I've gone to using HST+. It's a learning curve up front, but I think it's a great scheduling tool. I've entered in all our lessons in every subject for each kid. I also made binders this summer for each subject and we're just keep the workbooks in tact for the few subjects that have workbooks. A lot of subjects are just "do the next thing". So, at the beginning of the week I'll enter in all the lesson plans for each child. I'll print out a list for each child of the things that need to be completed that week. My older ones are more independent with that, my younger two I help along more. It's easy enough to add in lessons if we get further or reschedule lessons we didn't get to. We're never behind... just move things if needed. All their actual work is in binders so no need to refile anything. It took some time to learn up front, but I'm hoping to see the payoff this next year. :001_smile:

:iagree:With all of what Crystal said. We did SOTW3 this past year. My ds10 did GREAT with it (he's above average in everything), my dd8/9 just barely was hanging in there. I would consistently stop and explain things as we read. Sometimes she listened to the CD and then I read it again to her. It helped when she could color on the coloring sheet (it gave her a visual). I need to remember Crystal's ideas as I am going to try SOTW4 with her this next year. We added lots of extra reading (picture books... it's easy with the American history parts) and there were several times I drew things out on the white board to explain. Heh, heh...in this blog post is a diagram of the Henry the 6th chapter! FWIW... I don't expect my kids to remember everything. I will be happy if in Logic stage, they read something and a little (even if it's dim!) lightbulb goes on in the back of their heads that they've heard something about this before. I'm guessing when it comes around again, they'll remember more than I think they will. My oldest is hitting logic stage this year... I'm anxious to see how much he remembers about the ancients we studied 3 years ago! :001_smile:

:iagree:My oldest has used Level 2-4. I would echo these thoughts exactly. My ds was very writing phobic when I brought him home from PS after 1st grade. He now writes page long and more narrations with NO trouble at all. It's working just as well for my other kids too... I just thought I'd use my oldest because he has the longest track record.

These aren't lesson plans, but I bought this kit to go with our physics this year. It looks great! There are other types of small machine kits K'nex makes as well. I haven't opened it yet, but I'm guessing there is something in there explaining "gears" for instance in this kit... it would be great hands on for the boys if you can afford a kit or two... depending on how many kids at once will be doing it. The kit here has 7 things you can build.

The only way I supplement MM for any of my kids is with computer games "for fun". I think MM is more than enough in and of itself. My dd did need some extra time mastering her multiplication facts before we started division. I just printed off some extra fact sheets and we used Maria's method of memorizing the tables. Worked great!:001_smile:

I loved Ramona growing up. I think they are great books. I'm sad my dd just doesn't really like them. I'm not sure why... we've read Henry Huggins though and the kids liked that a lot. I may get another on audio and see if I can whet my dd's appetite again... ;)

We love Elemental Science here! Paige has 2 levels of bio out... grammar and logic. I think it would be pretty easy to run them simultaneously. The logic stage bio is actually written directly to the student so it would enable your older one to work independently as much as needed. I'm planning on my 5th grader being mostly independent. I'll be using both grammar and logic bio this next year (plus physics with my dd!). If you would like to do science the WTM way give this a try! Paige has taken all the hard work out of it and made it simple for us! :001_smile: Oh, and ES has all the sciences for grammar stage, with Bio being the first science at logic stage with more to come! Each one is sold as a separate entity though.

It's an interesting question. I have pondered this, not necessarily in the education sense (although I am the first in my immediate family to graduate from college), but in the faith sense. I am a first generation Christian in my family. I'm finding it terribly difficult to create a new pattern for my life as well as my children's. There are steps I take now, but my prayer for my kids is that they can start at a more developed place than I did and take their faith even further. I'm guessing that would be the same with any big change a family is trying to make. We are also first generation homeschoolers... I don't know that I'm trying to create an education legacy, but certainly, if my children decide to homeschool they will have a leg up because they've been raised in that environment. In my experience change happens over time... the bigger the change, the more time it takes. Usually, change starts out as superficial and underdeveloped and over time develops into change that lasts with perseverance and hard work! :001_smile:

What about YOU make a decision whether YOU want to teach multiple languages. If you do... great! Let everyone choose and get programs that are largely independent. One thing you will lose though is the ability to keep up with everyone! Kind of a bummer if no one can speak to the child learning the language. If YOU want to only teach one language my advice would be to go with Spanish since you seem to have some family connections and it's what YOU would like to do so it's probably going to get done better. After a couple of years of Spanish, then I would let each child choose a third language if they would like to. By then, they would have had experience learning a 2nd language and a 3rd would come easier to them so they could be more independent. We are learning Latin, then Spanish here. I'm going to encourage a 3rd language in HS. That will be their choice. They can either continue more in-depth in Spanish or do Spanish lightly and tackle another. Like you, I'd like one language we can all talk in together, hopefully gaining some fluency.

If you want to go the route of narration and/or lapbooks try Elemental Science. There is an experiment each week, but the curriculum is not dependent on it. It's easy enough to add extra reading to as well. Of my older two one prefers notebook pages and the other prefers lapbooking... nice for both! :D

We're starting with "Getting Started with Spanish" and then will go into "Spanish for Children". Both are grammar based.

Ummm... if it says "ages 9-12" I think that might be a bit young. My uncle gave it to me in high school and it was appropriate for me then. I would say "9-12th GRADE" would be more accurate. JMO...

This is encouraging to hear! This is exactly the route we are taking. I'm not sure what he'll be on for meds (maybe zoloft or celexa), but I'm hoping we will see more "Rylan" come out and less of this behavior that impedes him so much. It's nice to hear this worked for you. It is amazing how crippling that anxiety can be. I find it interesting our children have manifested these things that "look" like asperger's, but maybe truly isn't. Thanks for your note!;)

Personally, I'd just keep at it, giving help as needed. Some stories are harder than others. In the case of remembering names, my kids always have a hard time with that. Sometimes I'll ask them if they remember the sound it starts with. I'd just keep rereading sections as needed and help him along. Remember, you are teaching him these skills... not expecting him to have them already developed! ;) I bet you'll notice a big difference in a couple months. Another idea would be to pre-read the questions so YOU know what will be asked. Ask him to pay particular attention to a couple of the items. See if he can remember those. You might want to do this for a few weeks to get him in the habit of really listening.

Thanks for the notes everyone! Well, they do break it down into mini-sessions. The first one was supposed to be 2 hours I think... anyway... we didn't end up finishing all the testing because of his lack of cooperation. They did get the academic testing done though and he's average to above average on everything so that came out well. No big descrepency in his verbal/non-verbal scores though so I'm guessing they won't rule it NLD??? Anyway, what came out of this is that he needs to be medicated for his anxiety and we need to level out his highs and lows first. Then, they will progress with testing and most likely OT for his fine motor. She's not even going to address anything other than the anxiety at this point because she thinks once we get him on meds we may see a different boy. He may not even come out aspie/NLD at that point. We have a psychiatrist appt. next week and one with a developmental pediatrician in a couple weeks and she'll do a whole work-up on him. Even if he doesn't come out NLD, the reading I've done has sure helped me deal with him so it wasn't for naught. I don't really care the diagnosis... as long as we can come up with a plan to help him AND our family. His issues are really taking over the family at this point and we just need to get some control. Thanks for taking time to comment! Sometimes I just need :grouphug:!

:iagree:Ditto!

I teach my kids separately, but everyone is working on different things at different times. I value them working independently, so this is what we strive for. Each child needs me to varying degrees. I pretty much start with whoever is ready to go in the morning and work through each child. I spend whatever time with them that they need that day. Some days some need me more than others. I usually start with the younger children so the older kids have time to get their work completed so we have things to go over.

while my 7 y/o is undergoing testing for asperger's/NLD. It's supposed to take 6 hours today... is it a bad sign that after an hour she brought my ds out because he was shutting down already????:001_huh: I hadn't told him it was going to take 6 hours because I knew he would freak out at the number. So nice of the person testing him to start right off telling me it would take 6 hours right in front of him! Uggggg.... from there it was downhill all the way. At least they get to see him in all his glory.... I don't think it will be hard to get some diagnosis out of this! ;)

We've always done a 4 day week. That 5th day (whenever it may come in the week) is usually set aside for library and projects. We'll also do art that day. It usually ends up being a 1/2 day, getting done before lunch. Most of the curriculum I use is made specifically for homeschoolers so it's easily used 4 days a week.

I didn't read all the responses, so forgive me if I'm repeating, but we listen to a lot of the classics on audio. Then I don't stumble over the language making it easier for the kids to listen. I really vary what we listen to though... I'll put a bigger classic in that might take a little more to listen to, but then insert a fun story they can just enjoy. Some of them they just aren't ready for. We tried Treasure Island and my 10 y/o was fine, but it didn't hold the attention of my daughter nor my younger two. We'll try it again in a few years. Right now we're listening to The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean. Not an "old classic", but a high quality story nonetheless and my kids are loving it (well, they were a bit shocked at the beginning, but they like it now). ;)

I like the Logic Countdown series. We've also looked up some of those "mini-mystery" type story puzzles for free on the internet. Our kids LOVE those! I think if you google "mini-mysteries" you can find those. Also, if you look up "Logic puzzles" in google you'll see a TON of online stuff. Some is quite challenging! I think at this age the puzzles are the most fun have the most to offer. Hooda math has some good logic puzzle games to get you started!

I haven't had any of my kids do book reports. (my oldest is going into 5th grade). My kids are all writing phobic. I see no point at this age in ruining their love of reading by making them write. They do, however starting quite young write their own science and history narrations. These range in length of one sentence to a page or more for my older ones. I think they probably get more out of that at this age than book reports. This year my oldest is entering logic stage, so we'll work more on literary analysis this year, but still not writing much. We'll mostly do it orally per SWB's lit. analysis lecture. If you haven't listened to it check it out! If you're looking to be released from the obligation of book reports just for the sake of saying you do them it's a great listen! :D

I just go through the student description page with each child to make sure they understand (usually 5 min or so) and then they independently work on the writing portion. If there are a lot of sentences I only assign evens or odds. It usually takes my kids no more than 10-15 min. That's levels 3 and 4. We're doing 5 for the first time this year so I'm not sure about that, but I'm sure it won't take overly long. R&S is the one grammar we've been able to stay with. I've tried many! ;)

I started it and dropped it too. However, I had my ds10 read a children's version this year and he loved it... if nothing else, maybe try that, just to get the gist of the story. :confused:

We use the ITBS (only because I have to test for state laws). Easy to administer at home. We only do it once a year though... I'm not sure twice a year would be worth it. Most likely your language arts and math scores are going to be the most useful to you. If you're following classical education models the history and science don't match up well. My kids do fine on them, but personally I really don't care how they do on those. It usually doesn't test what we've studied at all.