There's Go Piano http://www.gopiano.com ; it's online & free

My daughter is the same age, and also hated to read on her own last year. It got to the point where we (the adults) created a "house rule" that you have to read on your own everyday before she could watch t.v., play video games, or go online. We started out small - Aesop's fables. She had to read one out-loud, then one silently. Eventually it worked up to chapter books (one per day, with her having to read the first page out-loud to us). A year on, she now reads 2-3 chapters a day, after doing her school work, even on the weekends. We still sit down before bed and I read to her, but she is much more likely to pick up a book that's just laying around and read it (either to herself or out-loud to us while we are making dinner, etc). I'm not suggesting you create a similar rule, but perhaps you could start out by having her read aloud to you? Maybe switch off pages (you read one, she reads one)? I'm not sure what helped more, the daily reading, or the daily reading out loud, but we're pretty happy about the changes over the last year.

Because we only have a few hours each day for school, 4 days a week we only do math, English language arts, reading, and foreign language practice. Then one day a week we do science, and history. But I try to have her read history and science related books throughout the year. Then on our one day we'll do projects/crafts, experiments, and field trips.

I've been doing some further searching and thought I'd share these: Nightlights http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811839559/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1BCJ7CQ2XVT2QBTS845E&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1630083502&pf_rd_i=507846 and it's sequel: The Star Catchers http://www.amazon.com/The-Star-Catchers-Confidence-Creativity/dp/B0058M7PGC/ref=pd_sim_b_1 ...they seem promising, but maybe a little "kiddie" for my daughter (better for preschoolers, maybe?) I ended up getting the kindle version of Parenting beyond Belief, and Nurturing Spirituality: Simple Hands-on Activities, but I haven't gotten a chance to look at them.

She's 9 years old; we've read a lot of books that talked about world religions, and various morals & virtues already, I was just hunting around for something more... individualized? Tailored? A self-discovery type book, maybe. There are actually two UU churches where I live and one of them offers sunday school (with the program CrunchyGirl mentioned)... unfortunately it's $400 a year. I'll have to dig in a bit to their website. I definitely like the Parenting Beyond Belief books... I'll dig into those too. Thanks

I'm trying to find books that I can read & discuss with my daughter that are spiritual-growth-type books (for lack of a better word) without being "religious education" materials. I'm not looking to instruct my daughter on any religious or spiritual path... more a way of opening her mind to the beauty of the world, and her personal strengths... IDK... I want to find books that teach kids to put faith in themselves (vs. a deity), and how to overcome challenges in life effectively, but also with a bit of wonder (without involving the supernatural). I've looked online but the only spirituality books for children I'm finding (that are not directed at Christian children) are very new-agey (to include herbs & Earth worship). I'm all for teaching my kids to respect the Earth but that's no really what I'm looking for here. Any suggestions?

My mother was very against medication - my step-brother was on medication because -his- mother got it for him, and this just added to her NO MEDS! policy for me. Instead I went and spoke with a counselor that dealt with ADHD... my mother had done some reading up about it because of me & my step-brother & found a doctor(?) that taught kids how to manage their symptoms. It really did help. It requires you to be aware of your symptoms & actively take control (which can be a nice feeling vs. the "OMG no matter what ... grrrr... this is so frustrating!" feelings). The tips seemed really stupid at first. A friend of mine even joked that I was like "on of those OCD people" because you really have to have dedicated spots for things, and a routine... but - it works! I stopped forgetting stuff... being late because I couldn't remember where stuff is. I mean, it sounds simple (and obvious, now), but when you are a kid that stuff is so... responsible, and boring, so stuff just gets dumped on the bed (or whatever). I never really put much stock in what the counselor had told me until after I joined the military... and slacked off because my mom wasn't around to make sure I was following through. For example.... I lost count of the number of times I locked myself out of my room... or went to bed with the key still sticking out of the lock (on the outside of the door), simply because I stopped hanging up my key on the wall, next to the door, like I had done for last 2 years. The counselor also explained WHY I couldn't re-engage with things, and helped me to think of ways to get my work done (breaking tasks down, taking breaks), and taught me that it was "OK" not to be able to re-engage... maybe do something else, then come back. It helped with the frustration, a lot. My husband (on the other hand), because he was taking medication never really paid much attention to his symptoms... because all he had to do was take a pill and bam! focus on demand. Then he moved out, joined the military (where you generally don't get ADHD meds - in fact some jobs prohibit them) and now had to (learn to) deal with all the frustration. A couple years ago I actually went back to see another counselor because I found myself getting overwhelmed again and unable to cope. And again, they helped me work through and find ways to take control of the symptoms again to make them work for me. edited to add: here is a book I read (as an adult) that also helped (it's written to the person with ADHD, but as a parent it might help get some insight). http://www.amazon.com/Delivered-Distraction-Getting-Attention-Disorder/dp/0345442318/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363886522&sr=8-1&keywords=delivered+from+distraction

Both my husband and I are ADHD. He was medicated as a kid; I received counseling & behavior therapy. In the long run, the counseling has won out. There are dozens of little tricks we do to make it work for us, not against, and those same tricks work great for my daughter who isn't ADHD (just an eight year old that doesn't know how to entertain herself yet). A routine is really important. Give your son a list of all this assignments for the day. Make sure everything he needs to complete his assignments for that day are all in one place, the same place (like a basket on the counter, etc), everyday. Every morning he gets his list of assignments & basket of school supplies; every afternoon he puts it all back in the same spot. Everything is always in the same spot! (this really goes for everything, not just school stuff) Break up all the tasks that he has to do into smaller chunks/steps, and write in breaks & "fidget" time. One of the best bits of advice I got from a counselor once was "Don't fight the fidgets." Anything that takes more than 20 mins automatically gets a break. Just getting up and going for a walk around my office is usually enough to get me back on track. A side note... one of the things about ADHD that doesn't get talked about much is the "hyper-focus." A person with ADHD can get REALLY involved in something, and spend hours on it. The problem comes when they are interrupted ... a person with ADHD can't just "go back" to doing what they'd been doing before the phone rang, etc. Give your son a chance to get completely absorbed in his "list of things to do" each day. Some subjects he'll be taking a "break" every 15 minutes, but there is eventually going to be something that he gets completely sucked into.

I wasn't pay attention when it came to fractions and ended up have to draw on a piece of paper the base ten form & also cut up a piece of paper, when teaching my daughter. She didn't seem to mind. Once when I got up into the higher fractions (16ths), I used a Hersey's chocolate bar, let her manipulate all the little broken-off rectangles of chocolate for about 15 min, then eat them. Since then we've used little felt cut-ups (four small red felt squares become 4/4 ... etc).

If the copy-work & dictation seems to be too much for your daughter, you could always skip some of the lessons, or combine 2 lessons into 1 (it's pretty common I think, esp. when using FLL w/ WWE).

I really love the Story of Science. I got a chance to look over the Aristotle one at the Smithsonian, and went & bought them all. I don't have the Quest Guides, just the books. In the first book (Aristotle) she weaves many creation stories (both current & ancient) into a story-like narrative... which I personally thought was very pretty. It has a "sense-of-wonder" feel. But you should know that she does not come out for any one belief, and there is an implied "Old Earth" position (for example, the Bible story of Jericho is mentioned, then it is mentioned that Jericho was inhabited some 10000 years go; also, the history timeline begins around 7000 years ago, with the Sumerians). The second book (Newton) picks up the story around 1450CE. There is no discussion about the universe's origin or the age of the Earth (the history of physics is the focus, with some related chemistry & astronomy thrown in). The third book (Einstein) gets into modern physics (& some chemistry), as well as astrophysics (pretty much the whole second half of the 50-ch. book). There are chapters discussing the red shift, expanding universe, and "Big Bang." edited to add: as for how old you should be to read this book... I would say this was written at a 9-12 year old reading level... the words, pictures, formatting, etc. remind me of the Kingfisher's children's encyclopedias I have... however, the ideas are sometimes above the comprehension of a 9-12 year old (particularly the math-related stuff).

Have you tried Writing with Ease yet? It was created to compliment FLL. If you don't mind printing, there are online grammar books/worksheets (from McGraw-hill, Scott Foresman, etc)

If you create an account you will be able to see/download the books that have already been created (by teachers)... those are the ones I use. Some courses/versions even have teacher's editions, and workbooks (biology, for example).

I've used CK-12's flexbooks for my own study/review, but not to teach anyone else. As a base-line they are perfect, IMO. You can find videos on Khan if you need extra explanations, and there are dozens of websites for extra math problems (the flexbooks do have exercises, but only a few per lesson). For Geometry I'd use the second edition version (2 volumes).

This is great; thanks again for all the suggestions, and perspectives. I've actually never thought about poetry like this before. We'll try listening to poems for a few weeks, just listening, not "studying".