I would say that even one reason on the 27 list is enough not to do it if you really feel strongly about that one reason. (There is a family in our group in which the children do not like read alouds at all. They probably shouldn't do Sonlight. Guess what they are going to try to do this year? ) A handful of the families in our homeschool group use Sonlight right now. I looked into it and found the following as to why I wouldn't use it (but I like some of the lit. choices for fun reading or supplementals to our own history studies): 2 - "hands on" - The kids like the projects that I manage to schedule in. 4 - $$$$$$$ - I can't spend that much. 10 - "enjoy putting together own curriculum" - I don't "enjoy" it, but one of the benefits of HSing is tweaking for each kid's needs. 16 - "4-yr chronology" - I'm sold on this. 26 - "curriculum you can touch & feel" - When possible, I really prefer this. Gotta say that there are enough families using Sonlight that I have been able to look over several IGs and that only convinced me further that I don't want to use it. I didn't see it in my quick overview, but there was something in there about combining kids. I could combine my first two, but then would need to do at least two - and eventually three or more cores at the same time. I'm already strapped for time.

:iagree: We did "summer school light" and are planning to enjoy August - including some trips - and not start our "school year" schedule until after Labor Day.

:bigear: I'm looking at this one and wondering what people who have used it think. (I would buy the package that includes the CDs.)

I second the thought to either split the lesson parts up (speed drill & flash cards at separate times than the lesson). I had another idea - perhaps you could tell him you'd work for X # of minutes (like 20) each day. My second dd doesn't like to do much of any type of schooling. Setting a timer so she knows she only has to work 15 or 20 or 30 minutes (depending on the subject) helps her to focus on the work and to know I can't stretch the lesson out past that time. As long as she is "working" on the subject and not goofing off or whining, the timer keeps going. If we don't finish the lesson, we pick up where we left off the next day. (It is like "loop scheduling" with math work.) Also, if she gets the work done early that I have scheduled, she gets the rest of the "timer" time off to play/draw/color/etc.

Great advice here. *takes notes* I have to echo not trying to potty train at the same time you are HSing. That's one of those "insanity" markers right there. By the way, in our house, I always have an "older" take the trainee to the potty. We rotate through with everyone taking a "day" or just a "time." So, oldest takes Monday, I take Tuesday, next oldest takes Wednesday, #3 takes Thursday, DH takes Friday, back to oldest on Saturday, etc. to take the trainee all day at certain times - we set a timer on the oven to go off so often. Or, if we're all burnt out on it, we just roll through where oldest takes him first time the timer goes off, then me, then #2, then #3, etc. If the trainee succeeds that time, the escort/helper also gets the same treat as the trainee. If the trainee is still dry and succeeds, the treat is doubled. Also, I'll echo not trying to do all subjects right away. I start with a "fun" one (usually one of my afternoon ones like history or science). That's all I do for a week - even if I only plan to do that subject twice per week the rest of the school year, we do it daily that first week. The next week, I add in a "not fun" subject -- usually math or spelling and continue doing the "fun" subject daily. The third week, I add another "fun" subject and sometimes another "not fun" subject and drop down to doing the initial "fun" subject to the regular schedule (twice per week if it is history/science, for example). If things are going okay, I try to go to full schedule on the fourth week. If things are going badly, I readjust things during the fourth week with the same # of subjects and see how it goes. It always takes adjustment when you get started. And remember to try to schedule time for the youngers with you - a game, a read-aloud, something before lunch or after lunch for them to look forward to (and hopefully behave for). If they've really behaved, try to think of something that isn't too much work for you but would be fun for several of the kids (for example, a special drink at the table pretending it is "tea time" or playing in the sprinkler outside or listening to a read aloud or a book on tape or watching a short movie). The idea is that they ONLY get this if they've tried hard all day to be "good." I find the hardest part of HSing is training myself. While I'd like to collapse, hide on the computer, let them all watch a movie, etc., I have to train myself to keep up the discipline (of MYSELF) and save the "rewards" for those days when the kids TRIED HARD (even if we didn't get everything done). If they fight me and complain and make things hard, they don't get the TV (which we don't have, but we do have movies as a special treat) or games or whatever. Good luck. :-)

*meek look* Message received. I'll try to remember to :chillpill: out on the pushing so we don't have those 'imaginary' conversations at our house several years hence.

I'm using WT1 with my young going-into-4th grader. Her writing skills have always been on the low side, so this is a perfect writing program for her age. The author of WT suggests WT for 3rd or 4th grade, but if you have a going-into-2nd grader who has good writing & narration skills, it might be okay. Your child should definitely be able to do a solid narration (a la WTM / WWE2 minimum, IMO) and write a couple sentences on their own at the beginning of the year (even if words are not spelled very well). My first dd would not have been ready for it. My second dd (going into 2nd) would be able to do the narration portion fine, but isn't ready for the writing stuff yet and I've chosen to wait to use WT until she is. I haven't seen any religion stuff in WT1 so far.

My oldest is "mathy" and I allowed her to 'test out' of the first 9 or tests in A Beka 2 because she knew the material. She just kept taking tests until she got to the new stuff (with about three days when I intro's something new or that she didn't remember well enough). My second dd is not "mathy" and will be doing (and breathing easier) all of the chapters at the start of A Beka 2 when she finishes 1 sometime (hopefully) this summer. We're using CLE 4 instead of A Beka 4 to give 1st dd a break and we'll probably switch back to A Beka. She tested out of the first light unit (noting there were a couple concepts not taught in A Beka that CLE assumes are review). She just started the third light unit and there have been only a handful of "new" concepts (mostly with rays/lines/triangles, metric units, and decimals). She prefers to go ahead & do each day's lesson instead of trying to "test out." I've given her the option to just do the "new" stuff but she hasn't taken me up on it yet. :001_huh: I think each kid is different and I'm glad I get to decide which way to do things.

There are (have been) a lot of threads on keeping the toddler-types and preschoolers busy with their own "school" (toy) stuff. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. My (now) 4 yr old was a real terror when she was 2 1/2 for about three months. The house/furniture still has the scars to prove it. My (now) 3 yr old was pretty challenging when he was 2 1/2. That age is just pretty darn hard. My kids all like to be read to. I try to make our afternoon school work revolve around reading on the couch. We do history (SOTW) and science as well as religious studies and other electives in the afternoon together. A schedule really helps us - who is with Mom at any one time and who is watching over different little ones also. For example, when I really need to be spending quality time working on phonics or a math with one of the two olders, the other one can be playing with one or two of the youngers. My oldest can be reading aloud (for the upteenth time) one of the youngers' favorite books. Mine are roughly the same ages as yours & I added my #5 in September of last year. Good luck!

A few weeks (ok - maybe five or six) after #5 is born (and you aren't completely bleary-eyed anymore, but the kids are starting to show signs of chaos from being off-schedule for too long), I'd suggest pulling out SOTW2 and doing some couch-time reading. The olders can color if you have the activity book. History was the first thing we restarted because 1) there was a lot of material to cover & my school year was "shortened" because of my #5 being due in late Sept, 2) the kids LOVE doing SOTW so "school" would be fun when we restarted if we did that, and 3) it was easy to sit & read while feeding the baby. Just a suggestion & based on what I did when I had just had #5. :tongue_smilie:

I used store-purchased flashcards. I made a smattering of my own place value concept cards (there are some to give you an idea of what they look like in the lesson plans & student workbook). I used dominos for combination dot cards. I did make my own 100-number chart (looks something like the back cover of the student workbook) but with more color). My second dd is going to start A Beka Arithmetic 2 when she finishes 1 (30+ lessons to go *sigh*). It starts slowly, IMO, and my first dd breezed through it nicely (sometimes doing two lessons/day when it was reviewing). The slower pace will be welcome as my second dd isn't as "mathy" as my first (as evidenced by us still working through 1). A Beka Arithmetic 3 seemed to start out fast & stay that way until past mid-year when it slowed down and reviewed a LOT. Some people don't like making their own stuff and just having it on hand. If you are like that, purchase what you won't make (or make do with) yourself.

I didn't read these until I was in college & beyond. I like the series & really like Card's series on the women of Genesis (Sarah, Rebecca, etc.). I would say that the previous posters have brought up some good points & you know your children best. What is appropriate for one's mature 12 yo isn't necessarily appropriate for someone else's sensitive 15 yo. (Seriously!) I enjoyed reading Ender's Shadow after reading Ender's Game & discussing the two books in tandem. With some difference in beginnings (because it is from two different character's points of view), it goes over some of the same events from completely different character's views. I wouldn't read either aloud to my sensitive young ones. I am looking forward to some time when my kids will read both and we can discuss them. My oldest (dd8) could probably handle the reading level, but I wouldn't have her read them until she's older (12 might still be too young, we'll see).

Just talked to a mom in my local HS group. She tried Monarch and her daughter was in tears because they couldn't get it to work due to bugs in the system. The mom called & was told that it would be fixed with updates on each Thursday. So, um, just don't get any schooling done until Thursday! Wheeeeee.. Then, when she called to cancel, the phone went straight to "hold" and no one picked it up. She's done K12 before and is now switching to Sonlight. I was shocked that a (IMO) good company like AO would do something like this with a homeschool community that has long memories and a history of word-of-mouth.

We used GWG3 for my dd8 this most recently ended school year. I would say that while dd8 didn't *love* it, it was a hit in our house. I liked it because: 1) the lessons aren't very long (two typed pgs in the student book) 2) eventually, my very-clingy, not-independent dd was able to do the lessons on her own (and this led to the willingness to do her math lessons after I explained the work mostly on her own. Before, she had to have me sitting next to her and paying attention to her every pencil-scratch even when she obviously didn't need any help). and 3) it gave her a good introduction to grammar since I don't do grammar before 3rd grade. She liked it because: 1) the lessons weren't very long, and 2) I only made her do three lessons per week (instead of making it daily work) She didn't like the diagramming. She didn't like that the lines she was supposed to rewrite a sentence on were not big enough for her extremely large and unwieldy handwriting. She didn't like rewriting words or sentences when that was assigned. I plan on using GWG3 when my next dd6 gets to 3rd grade. I plan to use WT1 next year as our writing+grammar together for fourth grade. We did a lot of narration/dictation in other subjects this year and I didn't feel that my dd8 needed a separate writing program. I don't know if we will use any of the other levels of GWG later, but it remains a product that I endorse to help the mom with an independent grammar product to lighten their teaching load at least for one year in one subject. HTH.

With the oil spill in the gulf, I thought it was more understandable that they haven't been able to fix it knowing it is almost a *MILE* underwater. I tend to glaze over at the number part, so I heard "feet" the first several times I heard about it. "Nearly a mile" got my attention. I don't do well with peck & bushel conversions, however.

*Bump* :lurk5:

My personal curriculum for my going-to-be-7-yr-old (middle of summer) shows her going into 2nd grade in the fall. (This would translate to your going-to-be-13-yr-old going into 8th grade in the fall.) All my records for the "state" show she is going into 1st grade in the fall. I'm doing it that way from the beginning. Should I want her to "skip" a grade later, I can. I am allowing her an extra year with the records if she wants to have it. The way HSing is structured in our current state, I can call her "graduated" at a certain age vs. grade level. As to your situation, only you and her can decide. What are her reasons for wanting to be a grade lower? If they are valid, I would give it some thought. If she just thinks school is "too hard," and doesn't want to work diligently, I probably wouldn't think too much about it. If I remember that age correctly (and it has been awhile), sometimes it takes a kid a few extra months for something to "click" vs. their peers. And for that length of time, one feels pretty darn dumb. Once things click, things start to move foward again academically. (This is the whole argument about algebra in 7th vs. 8th vs. 9th because the brain needs the right development and sometimes it literally takes time.) Good luck! :grouphug:

I think the A Beka "Homeschool Curriculum" book is really good at explaining how to teach math topics (using manipulatives or practical hands-on things as well as the nuts-and-bolts of the math problem). They include a huge amount of info in each lesson. I used to do every-single-thing they had in there, but couldn't finish a "math lesson" in less than 1 1/2 hrs. So, we split up lessons and eventually I chose things to do rather than do it all. A Beka Arithmetic is spiral. My kids forget facts really fast, so spiral is a must for us.

That depends on how you plan to teach them. I don't do history on the same day as geography (if we are doing a separate geography which we don't always do), so I can list them both in the same column. I have "reading" as separate than "spelling" and "grammar" so it has its own column. We do spelling & reading daily during the "traditional" school year. I made my own one year and realized that I was flipping pages constantly because I was on Week 6 in math, Week 3 in spelling, Week 5 in history & science, etc. Now, I just make blank planning sheets to each cover a certain # of weeks of spelling, history, etc. I'm still flipping pages, but I don't feel bad about being "behind" or "ahead." I just go to the next block without worrying about which "week" I'm in. Some people like to look at a page-spread to see what they need to do for the following week. You can't do that this way, but it works better for me this way.

:iagree: I was one who you could "push" and I was motivated by the challenge. My mother pushed hard and I ended up a grade level ahead in math from the "advanced/honors" students in my high school through one summer's work. That enabled me to take Calc III and Differential Equations as a high school senior. It changed my college experience & my life (because of when/where I met my to-be-DH). I loved my French teacher in 7th/8th. She pushed hard and we (mostly) rose to the challenge. We got into 9th & on with mediocre teachers who accepted the status quo. I did not go above & beyond and no longer enjoyed studying french. (I was not one to challenge myself without an outside force.) My little brother was one who would collapse into a heap if you pushed him even a little. He worked best with very little stress on him. IMO, it depends on the child and the subject matter. I take my lead from my kids.

:iagree: :tongue_smilie: My dd has improved a lot since we started these two years ago. I would definitely do the "average 10" method to see where your kid is because the level varies quite a bit from day to day. (It depends on the subject level and how closely my dd is paying attention to the reading.) I don't do a formal reading program, so this is my method to help her with reading for comprehension and to gently get her exposed to the type of questions she might see on a standardized test. We are going to skip doing them next year to help her get caught up with the book. I'll do the "c" book when she's in 5th, I think. (She did A in 2nd, and just finished up B in 3rd.)

My kids like to hold their nose when they try to say "King" or another "ng" word. It really reinforces the "nasal" sound to "ng" (vs. gn/kn in reign & knight) for us. (SWR calls /ng/ the "nasal /ng/".) I can't help with /nk/ as we don't teach that as a phonogram.

I'm just going to mention a few things from my own experience. Not counting my baby, three of my four children were "late" talkers. Only one ever met the timeline and milestones at the doctor's office. My second child couldn't do "s-blends" for a long time. (Squirrel was "qwerl" and spell was "pell".) I have a friend who is a speech therapist and she wrote up a great little email to me after hearing my dd's issues to tell me what sounds are age appropriate. She advised me to play some games, not push it, and wait. That dd "grew out of" the problem at the age when my friend said she probably would. She was very clear that some issues are things that can be "grown out of" and some are not. My fourth child is tongue-tied. We chose not to clip his frenum when we found out about it. (This is very contraversial, I've found. I think it might be even more contraversial than whether or not to circ a boy. Seriously.) He will most likely have speech issues. We do a lot of sticking our tongues out at each other to encourage him to stretch it. We do some very specific and very play-like work with him on the few words he chooses to say. That said, we may have him officially evaluated by a professional later. He's only two. Whenever we miss the speech milestone, my pediatrician asks specific questions. They usually revolve around comprehension (does the child know what you are saying). I would assume there are other things to look for that could be non speech related. Just wanted to add what we've seen & done. Good luck! :grouphug:

Growing With Grammar. Not necessarily because of the content or format or anything like that. My kids are the type that you have.to.sit.next.to.them.the.whole.time.they.do.anything. It took a couple of months, but once she realized she could do her GWG3 without me right there reading things to her and pointing things out to her at every step, my oldest became so much more independent in her other school work! This was the first non-teacher-intensive curriculum we've been able to successfully use. Hurray! I'm hoping my second oldest will make that leap to independence eventually too.

I try to keep the 2-4 yr olds out of trouble. If they ask to color/draw with the other two, I let them. I read to them (although not as much as they would like - they keep Grandpa busy reading aloud to them whenever he visits). No plans do do anything formal until the K year when my two goals remain the same: teach 'em to read, have 'em be able to sit still for 30 minutes. Everything else should be fun.