thank you THANK YOU thank you for all of your input. it's nice to take a peak into other's schools to see how things work for different families and to hear what's worked (or not worked) for others. I'm happy to report that I *did* make a schedule for us to follow (I'm naturally a structured schedule and routine kind of person) and we loosely followed it Friday. SUCCESS! I no longer considered putting the kids back in public school that starts this coming monday :tongue_smilie: In a paraphrase of the great Tobias Funke from Arrested Development, let the great experiment continue!

I'm starting my 2nd year of HS, so I'm still relatively new. I've got a 6th, 4th, and 2nd grader, which means more subjects and more school work compared to last year. My question: do you have a set daily schedule? or do you do subjects as kids see fit every day? The problem: there are many subjects that require one-on-one teaching with each kid (math, spelling, grammar, etc). There are a few subjects that kids can do independently (penmanship, logic, etc). We are running into trouble trying to figure out what everyone is working on at one time. I'm afraid to get locked into a schedule, but that seems to be the only way to solve the problem of "what can I do now?" and "Mom, I need help!" I'm frazzled, and it's just day 2. My husband says to allow grace and for time to adjust to getting back to school after taking the summer off.

Thank you, ladies. I've used IEW with my oldest kiddo and am now looking forward to using it with my youngest! :)

Hi- I'm interested in using PAL (Primary Arts in Language by IEW) -- but just the writing portion -- for my next year 2nd grader. I'm happy with what we're currently using for spelling and I dont want to use All About Spelling (which is sold with PAL). I realize I can buy just the PAL writing portion by itself, but I wanted to make sure that PAL assignments and teaching isn't too closely associated with AAS. TIA!

THANK YOU, ladies. It's comforting to know that we're not alone and that our issues aren't ours alone! Thank you for reading all of my spewing above AND sticking around to comment.

Hi y'all-- I may need y'all to talk me off of the proverbial ledge. I'm in my first year of homeschooling (DS10, DS8, and DD6 -- they were previously in public school). My DH, who is very supportive, tells me to give myself grace; this is my first year -- it's going to be difficult. While that's reassuring, it doesn't help solve some of the problems that we're facing on a daily basis. My kids are good kids; they never had behavior problems in PS and they are generally well behaved, obedient kids (they have their moments of course). I'll do my best to narrow down the problems. Problem #1 DS10 is HIGHLY distractable (starts daydreaming, picking at his nails, looking out the window, etc). It took him 3 HOURS to finish his Saxon 6/5 math yesterday. NOT because it was too hard for him. But because he didn't buckle down and just get it done. Math tends to be where we see the most distractability. But it can happen with spelling, or handwriting, or anything else DS doesn't seem to want to do. His teachers, ever since kindergarten, have noticed this too and have commented on how long it takes him to do work. He is an intelligent kid, but he "checks out" quite a bit during school. But get him playing Minecraft and he can concentrate for HOURS. Problem #2 my kids (specifically DS-8) are constantly making loud noises, talking out loud loudly, and generally being annoying and distracting to the rest of us. I leave the room to go to the bathroom for 2 minutes, and it sounds like a menagerie broke out in the schoolroom. Kids are laughing it up, making animal noises, etc. Even when I'm in the room, there's constant noise. It's annoying and distracting. I'm constantly saying "Be quiet." Or "You are not being respectful of the others by making those noises." I had the pleasure of observing a friend's homeschool day before I started homeschooling, and when I think back to that day, I'm frustrated and disheartened by how boisterous my kids are. In one way it's a blessing; they generally like each other and play well with each other. But it's NOT acceptable when we're doing school. Problem #3 my kids (specifically DS10) are not self-directed or self-motivated. I have to hold their hands (especially with DS-10) and walk them through step by step on some things that seem very obvious to me. For example, DS-10's writing. We are in the Essentials program of Classical Conversations which uses the IEW program. I have DS read the assignment which clearly states what to do. Then DS looks at me with this blank look as if to say, "Now what?" So I ask him what he needs to do next. He may or may not answer correctly. After that step, he'll then get "stuck" again and not know what to do next. It's very obvious to me what the steps are. And if he were paying attention in class (see problem #1), he would know what the steps are. I realize that my 6 year old isn't ready to be self directed. And I'm OK with that. But it boggles my mind that my DS10 is so CLUELESS. And he's a smart kid! It's aggravating. I was a very motivated student growing up, and I can't relate to this clueless kid who doesn't have a go-get-em bone in his body. I find myself being descending towards him and talking to him like he's 2 years old when I'm explaining assignments or concepts that I think he should already know. :sad: Problem #4 DS8 frequently has a bad attitude toward school -- typically after he's become frustrated about something. A typical scenario: DS8 doesn't like the physical act of writing, so I've tried to limit what he has to write (for ex: we do Rod & Staff grammar orally). But when I do occasionally ask him to write his grammar exercises down instead of doing them orally with me because I'm currently working with his sibling, he melts down (cries) and has a terrible attitude about things. He also thinks it's GROSSLY unfair that DD6 has easy spelling words and not near as much of a work load as he does. All that to say this: I feel like I battle with DS8 the most. I've told him that it is unacceptable for him to talk to me the way he does and/or treat me the way he does when he's frustrated. It's just unacceptable. It wouldn't be okay at PS and it's not OK at home. DH backs me up on this and has spoken with DS8 numerous times. Thank you in advance for any comments, advice, group hugs, etc that are offered. I'm trying not to freak out and dwell on the extreme thoughts of quitting. But I'm frustrated, not enjoying this, and it feels like every day is a battle.

My son (3rd grade) needs some extra work on comparing inequalities (ex: sq root of 25 is equal to/less than/more than/ 29-13). What are the best sites for math worksheet generators? Can be free or paid subscription sites. There seem to be so many out there! thanks in advance.

Grapevine Studies is having a 20% off sale through Oct 31st on everything on their site. Code is OctFB My kids and i have been doing their Old Testament overview and we love it!

Good morning, y'all. Thanks so much for your responses! Let me answer a few questions... IS IT JUST MATH? Yes and no. In general, yes, it's just math. Although he has balked at doing assignments in other subjects that appear to "take forever". He did this just yesterday with a spelling assignment (look up the definitions of his 20 spelling words and briefly write down the definitions). Granted, this was after a massive math crying jaunt so he legitmately could have been exhausted. PS CURRIC SIMILAR TO SAXON? I have no idea. I'm not experienced enough at Saxon to know if his public school curric was similar. Plus, I wasn't even familiar with his PS curriculum (they weren't allowed to bring home textbooks). Their homework was a piece of paper, not assignments out of their books. As far as testing, what kind of testing would I get for him? I tried a timer with him yesterday. I set it for 15 minutes and it didn't help one iota. This may be a dumb question, but is there a way to find out if the problem is Saxon without having to buy another curric first? Our budget is pretty tight. Again, THANK YOU for your help and responses.

Alright Hive. I need some suggestions. I need help with my 10 year old son who is hitting a brick wall when doing math. BACKGROUND: This is our first year homeschooling. My son, who I think is fully capable of doing the math, also hit a brick wall in public school 4th grade last year. He *constantly* had to miss recess to work on overdue work. His former teacher would find him daydreaming and generally not doing his work in class (he wasn't playing... he just was not working). He was in the advanced math class last year and kept saying the work was too hard. Even though he always got A's. So now we're home; this is our 3rd week of school, and he's hit a brick wall again. We're not even to new material (we're started in between the begininng and the middle of Saxon 54 because the beginning of 54 was too easy, yet he's not ready for 65). He says he can't even start the problems. He says he's no good at math. He starts crying. He claims he's tired. He says he feels worthless. Since we had similar problems last year when he was in public school, I'm slow to blame the curriculum. I'm patient with him (for the most part :mellow: ) so I don't think he's reacting to how I'm treating him. Help. I don't want him to hate school (or math) or himself.

Thank you, everyone, for your input. My first two days (tues and wed) were HELLACIOUS. Today has been SO much better. No tears from anyone -- including me! :hurray:

Thank you, everyone, for your input! My first two days (tues and wed) were hellacious. but today has been SO much better. No tears from anyone -- including me! :hurray:

I'm noticing that there is a LOT of set up for Saxon Math 3 and Math 1 before most lessons. Do you cut everything out, gather things, etc for ALL the lessons before you start the year? Or do you just get things together before each lesson every day? It seems that it'll disrupt our day if I had to stop and gather items, cut shapes out, collect magazine pictures, etc each day before doing math with my little guys. Advice? and TIA

I'm a newbie, so please forgive the lame question: Do you have your student write in the Saxon text? You know, for the warm-up and the practice problems? TIA!

We are taking our 3 kids out of public school and will homeschoool in the fall. I like the idea of schooling year round (we live in Texas and it gets intolerably hot in the summer -- might as well do school instead!). But one of my "fears" of homeschooling year round is the neighborhood kids. Will it be difficult to do school (for me AND my kids) when the neighborhood kids (my kids' friends) are having fun at the pool or going to fun events? Will it be that much more difficult to play with other friends (and get that all important socialization - wink!) if we're not following the public school calendar? My kids have been in public school for several years, and I am a product of the school system. So I'm a little entrenched in the ways of the system. I realize that, now that we are homeschooling, we have the freedom to do what we want, including when we do school. But I'm having a little problem exercising that freedom. What say you, hive?