I realize, lazy was not the best choice of words. however, though I do think she is lazy at times, I also believe there is a reason for it, and I am determined to help her in any way that I can. I am also extremely frustrated with how everything is going with her. I’m not a perfect mom nor teacher, but these kinds of conversations where I can be completely honest about my feelings and shortcomings really help me learn more about the development of children and their education.

Awesome stuff, thank you.

Yes, when you put it that way, I see your point. She does have a lack of self confidence with math for sure, from the very start. It’s hard for me to put that confidence in her when I myself have a hard time with concepts. when I say Time4learning does the work for me, I mean yes it does, because we work heavily on other school subjects like history, literature, grammar, and extracurricular activities. Although math is part of our daily schedule, I myself am not very good at math and so when we first started homeschooling I looked for something that would be less on my shoulders. Plus I have multiple kids and it’s my first time. Also, it puts math in terms that I thought she would benefit. So I think I definitely learned a lesson on that. I am looking at Math u see right now.

Yes! Exactly. The smallest effort is like pulling teeth, and the melt down comes…🙄. There is only so much I can do for her. I give her the tools to help her but she doesn’t want to organize her thoughts when it comes to math. We’ve tried pretty much everything you’ve mentioned and still no effort. So frustrating.

I completely agree with you! I think routine would benefit more than Anything. You hit in on nose with the behavior though. The fits that she has every single day, 2 hour long math sessions for 20 questions, meanwhile I have 2 other daughters that need my attention for school as well. I’m topped off for patience with her. I’m not messing around this year, or she’ll have to go back to public school, which is not what she or I want. she has a lot of extracurricular activities in the afternoon that she adores, so I think I’ll have to use that as well for leverage. I hate to do that, but with kids that are this stone cold against doing the hard work, don’t deserve to have the fun.

We are using Time 4 Learning for math. I am not super pleased with it but it does a lot of the work for me. I have Saxon for grade 3, it was supposed to be for last year, my daughter was in 4th grade last year but a 3rd grade level math. So I am not sure what to do for math for her. She really struggles with math and so I don't know if we should just keep going with the same level or go up a grade level. She would still be in 3rd grade level math starting her 5th grade year. I'm worried for her with this.

We are about half way through our lesson books for history, grammar, phonics, and math. I was wondering what other parents would do. Would you continue on through the next year trying to finish the books, or would you move on to the next grade level. I would like to keep going on the SOTW but grammar, phonics, and math I feel overlap in the following years curriculum. But I am new to this. Thoughts?

My daughter is super bright, intelligent, and spirited, but when it comes to the hard work that comes to her education she does not want to take the time to learn it. She likes the idea of things, but doesn't want to do the work for it. She takes the short cut every time. And the when I catch her, which is every time, I make her correct her mistake every time, but she persists to make the same mistakes every time. I think that her age has a little to do about it, but there is is also this element that she has had her whole life. So, I've tried to make school about things she is really into, and she gets excited about it and motivated, and then the work comes, and she runs out of gas so quickly and suddenly that she wants to give up. She does this with her Math lessons almost every day. She has gotten 100% on tests that she dragged through, throwing fits, being very negative, and I'll pull her up and watch her finish it and she will get a high score! She gets excited and I tell her to remember this moment the next time you do math, that you can do it, it just takes time and effort. But..... sure enough, she does the whole fit over again. I am really caught in the middle of putting her back in public school because I don't know what to do anymore. I want her to learn, bottom line, preferably homeschooled, but I don't know what to do. But her whole outlook on doing work is so lazy. She has a mind, but she doesn't want to use it because it is too hard, her critical thinking skills can be so great but she has to think, that's the problem, it's almost as if it is hurting her to think. But when she does use it, it's brilliant, and she is so proud of herself, but then it goes back into its whole and we start the process all over again. I'm sure this is somewhat normal for tweens, so any suggestions, techniques, advice would be appreciated! Thank you

That’s a good idea printing them out and posting them on the walls. It could be an activity we do for each chapter. That way we can reference them when they want to review chapters! !

Hi there! so I started reading D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths to my 6 yo, and also reading SOTW to her and my 9 year old, and was wondering if anyone has insight on providing more visuals to these stories? I know when I was in college the visuals helped tremendously to put the words together with visuals and it helped sink in more. But I also know that kids in the grammar stage need to learn more with their ears rather than visuals. Does anyone else use presentations when they read/teach a lesson? Am I thinking about this too much or should I just read right through these lessons/readings? P.S. I like to use pictures of original statues, paintings, descriptive scenes etc. They are legit visuals so they learn the real things and not animated videos or alternative depictions of the originals. Thanks!

Yes I am planning on homeschooling from now on every year. This is great info, thank you. I’m trying not to worry about it. I know she will be just fine. She is very smart and absorbs info like crazy. Thank you for the support. I am so excited for my girls and for myself to start this new journey!

I am starting homeschool for the first time this fall and my oldest daughter on this curriculum in 4th grade and I also have a first grader. I would like to go about the curriculum the way it is designed as far as “the story of the world” goes, but she needs to learn the first and second time periods first. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get her up to speed and at her grade level with this? Since Covid interrupted her 3rd grade progress I am willing to bring her down to 3rd grade level for this year since she needs to work more on grammar, spelling, and math. I know her situation won’t be perfectly smooth like my first grader, but I would like her feel like she is at her age group. I’ve attached a photo of the curriculum progress by grade of student and what time periods they study for reference as to what I am talking about. Thank you!