I had planned to homeschool since my daughter was born, and when I found out a slot was available in one of the best schools in our city I felt like I needed to let her go. She had been begging me to go for weeks (her two best friends are in her class). It's been a week now and she comes home happy about school everyday. That being said, she has already had homework. Yes--- homework in kindergarten! She brought home last night a page on which she had written the numbers 1-100 and another blank page where she was supposed to do it again (at home not to be turned in), a worksheet where she needed to write in her name, her birthday, her favorite book, her favorite food, her favorite school subject, and something that makes her special (due 9/27), a poem that she has to recite and have people she recites it to sign a sheet (sheet to be turned in on Monday), and for Monday she is supposed to bring in a decorated shoe box with her favorite book in it. Phew--- that seems like even more now that I've written it all down. And she's only in an afternoon class. Needless to say, it's not leaving a lot of time for all I had planned for homeschooling. We're still reading at bedtime a chapter a night. Right now, Dad's in the midst of reading her Pippi Longstocking (her favorite book) for the second time. I have a list of books I'd like to read with her this year (it's on my blog) so hopefully we'll get through those. I've noticed that she'll probably need extra help with handwriting, but with all the writing she has to do for class I'm sure it will come. I'd like to keep doing OPGTR (we're around lesson 90) once a week. I bought Rightstart Math A too (we stopped around lesson 25). I guess I'll just have to see how things go. She seems extra tired at the end of the day too and would like to just go outside and play. And in my opinion, playing is the most important thing to do right now at age 5.

I don't think gender will make much of a difference either. I don't have an age gap like this with my own kids, but my younger sister and I are 5 years 3 months apart. We're best friends as adults, and we have always been close. Don't worry --- it will be great no matter what. :001_smile:

...we have a really crazy situation in our district. We start on 9/7 with a half day in the morning. Then a full day on 9/8, but then have 9/9 and 9/10 off for Ramadan. There's a sizable Muslim population in our town so they shut down those days so they don't count towards attendance for funding purposes (most parents wouldn't have their kids go to school on those days if school was open).

...Lincoln Logs or Tinkertoys might be good options too. We took along our tub of Tinkertoys when we visited my older sister's family a month ago. Her 16 year old son, 12 year old daughter, and 10 year old daughter played with my 5 year old and 2 year old for like an hour with the Tinkertoys. Got to love those old school toys :001_smile:

The first thing on our evening chore chart is "Clean Your Room", which means there is to be nothing on the floor (clothes included) and everything needs to be put away. We start the chart at 730PM. Bedtime is at 8. If the chart's not done (aside from room cleaning, it includes brushing teeth, putting on PJs and picking out clothes for tomorrow), then there's no bedtime story. This is a big motivator for my 5 year old daughter. Tonight there was no story and lots of tears. Guaranteed, the room will be clean tomorrow night. You just need to find a motivator for your DS and DH. What punishment or reward do they get in exchange for choosing to pick up the clothes or not? Once you figure that out, smooth sailing.

I don't use TOG, but what if you taught the weeks that you find too religious how you would teach a unit on mythology. Another option is that you could explain to your children that this is what some people believe but we don't. Even in college the Bible is often taught as a piece of literature so maybe that's a way you could handle it.

I've been wondering at what point to begin FLL myself. Thanks for the SWB quote, Angela. That was very helpful.

I had a different problem from using the grips. My daughter found a way around them and still managed to hold her pencil wrong with the grip on! What I'm trying now is just gently reminding her when I see her holding it incorrectly. I explained to her that princesses (she wants to be one) have to write lots of letters to their subjects and they have to write clearly and beautifully. They do that by holding their pencil properly. So now I just say "princess grip" and she adjusts it. Granted, she still would rather hold it using her claw/death grip, but I'm hoping that baby steps may get us there.

Have an "open house" with friends and relatives to show off their school accomplishments. Then, how about bake a cake and write on it "Farewell Alpha! Welcome Beta!"

The Tale of Despereaux The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Carolinda Clatter - a great tall tale! Fun illustrations too. These three my daughter asked for "one more chapter!" or said "read it again PLEASE!" Picking three is so hard!!!

...but we did do this today.

:bigear: We live in a community that is predominantly Middle Eastern. I look forward to hearing the responses to this one.

Awwwww... a big hug for you! :grouphug: I only have two children, but I completely empathize. I have a girlfriend with 7 children who homeschools and from talking to her it sounds like the key is starting out slowly and building as you get comfortable. Maybe an option for you is to just start with reading, writing and math and get that firmly planted. Then once you feel confident you can add more. Is there anyway you could start earlier in the morning? That may help. I think that workboxes might work for you too. Then you can plan to put a snack or a game or a craft in one of the drawers as they work along to break up the seat work a bit. It sounds like it's a crazy time (the potty training needs to get going here too) so just be kind to yourself. One more thing --- take some time just for you in the morning before you get started. Get up before the kids (I know this is hard. I struggle with it everyday) and do something for you. I find that my day goes the best when I get up 30 minutes to an hour before everyone else, read the Bible or another book, journal a little, meditate on about how I want the day to go (I try to imagine it in my head), say a prayer, and do some light exercise if I have any time left. I'm pretty bad about the exercising. Still working on that one. Everyday that I'm able to do this goes SO much better than the days when the kids roll me out of my bed.

I started blogging in March. My daughter will start K in the fall.

She wanted to do this so bad and she did it!

The next article will read: Michigan Mom joins California mom in Target raid! Maps and globes for all! I just spent way too much at Target myself only yesterday. It's a den of temptation in there! Your post cracked me up :001_smile:

Me too! :lol: We're just keeping it simple here and adding in more as we can. Our plan is a 4 day school week doing the following everyday for 15-20 minutes each: OPGTR Rightstart Math Level A Getty Dubay Italics Book A Read Alouds from Ambleside Year 0 and Sonlight K When we finish the above books (which we will by the end of the school year), we'll just progress to FLL and Level B for math and writing. We're also going to do art, music, cooking, Bible, and some fun geography/world culture unit studies, but all worked into our daily life as part of our regular routine and not called "school". My main goals are that by June 2011 I'd like her to be able to read fairly fluently, write her letters both upper and lower case clearly, understand the math concepts that I've taught, and have a love for learning. If I've accomplished those, I'll be happy.

I agree with those who said mail it to her without a note. She obviously has some serious issues. Don't let her hand you her bag of poo.

I'm planning my K year now too and here's what I'm thinking of doing. All of this based on a 4 day week (we're saving the 5th day for library, trips to the museums/zoo, etc.): Writing - 1-2 pages per day in the Getty Dubay A book Reading - 1 lesson per day in OPGTR. Read alouds everyday (I'm not worried so much about those because we tend to read aloud a ton.) Math - 1/2-1 lesson per day in Rightstart A. Even if we split each lesson in half and work 4 days a week, we'll still finish the book before the end of the school year. This all should end up taking no more than 45 minutes to an hour per day. Then I'm going to add in some unit studies on geography and the cultures of other countries (we'll read books, cook and do art projects with this). We do some sort of art everyday anyway. My husband is planning on doing "Science Saturdays". He's planning on doing some science experiments with them and taking them to do projects at Home Depot and Lowes. I'm just trying to stay flexible and see what ultimately works.

I loved this post. Thanks for reminding me to ask my children what their goals are. I do set some long term, loose academic goals (I was formulating them in the car yesterday as we drove home for 11 hours from vacation). My goals I hope to complete with my daughter by her 6th birthday next June: - Finish OPGTR (we're on around lesson 80 now) - Finish Rightstart Math Level A Doesn't sound like much, but I want to keep everything else very fluid so that we can work at her pace on handwriting (she needs extra help) and follow some rabbit trails in other areas. I'm planning some geography/travel unit studies right now to make things fun. Daddy decided he's going to be in charge of Science Saturdays. Yay!

...that God helps you discover the best choice for your family. :001_smile:

You won't find it at a fair, but I have to throw my hat in the ring for Ambleside Online's Year 0 list. We have enjoyed reading so many of those books.

I think it looks great. :001_smile: We've already enjoyed some of the books on your list, and we plan to read some of the other books you listed. We're actually bringing The BFG on our vacation this coming week. Our list is here.

I admit it. I'm a cheater and haven't read much of CM's original writings. That being said, I love and use Ambleside Online for book suggestions and have purchased the all day seminar on DVD and the Laying Down the Rails book and DVD from Simply Charlotte Mason. The all day seminar DVD has been extremely helpful and has tons of informatiion and ideas. It is totally worth the price.

I must admit --- I am obsessed with looking. Do I actually buy or feel tempted to buy? No. So what I really need to do is reduce my looking time. Like that's going to happen :lol: