Ours has been the same sort of structure, with flex, since they were 6 and 4. We start during breakfast - I eat faster than they do, so when I finish eating, I start reading. I read from the Bible, we briefly discuss. We pray together, sing a hymn from a rotation I choose to get familiar with them. I read a poem. We do memory work - Bible passage, poems, various facts. Then we clear dishes, etc. Then read alouds while they colour. Things like Mathemagic, history related picture books, then our current literature selection. At various times we've included math or music flash cards, French, Pratice Island for grammar, etc. We finish with pulling out their journals for drawing/writing. It has varied in length. At 4+6, it was about an hour. Often now it reaches two.

Hmmm, 5th next year! Morning time is a cornerstone for us - bible, poetry, memory work, literature, French, parts of history, nature study, etc Journal (includes freewrites, picture study, nature study) Math - MM5, Xtra Math Spelling - AAS (probaby 3/4) Cursive - Pentime 6 Writing - TC, CAP Narrative II, and writing across the curriculum French - GSWF Science - botany with a variety of resources (TOPS unit, drawing and notation, reading and reports, garden planning, etc). Possibly A Child's Geography together in morning time. History - SOTW (finish 3, start 4) Art - thinking about an online drawing program. need to explore that a bit more. Piano

Drawing With Children. It's not all that fancy, I suppose, but I got excited about it reading various threads and then was thrilled to find it it used. I put a bunch of time into lesson planning for it, hut I never really got my mind around it and it fizzled after a few lessons. I still think it's too bad...

This is good to remember, thank you. :)

When we were homeschooled (K-12), we got to be done with math for the year when we finished our book. It was a major perk. Often my brother did finish in March and was done until September. My mom says we never had big knowledge losses with such long breaks. But kids are different, so I'd tend to base it on whether or not a child tends to retain what he has learned. We finish in May and don't pick up math again until September, which hasn't been a problem so far.

I'd track them all together. Your school is having a school day. If students in a conventional school miss a day, they don't make up extra days at the end of the year. Separating that out sounds like a headache. Eta- typo

I'd love a list too. I got several from Audible for a couple dollars each, which was great for a long road trip we did. And I just got the Steve Jobs one at a library sale and my 9yo devoured it.

Snap circuits, Magnatiles, Stack the Countries, GeoPuzzles.

This is essentially what we are doing this year. Copywork and dictation following the WWE sequence, drawn from our current literature. Read alouds and "big juicy conversations." Poetry Teas. And projects from Partnership Writing. Arrow-like approach to literature (I bought some, but have just ended up doing my own with that sort of framework). It's been very pleasant and I see benefits already. The thing about Bravewriter is that once you get your mind around what she's saying, it's really just commonsense for a LA-rich home, with some clever ideas to make it work. Which is, I think, basically what she's saying. ☺ï¸

This is great! "Study South Korea" was on my brainstorming list. Thanks!

Both my girls love to listen to favourite books over and over. Also, they listen in their rooms at quiet time from non-internet-connected devices (old iPod nanos), so overdrive wouldn't work as well. I do check overdrive first for something we might listen to together, but the selection isn't as good and I default to audible.

Xtra Math also has a free app. It's excellent. You can't select certain facts, but you can select which type of facts to cover (subtraction/multiplication/etc). You can also select time allowed. The app moves a child quickly through earlier facts until it hits facts they have trouble with. It then slows down and drills. I've found it effective and mostly painless.

So far I have a bunch of good picture book Olympian bios from the library. Going to have each kid choose two countries to track (and make a notebook about, map, find anthem, flag, etc). Making bar graphs for a couple of sports and the medals to track standings. Reading an Eric Liddell bio in morning time. Watching a couple of Olympic movies. Of course, watching events. Marking countries on a map. A few other things like that. We just had an Olympic themed bday party here where we did events, or else I'd probably have planned a day like that too.

I'm putting together a bit of a unit study for the Olympics, partly because I remember it being loads of fun when I was homeschooled and partly because it will be a great excuse to watch extra events together. 😠Has anyone done Olympic related things that were particularly enjoyable/interesting? I've come across a lot of good ideas, but thought I'd check about favourites!

Agree about it being personal thing. I grew up in a home with lots of books and library visits, but I did and do re-read a lot. I think it's more a personal thing than a book quantity thing. I have read Rilla of Ingleside until it is falling apart. It's the book I grab for unexpected hospital trips and other waiting if I don't have another good fiction book going on. I love it every time. For me, re-reading is about relaxation, much like an old favourite movie. It winds down my brain. I probably would have been open to rereading for a study unit or something when I was homeschooled, but not just for assigned reading. I generally wanted new stuff, and I just re-read what connected with me. Revisiting classics (and versions of classics) as a student matures does make a lot of sense to me. Also just want to echo - I'm also not good at remembering book titles unless currently reading them. And some of my favourite reads are not something I want to discuss at random, they go so deeply. Maybe your niece is like that.

The My Body Book outline model is great.

The Kay Arthur inductive studies for kids are very good and there are a lot of topics/Bible books to choose from. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s_ss_i_1_13?k=kay+arthur+kids&sprefix=kay+arthur+ki&crid=2DH7LD12783JF

I just want to second the suggestion of pairing SOTW with the Trial and Triumph, etc, series. I've been using it in medeival and early modern and it's so powerful to see those stories in light of surrounding history. It's led us on a John Bunyan rabbit trail to a Pilgrim's Progress unit study this month and that has been so good. That said, I haven't used TOG, but I might try making a simple schedule as a pp suggested. If you switch, something like SOTW is really easy to do in a routine, with reading, colouring, map work, added literature from the AG, an activity.

My kids have only done MM - one is in 3 and one is in 4. I never used 1, just started in 2. There is plenty of review on topics like time and money. If a kid needs more review, you can pause there and print out more worksheets. If he scored 92%, I would definitely move into 2 and just go at whatever pace works for him. We use a lot of manipulatives with MM. Like a pp said, MM has a lot of pictures of manipulatives - we just use the manips that match. So we use MUS blocks when the blocks are drawn for addition, etc. Just added Cusinaire rods too. I use play money and a learning clock for those chapters. I bought fraction manipulatives to use with fraction chapters. I have shapes that we pull out for geometry, etc. I've just tried to build a good manipulatives selection and use them as we go. I find the kids use them until they get a concept, them they stop and go ahead without.

Thanks for sharing this, Merry. I think my 5th would love something like that next year and this really helps me to see what it could look like.

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Currently, my newly 8yo goes from about 8:30-11:30, sometimes more or less. That includes 1.5-2 hrs of morning time together, with a lot of reading aloud. My 9yo goes 8:30-12ish, with the same morning time. A couple of days a week we spend about 40 mins during or after lunch doing science or history. We school four days a week. I really think YMMV. I homeschooled K-12 and even in high school, almost never spent more than 4 hours a day on school. Had no problem with entering university or making the Dean's honour list. I think it makes a difference what you want to accomplish. I could have definitely have done more, but we did meet our goals effectively.

There was recently a thread about this that had a lot of discussion. You might find some helpful info in there: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/663170-a-too-fast-readerhow-to-suggest-to-slow-down/?do=findComment&comment=7891571

This is helpful, thanks for the breakdown. And for the permission to own both. ☺ï¸

My husband does this with our kids all the time. They adore it. It's equally likely to be transformers or robots as monsters and he usually does it because the 3yo begs him to. And then usually it switches and they chase him. â˜ºï¸ They also have an elaborate game called "try to get you", which involves bases and howling and glee. Isn't that kind of game classic childhood and a natural buddy of fairy tales and tag? ETA: no one is ever scared in this here (aside from a 'chasing' adrenaline rush!) and there's no dark aspect.