Ria, I can totally relate to your post. I was tired when this yr started, throw in my ds's mental/behavioral problems, a TN to VA move.....tired doesn't even begin to describe how I feel anymore!!! We enrolled our 10th grader in a private school. He loves it and I love not having to work/argue/urge/plan/grade....etc, etc....hours upon hours. It is the best decision we have made regarding his education. I also love homeschooling my younger kids. I can't imagine sending thme to school. But golly, high school sucks the time and energy right out of me. I have one starting high school next year and I am really struggling with what I want to do with her. Part of me simply doesn't know if I have the energy to do it again. She really wants to stay home. She works hard for me and doesn't have the issues that her older brothers had, but the planning/teaching/grading wears me out just thinking about it. Enjoy your freedom and take the time to nurture yourself! :)

I experienced exactly what you described with my oldest child when he was in 7th grade. Ultimately I realized that even though he was lying about doing his work, the problem really was mine. I was not teaching him thoroughly (I was teaching him concepts quickly and sending him off to work on his own.) I wasn't keeping up with my responsibilities as his teacher.......I didn't provide the support that I should have. I didn't provide the accountability I should have. I was expecting him to respond like an adult to our environment vs a child. He was still a child. Once I accepted the fact that the problem was more mine than his and resumed my responsibilities as teacher, his behavior equally became more responsible. Homeschooling a long time has made me fully aware that it is too easy to fall into the trap that somehow we can expect them to go off on their own and do what we expect without negative consequences. That is simply not reality. Reality is that children need constant accountability and boundaries. They are children, not adults. I personally have found that the best answer is hold myself accountable for my lack of parenting direction. When I am firmly present in all educational aspects, they reciprocate in their work output. Sorry if that isn't what you want to hear.

The rules really apply more to deciphering sounds to read vs increasing spelling ability. Some of the basic rules are applicable the majority of the time, but the more difficult level words don't fit neatly into any "rule" box and rules can actually create more problems than help (ask me how I know!! I taught my oldest strictly WRTR until I realized that every word was being spelled phonetically according to rules and logically he was correct, but spelling-wise he was OOHHHHH soooooo very, very wrong!! ;) )

I agree with taking the relaxed approach. We are in the middle of a major move (I am surrounded by 100s of unpacked boxes) and a very nasty stomach bugs is working its way through the kids (double yuck!!) Doing school with my 6 yo is so far down my priority list that it actually isn't even on it!! ;) To answer your other question, I would not use AAS to teach reading. AAS progresses through spelling very slowly. Kids progress through the reading process at a much more rapid pace. I believe children will be at a disadvantage if their reading level is limited to AAS's approach. (good for spelling though. :))

Reading is a brain maturity issue. Recognizing sounds is recall and does not require the same brain development as actually putting sounds together and reading. Doing absolutely nothing and trying again when she is older will probably land you in the exact same spot at the same time as if you keep trying to teach her to blend. She might sight read younger (again, because it is a visual recall vs sounding out).....but I wouldn't recommend that approach either. A better way to educate younger children is with sequencing games and patterns. Math and reading are both actually sequencing based. These visual games strengthen both skills in older children.

I don't use a writing curriculum. When I have tried to implement one, it has driven me crazy. I tend to take writing curricula, take the instructional portions that I like, teach that part along with my own ideas, and create writing assignments that are relevant to our studies. (I have followed this approach for yrs and have graduated one this way with no problems. :) ) I recently read Rhetoric in the Classical Tradition. I second the suggestion. If you aren't clear on where you ultimately want to end up, it will provide an excellent base for formulating your own thoughts for ultimately implementing an independent approach to writing.

I don't really "tweak" since I don't purchase boxed curricula. But I do spend the summer planning choices for individual children. Then I spend a weekend about every 6 weeks writing out detailed daily plans for each child (3rd grade up) for the next 6 week block.

Doran, I understand your emotions completely. Homeschooling during the high school yrs is a totally different scenerio than homeschooling during any other time during our children's lives. We homeschooled our oldest through graduation, though at the time my relationship w/my son did suffer. Now it is like that strife never existed and he is thankful for the solid prep I "enforced." We are sending our #2 (a 10th grader) to a private school this semester and he will go through graduation. He was depressed, angry, and definitely not thriving. Sending him to school was the best decision not only for him, but our entire family. He loves school!! He does his homework w/o complaining(which is hours worth every night) whereas before he argued constantly about doing his assignments for me. He gets out of bed at 530 to get ready for school (he goes to a military academy and formation is at 7) whereas before I couldn't get him out of bed until 9 or 10. My current 8th grader has no desire to go to school. She is a happy, self-motivator. I don't know what we will end up doing several yr from now. But we are planning on homeschooling next yr for sure. I think it is really an individual decision. There is no right or wrong answer, generically anyway. It depends on the given circumstances. Whatever decision you make, you have made in your child's best interest. That is the most any of us can do.

I don't use a LA curriculum for 2nd grade. I use copywork selections and simple conversations/oral work for grammar. If you have a solid grammar base, it is actually a better approach for leading them to concrete understanding. For example, I might start off with teaching them about action verbs. Then we might play a game of action verb charades. From then on, we would start looking for action verbs in their copywork. (simply circling them) Make really silly sentences with long lists of adjs, etc. Nothing says grammar needs to be dull or from a textbook. :)

make sure you choose the USA flag b/c there is an American printer/shipper so you can avoid the conversion rates.

I am doing exactly that with my 6th and 3rd graders. My 6th grader is probably holding back my 3rd grader's natural pace, but I am not overly concerned. She is a natural speller and A&P is teaching her the rules, basic patterns, etc. I has really helped my 6th grader's spelling.

Ditto!! I think SWB has given families an excellent framework for solid academics w/o depriving them of flexibility. :) You are right on there!!!

My personal philosophy is that copywork is to learn to pay close attention to details. I require it to be re-written if there are ANY mistakes. The key here is to make sure that the length of the selection is appropriate for the skill level of the child. If there are consistently mistakes, then the selection is too long for the learning objective. For dictation, it depends on which child and what type of mistake how I deal with it. I don't want to limit my selections by vocabulary, so for my extremely weak spellers, we simply deal with the spelling corrections. Other mistakes (mechanics), I deal with in a more strict manner. I teach from copywork.....they are taught exactly why the sentence is punc, cap., etc the way it is. I make them correct it, but then I require either an original sentence implementing the rule correctly or writing the rule itself.....depends.

We are using Art Across the Ages http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=7150&pc=Fine%20Arts%20and%20Music and Museum Masterpieces http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=7175&pc=Fine+Arts+and+Music next for art history.

I don't follow any style/curricula/path! I don't do cyclical history, I am not currently teaching Latin, and I am very relaxed in the younger yrs. :) You are definitely not alone. I hang out on these boards b/c the women here are serious about educating their children and research curricula, methods, options. I don't know homeschoolers in real life that have that educational philosophy! That is what I love about the WTM boards and WTM in general!!! :)

I am not secular, but I do understand your feelings b/c I am Catholic and the vast majority of curricula are so Protestantly skewed/biased that I won't even consider them. Have you looked at Great Books Academy? They offer curricula across all subjects, lesson plans, support, etc. I have used the Socratic discussions which are excellent. http://www.academybookstore.org/GBAStore/StoreFront.bok

Mortimer Adler's list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I do disagree with your position. I have been homeschooling a long time and have been around many different homeschooling families. Homeschooling is not always the best choice. Sadly, I personally know children that have been totally short-changed in their futures b/c of the education they have NOT been provided. They can't score high enough to get into universities; they have been given no sense of study skills or even time management skills. They have basically sat at home watching tv, playing guitars, and working part-time jobs. My niece and I were having this very conversation last night as well. ( My niece is a 4th grade teacher in a ps and one of my degrees is in elementary ed. ) She has had several children enter her classroom over the last decade that were at home, but obviously not schooled. As I previously stated, I know several similiar families. I personally believe the philosophy that "better at home no matter what" than at school is short-sighted. Yes, there are horrible schools, horrible teachers out there. But there are also many very solid schools or even mediocre schools that provide more promise for children's futures than the lack of educational instruction given at home. If a parent is not fully dedicated to the commitment that homeschooling requires.....the lack of personal space, time, restricted finances, and most of all....the head-on battles that are the result of the teacher-mom hat......than schools just very well may provide a better education than can be provided at home. Obviously dedicated parents can succeed in giving their children a high quality education. That is not my contention. My view is strictly that many parents know their limitations and ARE making the right decision for their children by sending them to school. Also, just because a child is homeschooled does not equally mean they are getting a better education than the local ps is providing.

Sure.....it is the way I love to teach. Simply choose books that you want to read together (anything from picture books to chapter books). Pre-read enough of the story to determine what geography/science/history/art topics relate to the book and plan your activities from there. For example, if they read a book like Little Pear, you could map China, read about Chinese culture, read other books about China (like Ping), make Chinese food, etc. You can alternate books like that with stories like the Tales of Peter Rabbit and study rabbits and maybe learn to read about authors like Beatrice Potter. HTH

My ds took high school chemistry at home and then dual enrolled for chemistry at a university. On his transcript I simply labeled it College Chemistry (and provided the transcript from the university). Also, my ds never took physics in high school. His first experience in physics was last semester at university. I would not say he had an easy time, but he did fine. He also never took pre-cal (full yr) or cal at home. He started dual enrolling in pre-cal 2 up and has consistently made very high As. So, I would think if your ds is strong in math, having the the first exposure at a college would be fine. HTH

If your dd has not written a research paper before, instead of planning how many pages, etc, I would break it down into the process. I would allow approximately 1 week for the gathering of sources and narrowing of thesis, becoming familiar with MLA notation (both bibliography and citing within a paper), learning about notecards, etc. I would allow approx. 2 weeks for notetaking and organizing into an outline (I would personally require a very thorough outline b/c it will make writing easier) 1 1/2 weeks for the rough draft/revision 1/2 week for the final copy. For a very first research paper, I would expect approx. 5 pages. One other suggestion I might make is to plan on doing 2 papers over the rest of the year. I might have the first one be more on the simple reporting research type paper (more factual vs. comparison/contrast) That might help ease into the process. Once the process has been experienced once, an analytical type paper might not be quite as overwhelming.

Hi Robin, It sounds to me like you want her focusing more on report/non-fictiion type writing. You could have her spend the next several weeks learning to write a research paper and have her do that as a totally separate school assignment from the class. For my kids that are in middle school, research assignments are broken down into weeks that vaguely go something like this: week 1: select topic and begin gathering sources (for middle school our topics are totally concrete.....like a very indepth report) week2: begin gathering notes (I spend the beginning of the week showing them how to use index cards, labeling them, writing down the bibliography card (using correct MLA format....http://www.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla.htm), and how to determine what types of subtopics would be relevant for them to find info on, etc.) weeks 2-3: notetaking week 4: organizing, outline, topic paragraph week 5 rough draft.....teach MLA notation, discuss original writing vs. plagarism (a conversation I have repeatedly with my children, yr after yr) week 6: final copy, typed My kids have written about all kinds of dfferent topics for middle school papers.....everything from the life of a manatee to how hydroelctricity works. Try to help them select a topic that is easily researched and broken down into categories for notetaking. I also try to make it something very concrete (not persuasive or requiring any analysis on their part, simply learning to research, organize, and write at this age is enough.) I typically drop all other science and normally writing assignments during this time. It doesn't sound like her current writing assignments are overly burdensome, so I would probably just have her do this in addition to them. HTH

If it were me, I would only do a separate math program for the 2 oldest (each on their own level) and do all other subjects combined (unless there is a huge learning differential.) What are you hoping to cover in history? Modern history or US history? Have you thought about using a spine text with Teaaching Co DVDs? I find them an excellent source for high school history. For that age student, you could even use the college texts that the professors list as their teaching source. I am going to be doing American history with my high schooler next yr and I am going to use Paul Johnson's History of the American People and several different Teaching Co. DVDs. (I bought the high school American history set.....I will have my younger kids watch those as well. I also bought the Civil War series. There might be another one as well, but everything I own is packed in a moving truck, and I can't remember!) I have taught CD geometry (an older edition) and yes, it does have a solutions manual. I am planning on using it again next yr with 2 of my children. For writing, have you consider an online option? That would significantly reduce your teaching/grading time. There are numerous options available. I would post that question on the high school board. I know I remember reading positive things about Bravewriter. Several other online ones have been named, but I haven't used them myself, so I can't remember them. I love Sing, Spell, Read, Write for my little ones. I use only the first grade set and take as long as they need going through it during K and 1. I add in Horizons math and that is all I do for K. I am not sure what you are looking for using with your 7th grader. I am teaching LL from LOTRs with my 6th and 8th graders this yr. They love it. It would be an easy literary analysis course for you to teach to all 3 of your older ones. I would simply have the high school student write more of the analytical essays and the 7th grader write more basic type assignments. If you don't want to go that route, I heard excellent things about Hewitt's Lightning Literature. HTH

I would think a placement test is only indicative of what the publisher expects them to have mastered the prior yr/level. Accurate placement tests would not give only superficial concept questions, but equivalent questions of the concepts covered the prior yr. Simply understanding a concept (like division) is not an accurate grade level description. For example, being able to complete 10/5 is obviously not an equivalent skill as 624/52895. Elementary level math typically is a constant expansion of difficulty of same concepts.....single digit addition, followed by double, triple, quadrouple, etc. If a placement test is simply tests the concept and not the complexity than I think the placement test is a worthless tool.

Beth, I would guess understanding isn't the issue. I would suspect it is the fact that the concepts are entering more abstract areas and that she is still solidly a concrete thinker. Understanding exponents when explained is fine, but actually thinking about it w/o writing it out (2x2x2x2x2x2x2, etc) is abstract. I would back off abstract concepts and let her thrive in the concrete math. I can't answer the question about MCP, though.