Thank you both; your lists are very helpful!

I have decided to use a Prentice Hall Science Explorer textbook next year for my 6th grader. It is Discoveries in Life, Earth, and Physicial Science. I think that it is the same as the other Science Explorer textbooks, it just integrates the three each year instead of spending one year on each topic. Anyway, following the advice of Ruth (lewelma) I have decided to just select several of the topics and focus on learning about them in the textbook and then going deeper by having her read other books on the topic, instead of having her go through the entire textbook. After letting my daughter choose four of the six topics in the book, it looks like these will be our topics this year (spending one quarter on each topic): 1. Cells - classification, structure, function, processes, energy. 2. Viruses, bacteria, fungi, plants. 3. Matter, elements, periodic table, carbon. 4. Energy, power, thermal energy, heat. My question is, does anyone have any books that they would recommend for this age that would go along with the topics we have selected? I don't necessarily want other textbooks or programs, I just want to be able to go through the chapter in the book, and then give her a book or two the following weeks to read more about the topic.

From 4th grade onward everything is in cursive.

I should probably change my vote to "my house is spotless" because I scrubbed like mad after seeing those pictures! Only took about 45 minutes, though. :D There are some things a photo doesn't capture. My husband is a pastor, and twice he has gone to the home of church members who were being visited by CPS (why they think their pastor has to be there, I don't know). I went with him both times. I learned that if you don't *clean* your house ever...even if you pick up clutter and sometimes move a pile of clothes off a couch...if you don't actually *clean* it...there is a layer of filth that covers all surfaces. Carpet that has not been vacuumed in years does not feel right under your shoes. It might look like it just has cereal spilled on the floor and toys everywhere in a photo, but it is thick with grime and dirt when you touch it. The couch can feel almost slimy. The smell that sticks to your clothes and makes you gag as you drive home (to shower and burn your clothes, lol) is not something that can be photographed. The fleas hopping from the baby to the dog (and back again) wouldn't show up in a photo. I didn't look at the pictures of the bathroom. I just can't. I would either gag or cry.

We live by routine here, so as long as we all stick to the routine things go pretty smoothly. The kids know what is expected of them and when it should happen, so that helps us avoid most issues. There are the occasional tantrums or general whininess, but I give myself a timeout and fix my attitude, and then we are good :D . I am the one who admitted aloud on another thread that I find the nuts and bolts of teaching elementary subjects rather boring, but I knew that about myself ahead of time so that wasn't a dream-killer for me. I never wanted to be a teacher, and I actively avoid teaching in co-ops and sunday schools for this very reason. I don't need the intrinsic motivation of finding pleasure in in teaching (or the subject that I am teaching) to be a good teacher to my children, though, and to continue to do it year after year. I find external motivation through compliments (my children get complimented on their handwriting, how well they read aloud, and the ability to hold a conversation with adults, and those compliments often get passed on to me) and viewing their successes. For example, my middle child was still at a first grade level in math understanding at the beginning of this school year so I put her in MUS Alpha and basically started over with her in math. Today she got a perfect score on a test that included two digit addition with regrouping in Beta. That is major progress and a *huge* achievement for her. We celebrated. :001_smile: Those are the moments that keep me going.

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Make sure you select a filter subscription after you install the add-on; it is a pre-made list of ads to block on common websites. The one I have is called EasyList, and it blocks pretty much everything.

My 8yo daughter is the same way. She likes barbies, fashion, and friends. School...not so much. So I teach her what she needs to know and let her get on with her day. There is nothing I can do to make school fun for her. I don't have the dream homeschool where everyone sits in a circle and holds hands and sings songs, reads endless stories, and does a project to go with every topic they study. My daughter studies what I tell her to each day, shows me that she understands and can use that knowledge, and gets on with her day (usually by mid to late morning) doing whatever she wants. Homeschooling (at least up until the ages I have) is not intellectually filling. In fact, it is often mind-numbingly dull. I try not to transmit that to my children, but it really, truly is. I don't find the different ways of making 10 exciting, nor the days of the week song. Finding all the nouns in a sentence? Please, just let me stab this pencil in my eyeball and get it over with! I think you may have an unrealistic expectation of what homeschooling is, and the needs that it will satisfy within you. When my oldest was in K (or maybe a few months before we started) I started taking college courses online. That satisfied my need for intellectual stimulation. Four years (and one baby) later, I had my BA. I am back to perusing Master's programs, simply because I am feeling that need again. Sadly there don't seem to be enough hours in the day for me to teach all three kids and go to school myself, but the day that I find that I have the time, I am sending off applications. Maybe you can take some college courses, or find some heavy reading, or join a book club, or take an enrichment course (like gourmet cooking) at a community college...something to fill that need for intellectual stimulation? Because I have to be honest with you...homeschooling isn't going to do it for you; maybe not until the high school years, maybe not ever. Or at least, it doesn't for me.

I just recently found out from this board that there is a high school sequal to Jump In, on the author's website. I am excited to try it in a few years since my daughter and I really like the format of Jump In. OP, my daughter used Wordsmith Apprentice last year; it worked to get her writing. No matter how much instruction I gave her, she had a block and just wouldn't write. WA helped her overcome it. This year (and next year) we are using Jump In, and it is doing a wonderful job teaching her how to write different types of essays.

There is a thread on the HS board right now that has an extremely helpful post by lewelma (post #82) on why and how to teach your student to learn from a textbook. Some of the other posts are helpful as well, but this one is a jewel.

Is there any way you can use the Firefox browser? Adblock Plus is free, and you won't see any ads, G rated or otherwise, anywhere.

Ruth, Thank you so much for your post! It shed some light on some things that I have been pondering lately. My oldest is a rising middle school student, and I have been struggling with how to get her past the point of needing to be spoon-fed the material. I didn't want her to reach high school and utterly fail because I expect her to read and understand the material when I give her a textbook, but so many of the middle school courses (especially science) seem to be more spoon-feeding, and I was unsure of how to make the transition. I can see now where we are, and how to get to where I want her to be. Again, thank you!

If I were in your shoes I would only be getting the three R's done with the 1st grader and perhaps a reading lesson occasionally with the K'er, so if you are even getting half of what you have listed accomplished each day, you rock! :D

I think that a lot of it is perspective...if you asked me and the four of my siblings that were homeschooled for a fair amount of time (as in, at least a few grades) those same questions, you would receive some startlingly different answers. I also think that some of these respondents are unable to distinguish the results of nurture and nature. Who's to say that a shy person would not have been shy in a public school setting? A lot of personality characteristics are often blamed on specific circumstances, but personality traits are usually innate (and yes, environment does affect them, but correlation does not equal causation as a rule). Oh, and I have heard some equally horrific tales of public school education (or rather, a lack thereof) both here and in real life. Why is it so common for students to take remedial math courses at my local community college if it isn't because the public schools here are not teaching the students adequately?

My oldest child looked quite a bit like her father and nothing like me when she was an infant (she still does, the only feature she inherited from me is her hair, which she had none of as a baby). When I took her places without my husband (like to the store or the library) I was often asked if I was babysitting her because they could see no resemblance between the two of us. I actually had people look at me with disbelief when I said that I was her mother! Umm...I distinctly remember giving birth to her, lol!

Yes, that is the correct price for the first course (and the second course, which was just released). I think the aptitude test is a valid measure of how well the child will do in the course because it measures the ability to think out-of-the-box, visualize problems, and put different concepts together to tackle new problems, all of which are necessary to do the course. It is less of a math teaching course (although things like LCM, GCF, associative property, commutative property, and working in different number base systems are taught) and more of a course that teaches different ways of using mathematical concepts, even on non-numerical items. It rarely presents a concept and then has the student practice that exact concept (especially after the first 1/4 of the course); many times it will present a concept and then ask questions that appear to be completely unrelated to the concept and the student has to figure out how to apply the concept in a completely different context. This is where the student needs to be able to handle a fair amount of frustration. I don't think there is any harm in letting your daughter take the aptitude test, it is not like they will ban you from ever enrolling in any courses if she doesn't do well at this time (they still want to earn money, lol). It is simply a guage to let you know if she can handle it so you don't end up losing money by enrolling a child who is not ready for it yet - kind of like a small customer service measure that ensures happier customers...the kind who will spend <gulp> $60 every three months on a math course.

If you have some time to read, many of the articles linked on this page have been very helpful to me in dealing with my son. Pretty much everything listed under grace-based discipline, and there are some short articles listed under quick reference for specific topics if you are short on time. These articles (and her book) are what helped me to change how I disciplined my son so that it was more effective (and the opposite of what the Pearls taught, to boot). Basically, I use natural consequences for undesired behavior (i.e. if he doesn't want to clean his room and takes too long to do it, he misses out on the activity following it), and when another is hurt (physically or with words or actions) restitution is made...for example, if he hits his sister he has to do something kind for her (like one of her chores, or giving her his dessert at supper), not as punishment (he has to think of the restitution himself and do it voluntarily), but to show kindness to make up for the hurt he caused.

My kid is exactly 10, so I will send an email at the end of the course. I am working with her on the age-related issues (her pre-test said that she would succeed in the course with the help of a parent), but the need for a student to be able to evaluate whether they have grasped a concept after failing it the first attempt and the wonky scoring system (the system will occasionally give her a weird score, like 1/4 even though she missed none and should have received a 4/4) are both things that I am sure they would appreciate feedback about.

That is why I have be close by when my daughter does the lessons, because one week her average dropped to something like 38%. She just kept plugging away when she had not understood the primary concepts for a topic and was missing exercise after exercise. I really wish the program would give a new set of practice questions for a concept when the student misses them all the first time.

:iagree: 1,000 times over I agree with everything posted above. I have a son that sounds very similar (to the boy above and to the son of the OP), and everyting outlined above works very, very well. My son eats far more often than either of my girls every did...most days his breakfast melds into lunch, there is no discernable break (I allow him to wander away and come back for another muffin, bowl of cereal, serving of scrambled eggs, piece of toast, fruit, whatever he wants). He is a scrawny thing, so he is not overeating, and if I cut him off from eating between breakfast time and lunch time it is a setup for a guaranteed meltdown. He snacks during the afternoon, but not as much. The only way that my son has ever been able to calm himself down is to go to his room. Not as punishment, but as a safe place to express his feelings and then compose himself. When he was younger his other safe place was my lap, but he doesn't choose that as often any more ( :sad: ). It is good that you recognized that he can calm himself down in his room, that is a very handy tool to have! I would second the recommendation of sbgrace to try using positive discipline. I noticed that you used punishment at least five times in your scenario from today with zero success (no change in behavior), so perhaps this will be a more effective method. It works really well with my son. Instead of asking him to clean his room or else..., I ask him to clean his room so that he can watch a favorite show/play with the dog/spread the legos out everywhere and build a huge town/play catch outside with dad...whatever activity is going on next. There is no punishment if he doesn't clean his room, he just has to stay in his room until it is clean and he doesn't get the anticipated reward if it isn't done in a timely manner. I also challenge him sometimes, i.e. "I bet you can't get your clothes put away before your sisters have theirs put away." And I randomly give lots and lots of compliments when I catch him doing what needs done (i.e. "Dude! You already put all of those legos back into the box! Are you really Superman or something? That was amazingly fast!"). My son also calms down when I can get him thinking about something or distracted by a really silly comment, just like sbgrace's son. Logical thinking and a big display of emotions don't happen at the same time, so I have to make him switch from the emotions to the thinking in order to help himself get under control. Hopefully some of these suggestions work for you; I remember days like you described and they were exhausting and draining. :grouphug:

I am using the 3rd and 5th grade Lit sets this year. I can't answer your question about whether it would be ok to use the 6th grade set before the 5th grade set since I haven't seen the 6th grade set. It would probably depend on the age of your student; the lit guides are difficult at grade level, so I would use an earlier set at a later grade before I would use a later set at an earlier grade (if that makes sense!). In other words, I would not use the 6th grade set before 6th grade, but I would be comfortable using the 5th grade set in 6th or 7th grade. I would recommend trying just one of the guides from the 6th grade set and seeing how it goes if you are planning on using it earlier than 6th grade. As far as how the program works, here is a quote from a post I made recently about the lit guides: The way the 5th grade guides are scheduled, one day my daughter reads one chapter, fills in the vocab (her guesses based on context), answers the comprehension questions in complete sentences, and identifies the given quotes. The next day we sit down and go over the vocab together, go over the comprehension questions (important at this age since the books are quite a bit harder than LHOP and it can be difficult for the student to always understand all the events and how one led to another), go over the quote identification, do the discussion questions orally, and assign any enrichment activities that strike my fancy.

I didn't know that the author of Jump In had a high school program (as well as a creative writing program for high school) either! Awesome! My daughter is doing really well with Jump In, and I plan on stretching it out for the full two years. I was excited to see that the teacher's guide for the high school program was laid out similar to Jump In...the Jump In TM is extremely helpful, especially the example essays and grading guidelines. It is one of those rare TM's that actually makes me a better teacher of the subject.

is HARD!!!! Holy COW!!! Is anyone else's child going through the first course (Operational Systems)? My daughter has almost completed the course, she is doing the review at the end, and she is doing stuff that I never did in any of my math classes...things like finding the inverses of numbers in mod7 multiplication. I just looked at the sample for the AOPS Number Theory book, and a lot of the stuff she has learned is in there (it obviously goes deeper than she did, but she could tackle that course with ease now). It is making me think so hard - I sit next to her and we work it out together, there is no re-doing problems so I want to be sure that she is on the right track before she submits answers - that it is wearing me out! They sent out an email letting us know that the second course is now available, and I don't know if I am going to sign my daughter up...if the first course challenges me this much, I don't know that I will be able to help her in future courses. Since there are no videos or any sort of interaction with the lessons (besides an inactive message board), I am the only source of assistance for her. Gah! Somebody else tell me that it is challenging them, as well. I don't want to be the only dunce with an accelerated child here! :D

The tomato dill soup is amazing! That's the only recipe that I have tried, though, lol!

Did y'all read the comments? One lady has some serious issues. Here is one particularly interesting comment she made: I think we found the subtitle to the next edition of the WTM. :D