We have done several screen fasts. Last year in all of August we did, and then School was already going it was easy to point out that they didn’t have time for screens. We switched to only Fri and Sat. Then again this spring (it was almost a Lenten fast - it was for DH and myself - but only 3 weeks for kids). This summer we are sticking with our no screens through the week plan. It’s amazing how much more gets done during that time - playing with friends, chores, family games, little excursions, hiking and swimming, etc. And in general moods improve, though at first it’s a bit rough. Good luck with this! I hope it makes for a great three weeks!

A good majority of Singapore primary math is done this way

@kristin0713 are you closing this as soon as you hit 30 (which I think you just did), or a certain date?

I think if you want full history and full ELA you will probably only find them in very integrated curricula, like Wayfarers or Sonlight. IEW uses history to teach writing, and History Odyssey uses writing to teach history, but they’re squarely a writing program and a history program respectively. Just curious, you’re co-opting 4 days a week? How do you like it?

My suggestion is to go to a good running shoe store. The good ones will really help you through selecting shoes (minimal or otherwise) - watch you walk, video your running gate, show you alignment/misalignment in your geometry, how you strike, etc. My store (in a sheep town of 30,000) had a wide selection of shoes with varying levels of support (or lack of).

My kids enjoyed the card games Mythmatical Battles and Earthquake. They also did much better using a multiplication chart on challenging problems (vs drill) - after using the chart a lot they memorized them. Some people do well with flash cards and drills, with my kids it backfired (they got worse, tense and it jammed up their recall).

I was going to suggest Occupational Therapy or Speech Language Pathology, both of which you already have. If she wants to do early childhood education perhaps developing some entrepreneurial skills as well - she would have a better income being the owner of a preschool than an employee.

I think the AoPS solutions are very clear, the book written to the student well, plus you have the videos (preA and intro Alg) to get you going in the right direction, and Alcumus for additional practice with explanations. And there are the forums where kids can ask one another for help finding solutions. I have only a few times in years of using AoPS not been able to get the solution. In which case we just look at each other oddly and try another of the same type of problem.

All! Inside the grand piano, on top of the upright piano, 4' up wire pantry shelving (at 12 mo), kitchen counters, up the dresser (pulled it over and thank God a drawer sticking out prevented it from crushing her), the stone fireplace, the rhododendron trees, the outside of the SUV...

We read - independently and read alouds - and discussed casually. We also read MCT Building Poems.

I’m still not going, but I’m glad people sent a message that we don’t want this.

That article may have been one person’s, but I have seen others as well. And the middle school where DS takes Band was going to see this on the last day of school (Theater is just a couple blocks from school), but the principal went and watched it two days before, and messaged the entire school they would not be going to see it. The theater was accommodating and offered up Sherlock Gnomes and Infinity War as alternatives. I personally don’t need to go see it to determine if it’s as bad as some say. It wasn’t really worth my time in the first place, and now in light of some people objecting it’s really not worth my time. So many better things to see and do out there!

I think this really can be true. But not universally. The differences we’ve experienced in 3 different states is substantial. In AK it was very much “back in the day” type school where they did 3Rs, had recess (well at least down to -20 * F), many kids didn’t start until age 8, and homework was minimal. Low pressure. My DS has 1.5 HOURS of music every day in K - singing mostly, but playing drums, dancing, etc. And School didn’t start until 9 AM, had two recesses and a full hour of lunch, and got out at 2 PM. It was very age appropriate.

Wow. I’m not condemning the practice, I’m just saying wow. What does this speak to in our culture?

Audiobooks! Also, a dear friend made up little packages for each of my kids when we moved from AK - one to open on each day of the 5 day trip. They were small things, I don’t even remember what, but that special package made them all the more interesting and cherished. We have done a few big moves and lots of car trips. Some things that help: 1) don’t let them have free access to everything from the beginning. Hold some things in reserve for later in the trip or only certain times in the day (eg my kids couldn’t do screens like iPad or their DS until after 4:00). 2) Pack lots of small snacks - zip baggies are great - to offer at intervals (eg if you’re going to offer Pirate Booty put it into snack baggies or cups instead of passing around the bag). 3) Crayons melt. And break. We used the crayola twistable crayons because they were harder (higher melting point) and you could always twist up fresh crayon instead of peeling off paper). Good luck!

We were pretty "shoot from the hip" until I had 2 homeschooling and two youngers. I needed the routine because there were too many moving pieces for my mental calculations each day (and DH works variable shifts including nights and weekends so that was extra wonkiness). It worked for me to build the day around meals. For example after breakfast we do math, after lunch we do History, etc. It also was how we structured chores - e.g. after lunch we you sweep the floor and brother wipes down the table, or before breakfast you need to have your morning routine done.

6-10 spans a lot of development and kind of spans the middle of the two circles I did. I would look at books that had varying levels of difficulty to them. Bright, Brave, Open Minds is a good one for that age range, and it because it walks through the discussion/activities it might give you an idea of how to run a session. This Mathematical Circle Diaries book was also very good but out of the age range (too old), and I have been looking at getting this one for the circle I am planning for dd6 this fall. Circle-in-a-Box is available free in PDF from MSRI and may give you a good idea of running a circle. Honestly, the extent of the circles they talk about in Circle-in-a-Box is more than the circles I ran on my own, but the info might pertain to you more. As to problem sets, I did not ever use unsolved problems but I don't think there's anything wrong with that. In fact I think it is great. Here is an example of one week's take home problem set for a group of 8-12 year olds of varying math and problem solving prowess. I did not use many problems, and the problems increased in difficulty from the first to the last. This particular set I think was after our discussion of Knights and Knaves logic. HTH Problem Set E.pdf

I agree about trying the Singapore forums. Dimensions is pretty new. Personally, I wish they would have put a little more effort into the graphics, but those kind of things are important to me enjoying using a text. They do not have the HIGs out yet either, which is a huge drawback for me. They do have Teacher Guides though, so you could get them and adapt to single student use. I know a lot of people use MIF. I used one MIF book because my local homeschool supply was out of Primary Mathematics and I needed to keep rolling with my student. I did not like it. It felt a little watered down to me, American-ized instead of the streamlined format that PM is. As soon as they restocked PM we went back (we were only 3 or 4 weeks into the MIF book).

Those are all great! There are some manipulatives you create from the HIG - card sets, a 100s chart, etc. - by photocopying onto card stock and cutting out. Other items are found around the house (like an egg carton cut down to 10 compartments, items for counting like toy cards or buttons, regular deck of face cards, ruler, etc). My most used items that were not readily found around the house or copied from the HIG: dry erase board counters (I like the little colored, round, plastic chips because we also wrote on these to make 100, 1000, 10,000 tokens for exchanging while practicing subtraction with regrouping) base ten blocks (and we also used c-rods too, with EducationUnboxed videos, but the books don't call for them) number bond/part-whole diagram printed big and slipped into a sheet protector (the HIG does have you use these diagrams, but I don't remember a template being in the HIG to copy, but you can make one or download this for free) linking cubes number cubes (these are blank dice on which you can write numbers and symbols, works best with a WET-erase pen, aka overhead pen) we also used polyhedral dice (gaming dice) mostly a d10 and d% but I don't remember them being called for abacus (this is not called for in the books but I had already taught RS math and learned to use their abacus and found it very helpful) The other thing this HIGs called for that we did not really use were math fact flash cards for addition and multiplication. Flash cards were counterproductive for my kids, though we did have some limited success with the triangle style addition flashcards that mimic the number-bond relationship. Maybe #4 will be different and do well with flash cards. The card games from RS Math helped, as did a few cards games like Frog Juice, Mathematical Battle, and Earthquake, for memorizing facts. The HIG includes Mental Math exercises in the back to copy - these are quick strips of roughly 20 problems of mental math practice - and tells you when to do which Mental Math exercise. Best wishes!

I need a how-to-play recorder book for a 6 yr old. I'm know music, I play several instruments, ive sat through music lessons with my older three, and I can even play the recorder. I guess I just need a scope and sequence and some good ways of introducing musical concepts in the beginning so youngest dd can start on recorder. And I'd prefer something that has good typesetting and design because for some reason it makes all the difference with me ?

I know it wasn't your question, but teaching Singapore math is different than most western math approaches. It isn't always evident in the text, and less so in the workbook. The HIG gives you the methodology that sets Singapore apart and makes it the successful program that it is. Otherwise, you're just buying workbooks with no advantage. If you are familiar with the methods you may not need the HIGs. The standards Ed HIGs are the best available IMO - clear instructions, all answers/some complete solutions, and good formatting. If price is an issue you might find them used. If you were even just to use them with grades 1-3 as a solid foundation (though I recommend all levels). This is my 4th child using Singapore and I actually just ordered HIG 1B because I misplaced it somehow and even though I know the approach methods I want to use the specific teaching activities and games to cement foundational concepts. Whatever you decide to do, best wishes!

Oldest loves Logic! She did Intro and Int Logic by Nance, and wants more. What's a good next step? College level Logic? Move on the rhetoric (Nance recommends Fitting Words)? MP's Material Logic? She is not interested in speech and debate (she has an expressive speech LD, she may eventually get there but her extemporaneous speaking - even in having conversations - is hampered by the LD), or anything with lots of discussion - she likes to play with ideas in her own head. We are looking into programming (another interest) but I'm hoping to have something that stays in the realm of English language. She also enjoyed listening to several hours of The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps with me. Is there a good self-teaching book covering predicate and term Logic? Or inductive reasoning?

To me, it sounds like too much for elementary students. They *need* to move. And they *need* to play (not spend their time doing homework sheets after 7.5 hrs of seat work). i think a restful, loving, early elementary better prepares a child to be diligent in later academics than pushing homework to younger ages. If I were to only homeschool three contiguous years of school it would be 1st-3rd grades.

I am not, because my children are not the children I’d thought they’d be. That is t bad, just different. Oldest three are like their dad, ADHD, silly, in the moment. The youngest is more like me - long-term thinker, pragmatic, intentional. But I’m too far into parenting to really change much.

I’m not understanding what you’re saying. The honor killings are understandable?