I totally agree! We combine here as well. It is easier on me and fun for them. I also tailor the narration questions/activity to their individual skill levels.

I am FINALLY doing this as well. Making this adjustment works great for all of us because my boys and I no longer feel like I am pulling those teeth! :001_smile:

I recently made a vegetarian version of a "patio beans" dish that was a hit at our potluck. It's fairly easy to prepare which is what I'm all about for a potluck dish. :-) 1 lb. can baked beans (vegetarian) *Do Not Drain* 1/4 lb. sharp diced Cheddar Cheese 1/3 c. ketchup Parmesan cheese, grated for top 1 med. onion, chopped 1 lb. can red kidney beans, drained 1 lb. can lima beans, drained 1/2 c. brown sugar 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce Saute onion (I use butter but I'm sure oil is fine too). Combine beans, cheese, brown sugar, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in onion. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until heated through and bubbly. 30 - 40 min.

I just had to post to thank you for this, Sahamamama! I foolishly carry this weight of feeling guilty that I'm not doing the best I could for my boys with our homeschooling. I feel guilty and protective that if our seated school time is added up it is, well, quite short. The quoted part of your response sounds very similar to our school days. Thank you so much for helping me see that when my boys have all this "free time" I am actually setting them free to be the boys they are meant to be! I love the wisdom and encouragement that is so easily found on these boards!

This is great info! Thanks for sharing. I'm excited to use our iPad to make our schooling even more portable!

I agree with Sherry that the pre-K book is a good one to start with. I'm currently using it with my youngest. It's a nice intro to handwriting without overwhelming the child (or parent!). And I like that it introduces curves & diagonals for your child to practice before learning the letters that will use those strokes. I had similar concerns when we started handwriting. From the start each of my kids learned to write their name only capitalizing the first letter. From there I have basically followed the HWT workbook sequence with each one. I can see how starting with easy to write letters gave my oldest the chance to master the letters but also gave him confidence in writing. When he writes his little phonetically spelled notes to me he typically uses capitalization in the proper places, too. :) (Also he was not interested in writing or drawing at 4&1/2 either!) Hope our experience thus far with HWT is helpful!

Great suggestion, thanks. I think I'm going to actually take the time to write many of these recommendations on slips of paper and have the kids draw one from a bowl each week. I'll try to remember to post back on ones that were big hits for us, if that helps anyone else. :)

Thank you for this link! My checkout went smoothly, so hopefully those who had troubles last night will easily checkout today. :)

Wow! Thank you SO MUCH for all these wonderful recommendations! I so appreciate all your responses. My Netflix queue has never been so full. THANK YOU!!!

I try to do a pizza & movie night with my kids every Friday. Their ages are 7, 5, and 4. I'd love any recommendations anyone might have for this age range. They've viewed all the Pixar and Dreamworks animations ad nauseam (well, for me anyway though I do love those). :) I know I am missing some great movies to add to my Netflix queue. I look forward to your suggestions! Thanks!!!!

Hi. We are planning to end our work on SOTW (vol 1) Chapter 11 with the African feast suggested in the activity guide. Has anyone made the recipes before? Just wondering if any of them needed some tweaking or were enjoyed just as they are. Thanks!

I think all these responses are great, too! I'm taking notes! I also have a 5 year old & a 7 year old (and will be 'full-time' homeschooling my third child in a few years). I can very much relate to how difficult it is to give individual instruction at these young ages. What is working right now for us is staggering when they do their handwriting, math, and workbooks, so that I can give each son a little one-on-one instruction. And by little I mean 10 - 15 minutes of mostly uninterrupted time. :) I also purchased some of the Kumon workbooks to help pad that time a little. My kids love the connect-the-dots and maze ones. If set my 5 year old up with his MCP Phonics worksheets and he finishes before his brother and I are done, then he works on his Kumon book. It also helps that they don't think of those books as "school" so they view it as having fun, free time - even though they are reinforcing their numbers, and such. :) Anyway, that's my experience with try to balance teaching two. Hope it's helpful!

I totally do the same thing! I love that I can see how others do school/activities through their blogs, but I end up feeling bad because I start comparing their photos to my reality. I try to remember that none of us is going to post a picture of the worst times; we all like to put our best image forward. But the happily & harmoniously gathered around the table school day photos usually pierce right through that effort. ;) We have some lessons we all do together. For the ones that require more concentration I tell whoever is the noise maker that they can work/color at the table with us, or move to another room. Make no mistake, this is repeated often and does not always work! But while I do think my kids need to learn to deal with some distractions, I also know they are young and if they need quiet during math or reading I will try my best to provide it. I am hoping I'm also teaching the noise maker(s) to learn respect for another's needs and work time. Someone else posted that their house is only quiet when everyone's asleep. That is true for my house, too! :)

I'm so amused this became such a reminiscential post! Thanks for your responses! Grace, thank you for your recommendation of Studying Suzuki Piano More than Music. I am glad to know you also did one page at a time with Teaching Little Fingers. We've been doing it that way and I suppose I just wanted to know we were on track. And that its worked well for others. Thank you again!!

Hello! I'm looking for feedback (or direction for use) of the John Thompson book: Teaching Little Fingers to Play. I bought the book based on the WTM recommendation but I'm having trouble figuring out how to present the lessons beyond the first three. There are teacher directions for those, but not for the rest. For music, I am happy to be led by the nose on how to teach it! :) I wanted to take advantage of our current situation that we have a piano and my kids show an interest in it. We don't have the funds to get them a piano teacher presently, but I didn't want that to keep us from some introductory piano fun/knowledge. Thanks!!!

Thanks! We were fortunate enough to find one at our HT, too!

Hmmm, good to note that. Thanks! I think I'll go ahead and get the MCP book just in case.

Even though you've received such great feedback and answers, I thought I'd share how my first grader is with independent writing. He really has no interest in it yet. He does copywork every day, but I still write out his narration for his drawings. I will occasionally receive a little note from him like "can i plae the wii." That's as far as his writing goes. :) I identified with your experience comparing at AWANA. I keep catching myself feeling anxious about how my son compares to his buddies in his Sunday School class. Then I add more worry to that anxiety because we are the only homeschooling family there. Then I get back on these forums and feel much better! Hope that's helpful!

Great! Thank you so much for your responses! I'm going to get him the first Before the Code book and see how things go. Thanks again!

Hello. I have a 5 year old kindergartner that very much wants to have the very same things to do as his first grader brother does for our school days. My oldest spends more time on his daily lessons as he is at a different level in LA and math than my 5 year old. I thought finding a good phonics workbook would serve my little guy well - help him feel like he has his 'own' work but also that nice benefit of reinforcing what he's learning with his reading lessons. I am undecided between these two phonics programs since we have no experience with either one. Any thoughts/experiences to share? :) My 5 year old knows and can write his letters and we are on Lesson 40 in OPGTR, if that makes a difference for either program. Thanks so much!!!