We started with homemade spelling (not great), went to AAS (loved it, but a lot of time with 4 kiddos), moved to SWO to save some time. Kids HATED it. Went back to AAS and haven't looked back. I have one "graduate". It's been the best even though it is completely parent driven. We just work about 15 min/day per child.

Personally, I love IEW. I've used quite a few writing programs and this is the one we'll stick with. I don't have any real natural writers so it's excellent for them. Straightforward for student and teacher. It is pricey, but I finally made the investment and am not sorry I did. If you buy the TWSS it tells you all you need to know to teach writing forever. We have not invested in the student DVD's because most of my children don't learn well from a DVD... they need me teaching them. One up front investment for an entire writing curriculum... not too bad. I do enjoy the theme books since it lays all the lessons out. If you want to go that route it's extra, but IMO worth it as writing is a bugger subject for me.

I think figuring these things out is just part of the process of a fluid school... PS has to run on the clock/function a certain way, but at home we don't! It seems each year I minorly adjust things based on ages/workload of each of the kids. What worked one year may not work now... Ages of kids are in sig... youngest 8 on up to 13. This year what works is I keep the younger two together for writing, history and science but everything else is individualized. We start our day with an audio book at breakfast (the kids are all late risers which used to bug me, but now I just go with it) and then I read a chapter out of a missionary story to them and do a short 5 min. geography lesson. This starts our day nice and relaxed. Then, I usually do writing with the younger two so they can get going on that after the lesson. Then I just start pulling kids over one by one to do any instruction/correction that needs to be done with them. I used to watch the clock and get all upset if one child took longer than another... now I've learned to just relax and take it as it comes. It usually doesn't fall that ALL kids need me for EVERYTHING on the same day. Some days I have to spend time reteaching a math (insert any subject) lesson to someone... if we take more time than I'd like we either cut something else from that child or I cut something from another child that is easy to cut. Bottom line is, once I became more flexible and just put my energy where it was needed for **that day** I was more relaxed and my children were as well. Right now my oldest ds is only on lesson 11 in math, but the extra time we've taken has been a benefit and he needed that extra time. (He's about 5 lessons "behind", but I try not to see it that way). I guess you would say we have a routine, not a schedule as was mentioned above.

Yup! I almost sent off my 9 y/o aspie last year. I was fit to be tied and so was he. It was a tough year for both of us. If I wasn't convinced that I am the best teacher for him and that home is the best place for him he would be off! I'm glad I stuck through the year. This year he is like a different kid. He for the most part settled in and we have very little trouble. The key for me was to determine that this is what is best and stick to it no matter what. We grow more through trial than through the easy times and I can certainly say our relationship has grown. I've grown as a parent relating to my challenging child and he has grown in relating to me. It has ultimately I think brought us closer... I know there will be more challenges ahead, but for this year we have a respit! Another family I know sent their "challenging" child to school and it was the best thing for him and the family! Everyone else is at home and he goes off to a private school. Best thing they did they will tell you. Really, you have to do what in your heart you deem best for you and your child's relationship.

To some extent, yes. 3 of my kids used Math Mammoth, one needed MUS. This year I moved another child to MUS because it seemed like a better approach for him and I was right! Only one child likes (loves) LOF so he's the only one I read that to. My oldest LOVES Latin, the rest hated it so no Latin for them. Oldest LOVES grammar and LOVES R&S, the others used GWG and now this year are learning grammar through their writing in IEW. In science I'm using Apologia for 2 kids and AIG for the other two. They all read different literature books and history books depending on their personality and interests.... Spelling program is AAS for all of them. History is same (Truth Quest) for 3/4, but books they read are different.

My youngest is 8 and we did things different when they were younger, but now I don't regulate breaks at all. We don't do anything altogether as 3rd-7th grade is just too big a spread. Basically, I call kids over to me one by one and we go through the things we need to that day. The rest of the kids are on their own to work independently. Everyone does a pretty good job directing him/herself except for my 8 y/o. I have to direct him more. The kids take natural breaks here and there as they finish one thing and move onto the next. They have a list of things that need to be done in the day and they just work until the finish it. The sooner they get done with chores and school the sooner they get screen time (big motivator for my younger 2). Some days it's dinner by the time they finish... most days they are done by mid afternoon. Some days they need more breaks other days they are well-focused and get things done quickly. I let them pace themselves for the most part. They don't have a choice when to work with me... when I'm ready for them they need to stop what they are doing and come (within reason). For some reason it works! When they were older we were more structured and did more things together. I would pace my "together time" with each child throughout the day so no one was left to their own devices for too long. Now I meet with each child once a day and do everything all at once that they need to see me for.

My 10 y/o aspie is the same way! (my dd is too but she is not aspie and has a bit more patience). I don't know that I have any better answers as I tend to do the same thing! One thing I told my ds this week (over a math lesson too!) was.... You came and asked me for help. You need to listen to me when I am explaining this to you. If you can do it without help you are free to leave and figure it out on your own, but since you came to me I'm thinking you need to listen. He did settle down and listen begrudgingly. I keep the explanation as short as possible and still get the point across. I do 1-2 problems for him. If he seems to understand I have him do 1-2 more in front of me and then I set him loose. The key for my ds is short, to the point and use as few words as possible... letting him be independent as fast as possible. Sometimes this means narrowing down the skill into easier bite sized pieces and teach a lesson over 2 days instead of the 1 day I was planning. In the long run it seems to pay off. If my ds is **very** off, giving me bad attitude and not attempting to change it I send him to his room for 10-15 min. to take a breather. Sometimes he just needs to be able to settle himself to be able to listen to me. It's not so much a punishment as a "re-grouping". It's difficult to navigate these guys! I agree it's difficult to tell when it's "aspie" and when it's bad behavior. The older he gets the easier it is to tell though I'm finding. Hugs to you and hope maybe something resonates with you! I know what it's like to deal day in and day out!

As far as money training... we've done the following (sometimes linked to chores, but like you this made it more difficult and we've come away from that) Amounts have varied... I think we started with $2/week per child. They are at $5/week now. We started with the banks that have a "spend, save, give" slots in them. Now we just use a little stack of 3 drawers for them since the bills were hard to get in and out. 10% give (they can give to church or any charity they want to) 20% save 70% spend We put their "save" money in the bank and we intend to have them use that to buy a car someday. The hard part has been letting them spend their spend money on anything they want. Yes, some of them do buy silly things, but we figure if we let them have that freedom with little money, that once they get older they will understand better how to spend wisely. Maybe not, but then it will be their money! My dh and I never had any financial training growing up and we thought it very important to raise our kids with money sense. My dh and I have done Financial Peace ourselves, but haven't done it formally with our kids. We'll save that for high school. We're just using the training we got to pass onto our kids in an age appropriate way.

My suggestion would be IEW. I'm using it with a 7th, 6th, 4th and 3rd grader. Very easy to adapt to mulitple age groups. Same basic foundation for all. I cannot recommend this program highly enough. Wish I had started it when all my kids were younger....

I think you could teach using just the themed book, however if it's not working for you, before throwing out the whole program I would try and invest in the DVD's. I was resistant to IEW for a long time (5 years) because of the price and it seemed too confusing. I broke down last spring and purchased TWSS after hearing Andrew at our Hsing conference. It's the best investment I've ever made in writing. I am using 3 of the themed books with my kids this year and things are going well. It may have gone well without TWSS, but I think the videos helped to ground me. Then when I see things in the themed books I know right away what they mean instead of having to try and figure it out. It helps so much to see him work through a lesson. Writing has always been a tough subject for me to teach and for the kids to learn. Before this year I had 4 non-writers. They HATED writing and would literally cry almost every writing lesson. This year I get almost no complaining, they know exactly what is expected of them, I know how to grade the papers and I've gotten more writing out of them than ever before. I guess what I'm trying to say is it might be worth it to invest in the DVD's at some point, or see if someone has them you can borrow? It really is a one time investment for 12 years of teaching writing!

I've chosen curriculum that is pretty much "do the next thing". So, for those things that have "lessons" to them, I enter all the lessons for each child and subject into HST (Homeschool Tracker) during the summer. Then, each week I mark completed those we got through and schedule lessons for the next week. They get a "to do" sheet from a report I can run in the program. The digital plan has really eased up my planning time. It takes a chunk of time to enter everything during the summer, but pays off in only 1-2 hours of work per week during the school year. History is a bit different in that we use Truth Quest. Basically we read books and do a bit of lapbooking for history. I printed out the lapbooks from TQ at the beginning of the year for each child and we just pick the next one (sometimes we skip some). We go down the reading list in TQ and about once a month I order the next topics coming up from the library or put on reserve those I can't get. So... I really don't have a planner.... I like to be flexible and not feel "behind" so I don't plan more than a week at a time. This is fairly simple though because of the curriculum we choose. I have done more robust plans in the past. I've used a 2 page spread with boxes for each subject for each day of the week and sketched out large goals, then filled in the weeks as we went. I just found I was consistently just writing in the next lesson and it drove me crazy if we had unscheduled time off (sick kids, someone needs help, etc.) and we got "behind". Then I'd have to re-write all my plans. Also, if a child worked slower or faster than I expected once again I had to re-write everything. This way I can schedule by the week. If we don't get to something one week or a child works slower than expected no problem... just schedule it again this week!

We've used apple cider vinegar with good success. Getting rid of warts is a long drawn out process. Otherwise we've also used over the counter freezing medication with success. But you have to be persistent and soaking before applying medicine is a key! Oh... and I wouldn't suggest laser treatments. I had a bunch of warts on both feet and had laser treatments done.... they are very painful!! IMO not worth it!

I think there is a lot to consider... How old are your children? Are the independent workers? Do you want them to be independent in their education? How do you handle stress? Do you thrive being busy or does it wear you out? Would a job add to your life or take away? What do you want for your children's education? Lots of personal interaction? Workbooks? Computer? How would you feel if you couldn't give them what you want? How stressful is your job? What hours will you need to keep? Can you give your best to both work and family? Can your family take priortiy? Husband support? I'm sure there's more.... I work part time and for me, that's enough. I struggle with that in busy seasons. I'm in a ministry position so the work never ends and the job is much bigger than the hours I can devote to it. I do constantly have to re-evaluate my priorities and make sure I'm being the best wife and mother I can be first and then the best employee. This is tough in busy times! I hope you can find the balance that works for you!

Just saw this... so sorry you have to deal with that nonsense. Size of home has no bearing on what goes on inside. Plenty of people can have big homes and what's going on inside the home is nothing to be proud of. I would fight this one.... what utter non-sense.

I think if you are fully convinced hsing is good for your family you can make it work no matter your space. Like others have said I think less stuff is important. Get rid of anything you don't need... borrow what you can from others. We get 95% of our books for school from the library so we don't store many books. (I do have to admit we have access to a supurb library!) Space really shouldn't dictate your education choice! I think we are conditioned in America to think we need big living spaces.

This may be an opportunity to share with your kiddos your family values and why you do things a certain way... not just schooling. Truth is, there are very few families that look "alike". We differ from other families around us in many more areas than just education. It is important to have a family or two that is similar to you in beliefs, but really, how much are families alike, even if they may be doing school similarily. Maybe you could focus on teaching the kids not to compare, to embrace the values your family has and run with it. I think that's a good lesson for all of us.. not just our kids! We are often times content until we start comparing ourselves to others.... jmo... take it for what it's worth! And.... in our case, my kids don't even have a lot of homeschooling friends. Most of their friends are private or public (most of them) school kids. :-)

I give them limited input. If something isn't working I talk to them about it and we discuss together solutions. We've gotten to the point now where I've figured out for the most part what types of things work and which don't. I let my dd choose her science topic this year, but I didn't let her choose the actual curriculum. I suggested my ds13 drop a couple things because his load is pretty big this year, but he refused. So, I let him decide that one and he's happy. I always have the final decision, but the older they get the more input they get. Some things are not offered for input, but I work hard to make sure it's fitting each child's needs. When they were younger they had the perception of not much input (I didn't want them to think just because they don't like something they don't have to do it), but I watched and listened to them carefully making changes when I needed to.

We started FF in 6th grade. We are still finishing it up. I decided not to push so hard to get through the book and my ds appreciates that. Maybe if we were more "Latin centered" I would push harder, but for us it's an extra. He'll start 2nd Form within the next month or so... I wouldn't stress over it.

I agree with those who say writing is an issue across the board. The subject I hear parents of ps or even private school kids complain about is writing. IMO schools force children to write too much too early, especially boys. I have come to the conclusion that a slow introduction is best (not NO writing when they are young, just appropriate). (My now 13y/o attended K and 1st in a public school and told me recently the animal report he "wrote" in 1st grade was actually mostly done by a girl sitting next to him! She helped him through the whole thing, unbenounced to me or his teacher I'm sure! He had NO idea how to even begin to write this report. It's absolutely silly we have 1st graders trying to write reports!) I have really appreciated hearing that figuring out WHAT to write is a whole different process than the physical WRITING. Separating these two things is critical, I think, to teaching writing. Programs that focus on re-writing already existing stories have worked really well with my kids. Dictation (needs to not be too difficult) works well with youngers. The less the younger child has to figure out WHAT to write the better. I've used several writing programs and I've really fallen in love with IEW. There are a lot of different opinions about the program out there, but I wish I had found it sooner in our case. It is very building block orientated and the same steps are used throughout the whole program. Each year you add a few more things in... the books we have been using all have rubrics in them so my kids know exactly what is expected of them. They know if they have done everything on the check list they will have succeeded. I know how to "grade" my children's papers because I have the rubric to follow. My oldest is now 13 and there was a point I could barely get him to pick up a pencil. Now, after 5 years of making slow, but steady progress he is starting to blossom as a writer. He's never going to be a journalist (at least I don't think so!), but he will have the basic skills necessary to write a coherent paper... something lacking in many of our college students today. I know one criticism of IEW is that it turns out writers that all "write the same", but I've come to the conclusion that there are natural writers (who will add their own style naturally as my dd does) and there are those who will never be "natural writers". It is better IMO that we atleast give these non-natural writers a base of writing skill so they can function as writers instead of watching them flounder and not succeed at all. My ds13 and my dd11 are starting to develop their "voice" as a writer. I don't think this would happen if they were constantly struggling with how to build a piece of writing.

I would just get her Light Blue 1 A and B. The blue series just takes the skills out and isolates them. It might be nice for her to have all the skills A and B teach instead of just addition/subtraction from 1A... maybe I'm not understanding though.... I bought Blue series to begin with to see if we liked it... since I loved it I bought Light Blue and my Blue series became worthless because it's the same thing, just separated into skills. I feel like I wasted money on the Blue. I think Blue is better for people who use another math program and want to use MM as a supplement.

I have one child that uses R&S and he loves it. I think we started it in 3rd grade. Some hints for using it... I have the teacher's guide, but don't teach from it. We go over the lesson together in his text. Some lessons we may just do the oral exercises together. More often I assign him evens or odds in the written lessons (there are way too many problems as it's designed for a classroom). If he needs more practice he does the even. He LOVES diagramming, but if your child doesn't learn that way, I would not stress the diagrams. None of my other kids use R&S. This one is a grammar geek though and LOVES it. My other kids have used Growing With Grammar with success. This year we are doing IEW and they focus on grammar differently within their program so I dropped grammar with my younger 3.

We use LOF as a supplement. My main program for my LOF child is Math Mammoth. We do the practice in Fred together and it's more of a "review" or enrichment than his main math. Works well for us.

I used WWE with all of my kiddos. I pushed my older ds through all of them (and WWS1). My dd went through 1/2 of 4 and my younger two each went through Level 2. Writing has been a difficult subject for us. I really saw the benefits to WWE and tried really hard to love it, but the kids hated it. I did everything I could to make it less scary for them. There were many tears over dictation (even with adustments). They did LOVE the excerpts in level 1 and 2, but levels 3 and 4 got too long and "boring" for them. Last year I started playing around with IEW and I have to say, I wish so much that I had started this program when my older kids were young. It is straight forward and easy to teach (I was afraid of it for a long time!). The kids know exactly what is expected of them for every writing assignment and they are so easy to grade because I know what I'm asking them to do. No more mystery. For the first time in our 6 years of hsing my kids do not complain about writing! We've not had one tear. My older two are even getting quite good! I would hesitate to say my dd is even really starting to enjoy writing (although she may not admit that yet!) I hate to suggest a completely different program to you until you know you've really tried everything to make your current one work. I love SWB's things and have used a lot of her material, but we are going to stick with IEW now. It's just a better fit for our family. Oh, and just to add... we also do All About Spelling and my kids get dictation in that... so I don't feel like I've given up completely on dictation... it's just much easier in AAS and my kids actually love doing the sentences.

I have used MUS and Math Mammoth with my kids. My "mathier" kids found MUS too easy. I moved both of them out of MUS and into Math Mammoth and both have done/are doing well. My oldest is 13 and has finished all of MM. He's actually doing MUS Algebra for his pre-algebra year and it's going very well. My 8 y/o is just about to finish 3A and loves MM.

This is helpful! Thank you Nan! I think this is what I've been trying to figure out. I will explore the idea of a science notebook... I like your explanation of the "experiment". I think this will make sense to my boy! He's a smart one... he keeps me on my toes! I like the idea of "purpose" rather than hypothesis....