I think a distinction needs to be made ....... I do not take my kids' input into account when it comes to deciding WHICH curriculum to use. I (and I think many others on this thread) certainly take my kids' preferences into account when it comes to IMPLEMENTING the curriculum. I do not think it would be a good use of my time or energy to be daily writing lessons, from scratch and specific to one individual student. Too many students, not enough time, other stuff to do, blah blah blah ...... Just because one has the capability to do XYZ doesn't mean it's the right choice for them to do XYZ. So writing my own lessons and problem sets isn't the best choice for me or my family or probably the majority of homeschoolers.

I’m always considering the outsourcing of grading compositions/essays. I have the hardest time giving feedback nicely to my kiddo.

I know you’re well versed in rightstart. So I’m just brainstorming with you here ..... What about doing the time, money, and Roman numeral lessons with him while you wait for it to click. If it goes well, maybe you can use those concepts to get back to your current struggles. (You could also jump ahead to the solids/geometry lessons.). FWIW - my struggling learner will still have days where 25 is 2+10+5. I usually have to get out the cuisenaire rods (and pray for patience). Maybe try saying the 2-ten part loudly and the 5 part softly? one other idea to help the place value struggle: James Tanton’s Exploding Dots materials. When my youngers tagged along on viewing these videos, the RS lessons were a breeze when we got to that point.

One downside to using overdrive/Libby for school is that the audiobook may not be available when you need it. But of course this isn’t a new or unknown consider to using the library’s resources for schooling.

With math curriculum? The kids have no input. I’m of some strong opinions on math and math instruction. I know the end goal I want the kids to achieve, so I’m choosing the tool to get us there. So like others, I did my research on the curriculum that best matches my desires. Now having said all that, I do try to keep my pulse on how they are feeling about the course. And we can talk about making tweaks to the implementation of the curriculum that might be more agreeable to the student. And I’ll listen to their complaints about the curriculum, but the kids are not likely to dissuade me from my curriculum choice. They don’t spend hours in the Hive researching all the options. Hahaha. Now with other elementary subjects like History or Science, I might be more open to their feedback on the curriculum. But math? Nope. I’m too opinionated. 😂 (also, no matter what subject, I usually tell everyone -including myself- to give the new thing a try for 6 weeks before even considering changing to something else. Tweaks would be ok before the 6 week mark, but any major changes generally have to wait.)

Are the books vintage or more modern books? For older books you could try, librivox, which is free. For more modern books, you could try Interlibrary loan for CDs or playaways. We often use Tales2go which is setup like Netflix but for audiobooks. Also, depending on the titles, you might look into Epic or Vooks. All of these suggestions would mean that you don’t have access to the audiobook after you leave the company. I’ve also heard of chirpbooks and christianaudio, but I’ve never tried them.

Do they follow a pattern to make shorts? If so, would you share which pattern, please?

Have you looked at Lands End Bermuda shorts? Or their school uniform shorts? I think I found a pair from them one year.

were the boys’ shorts baggie? The few times I’ve tried this for just knit pajama shorts, they look baggie in all the wrong places (and tight in the wrong places too!)

Also maybe Columbia capris would be less skinny.

Check out girlswillbehq.com. They are not to the knees - but they are longer than most. Size 12, though, is nearing the end of their sizing. ☹️ We like both styles of their shorts. They are on the more expensive side, but I figure part of the money I’m shelling out is to support a small business and to show that there’s demand for longer, well-fitting shorts.

My DC likes these which are a different style yet over-the-ear: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07WBXM3V8/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_glt_fabc_G78Q66KV2J3BXEHWP9FN

They’ve resolved the accent issue by having an American voice. I’d start with the trial as suggested. Deals can be had on HSBC, but they also run sales when buying it directly from them. I’ve been generally pleased with it. For my struggling reader, I used it one year, took a year without Nessy, and just restarted this year. My first year, I appreciated that I turned into the cheerleader rather than the taskmaster. I stopped at the end of the year because it used a different sequence than I was using then. (Nessy does CVC+, R-controlled, long vowels. At the time I did R-controlled last.). I also stopped because I had the gut feeling that my kiddo was whole-word and picture memorizing rather than internalizing the phonics. I returned to Nessy now that we’ve covered R-controlled and long vowels. And we are at the point where kiddo knows the phonics but fluency is the weakest. So if he memorizes whole words at this point, so-be-it. We’ll cover phonics again in our spelling lessons. It does have the ability for the teacher to set the goals rather than their assessment, and I think there’s a way to skip around rather than being led through their progression. It had some nice printables for non-screen learning, although they are color-intensive. There’s one game in particular that requires some typing. It’s not timed because it’s a way to earn weapons for the fun game portion, but it was painful to watch and wait for kiddo to sound out then hunt and peck. Most of the activities are mouse-based though. There have been a couple of technical issues mostly with the sound but perhaps they have been resolved in the year we were away. Their sales keep me content with their product. Full price would be worth it too for struggling readers as it provides a pretty fun way to get the information again and from someone not-mom. Sometimes I use it as “dessert” too. also - some of their games have been turned into apps; that would be a way to try it a bit. And their videos were on YouTube last I checked.

You’re the OPGTR queen!!!!! My natural reader did well with OPGTR, too. So I think you’re on to something there. And I think you’re wise to hold off on the screens. I hope you find what works for you all and that next week goes well for you and your son!

I’m curious for those of you who use “watch yourself” in a non-threatening way .... when a threat is quickly approaching a person (say a baseball or a car ) do you still yell out “watch yourself” or do you use “watch out”? .... and am I the only one who told their kids to “watch themselves” (because tempers were rising) while reading this thread?!? (for the record, I guess I use “watch out” in most scenarios, especially those that involve accidents. But I use “watch yourself” when I want my kids to do some introspection and self-examination.)

The starlings in my neck of the woods always have yellow beaks, but when I used Wikipedia to check my memory, it said that the beak changes depending on the season! What a surprise to me! Do you notice this change in your starlings?

Here’s another idea ... or two: maybe the book’s size seems overwhelming to the kid and it seems (to the kid) that he’ll never be done with the book. What if you literally break up the book into smaller sections and have them spiral bound, so that he can have a better sense of progress and accomplishment and completion. I mean AAR uses, what, 3 books to get a student to the same destination as OPGTR?!? That’s three certificates, three celebrations, three “you’re-halfway-done-woohoo” moments, three “oh-you’re-nearly-done-with-the-book-don’t-give-up-now” opportunities ... compared to the one completion date of OPGTR. if you can remember back to when Workboxes were the hot thing, it relied on the motivation that came from the visual reminder of the kid’s progress and how close they were to the end. Maybe your child would be more cooperative knowing he only had X lessons until he’s done with the “unit” also - are you holding the book? Maybe he needs to hold the book to feel a bit more ownership in the process. When I have to share a book with a kid, I’ll take a picture of the page on my phone and read from there while I give my kiddo the physical copy. is the sun in his eyes or a glare bothering him? (The winter sun really hits our kitchen table differently than the summer sun.) what about making his reading lesson first thing after breakfast so that he knows it’s coming and YOU will have the most patience. Then if phonics lessons drag on, you can skip the other subjects knowing that you at least got your phonics lesson in. This is what I have to do. (I assume you’ve already tried doing it after outdoor/active playtime.)

Survival gear ... compass, LED headlamps, bright LED flashlights, fire sticks (get parental permission), MREs, folding shovel, field guide to edibles or plant life or animal tracks, small first aid kit.

This is not BTDT advice per se, but what about a phonics program that is more efficient in teaching phonics? I think ABeCeDarian or ElizabethB’s syllables program would progress faster than OPGTR. Then you’d get into reading bigger words sooner. Perhaps he’s bored with the small, CVC words since he knows big words are out there. With ABeCeDarian, I feel that I can modify the lessons to involve more physical activity. But however OPGTR requires sit-still-beside-me-and-focus-your-eyes-On-this-book-we-are-sharing. but a few caveats.... (1). I used OPGTR with my first child, but I am now using ABeCeDarian with my younger kids. I don’t know how much my level of confidence colors my opinion. (2). It’s February so perhaps a curriculum change is a bad idea. 😛 edited to add: at some point, I had to jazz up OPGTR by writing the words on a whiteboard or on strips of paper that got pulled out of an envelope or even in a PowerPoint presentation, complete with words flying in. This would be a cheaper solution than switching curriculum.

Two of the biggest things that have helped me come to peace with others who have a different opinion on getting the vaccine are .... 1. Reminding myself that I can’t control others only myself. 2. Learning why others may be less than enthusiastic about the vaccine. This piece, in particular, was eye opening: https://www.vox.com/first-person/22256595/vaccine-covid-pakistan-cia-program

I’d vote for the cowbird.

I’m pre-reading Learning How To Learn by Oakley, and it’s got questions at the end of each short chapter. It’s not a textbook, and it’s written to the student.

Here's the post:

Hugs to you as you go through a tough time. You have a college degree, which only 30-ish percent of people in our nation have. So I think that’s an advantage for you! Also from your posts in the past, I see you as a problem solver and one who is willing to research for solutions, and I think those traits would make you stand out from others. Something else to consider to help narrow down job ideas would be if you like doing repetitive, follow-a-process work or if you want each encounter/project to be different than the last. What about Pharmaceutical sales? If you’re close to a college campus, maybe look at manager or assistant jobs of research clinics. Informatics used to be an up-and-coming field, but I don’t know if it still is.

I agree with what everyone else is saying, but also please know that this time of the year (jan/feb) can be mentally hard on us as homeschool moms ... and you don’t have to take my word for it; check out this other post....