I've wondered the same thing. :bigear:

This is our first year.... Approximate times as we don't follow the clock. 8am - Everyone starts rolling out of bed. 8:30 - Breakfast 9am - School officially begins (I say that loosely, today we didn't start until 10am.) Tackle math first since it's the most difficult for dd. 10am - FLL, ETC and Vocab (usually break for 10-15 min.) 11am - Spelling and memory work 11:30 - Free reading (goes off and reads her choice of books until lunch.) 12pm-1pm - Lunch and play outside 1pm - History or Science, sometimes art. 2pm - Structured reading with mom and mom reads books. 3pm - Chores, then she's 'free' until math homework in the evening. Typical school day is from 9am-3pm with lots of breaks and play. Our day would not be this long if it wasn't for my 3 yr. old and his many distruptions, the phone, dogs, door, arguments, etc. 6pm or so she does 1-2 pages of math mammoth. 7:30pm she reads to me for 30 min and I read to her for an hour or so. Lights out at 9pm. Sometimes she'll listen to an audio book as she falls asleep. It's 2:54pm and we still haven't gotten to memory work, reading or chores. DD is in the front yard sledding. Oh well....the beauty of homeschooling. :)

I am not a morning person, so we do quick and easy. Typical morning.... Scrambled eggs. Turkey bacon or turkey sausage and piece of toast. Cereal (non-sugary.) Oatmeal. Fruit, granola and yogurt. I try to avoid syrup or else my kids are bouncing off the walls and then they crash from a sugar high.

:iagree:

Thanks! Got several books! Mad Libs Truth and Grace Memory Book A Reason for Handwriting Days with Frog and Toad The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War All for only $10.85!

Great, thank you!

:iagree:

This is the reason we dropped the program. DD was use to the other paper from ps and the double lines confused her. I love the program, just not the paper.

I needed to hear this. Thank you!

Not to hijack this thread, but what do you mean by 'a lot to manage'? I agree in the sense that there are a lot of cards, manipulatives, games, pieces, etc. Is this what you mean? I have only used RS as a math curriculum (with a little MM) so I have nothing to compare it to. I'm undecided if I like it, as we are moving so slow since dd is having a hard time grasping anything to do with math. Not sure if RS is to blame or if she is not a 'mathy' kid. ETA: we skipped over the taps, claps and songs...

We do RS-B in the morning, along with 1 game. We are only on lesson 33 as it's been difficult for dd (started Aug 16th.) In the afternoon, I have her complete 2 sheets from MM. We only do math 4 days a week. I'm not sure if it's working since we are moving so slow and doing tons of review. I asked this exact question a while ago, with little response. Hopefully you'll get more responses from people who've been doing it longer then us. Sorry, I couldn't be of more help. :bigear:

She attends a classical school 2 times a week and they did SOTW1 last year, so they are on 2 this year.

This is our first year homeschooling and first time dd has ever been exposed to history books (or any type of history, period.) She is an excellent listener, can comprehend and narrate stories (if interested) very well. However, when it comes to history books, she yawns, complains, spaces off, etc. It's so foreign to her and I can tell she's lost as I read aloud.... It's been an adjustment for her as we go down the path of a classical education. I want for her to enjoy history but it's my fault, I allowed horrible books in our house for the first 7 years of her life.....sigh. If it matters, we are doing SOTW2 and I read a lot of the corresponding literature and history suggestions by SWB. Am I the only one to experience this with a child? Will she eventually like it? Suggestion/ideas are welcomed.

Working: Math Mammoth All About Spelling FLL ETC Elemental Science Questionable: RightStart Wordly Wise Work Boxes Pathway Readers (dd is bored) SOTW Out: MFW ECC HWOT - due to the paper syle File Folder System

My dd is enjoying Amelia Bedelia and the Little Pony readers, are these considered twaddle? Is there a list of non-twaddle books for the grammar stage some where? Educate me, please. :)

What are your thoughts on 'If I Could Do It Over Again'? I'm thinking I just need to purchase all of them.

Yes! So glad I bought them too. I needed the extra reassurance from SWB. It's so easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing, second guess myself and then allow panic to set in. I have a tendency to make things more difficult than what they truly are.

I'm only homeschooling 1 kiddo with a 2 yr. old in tow and we never finish before lunch, ugh! When we began this journey, I never imagined we'd go past lunch since finishing before lunch is the norm for many homeschooling mom's in our area. But they all do boxed curriculum.... We begin at 8:30, break from 12pm-2pm (errands, park, etc.) and finish up what ever is left after 2pm. Typically we are done by 3:30pm. This includes reading. If we didn't read so much, we could be done by lunch. DD pokes around a lot and TALKS non-stop, which doesn't help. I wish I knew the secret!

I began training my dd at 2.2 yrs. She did well for 3 weeks but then regressed. We took a break for 2-3 months, began again and she was fully trained. DS, at 2.3 yrs., aked to use the potty and has been trained ever since. He still wears pull-ups at night, however. We've had the occassional accident as well (2-3 a month.) No biggy. I know all kids are different, us homeschooling mom's should know this more than anyone. Sounds like this little boy has regressed and needs time, not pressure. Best of luck to you. Sounds like you are an amazing woman for taking in these kids and holding this mother under your wings. :grouphug:

Any given day (after 4pm) there's an average of 15 kids on our street out playing. This is the first year I've allowed my 7.5 yr. old dd to play out front without supervision. I'm an extremely paranoid parent and have talked her up and down about every threatening scenario possible...drive ups asking to help them find a puppy, offering candy, posing as a friend/relative, etc. She knows she's not allowed to go into friends' houses if I do not know their parents. She knows she is to ask permission before going outside the boundaries we've set. If she breaks one rule, she knows there will be consequences (so far, she's done great.) I was almost kidnapped as a child 2 times and have spoke to dd many times about this. Educate, educate, educate and make sure your rules are understood! We have so many kids who run wild in our neighborhood that we had to inforce many rules.

My children were both adopted internationally. Best advice I ever received was to never let their feet touch the floor for the first year. You hold him, comfort him about every little boo-boo, fall, scratch, etc. Go back to the beginning...rock him, sing to him, lots of eye contact, love, love, love him. Best of luck to you. :grouphug:

:iagree:

2nd Grader: If we go much longer then 20 minutes, nothing gets accomplished. She's over it! But she really struggles.

2003, Guatemala - 18K. I know it's upwards of 30K in recent years, but it's closed. LIved there for 4 months fostering my dd. 2009, Vietnam - 28K. Closed, as well. This included 2 wks in country stay and 3 of us traveling. And yes, we are broke but so very blessed!

We turned my husband's office into the 'school room'. DD gets distracted very easily so when we decided to homeschool I knew we needed a designated area. It's worked out really well.