I start older kids on something independent (usually reading, math if it's a test day, sometimes the independent WWE reading assignments that they have to do before I do the exercises with them) while I clean up the kitchen and get the little ones set. Then I work with the older ones in turn, whichever of them is at a good point to work with me, and I go over their more mom-intensive subjects (Latin, math, writing) and have them complete the rest of their work independently. If they need more quiet, they're welcome to take their work somewhere else in the house, and I think having multiple options is going to be the key for me as my kids get older. Whenever I'm at a good point (and/or when I need to nurse a baby), I do group subjects like history and science with everyone, or I sit down with my preschooler for a few minutes and do things with him. These are three things that make a big difference to me: -One, the schoolroom is the quiet work room. Baby/toddler play is tolerated, but it's not the room for big preschooler noise. The little boys are welcome to listen to history or science or not, as they choose, but if they're in the schoolroom, they're listening, not making lots of noise or showing things to the big kids. They're welcome to play in the playroom next to the schoolroom. -Two, I set the preschooler up with something that he can do on his own (or with minimal help from me), but his reward for playing nicely and letting me work with the big kids when they're at their freshest points in the day comes after, not before; if he bugs me/them multiple times, then I simply won't have time to do things with him later. He knows this and generally responds well to it. -Three, our schoolroom is the baby/toddler safe room, so I would encourage you to find a way to be able to work with the older kids while staying with your toddler. Our playroom is for the older kids; the schoolroom is a no-Lego zone and has the baby/toddler toys in it, so they can play near me while I work with the olders. I like another poster's idea of putting the toddler in a booster at the table with everyone too; mine will scribble with crayons or eat snacks or look at books for a while. And there's always an Ergo so the toddler can see and interact but not get into stuff. I typically am also working with my olders with a baby/young toddler on my lap or nursing. Also, you might swap out big kids -- work with the 9yo while the 6yo plays in the same room as the baby, send the 9yo to work, and then you work with the 6yo with the baby on your lap or something.

I also agree that it's the spacing more than the actual number. One child was easy; two was also pretty easy because they're three years apart -- only one infant (easy but needing a lot of direct care from me) and only one busy preschooler at a time. Three was even easier than two, because again, they're three years apart (actually 3y8m), so the older two were much more independent, able to get their own drinks, take themselves to the bathroom, the 6yo could prepare a couple of simple meals so they didn't have to wait if I was busy with the baby, etc. Plus, they had each other for entertainment and companionship. Four is more laundry, more toys gotten out, and just more in general, and I do struggle to find time/energy to spend with each of the children, but it's also easy because the older kids are now 11, 8, and 4.5, and they're really, really capable of being helpful. I try not to take too much advantage of them, but they can (and do) do things like keep an eye on the toddler outside, buckle the little guys into their seats, unload and put away groceries, do household chores that are actually useful to me (instead of "helping" when it's good practice but ultimately takes longer), clean up without a ton of supervision, etc. My 11yo is particularly fond of caring for the toddler and asks to get him ready for bed and such. The two small boys model after the older two kids, too -- woe to anyone who won't let the toddler put away groceries! And there are plenty of spare siblings, LOL -- if you need a break from one sibling, chances are high that there will be someone else available to play with. Now, five. That's going to be a whole different ballgame, I think, because of the spacing. Four kids close together would have been a lot harder than four kids spread out. In a few weeks, I'll have the two big kids, plus three kids under five, and if I didn't have the older kids, I'd be expecting it to be a ton harder. Some of it may depend on the temperament of the kids too; my 8yo was my most velcro-ish baby (although easy on the general spectrum, not very fussy, not colicky, just wanted to be held all the time until he was 3), and if I'd had another baby when he was barely 2, that would have been really hard. But my current 23 month old is pretty easy-going and has embraced the big boy concept (he decided two weeks ago that he wanted to use the potty and hasn't looked back), so I think that will help. But getting time to work with everyone, even though the big kids are often independent in their learning, will be a struggle. The middle one is the one who tends to lose out, because he doesn't need anything official like the older two do, and he's not one of the babies, so he is always at the forefront of my mind.

My son (8, rising third grader) has been reading the Boys of Wartime series by Laurie Calkhoven, and he really, really likes them. Our librarian recommended them and said they were about 4th-5th grade level. The first one he read (about Gettysburg in the Civil War; we live near there, so I thought the familiarity would endear it to him, and I was right) was really one of the first big chapter books he read. He was a fairly new reader at the time but beyond the simpler series like Magic Treehouse and Ready Freddy. It took him a long time to read (a couple of months, starting at just 4 pages a day and working up from there), and at first he asked me for a lot of help, but he loved it. He's now plowing through the one about Boston in the Revolution, and then there's one about France in 1943. I read the Gettysburg one, and it seemed to be pretty well-written. My son also has the first book in Erin Hunter's Survivors series waiting, but I don't know much about its level or anything. He likes Thornton Burgess's Adventures books too.

Oh, no, you are far from a terrible mom -- these things happen, and it does sound like communication with the parents wasn't spectacular (like, I'd have expected that they would really emphasize to the kids that they needed to be there at 9, and/or to have mentioned it to your DH when he picked them up; the reality is that kids ARE forgetful) -- but man, you really stepped up and made some fabulous lemonade for your children! That's going to take so much of the sting out of missing the skating, especially when they remember it in the future. I hope y'all have a fabulous evening!

I print a few weeks' worth of stuff at once; I've tried printing more, but then if something doesn't end up being Just Right, it's more that is wasted. In theory, I look at my plans once a week and get things ready, but having a couple of weeks' worth already set means that I'm okay if I have a busy weekend and don't get to prep much. For some stuff, I just will have the kids write on the iPad, and then I'll print a few samples.

Well, I think PA is pretty great for the homeschooling community, although the laws could be more lenient. (But once you jump through the hoops, you end up with a nice keepsake of your child's year, which otherwise you might or might not get done. And the laws have a lot of loopholes in them too. You can get a philosophical exemption from vaccinations and don't need a clergy to sign anything.) You have the option to do classes and/or sports/activities at the local public schools. The community at large (at least in the south central part of the state) is very homeschooling-friendly; nobody bats an eye at it, and there are lots of co-ops and support groups. Lots of places offer homeschool day specials or homeschool events/classes or free field trips. State parks are free, plentiful, and beautiful, and you can get a family membership that gets you into about 17 or so historic sites of various types around the state; a family of five only needs about two visits before it pays for itself. At least in my part of the state, the libraries ROCK -- great selections, pleasant staff, lenient policies, e-books, audio books, you name it. Beautiful place to live, plenty of rural areas or small towns, plus short drives to several major cities. Lots of homeschoolers around here. ETA: Weather-wise, we're great. Four distinct seasons, fairly equal in length. We'll have winter, and we've had winters with lots of snow -- but not like New England. We have summer; it'll hit 90 but 100 is rare, and it's not as humid here as areas closer to the water. Just enough heat and cold to make us appreciate the opposites. Might have a few tornado warnings, but nothing like the midwest. Not really prone to natural disasters. Spring and fall are like little pieces of heaven -- stunning and pleasant. (This year, spring has been a little on the rainy side, but it's also been a fairly long spring; sometimes at this time of year, it's 90 and hot in the middle of the day, but this year, it's been pretty nice most days. This is great for us, because we school from July 1 to Memorial Day, so my kids have had great outside time on their break.)

I love the idea of a central library -- you still might have books in other places, especially schoolbooks in current use, but a quiet space with comfy chairs/couch where people can read. . . That is nice. We have a space in our house that is a large-ish hallway -- not enough space to be a full room but too big to waste as just a hallway. So it is our library; it houses most of our books and a couch. The kids definitely do spend a lot of time just looking at or reading random books up there. In your case, I would probably make that open space from the "dining room" to the foyer more of a wall. The floor plan looks pretty open, and you have the openness from the foyer to the living room to keep the foyer from becoming dark and tunnel-like. So if you made the wall between the dining room and foyer a wall (rather than French doors), you'd have more wall space for bookshelves/computer desk. However, I'd probably want the computer desk closer to the homeschool room, so with that floor plan, I might indeed use the dining room as a schoolroom and the library as a library. I do understand the general books not fitting in the schoolroom; that is definitely the case here. But as your kids get bigger, they may need some space from each other, and you may find yourself with one doing math in the schoolroom, one working at the kitchen table while getting help from you as you prep a meal, and one reading quietly in the library. I would plan for that (as you're doing) and have several places that can accommodate a young learner.

Don't have a refurb but wouldn't hesitate to buy one. And when my iPad hits its one-year mark and the standard warranty expires, I will be buying AppleCare. Definitely get a case. I have the Belkin one with the keyboard, which I really like, and I also have screen protectors for it. The kids have all used the iPad, and so far, so good.

Hmmm, that's a great idea too. We're going to be doing the Prairie Primer as a family this year, but FUFI might be a good idea for later too. ETA: Looking at FUFI, I can definitely see using it for the whole bunch of them in a year. By then, DD will be in 7th grade and old enough to read some of Lewis's other works (she's reread the Narnia books a few thousand times, LOL), DS1 will be in 4th grade and can read them to himself (or to DS2), and DS2 will be 5-6 and just a good age to hear them for the first time. And since we haven't done a lot of modern history yet but want to give DD an overview of that before she hits high school, that would fit well with Narnia too.

Thanks, everyone! I think I was wondering about the idea of *assigning* them, whether that was useless as a school thing, vs. *letting* him read them, but I don't think it will be useless to assign at least one.

The thread about 3rd grade reading made me think of this. I read the entire Chronicles of Narnia to my kids about four years ago; they were 7 and 4 at the time. They've also seen the movies, so (ignoring the second one's gross inaccuracy) they know the plots and characters. But I think my 8yo would be about the right age for reading them himself, maybe this year or next. It seems like kind of a silly question, actually, because I think it's totally fine, this far out from me reading it, to have him reread the books (or one/some of them, anyway). I'm sure he doesn't remember many of the exact quotes and would gain a lot from reading them himself. Some of the "magic" will be gone, but he'll discover new things to love. Right?

Yes to all of this. Also, the twaddle-ish books are the ones that mysteriously "have to go back" when I cull the pile. (Our one library lets us renew books a whole bunch of times, like ten, so I usually just renew the whole lot and periodically just take back several bags of books; the twaddle-ish books are the ones I take back sooner.) I will sometimes refuse to read the silly books, or I'll read them once and then say something like, "oh, we've read that one; let's read this one instead" the next time. But if they want to look at/read them themselves, that's fine. As for older kids, they can read what they want, twaddle or not (as long as it doesn't seriously conflict with our family values), but as part of their schoolwork, they're required to read something decent every day.

I'm just having my third grader pick a book of decent quality that he feels like reading. He is currently reading one of the books from the Boys of Wartime series and loves it. But we don't have a set program or curriculum for reading. If there's something specific I want him to read (like that goes along well with our history studies, for instance), I'll assign it, but otherwise, he generally chooses.

I don't necessarily plan specific pages for specific days, because sometimes we are so into something that we want to read more or a lesson is short and easy so we do two at once, and sometimes we only get to read a few pages or need to split a lesson into multiple days. But it definitely helps me to plan on doing these several subjects on Monday, these several subjects on Tuesday (which might be slightly different from Monday -- even if we do math both days, we might do different math on both days), etc. That way, we're still doing the next thing, whether that's a new lesson or continuing one. If, at the end of the year, we realize that we didn't finish a book because we needed to slow it down, that's fine; what's not fine (for me) is if we didn't finish a book because we just didn't get to it. Does that make sense?

The pre-Ker is the hardest one for me to get to -- he doesn't need as much hands-on care from me as the baby (soon to be babies) do, and he doesn't need as much academically as the older kids do, so my challenge this year is to spend a little time with him most or every day doing something with him, even if it's just reading picture books of his choice to him. I feel for you, OP! For us, it seems to work best if, after breakfast, I have the older kids start their reading (while I clean up the kitchen and get the littles ready for the day) and tell the 4yo that it's quiet work time, and he needs to find something to do. I use a version of the workbox system, and I have a couple for the 4yo as well; I fill them with crayons, books, early learning activities (pattern blocks, sewing cards, matching activities, etc.), etc., and I try to rotate the things that are in them often. The deal is that he can work quietly in the schoolroom with everyone, or he is welcome to play somewhere else if he prefers. If we'll be doing history or science or something that he might enjoy, I'll let him know. As I finish my morning tasks, I sit down and work one-on-one with each of the older kids, and then I have them work on their independent stuff. I try to get some time with the 4yo in there too; he seems to do well with having time with me to look forward to, as a reward for letting his siblings do their work. Then we do group subjects, and if need be, the older kids finish their own work.

It does sound icky, but somehow, it works. We boil the egg for two minutes (especially if we don't have free range eggs available), and then we dump it into the lettuce, before adding the dressing. It ends up being mostly yolk, very little white, and as we mix it, it coats the lettuce, and then we add the dressing and parmesan cheese and toss it all together. (No anchovies, and croutons only occasionally.) If too much white gets in, I'll notice that, and it's icky, but the yolk isn't.

Would white noise help? I don't know about melatonin for that age, but perhaps someone else would know if it was safe/helpful. Have you tried keeping any sort of food diary to see if anything is consistent wrt triggering the meltdowns? Likewise, more frequent snacks (especially of protein), maybe, like a small piece of cheese or some nuts every couple of hours between meals? What does tend to trigger them? I'm wondering if there's anything that might empower her to deal with situations. Like, at football, was she mad because she wanted a snack? In that case, I might try making her a little card with pictures of things like a toy/book, water bottle, and snack that she could use before you left the house to help herself feel empowered. "I am hungry, but my card helped me remember to choose whether I wanted an apple or a banana to bring, and I chose the banana, so I can fix my hunger." (Not that you don't necessarily bring snacks, but maybe it would help her to be in control of remembering and choosing it.) Or maybe jot down what triggered the tantrums so that the next time you'll be in a similar situation, you can attempt to pre-empt them. Like, "Last time we went to football, you were mad because you wanted your stuffed bunny. Shall we bring the bunny along this time?" Sometimes it's just a guess, though. ;) I think you are a wonderful mom; sometimes there is only so much you can do to help the dc. Sometimes they just have to mature a bit on their own until they can channel their own intensity a little more productively or learn to express themselves better. All of mine have had moments of being intense in different ways, and it seems to have different triggers -- one would be hungry easily, another needed some more language skills, another wanted to test the limits and see if throwing a fit would yield what he wanted. . . Hang in there, and remember that this will pass. (((HUGS)))

Okay, maybe now I will find it less irritating that the one big branch we go to has the children's room downstairs. (I find it irritating because the hold shelf is upstairs, by the main entrance, as well as next to the quiet computer areas and adult books. And there's often a line for the checkout desk, so it's rather a pain when I'm trying to check out books, and the kids have nothing to do and want to go downstairs, but if they do, we get fussed at for them being unattended.) If you're in the children's room without a child, the librarians will know and would probably become suspicious. In addition, the computers down there are restricted to children only (which is sometimes a pain for me because sometimes I'd like to check my email or something while the kids are playing/looking for books, but I understand the reason for the policy and would rather it be that way than not). One more reason to be grateful for our tiny library branches where it's hard to hide and for the larger branches that have individual use bathrooms in the children's rooms. Ugh, people calling up p*rn and taking care of business at the tables, and dealing heroin in the library?!? What is this world coming to???

Does your library subscribe to e-books? A couple of ours do, and they use the Kindle books. They do have the free e-books (which aren't always formatted as nicely as actual Kindle books, IMO; I don't have a Kindle, just the Kindle app), but they often have actual Kindle books too. For instance, we were able to borrow a couple of the Percy Jackson books through our library; when we check them out, it takes us right to amazon, where it says "free" instead of $6.99 or whatever, and they download just like any purchased Kindle book. They just expire after three weeks. Can anyone get a Free Library of Philadelphia card (maybe for a small fee?)? I know we can, but we're PA residents; I'm not sure if it's open nationally or not, but you could check into it. Not sure what types of books they have, though.

Also, I set up files for each child, one folder for each month of the year (so, right now I have 36, for my three oldest children, although since the almost 2yo is starting to enjoy scribbling with crayons, I should make a folder for his creations too), and I also have a labeled "Inbox." The kids know that if they've written on something, it goes in the Inbox; otherwise, the book goes back into the workbox for that subject. (They know that if they haven't put the book back into the workbox [with its laminated bookmark in place] and/or paper in the Inbox, and the workbox back into the "used" stack, they don't get credit for having finished that subject. No credit means no check in the box for that subject, which means no credit for the day, which means no screen time. This took time to train but reaps huge rewards and saves me time tracking down/redoing bookmarks and compiling boxes each night.) Once I check work that is in my Inbox (and it gets corrected if need be), it either goes back to the book crate/workboxes (if it's a workbook -- crate for things not used every day, workbox for things that are daily/frequent use) or it goes in the monthly file for that child (this makes my portfolio-creating MUCH easier). I try to get to the Inbox every day or two, especially for math (and I will prioritize that over other things), but sometimes it doesn't happen. Systems and pushing the systems until they're automatic. Otherwise, I would go insane with piles of papers and books and water bottles and sunglasses and everything that is needed for several children. (We have pencil boxes for each child's crayons/pencils/pens/scissors/gluesticks/erasers, bins for each child's shoes, hooks for each child's jacket/hat/backpack, small cubbies for each child's sunglasses/EpiPens/speech therapy homework.) I tend to go for overly divided things (tabs, files, bins, cubbies, whatever) so it's less to go through.

I have one of those sorts of kids. As a toddler, she could look at a group of objects and just know how many there were, without actually counting them. I get the same sort of answer from her now about math sometimes -- "I don't know how I did it; I just did." She needs training in the processes for when she hits things that aren't just obvious, so I do help her break them down into steps; I don't care so much *what* method she uses, just that she has one, and one that is more than "I just knew it." Studying Latin has helped this child immensely, because it's taught her to work through a process when the answer isn't immediately obvious.

I define it as a child who just thinks and speaks in numbers, for whom the language of math, the little tricks and puzzles and relationships just make sense intuitively. I would describe my one son as being mathy, and I would describe myself the same way. My husband and daughter are both good at math, but I don't think it's as intuitive to them. Otoh, my husband and daughter have brains that think more in words and that sort of creativity. (That doesn't mean they're good spellers; I think that is more of a math-type logic.) I would consider myself to be a good English student, but I don't feel that I have the intuitive gift of wielding language like my husband does. (And yet, foreign languages come easily to DD and me both, so who knows? LOL.) I don't think the terms "mathy" or "non-mathy" are necessarily bad to use. To me, they're just statements about how the person thinks; they have nothing to do with that person's ability to do well in math. A "non-mathy" student may thrive using different methods/curricula than a "mathy" person, but the same is true of students who are more comfortable with language, or writing, or art, or whatever. I would never write off a student who is non-mathy as never being able to do well in math; I would simply choose different materials to meet that student's needs. (My "non-mathy" student is still advanced for grade level in math.)

Scrambled States! How could I forget that? Love that book!

Yes, Animaniacs' songs for the win! We are going to use this book next year (6th, 3rd, and preK along for the ride). I put it in worksheet form and added notebook pages for each country (GeoScribe, I think, available on CurrClick). We'll get some library books for each country and fill in the notebook pages, look at the flags, maybe look at the currency, maybe try some snacks from each country. For a bargain book, it's quite nice and very colorful: http://www.amazon.com/Great-Global-Puzzle-Challenge-Google/dp/B008W3BEMU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370702561&sr=8-1&keywords=great+google+earth For US geography, we enjoyed using the state books from Sleeping Bear Press (K is for Keystone, etc.); they lend themselves well to multi-grade teaching, because you could have older kids do more research on their own, but the little ones get a little flavor of each state in a predictable format. We did it along with US history, reading each state's book as we came to that state's founding (for the 13 colonies) or that state's admittance to the Union (the rest of the states). I chose to do the 13 colonies as we came to their foundings, because we also had a blank map that we colored as we came to each state, and it was more dramatic that way, one or two states at a time, rather than one big east coast chunk after the Revolution (we also live on the east coast and have been to many of the states, so I wanted to differentiate them a bit). Also, yes, Sheppard Software had some good games, and we're also going to try some of the iPad games like Stack the Countries. And we LOVE the old Carmen Sandiego games for the PC; some of the countries are a bit outdated, but they're still fun games that do teach a lot.

I think Mr. Q might be a bit much for a second grader. Maybe. The experiments don't look like they're too much, but it's a lot of information and vocabulary. I'm planning to use it for my 3rd and 6th graders, and while I think the worksheets are too easy for the 6th grader, the information is good (and a reasonable prep for a high school chemistry class in a few years). I am not sure I would use it with the 3rd grader if it weren't for the 6th grader, unless the 3rd grader was highly motivated; mostly, I think my 3rd grader will enjoy the experiments and maybe pick up a bit of the vocab. So I suppose it would depend on what you wanted the 2nd grader to get out of it.