Puzzles Math Manipulatives Coloring Books Rotating Toys - this is our big one - when I get out "new" toys my 3 year old is busy for 2-3 hours especially when he doesn't have to play with big brothers.

I don't think this is unique to homeschoolers - I think all teachers tweak their curriculum some. We all want what is bet for our kids, so we change things so they work the best for the kids we are teaching.

My Boys Working Hard

Thank you Thank you Thank you This is what I needed to hear today. I keep thinking that I need to have my son start teaching me and you have given me the courage to go ahead. I know that he has to learn all the parts but I can start now he is ready, I just have to start trusting my gut. I don't want to do the worksheet thing, it is just not fun for any of us. Again, Thank you Thank you Thank you

I am not trying to keep up with his reading for pleasure. I am just wondering about his school reading. He reads so much and enjoys it. With two younger boys, I don't always read his science and histroy ahead of time. I do pre-read books at times but not many. He does narrations on about half of what I assign and the rest we just talk about what he is reading both for school and pleasure. I do agree that he would not read this much if he didn't get it. He loves to read and if it is a story that captures him we hear about it. I am happy to hear that others feel what thier child is talking about is enough to know they are understanding what they are reading. I guess it just feels like at times, he is reading so much and learning so much more than I know. This is wonderful and a very scary thing. He is 7, I wonder how am I going to be able to teach him in the years to come if I feel like his knowlege base is bypassing me now. I know that much of what he learns now he will forget, he is building a base for future education. I wonder - are narrations, notebooking pages enough? He is learning, he is loving to learn and I do not want to lose this love. I just want to make sure I am doing all that I should be as his teacher.

How do you do it? I can not keep up with my son's reading. He reads so much and understands it all. I currently assign him at least a 2-3p reading for history or science daily, some days it is a True Book or other picture book and 2-3 chapters in a literature book. Today, he started Alice in Wonderland. He will finish this book in a little over a week. I just do not have time to pre-read all of his books, yet I would like him narrate and be able to check for understanding. Any suggestions for keeping up with your kids? I really don't know what I am going to do once I have more than one reading like this and my second son is well on his way.

I am of no help with curriculum choices. I am so sorry for the situation you are in. I would say staying together as a family is the most important thing. I understand your desire to not want to lose a year. If I were in your situation, I would get math, books for literature, do your ideas for geography and state studies and have an idea of what I wanted to use for grammar. Then once you see where his writing is pick a level and go from there.

My ds, age 7, is making the transition and has been for about the last 9 months. This has been a long slow transition in our house. Picture books are great to read and very age approprate. School reading is a combination of chapter books and picture books, this includes the books I choose and the books of his choice from what I have chosen from the library. When I do take him to the library, he is required to get at least 2 chapter books, this has helped as he gets to choose. My son is of the opinion if mom chooses the book it will not be good, even though he typically reads more than assigned because the book was so good. I guess overall we do a good mix of books and that seems to meet all of his needs. He gets pictures to look at and he gets to learn how to make the pictures himself. I stretch his reading level and he gets to have fun. I know in time he will be reading all chapter books and that is fine but in the mean time I want him to enjoy all of his reading.

Thanks for the link. It was a good read. We do a daily quiet time for 2 hours everyday and my boys read for at least half of it. In fact, our quiet time inspired both of my boys to want to learn to read. We have stuck with quality books to start with and that is what I have just continued to get them. They enjoy the books more and are more fun to talk about. We also have a Wii and the boys are allowed to watch some TV daily, more than I would like but we work trying to work on that. I think everything needs to be in moderation - so yes we watch more TV than some but we also provide two hours of down time daily and lots of books for other times. TV time is monitered and viewing choices are limited. School work must be completed and out side play time is daily. I also think as home educators we need to be careful to not fall into the over scheduled trap - in many ways I think it is easier for us to become over scheduled as, we finish school in less time - therefore have more time for outside activities.

I just got through to the site and it now says that the DVD's are no longer available due to high demand.

I agree with not pushing the smaller print books if she doesn't feel ready. I think it can be a maturity issue for some kids. My son also goes through phases of only wanting to read picture books. I just try to find some of the harder reading level picture books. The other thing I do is still require chapter books for school. It may be the only chapter book he reads but he is reading it. During free choice reading time I try really hard to let him chose but sometimes I will tell him he needs to read at least on chapter of a chapter book he choses, this has helped him step up his free reading at times.

Yep, I get it. My 7 year old has decided he can not entertain himself. We have quiet time for 2 hours each afternoon. He has two younger brothers to play with and a bike that he can ride. I have given him the things he can do around the house if he can not find something then I will find a chore. I have yet to give him a chore a reminder seems to be enough. To me it seems to be an age thing, they think that all of the sudden they are to old to play - well that is their job and I make it my job to inform my children that play is there job along with learning one small step at a time how to be an adult.

My boys loved the I Spy board book type of books - especially if I found one that was Sesame Street or other TV Characters, and Alphabet books.

:iagree: However, my son is also reading the Harry Potter books so I am not requiring as much other reading for "school". I assign history or science reading on a regular basis and then assign a fiction book on a semi-regular schedule. Currently, he reads for a minium of an hour a day, usually he ends up reading for two hours. I really try to look at everything my kids are doing and use school time to stretch them, if they are challenging themselves in reading then I don't have to:)

What about having him read just a chapter or two and narrating that to you. Then every other or so narration he copies it. This helped my son see what was important and also helped him see what he was wanting to say in writing. After the first couple of times coping, he did go to using less words in his narrations then realized when he reread all the narrations from one book there was not enough detail for a book review. This helped him understand the difference between rambling and not enough detail.

We really enjoyed Boy of the Pyramids.

I have been doing the basics and history, with a little science for fun. Two to Three times a year we do a full unit study. Last year, the month of Dec was Dinosaurs. My boys thought is was awesome, all of their math, copy work, reading well everything had something to do with Dino's. This Sept, we are going to study space. Here again everything, except math with be space related. I really enjoy these breaks in our schedule and so do my boys. I can't speak to finish a history cycle in a year because well I tend to change things and we started half way through last year so we haven't made it a year yet :)

Yeah that you are finish so quickly. Mine are younger so can't comment if you should beef it up or not. You might want to give your son some lego challenges or find a craft project that will help him fill his time in the early afternoon.

This year I have to give a standurdized test. We use the tests/ reviews as independent practice. Those are the days I tell my son here is your assignment and we are going to see if you can do it after reading the directions yourself. This has been very helpful in increasing his ability to work independently. I am always around to answer questions and clear up confusion, but these days are independant days. Of course, he has then read the word test and asks for a grade because he has seen grades given on Arthur.

I have used the HOD Emergent Reader Schedule. I love it! The Beyond guide does give you questions to ask for the daily portions read, covering the Blooms toxonamy. The other thing I absolutely love is the guide gives a second book option for each week. There are no questions for these books but it might be nice to have your kids reading different books at times. I have also found the optional books great to use for free reading or to make the schedule take longer. This has helped my boys mature into the reading skills they have.

I do agree that the book sounds to hard. I would suggest having her read some books to the youngers and see how she does. I noticed with my oldest that he could read harder books silently but not necessarily outloud. I am finding that there are picture books at higher reading levels that help him to progress his reading outloud abilities. It also helps for me to have him read to his 3 year old brother so I can work with the 5 year old. He also likes that he can read chapter books and picture books and both are "counted" as school, a big deal to him.

My dh and I were just talking about this last night. At this point, we have decided that only 2-3 field trips per year will be counted as school. That is all kids get in public school and we do really need to focus on school. That being said from late spring through fall we go on hikes through our county and state parks, focusing on nature study. My boys are young 2nd, K, and PreK. We do live in a large metro area, so we also do museums and other trips with our homeschool group or on homeschool days. Many times these are not pertaining to what we are studing but if they line up I work much harder to make it happen. There have been times where I have made the trip to the grocery store a field trip. Each boy gets a list of what they need to get or they get a certain amount of money to spend on their lunch. This has been a simple way for me to teach them about stores, people who work there, how much things cost, and basic living skills. I think if you are excited and change things up most younger kids will be excited too. If we lived a distance from things I would think we would make 1 or 2 trips per year for field trips and would still try to match them up with other reasons for driving the distance. I would try to engage with the professionals that are in your area :)

I have found each day to be different. The pages vary in how much writing is needed. The pages with more writing we would only do one page the pages that were more coloring we would sometimes do up to 5. Take your time, enjoy it is K

Starting about the time my son turned six, we worked our way through both spelling lists in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. (He was also reading at about a 3rd grade level) I would basically give him a spelling test every other day or so. If he missed a word he would copy it 3 to 4 times and it would be added to the next list. This worked very well for him to get the basics. This took him about a year. Then we started Spelling Wisdom. I love that it is studied dictation and my son loves that he gets to master a level. Currently, his spelling in his writing is up to where his dictation level is so I am happy if he starts to struggle then I will look for a more rule based program.

One of the things I have done to get my son to branch out from the Magic Schoolbus Chapter books is to only allow one or two from a series. At this point it goes for all series in our house. Each boy is only allowed to checkout one Henry and Mudge, one Magic Treehouse ect. I use the logic that we have to share with all the other kids that come to the library. My boys are so concerned about being able to check out the allowed number of books that although the complain a little they really just want books to read. I have also at times told my oldest that he has to pick at least one chapter book that is of school quality. This has helped to raise his level of reading on his own too.