Ditto. I used LfC A with a 5th grader last year, learning alongside him. We are using LfC B this year and my 3rd grader is going to be doing LfC A. I am actually planning to have my older son "teach" his brother while I hover around. It will be a good review for the older and a learning opportunity in itself.

It looks like we are using a good bit of the same curriculums for our third graders. The only thing my 8 year old is doing even a little bit independently is we started Phonetic Zoo this week. Otherwise we are still in the side by side, one on one stage. I'll follow this thread with interest, but honestly I don't think my third grader would get much accomplished without my active participation.

:iagree: My boys are 3.5 years apart and I still try to keep them together! Seriously! I do add in additional work for my older son but he listens to the SotW readings too and enjoys some of the activity pages and so forth. By all means you should keep your kids together as much as possible. Once my youngest gets more into school work I plan to ease him in at his level along with his brothers. The real key is to not focus as much on age but ability and interest. You may find that one child isn't as good at writing, another loves to draw, one likes projects, the other just wants to get it over with - and there is no telling which of your boys will be the more advanced. You just make the adjustments needed so each child gets what he or she needs. The beauty of homeschooling right there! ;)

My kids really want to just get through school for the most part. They do enjoy a good science project but the rest is just something in the way to their playing. For the most part we do the minimum of history related crafts/games - maybe a coloring sheet (for the younger) and the occasional drawing (for the older) and when we do a game it will not be necessarily directly related to schoolwork. One of the benefits that they both see to homeschooling is getting done earlier in the day and no homework so that they can play with each other, read books they choose and so forth. I like to keep it simple too, this frees up more time for the things that I need and want to do. But I do try for lightheartedness during the lessons when I can.

This thread definitely is a factor in my house. What we have that works for us: -Daily checklist of assignments. A schedule *does not* work - I've tried it. The checklist is concrete and gives the boys some sense of control and accomplishment. -No video games or tv of any type until the checklist is done. The only occasional exception would be if we watch a science/history video, or the cd learning portion of a class like Math U See and Latin for Children. -Quiet time daily. I got this from SWB - never thought it would work but it's been a lifesaver this year. In the afternoon from approximately 2-4pm the boys must each be in their own rooms, no video games or electronics allowed. They read, play quiety, can listen to book or music and can even sleep (mostly my 4 year old but he had given up naps before this started!) -Token system for screen time. I am using poker chips and they are doled out once a week at the same time as their allowance (earned money for doing family chores). Each token buys 30 minutes of screen time (DS, Wii, tv/movie, computer), they have to present the token up front and I have to agree that they can spend it. The boys are in charge of their own rationing of the time - this has been great, they take this much more seriously than they do money. Really bad infractions of the household rules can and have resulted in tokens being lost. That's hitting where it hurts - and having the token is a physical way they can "see" the computer time, not just the "you are banned from games for a week". The final motivation is that my aspie is actually very loving to me and wants to be protective and take care of me (this probably is related to my ongoing health issues but anyway...) - so sometimes I have to really let him know that I need his help to get through what we both *have* to do. Sitting very close, hugging and squeezing him while we work helps him when all else fails.

I don't have lots of great new suggestions but wanted to share that my oldest son shares alot of your daughters issues. Like others we use melatonin to help with sleep, it has moderate success. He has been using it since kindergarten when he first started taking medication for ADD. Even though he has been off the ADD meds for over two years now since we started homeschooling, he still takes melatonin before bed. At night when he can't sleep or settle down I give him whole body pressure. He's a big kid (almost 12 and 165lbs, 5'4") so it takes alot of weight to give him some relief. A couple of ways we do this on a budget (meaning we have never gotten any OT and don't have any fancy weighted vests - no insurance to cover anything), I lay a fluffy comforter on the floor and have him roll up in it like a burrito. Then I take a big exercise ball and using my body weight for pressure I roll it up and down his body. At other times I place a large pillow between us and he lays on his stomach then I lay on top of the pillow, moving my weight as needed. This deep muscle stimulation really relaxes him and will allow him to focus better during the school or be able to go to sleep at night. We have a mini trampoline for him to jump on for stimulation and I've been wanting to get him a hammock swing as well - trying to figure out how to afford one and attach it to hold his weight is a whole other issue. As for the other issue: I have been plagued my whole life by a sense of being watched and my 8 year old son also has anxiety problems at night where he feels like someone is watching him (he also has some sensory issues - is hypersensitive more like me - the older son is definitely hyposensitive). I don't think either of us has a psychosis, but I do think that we both (all) have some anxiety issues that are probably stimulated by sensitivity problems. For myself caffeine and exercise both help me to calm down (yikes) and I'm learning to moderate our diet as well. I just want to let you know that you, and your daughter, are not alone in what you are dealing with.

My 8 year old is just finishing up WWE1 from last year (we took a break over the summer) and is doing SotW Middle Ages this year and he has the exact same problem. I was just thinking about this this morning in fact. Rereading can help, sometimes I give him prompts and have his older brother pitch ideas. At one point this morning I reworded what he was *kinda* saying and had him repeat it after me so I could write it down. I noted "assisted" in the margins of his narration to help me remember come evaluation time. Hang in there, this is a skill that grows with practice. Giving good examples and having them repeat and copy helps them learn the skill too like most other skills.

Last year we read the Children's Illustrated Bible and Did You Know Devotions. We started off each day with this and sometimes I would play some kids praise songs from Youtube, especially the fun songs that the kids could dance and clap to. With three energetic boys this accomplished two things at once. The kids got a brief overview of the Bible in one school year, this was good because we had been out of the church for several reasons and though we prayed with the boys we had neglected their bible education. This year I am using Sonlight Core 2 as part of our history and reading so we are currently reading the bible verses directly from our children's bibles then discussing the verses. We are also doing the weekly bible verse and listening to the God Our Provider cd track. We pray for the family and friends and anything else that comes up during this time and I tie in the bible study (in the Old Testament again at this point) to our study of history and geography.

With my aspie son we usually start the lesson with me reading SotW while he and his younger brother colors from the activity book, then I will have my younger either take a break or do something else (like math) while I assist my Aspie son with doing his History Odyssey reading/outlining, etc... I have tried teachign them history separately and it's challenging finding curriculums that match the boys up for history. HO for the older and SotW w/ activity/map/coloring pages seems to be the best combination for us. Depending on the age of your son he might enjoy something like the History Pockets that go along with the time period you are studying - that's a craft, knowledge, coloring thing all in one but very easy and simple. I know my boys get very impatient with complicated activities. I've never even tried some of the tougher stuff - just not happening around here. Good luck with finding your fit!

I have the Winston Grammar Basic set and started last year with that. I thought my Aspergers/ADD kid would prefer that, he has weak fine motor skills. In my opinion, it is too basic. I've found that I really prefer First Language Lessons. We started Level 3 last year for a 5th grader with little language arts/grammar education and are finishing that level this year. The diagramming in FLL is super easy but follows a good logical pattern. Just works better for us than Winston. YMMV!

Fibromyalgia and PCOS, currently dealing with some severe anemia but hoping to solve it without infusions.

My favorite of the three that I've used so far is Latin for Children. I've used Minimus (cartoon pictures with words in latin then some explanations) and we tried Prima Latina last year. What I like about LfC: * Audio cd with chants that you can play every day of the week for reinforcement. * DVD lesson for each less/week with a teacher who can help you understand along with your student, plus some fun/cute added things from the students and the little puppet movie they made * Optional activity pages, so if your dd likes crossword puzzles, mazes, etc this would be a great additional way to study the vocab, but if she doesn't like them (like my oldest son) they aren't necessary or the only way to learn. * We liked doing the latin history reader translations once per week. They were short but tied in well with our history studies and made me feel like I was understanding the whole language better. I used LfC A with my oldest son last year while my middle son did Songschool Latin. My middle will be in LfC A this year while my oldest moves on to LfC B. I had two years of spanish in highschool and that's it for language. I watch the lessons along with my ds and work with him in the lesson book, I feel like we are learning alot and I'm seeing the root word connections that he is making in his other reading.

Oh thanks for the link. I went and tried the states capital game, it was simple but very educational. I plan on having my boys use this website!

LfC has an audio cd for the chants and a DVD that has all the lessons being taught by a latin professor. We really love this program. I'm starting my second year with my eldest and moving from Songschool Latin to LfC A with my middle son. Highly recommended program!

I love this idea! Going to try this with my 8 year old this week!

I was going to suggest this same thing. I've found that if I give my Aspie ds a protein rich breakfast (with no bread) that he does better with his attention and hunger throughout the day. Just a thought!

:iagree: You didn't mention the age(s) of your child(ren) but I think the previous poster hit the nail on the head. SotW with Activity Book is an excellent program for the first time through. The other curriculums listed provide (sometimes) different book suggestions and, as mentioned, sometimes schedule writing assignments (more than the narration or copywork) and biblical studies. It's just a different way to get through the same things. My only reason for using something other than SotW with AG (solely) is the need to teach students three years apart in age. You can try out the three week free samples of ToG for more information, also something like History Odyssey from Pandia Press provides a free six week sample if you just want to try something different. :)

I think that's a great plan! The HO list is simply the literature choices in History Odyssey for the year. HO assigns The Door in the Wall, The Trumpeter of Krakow, Beowulf, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Adam of the Road, The Canterbury Tales, One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, and Tales of the Heike. I'm adding in Castle, The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow, Knight's Fee, I, Juan de Pareja, The Second Mrs. Giaconda, Tales from Shakespeare, The Shakespeare Stealer and The Hobbit. I've realized that my desired focus is in classical and great literature so I'm working to incorporate that more fully into my kid's education. It's been a long time since I've read alot of these (if ever) I need to get reading!

Last year I decided to use ToG for our last 9 weeks (or so), ordered Year 1 Unit 4 and the books for LG and UG. My older son (11) didn't like the lit books assigned, the UG lit books were very much similar to ones from every other program, they were fine. I found myself looking for the alternate readings from SotW, I preferred those readings to the other "spines". The biblical history stuff was not at all good for my kids - they are very sensitive (yes even boys!) and reading about all the martyrs was just too much. I found myself editing everything we read to the point that I didn't want to read any of those books (Trial and Triumph/Peace and Peril). One other big issue was that there was no information about the UG books that were assigned to my son so when he told me that he was confused by what was happening I had to read the chapters to help him. I really appreciate the synopsis and comprehension questions with answers I get from SL. The historical background information was great and I can see the value for a Dialectic or Rhetoric student - it just wasn't a good fit for my children. At this point I can't say if I will ever go back to ToG, the program just wasn't intuitive for my family and though I tried to tailor it for myself it felt like I would have been about as well off with SotW and an AG. (I kept adding from that resource, needed more activities, coloring pages , etc...) Also I found the ToG books hard to find, none at my library and they were more expensive to order. YMMV. I have two school aged children and one preK so I like to coordinate my kids for history and science. They do their own math, latin, and LA. For this upcoming year I've ended up with SL 2 that will be the core of our history (both boys will listen to RA's) and I'm supplementing with History Odyssey Middle Ages Level 2 for my older son - he will use his spine for additional outlining and doing his notebook, the older son will also read literature from the HO list and some additional titles that I've bought and scheduled to go with the historical periods. I pegged together his reading list from SL, VP and Memoria Press, I even bought a few study guides for some of the books I've chosen to go more indepth. Next year I may go with something like Biblioplan. I had looked at it initially last year but I didn't realize that I had a very old copy and there was alot more available now. That might be a good fit for you as well - take a look. The Biblioplan book suggestions look like a good middle road between ToG and SL. I would have tried it this year except I've already bought all of SL Core 2 used and don't want to have to go through selling it and frantically getting everything for BP. Good luck with finding what works for you. One of the easiest ways is to either try the free three week offer from ToG or spend the $50 and buy a unit to try out.

I haven't been homeschooling for a long time like you but I know all about getting burned out and just sick of doing ______________. My suggestion is to take a total and complete break for a while, a month or two at least. No workbooks, nothing. We just finished up a whole month of just summer time fun and I'm feeling more ready to tackle the fall, though still not there yet. During our month the kids were limited on their screen time (that was a must so I didn't feel like their brains would turn to mush) but they can swim, play with toys, cards, read, etc...to their hearts delight. I also instituted a daily afternoon quiet time where we are all separate in our own spaces for about two hours. I got this idea and the determination to follow through from watching SWB's Youtube video about their afternoon quiet time. I has been such a blessing! Even though sometimes the older boys want to play together I am firm that we all need a break from each other - my youngest is now napping more often and the kids are fighting less. The big bonus is that most days I'm actually getting a kidfree break! This really helps. For my middle son I had him start reading a chapter from his SL readers every afternoon at the end of quiet time and I ask the comprehension questions from the guide (this takes 2-3 minutes really). He is still a bit of a struggling reader so this keeps him on track. I read a quality storybook to my 4 year old at the beginning of quiet time and before bed. Otherwise he just builds legos & blocks, plays with his brothers, swims and enjoys being a kid. Maybe for the fall you can plan an unschooling semester? Limit tv and video games, go to the library once or twice a week, watch a science/nature video weekly, park/nature walks two or three times a week, get the kids involved in sports/dance/some kind of club or group and let them follow their interests. This idea has been tough in my house but I firmly believe that if they don't have any "screens" to keep them busy that they will find interests and hobbies. For your oldest maybe an "economics" course where he/she is in charge of the family budget for a month or two, has to figure out how to budget for groceries and does most of the shopping? Does your county offer the Virtual school? This could be an option for a highschooler so that they don't get behind. Have your youngers do grocery store math or watch the birds migration and do a notebook with their drawings of the birds, they could study geography that way, etc... Find something interesting that they can learn from. Classical will be waiting when you return. :) Whatever you decide, just rememer to honor your needs and your family needs - the formal education part really isn't the most important thing for a season.

I used HO2 (Ancients) last year for my 5th grader and SotW for my 2nd grader. I just followed the schedule in HO and read appropriate chapters from SotW and used the AG for additional coloring pages. It was very easy, very little of SotW makes it necessary to read the chapters in order. Only two or three times did I read a line that said, "As you know in our previous readings..." It was a nonissue. :D HTH!

Heather, Thanks for your responses. I know this is an area that you are very active in and have alot of experience. Just for the record I was diagnosed as being dyslexic when I was in kindergarten. To this day I can write in cursive backwards and read upsidedown/backwards without much strain at all. I write lefthanded and do everything else righthanded. So I think I have alot of the dyslexic brain stuff going on. I'm extremely visual...but also have always been a strong, advanced reader and didn't have the fine motor problems that my sons have. Having multiple kids with a variety of special needs (like alot of the parents here) I have to keep juggling top priority. Right now it is planning/saving for my older sons new evaluation and diagnosis. Programs that cost several hundred dollars aren't possible right now - I'm just struggling to be able to afford our curriculum for math, latin and history. Re: AAS I struggled with finding structure for it and knowing when to progress to the next step. I had done alot of this work with my son a few years ago when we started so it was boring for him (and me). It took so much prep to get started (cutting out the little squares, applying the magnetic backs, sorting through the cards) that it was a real letdown when I finally sat down to get started, did Lesson 1 - he missed quite a few of the vowels and then I didn't know what to do next. How many days to keep doing Lesson 1 over and over if he couldnt' remember the sounds? Honestly I was never taught all the sounds that the letters make (I wasn't taught using phonics) so it was confusing and frustrating. Between three kids with delays and special needs and my own health issues it just seemed like it was too much trouble. :( In my situation I'm leaning towards alot of guided instruction that leads me through step by step - this helps to keep me on track while juggling so many balls and dealing with my fibro-fog. I know that intellectually I am capable of planning a whole curriculum and scheduling it to fit my needs while monitoring progress and making adjustments as needed; however, the reality is that I can't get a moments peace during the day and things that aren't scheduled for me lead to alot of frustration (I love programs that use a chapter a week or have a set up IG with a weekly schedule). So that's why I returned AAS. I didn't want to give up so I decided to give Phonics Zoo a try, just because I like the IEW products and I got it used from our boards. Looking at it in my hands I can see that it's more advanced than what my son needs but it was really hard going totally back to start with him. We both were frustrated and felt defeated. Anyway, having a rough day with pain and fatigue so probably won't make any progress with this today. Thanks for reading all!

Check out http://www.happyscribecopybooks.com/hsc-products.html - I pulled copywork from their combo book all throughout the year. Occasionally there wasn't something appropriate for history that week and I would pull from the bible or proverbs section. For fun I could pull from video games etc.

I started classically homeschooling both my older boys last year (5th and 2nd grade). The prior year I used a computer based homeschool curriculum when I pulled my then-4th grader out in a rescue type operation. I plan everything out weekly, showing the days and subjects but not organized by time. I print each student a chart (using Microsoft Word to make it) and put the chart and any copies of work pages in a notebook for the boys. This serves two purposes: the kids can see exactly what I expect from them for the day and week and also this serves as my log for our tracking. As we complete each section I have the boys check it off on their log. As for how we break up our days...we didn't start school until 9am most days, sometimes later this year. Before that we had a good breakfast, got dressed, did some household chores and the boys had some time to play in their rooms. I bill this laid back morning as one reason that homeschooling is better than the rush!rush!rush! of catching a bus to public school! We usually do two or three subjects (two hard and one easy) that they do mostly together then I have a planned 20-30 minute break for both boys. The older walks the dog while my middle son would swing or play (outdoors when possible). I use that time to catch up on a bit of housework and take a breather if I can. After the break usually they settle down to doing their "independent" work - meaning that they aren't sharing lessons. I usually pull in the younger son to do either his grammar/writing/Latin, and then switch back and forth between the older and younger. We break for lunch around 12:30-1 and usually the younger son is done with his assignments other than reading by that time. The older son frequently has another hour or two of work we do together in addition to reading. My older son is an Aspie (I noticed in your signature that we have that in common) so I would recommend scheduling your work in a way that respects his limits. He may need more frequent mental breaks - be sure to intersperse fine motor activities with his academic subjects. He will also probably thrive with having a consistent, written schedule so that he knows what to expect and will be more prepared. Of course, YMMV! :D

Another huge Firefly fan here - get to the 3rd (?) episode with the train robbery. I'm a scifi fan, don't really care for westerns but I love, love, love this show. Dh and I made it date night when it was broadcasting originally - and bought the dvd's when they came out. So worth a shot if you like scifi and/or Joss Whedon. You can even watch some of the early episodes out of order, doesn't matter a ton - then go back when you are addicted! muahaha :D