Thanks! We have talked to the teacher (at the end of the spring semester) and she agreed that slowing down the pace would be very useful. I have implemented the 'one measure at a time' learning approach since we started last year. She didn't realize that practice sessions were such a struggle for us, and now that she has that knowledge she's definitely willing to work with us. One thing that I did today that kept us really happy was dividing practice session into TWO segments. We did one this morning before lunch and another before dinner. This obviously takes more coordination from me (and I missed my workout, shoot!) but it seemed to work really well for my son. He was way less annoyed and temperamental each time, and it allowed me to keep the session VERY short (we never really go more than 20 mins, so we only did about 10 each time, and it was good). No fatigue. This, coupled with his teacher's help on slowing down progress (he starts lessons next week for the fall), may really make it more pleasant this year. I hope.....

Yes--I did fail to mention he's on the spectrum--extremely high-functioning (most people can't even tell). A frustration-related meltdown definitely goes hand-in-hand with the ASD.

I am totally fine w/ parental involvement...I prefer it! :) Perfectionism is definitely our issue. With music. With math. With spelling....etc.

We have used Miquon for a couple of years. I love it but have trouble teaching it. I tend to understand concepts intuitively, but my son needs a more laid-out approach (he seems very unable to focus and 'intuit' when it comes to math--concepts are tough for him). I think Miquon is doing its job in that he does GET concepts eventually, but we plod through it rather slowly. We also use R&S b/c it is so straightforward, but I find it rather boring. I really like the concept of a mixed online-offline program, and we are enjoying using K12 LA this year (it's not my fave and not perfect but it is definitely getting the job done and I love not doing lesson plans), but I've seen nothing about K12 Math that would lead me to believe that it is a strong choice. So I was wondering if there is a similar online-offline course for math that is not K12. OR: what is a good math to try? I have looked at Right Start but am sort of unwilling to pull the trigger b/c it's so costly and I'm unsure of how well I would do teaching it. Rod and Staff does the job, but I don't think it teaches any outside-the-box problem-solving. It's pretty cut-and-dry. I assume CLE is similar. We're not yet done w/ our Miquon books, we're just working through this year. But I do feel we may need something else. I guess I am looking for: *strong conceptual base--teaching a child to think conceptually *good review (I can supplement with drill, so I don't care as much about that) *possibly some online content *GOOD teacher support/clear instructions for me on how to teach a concept. This is what I find most lacking in my beloved Miquon. I look at a lab sheet, read the annotation, and totally "get" it. But translating that to my son is really hard sometimes. We plod along, but it's tough. Any suggestions would be helpful. TIA!

My son took piano lessons for the first time last year (he was 7; he turned 8 this summer). Practice sessions, with me at his side, were very difficult most of the time. He is easily frustrated and would melt down when he didn't get a piece perfect on the first try. Lots of deep breathing, patience from me, and diligence from both of us got us through. He excelled at piano. Once he mastered a song, he HAD it. He played at his recitals with no sheet music. But his resistance to practice became epic, and I opted not to do summer lessons, against the advice of his music teacher, b/c I felt he needed a break. (He also finished the first year course in March--something she said most kids don't do until autumn of their second year. So he really tackled it. This is due in no small part to his mother being a good enforcer. :)) But lo, the practicing has been so hard. I sometimes resort to pouring myself a glass of wine just to get through the frustration and tears!! We had planned to have him continue lessons this year. My husband in particular thinks that it would be good, and my son's piano teacher says he shows musical ability. However, I'm the one in the trenches with the poor guy when he's struggling to master a song and crying, shrieking and generally being upset over his inability to get it right quickly. Once he DOES get it, he's fine. I am so torn about whether to continue this year. I'm not a draconian parent. I do not believe this is a place for character development (we do that via chores, not music!). I have seen friends who were forced to take lessons turn into accomplished musicians who hate playing. On the other hand, I was never forced, and I play moderately badly, but I LOVE to play songs. I don't want to destroy any joy he has in music, but I also don't want to force something that is just going to be a daily ordeal. My son is torn also. He hates practicing but says he wants to learn to play piano. We keep telling him that practicing is the only way to get to that 'end' that he desires. :) I can't decide whether to keep going or to just take a year off (my mother-in-law's advice). I have felt that perhaps a different way of learning would be better--his current lessons are very traditional, and I'd love for him to try Suzuki method. But I can't find any Suzuki piano teachers within an hour's drive of us! Any words of wisdom to share?

I've looked through the books and am fairly satisfied so far. It's so, so different from the approach I have taken so far (Charlotte Mason to the core!). I get a little squeamish around anthologies. But the "Classics" collections are nicely-illustrated, which I appreciate (I hate cartoonish illustrations...HATE them) and the course seems well-rounded. So, I'm not sending it back at this point! Stay tuned! I reserve my right to change my mind within the next 25 days! ;)

TOTALLY normal. We have several 'repeat visitors'!!! It is a complete non-issue.

I do 1-3 weeks at a time, in pencil. My fave is just to do one week at a time because things do change!

I have a love-hate-love relationship with Miquon. We have used it for a couple of years. I have finally settled into being good at using it (I think). Before I would work straight through a book...but that didn't work so well. Now I am more comfortable taking and leaving things. My son will finish Miquon this year. I did find that we benefited from adding a little drill-type work, so last year (second grade) we did a little bit of Rod and Staff and also some Calculadders sheets, just for drill practice. This year I plan to continue in the same vein--working through the rest of the Miquon series, along with R&S (a dry, direct approach) and Calculadders for drill. I also recommend using Education Unboxed videos, and if he struggled with writing and you do Miquon, YOU should write answers. Or just ignore writing answers altogether at first, and simple use the lab sheets as a springboard for exploring concepts. That works best in our household. Miquon is excellent and I really appreciate the strong conceptual foundation it provides. I found that if I need to hand something to my son, I need to hand him R&S or drill sheets. If it's a Miquon day, we sit together and work on it. The c-rods are so helpful, but I like having something else that will provide a more 'traditional' math supplement. I plan to use Miquon again for my daughter (she's 4.5 now) once we start first-ish grade. HTH!

Liberal Mennonite or Brethren sounds like a potential fit.... I attend a TINY church, and we always know when a new person is visiting, but no one overwhelms. We just smile, shake hands and make small talk, but sometimes people just leave quickly without much of the chit-chat. I don't think you'll be suffocated by a small congregation while visiting, but I might be wrong. I think it's fine to just say "I'm visiting today!" My husband and I love to go visit churches, although we are totally committed to the one we attend.

If there's a contract, you have a chance. If not, you would be an at-will employee and can be terminated at any time (as long as it's not for an improper reason!). That's the general rule of thumb. You may wish to talk to an attorney just to explore your options, but I don't think you'll have much luck in this scenario w/ the facts you've offered. Sorry for the disappointment--!

My grandmother died yesterday morning. Alzheimer's. She lived on our farm her entire life, was a hiker/walker, supremely healthy eater.....she was an absolute Scrabble/anagrams/rook master and kicked everyone in those games, played the piano and organ devotedly....never smoked.....lifestyle-wise, she did everything right, except maybe use a microwave (??). She did go downhill, it seemed, after my mother died in 2001, but really it didn't 'kick in' until about 4 years later. Maybe stress was a factor. I don't know. I did read a study recently that links copper piping in homes with well water to Alzheimer's. Who knows?! But it makes me more dedicated to using purified water (we have copper pipes and use a well, live on the same farm as g'parents....).

Thanks so much! My husband advised me to buy the course in full, so I did! (This morning!) Kai....it is true still that you can cancel w/in 30 days. So I will do lots of exploring during that time and cancel if need be. I'm hoping need will not be. :) What I didn't know until I talked to K12 is what you said--that if we finished the course early, we can just add on another course buying materials only! I don't know that it will actually happen, but I appreciate that flexibility and possibility. So, we'll see. (I also did the demo account. It was very helpful earlier this year!) I will report back here in about 6 months to let anyone who is curious know how the course goes. I'm a devoted Charlotte Mason gal, so this is a huge change of methodology for me. But for many reasons I think I'm ready to transition into a slightly different approach. (I could take that back, though! Will let you know!)

Checking into learning issues and special needs would be first on my radar. Second would be eliminating all screen time and doing many outdoor activities each day, and lots of art stuff (the stuff he likes!). I'd also encourage him to help me with yardwork and chores, but in a friendly "you are so awesome, thank you" way, not in a "get in here and get this done" way (I know I tend to the latter and have to work to be the former ;)). After a month or so of hitting the 'reset' button in terms of his free time, then I would introduce some academic-y stuff again.

We read aloud nearly every day. If we're doing school that usually means we read aloud before lunch, but sometimes it's in the afternoon sometime. We also always read a chapter of a book every night before bed. It basically fits organically into our lives! ETA: I don't 'schedule' it. Bedtime is a chapter, but otherwise, we read as much as my children want to hear. That could be one chapter, or it could be way more! I also read picture books, etc to my younger child and most of the time that means my son is along for the ride. :)

K12 is having a little sale that is tempting me. I had originally planned to try it out by paying $34/month. Their little sale right now allows a discount for paying upfront (access to the class for 12 months), for what ends up being $18/month. The materials cost is the same. (I am planning to purchase Language Arts.) The advantage, I suppose, of paying per month is that you could finish early and thus potentially save money. Or if we hate it (this is our first try), we're not out that much money. The flip side is, if we do like it, and aren't on track to finish early (and thus start a new year of coursework early....I am not schooling next summer, so this seems unlikely), we'd save about $100 by paying upfront. If you use K12 independently, how do you prefer to structure your payment?

You are an angel of mercy!!! How I would love to have my mother available to do this!!! I would vote for science first and foremost, along with hands-on math things. Then followed by that, arts/crafts.

Mary Oliver isn't really provocative, but she's brilliant. I also love Charles Wright.

I am a fool for books. After my mother died I got rid of every article of clothing she had (there was a LOT!) but I kept her perfume bottles. 14 years later, I still have them and I still pull them out to breathe in the various scents which remind me of her at various times in my life (she loved perfume). To me that's Worth It. I keep many old, functional items: a barrister's bookcase that was in my great-great-grandparents' house in NC, a grass basket that belonged to my grandmother, my husband's grandmother's silver (we use it every day--it's silver plated, though, not the real deal)....etc. I find great value in using these things. I own a couple sets of antique china that were passed along to me. I keep them because they are beautiful to use sometimes and I enjoy them, so they're worth the storage space. I'm very sentimental about Old Things and my children have some old toys that were my grandmother's. we also have about four child-sized wooden chairs that belonged to various grandparents when they were little. Functional, but still sentimental.

Mine is an aqua color that I really love! It is pictured in the last photo here...of course now it is loaded with books, tables, globe, chairs, and heaven-only-knows-what-else!! A MESS this week!! :) http://thejoyfulhouse.blogspot.com/2014/10/dark-basement-before-and-after.html

Hi everyone--My son (just turned 8) has become somewhat obsessed with learning about the Titanic. I have Amazon Prime and Netflix and have tried to poke around to find suitable documentaries (not conspiracy theories), but I'm not coming up with much. This morning he did watch a documentary on Prime that was centered on Belfast as the place where the ship was built; it was okay. Does anyone know of any good documentaries on Titanic, particularly that would be free/easily accessible online, and suitable for an 8 year old? Also, any other interesting resources on it? His particular interest is actually how the ship was built and what it looked like inside, as well as the process of sinking, alas! Thank you!

My son is a little obsessed (okay, a lot) and he desperately wants to see INSIDE the pyramids. We have done some online 'tours' (they use photographs...and you can do the 360 views, etc.). But this is not enough for my budding egyptologist, or whatever he is. ;) He wants more detail. We've checked out library books. Not enough. Is there a great documentary that might fulfill his need? He's interested in the construction and in the layout in particular of the interior of a pyramid. TIA!

My son, who will turn 8 in June, exploded with his reading last summer (when we weren't doing formal lessons, incidentally :)). This year I have chugged along with OPGTR--mostly I let him breeze through about 5 lessons at a time, a couple of days a week (I don't follow it to the letter at all--I mostly use the word lists, make sure we understand them, and get on with it). He is also doing ETC book 4, and doing just fine w/ that. He reads one chapter aloud to me each day (usually from a Clyde Robert Bulla book b/c we like him). We have started spelling this year and I am using R&S, rather slowly and gently. He's on lesson 175ish out of about 230ish in OPGTR, and he can really read anything I can throw at him (he can't COMPREHEND everything, of course, but he can read very well). He reads constantly to himself--when I woke this morning he was on the sofa reading a book--the Boxcar Children, I think. I have no idea how long he had been there. He reads fiction, simple science books from the library, etc. constantly. I am not sure there is any reason to continue going through the book, even with our 'accelerated-yet-relaxed' approach. Would it be okay to just drop it, or should we continue through these last 50 lessons? I don't want to miss anything, but my minimalist approach suggests that since he is reading well, perhaps it's extraneous at this point. TIA!

You will do fine!!!! We have done CC for 3 years. I never did it at home, just a nice extra. I enjoyed it...the friends, the presentation, the nice little timeline song... But as my son gets older and our schedule includes piano and art lessons, I am ready for a breather and the extra room in my schedule. So this was our last year. I am so excited about having the extra time in my week!!!!!! Lots of people homeschool without CC. You will be fine!!!

I don't know anything about the sports, so I have no idea. As for race-related riots, my thought is that it stems from a feeling of powerlessness. Destroying the neighborhood is *not* a good choice in terms of dealing with that feeling, but powerlessness leads to desperation. You may try anything to regain a feeling of power, of being effective in the world. How many outlets do these rioters have for their frustration and feelings of desperation and lack of power? If most of the rioters are relatively young men (I don't know the demographics but I'd guess that)--these are guys with major energy, major stores of physical energy. Releasing that emotional energy can be cathartic. I know that is true for me and I'm a middle-aged woman. I do not agree with their rioting at all. I do not agree with violence or with fighting fire with fire. I think mobilization in nonviolent ways is a much more effective means of dealing with issues like this. But my thought is that when someone feels powerless in the face of tragedy their response can turn violent if they don't have effective coping mechanisms and ways of feeling like *they* can do something personally to help.