NOBODY in our home is a morning person. We could do better at this, but Loverboy and I are just. not. good. about bedtime for our kids. We're good at other things as parents, but we're just not good at getting our kids to bed before 10pm. Loverboy wakes and leaves for work. I try to wake before the girls. Even 20 minutes can give me time to shift laundry through the washer/dryer or empty the dish drainer. 8am: Wake dd6. We nurse and read for ~20minutes. 20 minutes of piano for dd6 Then dd6 usually watches one PBS Kids show for 30 minutes. 9am or later: Wake the dd2 with nursing. Often she falls back asleep. Nearly 10am: After dd6's TV show ends, we begin math and phonics. Daily, I repeat the mantra: the best time to do schoolwork is while the baby is sleeping. When dd2 awakens, I give instructions to dd6 to finish what she is working on; then she can play. I go re-nurse the baby. Once dd2 is up, we do a little more schoolwork. 11:00ish: One hour after the dd2 awakens, we have sit-down brunch. (If I try to feed dd2 too soon after nursing, she will not eat. Snacks are available for dd6 all morning, or I may make her toast earlier if she asks for it.) We continue with schoolwork on and off all afternoon dependent upon the needs of dd2 (nursing, playing, napping, creating, reading, potty training, etc). ~3pm, we get ready for afternoon activities. Occasionally, dd6 has schoolwork to do after supper. Usually this depends upon how hard she has worked during the day (attitude, refusal to work). I anticipate that our schedule will change greatly within the next two years. Dd2 is growing out of her nap, which means that she will lay down for bed earlier. It is a joy when we can all lay down for bedtime together (rather than someone staying up with baby until 1am)! The year after, we plan to put her into the coop preschool, so ready or not, we will all be up and dressed and out the door by 9am on some days.

We have done Saxon K, and we are on Lesson 106 (out of 140) of Saxon 1. We will finish the last of Saxon 1 in Aug/Sept when we return to schoolwork. Dd6 is finishing her Kindergarten year. We are planning to use Saxon 2, and it is already purchased. In general: Saxon is a workhorse of a program. It's workbooks are not colorful or fancy, but it does what it is supposed to do. It is secular. Dd6 is reading REALLY well for being 6yo. She would easily read a half-page here and there in the last chapter book we read (Uncle Pirate which is slated for grades 2-4). She can also read Usborne readers, and most words in the Usborne Oceans and Seas Encyclopedia. For us, Saxon has been extremely effective as a phonics program. Saxon Kindergarten: I couldn't be happier with this program. Things that made the program effective for us: --I put a post-it in the back of each little reader with a list of: 1) Mom 2) Dad 3) Sister 4) Cat 5) Friend (or Grandparent) Dd6 read each book to a different individual each day and checked off name (NOT 5 times in a row on the same day!) By the time the dd6 had read the book 5 times to 5 different people, dd6 was competent and comfortable with those words. Then the book was put in a shoebox next to her bed for free-reading after bedtime. BobBooks were also added to the box. --Saxon K runs the kids through the letter sounds almost daily. A week is spent on each letter of the alphabet. The child is reading CVC words by the end of the year. Saxon 1: I am less pleased with Saxon 1, but it has still been effective. Things I am not happy with about Saxon 1: --After testing dd6 (with the review lessons every 5th lesson), she was able to skip the first 25 lessons because she had learned the basic alphabet sounds so well with Saxon K. We skipped the first half of Saxon Math 2 by "testing out" using the review lessons. This worked really well for math. It has been disastrous in Phonics. There were no designated lessons on blends: bl, cr, pr, etc. Within 15 lessons (by lesson 40), we took a total break from Saxon Phonics 1 and played "Blends Games" every day for three weeks. We had missed the blends in the lessons we had skipped. Blends had not been covered in the review lesson (dd6 aced those worksheets). So, for example, lesson 17 makes your child sit through, "This is a capital G. This is a lower case g, :001_rolleyes: " in one part of the lesson; then lists gl words (glue, glitter, glisten, etc) in another part of the lesson. :glare: --Instead of the spelling words listed, I read words from the back of the TM, and we sound them out together to give dd real practice using the digraphs. I don't feel that the Spelling is beefy enough. --I have also typed out words from the Reading Word List in the back of the TM for dd to have extra practice marking digraphs and reading words with the sound covered in the lesson. --The program required reading a certain number of sight words. We are working on spelling them. I know dd6, and I know what she is capable of. Beefy. Summary: Saxon does what it is supposed to do. It has certainly done its job: dd6 is becoming an excellent and confident reader. We are planning to do Saxon Phonics 2, and I am planning to do the same series with dd2 in a few years.

For what age child have most people here used Essentials? (I'm also looking into Essentials).

I purchased a copy of Spelling Power before dd6 was born. It is in storage....waiting. I had used it while babysitting/nannying for a homeschooling family, and I really liked it. I would NOT use it it for a child who has not been through a thorough phonics program (including all of the digraphs and blends and suffixes and such). There are no shortcuts here. Things I like about it: --One may use vocabulary words from other subjects as a spelling list (science, history, Wordly Wise) --Five minutes or less of you reading spelling words. Seriously -- set a timer! --Student only needs to focus on 3-5 (misspelled) words/lesson. --Student does not need to spend a week studying words he/she already knows. Things I do not like about it: --It is not a substitute for a comprehensive phonics program. So we will wait until dd6 and dd2 are older to use it. There are MANY good phonics programs on the market with words one can use for spelling after a lesson. We are using Saxon Phonics (K, 1, & 2), and I use the words at the back of the TM for practice sounding out instead of the recommended spelling words for the program. --Once the adult has read the list to the child, the child has a checklist of ways to practice the words. Make sure that your child understands what is expected for each step, and make sure they DO NOT cut corners on these steps. Otherwise, 3 days later, they are getting the same words wrong...for the 3rd day in a row. You may need to sit with the child to make sure they do not skimp on what is expected until they learn the lesson that skipping steps will not help them here. ------------------------------------------------------------ The system I used was similar to how SusanC described. Our daily schedule: 1) Set timer for 5 minutes (or 3 minutes). 2) Read words to child while they spell them. Supposedly the child will visualize the word, then write it, then spell it aloud to you immediately. They will know right away if they missed the word. This was destructive to the girl I used it with, because knowing she missed one distracted and distressed her from moving on. We did not do that, but I understand reasons for this strategy. 3) Once I noticed 3 words were missed (or the timer had gone off), we ended that part of the lesson. We used 3 words because the child using the program was 8 or 9 years old. I would expect a14yo to be able to use the checklist and write a sentence for the recommended 5 missed words. If no words were missed, the child was done with spelling for the day. 4) Any words that were missed were then put through the checklist mentioned by SusanC, and a sentence was written. 5) The following day, the first words written are the ones missed the day before. With the remaining time on the timer, continue with the spelling list you were working on. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. DO NOT let your child peruse/review yesterday's list just before doing today's test. The point of Spelling Power is to put words into the child's LONG-TERM MEMORY. Letting them look at words to remember for 30 seconds is not helping them put words into long-term memory. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Since the book is so expensive, ask your library if you can get a copy on ILL before you commit to the system. Or see if someone has a copy in your church or homeschool coop or local homeschool friends or homeschool library so you can read the philosophy to see if it would work for you.

--When my daughters hit each other or me, I ask them, "Hey! Why are you hitting me? Am I hitting you?" or "Why are you hitting your sister? Does Mommy hit Daddy? We don't hit in our family." Because we don't spank in our household, we can take the moral high ground on this one. --When dd yells at me, I remind her that I am not yelling at her. --When dd is cranky with me, I remind her that we are kind to people who are trying to help us. --If either dd devolves into a tantrum, I send them to "the tantrum place." "You are throwing a tantrum so it is time for you to go to the tantrum place." Our tantrum place is the big bed (we co-sleep). Dd6 now goes to her own bed sometimes. This now manifests itself in our dd6 that when she is upset (no tantrum yet), she stomps out of the room and slams the door; she puts herself into the tantrum place. I hate that she stomps off like this, but I also think that it is good judgment on her part to know when she needs a break from everything and everyone. Half the time she just falls asleep anyway....which may be a contributing reason for the behavior in the first place. Dd2 has just started tantrums within the last several months. I pick her up and take her to the tantrum place. I return to finish whatever I was in the middle of, or clean whatever mess. Then I go check on my little to give her breastmilk and some talking and cuddling. --------------------------------------------- There will always be relatives that do not understand why tantrum behavior cannot be fixed with spankings. I suspect that these adults have selective memory about their own parenting years, and a misunderstanding that the policy that works for some kids does not work for all kids. I hope you find what works for you.

My feral cat stories: Years ago, I had an acquaintance who had gone out with friends to clean out empty buildings (in Boston) of feral cat colonies. She shared that most of the cats would be destroyed, because --there are a lot of people willing to foster feral cats and --there are a lot of people willing to foster cats with feline leukemia but --there are not a lot of people wiling to foster cats that are both. On the night she went out, ALL but one of the feral cats were positive for FL, so they all had to be put down except for one little guy. He lived isolated on her indoor porch for several months until he could be rechecked for FL after a certain time period. He had to be separated from her other cat(s) because she didn't want her original cat(s) infected if the poor little guy was positive. -------------------------------------------------- My old boss was a vet (I babysat twice a week for her). She also had a farm, and they always had kittens. It was the job of her kids to socialize the kittens twice a day. Once the kittens were old enough, vetboss would take them into work, spay/neuter them, and find them homes. One little guy was too wild to deal with. All his siblings had long ago been fixed and found homes. At one point, vetboss put the tranquilizer in his food so she could get him fixed. He POOPED in the food that day. :laugh: I had no children, and no plans to have children of my own. I lived alone, and I was rather looking for a second cat to keep my Guineacat company. I offered to come and socialize him on my day off. A day or two later, I arrived in the morning at her office. I announced to Claudia (the receptionist) that I was here to socialized the feral kitten. "Oh, you mean SATAN????" she deadpanned. :lol: She led me to the cages in the back. The other vet tech was cleaning cages, and I could hear yowling as Wildkitty voiced his unhappiness. They could barely clean his cage, he was so out of control. I asked for a towel, opened his cage, and threw the towel over him. I quickly swaddled him as one would a baby. Then I sat in a quiet room and massaged his forehead (the only part of him that I could safely touch). I knew he was scared. Within an hour, Wildkitty was calmed down. Claudia helped me to give him a bath, and we cleaned out his ears. Within a day, Claudia had moved him to the smaller room of cages (fewer animals, fewer people in and out) and posted a note on the door about how scared this little kitty was. She wrapped him in a towel (as I had) the morning of his surgery to calm him down so the vet could give him a proper examination. When I took Wildkitty home, I put a harness AND leash on him. In this way, when I came home, I could find where he was hiding from the leash hanging out. Sometimes he was under the bed; sometimes he was behind the dresser; once he was inside a chair. And, as others have shared, at any unexpected noise, he would get scared and attack whoever was in the line of fire.

She could also know intellectually that ghost are not real, but the thoughts/images scare the bejesus out of her. I believe that everyone is scared of something. I am afraid of zombies. There are times I will NOT go out to the (unattached) garage at night ....even for ice cream in the freezer! Sometimes I will...but sometimes I won't! Intellectually, I know there is no such thing as zombies, but the original Night of the Living Dead movie (that I first saw as an adult) freaks me out! Loverboy is afraid of Bigfoot. He saw a pseudo-documentary of Bigfoot at a movie matinee as a kid. Dd6 is afraid of spiders, even though she realizes intellectually that she is bigger than they are, and we do not live in a part of the country with many poisonous spiders. There are those who will question my maturity because I am afraid of zombies, but it has been an asset when discussing fears with children: 1) Everyone is afraid of something. Sharing my fear of zombies helps really scared kids to laugh at my fears with me, and it protects them from being teased by siblings or peers. It makes them feel not so bad about their own fears. 2) The first step is to differentiate between what we know intellectually: "There is nothing to fear from zombies [or ghosts]." 3) But to realize that the fear is real even if one knows that intellectually the danger is not. The tricky part is that we don't want this extreme but very real fear to interfere long-term with your daughter's life. We don't want her too scared to move out at age 18 because of ghosts. We don't want her too afraid to do the things she wants to do or needs to do in life because of her fear of ghosts. We want her to be able to get ice cream from the freezer in the garage when she wants to.

Nighttime is a vulnerable time for us as humans anyway. We are tired, possibly a bit hungry (low blood-sugar), and have extra time for thinking. Even Nobel prize winner Stephen Hawking writes about the extra time he has at bedtime for thinking (about physics). Negativity (I will be harmed) and unrealistic thoughts (I will be harmed) can occur in many forms during these bedtime hours (unless, of course, one is thinking about physics :laugh: ). Your daughter has some scary images/ideas in her head. She needs new images/ideas to cover up the old images, and she needs LOTS of them. It is going to be extra work for you, Mom, and I hate to suggest any of this since you are doing the tough job of parenting on your own. There is no quick fix if you want to do it right. 1) I agree with PP (swellmama) about discussing ghosts during the day, and how (whether you believe in them or not) they cannot hurt you. We use the phrase in our household of anything scary or unrealistic in media (movies, pseudo-documentaries) as, "It makes a GREAT story, but....." So, even if the ghosts were harmful or menacing in the story, we have never heard of ghosts doing that to anyone we know....EVER! Stories of harm from ghosts never get reported on the news, and when there are media examples (pseudo-documentaries on tv), we discuss the p.o.v. of the media makers and their motivation to make it as scary as possible for the sake of more viewers and (ultimately) money. This teaches a double whammy of how seriously these shows should be taken (because many things can be explained with reasonable explanations), and to be skeptical of media in general. 1b) Introduce your daughter to James Randi. He is constantly debunking the paranormal. clip discusses the science of photography when considering "ghostly orbs." Preview the clip before sharing it with your daughter, because I could see how the paranormal part could add fuel to the fire. However, YOU could learn from the photographic explanations and relay that part to your daughter. 2) As mentioned in my premise, your daughter needs good thoughts/stories/ideas to cover up the bad thoughts. At bedtime, read to her a bunch. Read to her until she falls asleep. If you feel the time could be more productive, then do schoolwork until she is so tired she feels she needs to go to sleep; especially since both of you will be up late, and will be dead tired tomorrow. 3) Let her sleep with the light on if she is in her own room, and she feels she needs that. 4) Tell her that any time she cannot sleep, for any reason, she can turn her light on and read until she is tired. If she turns the light out and is scared again, turn the light back on for more reading. 5) If she needs to sleep in your bed, but is still disturbed by bad images, then get her a headlamp to read to herself. Tell her to put it on "red light" so it does not disturb your sleep as much. This is the model I have. We purchased it at Target or Kmart. Tell her that she can read as much as she needs to as long as she minimizes disturbance to others in the household. 6) Be prepared that she may be sleeping in your bed for the long haul. Be okay with that. I know it's tough, but I've never met a parent of grown children that says, "Gee, when my kids were little and scared, I should have been there for them LESS than I was! I should not have comforted them as much as I did!" Twenty years from now, when she is grown, you want her to say, "My mom was always there for me." All things pass. They potty train. They learn to say the word "squirrel" clearly. They learn to tie their shoes. Things we think they will NEVER outgrow actually have a finite end. We want a good ending.

I think you are out very little to try. Either it will work or it will not. You are aware of your child's abilities. It is okay that if it does not work, you may put the typing program back on the shelf for another 6 months. ------------------------- I am hoping to start typing for dd6 this autumn. She will be nearly 7 by then. Most people say that is too young, due to coordination. However, she can play piano with two hands, so I think we will give it a try. If it doesn't work, we will shelve it for a later time.

:bigear:

We use a flashmaster.

Thank you for posting this. We are in a similar boat. Dd6 is finishing SM2 (~20 lessons we will finish in August). We have a handheld facts tester (Flashmaster). She used to be able to do the highest level perfectly for addition. Today she couldn't do that for the lowest level. I am hesitant to move into SM3 until she is more proficient in her addition AND subtraction. She can do problems. She just doesn't have many of them memorized. I am trying to decide if we should drill all summer on facts (~15m/day), or just drop it until August.

I have not read all of the other posts. This is where I was with my dd a year ago as we anticipated our K year of homeschooling. She is our oldest. Dd6 had spent two years in a MWF morning preschool, and all of her friends were on their way to public K. I think the toughest part was that even though we had been doing math and phonics at home on non-preschool days, dd had no idea of how a homeschool identity fit. It's like starting a new job, but not really knowing what the job description is; and being 5.5, with only the emotional and intellectual toolbox of a 5.5yo. How do you fit into a conversation when your friends are saying, "I'm going to Harding School!" or "I'm going to Garfield School!"? As with the OP, our preschool teachers had prepped the kids for the yellow bus, a new teacher, and the lunchroom. How do you prep for homeschooling? My strategy: 1) We found homeschooling friends. Even if we only met at a birthday party or other public get-together, on the way home, I would say, "You know that G and S are homeschooled, too?" or "You know that H is homeschooled, too?" This helped her to see that kids just like her were being homeschooled, too, and that homeschooling was not such an unnormal choice. 2) Point out the advantages of homeschooling. Others have shared examples of this. Some of our favorites are sleeping in, getting to play games or go to the zoo or park on random days, studying as fast or slow as we need on a subject, studying what we want, wearing pajamas, and feeling bad for many yellow buses full of kids that have to go back to school to work after seeing a play....while we are on our way to pizza with friends. 3) Many afterschool activities: This past school year, dd6 (as a Ker) has been in gymnastics, swim & gym, Frontier Girls (like Girl Scouts), 4H, K1 Enrichment (free through the local public school coop), and field trips. Our beautiful, shy, introverted girl has learned how to make friends in each location. She has met enough kids to recognized them in other venues, and she has enough confidence to approach them and say, "Are you in Swim & Gym? Is your name Rebecca?" She also has learned how to approach totally new kids and begin playing with them. This is something I never learned in my abusive public school world.

--------------------------------------------------------- OP (My3Munchkins): You need to make the choices that are right for you and your family. Some people can juggle 7 plates and eat a tuna fish sandwich. Most people can't. I know I can't. Comparison is the beginning of discontent. Please know that whatever others are doing, you only need to worry about those in your family. It is okay to have a season of NOT leaving the house as some others do. It is okay to NOT leave the house every day. It is okay to do more stuff at home rather than let others dictate the activities and learning for your children. It is okay to change your mind later and enroll for many things. It is okay to drop stuff. That is the beauty of homeschooling. We are always adding and eliminating and tweaking curriculum and schedules. For now, our family is on the run a lot. I imagine that as my dds grow, we will have fewer outside activities because they will simply have more schoolwork (homework) to complete after hours. For a different family, they may be busier as their kids get older; and it may be easier for them to leave the house when their kids are older and can be responsible for finding their own coats/shoes/special papers/etc. I hope you find what works for you.

We leave the house EVERY day during a busy 10 weeks or so of every semester (while gymnastics and Swim & Gym are in session), BUT we don't leave the house before 3:30 or 4:00pm on MTWR. For dd6's K1 Enrichment with the other homeschoolers, I opted for the 1pm Friday AFTERNOON session (rather than Thursday or Friday morning). With this schedule, we rise each day, do schoolwork, then leave the house for sports/social activities. Even dd6's K1 program is "social hour" for her after working Friday morning. I am motivated to leave the house every day because we do not attend church; we are not close (socially or geographically) with cousins; and all of dd6's friends from preschool went to public K. I'll write more in a moment to OP.

What is the difference between a democracy and a republic? What is a Constitutional Democracy?

We have a 6yo bird nerd in our house. 1) Beginning Birdwatcher's Book with 48 stickers Rainbow Resource has a few other birdwatching books, too, so take a look. 2) Get to know your rangers at the local nature center. Our nature center has a bird blind (built by an Eagle Scout) out in the woods, and a feeding station just outside the Nature Center. Discuss with the rangers when the best time for observing migration (and the birds that come through) is. You'd better buy yourself a warm hat and coat....and an alarm clock. We are always told dawn in early spring.

1) Learning teamwork through sports is overrated. However, physical fitness as a habit is important. Would your daughter be interested in running 5K races? (Each one has a theme, and can be fun). Or bike rides? (Organized rides are held nearly every weekend if you are willing to travel; many are family friendly). Disc golf? (There are courses listed online all around the world). Hiking? A local school offered a gym alternative using heart monitors. As long as the student logs a certain number of minutes each day with their heart rate above a certain level, the school was happy. The student could run, bike, shoot baskets, or do the hoolahoop! It didn't matter as long as their heart-rate was raised. 2) Philosophically: When our children are young, we are their Managers. We sign them up for swim lessons. We take them to piano lessons. We monitor the books and tv they are exposed to. We avoid playdates with the wild kid that gave the cat a shave the last time he visited, and encourage playdates with the kid who speaks four languages. As our children become teenagers, we move towards becoming Consultants in many aspects of their lives. (This does NOT mean no rules or no curfew!) We ask our children: "Do you want to continue taking clarinet, or change to saxophone....or drums?" "Do you want to take Honors History, or do you feel that Shop would be more interesting or practical?" "French or Spanish or Chinese.....or a computer language? ....and their friends. By teen years, our kids have their own ideas about who they want to spend their time with. We can only hope that they listen to our concerns, and come to us if they need us. After our children turn age 18, we hope to not be fired from our jobs as Consultants. A lot of that depends on what happened before age 18.

:grouphug: Congratulations on your new little one, Mama! When we were at this point in new babyness, we watched A LOT of PBS Kids and just read library books. 1) Start back one subject at a time. "This week, we're doing JUST Math. Next week, IF I feel up for it, we will add Phonics." 2) Be prepared to work at night or on weekends when Daddy is home to hold the baby. (Or Daddy can do worksheets with the older kids while you lay down to rest or nurse the baby). 3) It is okay if you don't finish extras. Carry them over to the fall, or squeeze them in here or there through the summer months. Or just skip them. It is unlikely that this information will show up on a do-or-die test within the next twelve months. I wouldn't recommend this attitude EVERY year, but one year, for the age your children are, is survivable. 4) Even the Math and Phonics: Check next autumn's curriculum. I know the first half of dd6's math curriculum is just review next fall, and she will likely test out of it. Her phonics also has a certain number of review lessons at the beginning of the book. (We use Saxon for both). This could give you reason to skip or skim over this years lessons, knowing the material will be presented again next autumn. Or save the end of Math or Phonics until August, planning that your older kids will test out of a certain number of lessons when the new curriculum is introduced. This, of course, is curriculum dependent. (Saxon is quite repetitive. Most curriculum are not). 5) If anyone asks how they can help with the new baby, tell them Meals! I hope you find what works for your family.

I understand the twitchiness. IMHO, I think the reason is vocabulary. We've all heard people frustrated with math say, "Math is like learning a foreign language!!!" "Well, yes, it is," I always agree. If you don't know what sum means, or denominator, or perimeter, or horizontal, you're going to be lost during the math lesson. (And those are just a few of the words I review every time I do a math lesson with my daughter for 2nd grade Saxon Math. I have tutored college algebra students that have not mastered "the vocabulary of math." They just need to be told that [vocabulary word] is just a big fancy word for [something they are already familiar with, and doing.] Denominator is just a big fancy word for the bottom number in a fraction. Sum is just a big fancy word for the answer one gets in an addition problem. Number sentence is a simplification of the word "equation." Most kids are familiar with what a number is, and with what a sentence is. It is easier for the kids to remember what you are talking about; especially if you are trying to keep thirty 2nd Graders engaged (not lost) in a lesson. I am also a little twitchy about the use of "number sentence." I'm not sure if this is more or less helpful to replace "equation" in the long run.

This is reason #3,671 why we homeschool. I would, however, not blame the teacher. These days, teachers rarely get much choice in the curriculum they use, or how it is implemented. Paraphrase: "We're not allowed to do stacking at school," haunts me. Our local middle school math teachers asked for a boring type curriculum to teach "traditional math." The powers that be ignored all input from the teachers and went exactly the opposite direction: with something experimental. :glare:

I have not read the other posts. I.Dup. (OP), 1) When you describe your personality type, that just tells me that you are not a follower. More importantly, you are a critical thinker. You DEMAND comprehension before expending resources and effort. Oh, if only more people were this way!!! May I clone you? There ARE times when being a follower IS necessary. In the army, one must follow rules and orders because lives are on the line. Likewise, hopefully our accountant is following all of the rules, and not inviting questions from the IRS or disappearing to Brazil. Perhaps the reason you homeschool is because you ask these sorts of questions. You don't want your kids to do half a year of review curriculum when they could test out of it on September 1st. 2) Do you really think that the teachers in public school complete every part of their curriculum? Really? Really? They may plan for 180 days of curriculum, but what about snow days, days that the teacher is sick (and just assigns "enrichment" to the sub), and days that are eaten by field trips, concerts, and school assemblies? We all just do the best we can. 3) I'm glad you are focusing on the three R's. The three R's are tools used to evaluate more complex data in our world. And as long as you have a reasonable limitation on junk media (non-academic tv, computer games, books), and YOU are the judge of that, I'm sure that your kids are learning like crazy. ** I have a box set for science this Kindergarten year (dd is 6). We've used it (maybe) twice this year. It is stored under my desk as I type this. So....no science this year. (Disclaimer: Shameless bragging to follow!) In the meantime, dd6 has made a coral reef diorama after learning about the oceans through Usborne's Encyclopedia of Oceans and Seas and their quicklinks. She can tell you about traits and location of different Rhinos after we read Zoobook's Rhino volume. She watches NOVA and Nature with me, and is exposed to ships and chariots of the ancient Egyptians, cathedrals that are crumbling, 4 billion years of evolution in Australia, and identifying a few stars and constellations (StarGazer, not NOVA). Non-science: She was downright demanding to finish the books as we read Shakespeare and Dickens (also Usborne). :lol: Please do not think that my child is enthusiastic about "learning." She still doesn't want to do math or piano any more or less than any other kid. **We consume our fair share of junk media in our house!

Thank you, Susan and Jessie!!! When I read your book, I realized that someone (you) had laid out a framework for an even better education that I had ever imagined giving my children!

I use MegaVote. They send an email to me every week or two while Congress is in session. The email summarizes what votes are coming up, what votes have been taken, how my Congressmen have voted, and whether the bill has passed. http://www.congress....ssorg/megavote/ It has shown me a few interesting patterns. One of our Representatives votes NO on EVERYTHING except war and himself. Meals on Wheels? No. Education? No. Gun Control? No. Veterans? Yer outta luck. Funding for Judicial or Executive Branches? No way, Jose! War? YES! Funding for War? YES! Funding for Legislative Branch? YES! Legislative Branch raises are automatic so Representatives don't have to vote on them every year? YES! YES! YES!!! I wish I was kidding you, but I'm not.

We are in a similar boat. This is what we are doing (so far). I hope that I am not screwing my child up too much. Context: Dd is 6. She has a December birthday. Age-wise, she is finishing her Kindergarten year. What we are doing may or may not work for you, but it will give you an extra option to consider. In December, dd finished Saxon Math 1. We started Saxon 2. In Saxon, every 5th lesson is a review lesson. I started to give dd6 the review lessons as pretests. She did very well on them all until she hit Lesson 90 (out of 132). Then she missed more than 10% of the problems. I backtracked to ~Lesson 62 (where I knew there was new material we had not discussed, skipped the lessons in the 60s that she did know, and started continuous lessons at Lesson 70. Every day that we do math, dd does the next lesson in the book. I also have her do pages from the first half of the book. She is reviewing old, easy concepts while learning new ones. In this way: 1) dd gets extra practice at the simpler concepts. This is sooooooooo important at the early ages. 2) dd gets confidence in math; at least some math she experiences is super easy 3) this slows us down a bit so in the future we don't hit a point where she is stuck on a math concept because she is developmentally not ready for it (I hope!) Is that a lot of math on a daily basis? Yes! But we are a science family, and math is the language of science. I have assisted homeschooling other kids as a nanny. I have tutored college Algebra students who do not yet know all of their math facts. If we do this part well, it pays off big time in ALL of the years that follow. I have seen it happen when it is done well, and I have seen the results when it is not done well. One other concern: We are near the end of Saxon Math 2. I have no reason to believe that dd6 will not test out of at least the first half of Saxon Math 3. If that is the case, we will have a 7yo that will be starting Saxon Math 5/4 by the end of first grade. Saxon Math 5/4 does not have workbooks. It is a standard textbook in which the problem (as well as a longer solution for more complicated problems) are written by the child. I worry that the amount of writing required for my 1st grader with a Saxon Math 5/4 textbook would be harmful to her. Most likely, I would copy the problems and she would write the solutions, but the amount of writing required for a young child is something to keep in mind. If Math in Focus does not have a placement test or review tests, would it work to give her every tenth assignment as a "test" to gauge where she is?