This happened to my Mom and she went into the emergency room. They gave her soda pop (I'm pretty sure just regular coke). There is something in it that is supposed to make the throat get a bit larger and the food can go down. It worked for her. Hope you are already doing better.

That jump to independent reading is a tough one. Both of my children did what I think you are describing - picking books that are too tough to read independently and then complaining about not liking to read. My oldest at some point shared with me (a few years after we got over the hump) that the books on her reading level, never had a very interesting plot - too simple - and that is why she hated reading at that level. Who knows if that is what is going on with your children... But here is what we did. I made a reading list for them and they started with just 15 minutes of reading what I said they had to and then another 15 min of what they wanted. The next year it increased to 30 min of what I said they "had" to read and then 30 of what they wanted to read. I picked books that had as interesting of a plot as possible, but on the easy side as far as reading level (and not tied to history or science, just good reading). But they "had" to read for the specific amount of time - no negotiating. It took about two years, but by the end of the second year they got over that hump. This board gives great suggestions for good books and the Sonlight reading lists were great resources for the books I picked. Good luck!

Thanks for all the suggestions!

We homeschooled in the past and my youngest did SOTW all four volumes. Then she went to public school, but will be home again next year. We moved to Philadelphia, so I thought I would do a year of American History (with lots of fun field trips) before starting the 4 year cycle again next year. She will be in 4th grade. I have been looking at Hakim's books, but it seems too much for a light year. Then I contemplated using SOTW books 3 & 4 and just focusing on the American history sections. Any other suggestions before I start planning for the year?

It is difficult to balance what is too much and what is "necessary". I had great plans for our afterschooling, but the reality is that my girls don't want to do school after spending all day in school. And I want to enjoy the time we have together afterschool and not spend it wrangling with them to get more "school" completed. That being said, our agreement is that they can continue to go to school, but they need to complete some extras at home. They understand that school doesn't provide everything and the key to being successful in life is to learn what is necessary and not wait for school to provide it.... Math is very important to me (and they do Everyday Math at school which I am not crazy about...) so they have to complete 3 math lessons of my choosing every week. I use Singapore math extra practice books and the Challenging Word Problems series. Very thorough, but not overkill. We also keep up with reading lists individually and we also read together every night. You can cover so much by doing that - grammar, writing, logic, etc... Again, fun together time, but not overkill. Finding the balance that works for you and your family is not easy. But if you are creative, you will find it!

That is what I love about this board - y'all's humor! Thanks - I started to second guess myself when the teacher seemed so confident she was right. Ahhh - another life learning lesson when I tell my child she was right, but let's keep it to ourselves and not push the subject any longer..... Laura

My daughter needed help with a worksheet to label words either plural, singular possessive or plural possessive. Is "yours" singular possessive or plural possessive? I thought it was both, but the teacher said it is only singular. Sign me stumped....

Unfortunately, the text books that our children are using in schools perpetuate many of these inaccuracies. Many of our teachers today have been taught from the same inaccurate text books while going to school themselves. What is so lacking in our educational system today is teaching children to question ideas. They are taught that if it is in a textbook it is correct and even to a certain extent that if a teacher teaches it, it must be true. Being able to evaluate a source to determine its credibility is especially important in this day and age of the internet. Wikipedia is a perfect example of this. I think the best gift you can give to your child is to teach them curiosity and the ability to question (in an appropriate way) the accuracy. And to teach them when it is appropriate/important to correct and when it is best to keep it to yourself! I know that I have learned so much when my children question something and we research it.

One of my favorites for the fact sheets: http://www.mathfactcafe.com Then this site sells math tile puzzles that are fun: http://www.marcycookmath.com Our school also uses Everyday Math, so I supplement with Singapore math. We do the Challenging Word Problems and also the Extra Practice book. I was talking with my daughter's 5th grade teacher about Everyday Math and although she likes the program for the most part, she sees the biggest problem is the transition to the higher maths. When the students get to Jr. High, the expectation is that you know the "traditional" algorithms to solve problems and the kids have trouble making the transition. So I am a stickler about the girls knowing how to do math "the old way". ;)

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe McCain voted for the stimulus plan that allowed a form of "redistribution" of wealth in the form of rebate checks. Checks were given to those that who did NOT pay taxes and people who earned "too much money" did not receive checks even though they did pay taxes. If that isn't a form of redistribution of wealth, I'm not sure what is.... I'm one of those voters on the fence, but these "sound bites" drive me crazy! I usually only lurk, but as long as I have ventured out.... It also drives me crazy when people consider changing opinions as a character flaw. If you are running a business and have a product or idea that you love, but it flops when you bring it to market, do you stand behind it because you stated it was your product? Or do you modify it now that you have a better understanding of the market? (I'm not meaning just saying something to get votes, but for example the banking crisis - the original plan has morphed into something very different from its original state.) I sure hope that when either is elected, he will have an abundance of resources/advisors to help understand issues in a more thorough way and I sure hope either one is willing to change his stance given this wealth of information that he should have available to him as president.... I'm back to lurking....

It has been a few years since I lived in Illinois, but basically you only had to notify your school if you were pulling out. No records/reporting was necessary - not sure you can have fewer requirements than that.... Currently residing in PA - now if you want to talk about regulations take a look at PA's laws.....

I am the same way. My dh was doing about two trips a week and I would just have him e-mail the itinerary if I needed it for an emergency, but just didn't keep it in my mind. He just knew I was that way and it didn't seem to bother him at all. So I didn't feel much guilt about it. Now on the other hand when neighbors would ask about him and I didn't know where he was or when he was returning (I would at least know the day he was returning, but not the time) I always felt kind of silly. It would always seem so.... unkind on my part when I would have to admit I didn't know.... Thank goodness he is no longer traveling like that, it does make life easier to have him home all the time.

So sorry to hear about your situation. For various reasons, we also enrolled in PS this year. It was a difficult decision, but it ended up being very positive for us. I agree with the advice to keep your attitude positive even though you don't want to go down this road. I like to think that not only did it make the transition easier, but my girls learned that even in difficult situations, focusing on the positives is more productive than focusing on the negatives - especially when you can't change the situation. Also, if you have the opportunity, let the principal know in a casual way that you are wanting to stay involved in your children's education. I think that he specifically placed our dds with teachers that he knew would be receptive to my e-mails and other communication. I probably worried more about the transition than necessary, but the teachers always answered my questions/emails quickly and seemed to be concerned that the transition was positive as well. Good luck.... We made it to the other side and survived. I do miss the way life used to be, but we still find time for that snuggle time every night!

Are you able to see the tests? If so, it might help you see the patterns/problems. Although my dd is younger, we are having the same problem. I found that going through the test with her and asking how she came to her answer helped me understand what was happening and how to help her. Her biggest issue is time - she feels the pressure to get it finished in time and then she doesn't read as carefully as she should. So she was getting tripped up on what we call the "tricky wrong answer". Before a test, I will quiz her on the material and also ask her to give me the "tricky wrong answer". Again she is younger, but for example 12X5 = 60 and a tricky wrong answer is 50 (forgetting to carry the one). It has helped her to slow down and to understand how teachers write tests. Good luck, I know how frustrating it is!

Full disclosure - I'm the ekkk Everyday Math poster. :001_smile: I was hoping to read something positive about EM somewhere so this thread caught my eye. I have 2 daughters, DD1 is a very "traditional" learner and DD2 is a very non-traditional learner. It will be fascinating to see if EM suits one or the other better. I will keep everyone posted. Also, DD1 is in 5th grade and so far I am very impressed with her teacher. Her teacher seems to be on top of things and very organized and efficient with her time. One thing they do everyday is a very traditional math drill on multiplication facts before they start the day. I find it interesting (and I don't know enough about the teaching philosophy behind EM) that most everyone who has an positive opinion about EM usually stresses the need for drilling the facts in one way or another. So maybe the negativity an/or poor results stems from poor implementation rather than curriculum?

This discussion has been very interesting. We are only 3 weeks into EM. I do make my children work the problems and then check them with a calculator. Boy does that kill me when they give me, "but Mom, we are supposed to use a calculator!" My response is always, "When you show me you can get 100% without the calculator, I might consider it!" :) It will be an interesting year. The school also uses Study Island as another way of preparing students for testing. I found it very interesting to see my 5th grade daughter's assessment. She scored 100% on both computation and the word problem section, but received 50% and 60% on probability and geometry. She was crushed. I had to explain to her that Singapore Math covers topics in a different way and we can catch her up on anything she hasn't mastered, but the important stuff to Mom and Dad she did very well with. But it makes me question the focus, it seems to be a very wide range of topics covered with little depth. Oh well.... we did let her know not to participate in any dice games on the playground until she had a better knowledge of probability! ;)

So we have settled into a nice routine. I am doing history in the morning before school and then we are doing a read aloud at night. I am also requiring the girls to read independently everyday. When did schools stop reading actual books??? But that is another post for another day.... I knew going in that the school uses Everyday Math and knew it would be a struggle making the switch. We have been doing Singapore Math at home. So my 3rd grader comes home with a subtraction worksheet. She was supposed to use a grid to figure out the difference... They had problems like 70-58, which Singapore teaches how to do mentally which is what she did. Then she had to explain what she did and she did, "I added 2 to 58 to make it 60, so 10 plus 2 is 12". She lost points for not using the grid, which is how she was taught to do it. I'm torn. She was taught the skill of using the grid and then expected to put it into practice, yet she didn't. But at the same time she did explain a correct way of getting the answer.... For now I am going to let her talk it out with the teacher and see what happens. Anyone else dealing with Everyday Crazy Math as we call it round these parts??? :glare:

The best laid plans.... have gone to the wayside! We don't even have that much homework to deal with - school policy is no more than 30min for any grade. But they don't get home until 4pm and then they MUST go to the park. My very quiet and subdued kids are so antsy when they get home.... The revised plan includes reading history in the morning and doing a read-aloud at night. School asks for 15 min of daily reading and I require an additional 30min. That's pretty much it. I do plan to utilize days off to do fun and educational trips and there seem to be many days off.:001_smile:

We are also new to PS and just attended our first back to school night last night. Ours included about 30 minutes of overview from the principal and the president of the home and school organization. Then 30 minutes in the class with the teacher giving an overview of her learning objectives. I think it was worth it to have some time with the teacher. We could ask questions and it did help us understand some of the expectations. On the more humorous side.... The note announcing the event stated, "Please leave all children at home, we find we can accomplish more without the students/siblings." During the principal's portion, he spoke about the school's test scores and goals for this year. He then showed a slide listing about 25 programs offered at the school to help raise the academic standards of the school and read through the list. He neglected to mention what the programs were and how the children/parents could get involved. This was of course followed up by the Home & School President speaking about "all the opportunities for involvement". But again no specifics or who or how to find out about these "opportunities". My husband and I had to chuckle. It was worth it for the time with the teacher, but overall, I know absolutely nothing more about the school or these "wonderful opportunities".

Good luck! We just made the transition and I have to say it has been surprisingly smooth. Both of my girls are enjoying it because of the social aspect. The teachers have been very welcoming and I have been pleased with the amount of communication between home and school during the transition. I do find the academics are lacking, but that doesn't really come as a surprise. With 25 or children in the class with one teacher, unfortunately they teach to the bottom half of average.... I also have a daughter who is right on the cut off. Remember that as they get older, your child will always be younger than her peers if you put her in the older grade. In a former life I used to teach and I never ran into anyone who was glad they had the youngest in the class, most wish they had waited and kept the child back. I think that year actually makes more of a difference in older grades... Too bad public schools can't get out of that age = grade formula and group children with similar abilities for academics, but then have them come back together with age peers at social times such as lunch and recess.... I also find we can do a fraction of what I hoped after school. We do read history daily and I require they read for 45min. We also do a read aloud at bedtime and both take a book to school to fill in all the down time. I have another post on this board where I got some great advice about the focus in afterschooling. They were right on the mark! I hope you have a positive experience and it ends up being a good decision for your family.

My girls are always reading 2 books. One book is my pick. I use a mix of Sonlight readers (because they usually are very engaging books) and books that come from the WTM based on the history cycle. They are expected to read for 45min daily for school reading. We do light discussion so I know they comprehend and I have them keep a log of unfamiliar words to build vocabulary. Sometimes we will take a passage and discuss the writing style of the author and or reinforce a grammar concept. Then they read for 30min at bed time what they want. I have found that after about a year of "forced reading" of good literature, they now surprise me by picking great literature on their own. We also read a third book aloud together. (Mine are two years apart, so this is a bit easier to do than your age spread...) This book we discuss a bit more in depth. Right now, I am using the model from Deconstructing Penguins (protagonist, antagonist, setting, etc are the "clues" to figure out what the author's message is). We find that even having 3 (Mom and 2 dds) involved in the discussion instead of just 2 (Mom & dd) keeps things more interesting. We also had a very successful book club going with the neighborhood kids until we moved - and having about 5 involved in the discussion was very fun. I agree with the advice that you do not need to introduce analysis until high school, but you can set them up to succeed by having them read good literature, introducing concepts that will lead to more in depth analysis, and to help them build the vocabulary for that next level. Hope that is helpful....

Thanks for all the ideas!

Looks like we are enrolling our dds in public school as well - 5th & 3rd grade. My oldest is excited to try school and my younger one is very apprehensive. Unfortunately we just moved, so they don't know anyone at the school, so I think that is part of her apprehension. My husband and I are on the fence, but figure if it doesn't work, we can always go back to homeschool. We will do some afterschooling, but I want to be careful not to do too much and have them feeling overwhelmed. As I look at what we did at home, I know there are some things we just have to leave behind, but it is hard to narrow it down... Give me your thought. Latin - we are going to stop; although they enjoy it something has to give Logic - hoping to leave in doing fun things like Mindbenders History - we will continue reading and maybe timeline (we would be starting over with ancients). Not sure if the timeline would be too much. Grammar - on the fence; I hear many PS don't focus on this and I feel that is a mistake, but we do R&S, so it would be pretty intense Math - I will probably just work on the basics in fun ways and maybe continue with Singapore word problems. And of course we will continue with required reading and read alouds. Does this sound doable? Any thoughts on the subjects that are maybes? What do you think are the most important areas to hit in afterschooling? Thanks!

I have an 8 & 10 yr old. We always have one read-aloud going that sometimes is tied into history and sometimes is just a good classic book. We start our day with about 20 - 30 min of the read-aloud and also do 20 - 30min before bed. Both girls have to read 45 minutes after lunch and I pick the book - again sometimes tied to history others are classics. Then they both read about 30 minutes before lights out at night and this can be a book they pick. Most often they pick the "required" reading book because they are enjoying the story. Neither were readers naturally, but after about a year of this schedule, they do tend to pick up a book to read when having down time or when heading out in the car. With this system, they each read about 4 books in a month and we read together another 2 books. At 6 books a month you can get through a lot of good books and it doesn't really seem to take much time each day.

My oldest had diaper rash troubles with all wipes. She ended up in the hospital for something else at 6 weeks and they cleared it up in 2 days. I asked how and they said they used only cotton squares & baby oil. (Don't even wet the cotton squares, just squirt some baby oil on them.) Besides it is actually cheaper than wipes, so you save money as well. Laura