welcome to the world of schooling boys :lol:

I agree. We use Rod & Staff for our writing instruction but my boys also write in science, history and literature. I take the concepts they are learning and have learned to apply to other subjects as well as writing narrations. My oldest uses more for writing as his desire is to become a writer.

Cub Scouts go by age - so if your son is 6yod now then he would be in Tigers. Yes, Tigers is billed as the first grade program but the requirements are actually age based, most first graders are 6. If he has friends start, then I would encourage you to consider starting him this year, then he can be with his friends for the next 5 years of cub scouting and into boy scouting. We are a big scouting family and my boys have lamented not being in dens with their friends, but they are not the same age as their friends :)

My youngest boy, 6yod, prefers to write on the white board. He will write on paper if I make him or if it is his idea. But, really prefers to do any and all school writing on his white board. His writing is beautiful no matter what he writes on. So, does it matter what he writes on? I am guessing as he gets older he will be more willing to write on paper.

I wouldn't slow him down but I would stream line. What I did last year for my second grader was the Singapore textbook and IP along with Beast 3A and 3B. He pretty much self taught most of math. I would go through the textbook with him and then he would do the section in IP. If he had trouble with certian types of problems we always had more problems in the textbook to do. We never did all the problems just enough to understand the new topic. We would typically do 3-4 weeks of Singapore always ending at the end of a section. So usually 3-4 sections. Then I would give him 3-4 weeks to work on Beast or until he was frustrated. He would read the guide book and work on the problems. For this son, he sets a timer for 40 min for math. When it goes off he finishes the problem he is on and picks up there the next day. He works hard and loves the challenge math gives him. I am available to help him when he is confused or a problem is difficult. I refuse to do it for him but know enough about math to give him good clues to move him along. If I do need to show him I set up another problem to show him the steps. I plan to follow the same procedure this year with Singapore 4A & 4B and Beast 3C& 3D. I almost forgot, we only do math Mon-Wed, co-op on Thurs and on Fridays my boys do LOF. This child is currently working in fractions. It seems to be a good balance for him.

Our first week or so of back to school is usually stressful in my house. I try to not add everything back in right away but make sure that I do have some "fun" stuff in the first few weeks. We might not add in grammar but do science and add grammar a week or two later. Also, my boys lose free time when they waste school time. If the time is wasted whining, complaining or daydreaming doesn't matter - the work assigned will be done that day. I teach the lesson and then assign independent work - my youngest and biggest whiner will easily be done by 11 each morning, yet he consistently has "homework" for the first week or so. He has to be reminded that if he doesn't work during school time that he will lose his afternoon free time. Everyone gets a break at 11:30 until lunch no matter what is done, however any remaining work will be done after quiet time or during quiet time if they are able to do the work independently in their rooms. The younger the boy the harder this is on me as I then need to be available to reteach and help with independent work. But in the end we do end up having more smooth days of school then rough ones.

For your learning time example, I will agree It thought the same thing after reading Apples. Yet, my 6 yod son just finished Cats with me and is reading time fairly well. We practice when we can and I try to cover up the time in the book and ask him to read it to me. The more I read Fred with my boys the more I am seeing how it can work as a stand alone, I just don't think I have the time or patience to make it work. We use Fred on Fridays. My boys do primarily Singapore during the rest of the week, but we have reserved Friday's math to be Fred time. This makes the boys happy as they think Fred is fun and a treat to get to read his books on Fridays. It has also served as good review and fun to learn new facts.

We use Hey Andrew. My boys all start with book one at some point in first grade when they are reading and copying English well. I find the program easy to teach. If you start with code cracker then I would start Hey Andrew in level 2. Because my boys start young I typically have them do book 1 then most of the alphabet review book from Hey Andrew. My middle -who loves Greek - told me that he prefers Hey Andrew over Elementary Greek because there is more translations and sometimes there are even fun crosswird puzzles. He had been using Elementary Greek to make sure he was getting it but instead just frustrated him.

Logic Games - my 6yod loves Chocolate Fix, Chess Solitaire, Castle Logic, Rush Hour

We use the Children's Timer (http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C923%2C058&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1372129693972) from Lakeshore Learning. Each of my boys has one in their desks for indepentant work. But we also use them to help with other focused activities and to help know when lights are to be out at night after having free reading time. Sorry for the long link not seeing how to create a hyperlink from my kindle.

I plan to use this with my 5th grader. I figure if the lessons get to long then I will break up the work into a few days. He has time to take longer. But learning to write better will take time and this looks like it will make it fun for him.

For my 8 and 10 year old we are using a variety of programs, but trying to be aware of a budget. For math, I love Singapore. Have your kids take the post tests and pay attention if they are missing sections or over all mistakes. My boys have loved Beast Academy for fun as well as Life of Fred. Because you are looking at gifted kids, I would seriously consider starting Life of Fred with the intermediate books or fractions - it can add up quickly but is also not consumable. For grammar, we use Rod and Staff. I would think your kids could start with their grade level and do just fine. This is not a fun program but my boys are learning a lot. We do close to 90% orally. I take the writing assignments and apply they to history and science. History - read the TWTM. If you are really wanting to do US history/ geography. I really like the trail guide series from GeoMatters. We have done most of Trail Guide to World Geography and it was a big hit in our house. For Science - I would recommend finding units that your kids are interested in. Use this as a way to make learning fun again. Lots of exploration and experiments. The VanCleave books are great for this as well as just finding books in the library. My 8 year old has been learn Scratch programming this year with Super Scratch. It has been a bit hit. This summer my dh is teaching both older boys how to program in HTML and is currently a hit My biggest recommendation is to find things your kids are interested in and help them to gain a love for learning again. Take starting school slow. Start with one new thing each week or every other week when you start. Do lost of fun projects or whatever they enjoy - as long as they are learning new thing! Once, your kids are enjoying learning then adding things like grammar that need to be learned but aren't necessarily fun will be easier. Enjoy the process of getting to know your kids better and watching them discover their passions.

I am not a morning person, but my job is to educate my children. They are all up about 7. I have made it my job to be up by 8 to get them started on breakfast. I usually then get ready for the day and eat later. Once breakfast is eaten, they start school. If I am ready to sit down they can start with me or they start something that is independent. This takes determination on my part to be out of bed and ready for the day. It has taken work on my part but I am so thankful for doing this. Our day goes much smoother when we start school about 8:30 because then we can be done or take a break for lunch at 11:30. My boys need to know what time they will be able to take a break.

I have really liked having the tests. I like that I have a test to give them at the end of each unit - mostly because my oldest decided that the word test meant it was hard and grammar tests have been a great way to work on this anxiety for him. Now, he knows that tests are a place to show what he knows and that it is okay if he doesn't get something - which rarely happens.

I had my oldest two learn to type this year in 2nd and 4th. They both did well. It took my 2nd grader longer to pick it up but he does well. I agree that thinking about how to spell a word or form the sentence in his head is the thing that slows him down. I do make sure I turn off spell checker when we are using the computer for dictation.

My son is using this book and learning a ton. He loves making the games and is not starting to venture into his own games. It has been a great starter book for him.

I am seriously considering getting Cover Story for my oldest, trying to decide if we should do it this year or wait a year as he is on the young side. He has been drooling over OYAN for two years but is just not ready for it in 5th grade. He aspires to be a novel writer and loved doing NanoWriMo last year and is already thinking about his story for this year. I have friends from co-op that have used OYAN with their high school students and have loved it. I know one girl has done more than one level of OYAN. She said they are a lot of work but well worth the work in the end.

I would love to get Stack the States and Stack the Countries for my Geography loving boy - but we don't own and iPad. Is there any thing like this for the Kindle Fire?

I would suggest starting with your library. I am able to get Hooked on Phonics, The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. This might help you be able to pick a program that you like without the expense of purchasing multiples.

My son used book 1 and 2 for K. He will work through book 3 in first then we will move on to another logic book. Many days logic is my carrot to get other things done :)

Thanks these ideas will get me a great start in my planning. I appreciate all the help of the Hive and can always use more ideas :)

What ages are you teaching and what level books are you using? I am just starting to plan our sconce for K-8. The kids are split into 4 different age groups. I am hoping to have the same threads running in all of the classes adjusted for there learning levels. I love the idea of the kids learning through experimenting. Any pieces of advice will be greatly appreciated.I am feeling a little like I am in overnmy head at this point.

Oh I feel your pain. Currently my 5yod has neater handwriting then my 10yod.

I am starting to plan our Science classes for Co-op next year. I am hoping to spend at least a portion of the year focusing on Chemistry. We try to make the classes very hands on, with weekly experiments or take home projects. We have a K-1 class and and 2-3 class each of about 15 kids. There are typically 3-4 moms in each group. I am looking for ideas of books I can use to base our classes off of or just ideas for a weekly experiment. thanks for helping me in my planning.

trying to figure out if I need to get Dragon Box 1 before Dragon Box 2. Does Dragon Box 2 have all the beginning levels?