Don't know that I can really add anything that hasn't been said, but I did want to offer you some encouragement. :grouphug: I have loved having my ds home with me. I've schooled him from day 1. Yes, you have the freedom to work with your child at his level. You have the freedom to spend as much or as little time as is necessary on a given subject. You have the freedom to pursue strengths and interests, while also tackling the weaknesses. You have the freedom to let him develop into the person he is meant to be...and you get to watch it happen because he is there with you. You have the freedom to develop a schedule/routine that works for your family. If a curriculum choice isn't working you have the freedom to change what you are doing. It is also important to know that you are not alone. These boards are a great place to come for info, to share, to get a pat on the back or a hug. I would suggest you find, if possible, some IRL homeschoolers that you can get together with as well. It's great to be able to bounce ideas off of others and it would be a good social outlet for you both (and hubby if he's interested. My Dh doesn't usually like the gatherings - just not his thing) I'll throw another option out there for you to consider as well. I also have an only who happens to be very social. We enrolled in our school district's homeschool support program. It sort of falls under the heading of Alternative Education Programs, but it's not strictly that. It has been great for us because ds has the opportunity to take weekly workshops with other hs kids (and other teachers) and it gives me an outlet as well. It does make you accountable to the district, but it also gives access to district funds and resources. You would not be able to include any "religious-base teaching" in your student learning plan, but that doesn't mean you can't do it. You just can't report it in the hours you "turn in". (For 1st grade that amounts to 20 hrs per week which is really easy to do because, at least here, the state understands that much of hs is experiential - you can include things like ds helping cook dinner (science, math, lifeskills), or digging up worms in the backyard. Anyway, that's probably TMI, but I wanted to mention it because I know you seem concerned about social outlets. Maybe your district has something similar, or maybe there are other co-ops nearby. Rec centers are good places to look too. BTW, someone mentioned the DOMA (math) and DORA (reading) assessments http://www.letsgolearn.com I've used both of those and they are a great way to get a good idea of where ds is at. I think there is a cost to them, but I'm not sure how much (we get them free thru the district). They not only give you a score, but they graph it to show what grade level he placed in each area that was tested (not just an overall score) and they give you thoughts of what should be done to improve (ie "name" has a strong basis in whole number computation but struggles to apply those operations to fractions...working with manipulatives can be a way to help..." - quoted from ds' test results) Ok, so this post is way longer than I intended. Sorry! But you are in good company on the boards here. Don't hesitate to ask lots of questions. You will get feedback from all walks of homeschooling. Take what is useful to you and ignore the rest. :blink: In the meantime...welcome! :seeya:

Those are great! Thanks for sharing!

I'm sort of making it up as I go along. I purchased a couple of timelines to guide us and we'll be reading lots of books. I also have ordered some Brown Paper School books that look interesting. They have narrative text and project/activity ideas that look pretty good. Another one I'm getting is from the American Kids in History series that has a similar format. I've just discovered the Time Travelers series which also looks great and i feel myself going into "curriculum junkie" mode again! :drool5: History Pockets also has some American History project books that you may want to take a look at. They're nice for an introduction to the subject and it would be easy to add books to make the study more in depth. http://www.evan-moor.com/ As far as SOTW goes, we use the audio books and ds listens at his leisure. Those don't even get scheduled in our school days. He listens to them on his own, quite frequently. I will eventually have him listen in order again, and give him the quizzes as he goes along, to check for retention/understanding, but other than that....

We did the book for volume 1 and a few of the activity book pages. But, I tend to try cramming too much into a year (and ds doesn't usually care for coloring), so I ended up buying the audio books. Ds loves those! Each time I handed him a volume (we now have all 4) he would take it to his room and sit for hours listening and playing with his legos. I never had to schedule it. I just wanted to mention to you that another great thing that goes very well with SOTW v1 is History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations http://www.evan-moor.com I used the History Pockets in K then did some of the mapping, etc. from SOTW v1 activity pages with ds while we went thru the book in First. I'd have done them together if I'd known how well they fit.

Check out the links I gave you. They'll explain it way better than I can. Basically, you make these little mini-books in different shapes, etc and put them together by attaching them to file folders. That description sounds pretty boring, but if you check out the links you'll see they can be quite fun, hands on, and something kids can really get creative with while learning lots. I'm considering trying a couple myself. There's a lot of great info on the links i gave you - samples of completed lapbooks as well, so you can get a better idea of what they are. Check out some of the links on their sites as well and you can get some free mini book patterns & how to's.

I've never used it, but I've heard a lot of people talk about Amanda Bennett unit studies. What it sounds to me like you might enjoy is lapbooks. You can do a google search to get some ideas...here's a couple to get you started: http://www.lapbooklessons.com/ http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking

Key Word Outline:001_smile: There's a few around the board I'm still working on figuring out, too!

One thing that I did when ds was resistant was to give him a journal/notebook to write in. He needed to write in it everyday (at least three sentences- he was 6 or 7 at the time) about whatever he wanted. I gave him some prompts to get him started if he was stuck. It could be creative, it could be about something that happened that day, a favorite memory, something he hopes to do.... whatever. There is no grading of this work whatsoever. I didn't even read it unless he wanted me to. That really takes the pressure off. It is designed to help him get his thoughts on paper and learn to enjoy expressing himself that way. It worked well for us. Ds took that and started writing stories. Then last November he participated in National Novel Writer's Month and is hoping to do it again this coming November. I think that when they don't have to worry about spelling or punctuation or, "Mom's gonna make me write this over" it leaves more freedom for the creativity to come out. Grammar and all that can be addressed through other assignments, leaving the journal for only expression. It's worth a shot...

:bigear: Gleaning from your experience since we'll be working with IEW soon!

Teacher Created Resources also has Science/Literature Guides that are based on The Magic School Bus. And I think it was Scholastic that has online pages of activity ideas that go with the books.

Hi AprilMay! I'm gonna hijack this thread for a sec to let you know that you don't have to "sign your name" each time you post. Go to your "User Control Panel" (top left of page) and edit your signature. Sign your name in that and it will automatically show up each time you post. And welcome to the boards! :D

A couple of other resources to check out are Kumon wkbks and Carson-Dellosa. They have several wkbks for pre-writing/pre-math skills, scissor skills, etc.

:iagree: Counting, sorting, patterning, file folder games, lapbooks, lots of read-alouds, art exploration, nature walks, simple experiments, games.... Some great books to have on hand: Scribble Cookies, Mudworks, Kids Create! I used to be a pre-school teacher and we did lots of this kind of thing (well, I've never really done lapbooks, but they look like fun!). I can give you more specifics if you'd like, but a lot of this can be done with stuff you've already got. Like an ice cube, for instance (experiments in solid, liquid, gas as the ice melts then boils and forms steam...)

Welcome to the adventure! :party: Sounds like you really are settling in well. I would just caution you not to try to cram too much into a day/week/year....It's easy to get overly enthusiastic with all the great stuff and go overboard (I know I did!) Sounds like the two of you have hit a good stride already, tho! Look forward to seeing you around the boards!

Welcome! :party:

We really like Growing with Grammar. It's very straightforward, and open & go. There is built in repetition...and it's affordable! Doesn't take long to do a lesson either.

My 4th grader just started using Phonetic Zoo is really likes it so far. It uses auditory, visual and kinetic elements. The other thing that's nice for ds is that, after we practice together, he does it on his own with the cd. He reads the rule/tip, then the cd says a word, he writes it down as best he can. Then the cd goes back and spells the word, while ds writes it down again as it's being spelled. Then he goes back and compares the two lists and marks which ones he got correct. He sees his mistakes without anyone pointing them out. He knows what he needs to work on without me standing over his shoulder. It gives him some independence. And the spelling words are going into his brain sequentially (letter by letter) rather than all at once as they would with a workbook. He was very excited to pass Lesson one in just three tries (BTW, these are spelling lessons not tests - that can be a scary word) Lesson 2 is taking a little longer, but we emphasize what is right rather than what is wrong. He's already started bringing me his own lists of words he wants to learn to spell. (Spelling is something he wants to learn this year so that attitude makes a huge difference in what gets accomplished) And a little patience & persistence is a good thing for this dc to learn! :p He tends to be a perfectionist.

Had to laugh! :lol: My 9.5 yo would still be playing with Legos all day if I didn't make him come out for school! Except for workshop days. He loves going to classes with his friends.

I like to make ds a "yearbook". I just use a 3-ring binder with page protectors and divide by month. In this, I usually have a "school photo" along with his list of favorites at the time (favorite color, favorite friend, favorite book...). I keep any test results, monthly reviews (a requirement of the alt ed we're a part of- the turning in of monthly reviews, not the keeping of them) and samples of the work accomplished. I also (when I'm organized...ha! :tongue_smilie:) include photos of field trips or other alt ed events such as Expo or Opening Day ceremonies. It's not a state requirement, but I figure it's a nice keepsake and if things ever do change, or we move, I've got something to show. :thumbup1:

I didn't put much emphasis on spelling in the past - I was focusing on reading and math. This year, however, ds told me he wants to learn how to spell things correctly. I purchased Phonetic Zoo for ds because I like that they incorporate auditory, visual and kinetic elements in the program. Also, as I learned more about their reasoning, it's made more sense for us to do spelling this way. They contend that since spelling is sequential, it's harder to learn from workbooks because as you look at the word, you're seeing the whole word at once and so when the word gets stored in your brain the letters can get jumbled up. Whereas if you hear the word spelled and spell it aloud yourself (the student) as well as writing it, the spelling goes into your brain in sequence, making sequential retrieval much easier. This was sort of an "ah ha" moment for me because I am, for the most part a "natural speller". I am quite visual, and in fact have a hard time spelling aloud, but give me a pen & paper and I can tell you right away how something is spelled. Ds doesn't operate that way. We haven't used the program long, but I think it's going to work well for us.

I'll second the Sonlight lists. Check out the PreK cores as well as K and 1. There's lots of good reading there.

Have you checked out Dover? They usually have coloring books (the ones with info on the page), puzzles books, and the like. You might find something on their site.

How about (just throwing this out there since I've yet to teach Jr High) dividing the week so dd gets American History 4 days and World Geography the 5th? Of course that assumes you school 5 days. We only do 4 here. We'll be doing American History next year with a little Cantering the Country on the side for Geography. Maybe you could check out Galloping the Globe? It might be enough to get her started in Geography studies on her own. Not sure what the grade level is on it, but it shouldn't be too hard to adapt. Sorry I'm not much help! :001_unsure:

Gotta say, I agree with Twigs. :iagree: I think, while we should spend time on the weaknesses to bring those along as best we can, we should gravitate toward the strengths. Those areas in which the dc excel are where they will spend most of their time as adults (ideally). They should be allowed/encouraged to strive for excellence in what they are good at while not neglecting the further development of lesser skills. We've all been uniquely blessed and should strive to use those gifts/talents to the best of our ability. (Preaching to myself, here!) :D

:iagree: Love the notebook idea! Have him write/dictate his questions and then add pages to the notebook as he discovers the answers. Answers could be written, drawn, diagrammed, collaged....be creative. Suddenly, you're "notebooking" and ds will have a great book of "look what I learned" to look at over and over. :D Also, each year, at the beginning of the school year I ask ds what he wants to learn about that year. I try to incorporate that interest during the year. For example, one year he wanted to know how stuffed animals are made, so I got him a kit and he sewed his own Teddy Bear ('course, it took nearly two years before he completed it - interests can be fickle :lol:) You might also check into what kind of learning style he has. A good book to read for some ideas is "The Way They Learn" by Cynthia Tobias. Incorporating more hands-on stuff is generally a good idea for this age. If ds is artsy/craftsy you could try something like History Pockets or Literature Pockets http://www.evan-moor.com/Search/Default.aspx?Search=pockets&WT.oss=pockets He might also enjoy lapbooks or notebooking. You can find examples/ideas for some of these on http://www.currclick.com/ Unit studies could be a good thing for him as well. Find out what topic he's interested in and incorporate read-alouds, copywork (or what ever LA), science, history, art - all related to that topic. Just be sure you don't overdo it. You don't want to kill the joy! :) And, like pp's said, he is just 2nd grade. No need to push too much. Some fun books to have on hand: Scribble Cookies, Mudworks, Kids Create! HTH!