I see from most of the responses on my screen time question that it looked like I was asking about how you limit your children's screentime. The responses are great but... I'm really asking do you limit YOUR screen time. I apologize for not being more clear and am therefore starting a new thread. So...do you limit your screen time? Thanks again,

I'm really asking about moms not kids. Sorry I wasn't clear in my original post.

I was reading on another thread about limiting screen time for our dc (ie. no screen time during the week). It got me wondering do any of you limit your screen time as well? If so I'd love to hear your limits. Thanks!

My ds is 7 1/2 and in second grade. He continues to struggle with handwriting so dh decided to try working with him. Yesterday was their first day. Dh had ds write lowercase a's. Most of them look like 9's with the tales going below the baseline. Ds was crying saying it's too hard to write. We have worked on handwriting daily since beginning kindergarten. What are we doing wrong and how can we help him? Thanks!

I keep seeing in the standards that my ds should be learning parts of speech, (nouns, verbs, subject, etc.) in 2nd grade. I'm using Abeka Language 2 and Abeka Letters and Sounds 2 but it doesn't cover any of that. I saw a copy of Abeka Language 3 and it starts this stuff about 3/4 of the way through 3rd. So I'm concerned that when annual testing comes around my ds will be lost. What are you usings (or did you use) for 2nd grade grammar? Thanks!

We used to Abeka and it was completely different. He loved it and is now a great reader! HTH,

He's 7 and in 2nd grade but handwriting is VERY challenging for him. I'd like to start with some basic copywork but don't know where to start. I've thought of Bible verses and sayings but I'm drawing a blank on which verses would be best to start with and what sayings would be good for a boy this age to learn. Any suggestions? Thanks!

These were recommended as a way to help familiarize a homeschool student with test taking skills, etc. Have any of you used them? What do you think? Here's a link: http://www.criticalthinking.com/getProductDetails.do?code=p&id=05241

So I'm correct in assuming it's an evening activity?

Do your boys participate? I checked their website and it looks like 3 week per month they meet in small groups and once a month they meet with their large group. It looks like it's now a father/son activity that takes place in the evening. What happened to den mothers and afternoon activities?

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I have a few things I'd like to get. I sold a few things on ebay so I have some money in paypal available. I can't find what I need on ebay so I'm wondering if any "regular" companies accept paypal. Thanks,

If you do, how much? At what age did you start and what was the initial amount? Do you tie it to chores? Thanks!

Mine is pretty straight forward. We have one dc and we're homeschooling so...hsing1.

Bob Jones Math 2

we've been using it at storytime: Tennis shoes in a tree & other stories that teach Christian values by Joel Thompson. (He also has two other books along the same lines, but I haven't read them yet...they're next on the list.) My ds really enjoys the stories and it's led to some great discussions. HTH,

Thank you for your replies. I'm feeling better already. I'm praying about trying cursive. Today I did more orally as well as using the suggestion about saying how silly it was that they didn't leave more room to write. It really helped! I appreciate each of your replies and am implementing them already! Thank you!

My ds is 7 1/2 yo and starting 2nd grade. He has a hard time writing. He mixes upper and lower case letters and spacing is all over the place. We have been consistent in practicing handwriting regularly. I'm finding that with 2nd grade the expectation is for much more writing than 2nd grade. For example we'll have a workbook with an assignment to write a sentence. They then give one line to do it. He can fit two or three words on the line but not a whole sentence. He's feeling a bit discouraged. Any suggestions?

:)Thanks so much for sharing this! I hadn't thought of doing this and your example made it so easy for me to visualize and implement. This is such a great idea. (I just use Excel to create simple spreadsheet and it worked well too.) Blessings,

Thanks everyone for taking the time to share your ideas. I realize I was expecting too much from my 7 yo. I need to stay with him when he's doing a worksheet or he will do everything but his work. I also need to build more activity breaks into his day. Thanks again!

Thanks everyone. These are great. It's given me so many great ideas. Blessings,

Yes. I create a simple spreadsheet on Excel. I just list the books by month (I add to the list as time allows). I sort each month by title and print it out at the end of the year to keep with that years school records. It's amazing to see all the books read over time.

I was listening to Kevin Lehman on Focus on the Family today. He was talking about natural consequences with regard to school. For example, if the child is late they have to face the consequence at school. If they don't get their homework done, it's their problem at school. So I'm wondering how we could apply this to homeschool. If my ds takes 2 hours to complete an assignment that should take 30 minutes then school is just 1 1/2 longer that day. But some days we have appointments that we can't delay, so what would be some ideas for natural consequences in that case?:001_huh:

I've been thinking a lot about how many hours a day to hs my 2nd grader. I looked at our local ps to get an idea. I know I don't need to follow their schedule. What time do you start and end each day? How much time would you think would be too little to give a strong academic foundation...and how much would be too much? I'd love to hear what you all think. Thanks!

I'd love for my ds to learn to play the piano but lessons aren't in the budget right now. Are there any good resources out there? Maybe a DVD or something? Thanks!