pointing out on the map, and DD played with the sticker book after. It was a wonderful activity that lasted almost a month. Is there a way to make the learning acient civilization really attractive for 8yrs old?

That is the book I used to start my math circle when my DD was 4. I followed a lot of activities from this book. The benefit of having a math circle is kids developed a love for math since they were young. Even for kids who do not really understand all the math concepts, just being there and listening(kids are encouraged to join, but it is up to them if they are going to participate). For all the kids who joined the math circle, turns out my dd is the one has the most math sense. Now she is 8, and she usually requests math circle one or twice a week. And we have moved onto Beast Academy. But I still keep the book. Maybe one day, I will do math circles for my grandchildren.

Do you happen to know the name of the camps in France? What is the minimal age requirement? Thanks!