Your advice is VERY helpful! Thank you! I have a meeting scheduled for next week to talk to the virtual school folks and special ed. I've pulled out Apples and Pears to try with DS (I sold Sequential Spelling years ago), and I will probably get a subscription to that Touch Type, Read, and Spell site. It sounds like it would be good for him. We could probably focus on those two things over the summer​.

Insurance doesn't cover ABA in Alabama... Yet. They're working on a law to require it, and it's done well so far, but I don't think it's completely passed yet. So since insurance doesn't cover it, there are very few providers here, even though we have a fairly large autistic population (engineering town). So I highly doubt in home ABA is an option here at all, even out of pocket. I also don't know if there will be age limitations when insurance does cover it. I know speech therapy is covered for autistic kids up though age 9. My son is 10, so he used the 30 visit regular speech therapy allotment (autistic kids 9 and under have no limitation). He has all his sounds now. We just have to practice at home getting him to think about the sounds when he's talking. He skips words or changes wording to avoid the more difficult sounds.

The funny thing is that he'll ask me a question and then not give me enough time to process it and give an answer back before getting upset that I'm not answering his question, and I don't think I have any processing speed issues. :p

All of that is very helpful! Thank you! For math, so far he has been able to do the writing required in math. It's big, but mostly lined up - enough to not get confused in multiplication or long division. He can do the algebra sentences required at his level, etc. The time to think and process is what I've seen with him, so that's a great point. He really gets annoyed when I try to explain something again, and now I know why! 😂 I'll look at that typing program. Sounds like a good choice for him.

Got results from testing yesterday for DS2. He's 10 and in 4th grade. Diagnoses are autism (level 1) and dysgraphia. He is not dyslexic and not ADHD. Processing speed is low. Visual spatial is very high. So IQ is considered invalid at low average. On the Woodcock-Johnson, he scored around 4th-5th grade in reading related items, 2nd grade in writing related items, and 6th-7th grade in math related items. Pretty much what I've seen in his school work. He can zoom ahead in math and doesn't have any problem with math facts or word problems,but he can't write a legible sentence to save his life, and spelling is purely memorization even though he has good phonogical awareness. He wasn't able to apply phonics for spelling. He can decode new words with phonics. Right now he's doing Easy Peasy grade 4 except math (step 2, which is grade 6) and Writing Skills Book A. I switched him to EP (despite hating the name) because he wanted "fun school" like his brothers. By that he means virtual school. His brothers are doing virtual public school this semester because I have a clingy and loud 2 year old and just couldn't teach 3 kids during afternoon nap time. :p Virtual school is going well. Elementary uses Connections Academy. Middle school uses Edgenuity and Plato. DS2 wanted to do virtual school also, but special ed said he needed his evals done first. So I'm going to talk to them now that I have results in hand. My hope is that he can do a year of virtual school (Connections for everything but math, probably edgenuity for math since the school only purchased K-5 Connections, but Plato is also an option for math) and get services such as OT and social skills class (virtual school person wanted to set that up for the county and she was making it happen... Procured a central location which happens to be the elementary near my house). I think this would work ok. I don't think he'd do well with edgenuity in 6th grade and up, but at that point toddler would be older preschooler and hopefully more sane to homeschool around. :) Does this sound like a reasonable plan? I think getting services through the school would be ideal because if I go private I have to drive 45 minutes away, and then I go insane with all the driving back and forth and get stressed out having to deal with 4 kids and being away from home all the time. Services through school would be 5 minutes away. Are there any programs I need to know about for Dysgraphia? We have Windows computers and an Android tablet. The school issued laptops are Macs, but we can't install anything on those by ourselves (but if there is a program he should have listed in his IEP, I could make that happen). DS does not type well yet, so I'll make that a priority. He's done some Typing Instructor, but he just keeps going even though he needs to practice something more. He's using OneNote for his EP assignment lists, and that is going very well. He has checkboxes by each subject and just follows the instructions. If he needs to give output, he makes a new page and types in there. Ok, that's a disorganized novel. 😂 I appreciate any input.

When my oldest went to private school K 7 years ago, he was the only kid that could read already. The rest had no clue (and many of them had been to preK... mine had not). When he started 1st grade at the same school, 3 kids in the class still were not reading. One of those is dyslexic. I don't know about the other two. Anyway, I remember a LOT of FB posts from classmates' moms saying, "Johnny just read a book to me!!!!" during the second semester of K. One of those kids was in the higher reading group in 1st grade. He wasn't reading before K or even during the 1st semester of K. Also, my oldest resisted anything resembling school at age 4. If I was trying to teach him, he'd not even try. But when I let him do the learning on his own and I just answered his questions, he learned very quickly. So he started reading at 4.5 (picked up Go, Dog, Go! and read half of it as my jaw dropped to the floor - we'd never read the book before, and he'd never even sounded out CVC words before). He needed to learn things on his own terms. I've found that 4 year olds are OFTEN like that. :) So he started reading when I completely backed off. I let him play starfall.com, and I answered his questions and I read picture books to him all the time. He picked it up on his own. The K teacher ended up giving him a 2nd grade reader to take home, since he passed all the K and 1st sight word tests in the first month of school. And your child can be very smart and still not learn to read until 5 or 6 or later! :) It's ok. Are you planning to homeschool or send her to public school? I'm still a bit confused on that point. If you plan to homeschool, I wouldn't worry about it. Just go at her pace. That pace may go faster or slower at different times. That's ok. It's the benefit of homeschooling. If you plan to send her to school, I agree with a PP that you should try talking to the actual K teacher. I'd be shocked if kids were entering her class really reading. Maybe they have some sight words memorized from preschool, but then I feel sorry for them attending academic preschools instead of play based. :P Memorizing a few sight words isn't really reading. My 2 year old recognizes the words "oh" and "ham" (weird fixation on ham), as well as my name (which she'll point to and say "Mama"). She isn't reading though. She's just memorized some shapes.

My last pregnancy, my OB sent off a urine sample to be drug tested (without my knowledge). We got a bill from a lab in another state saying that our insurance wouldn't cover it due to being out of network. The drug testing cost $2400! We did end up getting it covered mostly, but it was still considered out of network. I wasn't told the sample was being sent out, so I wasn't given an option to see if the lab was in network. Why they send it out of state anyway is beyond me. What insurance company would consider that in network? The whole thing was stupid on many levels, and the charge was ridiculous. Obviously, I won't be seeing that OB again. When I lived in Canada for a couple years as a student, I had to have outpatient surgery. The total bill, which I paid out of pocket? $300. The charge just to consult with a doctor before outpatient surgery would be that much here. :p My dad got cellulitis while visiting my brother in Canada and had to go to the ER and stay in the hospital a few days. He's had the same issue here in the US. In Canada, he had excellent care, was seen quickly in the ER, and the bill a fraction of the cost of the same exact treatment here in the US. I think here in the US we are shackled by insurance companies. My family's insurance premium is over $1200/month (and that's with the employer paying a big part). I'm lucky that our deductible isn't that high. Most people in this country have a much higher deductible, and many can't afford that deductible on top of the high premium.

My 29 weeker never got referred for anything, but he also didn't have any developmental issues. Anything that was a little on the later side for him was the same for my fullish term babies (36+6, 36+6,and 36+4). So I guess he got lucky. One of my 36+6 kids is the one with sensory issues and possibly autism and dyslexia (getting evaluated in a couple months). He was never in the NICU, or even the hospital. I was surprised when there was no followup for my preemie, as I heard of other NICUs having EI type followup. He met all the milestones for adjusted age though, so his doctors didn't worry about him. Talking was maybe borderline behind, but he transitioned from mostly animal sounds to real words at 2. My current 2 year old (36+4 kid) is in the same process now. That seems to just be how my kids learn speech.

Oldest did private school K and half of 1st,homeschooled from there up through half of 7th. Next kid homeschooled from the beginning up through 4th so far. He is still homeschooling at the moment. Third kid homeschooled from the beginning through half of 2nd grade. Kids #1 and 3 are currently enrolled in virtual public school, so they're at home but are public schooled now. I still have to do some work with the 2nd grader, but the 7th grader is completely independent of me. I've helped him structure a couple essays, but that's it. My 4th grader will either be in the virtual school next year or going to b&m school, because he needs help that I don't feel qualified to give, and going with independent services is expensive and time consuming (providers are 45 minutes away). I may homeschool the first couple years for kid #4, but we'll jump off that bridge when we get to it. She just turned 2. :) I loved homeschooling, but I'm burnt to a crisp at this point, and right now my virtual school kids are getting a better education through the virtual school. Our virtual school program is new this year, but the people running it seem to be doing a good job. They were totally fine with placing my kids where they needed to be in each subject (both tested 3 grades higher in reading and math, so they believed me when I suggested placement). My 4th grader is about to get a psych eval and needs an IEP before doing virtual school, so we're waiting on him.

I don't know about first grade, but the 4th grade science section of the SAT10 was very basic, and my son who had not had formal science (but just read library books) scored very high in that section. My 2nd grader is currently doing public virtual school using a curriculum aligned to NGSS, and the 3rd grade level he's doing is also still pretty simple. He's done what living things are, some very basics of plants (roots, stems, leaves... and a very brief explanation of photosynthesis). It's still very simple. Now 7th grade gets MUCH harder. :p I'm pretty sure my 7th grader is learning more in Life Science than I learned in high school biology 26 years ago. :p But the early grades are still learning to read, so their science and social studies are still very, very simple.

A lady at church used to do that. It wasn't something she could help though. She had previously had ovarian cancer and had surgeries. She now has mesh in her abdomen. She physically cannot suppress the loudness of her sneeze, even in church, due to the break in muscles in her abdomen. Until I learned about this, I didn't realize how much our core muscles are included in a sneeze!

When our Maine Coon had this issue, we heard recommendations to get a larger litter box. Sure enough... that actually worked for us. We used a big Rubbermaid tub instead of the pet store style box. Not sure why it made a difference, but it did.

The year I was pregnant with #4 was hard. I had complications, and school got done only half the time. My kids were ahead in math before starting, so that helped. We did fine when baby came. Newborns sleep a lot. We had a groove going. Then... Baby #4 turned into a toddler and dropped the morning nap. And I'm about to turn 40. I've homeschooled 6 full years as of Last month. I'm TIRED. My 7th grader was not being pushed as much as he needed to be, particularly in language arts. My 2nd grader was doing fine, but I felt like he could have more attention. My 4th grader is being tested for Autism/ADHD/Dyslexia/etc. in April. He needs me one-on-one for most of his school work, and he's way behind in writing because of his issues, not to mention the emotional toll of dealing with his attitude 24/7. We started looking into a local virtual school that has a blended learning thing - 2 days they go to school. But that wouldn't start until next year - you can't just jump in in the middle of the year. It's part of the city school system, and we're outside the city, so we'd need to pay a bit for it. I had talked to them and was planning to learn more in the spring when they have an open house thing. Then just before Christmas break, we got a flyer in the mail from our county school district. They had started a virtual school this year. I sent an e-mail and learned that we could start now. I was hoping to get services for my 4th grader. Unfortunately, since he's being evaluated for autism, special ed said he needed his evaluation done before doing virtual school, as he'll certainly need an IEP. So... my 7th grader and 2nd grader started virtual school. I'm still tempted to put the 4th grader in b&m school, though I'm concerned because that school isn't a very good one, and I'm afraid socially he'll have a lot of problems. So for now I'm continuing to homeschool him. We just finished two weeks of virtual school, and I gotta say, I'm glad I did it. I was scared going into it, but so far we love it. My 7th grader is getting pushed like he needs to be, and he's been learning a lot more than he did all last semester. He is also writing - without complaining. And it's not me being the bad guy. This is what he has needed. My 2nd grader is enjoying his as well (he's doing 3rd grade in the virtual school, though he's 2nd grade on paper still). He likes the LiveLesson classes where he gets to be online with other kids. He would probably really enjoy b&m school. If we were zoned for better schools, I'd be ok with sending him (and possibly grade skipping him to make the academics better). But for now, virtual school is a happy medium. He's getting more personal attention, and he's learning new things. He's able to do more writing that he's totally capable of doing. And since my 7th grader is completely independent, I'm able to do more one-on-one with my 4th grader like he needs. I'm feeling like I'm not being pulled in quite as many directions as I was. I may still end up putting the 4th grader in b&m school sometime this semester. I'm trying to avoid that. And hopefully he can also do the virtual school next year with an IEP in place. At some point, we have to recognize our limits. I hit mine. I could not give full attention to 3 students while also dealing with crazy toddler princess. Taking some of the pressure off me has been so helpful. I'm no longer stressed about 2 of my students. That's huge! They're getting a good education. And frankly, I think my 7th grader is getting a better education than I was giving him. I gave him a good math education, but the humanities are not my strong suit, and I wasn't having him do as much in science as the virtual school has him doing. He was capable of doing more. I wasn't pushing him. Whatever choice we make, we can always change methods later if needed. We may stick with virtual school. We may go back to homeschooling. I will take it one day at a time. Maybe I can do better in a few years when my toddler is a K'er. Or maybe I'll just be done. But the fact is... I have to look at reality. Each year, I'll need to look at the students in front of me and make the right decision for both them AND me. And I have limits. I can't do it all.

Major changes here. Two of mine are doing virtual public school as of last week. My 7th grader is doing Algebra 1, Civics, Geography, and Language Arts through Edgenuity and Life Science through Plato. My 2nd grader is doing grade 3 math, LA, literature, social studies, science, and PE through Connections Academy. My 4th grader is still homeschooling, but I'm focusing more on writing. We're working steadily through Writing Skills Book A by Diana King. He would be doing virtual school also, but he is in the process of getting evals done (scheduled for April), and he'll need an IEP, so special ed suggested waiting on virtual school. He's continuing with his regular math. He is also sometimes watching his younger brother's videos. With toddler mayhem and likely autistic child with possible dyslexia needing more one on one, I needed to outsource my 7th grader especially. He's getting pushed more than he previously was, and he's not getting upset with me asking him to write more. Win win. At the end of this semester, I'll decide what to do next year, and whether to try to do virtual with my middle son. He really wants to go to school, but I don't think he could handle it. And with virtual, he can work ahead in math as always while getting services for writing, plus any accommodations needed in the future will be documented now. All this is definitely not what I imagined at the beginning of the school year. [emoji38] Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

The Connections curriculum and basic layout should be the same between the states. The attendance is the main thing that would be different. There may also be a difference in teachers, as I think you can have local teachers support the program or use Connections teachers. Right now my program is using the Connections teachers, but they want to use their own teacher at some point. They already use their own teachers for edgenuity (so the lecture has the edgenuity teacher teaching it, but that's recorded... Grading and support is being done by local teachers, and my son can go to them for in person help if needed). The main city in my county has a K12 virtual school, and they have both full online and blended (go to school two days a week). I've heard that K12 elementary needs more hands on from the parent, but I'm not sure. It's hard to learn from reviews sometimes. And in both programs, the complaints of busywork are due to the parent not understanding that you don't have to do everything. You have that work available if you need it. I appreciate that the Connections teacher actually told me we didn't have to do all that! :) I think K12 is more online, but I'm not positive. Connections uses regular textbooks (Connections is owned by Pearson), but many of them are in online format only. They're still using textbooks though. They add in Brainpop and Discovery Education videos, plus their own videos that they've created. But those things supplement the textbooks. Connections used Envision Math. K12 has their own proprietary math that everyone complains about. K12 does history and supposedly has a good language arts program. Connections does social studies in the elementary levels, and the science is basic elementary textbook science. Connections includes Zaner Bloser handwriting, but I don't know when/if they ever tell you to do it? I didn't see it in the first 4 LA lessons, though it may have been in parent instructions I didn't read (because my son went ahead and did the lesson without me, as usual). Both platforms will have you do a lesson, then answer some multiple choice questions to verify you understood. Both programs let you go as fast as you want. You just don't want to get behind, as there is a deadline for completion. In connections, it's a bit weird if you're off pace, as the LiveLesson deals with what they're scheduled to learn. My son was put in first semester classes and they're talking about second semester things, but it's been fine. And he'll be changing to second semester math shortly.

Wanted to give a one week update. Well, most of a week. We started Tuesday. My second grader is enrolled in 3rd grade classes at Connections, including gifted and talented LA and math. He loves it so far. As far as busy work goes, you don't have to do any of it. His teacher told me that you only have to do the portfolio items, not the workbook pages that are listed in the lesson. They're there for practice IF it's needed. My son did a week and a half of lessons this week without having any of the workbook materials in hand yet. We held off on completing LA lessons due to lack of the reader, and we didn't start literature yet for the same reason, and also because there is some funky stuff with the schedule due to us starting mid-year. The teacher is going to fix that. Materials came today, so now we can read the things that didn't have an online text available. My son has really enjoyed his lessons this week. His favorite is definitely the LiveLesson sessions. For his level, the teacher does a LiveLesson twice a week - once for LA and once for math. There were about 6 students present at these lessons, so they all got turns answering questions and drawing on the whiteboard. The kids seem to enjoy it. They all say, "Noooooo! Don't go!" at the end. :) The curriculum encourages answering questions in writing, explaining things, etc. So far, this has been fairly simple and not a big deal for my son. The writing is typing, so that makes it a little more fun, I guess. Each lesson has a quick check at the end. It's usually about 3 questions, and it doesn't count against your grade. Every so many lessons, there is a quiz which does count toward the grade, and each unit has a test that obviously counts. They get participation points for attending LiveLessons and are encouraged to keep in touch with their teacher. Work for me... My school does not require me to keep attendance. Yes, I was shocked. I actually CAN'T record attendance in Connections. I tried and was confused when it wouldn't let me. Then I talked to the local program coordinator and she said I didn't have to for either child (7th grader is doing Edgenuity for most classes and Plato science). I do need to discuss things with my 2nd grader, but he's able to do a lot on his own as well. He can watch the videos or read a story. I need to be there for science and social studies to help him pay attention to keywords, which he's not used to doing. I sat down with him and helped him prepare for his social studies quiz, reading through the material again and going over vocabulary. He did very well on that quiz. He just needs to learn to study is all. He's used to immediately knowing everything. ;) I haven't had to upload anything yet, but I have Google Drive app on my phone so I can take a picture to save to pdf and upload easily. The process looks pretty simple. So far this week, virtual school HAS helped me. My 7th grader is completely independent, with the exception of some handholding as he gets used to writing more and actually using his brain to answer questions. Today he did all his classes without asking me for help but one time, and that was because he couldn't submit his answer. It turned out that he needed to scroll down and answer two more questions. :lol: Earlier in the week, he needed me to help him learn to take notes and answer thinking questions. Now he's getting used to the process. He says he's enjoying it so far. He likes edgenuity better than I expected he would. This week, we've been done with school at a reasonable hour, I've been able to work with my 4th grader on writing one on one (he's the one not in virtual school due to needing evaluations done before getting an IEP). I've not been driven completely insane by the toddler. And I even had time to take everyone for a walk midday. So first week has been great. Of course, this is the honeymoon period. Eventually, the novelty will wear off. I'll plan to give a review of these platforms at the end of the semester. I think it does help that I have very flexible virtual school staff. They have been so nice. I've been in contact with the coordinator several times, and she's always happy to answer questions, make changes needed, etc. We had to do testing to verify grade placement, and after they saw the results, it was no problem to stick my 7th grader in algebra and my 2nd grader in 3rd grade everything (he's 2nd grade on paper still). I'm quite happy with my particular school's implementation.

In the less than 3 year old years, just being there, talking, reading, reading, reading, and reading some more, involving them with your every day activities once they're toddling, etc. For example, my almost 2 year old (next week!) likes to help unload the dishwasher and empty the dryer into a basket. I let her do whatever tasks she is capable of doing (with help). I talk to her all day long. We read ALL.THE.BOOKS. I sing to her. We go to library story time each week. My general academic plan is basically that my kids start "school" at age 5 (or the year they would be in K if they attended a b&m school here). Prior to that, if they ask to do any type of K level school lessons, I'll let them do them, but they're not required at that age, and I don't push it. My 3rd son LOVED to "do school" alongside his brothers, often doing random old workbooks so he thought he was doing school when really he wasn't. ;) At 4, he did work through a simple K math program, and he kind of taught himself to read that year as well (2 of the 3 have been early readers, not of my doing). But any "school" done at that age was just a few minutes briefly and only if they asked. My oldest resisted anything that looked like school prior to age 5, so he taught me that formal school wasn't necessary at that age. ;) You don't really need anything formal for preschool stuff - just talk about shapes and colors and numbers and letters when out and about, living your daily life, and reading picture books. No need to make structure of it. That can happen later at a more age-appropriate time. Now if you're not even pregnant yet, I agree with Tibbie... You might want to start with researching pregnancy/birth/newborn stuff. There is a whole LOT there to learn about. :) Midwife vs. OB, homebirth vs. birth center vs. hospital. Breastfeeding vs. formula feeding. Circumcision vs. intact. Vaccination vs. non-vaccination. Soooooo many decisions to be made years before you need to worry about formal education.

Two of mine are about to start virtual school (we enrolled with the local schools Jan. 5, finally got to do placement tests last week, and 7th grader should get login info today... 2nd grader may be a few more days). My 2nd grader will be doing Connections Academy. The curriculum looks like good public school curriculum. Certainly not what I'd choose as a homeschooler, but I'm fine with it for public school at home. I've watched a lot of student review videos and feel comfortable with how it works and the fact that we don't have to do all the "busywork" that people mention. My 7th grader will be doing a mix of Edgenuity and Plato. I think Edgenuity looks really boring. I was disappointed that they didn't purchase Connections for his grade level. But oh well. We're trying this for a semester. If we don't like it, we'll be back to homeschooling next year. But the above quote is what I'm needing here... outside accountability. To the OP, I totally feel you! I only have 4 kids, but #4 has been a clingy toddler that completely disrupts my school day, and I can't work one-on-one with the kids like I would like to. My middle son is very behind in writing (we're in the process of getting evals done - he's likely HFA and may be dyslexic). While focusing on him, the other two fall through the cracks. So I needed something the older could do more independently and get teacher feedback (his feedback will be local teachers) while pushing him in the writing department. My younger is Mr. Independent and could also be doing more than he has been. We'll see if the virtual school helps or hinders. Like any school choice, it doesn't have to be permanent. :) I figured now was a good time to try it, since my oldest will be 8th grade next year, and I will need to outsource him in some manner, especially for composition, which I have decided I am woefully incapable of helping him, even with Writing With Skill holding my hand. My brain just isn't wired to teach writing. Period. I'm a math gal. Even though I have felt like our education at home has been less than stellar this year, the placement tests turned out great... 2nd grader results were 5th grade 3rd/4th month for math and reading, and 7th grader results were 10th grade for math/reading. I don't know if those are grade equivalencies, as I don't know what the test was (Global something), but it was supposed to be a placement test. So who knows. At any rate, the virtual school folks were impressed and said I had done a really good job homeschooling. :) These two have been ahead enough over the years that years like this year didn't totally destroy them, but I need them to get more teacher help, and I can't provide it when I'm trying to walk DS2 through his schooling and deal with the clingy toddler while getting dinner on the table, taking care of farm animals, etc., etc. Something had to give (besides the house, which got let go a long time ago). If we don't like the virtual school, I'll look at online classes for my oldest next year, possibly WTMA. The 2nd grader... I don't know. And the 4th grader will hopefully be able to get into the virtual school so he can receive some services. He just needs an IEP first, so special ed wanted him to wait until after his evals that we already had in motion. Those aren't happening until April though, so he's homeschooling the rest of this year. If I have to, I'll stick him in the local public school for 5th grade, but either way, he needs an IEP because he cannot at all do the writing required for his grade level. And I don't want him going to the local high school (grades 6-12) ever. The vocational school here is awesome, so I would love for him to have access to that, which he would if doing virtual school, but high school is a ways off for him. :) We also have access to K12 through the closest city (and the testing center would actually be closer than the one for my county school), but they don't take folks midyear. They have a blended learning option, that's 2 days a week "school" and 3 days at home, and then they have full online K12 that's available free (the blended learning would be $600/year due to living outside the city). So if we like virtual school but don't like Edgenuity/Plato, I have the option of doing K12 for oldest next year. So far, I've liked the people working our county virtual school. They have been very nice. The elementary school person is knowledgeable about autistic kids' needs, and she even decided to start a social skills class for county autistic students based on my interest in enrolling my son, and the class will be at the elementary just a few minutes from our house. But of course, this semester, he's the one NOT doing virtual school. :lol:

We've been using Hoffman this year, and my kids LOVE it. I got the premium membership, so we just started that last week. Two of my kids are in unit 2 (they were about halfway through unit 2, but then Christmas break = no piano, so we backed up to the beginning of unit 2 when we started the premium thing), and one of my kids is partway through unit 1. The premium membership gives them specific things to do each lesson, and I really like that. I think they'll get more out of practicing knowing which things to do and which hand and how many times, etc. So far, there is only one game available, but they have two more coming soon. For multiple kids, I suppose if they are able to go the exact same pace, they could work together through the lessons and check off things for all the children at once. But ethically, I agree with others to go ahead and pay for multiple kids. Hoffman has put a LOT of work into these lessons, and the videos remain free. I bought 3 premium memberships and find it to be money well spent. And it is so much cheaper than in person lessons, not to mention that I don't have to leave the house and lose half a school day! Obviously, if your child wants to be a concert pianist, in person lessons are the way to go. Kids will outgrow Hoffman eventually. But for early learning, I'm really liking it. I do have a musical background, but I think if you watch the lessons yourself, you'll get the idea enough to help your child if you don't know how to play piano.

My toddler makes educating VERY difficult, so we can't really get going until afternoon nap time. :/ I do have my DS2 come down early in the morning before everyone else is up, so we can get started on writing (we're backing waaaaaaay up in that subject and working hard to get him up to speed). Once the toddler is here, I can't do a whole lot with the kids. She is a Mama magnet. She's also a huge distraction to DS2 and DS3. DS1 can still work through things or sometimes goes into another room to have peace and quiet. But yeah, it's rough. We aren't getting it all done. We are lucky to get math and writing done right now. :p This too shall pass... I keep telling myself that. The toddler will grow into a preschooler and be slightly easier. :) In the meantime, I'm trying to outsource my oldest (trying virtual public school this semester with him and DS3), so I can focus on DS2 and his learning issues, while we wait for toddler to not be a toddler. On a good note, she sleeps VERY well and takes a good 3 hour nap in the afternoon and is down for bed at 7pm every night, so I'll take the toddler mayhem morning in exchange for wonderful sleep!

Definitely chaos. I feel like we're not doing that great lately. We're getting math and LA done. My 7th grader is reading stuff for history and science. But I really do feel like things are falling apart. My toddler will be two in a month, and she's a Velcro girl... And very loud. So I can't do much to teach my kids right now, and it's really weighing on me. My 4th grader needs extra help and is distracted easily, so we've started doing his school before 7am when the others come down. That is helping. On a good note, 4th grader finished speech therapy, so that gets our Mondays back. Going to therapy 45 minutes away took all morning, and the kid that is the slowest and hardest to get going was the one in therapy, so he couldn't work while we were there, obviously, and he isn't independent enough to work in the car. And by time we got home, none of the kids were motivated to do any school work. Just a completely wasted day. On normal days, the morning is spent attempting to get basics done with raging toddler around, then she takes a nap and we do read alouds and attempt to squeeze everyone in real quick before it's time to fix dinner, which needs to be ready at 5. My 2nd and 7th graders both need more one on one teaching time. I just can't make that happen right now. There is only so much of me to go around, and I'm being stretched thin by 4th grader and Velcro toddler. I know this will get better when toddler is closer to school age, but in the meantime, I really need to prepare my 7th grader for upcoming high school. We need to be developing good habits now. Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

The insurance companies require that you pay a copay if your well visit turns out to be a sick visit. Your doctor might be working that under the table a bit but could get in trouble if the insurance company found out. We have to sign a form saying we know that this is a well visit and that anything that turns it into a sick visit will cause a copay to be charged.

Wow, long thread... Re Alabama homeschool laws... You have a huge number of cover schools to choose from. I purposely chose one that only requires reporting attendance yearly. There are cover schools that have very stringent requirements, including monthly progress reports. That would completely kill me. 😂 But it is your choice what type of cover school you use. I know of one that doesn't require attendance, as they assume 365 days of "attendance". Most cover schools don't require testing, though some do. One of my kids has done a standardized test 3 years ago. I found it didn't tell me anything I didn't know already, and the scores themselves were utterly useless. Goodness, the kid scored very high in spelling, and you should see his writing! [emoji14] The law was recently changed to allow homeschoolers to be considered private schools without registering with a cover school, but when I read about it, it looked like you'd have to jump through more hoops (weekly attendance reporting, following the state PE curriculum taught by a certified PE teacher), so I don't think it would be a method someone would use to hide abuse. I imagine they'd just never register in the first place. If they moved, they could probably hide a kid. If you never enrolled your kid in the first place, it would be easy to just keep not enrolling. This kid was adopted though, so he should have been in the system. I think even with more stringent homeschool rules, this kid could have still been kept in a basement. How hard is it to forge a standardized test or a portfolio? Re annual physicals for children... My kids' doctor sees them yearly from age 2 to 6 or 7 (I forget),then every 2 years after that. Public schools here don't require doctor visits, but they do require vaccinations. I think physicals are required for school sports, but my sons' non-school hockey league does not require physicals. I would take issue with any requirement of an annual doctor visit for homeschooled children that they (or their insurance) has to pay for. Alabama does not have the expanded Medicaid/Medicare benefits, so there are likely kids who don't have insurance or whose parents are barely making ends meet to pay for a $1000+/month plan with a ridiculously high deductible and high co-pays, and if they have multiple children, it could really add up and affect their ability to put food on the table. And frankly, Alabama can't afford to give free well child visits to homeschoolers. They also probably can't afford to police extra regulations on homeschoolers. Anyway, I don't think this story really has anything to do with homeschooling. You could have more easily said this would lead to stricter laws on adoptions. Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

I think MCT Island would be fine for a 2nd grader. We borrowed it for a bit when my 3rd kid was 4, and even he understood some of the grammar (language arts is his strength). The deal breaker for my older two kids was definitely the writing. They could not do the writing involved at that age. My 4th grader still couldn't (he's still at the copywork stage and a small amount of dictation). My 2nd grader, with his mad writing skillz, could probably do it no problem. He's sooooo different from the others in the writing department. He LIKED writing early on. He had excellent fine motor skills at a young age. And it just all comes together for him. He's a young 7 and can hand write a paragraph in cursive or typing. My oldest was not able to do that in manuscript until really 4th grade. But I'll also say that you should be mentally prepared to completely scrap your plans 5 times and go in different directions. :lol: In my 7th year of homeschooling, I've finally learned not to do long term planning to that detail. For example, my 7th grader will be in high school in two years. I have absolutely NO IDEA what curriculum I'll use for the different subjects. I research a lot and have a few in mind usually, but I don't write it all down and say, "This is what we'll use," when it's still two years away, because those long range curriculum plans NEVER happen. Never ever. Ask me how many planning spreadsheets I have like that that don't look at all like what we're doing this year. ;) At the moment, I think I have an inkling of what we'll do NEXT year, but even that could change up until the end of next year. Yes, I've changed curriculum in the middle of the year... many times.

I don't think any of my kids would have been able to spend 30 minutes on math at a high level every day. They all love math. They're all good at math. But 30 minutes... not at age 5. My 4th grader's math limit is about 30 minutes. :) My oldest wasn't homeschooled until the middle of first grade, but prior to starting school, we did zero math curriculum. We just talked about math in daily life. He would play with numbers while we drove in the van. The stuff he came up with at 4 and 5 years old just blew my mind. Then he started school (where they used Saxon K in K - b-o-r-i-n-g), and his fun math discussions started to wain. I did let him accelerate when I pulled him from school, but at the same time I've learned as my younger children came along that it's good to relax a bit in the early elementary years. Absolutely go sideways. It sounds like she isn't ready for BA3. That's totally ok. My second son did most of 3A in 1st grade and got stuck when they started playing with squares. He just wasn't ready for that level of thinking yet. So we set it aside and did something else. I haven't even brought it out for my 2nd grader yet. What I would do with a 5 year old like yours... Spend time playing logic/strategy games, talk about math in daily life. Read good math literature that gives her math to think about. Play with math. Let math come up on a whim. For example, the day that my oldest said, "You can't do 2-5." I said, "Yes, you can" and I pulled out a napkin and showed him negative numbers. I never had him do ANY worksheets on negative numbers. I never drilled him on negative numbers. I didn't give him any math curriculum using negative numbers. When he got to negative numbers in 4th grade math (when he was in 2nd grade), he remembered how to add and subtract negative numbers. He had played with them from the age of 5, and that stuck with him. I know what it's like to want to get further ahead with the first kid. BTDT. I'll bet many of us have. :) Thankfully, we have all these wise people here to learn from. I don't see any benefit at all to a 5 year old doing MM4, and I think it would be a quick route to burnout. 5 year olds are still babies. I know they look like big kids when they're your oldest, but they really are still babies. Two years from now, you'll likely have a different child, and she may be more ready to accelerate. But for now, I'd say just play with math. Keep it fun. Keep it relaxed. My 3rd child was an early reader and really is precocious across the board (even had beautiful cursive handwriting in 1st grade! something my other boys absolutely did NOT have :lol:). Since he was reading so well and reading independently, I didn't do any "reading" curriculum with him the last couple years. This year he's doing a language arts class that uses literature to teach grammar, handwriting, spelling, everything, so he's reading for that, but I didn't even do a phonics course with him. He had already picked up phonics naturally and was a good speller, so why bore him with a phonics curriculum? I don't at all regret "skipping" subjects with him that weren't needed at a younger age. He was an eager student (being the youngest during that time), but I limited what we did and focused more on read alouds with him. I started him in K math at 4 on a when he asked basis - 10 minutes a day, if he wanted to do it (he usually did). In K we did a grade 1 lesson each day. Now he's going through a grade 3 book in grade 2. So he's not radically accelerated in the least. He's good at math, he enjoys math. He can solve the tricky Singapore word problems and do the mental math. Could he have gone faster through the curriculum? You bet! He could probably easily be 3 grade levels ahead right now. But he wasn't pushing for that. And in fact, when he was 5, he didn't like a lot of challenge. I've noticed that my kids can't really handle real challenge until 7 or 8, and when they get to that point, they start asking for challenge and really enjoying it. That's when I ramp things up. At 5? Nope. They want easy. Not challenging my oldest at 5 didn't hurt him any. Last week, he was spending an hour a day on Alcumus (Art of Problem solving online game), trying to do the missions... after he already had done a problem set in AoPS Intro to Algebra. I never told him he needed to do Alcumus. I just let him know it was available. Now he likes to challenge himself with it. He enjoys math and still likes to play with math. :) Two engineering parents here who love math and believe it's very important (and fun!). I don't push a 5 year old to accelerate drastically. If they already know K/1/2 math at that age, I focus more on things they don't know (like reading) or I spend the time reading aloud good quality books. I liked the idea above of starting with CWP 1 and doing 3 problems a day. Make that math for the year. Or do MEP year 2, maybe even only doing half a lesson a day. If you want to spend a whole 30 minutes, make it MOSTLY logic/strategy games, online math games, or math oriented literature.