We do R&S English every day. I am in the midst of adjusting it a bit but here is my goal: One lesson per day. We do oral drills together. If I see during the oral drill they understand what they are doing, then they do the written work in their language note books (I remember when those were called spirals :D, anyway) on their own. If they have trouble during the orals, then we will do the first couple of questions together until I feel they have a better understanding. We are adding the worksheets back in after dropping them for a month, but they will be done on a day by themselves (this is the new part). I figure their little brains deserve a break on occasion, because I am working them rather hard these days. :001_smile: Now, if the written has a lot of diagraming sentences I will allow our 5th grader to do half, our 3rd grader must do all of hers until I know for sure she can do it. The tests are also done on days by themselves too. I hope all that made sense. Marsha

So many great ideas from all of you! I've already mentioned doing literature to the dh and he told me he was going to mention it to me. I'm glad we are on the same page. ;) As far as foreign language goes, we are currently doing Spanish. Right now we are focused on speaking and reading it. I was already planning on adding the grammar aspects in high school. Again, thanks for all of the great information. I knew I would get great answers here and, of course, I did! Marsha

I was thinking along the lines of three years of literature. I am still not sure if I'll make a list of my own or use something I find along the way. I have time though to figure it out. Thanks for the all the good advice! Marsha

My dd is in 5th grade working on R&S English 6. She is not having any problems, but today I realized at this current pace she will finish the entire program (10th grade) in 9th grade. I am wondering if others are in (or have been) in the same boat? Did you slow the pace down so dc would not be so far ahead? Did you create your own curriculum for the remaining years in hs? Did you go to another curriculum? My dh suggested we slow down (adding the worksheets back into our schedule) and just take it as it comes. (Sometimes he is too laid back for me.) Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :001_smile: Thanks, Marsha

My youngest daughter (3rd grade also) was having problems multiplying with two digits. I, personally, was getting no where. I told my husband about the problem. He sat down with her and before the hour was up she understood all that had been lost before. I have found, in our home school journey, sometimes they do not understand my explanation of things. Sometimes it takes someone else to connect the dots. Maybe dh, or a friend who is awesome in math, could provide another way of explaining the problems. Good luck! Marsha

I have to say when I am actually confronted, with the question directly, I laugh. I'm not really laughing at the person but at the absurdity of the question. My girls, 10 and 8, are full of life (and some days other things too). They are both Jr. Taekwodo instructors. They both audition/perform in plays for a local children's theatre. I sometimes wonder if people think we keep them locked inside in a closet. We seem to be constantly with people between Nature Class, Taekwondo classes, Book Buddies and just meeting up with friends. I think those in the PS world are so tied to what they know they have a difficult time seeing the real picture of homeschoolers. Monday we took our girls in to have their eyes checked. My oldest now needs glasses. While we were putting everything into the computer, the lady helping us asked her how old she was. She was shocked to hear 10. My daughter replied she is told she looks eleven. The woman smiled. I told my dd, "I believe she means you appear older. Your attitude makes you seem older." The woman agreed, then promptly asked if we homeschool. Looks like the word is getting around. ;)

My oldest (5th grade) loathes her R&S English. But she also knows she has learned so much more from it than others her age and older. She loves correcting people's grammar. I love knowing they are learning. Are they (including my youngest) learning far more than they need to or will retain? Probably. But I have no problem with it. I love R&S English. I love the worksheets. The Oral Drills show me whether or not they are understanding what they are reading. I would suggest not second guessing yourself until you try if for a bit. You may be surprised. Marsha

We do not limit the fluff our daughters read, reading skills actually improve with all reading. I suggest befriending one of the children's librarians to find bios for your daughters age group/reading level. We know most of our librarians by name and they know ours. Their first question they ask me is usually, "What are you looking for today?" lol I have found they are a great source of information, even for books the library does not carry. Marsha

I went a very simple route here. I bought some index cards. I wrote a state name, or a capital, on each card, then we played the matching game. The fun came in when my girls figured out I had not learned these in school. I knew many just from "living", but some I had no idea or I was just plain wrong. We learned them together. I had several different "sets", at first divided by region. The state cards were written with one color (orange) and the capitals in another (green). As we learned each region, we began mixing two regions together. DDs had great fun with this game and still ask to play. Marsha

We did what you are doing too. I also found a great series at the library, "Let's Read and Find Out" science books that we added. There were so many books that related to animals. Maybe read from the Animal Encyclopedia then read from one the books to "bring it home". They also have many books that will work for biology too. ;) Marsha

When my oldest was in 3rd grade I found the entire series of 100 Ways Parents and Kids Can Share the Secrets of books for 5th through 8th grade (from the 2004 edition of TWTM). Of course, I HAD to purchase them because the were out of print and the new TWTM had replaced them in their updated edition. We finally get to use them this year; I am beyond excited about it.:D I say, "Go for it!" Marsha

We have the Spanish Homeschool version. We love it, but I am the first to admit last year we put it on the back burner more than I had hoped. We purchased all five years of Spanish when they ran an awesome sale. The homeschool version comes with worksheets and tests. Now, dds are 8 and 10, they are not doing the worksheets or test. I plan on going back over it all again, adding in the paperwork. Right now my focus is getting them able to speak the language and be comfortable with it. I mean we don't expect our two year olds to be able to spell. :001_smile: Anyway. We love it and my oldest just started Level 2 this week. They are so far ahead of me! Marsha

We used R&S 2 at that point. We had already spent six months on another program, which for my own sanity had to go. :) We are still with R&S for English. My oldest (5th grade) does not love all the work involved. My youngest still loves getting a worksheet. I love the program because I am learning some things along the way too; I know when they grow up and do whatever it is they are going to do, that they will be able to communicate well with R&S under the belts. Marsha

I guess I always have to be a bit different. My friends think I'm crazy, but I have my two girls in their own SOTW. When my oldest was five she started SOTW I. When my second dd was in K she started I as the oldest continued on with II. We are not quite on schedule because we have taken our time with the extra reading. So our oldest is now in 5th grade and finishing III; our youngest just started II, because we take a semester to do some American history in second grade. Marsha

Wow! That is rough for just starting. We will soon start our sixth year of homeschooling and I still hear the "unsocialized" crap. Yep, I said crap, because that what it is. Think about when you were in school. You had to be quiet at your desk, in the halls, in the cafeteria, etc. There are actually very few times when they can talk "socially". I think most people believe homeschoolers stay at home fearing the outside world. When in actuality most homeschoolers are in some kind of co-op group and attend field trips regularly with other homeschoolers. If you are lonely, I suggest checking Yahoo (or other places) for a homeschool group near you. We have several in our area, so we can choose from different activities we'd like to join. You have just started so I hope you will not let others change your mind for you (even though it is your mom). We were very lucky that both of our mothers were for homeschooling, though neither knew much about it. The journey is wonderful but not without difficulties. Just remind yourself why your family chose to homeschool and try your best to ignore the negatives being thrown at you. Good luck! Have fun! Marsha

:lurk5:

I use spreadsheets. I have one folder for each school year. That folder has a folder for each child. I create a spreadsheet for each month (for each child). I know it does not sound simple, but it really is. I list the date on the far left, then the subjects (and what specifically we will do that day) and how long it takes to complete. The dates help me keep count for our school year. In SC, we have to school 180 days. At the top of each month, I type in how many days we have completed. The subjects vary by day, depending on whether there is a field trip or the day of the week. Each subject follows the schedule I created during our "summer break". The time it takes to complete a subject is strictly for me. I use to determine if I am asking too much of the student on a given day. I have adjusted our SWO schedule because it was taking too long in one day. I plan school out a week to three weeks, depending on the time of year. If there is an item I need, like a library book, I will highlight it in red. I think my "simple" sounds very complicated, but it is not. I will say this was not how I kept up with things when I first started. You will find what flows best for you as you go. Good luck!! Marsha

We love SWO! I have used it since we started homeschooling, five years ago. I like that it teaches words in groups ("ie", plurals, "ch" with "sh). I use R&S for English too, but my girls like SWO because of the pictures and they think it is fun. Anything I can find to encourage my girls to learn is usually what I stick with. Marsha

I was faced with the same question a year ago. My husband is from Korea also; however, he moved back to the states when he six months old, so he never learned Korean. It was my husband who finally decided on Spanish, because it would benefit him with his work. I still wish we had chosen Korean. I think knowing Korean would benefit us in so many ways. My husband has never been able to have a conversation with his grandmother, because she only speaks Korean. Personally, I'd choose Korean. Hope that helps somewhat. Marsha

I have to say that I just follow life. So many different things come along in our lives and we take each one when we can. Waffles are a wonderful thing to do. My girls love to help mix, but I have to admit I'm a bit of a worrier when it comes to the appliance. :) If you want to teach them cooking, start with your families favorite recipes. If you want to talk about money, then start with balancing your checkbook or talking about the difference between a credit card and a debit card. Life can be your guide. Hope that helped a bit. Marsha

I have used the TMs for Spelling Workout since A; we are now on F. Did I really need one? Probably not. That being said I love there are sentences already prepared for both the pretest and the test. I like there are ideas for additional work for each lesson. It does make my life a little simpler and some days I need all the help I can get, with all of our activities. Hope that helped just a bit. Marsha

When my oldest (now nine) started coloring and play writing, I noticed she held her pencil weird. I mean really weird (the librarian gave me a funny look two years ago when she signed her card). I corrected her time and time again for over a year; however, she continued to hold the pencil/crayon the same way every time. I gave up. She is comfortable. Her penship is beautiful. So what if she writes a little strange, there are worse things she could be doing.

Under the option we homeschool under in SC, we do not have to test. We don't test. I think the first big test they will take will be the SATs, if they still matter by then. For the record, one is nine (4th grade) and the other is seven (second grade). I also agree it is up to you whether your children should be tested, not the MIL. :001_smile:

Thanks for the info! I appreciate it.

As far as I am concerned, ABeka, for math, rocks! It is colorful (until the 5th grade book), it repeats things like crazy, and it also has very good explanations at the top of the lessons when new concepts are being taught. We have used ABeka since we first started homeschooling five years ago, and I am so glad we did. Marsha