Thanks so much! This helps a lot. The funny thing is that the school district asking me if I knew any teachers who could write the assessment. My husband is a teacher, but he doesn't feel like writing it. So now I am writing it (painfully laboring over it actually) and he will sign it.

bump I know this is really boring. Help!

When my twins were younger my husband said, "the animals are mating." The boys misunderstood and thought he said, "They are having a meeting." Now my husband and I will ask each other, "do you want to have a meeting later?" (I hope this isn't too risques).

I just finished writing quarterly reports and now I am writing my first narrative annual assessments for my second graders. I'm stumped. Can anyone think of any nice phrases or wording that would please my local homeschool office? Basically I am happy that: family life has improved, the boys have learned how to productively entertain themselves, the boys love learning. However, I don't think that's what the homeschooling office wants to hear. Here are some things I have come up with: - reading skills have improved - vocabulary has expanded greatly - problem-solving skills have blah blah blah... Help!

My boys like Beakman's World, available on Netflix instant streaming. I like it too. I feel like they learn a lot of science.

Great article! I can't wait to show my husband (he is a teacher and we have discussed the issues that were brought up).

I just bought Story of the World, Early Modern History CDs for my second graders. They love it. I bought it through Rainbow Resource.

I shop there every week! Its awesome. I love all the variety.

I have temporarity lowered my standards in one area - writing and journal keeping. The boys hated this while in school. The boys are thriving in other areas right now, so I am going to let this area slide and try to get them back into it in the fall.

My three year old put a marble inside the center of a CD and said, "This is Saturn".

We snuck up to watch rated R movies, but that was it. I was another "lame" teenager.

Yes, exactly! Sometimes we do activities that don't leave evidence (nature walks) and then I think, oh no, we some documentation. So I pull out some workbooks. I keep a journal of everything we do. That makes me feel better. Even shucking corn counts for something!

Thanks everybody! I feel better now. I keep reminding myself that they are young. The schools today seem so intent on pushing so much content, that I wonder if maybe I am wrong. I keep telling reminding myself of the leisurely pace that my elementary school went at when I was there (30 years ago!). But yes, we do lots of field trips and some easy science stuff around the house. We had butterflies and are waiting for the praying mantisis to hatch. We love documentaries too. I'm off to research notebooking now...

bump. Any ideas? Help!

My head is spinning right now. I can't decide if I am doing a good job or not, if I am slacking off, etc. I'm looking at curricula right now on Rainbow Resource and trying to decide where to take things. When I began homeschooling, I decided that I needed to focus on improving behavior, helping the boys to figure out how to entertain themselves, and figuring out what will interest the boys in learning. One twin's behavior has improved greatly, one twin (the easy twin) is becoming slightly moody. Both boys are getting very good at finding things to do. They even tell me what they want to learn about and suggest projects. All in all, I think I have done well in meeting the first two goals. Homelife has improved greatly, and eveyone is getting along better. This brings me to the third goal. I figured out that they hate textbooks (I don't like them either, boring), they don't care too much for workbooks but the workbooks do keep them focused on what they need to learn. They love, love, LOVE to listen to books on tape, or me reading aloud. They really resist writing, projects that involve coloring, spending too much time on one topic. So I worry I am not teaching them enough. I really want to get a curriculum and follow it through. I have skipped around a lot to keep them enterested. I will read aloud from SOTW and REAl science Odyssey, and they love it, but won't want to do any of the projects. I will try again in the fall. Should I be stricter? Should I let them learn how they want? Happy medium? Are my kids the only kids in the world who don't like to use crayons?

I try to have everything done by time guests arrive. All my friends have kids so I figure everyone would appreciate sitting down and not having to worry about cooking. Its a nice way to give friends a break. We take turns hosting dinner so everyone gets a nice break once in a while. I could imagine one day, when everyone has an empty nest, we might get together and cook, hang out in the kitchen with wine, etc.

How about ice cubes?

Love it! I often go for the free shipping by buying more.

Awesome! Thanks.

I wanted to buy some (OK, many) books from this series but am having trouble finding them. Barnes and Noble doesn't carry them. On Amazon, many, including the big box set I want, are not in stock. Many single books say only 1 in stock. Where else can I find these books without having to buy used?

My friend's husband has a twin brother and when they were growing up they went to school everyday with black circles under their eyes because they spent all night talking. He said, "It was like having a slumber party every night." That sentence keeps reverberating in my head. No wonder I am so tired. I have been hosting a slumber party every night for the last eight years!

My state requires that American History be taught from third to eighth grade, but my boys greatly prefer ancient history. So I teach American History to for their history and use SOTW to satisfy their reading requirement.

Sometimes I think that if someone tried to rob our house they would be profoundly dissappointed that it is mainly filled with books.

Thanks! I went and found some of these on the Barnes and Noble website. They look very interesting and I ordered some. I think the boys will like them.:001_smile:

I was thinking about teaching the boys (and myself) about how to use the abacus. Has anyone used the worksheets and manual from Rainbow Resource? Or is it easier to use videos on youtube? Thanks!