No the Writing Tales we are using...Fables so far is not requiring Outlines and he does the brainstorming clouds when he writes a summary but Not a formal outline. I just looked at Treasured Conversations and it looks like the exact thing we need. My frustration so far is that the materials I have show how to write beautiful sentences but not paragraphs or they teach very little on paragraphs and then jump to writing multi-paragraph papers that are either entertaining, persuasive, or informative but if the structure isn't there he gets lost. Just what I need another curriculum but looking at them all side by side we need to pick one that will meet my goals for the year and make it happen.

Then isn't that your answer? A 13 y/o watches the siblings up to a week at a time. You call CPS and report the situation anonymously and CPS investigates. We nor you are qualified to judge the dynamics of that household and its isn't our or your job. Someone has that job....CPS. Please let them do it. Otherwise you are meeting your interests and not the family's and especially not the children's. You can't parent or educate them......let their parents do it and if they need help CPS will provide it. Anything you would or could do would only be a temporary bandage to a much bigger problem or if it isn't a bigger problem then you are just overstepping.

I agree and the OP seems like she is just answering questions at this point. I do have one.........Why are you watching the kids so Mom can take off? It makes sense that you would see Mom leaving so often as a problem, so why are you helping her do it by making their life easier? The only thing you can really control in this situation is your actions. If you stop watching the kids then her neglect will escalate or will stop. If it escalates your choices are clearer and if it curbs then that is good too. I think part of the reaction from some people posting is that it sorta seems that this is an interesting soap opera going on next door and honestly there is a feeling of power that likely comes from the dynamic. Think about it....the OP holds the future of this family in her hand and can decide at any moment. Not deciding is a decision. There is a controlling aspect of not deciding. Most people do not have the type of time unless it is fulfilling a need for the OP as well. That need might come from a healthy place or an unhealthy place but there is something the OP is getting out of the dynamic just like every single interaction that all of us have with people everyday. Basically posters are analyzing the OP's behavior in the same way that the OP is analyzing the families.

My son is 11 and is still writing at what I consider a second grade level....maybe 3rd. We used WWE and he is skilled at narration. Once we began a co-op and he needed to write a summary his weakness became really apparent. His story telling is decent and he can order events and keep to a topic, but not while writing. I ordered Writing Tales and when he rewrites a story and puts it into his own words he seems to simplify everything. I don't know if it is because he is a perfectionist and only wants to use words that he knows he can spell, and simple punctuation or if he is lazy and hates editing and rewriting. Possibly a combination of both. Writing is the worst part of our day. I am not even sure where to start. I own Writing Tales, Killagon sentence composing for Elementary, and just ordered CAP Writing and Rhetoric, and Jumping In. I keep buying more curriculum trying to find the magic bullet but luckily I haven't used any of it except the Writing Tales which we began with at the start of the year and the 10 minute free writing prompts from Jumping in. Any advice would be appreciated.

PS....I keep trying to convince dear hubby of mine that a bee hive is a needed homeschooling tool but he isn't buying it . But I won on bat houses and the kids love watching our bats come out at night and eat some of the millions of mosquitoes that inhabit our area.

We also do not have formal science or a science curriculum. We do have some wonderful science museums within an hour's drive and try to go often. Especially when they change exhibits or have a special feature. We also have quite a bit of science equipment at the house that the kids can and do use whenever they want. I found most of it at yard sales. A microscope and prepared slides. A balance, weather kit that is permanently up so they can measure temp, wind speed and direction, rain gauges, rock specimens in a egg crate and books with beautiful pictures and descriptions so they can keep collecting. The kids have their own tool boxes which we add to as they get older so they can adjust or work on their skateboards, bikes, and we keep dead appliances and let them gut them at will. Lots of ramps, trees that they might fall out of and break something, tadpoles we collect and grow every spring, ghost crabs we hunt at midnight in the summer , telescope that lives by our back deck. Cameras so they can record changing events and videos they create and learn how to edit and post. We volunteer weekly at the local animal shelter (and no we can not have just one more). A garden that has more weeds than plants because we often forget but every so often have to figure out how to get rid of a persistent rabbit or keep bugs out of without using bug spray. We do well with herbs and dry them as well as make herbal s like elderberry syrup for flu and cold prevention, or Rosemary and lemon to make the house smell good. They can with my Mom and work on cars with their Dad. Science is the easiest subject in the world if you fall in love with why and how and forget about memorizing facts until at least middle school. That is when I Keep a hatchet and plastic bags and gloves in the trunk and a small shovel. But that is another story

Based on what you have said I would look at Growing with Grammar and Writing with Skill. They are not in small workbooks but they have uncluttered pages and a spiral approach written to the student.

Generic Listerine. The yellow non-minty type. This is an anti-bacterial and if you make a solution of half Listerine and half water and sponge it on the dog after a bath it kills the bacteria that live on the animal giving them an overwhelming dog odor. A natural way to break down urine enzymes is white vinegar. It will change the ph balance and after it dries then use baking soda let it sit and vacuum the next day. For a short term solution febreeze makes car clip ons and they are tons cheaper than Yankee candle. Buy a few and put them on your air registers. I like pine.

I am an older mother and gave birth many years ago and then went on to adopt our two youngest. I remember with my 3rd and last birth the hospital and I guess social norms were switching to not giving episoitimies(sp). I did not have epidurals and when the pushing started the ring of fire was the most insane pain. I remember the doctor saying could stretch and almost standing in the stirrups insisting she cut me NOW! Sure there are stitches and a bit of itching and after care, but I don't for the life of me understand being able to do that without the cut.

I lucked into a pub table and stool chairs. Half the time my son stands and does his work while he is in constant motion. I sit in a chair and can go over what he is doing without him needing to be in a chair beside me. This strike of luck changed our day and eased my frustration with his inability to stay still.

I would buy CLE for everything. If I were teaching someone like myself who loved to read then I would go with Sonlight, but my son doesn't learn well from reading so that wouldn't work for us. I already use CLE Reading and CLE Math so I would just round out the other subjects and call it a day.

We used TT and I liked the program. Our big challenge though was math facts and there just wasn't enough practice for my kiddo to memorize and immediately recall the facts and that is so vital as the math gets harder. I added Timez attack so that my son would have his math facts down cold and being an visual online game tied into Teaching Textbooks very well. It has a free version as well. I did decide to switch to CLE and am very happy, but TT got us over the hump and helped convince my son he wasn't bad at math and for me to get the rest of our schedule and materials worked out so that I felt more confident and ready to handle math with him.

Yes this is sitting on our shelf and we aren't using it because of the writing. My son is a decent speller and we loved AAS but I wanted to try something different after skipping spelling last year. This isn't working for us because of the writing. I don't need something as detailed as AAS any longer and thought it would be a good compromise, but I think we will look at Spelling Power since he is an intuitive speller.

This is such a timely topic. I am organizing a lock in at our Air and Science museum and I know people are prone to flaking out. There is a minimum of 10 people required and half of the fee is due when booking the event. I am putting together the trip now and I am definitely going to require the deposit of $25 per person with the remaining $25 due in a month. I am worried that even if they know the deposit is nonrefundable they might still flake out before final payment. I am going to have to put some more thought into this because the last thing I want to do is be on the line for $250. I could piggyback my kids on someone else's group but I think it would be fun to do this with others in our science co-op. Hmmmmm

Exactly and WW2 was the greatest government stimulus program to date.

Yes, CLE math is wonderful. I am not religious and I love it. I tried Saxon....too dry and my son was miserable. Then Teaching Textbooks which was great since it was independent and my son did well with the online format, yet there were gaps in basic fact knowledge and not enough practice for him. I looked at a few other programs and then tried CLE and I can't imagine switching again until we get to higher math perhaps. I also recommend the Key to Series for any child struggling with certain concepts. We did the Key to Fractions workbooks over the summer to solidify common factors and LCD but I am amazed at how much learning is in such a small workbook and how well it explains the concepts.

I have a reluctant reader. I tried lot of tricks. I bought great books. I got rid of screen time and I rewarded reading. I let him stay up later at night, and we had reading time during out school day. He didn't become a better reader. Finally, a switch went off for me. He doesn't like reading because he isn't naturally good at it and the only way to get better at something is to practice. Now at 11 he read aloud to me for at least 45 minutes every single day. He still struggles, he still doesn't like it but we do it anyway. I tell him that practice makes better and when he is better he will like it. I still choose books that I think he will like, usually animal focused, but even if he doesn't like it we do it. I also had to let go of some of my preconceived ideas go. I was always against abridged versions of books but now I can live with it. I want him to have a knowledge of the classics even if he never reads more than a couple in their entirety. If we read Animorphs once in awhile....oh well. He is reading and is almost at grade level. I don't know if that would help you since you have less time with working. But if you do decide to continue you will have to spend the time. There is just no way around it with some children. Other children (only one of mine) seem to be able to learn no matter what and are natural sponges. But that isn't always the case no matter how great we try to teach.

I completely agree. She sounds like a radical unschooler without knowing that is what she is doing. There is more to this story. No one in their right mind just doesn't give a hoot about their kids not learning yet still keeps the house and kids fed and is the fun Mom. She might have just given you a flippant answer about her life and choices because it isn't any of your business. I know that some of the answers I give my family about our home schooling decisions, if taken at face value could seem like I don't care. But the difference is that I care about my kids......I just don't care to explain or justify my choices to everyone anymore.

White Fang My son who is not excited about reading or being read to is really enjoying White Fang.

My 11 year old still does not like to read and will avoid it if at all possible. This means staring at the page and reading nothing sometimes. I tried finding books he would love. I tried alternating chapters and starting an exciting book with him by reading the first chapter. We also limited screen time hoping he would want to read. Instead he can spend hours with lego's, Knex, or making up games. So he is probably never going to voluntarily read for the joy of reading. So I use comprehension reading. We use CLE Reading. He reads a chapter and then has comprehension questions to answer. We also have oral reading for fluency and expression. That reassures me that he can read, and that he is on level and understands what he is reading. Other than that I will continue to take him to the library, we will continue to have quiet time and I strew books everywhere in the hopes he might change, but I am not holding my breath. I still read aloud great books, we listen to them in the car, and we discuss books that I have read and loved. I also had to acknowledge that while reading heavy curricula and living books would have been my dream education, it certainly isn't his. That was hard and I still fight the urge when I see something that is beautifully written and developed.

Two days wouldn't bother me a bit. But as someone else said if you have a chronic condition or illness of any type it would be better to have a plan. During my sons 2nd grade year I specifically chose a couple of workbooks and independent work that could be done in case of an emergency since my husband was very ill for a short period of time. On those days we used Explode the Code and also work ladders and word search books. We also had a few decent things to watch in our Netflix queue at all times. But his favorite was probably watching Planet Earth.

After 5th grade spelling we moved into a vocabulary program. Between vocabulary and editing writing assignments spelling is covered.

I had the same reaction, but it really works well. Hope it works for others as well.

I am going to get thrown out of the Well Trained Mind community for writing this, but I don't think Shakespeare should ever be read until required. They are plays meant to be enjoyed in person or watched. I take my kids to see the plays as often as possible and allow them to watch the movies if they use the original language. My personal experience is that I hated Shakespeare when I read it and couldn't understand why anyone would enjoy it. It was only when I experienced it as he meant for it to be experienced that it made sense and was enjoyable. For me trying to read it, is like expecting a musician to enjoy a beautiful piece of music by reading the notes instead of hearing them.

Mine took naps until 1st grade. With my adult children it was built into their public Kindergarten day. All of the kids brought mats and a blankie and after lunch lay down and either fell asleep or had quiet time. Out of 5 kids, 4 of them took naps as part of their schedule until 1st grade. Home or at school. Only one would stay awake the entire time and read a book or play quietly. When people would tell me we were lucky they napped, I just figured it was part of our schedule. I didn't force them to sleep, but it was a break for them and me. I also think most human beings are sleep deprived these days.