I have 3 kids, and I've had to limit them to one music and one sport. The sports are seasonal so it's usually just music. We just don't have the time or the money honestly!

I read babysitters club for fun. We read out of a textbook for school. :(

I was coming here to post the Boomerang books as well. :)

Does he study a foreign language? My DS loves Duolingo for Spanish.

It's so hard to schedule for my DS. He's highly asynchronous so it's often a lesson in futility. I do require daily work, it's just he never wanted to delve deeper. He kind of moved from topic to topic. It's fine, I value process of product, but he's almost ten, and we live in a state with a portfolio or testing requirement, so he needs to start the process of showing what he knows, KWIM? I'm not looking for anything extensive, just getting ready for middle school type output. I think we've settled on a plan, and it's going to be expensive because there are some online components, and I'm going to be watching his free time carefully because I really value space in his day. I think that the assignments coming from someone other than me may be better received. We'll see. :)

This is the goal.

No, I think it's still very appropriate! You said "a hint of unschooling." You have more than a hint there. :)

I have read this type of thing through the years so hopefully by high school DS forgets about his second grade OM experience. :laugh: (He was begging for Evan-Moore Daily Science if that tells you anything!)

Thank you! I hear you about the cost, which is why I'm hesitant. She sounds like a great teacher so I think we will take the plunge.

I get it!

Gifted Homeschoolers Forums :)

I need to revisit OM. I tried a complete year a few years ago and it was a flop. Maybe I need to just pick and choose our subjects.

(I'm cross posting my response to my planning thread on the AL board here, because I think it's also relevant in this thread.) I will say that I've had a sort of epiphany about the whole "unschooly' dream I constantly have. I watch Julie Bogart scopes and she talks a lot about unschooling, and how it was great for some of her kids. However, she also mentioned that when she went back to college, it felt so nice that the prof had done all the work to gather the information and present it to her. She didn't have to do the leg work, she just had to sit back and learn. It was a light bulb moment for me because I think some, if not most of DS struggle with school (as in not wanting to do it) comes from my lack of proper planning in order to make the material engaging. Early on, I did the legwork, and he still didn't enjoy it, so I think I got kind of lazy about it. My goal this year is to try to really get into teaching the material, and see how that changes our home school. I'm under no delusion that it will make anything easy, but I see now where I've dropped the ball a bit. (DS is fine academically, so I'm not beating myself up over this, just noticing and correcting. :)) So my turmoil here is following his interests, but also making sure something gets done. He is not a "go getter" at all when it comes to academics. We had a relaxed year this past year, and he didn't delve into any subjects besides music. I'm very supportive of his passion for music, but I do want him to learn science! lol I think I feel guilty these days planning on curriculum, because I don't want to stifle him. That being said, I need to see some progress some times. I guess it's a balancing act and I have to be ok with walking the line.

I don't read much about them here, does anyone have experience with them? I'm looking at the Story of Science Aristotle for DS 9, but it's a big investment (both time and money) so I'm a little hesitant.

I totally changed my plans AGAIN. :lol: Insanity.

I remember feeling this way! Sometimes my hand would smell like a penny and totally distract me. I was probably deficient in some vitamin or mineral. :laugh: FWIW, my DS 9 used to be VERY sensitive to smells (and sounds) but has outgrown it a little. He doesn't gag over anyone's perfume anymore, which is nice.

Well, we dropped the one thing I was sure of. :lol: :lol: :lol: He was hesitant about the material, he's really sensitive about race issues and injustices so I decided to hold off a year on the sociology thing. (It just makes him really uncomfortable to talk about, and he has anxiety so I don't want to stack the deck against him right now.) I will say that I've had a sort of epiphany about the whole "unschooly' dream I constantly have. I watch Julie Bogart scopes and she talks a lot about unschooling, and how it was great for some of her kids. However, she also mentioned that when she went back to college, it felt so nice that the prof had done all the work to gather the information and present it to her. She didn't have to do the leg work, she just had to sit back and learn. It was a light bulb moment for me because I think some, if not most of DS struggle with school (as in not wanting to do it) comes from my lack of proper planning in order to make the material engaging. Early on, I did the legwork, and he still didn't enjoy it, so I think I got kind of lazy about it. My goal this year is to try to really get into teaching the material, and see how that changes our home school. I'm under no delusion that it will make anything easy, but I see now where I've dropped the ball a bit. (DS is fine academically, so I'm not beating myself up over this, just noticing and correcting. :)) I'm ending up close-ish to where I started when I posted a few months ago, but I have changed a few things. I'm going to order soon so that I stop obsessing over everything.

good point!

I tried to just use IP and CWP with my older, and it was difficult to match up problems with text lessons. When I could figure out which pages he should do, there often weren't enough for a whole chapter of lessons. (He would do too much of the "topic" in the IP book and we'd have a lot of the chapter left.) For us what worked best was TB, WB and either IP or CWP, but not all 4. Also, my twins would be using the books at the same time, so I'd need 2 of each book regardless. I suppose I could photocopy but that is more work than I'd like to do.

I remember I just kept feeling like older DS needed the IP and CWP. I also felt like he needed the textbook for learning, and I liked the workbook because it was explicitly spelled out for me which pages he needed to do to solidify the book lesson. I tried dropping the text, and that didn't work well, I tried dropping the workbook, but I felt like the IP then wasn't enough review alone. CWP we hardly ever got to because of the other 3 books. :lol:

I am wondering if we would need the orange book to become familiar with the cuisenaire rods?

Will do!

edited my OP because I had the age range totally wrong!

Thank you! Good to know. :)

Has anyone's AL participated in the online arrow book club through Bravewriter? How did it go? DS will be 10 in November, I think it's billed for 11-14 year olds, so I'm hoping he's in the sweet spot where the discussion will be at least a little "on level" with him.