We don't watch much TV at all here. With same-age playmates who actually interact with them, my kids aren't very interested in something that just sits there. :) This is bad to say, but every now and then I just wish I could park them for a while and use the TV for a babysitter. No such luck! Even their fav shows like SuperWhy, I'm lucky if they will sit for 15 minutes to watch. So a total of maybe an hour a week? My son is definitely the instigator. He starts out being excited, and it turns silly & is contagious, and so everyone else gets going.

Definitely some great food for thought - thanks - very helpful!

Thanks!!

No, you can't. And unfortunately, they have a link that you can request a copy to print, but I guess they aren't using that email address any more b/c I never get a response. I have pulled it into Excel & formatted it to match theirs. It is currently set to print on 11x17 paper, and takes 9 pages. I would be happy to send it to you if that would help. megan.welfare@gmail.com

This is a general one that I am using. Not too detailed - perfect for little kids. http://www.sundayschoolresources.com/timeline.htm

When I was a kid (70s), lots of the Saturday morning cartoons took place in other places and times. It helped me understand the time a little bit, and I was much more eager to read and learn about other times once I had a clue. The cartoon put the initial picture in my head, making it easier to read about it later. I watched Yankee Doodle Bugs Bunny and got interested in American history, and Fred Flintstone led to wondering what it was like to be a cave man. Gladiators and togas and Vikings and so on. But now, I can't remember exactly which cartoons had the historical content. I remember in particular a short blond kid who thought he was really brave & tough and big, and he was in a LOT of the historical ones, but I can't remember what cartoon it was. He always had to be rescued! Do you remember any particular series that had a lot of history?

I know - she's awesome, huh? I don't know how much you know about AWANA, but the Cubbies Hopper & Cubbies Jumper verses are for preschoolers, and Sparks are for K, 1st, & 2nd graders.

We started kindy 3 weeks ago! We are homeschooling b/c I have two kiddos who are in various therapies that take up a LOT of time, and I didn't think we could manage that AND public school time-wise. So far, it hasn't been quite what I'd expected. We haven't gotten nearly as much done in the "extra" subjects as I'd hoped (everything other than phonics, handwriting, & math). The other thing is that I am homeschooling because it is best for my kids, but I wasn't necessarily excited about doing it. It has actually been a lot more fun than I expected!! The kids are excited and enjoying it, and aren't fighting nearly as much because we are busy. So it has been a good experience so far!

Oh, one more thing. I have one kid who can EITHER sit still and look at me, OR pay attention. I run a pretty tight ship, and so she will sit nicely if told to do so, but it takes all her focus to do that. And if she is focusing on sitting nicely, she is NOT paying one iota of attention to the lesson. I have finally, grudgingly, adapted. She sits at the end of the semicircle, on a beach towel. (That way she isn't distracting everyone else.) As long as she is quiet and stays on her beach towel, it doesn't matter what she is doing. That means that sometimes she is standing on her head calling out answers. Sometimes she is laying on her back. Sometimes her hiney is up in the air and she is looking through her legs. And while she is in these crazy positions, she is about 200% ahead of everyone else. When sitting nicely, she is frustrated and lost and mute. It is more important for her to be learning than for her to be sitting perfectly. (I have to repeat this to myself 800 times a day!) Be prepared to relax some, and go with the flow. It's kind of hard to let your perfect ideals go, but learning is the most important thing, even if it is a little unconventional!

My kiddos are a tad older, but not much. We started 3 weeks ago. My advice: - figure out what is MOST important to you, and do that first! There have been more days than I expected when we didn't get nearly everything done that I had hoped. But since I have stacked phonics, handwriting & math first, I don't count the day for a loss if we quit early. As long as we get those 3 done, if we don't get to piano, history, science, etc., life goes on. - alternate locations/activities. We do a "morning meeting" sitting in a circle on the rug, then move to the table, then move back to the rug, then back to the table. In the middle, we have "exercises" (a dance of the week, stretching, etc.). Without moving around some, my kids would go bananas. - set bathroom/water/stretch times. I prompt each time we move from rug to table to rug "if anyone needs to get a drink or go to the potty, now is the time!"

AWANA has great memory verses, and this creative momma has created cute little pictures that we use in our memory notebooks: http://homeschoolcreations.com/Bible.html

Why are my kids so SILLY all of a sudden?? I don't mind a bit having fun, but it has gotten to where they are SO SILLY that it is keeping us from getting 10 minutes of lessons done. I don't feel like I have them sitting too long by any stretch, and they get PLENTY of exercise. I feel like I am a decent combo of strict and fun. What is wrong here?? Is this a normal young 6 year old phase? Just part of getting started homeschooling (we are in the 3rd week)? Testing me? How do I deal with it? At the moment, all lessons have been stopped and all the kids are laying on their beds b/c they were making me insane. There has to be a better way! As far as the type of silliness: - intentionally giving wrong answers ("today is... MONDAY!!") - everyone dies laughing at the hilarious joke - pretending to fall out of chair why I can't I think of more examples - there were about 200 before I gave up this morning

I think what most of us here call kindergarten is what you are calling "senior kindergarten" or perhaps we are even referring to something more advanced than your senior kindergarten. Here in SC, the official cutoff to begin kindergarten is age 5 by Sept 1. In reality, though, most summer birthdays wait a year. So those who were born before maybe 6/06 will start kindergarten in the fall of 2011. Those born between 06/2006 and 06/07 would start kindergarten in the fall of 2012. Those born between 06/2007 and 06/08 would start kindergarten in the fall of 2013. Given that your DD has a Sept birthday, if she was going to public school, she would be eligible to start kindergarten right after she turned 5, but in actuality (here anyway) she would probably start just after her 6th birthday.

Current: - Leading Little Ones to God - Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading - Handwriting Without Tears (started the preschool one over, and should still have plenty of time to get through both that and the kindergarten one) - RightStart Math Level A - Beautiful Feet Early American History Hope to get going soon: - Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding - Sonlight P4/5 We will also be doing Classical Conversations & a fine arts coop (drawing, chorus, drama/puppet theater, public speaking) beginning in the fall. Also sitting in my "really want to do but haven't figured out how to manage it timewise" bin: - Memoria Press Kindergarten (not the stuff that overlaps with the above - just the recitations, art, music, etc.) - HOD Little Hearts for His Glory (skipping the stuff that overlaps with other) - Explode the Code - MEP Reception math - Miquon math - Lollipop Logic - Five in a Row coordinated with Galloping the Globe - Core Knowledge Kindergarten (fill in with anything that isn't covered by other programs) - piano with Music for Little Mozarts - Elementary Spanish on Discovery Streaming

I *knew* my kids had vision problems, and took them for vision exams with the most highly recommended, local opthamologist every year, and she kept telling me their vision was perfect and acting like I was a crazy mom. The OTs thought they had problems, I thought they had problems, and they kept getting perfect scores on the vision exams. So frustrating. Turns out they are able to work to focus for just a minute, long enough to pass the vision exam, but can't hold it in focus. Some of the "symptoms" we had - turning their heads so that only one eye was facing the paper to write. Trying to put their crayons/pencils down on a line, and consistently missing. My 6 year olds still can't color in the lines of even a simple coloring page. They just can't figure out exactly where the line is. Constant tripping - misjudging the stairs, anywhere the floor changes, like tile next to carpet or whatever - they trip over the border, constant "brushing" the doorways instead of walking through the middle, etc. We finally took them to a developmental eye exam, despite my strong reservations due to less than enthusiastic endorsment from the medical community. (I was desperate.) I watched the 1 1/2 hour exam, and it validated every concern I had. I could see clearly that the doc was checking exactly what I was concerned about, and the issues showed up clearly in his testing. I had NOT told him upfront what my concerns were, b/c I didn't want to influence the testing, but his results were exactly what I would have expected. With that said, I probably wouldn't do the developmental exam if I didn't suspect anything was wrong. I have done it for 2 of my kids, but not for the other 2.

I have one kid who will write it wrong, immediately realize it, think about it being wrong, and write it wrong again. If she stops after realizing she messed up, and "writes" it in the air with her finger, though, she will get it right every time! I'm not sure why, but it always works!

My kids are a bit young, but have still REALLY enjoyed the videos "What's in the Bible with Buck Denver".

anyone?

I had two kids who truly used whatever hand happened to be closest to the crayon/pencil when they went to pick it up. Because they were only getting half the practice with each hand, they were starting to get discouraged that "everyone else" could color in the lines, write their names, etc., so with the OT's blessing, we picked for them so they could start focusing on refining their fine motor skills. My mom says I was a leftie and she made me go right, and it has been just fine! My handwriting is legible when I care, but atrocious when I'm not making an effort. Seeing how my kids are, I suspect that I was more like they are - just not very dominant on either side as opposed to truly a leftie. The cool thing is that while my handwriting may not be perfect, I have such an advantage with everything else. I have TWO hands that I can use, whereas everyone else seems to only be able to use one! I'm glad that my mom picked the right, and that's what we chose for my kids, just for convenience. I don't know if you call that "forcing", but if so, we did it.

I know I have read on here somewhere a thread comparing Asian to American math, but I can't find it anywhere. My dad is interested in reading more about it. Can someone point me to a concise description of the differences? (We are primarily using RightStart, if that matters.) He's probably not interested enough to read Liping Ma - I need it in a nutshell. THANKS!

I would just make it very clear what time he could play. "DS would love to play, but he is busy until 11am every day!"

I went to public school, but I still had to do workbooks in the summer! We spent maybe an hour a day. Every summer. We hated it, and we whined and complained and moaned. And when we went back to school, and we were the only kids who remember how to multiply, we were secretly glad that we had worked over the summer! I'd never have admitted it to my mom though. :)

It's going to be hard to use just one program and make it age appropriate for a 1st & and 8th grader. What about having the 8th grader "teach" the younger kids history using SOTW, and then having her supplement as part of her prep for teaching them?

For art, check out the Core Knowledge art cards. They have great discussion questions on the back that really help the kids understand WHAT makes each picture important. For recitation, get Living Memory or else the Classical Conversations Foundations Guide.