Hi All! I've been reminiscing lately because my ds (19) is now a freshman in college. He's the only child, so I'm almost an empty-nester (he still comes home during weekends to see his girlfriend). Back then, I participated mainly in the afterschooling forum. Looking back at my posts in this forum exhausts me, lol. I had a lot of energy back then! I really miss those times. If I have future grandkids, I'll come back here and participate again. In the meantime, I'll be busy enjoying a lot more free time, making some $ working, and looking forward to the day that I can fully come back here. Good luck everyone in your afterschooling!

For K-5, I afterschooled history, math, writing, and literature. I was most consistent in the summers--this helped out for the following school year. For example, instead of spending 45 minutes on challenging homework problems, it would only take my ds 10 minutes. This freed up time for him to play with neighborhood kids and play minecraft during the schoolyear. For extracurriculars, I'm very particular with what I register him for. For example, he likes basketball and soccer, but I opted to register him for Ayso soccer because both the practices and games were in town. He occasionally brings up joining school basketball (with pressure from friends), but I explain to him again the reasons for why we're not doing it (It's 3 months during the Winter, involves driving to several towns, and unpredictable scheduling due to tournament brackets). Recreational soccer is only 2 months in the Fall and 2 months in the Spring but the scheduling is consistent. He's also in both school band & choir, and private piano. B & C meet on alternate days before the school day, so he gets up 1 hour earlier. Piano he's been doing since K so it's been a part of his routine. Afterschooling, all year, since K has helped out a lot because he is not struggling at all during the school year. He'll be in junior high this upcoming Fall and I'm sure that I won't have time to do all the above subjects... I don't know what's going to happen. I asked a similar question as you a few weeks ago and have had 0 responses.

I found out through a Facebook page for my son's k-8 school, that the homework for grades 6-8 is minimal. This is good news to me because I would like to afterschool more than just history and l.a. I've been doing some research on Latin and logic curricula and I think I may have found which ones to buy. However, I have never afterschooled both subjects. How are they like? I'll be dropping math. I'm hoping to do l.a., history, latin, and logic.

I don't know if ds is above grade level in any subject, but according to the results of school wide testing, he's above expectations. I volunteered at my son's K-8 school yesterday, and I was able to chat with a mom who has a child in jr. high. She thought that language arts was weak at that level. So, I think I'm going to continue with afterschooling writing. I'm also thinking of adding grammar and reading for 6th grade. We did both consistently for 3 years, but stopped.

Have you tried opening your browser with firefox? That's how it worked for me.

My ds is in 5th grade, and in the past few years, I've been afterschooling history, math, and writing. I'm not as consistent as I would like. What can I expect in the junior high years? I would like to continue what I've been doing but I'm not sure if I'll have the time.

My ds10 does three right now and will be adding one more later this month. I find that I have time for them by having an organized calendar system and by communicating with my husband. Two years ago I started using an online calendar system which is linked to my hubby's online calendar, which helps because it reminds us of the activities and it also effectively communicates any changes in appointments and practices. We take him to practices ourselves, most of the time hubby and I take turns. There are days when we all go out as a family. During his trombone and piano lessons, I usually pass the time by reading a book I've assigned to him, go on facebook on my phone, or google interesting articles. He is also in beginner's band in school. It isn't an after school activity. He gets pulled-out of math class once or twice a week for 45 minutes per session. Their math class is 90 minutes long so he misses half of the math instruction. However, we've been afterschooling math since he was in K so he doesn't miss much. The most time-consuming and stressful activity he will have this year is basketball, which starts in mid-October until the end of February. He really enjoys being on the team with his friends but he gets flustered at times because he isn't a natural at sports. Unfortunately, when he was growing up we didn't have as much time to enroll him in local sports programs. There was too much focus on music and academics. Also, since 4th grade basketball only has volunteer coaches, we are at the mercy of the volunteer coach's schedule. It is very last minute and cause havoc in our schedules. It also requires travel time because they play 6 area elementary schools. It is nerve racking and at the same time very rewarding for him. It is an activity that actually challenges him, but it also gives him the biggest rewards - overcoming them. Fortunately though, music and academics come naturally to him. Being in band, and having private piano & trombone lessons is second nature to him. We are still trying to be better at practicing at home. His trombone instructor would like him to practice Everyday. We are struggling with that one. Piano practice at home is 3 times per week. Afterschooling all the subjects I have planned for him doesn't happen everyday. However, we do an afterschool activity 6 times per week. He either does MEP math, read classic literature, or read SOTW. He always finds time for Minecraft, Legos, and playing with his best friend everyday. I can honestly say that afterschooling at a very young age has really helped.

All of the plans above are excellent. I love it! This place doesn't make me feel like a freak :lol: This summer we're going to do a lot of catching up. Our afterschooling has fallen by the wayside due to my husband & I being involved in a school referendum committee. It was very time consuming but it was well worth it. It passed 58% vs. 42% in a town that hasn't supported school referenda for a couple decades. :001_smile: We're going to catch-up on: Math Singapore Math 1B Grammar FLL Level 2 Reading TWTM 2nd Grade Reading List (Medieval) History Starting on SOTW 1 Architecture We are visiting: * Brickworld Chicago, Adam Reed Tucker will hopefully be there. My son loves his Lego Architecture designs. * Farnsworth House in Plano, IL. * John Hancock observatory, IL. * Empire State Building * NY Times Building

I'm going to try this. Thanx!

LOL! I just clicked on your blog and the image that popped up is so familiar. It's that same Canterbury Tales book that I borrowed from the kid's section of the library :lol: It is going to be returned, Asap :auto: I will check out your recommendation for Mary Pope Osborne's book. Thanx :001_smile:

LillyMama, I like your idea! :)

I've been attempting to afterschool some of the books in the TWTM Reading List to my 2nd grader this past year (starts on p. 74, newest edition). I've been reading most of them to him because the language in the recommended texts are a little advanced for him. I didn't have an issue with any of the Ancients (First Grade) until I came across: English, Irish, and Welsh fairy tales. I had borrowed 3 books from the library. I eyeballed the books and concluded that one was too challenging. I set that one aside. The other 2 seemed just fine. Until I started to read it to myself! I found that most of the tales were, imo, demeaning to women. The women in the stories were either witches, manipulative, old and mean, seductress, been beaten by men, etc. I decided to skip English, Irish, and Welsh fairy tales! So then I started Medieval/Early Renaissance (Second Grade). I started with Beowulf (Michelle Szobody). That was fine. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Michael Morpurgo) - this consisted of a witch and a seductress but the rest of the author's storytelling was very good so I decided to go ahead with this one. I'm now moving on to Canterbury Tales. Here are some of the sentences that bother me: "The advice of women is often fatal." "Now I'll tell you about my fifth husband, God save his soul. He was so mean to me that I still feel the pain in my ribs, and will till my dying day. But he was also so loving that although he beat me in every bone, he could soon win my love again." Should I still go ahead and read these to him? Of course I will explain to him that women should be respected and that they are not all manipulative fatal witches. Or do you think that these images of women will be imbedded in his subconscious forever?

You've gotta be exaggerating here. How many Korean kids did you ask? I can't believe that they all replied "sleeping and eating". Are you sure that they understood what you meant and it wasn't lost in translation? Like, instead of asking them "What are your hobbies?" It could've came across as "What is important for you to always do?" WOW. Is this rampant in Asia? There was a time when China was sophisticated and invented vast amounts of technology. For the past few hundred years, Europe & the US has been taking the spotlight. I agree with you here. I also believe that it takes a balance of discipline + innovation to move a nation forward. I don't think Asian cultures reward innovation as much as the US does, so Asia has a long way to go before they become dominant again. The US rewards innovative people...that's how we got the Einsteins of the world to jump ship. But, if we also don't stress discipline...innovative people will have a hard time following through on ideas. Ideas may never come to fruition. :party: :drool::biggrinjester::hat:<---- A group of very creative people whose ideas never came to fruition because they never followed through.

Tonight we're staying up late to watch the skies for some meteors! Astronomer's forecast is great: 10% clear skies, above average air transparency and darkness reigns (no moon). I'd like for my ds to see a couple of meteors from the delta aquarids.

Act, and you shall have dinner; wait, and you shall be dinner. -Gowron, Klingon proverb, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine In this galaxy there’s a mathematical probability of three million Earth-type planets. And in the universe, three million million galaxies like this. And in all that, and perhaps more...only one of each of us. -Dr. McCoy, Star Trek, “Balance of Terror†It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life. -Captain Picard to Data, Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Peak Performance†The truth is usually just an excuse for a lack of imagination. -Garak, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Live long and prosper.