No, I personally wouldn't drop my 11 year old off at one of those places you mentioned. It's a shame really. My dad and I were just having this conversation the other day. When he grew up here (same town we are in now) he would ride his bike all over and take the bus downtown. I didn't ride my bike all over when I was younger (too many cars by then) but I did ride the bus (and wonder now why my parents allowed that!), got dropped off at the movies, mall, etc. I trust my ds but I don't trust OTHER people. Maybe if we lived in a smaller community or something but not where we live now.

Our property taxes are VERY HIGH and the local school district gets a HUGE chunk of that. If they were doing a good job with the money and they had great schools I'd feel a lot better writing out the checks in April and October. As it is, our school district consistently gets poor ratings. Sports trumps academics. Every time they try to pass a levy it is for something sports related. We attended the homecoming football game a few years ago. At halftime there was a fireworks display that rivaled our city's official 4th of July show. I know people that have gone dumpster diving at the local high school and gotten school supplies, furniture that was not in that bad shape, etc. I think there needs to be more accountability.

Ice cream sundaes or banana splits.

My middle ds will be doing OM4 this year. This is our first year with OM but this is what I plan to do: I will have him read through the syllabus on his own on Friday and have him decide which projects he wants to do. Then we can sit down together and go over anything that needs to be clarified. This will also give me a chance to get any supplies we need together. On Monday I will have him re-read the syllabus as needed. To me it looks like ds will be able to do most of the work independently. In fact that is what I like about OM is the fact that it seems less teacher intensive that a lot of other programs. Of course we haven't started yet so you can take all of this with a grain of salt. :tongue_smilie:

We love it. There is a fair bit of paperwork but it's not too bad. The kids have to check in with their advisory teacher once a week and I have to write a monthly review for each child but that's pretty much it. We like having access to curriculum and other learning opportunities that we wouldn't normally be able to afford.

Cool, thanks!

Maya Madness Set

I don't think there's anything "new" out there. I've looked a lot. Both of my boys did History Odyssey last year. I didn't feel like it was a ton of writing nor was there a lot of library time involved but ymmv. This year I'm sticking with HO for my older ds and younger ds will do Oak Meadow.

I don't have any suggestions for you for cursive but I am just wondering, if your daughter is enjoying italics, why you need to switch. My mom writes exclusively in cursive as well and my boys can read her handwriting although they can only write italic cursive. We use the Getty-Dubay workbooks and they are great. My middle son is also a lefty and his handwriting is beautiful (more so even than my older right handed son). I am also left handed and always get complimented on my penmanship. Just trying to dispell the myth that lefties have poor handwriting. :tongue_smilie:

That hasn't been my experience but I guess it depends on how you define "speaking English". My husband is German and we lived in Germany for many years. Most Germans that I've met do not speak English very well or at all. The few who are fluent are the ones who have been exchange students. We live in the U.S. now and my husband works for an American company that also has offices in Germany. It is an advantage that he speaks German because the German office has so few people who speak English well. I definitely think that German is worth learning. It is, afterall, the language of Dichter und Denker. :laugh:

Thanks abbeyej! This looks great, very helpful.

Thanks for the replies so far :001_smile: Yes, I realize that it sounds silly to change if he likes it, but the thing is he would probably like ANY history curriculum as long as it wasn't truly awful. He has only done HO so he doesn't have any comparison. I don't have a problem with him sticking with HO because he likes it and it works but I guess I was just wondering if he would get more out of OM. The activities and writing assignments seem more creative and I was hoping it would be more challenging/ interesting.

I'm hoping that you can help me to decide what to use for my older ds next year. He's 11 and will be in 6th grade. He's advanced in LA and history is his favorite subject. For history we used History Odyssey Ancients 2. Ds really likes HO and would gladly continue with it next year. He likes writing, he likes mapwork, he likes the timeline entries. I like the fact that it is thorough and it looks (from what I can tell online) that the Middle Ages 2 touches on history in Asia and Africa and not just Europe. What doesn't appeal to me about HO is that it seems a bit dry. I will be using Oak Meadow with my 4th grader and now I'm wondering whether I should go with OM for older son too. OM appeals to me because it seems like the writing and projects require more creative thinking whereas the writing in HO is more just straight reporting of facts. However the first semester of OM6 is Ancients which we've already done this year and it doesn't seem quite so in-depth as HO as far as amount of material covered. Ideas? Suggestions? Thanks!

Dh was the foreign exchange student at my high school!

My sons are 11 and 9 and, up until this year, we'd never seriously used a handwriting curriculum. I'd purchased something for them in K/1st but they hated it so we just stopped. Anyway their handwriting was pretty atrocious and my Mom was always making comments about how she could barely decipher something they had written so I decided to go with Getty Dubay Italics this year. I don't know if it's because they are older but they like practicing now and their handwriting has improved dramatically. In fact my younger son got a comment today from someone about how nice his penmanship is. So, in short, no I don't think 11 is too late. :001_smile:

My oldest ds are the same ages as the OP's kids. I am a bit of an overprotective mom but I wouldn't have a problem with doing what she did. Her kids were together and they had a cell phone and it was a bookstore not an amusement park or a concert or some other busy venue. I think it is important for kids to learn to be independent and responsible and in today's society I think that's really hard. Certainly one shouldn't be leaving their 6 year old in a store or allow their kids to be rowdy and disturb others or destroy merchandise but it's unfair to paint all kids with the same broad brush. If the OP's girls were reading quietly and behaving then I think the store employee was waaaay out of line to call the police. Unbelievable! Like others have said she could have spoken directly to the mom or the girls instead of taking such a drastic step. Definitely call the store manager AND corporate.

We used to live in Germany and did not have a car. Consequently we walked almost everywhere and, although we brought the stroller along when they were smaller, they were able to walk a fair distance by the time they were 3 or 4. We also do a lot of Volkswalking. I highly recommend this as it is a great activity for the whole family. There are usually 5 or 10km walks. My kids could do the 10km by the time they were 5 but there were a lot of breaks and walking at their own pace. Now they are 8 and 11 and we have a pretty good clip going. In answer to your question I think your 5 year old is definitely able to walk the distance you described. Maybe take a stroller at first like others have suggested, but really encourage him to walk as much as possible. I am sure that after a few weeks he will be able to walk the entire distance. Good luck!

Playing outside and riding bikes I count as PE. They also take swim lessons in the summer and have taken ice skating and tennis lessons in the past. We do Volkswalking together as a family activity.