I have children in 6th, 4th, 2nd, and preschool. I agree with a fellow post to only focus on math, reading, and handwriting during PK-2. I would also throw developing good character in there. If I manage to cover anything extra with them, great! If not, it's no big deal. We do art, science, and history together. The little ones sit in or are close by and participate in some of this. My children are all 2 years apart, so I combine some subjects like spelling. For example, I'm currently using All About Spelling with my 4th and 6th grader. This worked well because my 6th grader is weak in spelling and my 4th grader is strong. Both children are also doing grammar and writing together. Curriculum that's great for large families: Five In A Row and Konos both allow you to do art, history, science, geography, and some language arts all together as a family. Heart of Dakota, My Father's World, and Sonlight allow you to combine a few grades together. We are also big on project-based learning, where the kids choose a subject of interest. For example, during our last PBL, one child focused on fashion design, another on dinosaurs, another on the Statue of Liberty, and another focused on animals. I'm basically there to mentor, help them check out books or give suggestions, provide supplies, and drive them to a field trip (such as the Museum of Life and Science because they have a space and dinosaur exhibit), but they are in charge of how and what they learn. My kids have the most fun when we learn this way. It's a big decision and homeschooling definitely is challenging, but so worth it. I wish you well in whatever you decide!

I went through this about a month ago and had to re-evaluate our school. I realized that due to distractions (imagine everyone talking and complaining at the same time while a toddler makes siren noises...) I had shifted into trying to teach each child separately and putting them all in different rooms to keep them focused while trying to entertain a toddler. This was actually making our days very long, stressful, and inconsistent as to who I was teaching and when we were schooling, resulting in a house full of grumpy, cranky people who hated school time. It would take us from 9-12:00 just to complete Math and Language Arts and by the time these subjects were out of the way, I was too tired to think of any other subject. Taking breaks did not help because I found it very difficult to get the children to sit back down and focus on school work. Fortunately, the one good thing we had going for us was that all were mostly content with our curriculum. Realizing that we were inconsistent and that I needed to have everyone in a central location, schooling at the same time, I sat down and wrote out a schedule of how our days would be. Then, I sat the children down and told them how it would be. We would start school at 9am with Math and LA. We would all sit at the kitchen table during these subjects and I would work around the table with each of them as needed. I explained that if they didn't finish their work in the alloted time, they would have to move on to the next subject and finish that work after school. This really motivates them to finish their work diligently. Then, we tackle history, science, or art (We break these subjects up over the week). We finish all school work around 12-12:30pm, just in time for lunch. Then, the kids are free for the rest of the day. Making a plan and discussing the plan and my expectations with my children have really made a difference. The kids no longer complain (much) when I call everyone to the table at 9:00 because they know in advance that this is what is expected. Plus it also holds me accountable to stay consistent. There are still distractions (though I have put aside a basket of special school toys for my toddler and I invested in the Preschool Prep DVD's to play for my toddler during school time. Both are a tremendous help to keeping him busy while we school) and I often still have to remind the kids to keep quiet at the table so everyone can focus on their work, but there has been a huge change in everyone's attitudes and my stress level. Also, staying organized and having all of our school stuff at the table on time is very helpful. I hope you find what works for you!

I didn't get the download. I didn't like that I couldn't decide which day we practiced each concept. If I put that I wanted to practice Regrouping twice each week, it would automatically select which two days we did this on. They may have changed this by now, I'm sure they have received some complaints about that. I was like you in that I would pick the books up, look through them, get overwhelmed, and put them back on the shelf. It is overwhelming when you start, but like you said, once you get into the swing of it and figure out everything, things will start to flow. I would definitely work on it over the summer. I actually think I'm going to get mine out and try it again this coming year. One suggestion I recently read about the 5-A-Days is to make a copy of the 5-A-Day before you give it to your child and keep these somewhere. You can use them for other children or for review for the child currently using it.

We used it the first half of this year for a 2nd grader and Kindergartener. It takes a lot of work to get started and you have to enjoy planning. I started off by deciding what I wanted each child to cover for the year. Then, I filled out the forms that come with the curriculum. The child will have a 5-A-Day worksheet to do each day, which is just 5 problems to do independently. It doesn't seem like much, but you can combine different concepts, so that you cover a lot of stuff. Basically, you look at your form you filled out of what you want to cover, pick something off it you want to teach, teach it, then add it to the child's 5-A-Day schedule. They will practice the concept every day, then every other day, then every week, then every few weeks. You keep track of all of this on the forms so you know when to put the concepts in the 5-A-Day, what you have covered, and what you have left to cover. We stopped using it in January and started up with Math-U-See. My reasons for switching were I have been eyeing this MUS forever and I was having a hard time finding the time to create the 5-A-Day worksheets each week. Also, I was worried my daughter's weren't up to speed in Math, since it is so unconventional. I needed a change, however, I miss all of the hands on learning we did together with MOTL and have thought of going back to it. Also, after using MUS for almost 5 months, I can definitely say my daughter's are right where they should be mathematically. In fact, my daughter often groans when a new concept is taught in MUS, because we already covered it in MOTL :) You may not have wanted so much info, but hopefully it was somewhat helpful :) I am thinking of going back to MOTL again as it is a great way to learn...I just have to figure out those 5-A-Days! If you like the planning aspect of homeschooling and are okay with unconventional curriculums, then you may want to give it a try. Like you said, there is a 60 day return and if you do keep it longer, this curriculum will sell for at least $200 used, so it has a nice re-sell.

I too have been on the search for a unit study approach to cover History, Geography and Science with Biblical view. I had decided on Konos, but felt overwhelmed...I happen to stumble across the Christian Cottage website this week and was very excited about it. This is exactly what I am looking for. We are going to do volume 3. My kids are 7 1/2, 5, 3, 6 months, so I need something we can do as a family. I too think the lack of worksheets is a plus, my kids don't need anymore of those :)