This is what we all should really be doing. I WANT to be a partner and in the sense that I keep on top of the teachers and the schoolwork and homework and projects and such...then I am a partner. I don't agree with everything they do. My kids know I don't like public school even though I don't discuss particulars with them. They know. For us, it is what it is for right now and I plan to pull them out anyway...hopefully by next year.

You just described my ds6. He will be 7 in Jan. We used some of MFW K last year (but didn't get all the way through b/c he just wasn't ready for academics). This year, I have The Reading Lesson, ETC online, AAS (for the tiles), other Phonics readers, etc. I'm hoping to move into MFW 1st by Jan. At this point...he is sooo not ready. His reading is getting better, but he still guesses, doesn't quite get the "sounding it out" concept. He'd rather guess. :glare: We keep plugging away, drilling sounds, playing games, etc. The kids are all different. He'll read one day. For now...I'm just happy I can teach him at home so I don't have to subject him to the "labels" at school. He's not slow. He's just learning at his own pace.

I'd love to view us as partners, except I don't agree with anything they do! How can I be a partner? My kids are there b/c for right now...they need to be. I don't like to consider myself an adversary, but I guess I am always fighting them about one thing or another :tongue_smilie: It's too bad really...I really, really dislike everything about ps.

This is why i do not feel bad counting 1/2 days as whole days and field trips, and DVDs and Nature walks and pretty much everything else we do toward out 180 days required in PA. My 3 oldest are in ps and the days off are ridiculous. PLUS, what they do in school bothers me! Assemblies, games for a good test grade, etc. I wonder why I send them.

Thanks for sharing that article, Cindi. Dd12 had EM back in 1st - 3rd when she attended ps. Luckily, we pulled her out then and I've had the past 4 years to teach her using appropriate math texts. She's now in a Pre-Alg. class that is all review for her simply b/c they would not place her in Alg. 1....another story on another thread :glare: Ds11 has had problems with math and was just getting his "math legs" using MUS when we (well, my dh) decided to put him back in ps. Ds9 used Singapore quite successfully and now is finding math at school "easy" b/c he knows it all. For him, it's playtime. I am always appalled at the hodgepodge of topics my son's bring home. Box and whisker plots one day, exponents the next and then some ridiculous algebra that didn't make sense even to me! Ugh. Now, I find myself in the position of this father...trying to stay one step ahead of the trainwreck called EM. And my ds fight me b/c they "are doing fine" with EM...yet can't tell me the "why" behind a problem. :glare: Yet I push forward.

Thanks guys! Wendy, my dd4 absolutely LOVES MFW K and is doing quite well with it. I tried it with ds6 last year and he really, really did NOT like it...not the cutting, pasting type and we really just wasn't ready for school yet. This year, he's ready and is enjoying some of the activities in MFW K so I have hope for MFW 1st for him! Dd4 is very advanced in reading for her age and handwriting, but still she is 4...so she enjoys all the fun stuff!

Congrats to you! It is very sad about that man. A 23yo man died last weekend in the Baltimore Marathon in MD. He collapsed at the 25mi. marker and died at the hospital I think. 23? My dh said it happens at almost all marathons.

Boundaries IS life-changing...so many issues arise b/c of poor boundaries. Thanks for the recommendation of the book...I'll have to look that up!

I think THAT is my biggest beef with it. It is sllllooooowwwww. Ds11 loves it. They spend forever on a topic and I think it is designed so that you do NOT spend forever on the topic. You cover it and then move on, eventually coming back to it. Which, is NOT a good way to learn math, but that's the concept of EM. So, ds11 has been in school for 2 months now and has learned box and whisker plots and exponents. Ds9 has learned absolutely nothing new. Period. Oh...sorry...mean, median and mode. He did learn that. ugh.

Quick review: Oldest 3 in ps, youngest 4 at home. I must say, that as much as I HATE having my oldest in ps right now, my year at home has been going very smoothly. My dh has been home sick and commented last week that he really feels that I have hit my "homeschooling stride" having just elementary to teach. He might be right. I am having FUN this year, despite the sibling rivalry and occasional bad school attitudes and a toddler who is in to EVERYTHING! We started slow (just la/reading and math) and gradually added some science, history and art. We tried using FIAR, but it fizzled...we just didn't get into it. I might try again later, b/c I really do like the concept. Dd4 is doing MFW K and we both LOVE it! Ds6 is reading better each day although he still struggles with some letter sounds and "guessing" at words instead of sounding them out. His handwriting has improved dramatically, too, to the extent that we can do simple copywork and Phonics Road without stress! He should be ready for MFW 1st by Jan at this rate! Monday I am adding in Our Los Banos free American History curriculum (free is good right now!)for dd8 and dd6 and attempting to piece together my own science program based on the units in MFW K. I'm taking the topic of each week and beefing it up a bit for ds8, to the extent that he is interested and adding some more advanced and intricate experiments. For example, we just did L, L Leaf in MFW K and so we read about plants and trees and labeled the parts of the tree. Monday we will attempt to separate the colors in a leaf using coffee filters and rubbing alcohol! So far, so good. I still have CKE Earth and Space should all the work start to be too much for me. Ds8 will also be using DITHOR 2/3 starting Monday. Ds8 is not fighting me as much and is actually enjoying some parts of school. That is big-time progress! :D While I'd love to bring my 3 oldest home for next year...I'm grateful for the smooth year God has given me this year so far! Thank you everyone for all your encouragement and advice through the years b/c I certainly couldn't have done it w/out you! Still can't! So...thanks!

Well, my kids go to church and attend clubs and pray and read the Bible and...but I am concerned about the very same thing. They are still very selfish (and I honestly don't know where they come by that except it is the sin nature), hurtful toward each other, disrespectful, have bad attitudes, etc. I'd love to know the "magic pill" for instilling the love of God in their hearts such that they SHOW it in their daily life. Keep the ideas coming!

Pray Tanya, if you are the praying kind. I am and so I will on your behalf. That is a tough, tough situation. The need for "love" is so great that it seems she'll do anything and tolerate/withstand anything just for slightest "crumb" of affection. Praying for her right now and :grouphug: to you. Keep in touch, but don't allow him to your home.

It's tough, but you really have to try to stay calm and patient. Easier said than done, trust me. My dd12 is very emotional, hormonal, Jekyl and Hydish, happy one minute, sad the next and in a rage the next. Crazy. We allow her to blow off steam, rant and rave, cry, yell, whatever until she starts getting disrespectful or hurtful. Then we lay down the law...she is not allowed to hurt anyone verbaly or physically by her words or actions. If that means staying in her room, so be it. If it means being grounded from friends and phone for a week for her words, so be it. Teach her ways to release anger in positive ways (exercise, journaling, punching a pillow, using her words to express anger in a respectful way like "I am so angry with you right now", but without name calling"). Whatever you do, don't withdraw love or affection or attention. My mom disengaged when I got hormonal and our relationship and my self-worth suffered as a result. Leave her to cry/yell it out but then go in and talk about what she was feeling, ways to overcome or deal with it, tell her you love her and understand what she is going through, etc. Just be there for her. You are probably doing all that already and handling it all very well. Oh, and remember, we all mess up sometimes. So, don't beat yourself up for the times that YOU don't act so "patient" with her.

Cool! Thanks everyone. I hadn't looked at Starfall for a while (just remembered the ABC games). Dd4 just FLEW through all the short vowel words...of course. But, she likes it and thinks it is fun...that's what I'm looking for. Something to pass her time in an educational way so she doesn't keep saying, "Mommy, do you have anymore schoolwork for me?" (this is after she has done ALL of her MFW K stuff, some ETC pages and some handwriting on the whiteboard). I can't keep up with her AND I have to spend the time with ds6 and ds8. Ugh.

My dd4 wants to play the ETC online game like her 6yo brother. I can't afford to purchase another subscription for her. Are there any FREE games online like Starfall but for more advanced phonics (like for CVC words or blends, etc.)? She is WAY beyond letter recognition and sounds and really can do the ETC like big bro. Thanks for any suggestions!

He is usually able to finish his homework in school so he doesn't typically bring math hw home. I do make him do a lesson of Singapore on those nights and although he complains...he will do it w/out too much complaining. I'm just going to keep doing that I suppose. Trouble is...he is way far ahead of his classmatess and I feel like his days are a waste of time. He is the kind of kid who won't complain something is too easy...he just goes with the flow...he's a bit "lazy" in that way. Doesn't like too much of a challenge so school is "a blast" for him right now. Waste of time if you ask me. I'm likely pulling him next year.

Wanted to second that I would bet it is the Tamiflu making him vomit so much...especially if he didn't originally start out vomitting on Sunday. Not a dr., so I would call the dr. and ask him/her. My dh most likely has the H1N1 virus and has been sick like your son for a week now...coughing horribly, fever and awful, debilitating fatigue. He's slept more in the past week than he has EVER slept. Praying for your son.

I can relate. While the decision to send my 3 oldest back to school wasn't based on their desire to "try" school again, it did factor in. My dd12 wanted to see her friends again and give school a try (she had been bullied as a 3rd grader and we pulled her out after that year). She is a much different person now...much more able to stand up for herself. My ds11 sounds like your ds9...very social, makes friends easily, thrives in groups, loves classroom activites, projects, etc...but I knew that sending him back would probably be permanent b/c to bring him back home would really break his heart and crush his spirit. Ds9 went back b/c, well, we felt he needed to "branch out" more socially. Very friendly child, but never really had a friend of his own. He didn't want to go back, but now he loves it. He made one friend in our neighborhood and they are inseparable now. I don't think I could ever pull him back home at this point. I feel your pain...except we DID send them back. And now, I feel there is no turning back for my boys. I feel like I've lost them and it makes me want to cry whenever I think about it. Dd12 could come back home...she has said she doesn't hate school, but doesn't love it. She can't stand the stuff the girls talk about (boys, dating, kissing, who's hot, who's not, cursing, etc.). She isn't being challenged. And we will most probably pull her out after Christmas break. Not to mention I have sign. issues with the school and the policies. :glare: So, I do feel for you. But, stay strong in your reason why you are doing this. There are plenty of opportunities to make friends and be social outside of school.

:001_huh: Ummm...those little girls have POWERFUL voices! Definitely a gift from God. Wow!

Breann, dh isn't really the obstacle. He sees and hears exactly what I do. But now...it's my son who really enjoys school. I doubt he would be very agreeable to coming back home. AND, he isn't very cooperative about afterschooling either. Plus, I don't have any more money allotted for curriculum for ds9...all I have for him is his Singapore math, possible some Science, and "maybe" spelling? Ugh...thanks for the sympathy.

Well, since sending my 3 oldest back to ps and hearing what THEY do in a day...I'd count just about anything as a day :tongue_smilie: Assemblies, fund raiser kick-offs, soccer instead of math b/c the kids did well on a test, movies in English class, etc. I would count it...but that's just me. Learning happens all the time around here so I count most days as school days even if we don't pull out the books...unless of course they are sick and watching TV all day. Just my .02.

This kid flew through Singapore last year and was almost into 4A (he was in 3rd grade). Okay, so he wasn't particularly advanced but he "got" math. He liked math. He could do most problems in his head. Math was just "his" subject. Well, now, he is in 4th gr. in ps and they use EM. Blech and double blech. :glare: Hate it, hate it...always have and always will. My son now HATES math. He is not being challenged and yet the "new" topics that are being introduced are not being taught efficiently so he comes home not "getting" it at all. And don't even get me started on the spelling program there (Rebecca Sitton). The word lists have no rhyme or reason to them (this week: oh, important, hot, please...and some other words). :001_huh: I'm so frustrated. My son doesn't want to do Singapore after school b/c he is tired and yet I feel if I don't continue with it he will eventually fall behind. KWIM? And then there is my 6th grader...also using EM. He does well with EM, but is not being taught to understand it...just little tricks to figuring problems out. So when I ask him "why" he is doing the problem a certain way he can only tell me that "the teacher said to do it that way". Blech. So, I have MUS for him, which he thrived on last year but again...he's in no mood to do "extra" math after school is over. HELP?

In the past, I have overspent. Lately, dh and I are trying to spend only what we have in cash. I have 7 children so that makes it difficult. We try to budget around $350 for Christmas, and if there is extra, that's great. That is about $50/child...which isn't a lot when you have older kids who want more expensive gifts. Sometimes, we allot more for the oldest few if they know they want something specific...like dd12 really wants the new iPod shuffle this year which is around $70. They get gifts from grandparents, so they are not suffering. :tongue_smilie: Dh and I rarely exchange...unless it's just a CD we both like or a new movie or book. Sometimes we will get a new boardgame for the family if there is extra. As for bdays...we rarely spend more than $20 on gifts b/c relatives always send money and/or buy gifts.

This is an answer to a prayer. It is exactly what I've been looking for. Now...to find the money to buy it! Thanks for posting this!

You guys are awesome! Thanks! I forgot that you are the Queen of Free activities online, Dawn! :D