My 8 y/o is our youngest so keep that in mind! He's extremely distractable and distracting! He is ALL little boy and has a hard time sitting down to focus. He'd much rather be playing tricks on his older brothers and sis. We do short bursts of school. Each subject lasts no longer than 20-30 min. Really, that's his attention span. Math is his favorite subject so we spend more time on that, but we do 2-3 different things during that time. For my young ones I keep school to a minimum and aim for literacy in the basics.... math (about 30 min.) reading (reads alone for 30 min) writing (we do IEW with older brother most work done together) history ( 3x's/week I read real literature books from history period to him) science (2x's a week, read one day, experiment the next, I read to him about 10-15 min) We listen to audio books together as a family during meal times. He plays with siblings for most of the day. He's probably done with school within 2 hours. We have a neighbor friend over several times a week for 2-3 hours at a time. No outside right now, but try to have him do something active in house (xbox kinect or treadmill) each day. It's been horribly cold here. In the nicer weather he's out a couple hours a day. At this age I'd err on the side of letting him have more free time than not.... they are young for such a short time and before you know it they'll be 7th grade and having to do much more school each day with less and less time to play....

When your kids are so young it's tough! I use a lot of curriculum that is "do the next thing" so it makes it easier for my kids to know what to do. Most of the time I have a check list for them as well to keep them accountable. My kids are old enough to do chores so most of the household tasks are delegated out as chores to them. I see you unschool so not sure if that is helpful for you or not. The other thing I've learned is not to stress out over school when they are 7! Read a lot and get the basics of being literate down. That will go a long way! I also learned to hold to my plan loosely.

I have one graduate of AAS7. I just correct spelling in his writing work now. He doesn't really have room for any other subjects so I didn't add vocab. I think he gets plenty of "vocab" by reading what he reads. You may not need to add anything. Maybe just keep up on a misspelled word list and have her work on words she misspells frequently.

We like Truth Quest. Basically a book list with some commentary in younger ages. There is meatier commentary in the older age books.

4 kids... I try to keep it close to $1000. Doesn't include piano or sports. Next year it looks like I'll be running about $1160 or so. It gets more expensive as they get older... especially if you need to purchase DVD's for subjects like Algebra, etc. which I do because I cannot teach it! ;-) I try to buy as much used as I can. I have a wonderful friend who passes down curriculum to us at 1/2 price so that helps a lot.

We are a family of 6 majorly downsizing. The house we are looking at is a small 1940 cape cod style house with a very small kitchen and no dishwasher. Thinking of a portable dishwasher so we don't lose cabinet space. Do any of you have one that you like?

MUS... if a child understands well, he/she can do only 2 of the 3 "new" concept sheets in the lesson. You could also have him/her do only 2 of the review sheets. MUS works great for my kiddos who need more white space on the page! IMO Math Mammoth has a lot of problems. You can assign only some of them, but there are a lot of problems on a page. It wasn't good for my child who NEEDS white pages!

So, here's a thought... I heard Diane Craft speak about a year ago. She talked about making math "right brained" for children who need that. She has number cards with dots on them to teach addition. I bought them, but my son didn't take to those (I think he was on the verge of figuring it out himself). I would highly suggest those and looking up her math lessons to see how to use them. It was an excellent process. It honors your daughter's learning style, but will get her further in the long run than fingers and toes. She has a whole process for how to do this "dot" process on paper. I think your choice of MUS is excellent. When you get to multiplication Diane Craft also has multiplication story cards. I've used them with 2 ds's with success. Basically, she draw pictures around the numbers in the fact and tells a story. The idea is the child pictures the "story" in their mind to remember the numbers in the fact. It's working splendidly right now with my ds8, who is mathy, but is very visual and LOVES stories so this is helping him learn them in a fun way. If you google Diane Craft you'll find her site. You'll see the cards in the store, but I also think there are some pages on how to teach math. If not, I highly recommend purchasing her material. Very helpful info and worth the investment! It would give you a different way to approach it that your daughter might enjoy instead of drill and kill.

Honestly, I'm not planning to write anything. I want to prepare my children for college writing and I think IEW does a fabulous job at that. My children have little interest in writing outside of what they HAVE to so I'm not trying to develop journalists or novel writers at this point! Not sure they would need more even if they were....

I watched much of the TWSS video at once and I don't remember a lot either. I tend to look over the manual before I teach a new unit. If I can't remember something or want details on a way to teach certain parts I watch the video. The early units I'm pretty comfortable with, but the later units I need to watch when we hit them as I haven't taught them before (this is our first year with IEW). Since writing is not a comfortable subject for me to teach I like having the videos to watch/notebook to look over. I think one could probably just use a theme book and get by though... especially if you feel confident teaching writing.

I would press the teacher a little further to see if she has a good reason... technique, etc. If not, I would find another teacher... your dd obviously is talented and loves playing. I would do anything to encourage that! As a violin teacher I give anything to teach this student! Isn't that what we want to develop in our musicians? :-)

Like any curriculum "one size does not fit all"! There are some that will love IEW, some that won't. I think it depends on your confidence level in teaching writing and your child's confidence level/ability to write. For parents who need a lot of handholding and don't feel like they have a process for teaching it is a God-send. For children who have no idea what to do with a pencil when it touches the paper it's a God-send. The basic concepts are straightforward and easy to teach and implement. The rubrics are straightforward allowing the parent to easily assess the writing and the child to know exactly what is expected of him/her. The "mystery" is taken out of evaluating writing. I can also see where the teacher needs to make some judgement calls. Every paragraph, IMO does not need all the dress-ups suggested. So, as my children learn the basics of solid writing, I can see moving away from requiring EVERYTHING in every paragraph. But to begin with it stretches them to write using different types of words and different word patterns. One needs to learn the basics/mechanics of writing before you can expect deviation and "creativity". Children who naturally write well may or may not do well. My best friend's 12 y/o is a natural writer, but is flourishing with IEW. I've heard a lot of reports of other children not doing well. Personally, my kids are not natural writers (well, I think a couple might be, but they have no confidence) so the program has been excellent for us. I feel confident teaching... I know exactly how to progress and exactly what to teach. My kids finally don't melt down when they have to write and although they would not admit it, aside from the actual physical writing process they are enjoying the process. We have a lot of fun brainstorming suggestions of words and phrases together. It can be our silliest and most fun time of the day (except for reading LOF!) I give them all the help they need to try to make it enjoyable and not a drudgery. I can tell they are actually LEARNING, not just going through the motions. My 12 y/o had a great writing success this past semester as he wrote a 9 paragraph essay on his Biblical worldview... guided through by IEW. If we had not started using this method that 9 paragraph essay would have seemed impossible and I don't think he would have done 1/2 as well. It would have been ME basically writing it for him with all the suggestions I'd have to give him. With IEW I feel he had the tools to create it basically on his own with little help. A huge confidence builder for him. You'll have to decide for yourself where you and your children fit. Personally, I think it's an excellent program and I'd recommend it highly. If you have the means I'd say give it a try. Remember, if there's some minor things that aren't working you can always adapt to meet your needs! I think a lot of the time if mom goes with her gut and makes necessary changes to curriculum there is not a need to change curriculum... just how you're doing it. :001_smile:

Have you tried setting a timer and giving her an incentive for finishing before the timer goes off? Make sure she is near you, like you have been doing... set the timer for a little longer than what you know she can get it done in (give her plenty of chance to succeed) and encourage her to finish before the timer goes off. Give her a 5 min-10 min. break and start again.

Just read this... I'm actually a violin teacher and this sounds great! Keep doing what you're doing. I would highly encourage practicing 5-6 days a week. If you get her in the habit now it will be much easier later on when she will NEED to practice that much to progress. I wish all my parents were as concerned about their kids' practicing as you are! Most kids are so overscheduled they couldn't fit in practice if they tried! :-0

I started my oldest on piano at age 6. I did sit with him until he had enough proficiency to practice on his own. This was probably for a year/year and half. I also think 10 min. or so is long enough for a 5 year old. Their attention span is not very long, especially if you expect him to be self directed. I've never put a time expectation on practice time (although I do insist they practice 6 days a week). They practice until they feel they can do their lesson. For my youngest this meant about 5 min. at first (he was 7 when he started piano), but now at 8.5 he has gotten some proficiency and feels really good about his ability. He practices more like 15-20 min. at a time, sometimes longer if he has pieces he really enjoys. 3 of the 4 kiddos play piano and I've rarely had trouble getting them to practice.

I used a book similar to this (may be this one, just looks a little different) a few years ago with my kids. Since your kids are voracious readers you could just have them read books that go with the different systems as you put the model together. My kids also have enjoyed body "encyclopedias" such as Kingfisher or Eyewitness.. that type. The models were actually quite challenging to put together (my kids were younger) not babyish at all. As for curriculum, I've used a lot. My dd11 will do Apologia Anatomy and Physiology this next semester. It's a text and then has a notebook to go with it. Lots of activities in there to choose from. It is a Christian curriculum though... not sure if that's what you're looking for.

We do more protein than carbs for breakfast. We also limit over all sugar through out the day. We are also gluten free, but that's because I get very sick from gluten and my husband and kids get minor intestinal upset so we're all off. Also, I'd caution you in using caffeine. No need to start this addiction early in life! For focus we use a product called Maritime Pine Plus (with Pycnogenol mentioned earlier in this thread). I used a whole regimine found here for my aspie ds (there are also things for ADD... I have one of those too). I cannot tell you how different he is. He is still "himself" and we still have things to deal with, but he's functioning so much better. If you're really interested I'd suggest ordering the CD's and listening. In there she gives her whole protical. Totally worth it here. Just remember natural supplements take time... my ds was on the entire protocal for 3 mos. You may just want to do the focus supplements and see how that goes.

We listen to audio books every day at breakfast and sometimes at lunch as well as for longer car trips. I read aloud science and history to the younger two boys as well as LOF to my youngest. Also, every day I read a chapter out of a book about a missionary. We're working through the YWAM series of missionary biographies. This is my favorite time of day! Our schedule is more of a flow.... eat breakfast (listen to audio book) Read missionary story take turns working with mom, meanwhile others do things they can do independently (I meet with each child as long as they need me to go over work from the previous day as well as new work) lunch (when you get hungry, usually make your own) I read history or science to the younger two chores/instrument practice play time

You know, I think this is different for different kids. My oldest and youngest worked/are working on memorizing multiplication/division in 3-4th grade. Addition facts in 1-2 grade. However, my middle two struggled/are struggling to memorize. What I've noticed for these two is as we worked on multiplication, the addition and subtraction started to come more easily. Now, as my dd11 has been working on fractions and decimals her multiplication and division is much better. I'm hoping this will also happen for my ds10 who struggles memorizing. For them it's more a process and they needed lots of time. I'm glad I didn't push with her because she would have refused and it would have been a battle. I think math is one of those subjects that we have to be flexible in. Some children just need the gift of time, while others fly through memorization...

$13 at Home Depot bought us a 3x8 shower board. I like it, but have had trouble getting it clean. I've finally settled on Chlorox Wipes. I've tried wax, all sorts of markers and other things... this is what works the best. There is ghosting so I clean it 1-2 times a day depending on how much we're using it. We use it for math, but also for writing and spelling. It's great to have a big board! I figure even if we have to replace it a couple times it will still be cheaper than a huge whiteboard. We also have small lap sized boards the kids use for math and spelling as well.

I went back and forth on foreign language... I did decide on RS after much angst. One reason is our kids need to learn Japanese as we'll be living there sometime in the future. There are less options for Japanese than French though. Basically, RS has been okay for everyone but my very concrete child who HATES having to figure out what they are trying to say. He would do better with a strictly gramatical approach. I think it has been good for the exposure of the sound of the language and my kids have actually picked up some words and use little phrases here and there. I woudn't say we LOVE it, but it does a fair job of an intro. Obviously if you're looking for mastery of a language you really need someone who knows the language to teach and the child needs to use it a lot. You might want to figure out what your FL goals are. Are you really looking for mastery of a language or just a taste and some experience with a foreign language. If the first, then I think you really need the services of someone who knows the language well. If the 2nd... RS might be fine for you. It's easy to use independently and is something we can just check off as having done.

I would first model to her how you think through a word problem. Do the problems for her, in front of her so she can see what you are doing and voice what you are thinking to her. Then, have her do some with you sitting right alongside her, having her voice to you what she's thinking. I also have my kids draw the problem out if they are having trouble seeing it. Once she can do this well with you she should be able to to do it on her own with occasional help from you. When you get to multi-step problems you will likely need to break them down repeating the same process to teach her how to do those.

Hugs to you and hope it goes well for you! I echo some time to adjust... also remember you have been doing this, she hasn't.... it's not a situation where hsing is new to both of you so you will have to work harder to realize the huge shift in life your dd just made. What is "normal" to you is now very foreign and odd to her. Give her some time.... she will be up and going before you know it. Good luck! ETA... also, if your dd hasn't had to work very hard that will be a whole new (good!) experience for her! You'll likely run into resistance!

You asked about science and history... I see you use Apologia... my older two use that and are mostly independent. My younger two do AIG with me. We do no written work and only read one day, do the experiment the next. Older two do written work as well as reading and experiments, but they do them independently with my help when needed. Next year the younger two will do Apologia as well. History I used to do much more, but am figuring out I can be more laid back in elem. school. With the younger two and my dd we are working through the book lists in Truth Quest, focusing on American history. No written work for the boys (just enjoying books) and my dd is doing IEW American History alongside her reading. My older ds is working through Starting Points which requires a lot from me... so it helps to keep the other kids low maintenance. I'm learning that history and science IMO can be much more relaxed during elem. Read some good books... do some fun experiments and really.... it's enough for elem! Don't self-impose false "should be doing this" on yourself! "Detours" aren't really detours... they are valid learning! Just pick up where you left off and keep going not feeling guilty. The cycle is not meant to be a prison... it's meant to be a guide... free yourself and allow the wonderful learning that will take place studying the things your children are excited about!

1. If you basically like Saxon and it's just the number of problems just have him do less problems. We use MUS and MM. The MUS pages have about 20 problems on them. That's plenty for my kiddos and the levels they are at (one of my ds does 2 pages a day because he's in a lower level book and the problems go faster). MM has more problems, but my ds who is using that LOVES math. If there are too many for my taste I always let him do less. If he does well he goes on, if he misses some he does some additional problems in front of me so I can see if it was just careless errors or a problem of not understanding. 2. Remember that NO curriculum is going to be perfect. Yes, some will be easier to teach/learn with than others, but a lot has to do with what YOU as the teacher do with the curriculum. I always tweak before I ditch. Identify the real problems and see if you can solve those within Saxon. If not, TT may be something to try, but realize that program is going to have isses of one sort or another just like the others you have tried. Hope you find a resolution soon!