My kiddos: DD (6) is an avid reader, has a clever sense of humor, a steel trap memory, detail orientated yet asks philosophical questions that adults have a hard time answering. DD (8) despite some LD's (birth defect) is incredibly determined, totally tuned into animals and loves to build with blocks, legos, train sets, etc. DD (22) a people organizer, social butterfly.

If the books you are referring to are your daughter's free reading books, maybe have her start a picture book of her own. After a chapter or a reading period, have her draw a picture of what has happened in the story until she finishes the book. This is a fun activity and know doubt she will also do some writing with it. My daughters love this type of narrating. Plus they have to tell me what the picture is about, sneaking Mom.

I haven't tested my dd6 and am okay with that since I plan to homeschool. Yes, a child's nurturing is vital but one cannot discount their nature. I have an older child (8) who is a special needs kid so I know nature counts for so much of her ability to learn and retain life. However that being said, nurturing her in an educational enviroment is all the more important. My uncle (retired teacher) walked into our school area (our kitchen/dining space) and said "a kid couldn't but learn here." Kids also learn dispite us. I definitely have times where I am not the best "teacher," where I miss opportunities to teach but I am also human and have needs of my own. Children are resourceful and all is new to them. I have lately been thinking of John Gatto's statement "a child could have no educational experiences for fifteen years but be able to 'catch up' with his peers in about 100 days of study"....something like that. Any thoughts?

I knew something was up when my dd at two years old responded to a conversation my husband and I were having. A couple of weeks before Halloween we were talking and I said I didn't really want us to get a whole bunch of C-A-N-D-Y, well my then 2dd said "but mom I want the candy!" Tonight she said something really interesting. I found that my older dd had used a whole brand new bottle of bubble bath for her bath. Of course I said I was disappointed and upset. Well my 6dd says, "Mom is the value of the bubble bath as valuable as your decision to have children?" Ok, I was at a standstill.

Thanks ladies, I really was hoping my MIL would enjoy sharing this part of the journey with me and was surprised she saw it as a problem:( Life as a homeschooling mama!

:lurk5:Ladies you are all invaluable resources!

Congratulations:) both son and mom!

I called my mother-n-law, former 2nd grade teacher, to get some book suggestions for my 6dd (currently reading James and the Giant Peach). She basically suggested that I shouldn't really make it easy for her to read older material, outside grade level, due to content. I agree some subjects in older books would not be wise for a 6yr to read but it's not like I am "not" going to let her read at her level. She pretty much said, "well thats a problem with kids who read outside their grade," as if it was an incurable disease. She also said, "you know the more she reads, the higher she will read." She is only reading a few grade levels ahead. Why should it be viewed as if I should be afraid of it?

I think we will finish FLL1/2 this year, have some fun with MadLibs and next year, try MCT. FLL is slow but I am hoping that the book will be meatier towards the second half. Thank you all for the insight.

Can anyone talk to me about the differences between FLL and MCT? Will FLL 1&2 prepare for MCT? How accurate are proposed grade levels for each? We are moving slowly but alot of FLL is slow, we are skipping many pages. I am not in a rush and I am looking ahead. Better to stick with FLL over the years or MCT? Please tell me your experience with either program. Thank you in advance!

It sounds like your plate is full......take some time off but and here is the but....add in math games (monopoly, dice, chess, etc), science and history videos, books on tape, have the kids write out Christmas lists or any type of lists, have them keep a diary or a journal of thoughts, start them drawing/painting what they are learning from these, load up on a ton of books from the library fiction/nonfiction, and enjoy field trips to museums, science centers or wildlife parks. Life is crazy especially around the holidays, it is okay to take an untraditional approach to "school." Best wishes to you and your family!

"Boxcar Children" is a great series to transition from MTH, Ronald Dahl has a few books that are small chapter books (Magic Finger, Fantastic Mr. Fox), Beverly Cleary's Ralph the Mouse books, DickKing-Smith animal tales, Little House on the Prairie/Big Woods large print version. I think young children are attracted to large print books when choosing a chapter book. My .02 I don't know if you do assigned or have Becca read out loud to you but you could try "those harding looking books" as read alouds to you. It may seem less overwhelming to her to read it with you. Just a thought.

We are doing art appreciation/art history using "Discovering Great Artists." I have constructed an art time line and have chosen six artists from several time periods to study. I do a little research on each artist to discuss with the kids and then we do an art project using each artists' technique. I am looking for art appreciation with this one since neither of my kiddos are artistically inclined.

I have found many activities and comprehension questions that are free online. Instead of buying a packaged program, I am collecting a list of Newberry Award winners along with online sites. 6.5dd just started Winn-Dixie and I found a ton of sites full of suggestions. We can do a lot of these activities or little. She loves the simple comprehension questions that are computerized. Winn-Dixie is set for 4th graders so some of the activities (writing mostly) I wouldn't ask her to do. I am working on an "every book outline"such as what is(1) point of view of the book (2) main characters (3) sequence of events (4) moral of the story (5)similar to another book? Right now I am keeping this mostly oral but I would like to move into more writing using diagrams or something similar. I would also like her to do "book report kinds of things" like make a poster of characters, play act or create a booklet, etc. She is 6 so we are going to have fun! Maybe even do a "Lit Crit" time after the book is read, we will see.

I do assigned reading with my 6.5dd. I have picked out several chapter books for her to read to me, daily 20min. I have picked books that are at her reading level but contain a few words on each page that are above her level. We do reading out loud for just this reason, instructional reading (she would miss those few words), otherwise she picks books below her level for her own enjoyment. I don't really care what books she chooses on her own. We have a silent reading time set aside each day about 1/2hour and then 1hr at night after I have read to them for about 1hr. We usually have a chapter book going for evening reading but we also have picture books. After family and individual reads, I put on a storytape for about an hour. I would encourage your little one to read to you on a regular basis and I would also encourage you to stretch her a little with this reading (at her level). I consider reading out loud to me as school time and all the other reading for enjoyment. Don't get me wrong, she is reading fun stuff...right now it is Winn-Dixie, last book was Ramona the Pest. She read many of the Magic TreeHouse series books. By the way there is a Magic TreeHouse website for kids to get "stamps" for each book read after completing a series of simple comprehension questions....its like a passport of stamps. My dd liked this for awhile. I have read other moms report that their little ones didn't really get into reading chapter books "on their own" until about 6.5 or 7yrs....of course there are those who do much earlier.

Thanks ladies....yes we have done "If the Wolf were an Octopus" I have started to gather online free comprehension questions/activities of various children's books which is sufficient for now.

I am creating my own science curriculum....we are studying the solar system using various books, videos and experiments/activities. We just got bored with various programs, either it was too slow or just not fun. I am following my children's interests at this point and just moving along with that. I don't know what level/grade or even if we are within the "during this grade kids need to be doing/learning this" but I do know that we can't be too off. I would encourage you to dive into what your children are interested in:)

Thank you for the response. Yes, I have been to the website but have not seen any lesson plans only a list of books/stories covered. Might let this one go and just make up my own:)

Can someone tell me more about Junior Great Books? Depth of lessons, reading levels vs grade level suggestions, examples of reads and cost? Thank you

Yes of course, I should have written in my read aloud time...about 1- 1 1/2hrs per day depending on our week. Went ahead and ordered FFL so we can get started with grammar, thank you for the suggestion. I have two very different children so teaching them together is a little bit challenging. My dd8 is missing half of her cerebellum so progress is slow for her but my dd6 on the other hand is zooming....got two extremes here! Really I am posting about my dd6 schedule even though my dd8 can do some of the material (not same reading or math). My dd6 is interested in the origin of words but I am not sure I want to incorporated another program. Any advice on the subject?

Thanks ladies, my dd6 reads 20min out loud to me however it was mentioned to add more time, how much more? My dd8 is reading Henry and Mudge type books and my dd6 is reading Ramona the Pest. I have two very different kids here.

Funny this post was originated one year ago...(the board was down so I wonder if it reposted itself?)...thanks for reminding me if was not computer generated:) Well now that it has been a year...my dd6 still asks questions but they seem to not be so rapid fire. For a long time we kept a journal of questions but now she goes to the library for various books to help her find the answers. Yesterday she asked me "where did the word pumpkin come from?"

Reading through others' posts, I am feeling a little left behind in my teaching....I know don't compare, but am I doing enough? My dd8 (LD) is about where my dd6 is so here goes: Reading: 20mins kids oral read (Ramona the Pest is the current) Spelling: SWR 20words each week Writing/Grammar: Writing with Ease Lv1 (way too easy) but good for handwriting exercises, kids do about 2-3 weeks in 1 week. Math: Singapore 2A plus tangents of outside stuff 3-6pgs daily SOTW: one chapter each week Science: Real Science one lesson weekly + science videos and our own experiments as they come + science reads kids pick Piano: 20min daily, plus 1/2hr of private instruction Poem memorizations Tap, Musical Theater classes Geography 1x week if lucky (dad teaches) I have so many ideas of things to teach or projects to get to but they never seem to happen....just the basics these days. Some days it is really hard because my dd6 can do more but my dd8 makes going on very difficult for she just doesnot have the ability. My dd6 keeps me hopping.

My oldest dd8 sounds similar to your child. She was born premature and with only 1/2 of her cerebellum which controls motor and speech development. We did PT for first three years and speech for another 4yrs. I found tremendous help recently basically in how to help my daughter intergrate herself with the HANDLE institute in Seattle. I do not know where you live but they may be of some help. I learned that my daughter was seeing monocular, had sensitivities to light and of course her vestibular system is out of whack. So much has been explained, it is like looking at my kid with a new set of eyes. The evaluation was done only about two weeks ago and we are following the recommended exercises...I can already see a change in her. Maybe something I wrote can help. Best wishes!

Just keep going.....look ahead to higher level math concepts and work towards those. We are moving quickly too. My dd6 is totally in love with multiplication, totally gets it and now is memorizing the times tables. I picked up a simple multiplication book at Walmart the other day, well she has done about 20pgs in three days. We are going to move into mulitplying double digits soon, next week or so. Just go at your son's pace, fast or slow at times. Go ahead with money, time, double & triple (and so on) addition/subtraction/carrying/borrowing, mulitplication, and division for starters. Keep playing math games too. You are doing terrific!