Thanks! I haven't checked the other thread yet....I'll check this out.

Start dd11 on her first day of Elemental Science - Logic Biology. This will be an experiment day and we have all the supplies ready and a brand new compound microscope to use! WooHoo! Finish the Respiratory System project from The Body Book for ds8. (dd5 will cut\color for this as well) Complete the northern east coast section of the geography workbook and play a game to help memorize these states and capitols. (dd11 and ds8) Read next chapter of The Magician's Nephew and write summaries. (dd11 ,ds8 and dd5 (narration)) Math, grammar and vocab for dd11. (Independent except for a little help with math since it's a new concept) Math and phonics\spelling for dd8. (Math is just a game to work on multiplication table of 4) Alphabet review, work on counting to 20, and read aloud from fairy tale book (with narration) for dd5. Work on negatives with dd15 (she has dyscalculia so math is something I have to help her with almost daily) Go over writing assignments for dd15 and dd16 in English and history. Watch history lecture with them and discuss. Watch 2 astronomy lectures in preparation to discuss with dd16 tomorrow. Help dd15 set up cell experiment for biology. Okay - It's almost 5...I marked off the few other things that I was able to get done and as you can see didn't accomplish everything. Dd11's science experiment took twice as long as I thought it would and we ended not being able to see the nucleus of the plant cells (I'm thinking we should have dyed them but the directions didn't indicate to do so). I also spent about 45 minutes trying to get the concept of subtracting a negative from a positive through to dd15 with no luck. She's frustrated and I'm at a loss for how else to explain it. Overall we had a good day...made some jumps in understanding in some subjects, produced some good writing, and did get quite a bit done considering the many interruptions from the littlest ones. I'm drained though, partly due to this wicked sinus headache. I can check the highschooler's writing assignments this evening and probably watch the astronomy lectures on my laptop once I climb into bed. I'll have dd11 read to dd5 before bed so I can cross that off my list. The respiratory system project has been misplaced (this is not the first time he's taken the "pieces" to play some weird anatomy game with and lost them) so I'm thinking I'm ready to be finished with the study of the human body until after Christmas when, hopefully, he'll be interested in something else. ;) That leaves geography, dd15's science experiment, and history lectures to fit in tomorrow. I might just wait with the history lectures and do them all together over a few hours on the weekend. Might leave the science experiment for the weekend too...maybe I can get hubby to do that with her. :)

UPDATE - the piles of dirt and holes worked! She's got it now...we are going to camp here for a few more days then move on. :) to dd15 (dyscalculia issues so we are just now getting to pre-algebra topics). I've spent close to 4 days trying to explain the why behind why subtracting a negative from a positive results in adding a positive. I've used number lines, models, Khan Academy....after today I'm out of ideas. I can have her try to memorize the procedure but it's bothering her that she can't wrap her head around the why. She's extremely VSL....can anyone help?

It's now 1:30 and I've kept going! Usually by this time of the day I'm spent and justify moving what's left on the schedule to the next day. Here's my list with what we've accomplished marked off: Start dd11 on her first day of Elemental Science - Logic Biology. This will be an experiment day and we have all the supplies ready and a brand new compound microscope to use! WooHoo! Finish the Respiratory System project from The Body Book for ds8. (dd5 will cut\color for this as well) Complete the northern east coast section of the geography workbook and play a game to help memorize these states and capitols. (dd11 and ds8) Read next chapter of The Magician's Nephew and write summaries. (dd11 ,ds8 and dd5 (narration)) Math, grammar and vocab for dd11. (Independent except for a little help with math since it's a new concept) Math and phonics\spelling for dd8. (Math is just a game to work on multiplication table of 4) Alphabet review, work on counting to 20, and read aloud from fairy tale book (with narration) for dd5. Work on negatives with dd15 (she has dyscalculia so math is something I have to help her with almost daily) Go over writing assignments for dd15 and dd16 in English and history. Watch history lecture with them and discuss. Watch 2 astronomy lectures in preparation to discuss with dd16 tomorrow. Help dd15 set up cell experiment for biology. 3 year old is about to go down for a nap so we will get all the science stuff out of the way then move onto geography. Once that's done I can move onto what I need to do with the older dc.

My dc always were able to hold copious amounts of original thought in their heads while getting them onto paper but never able to hold more than a sentence or two of exact wording in their heads. Even then, that was after an extreme amount of time that I would have preferred used for something else. I switched gears and used the dictation time as paraphrasing time instead. So my dc would get the benefit of holding big ideas and important details in their heads and rewriting them in their own words. A skill I am SO happy they have now in middle and highschool when they are trying to take notes from lectures, texts, and documentaries. Ultimately, I tried to think of a time in my dc's life that would require they hold paragraphs of exact wording in their heads and then write it down.....I was at a loss. My dc also didn't need that skill in order to do their own writing so I didn't feel the time investment of doing it as written was worth the payoff. JMHO. Aside from all of the above though....7 years old is very young. Also, remember that a dc isn't expected to do the dictation at the beginning of WWE3 perfectly...the goal is to work toward doing it well by the end of the year.

I think I might need to start posting here....feeling that February slump already. Sigh. Juggling 5 different grade levels is proving to be a challenge for me and I often start the day with the thought, "It wouldn't hurt anyone if we just took today off so I can re-group." Yes, well...doing that every other day will indeed hurt my dc and me in the end since they will fail to launch when they are about 18. LOL! Nothing is going badly; most of what we are using is well suited to each dc, fairly easy to implement or independent, and either well liked or at least tolerated. The problem is motivation, routine, and outside influences preventing me from being consistent. Time to pull up my big girl panties and get busy. Yesterday (Mondays) are usually co-op, cleaning and grocery days so no school gets done by anyone unless two oldest decide to work on a couple of their subjects. So, today is the start of our week. On the agenda today for dd11, ds8 and dd5: Start dd11 on her first day of Elemental Science - Logic Biology. This will be an experiment day and we have all the supplies ready and a brand new compound microscope to use! WooHoo! Finish the Respiratory System project from The Body Book for ds8. (dd5 will cut\color for this as well) Complete the northern east coast section of the geography workbook and play a game to help memorize these states and capitols. (dd11 and ds8) Read next chapter of The Magician's Nephew and write summaries. (dd11 ,ds8 and dd5 (narration)) Math, grammar and vocab for dd11. (Independent except for a little help with math since it's a new concept) Math and phonics\spelling for dd8. (Math is just a game to work on multiplication table of 4) Alphabet review, work on counting to 20, and read aloud from fairy tale book (with narration) for dd5. Then we have dd16 and dd15...they work mostly independently but there are areas I have to help with, check and discuss: Work on negatives with dd15 (she has dyscalculia so math is something I have to help her with almost daily) Go over writing assignments for dd15 and dd16 in English and history. Watch history lecture with them and discuss. Watch 2 astronomy lectures in preparation to discuss with dd16 tomorrow. Help dd15 set up cell experiment for biology. And here it is 10:30 in the morning and so far the only thing that has been accomplished is that my two cups of coffee have gotten rid of my headache. Dd16 and dd15 aren't even out of bed, dd11 is actually working on her grammar test, and ds8 and dd5 are entertaining the 3 year old I babysit daily. On a positive note dd16 doesn't have to work today so I don't have to go ANYWHERE, which means that school can take as long as it takes today! So, I'll check back later in the day to let you all know if I gave up at lunch time or kept going! :)

I can't imagine letting my 8yo or 11yo fly a quadcopter right over a group of picnicking\visiting people. I could see allowing them to pass over if the people happened to be in the flight path...especially if the location was filled with people and I couldn't find somewhere else less populated for them to fly it, but purposefully hovering over the top of people who are trying to visit and have conversation? No, that is just rude. Furthermore, I can't imagine letting one of my kids walk up to a group of strangers, interrupt their business. and proceed to boast\brag about a new toy. I think my kids are really awesome, but I don't presume to think that the general public thinks that they're special snowflakes. I would definitely have asked the parent nicely to have the child stop hovering over my head.

:lol: It's really late at night .... I was trying to figure out what on earth you were talking about in your first paragraph then I got to this part and realization dawned. Too funny! I used the TT program with a 1st grader and a 4th grader and then a 2nd grader, 5th grader, and a 4 year old tag along. It worked totally fine from a fun, keep them busy, standpoint. I was teaching to the older dc of coarse and didn't expect much retention from the younger ones. When there was some retention I was pleasantly surprised. :)

I've had a woman contact me asking if I could help her with some curricula information, and while I'm always happy to give advice to the new homeschoolers who contact me through my co-op, I'm out of my depth in helping in this particular situation. I don't know her personally and don't know anything about any type of evaluations she's had or plans to have beyond what she's shared with me in this one message. She's looking specifically for a science curricula to help spark some interest since right now she doesn't like the subject. This is the information that she's given me ... without knowing more details could any of you offer a couple suggestions? Her daughter is 17 and has been homeschooled for 3 years. She's been in special ed since K, diagnosed with mild intellectual disability, auditory processing disorder, and Add. The mother believes she also has dyscalculia. Currently she is doing SOTW 2, Rod and Staff Grammar 5, Rod and Staff Health (not sure which level), and BJU Reading 6. She loves history, worksheets, coloring, and watching documentaries. She didn't mention what math she was doing but did mention that she has to use a calculator for basic functions. Thanks for any suggestions you might have. :)

We can register anytime during the year! YEAH! Thanks for suggesting we contact them directly. Based on the info on the registration it looked as if there was a cut off.

Thank you for all the advice...I've sent an email this morning to see if dd might be able to go ahead and enroll. The registration information states that students may not register past 4 weeks after the class starts so we will see what they say.

Check out this book. It's not truly a lapbook, although I do put many of the components into a notebook, but would make a fun addition to a lapbook for elementary and early logic stage that still likes to color\cut\paste.

UPDATE 11/12 I misunderstood the registration information.....I emailed them and was told we can register at any time during the year. :hurray: My oldest is in 11th this year and needs to be working on the first credit of foreign language. (2 of the same language required) I'd intended on enrolling her in OSU German but didn't have the money, then she was traveling, then I kept procrastinating, and now enrollment is of coarse closed and I'm at a loss for what to do. She's a quick, self learner and has been using DuoLingo German on and off for about a year now...enough to know that she enjoys the language and wants to pursue it. What's out there for her to start a formal study with? DVD based would be wonderful Taught to the student Live support would be great but I do have a couple irl people that could help out with conversation Definitely need something with audio\pronunciation Under $200

I'm using the MP Short Stories and Literature this year with a small group ranging from 8th up to 11th. We just finished Paul Revere's Ride, and so far I like teaching with it. The vocabulary work is really benefiting several of the dc and has sparked some good conversation regarding origin and use of words, and the comp questions are just enough to make sure that the dc are understanding the selections. Where I've found the most value of the program is in the Socratic discussion, however, for some of the selection I've not felt there were enough but once the conversation is going it's very easy to lead the dc a little deeper with additional points. We have had really wonderful conversation that has sparked some debate about the author's meaning and some interesting rabbit holes. This really came as a huge surprise to me since the 4 dc involved in this group do NOT like reading (2 are dyslexic so reading anything with unfamiliar syntax is challenging for them), and none of them are fans of written works that are "old". So, the first lesson was spent with them explaining why they didn't like the selection, BUT they all were pulling specific things out of the selection and giving good evidence to support the reasons they didn't like it so I counted it as a win. LOL! The one thing that the program did not include that I've felt it necessary to add was additional information about the author and time period in which the selection was written. Easily found on the internet though. We just had a wonderful discussion on Paul Revere's Ride last week in which I shared with the dc the actual events that took place (2 of them knew but 2 didn't). We talked about why the author chose to change the events and also got into a discussion about what would have happened had none of the riders made it to Lexington or Concord. None of which came directly from the program but was sparked by the Socratic discussion. Regarding the writing portion - doing the whole lesson and having good discussion about each selection would give a student ample knowledge to finish the lesson with a written essay based on their own topic, one you assign, or using the essay prompt given at the end of the lesson. As of now I've not required any written work other than the vocab, and comprehension answers in the workbook. One of my dc doesn't have the time to add more writing right now since this program is being done in addition to an already full English program, and my other dc struggles with writing so I'm doing good to get her to do her main English assignments. The other dc in the group have not had enough writing instruction at this point to be able to write well about literature. As Lori mentioned above, I don't have the time to also instruct them in writing since they are all at such varying levels of skill. We have however, talked a bit about how you might take a specific topic we've come across in our discussion and create an essay about it. If I had a group of dc that were all at the same level of skill and able to do the writing without having to be instructed I would definitely assign the writing though.

The co-op that I direct can accommodate up to 90 students from birth up to 12th grade. We currently have 80 children. We schedule 2 semesters per year - fall and spring We meet every other Monday from 9-12. We have 8 or 9 class days per semester based on how holidays fall There is a $25 per family fee per semester to cover insurance, cleaning supplies, printer paper and ink, and general supplies that all classes can utilize (crayons, glue, scissors, construction paper, etc.) Any fees that are not used at the end of each semester are put toward a service project and to help fund the next semester's Kick Off party. Some classes may require an additional per child fee from $3 up to $25. These would be classes that require additional supplies that the teacher can not personally pay for (art, sewing, engineering, etc.) We have 3 class periods, each lasting 50 to 55 minutes. Currently we offer 2 or 3 different class choices per grade group, per class period. We try to have a mixture of academic and enrichment. We have 12 classrooms with a class going on in each, each period. We have offered far too many classes to list but some of the favorites have been : Project Based Engineering, Outdoor Adventure\Survival, Art History, Artist Study, Life Skills, Logic Games, Sewing, Disgusting Science Experiments, Ellen McHenry's Elements, Greek History, Medieval Times, Food Crafts We also offer frequent field trips, enrichment opportunities, and social activities based on grade level (in the next week we are doing a 6th and up Bonfire and Movie Under the Stars Event, a K-5th Chuck E. Cheese Event, and a PreK-2nd grade English Tea Party and Craft Event) Our members are asked to volunteer to either teach a class that they come up with, teach a class that I've planned based on student interest, co-teach, or work as a helper in one of the classes, in the nursery, or as a hall monitor. I try to help volunteers find positions that I feel they are well suited to based on my knowledge of their teaching style, temperament, and what they have going on in their lives currently. (Just had a baby...yeah, you don't need to be lead teacher this semester. ;) ) I never require anyone teach if they don't feel comfortable doing so and I try to make sure everyone has an opportunity to take a break from being a lead teacher each year. I love our co-op! I think it's a great blend of academic and enrichment so that everyone can customize their co-op experience. Many families only choose academic classes or enrichment classes, while others like to have a combo of each. We also work really hard to foster friendships and a sense of community. Most of us are really good friends and even do things together outside of co-op - lunches, sleep overs for the kids, movies, etc. There is a core of people that have been members for a very long time and then we have those that come and go, but we always allow those who were once registered as active to remain on our Facebook private page so that they can still take part in field trips and scheduled social activities. It's worked out really well for some families that, due to life, can't make the commitment to attend classes but still want to be a part of a community that their dc get to see a couple times a month.

Could I get a list of science curricula (or link a previous thread) that includes the supplies for the experiments? Here are some other criteria: ~ Not more than $200 ~ Secular ~ 4th - 6th grade range Thanks!

I agree with this. He sees them far less than I do so I want them to have exceptionally warm and fuzzy feelings about him. :) As for discipline - there are times that he will go to discipline them and I'll step in and be the heavy so that they aren't crushed under the shear weight of having disappointed daddy. Their remorse over doing something to upset daddy is hugely disproportionate to the thing they did wrong. LOL!

How many Christmases are you going to go through this? Put this to bed by telling your mother that due to your brother and you not having a good relationship you will be starting a new tradition of having Christmas in your home. Extend the invitation for your parents to join you on Christmas Eve. If she's going to be devastated then that's on her. She can choose to accept the reality of the situation (that it's painful for you to "do" Christmas at her house due to the strained relationship with your brother), or she can choose to keep her head in the sand and be devastated. That's on her...she's a grown woman. I've been in your situation. Estranged sibling that is mentally unstable and emotionally poisonous, parents choose to ignore it (they knew, they just chose to pretend it wasn't as bad as it was), parents expect everyone to get along on the holidays but everyone always ended up being stressed, frustrated and even more angry with each other...wash, rinse, repeat. One year we said no. We explained why and moved on. We put the ball in their court as to whether or not they wanted to be part of our holiday. You know what? They got really angry, we avoided a lot of phone calls, and by the following holiday they got over it and decided to split their time. It wasn't about dis-respecting them it was about respecting ourselves and our children. I hope you can find a way to cope with this time of year from here on out...the prospect of spending my Christmas every year for the next 15, 10 or even 5 years going through what you go through this time of the year is heartbreaking.

Yep, dad is the fun guy. :) BUT - I'm the one they come to when they're sad, when they have problems they want to talk about, when they're unsure of themselves and want some validation, when they want to talk about they're futures...basically all of the times they want to connect, to confide, and want comfort. (pardon the alliteration) I'm completely fine with them "liking" dad more when it comes to the fun and games because I know that they appreciate and respect me for all the other areas of their lives that they depend on me for. :) I'm sorry you're feeling unappreciated, but I'll bet your dc feels similar to mine and just doesn't know how to articulate that.

Thanks Sewingmama! I think I will go ahead and get this and just let her work on it at her own pace. I was looking at it again last night and I'm really excited about all the books. She has always, since she was born, had to be moving and making some type of noise so reading aloud to her has always been extremely frustrating - she's not disobedient, just a little ADHD maybe. She's just started to be able to sit relatively still and not sing or make humming noises for about 20 minutes so I can finally do some reading with her. I'll go check out that facebook page. :)

Totally agree with going at her pace. I've been doing this long enough to know that to push just causes issues. I don't really want anything overly challenging - I'm needing something to occupy and interest her. She NEEDS to be occupied during the day with structured activities otherwise she gets into things and causes issues with my other dc. She's so done with puzzles, playdough, rice, tanagrams, etc. She seems, and I might just be projecting, that she's wanting more meaningful activities. Thanks for your feedback. :)

Saraswati - thank you for the detailed description! That is very helpful. All of the hands on projects sound perfect for this dc. She's always wanting me to give her projects like those you mentioned but I don't always have them pulled together or have the time to pull them together. I'd LOVE to have something all prepped and coordinated.

Dd5 is going to be turning 6 in December. She's a bit behind the typical 5 year old due to some developmental and speech delays but lately she's been making some big leaps in ability and skill in addition to getting better about focus and being still. She doesn't necessarily want to be doing more formal school stuff, but she needs to have more structured activities and short bursts of direct instruction in order to keep her out of trouble during the day and so that she can start making some academic progress. I have a few things I'm doing with her now - she's just learning to count to 20, do simple math, and we're working on letter recognition and sounds. She LOVES hands on activities in fact they are necessary for her to learn, but I'm running low on time and enthusiasm for searching out and pulling together activities. I've looked at several options and think I'm leaning towards Moving Beyond the Page. I'm struggling to decide on if I want the 4-5, or the 5-7 to start in January, or if I want to hold off until her 1st grade year to start the 5-7. I love the book selections in the 4-5, but we've already been working on letters by making big letter posters for each. They have cut and paste lapbook activities, tactile things, and readers that focus on the specific letters. So, I don't really want to pay for something that is going to be repeating what we're already doing. However, I'm afraid that the 5-7 would be too advanced for her in the skill area come January (I saw in one sample lesson that it asks the child to write a sentence about a book and we will be no where near being able to do that), although I think the content would be just right for her. I just keep flip flopping around. :P Here are the options I see: 1. Stop what we're doing now and go ahead and start the 4-5 (We're only on letter D with our posters, but I have the entire alphabet printables printed already - about 100 pages). 2. Continue with what we are doing and then start the 4-5 in January. She'll be repeating learning the alphabet but it may be different enough from what we are doing that she won't get bored. 3. Continue with what we are doing and once we finish learning the alphabet start the 5-7 around January. I would just go at her pace not worrying about finishing it by the end of the school year. 4. Make due the rest of her K year with various things I can pull together and then start the 5-7 next fall when she's in 1st. And I'm going to stop typing because I've got a migraine and feel like I'm typing gibberish. LOL! Hopefully I've made enough sense that someone can decipher what I'm asking.

Off to look at Timberdoodle, Oak Meadow, and Moving. MFW is probably going to be too hard for me to secularize but I'll look at it too just in case it grabs me. :)

That sounds great! Now to pick which one. :)