You guys are awesome. Thanks for validating the gut reaction! (Also, thanks for setting me straight on Fractions vs. Decimals/Percent.)

DD is way smart. Wicked smart. Also: not driven, lacking in concentration and study skills. This is why we're HSing this year. While I'm waiting on resources to arrive (and - yes - I'm not quite decided yet on which Life of Fred to start her with, which is the key issue here), I've been giving her worksheets generated on MathUSee. She's great with the basics - addition, subtraction, times tables, etc. But she's kind of freaking out with fractions. Which is leading me to believe maybe she's not quite ready for PreAlgebra. Perhaps starting her with Fractions and Decimals is a better solution? What sayeth the Hive Mind?

Well said, both of you!

Since this is our first year at HSing, take the following FWIW and consider the source. :001_smile: We're planning to do narration maybe once or twice a week with the reading. We're following the Intermediate Language Lessons book. Dictation will be once a week, and copywork maybe twice a week. I want her exposed to the practices but it's not as important to me as the Socratic dialogue. HTH!

Thanks for the suggestion, Megan! I'll definitely check it out. :)

Is there a list of those contents? I didn't see that at the Jackdaws site, so I'm wondering how I can hunt them down online. Does anyone know of a good primary source list of links or resource list online?

Awesome recommendations -- thanks to all!

Thanks Chris - do you mean the actual Jackdaws' content is online? That's awesome! Is there an online list of links somewhere, or a list of their resources, so I know what to Google? The website I saw seemed to just have a few representative descriptions of specific content.

This is my first year homeschooling. DD is rising 5th grader. We were planning to follow the book's main recommendations, mostly, but right now I'm examining ways I can save cash (after pricing the resources on Amazon!). Kingfisher is thankfully a reference book in our library, so we can save money there as it will always be available. Her supplementary reading in history will also be mostly library, although I'm looking at the Jackdaws (but they're so expensive). I've got spelling taken care of with online resources, and am exploring some of the math online resources mentioned in another thread in this board, but am not sure how to make a syllabus or learning plan out of those resources. What other ways can we save money on the necessary resources? She's taking Latin, French, logic, grammar, reading, and biology, in addition to the above-mentioned. (I've got art and music covered.) Specific recommendations as well as general advice both welcome and greatly appreciated! :bigear: (<= I'm all ears!)

Please don't hit. He's too young to know what you're doing or why, and ... just please don't. :) I think it's too much to expect a baby or toddler to behave at a restaurant (well, McDonalds, maybe? LOL). I never took my daughter out to eat at a nice restaurant until she was capable of understanding plain English rules. Then, at age 4 or so, I laid down two hard-fast rules -- only two -- and told her the consequences for disobeying. I never had a problem with her after the first meltdown. We made our apologies, got up and left. She never did it again. (the two rules, by the way, were "no screaming" and "no throwing things". As she matured, I gave more rules.) As for the screaming at home - I always thought distraction was the best approach until age 2 or 3. I'd give her something else to play with, or change her scenery, or start doing something off the wall and silly. I also found my daughter would stop screaming if I started whispering. She'd be so intent on hearing what I was saying that she'd soothe herself! Didn't work all the time but enough to be worthwhile.

Does anyone know of a good, inexpensive (even better - free!) Latin curriculum that they can recommend for a beginning 5th grader? This is her first real introduction to a foreign language, though her schools have dabbled in Spanish (first and second grade only). I'm on a very strict budget with a very limited income, and anywhere I can save money, I need to!

Thanks Alison! I've done a little searching online for local groups but not much luck yet -- there's a Yahoo group but it doesn't seem too active. Hopefully I can connect with a few local HSrs though.

Wow. I feel like a bad h/s'r now! We love SpongeBob. You know ... for fun. I think the show's one of the funniest things on TV -- DD and I can both appreciate the humor at different levels. There's almost always a moral although it's never produced by dropping anvils on the audience's collective head.

LOL - SO glad I'm not the only one dealing with this. It's disgusting. But DD loves counting the victims as they sink to the bottom. Sigh. I worry about that kid a little. FWIW, we use apple cider vinegar, two to four drops of full strength dishwashing detergent -- but I'm gonna have to try that double-sided tape thing next time, too!

Wow - you folks are amazing. You've all hit it on the head -- I think it's great he wants to be involved, too, but there's that little "but" voice in my head ... probably prompted in equal parts by past experience with the guy and by my own somewhat selfish desires. :D Thanks for the validation! LOL. Yes, on the whole, being involved is an awesome thing. I just suspect that this new desire is motivated not so much by a desire to be involved but by a desire to keep an eye on whatever it is I'm doing with her. I hope I'm wrong. There are SO many awesome ideas in this thread already ... OK, that's an awesome idea. I'm going to have to make a note to look for something like that in my area. (I am concerned, though - it seems most of the folks who homeschool around here do so for religious reasons, which is NOT my motivation. Will they be willing to "accept" a kid who's being classically educated but not in a spiritual/religious context?) It's a "she" but the answer is "not really." However she does have friends who go to PS, and I can arrange playdates. There's also the beach and the park, where we usually meet new friends on a regular basis. Great suggestion. Oh, wow, you hit that nail on the head. That's precisely where I am with my XH: he's great on intentions, not so great on follow-through. That is exactly where I think I need to be. If I can just ease up and let go of some of this -- perhaps using the suggestion several of you made to let him take over one of the "extras" -- I think one of two things will happen. Either he'll decide I can handle it (LOL) or he'll be more involved, and either outcome is fine with me. You're absolutely right. I guess, I just am concerned that because of that "fun parent" pattern he's already pretty firmly established, this will end up being one more thing where I'm placed in some kind of competition I have no desire to be in. Of course, if that happens, then it's up to me simply not to play that game. I really like the idea of having HIM be the one to take her to some team sport on a regular basis. The only problem with that is his retail store schedule is all over the place. I can't even get him to pick her up for visits on a regular basis -- I have concerns I'd be able to get him to commit to taking her to soccer or cheerleading every week. But you're right - that would be ideal if we could do it. Put the ball in his court, so to speak -- that's pure genius! :iagree: Thanks! I can already tell this place is going to be my lifesaver! Thank you ALL for all your suggestions and support - you guys rock out loud in stereo, as dd says. :auto: