I have two and know a ton of people who homeschool two children. I even know a few that homeschool an only child! But we have a disproportionate number of people in our community that homeschool primarily for non-religious reasons (or for whom religious reasons are very secondary.) That's the difference I think. In communities where the more common motivation is religious, you see more large families.

My approach was to have a requisite amount of *time* spent on math each day. Throughout Kinder and 1st I noticed my mathy child was finishing in 10-15 minutes what used to take my older child FAR longer to complete. I let her get away with just doing her math fast and moving on to other things through K/1, but in 2nd grade I started requiring at least 30 minutes spent on math a day. Then it was bumped up to 45, and now (in 3rd) it's an hour. The upshot of that was she ended up doing 2 or 3 math lessons a day (and some of those lessons weren't even meant to be done in one day). Everything seemed trivial for a while but eventually she "caught up" to a level of math where the acceleration is not at such a frenzied pace. Based on past trends, projecting it is likely that she will be starting Algebra in 5th grade, at which point she'll be paced at the intended rate of those classes (keeping in mind that pacing is intended for teenagers.) We'll have to re-evaluate what happens after that, I *occasionally* do let her skip (sometimes assignments for elementary school students demand a level of repetition that is just useless and tedious for a child who doesn't need the repetition to 'get it'), but I never let her skip any topic. I felt it was important to make sure she covered every topic in the curriculum to make sure there weren't any gaps. But yeah, once a kid can consistently read a clock, there was no need to keep revisiting the topic - "You learned to read a clock the first time, and you still remember how to read a clock. Skip and move on!"

Thanks all. Yeah, I did end up using it. As we worked through the lessons I noticed that some of the problems used it were actually doing early algebra concepts with large numbers. I do think to spend a lot of time doing iterative subtraction regrouping into the millions would dilute the whole concept of learning the early algebra. And applying the algebra concepts to large numbers is essential, I think, as she intuitively "sees" early algebra concepts with small numbers without having to be conscious of the problem-solving aspect.

Another SotW recommendation here. You may be surprised and find you like history more than you think you do, once you are approaching it on your own terms with the purpose of teaching your children.

I started SotW 1 when my children were 1st and 3rd grade. Honestly my then-3rd grader got WAY more out of it than my 1st grader did. In fact, those same kids are 3rd and 5th grade respectively now, and while we're on SotW 3 now my younger stopped me a few weeks ago and said.. "Wait. I hardly remember ANYTHING from Volume 1. Can I start over?" I don't think it was a waste to do it in 1st grade, but through that process her basic takeaway was social studies basics. The 3rd grader is the one that *really* remembered the narrative. I have no regrets, because at the time read aloud together worked well for our family. But if a friend asked me about it for an only or eldest child I'd advise them to wait a year or two. My oldest incidentally in 2nd grade, we did American History using American Girl historical fiction as a launching point for study. She learned so much from that.

With Duolingo there is embedded grammar instruction but it's not overt. I can say my eight-yr-old figured out concepts like verb conjugation, implied pronouns, and feminine and masculine words without having to be specifically told those things by the app. She learned them through context (which is how it's designed, I think.) She was able to explain these concepts in her own words to me, which I found extremely interesting. I don't know if it still works for complex grammar, but for beginner level, it seems to work for her.

I liked the workbooks as it exposed my children to a lot of literature excerpts that are very different from what we read, but are worth being exposed to a little anyways.

So my accelerated 8-yr-old third grader is using Math Mammoth for math - self-paced. She is in level 5A right now, and in the next chapter, students start using a calculator for problem-solving. Normally I wouldn't think of having a child this young start using a calculator for math. She zips through MM lessons and comprehends things quickly, but she'll still do things like - forget a detail of how to do long division if we are away on vacation for a couple weeks. It only takes her a 2-second reminder to get her back on track, but clearly no matter how quickly she *learns* new concepts, she's still 8 yrs old and her brain leaks out information... I'm wondering of a calculator at this point will enable information being forgotten - but then, re-learning is quick and easy for her. I don't know. Right now I am leaning towards just letting her move on with the curriculum, which seems to be going into tediously large numbers as well as some basic pre-algebra concepts, with use of the calculator, and then maybe doing a refresher set of problems once a week to make sure she retains in her young mind the basics of how do to operations with large numbers without a calculator. Curious if anyone else is in this situation and what they did?

I would say Teaching Textbooks meets this criteria, though it's a bit expensive. Use it at least a year ahead though (so TT5 if you're using MM 4). Yes, even if he's struggling with MM4. I know what you mean about Math Mammoth. My youngest uses Math Mammoth and it is a great match for her. She even accelerates with it. But she is mathy and wants to be a programmer. With my oldest, she made it through MM1 but by halfway through 2 she was crying daily over math. People criticize TT for being behind and simple. And it is a bit. My daughter uses it 1 level ahead even though math isn't her strength. But we keep tabs on her progress, and by our evaluation she is learning a sufficient amount of math, and does adequately on standardized tests in math. More importantly, she is learning it without tears, frustration, or hatred for math.. We don't see her going into a STEM field or anything - and if she changes her mind when she matures we'll help her catch up at that point. For now keeping the "I hate math" vibe away from her is more is more important, and TT does that well.

It's not the alignment to CC that is the issue in all cases, I don't think. In some states some materials have been released that are opposed to some families values. For example, a personal friend with a child in public school (this was New York) sent me a 6th grade reading selection that was a first-person novel from the perspective of a Mexican pregnant 16-yr-old who feels she's hated by racists who also stereotype against pregnant teenagers. That's not the literature discussion many parents want their 11-yr-old having in class. I'm sure Calvert is more judicious with their choices even if they are CC aligned.

I have tried and abandoned all formal science for my two elementary school kiddos. Half the time we'd do a formal lesson and they'd roll their eyes... "we already KNOW this!" I mean they'd enjoy the experiment or whatever, but they weren't learning a whole lot of new stuff. Situation is, husband is a physicist and engineer. I'm a total nerd. We can't walk past a natural phenomenon without offering an explanation. They can't ask a question about the natural world without one of us launching into an explanation. We keep an active family membership to the local science museum, which has reciprocity with science museums throughout the nation. We hardly visit a city without a science museum visit (and thus additional launching into explanations about exhibits.) With membership, about a once a month homeschool science class (with lab) played a role for years. Kids have been on FIRST LEGO League teams and we do sciency stuff with scouts. Kids snuggle up with dad on a regular basis and watch shows like Mythbusters and How It's Made. We go on a lot of hikes. We read LOTS of books. So yeah, we have it covered. My kids get perfect or near-perfect scores on the science section of the standardized test I have them take each year. That said, one time I proctored such a test and I was *shocked* to see the incorrect answers some homeschooled students marked on their science portions. I mean, some of these questions were REALLY basic. So, if you're not science-minded in the home, a curriculum to do a couple times a week probably is a good idea. Most people on this forum are pretty academically nerdy though, and for many I suspect the science curriculum is totally optional.

I only did a trial of Rosetta Stone, and didn't really want to shell out the money for it. I'm not familiar with Elementary Spanish. Duolingo seems VERY similar to Rosetta Stone, with the advantage of being usable on the ipad and being FREE. My daughter will often do a Spanish lesson or two in the car or at bedtime just for fun. I've actually been using it too some.. she enjoys 'competing' with me each week (she always wins!).

Yup. This is why I'm a video game apologist. :) I mean, my kids are NOT playing Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto... games, even more than television, run the gamut in terms of quality. But IMO the highest quality video games are still miles above the highest quality television, because they are interactive. The best television shows still require passivity on the part of the consumer, while the best video games require active creative engagement and problem-solving. With the internet, even social engagement can play a part. My daughters now host a Minecraft Server for their Girl Scout troop. This is after school of course. They are often on the phone with their friends talking about what they are going to build. They plan it out together, determine the space needed, materials needed, what the aesthetics and features they plan. When I was the age of my oldest daughter, if I wasn't watching stupid cartoons, I'd spend that same time on the phone with my best friend talking about what boy I had a crush on for 2 hours. Instead she's talking on the phone with her friends about the dimensions of her architectural creations and the importance of aesthetic symmetry. I consider that a win. :D And if they get into use of Redstone, as is my youngest daughter who wants to be a computer programmer, it's basically learning elementary circuit design.

A couple added Spanish resources: Duolingo - (Free iDevice app) Mi Vida Loca - BBC immersive television show designed for people learning Spanish I have an 8 yr old studying Spanish out of personal interest, and this is ALL she's using, and I feel like she's getting good exposure and is learning quite a bit. Sounds like you are gearing up for a more serious study than she's tackling, but these items might be nice supplements for you.

Well, I'd think that anyone pulled out of regular school and go into homeschooling with parents expecting independence are going to struggle. Those students would be accustomed to someone telling them what to do every minute of the day and would require some transition. Also at older than elementary, there needs to be more discussion, etc. So much of what is taught in elementary is just facts and data and fundamentals. Most people I know who are homeschooling teens (and have been throughout) have their kids in various group settings at that age for discussion, whether it be college community courses, co-ops, literature clubs, etc. Schooling in any kind of formal setting didn't begin for Ancient Greeks until they were 14 yrs old. But I agree with him still for primary students. These conversations however can be pretty organic; they don't need to be formal or require a lot of time, and they certainly aren't required for a lot of what an elementary student is doing. I agree with the advice for computer aid though. With 21st century technology a lot of what a traditional teacher/parent would do can be done with computer assistance. I know with the classical philosophy people are sometimes resistant to this, and to each their own, but in my case, technology is just plain *better* than me at, say, drilling my kids on geography. My kids enjoy it more, learn faster, and I can drink my coffee and post on this forum while they do it. :D I mean, I have nothing against standing there with maps and pointers and map-coloring exercises classroom teacher style if that's how you want to teach/learn geography. It's just not for me, and I don't think it's the necessary way to go.

Prior to complete reading fluency, intensive parent involvement is necessary. For most this means grades K-2 and sometimes 3rd, presuming no learning disabilities or ADHD or anything like that. This is because they need listening and oral reading practice to achieve fluency and need an adult to provide clear and constant direction to stay on task. The good news is, at this level of skill, 1-3 hours daily is all that is really required to get it done. This doesn't mean the child watches TV after that, but at that age the child can learn a lot from independent play activities after core academics are done. (Drawing, scissor skills, play-dough play, cooking, outdoor play, free reading picture books and chapter books, etc.) But a lot of new homeschooling parents think "Oh, I have to do that same 8 hour job that a teacher at public school is" and no, no you don't. That teacher at public school is teaching 25 kids of wildly different needs, not their own children. Once reading fluency is achieved and focus is gained, the hours in traditional studies increase, but the parental hour investment can remain around that 1-3 hours daily mark if they choose curricula written to the child. (Then the parent's job becomes keeping the child on task, providing resources, etc.) The internet makes that easier, too. I promise you Salman Khan can explain long division more clearly and calmly than most parents OR teachers. Don't fight it - just show your child Khan Academy and keep peace in your home. :) I suppose realistically I spent more like 4-6 hours a day if I consider whole education, but some of those hours I'd be spending even if my kids were in public school anyways (leading Girl Scouts, running Lego League Robotics Team, driving kids to orchestra and music lessons and other activities, etc - plus I'd be helping with homework and doing school projects in the similar vein to the various 'extras' we do under the umbrella of homeschooling.)

I wouldn't exactly put Minecraft in the category of other video games, especially when used primarily for creative purposes. But I'm a video game apologist anyways, and I have girls. I know others malign video games a lot more, and I'm told boys have more addictive responses to Minecraft. One of my girls is a Minecraft fantatic and would probably play all day if she were Queen of the World, but she's never given me any grief about logging out.

Thanks! Ordered from Phoenix's link. I wonder if IEW is updating audio to be purchasable as audio files? My daughter uses hers on her iPod and it's a *process* to digitize all the files for her.

The list ages for each class (which they can make exceptions for - I've seen both older than recommended and younger than recommended on class lists) I can't speak to Monuments and Moons, as my children went in to the class already being Minecrafters, but Minecraft does have a bit of a learning curve to it, so it's probably a good idea to try Monuments and Moons. We actually did something similar - they had a short 3-week "Holidays Around the World" class during winter break time as a way to just try it out to see if they were interested in signing up for a class.

"Real Science 4 Kids". Total waste. I can't say I *hate* it, but it was expensive, uses Comic Sans font (ew!) and, we are just a VERY science-y family and I learned the hard and expensive way that there just isn't any science curriculum out there that's really going to do anything for us at the elementary level that we don't already have covered by living our lives and conversing as we normally do.

I actually did for 1 year, my mildly dyslexic DD went three times a week to an OG tutor. For a child without dyslexia, there are tools to take some of the burden off. Click N Kid Phonics *really* took the burden off my shoulders when it came to the onerous and repetitive tasks of teaching phonics. It works. It even worked for my dyslexic child for decoding basics (for encoding, it did nothing). My non-dyslexic child learned both to read and spell from that site lightning fast. Obviously it wasn't the only reading thing we did, but she's a phonics whiz now and I did ZERO other formal phonics instruction with her. We just did read-alouds (me to her, her to me) and things like that. OG is great for a child who needs it, but it SO tedious (not to mention expensive). If a child doesn't need it, I can't see the benefit of doing it. I'm not saying you shouldn't outsource phonics if you want to, but OG is like taking a sledgehammer to a staple if your child isn't dyslexic. There are lots of other reading tutoring services and centers that would probably be a better (and more affordable) match for a typical kid if you want to go that route.

Things like eye-contact, speaking clearly, etc, take practice. This is where certain things like science fairs or FIRST LEGO League or Destination Imagination are awesome experiences for kids. Kids these days are rarely naturally in social situations where their speech, mannerisms, and behavior is being judged by adults - even if they ARE in school. Coaching about eye contact, speaking clearly, answering questions coherently, etc, held a lot more weight when it was in preparation for a judged event.

If you're willing, please? We don't use IEW except for the spelling program. I'm not a fan of the Yahoo stuff and don't want to join another Yahoo group. Kind of you to offer, thanks!

I thought I'd share my thoughts on Minecraft Homeschool. My kids are doing their second class now. We did a 7 Wonders of the Ancient World to try it out first.. my youngest happened to be re-reading SotW Volume 1 (we're on Volume 3, but she announced to me that she didn't remember what we learned from Volume 1 when she was in 1st grade, and she wanted to re-read it independently, so she is.) My feeling of the "history" classes - they are a fun group exercise enrichment activity in architecture of the time period and/or culture in question. If you are doing SotW or something similar, and your child enjoys Minecraft, I do think it's worth signing up for the class associated with the period you're studying just to experience the build. It was cool to see the kids working together and having discussions about how to build the Statue of Zeus at Olympia or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. :) The "class" portion of it though - weak. There are some random videos or reading selections from the internet - sometimes good, sometimes not - and the kids have to complete a simple quiz before they are allowed to log on for the build. That said, it was a novel experience for my kids to have a quiz to complete online that someone besides me was looking at, and see them have the stress (in a good way) of making sure it was done, answers were perfect, etc. The grade on the quiz determines the money (and thus resources) the student can contribute to the build. This month my kids are doing a Creative Writing Class, and as a "class" it's been much better. They're doing Master Chef, and the kids each week go through the process of things like designing a restaurant, a menu, writing reviews of the restaurants of other students, and so on. I do WWE4 with one of my students and WWS1 with another, and this has been a nice spin into creative writing that they seem to be really into and enjoy. For my 3rd grader Minecraft fanatic, she's written more creatively than I've ever seen her write. I was amazed this week that she actually spent 2 days on her "writing assignments" before turning them in to log on to Minecraft for the build - she wanted her menu to be perfect. Anyways - it's purely supplemental, but my kids have really enjoyed it and I feel they are getting something out of the experience. What's nice is the classes are short - generally 5 weeks for a few hours a week, so it's not a big commitment. Probably for most people "Lite" is fine. We do "Advanced" simply because I've the luxury of some extra budget money and since we don't have a co-op or big cover school or anything, I enjoy my kids having this little opportunity to get some feedback from another "teacher" even if it's minor.

No boxed here. In fact, the longer I homeschool (almost 5 years now), the more unschooling we get (with the exception of math - and for one of my kiddos, spelling.) I don't know if that's a function of my style changing or the fact that my kids are more mature and capable of (and interested in) learning independently. Probably both. But - I look to the community for enrichment. My children play with the city Youth Orchestra and have private music lessons (tip: if you have a university with a music program in your community, music education majors can make eager and EXCELLENT teachers for your young ones at a very fair price! I managed that for one of my kiddos.) I have an art degree so art is easily covered. For science, local hiking trails, Girl Scout badges, and FIRST LEGO League afforded my kids the best science education they could have hoped for. The local literary association runs an annual youth writing contest, kids did a candy structure engineering contest locally, and participated in university girls in Engineering day, etc etc etc. Online resources are fantastic too. Khan Academy is a favorite here, DIY.org is a great inspiration for creative hands-on stuff, and for my budding programmer Scratch and Code Academy are also visited almost daily. Of course my advice is founded on the principle of having pretty focused and self-driven kids and a community with a good library system, a state university, a science museum, all in easy driving distance.