Kids in our church can volunteer with younger kids starting at age 11, so DD is now helping out once a month with 3 and 4 year olds in Sunday school. The kids have done meal packing, where various ingredients are packed up for meals that can be reconstituted in 3rd world countries to feed hungry kids (Feed My Starving Children is one organization, but I think there are a bunch that do this). We've also done a number of things that the kids couldn't necessarily do by themselves, but we can do as a family or paired up one child/one adult - volunteering at neighborhood events (things like taking tickets at a both of a neighborhood event with homemade carnival games), being a race volunteer for a charity race (handing out water, helping stuff race bags, etc), with other families cleaning plaques at a park that honor veterans that died in the world wars, picking up trash in a park, helping senior citizens with yard work, etc. Our church looks for family volunteer opportunities for families to get out and serve in the community, so we've been informed of a number of opportunities that way that I might not have thought of on my own.

My 6th grader is doing Writing with Skill 1, CLE Math 600s, Middle Ages/Early Renaissance history with parts of Mystery of History 2 and 3 for a spine, Vocab with English From the Roots up (also spelling using some of those words + review of words from Spelling Plus), literature using a list I made to go along with history (loosely based on this list) + other lit for fun, science using a variety of resources (she is currently reading Dr. Art's guide to Science). We're currently using Big Bad Grammar Slammer to do sentence diagramming, and I have a few other grammar resources in mind after we finish that. She also does daily Bible reading and guitar practice. I wanted a more challenging year for her this year, and so far I don't know that the workload takes any more time than 5th grade. She is really rising to the challenge of Writing with Skill and loves it -- that was the one thing I was most worried about. I think where I am thinking of "adding on" is maybe more written output for science and history. Right now we just discuss together, but maybe since she is doing well with WWS I should ask for more. :-)

I just read the article... The son who died was 19! The injured one was 17. No words...just wow. :-(

I just went and made a quick count through the table of contents, and I think about 45 or maybe 47 lessons (depending on what you count) out of 109 have something Biblical as the primary theme. I agree with the pp that many of those lessons include other historical background information that is not typically in a Bible story book. My kids had heard many of those Bible stories before (probably not the minor prophets, but many of the others). But we've never read the Bible chronologically as a family nor have we looked at how those Bible books matched up with other key events and cultures in ancient history. If you've already done a lot of chronological Bible study, then absolutely MOH 1 might be duplication. It wasn't for us. We also "double up" in MOH 1 by reading 4 lessons per week (2 lessons on 2 different days), and then doing the first quarter of book 2 during that year as well to take us all the way to the fall of the Roman Empire. We focused our activities and outside reading on the other ancient cultures (Egypt, Greece, etc), and enjoyed the MOH readings based in Bible studies without a lot of extra activity or discussion.

I discovered Webster's New World Student Writing Handbook via another thread on this board. While it does have some step by step directions, I like that it has a great description and list of characteristics of many different types of writing and examples of each.

It's a class of first-second graders, so they are going to be in the 6-8 range this year depending on birthday. I have these kids in the class I teach, and one or two are on the more mature end of that spectrum (if not 8 yet, turning soon), while a couple are barely six. That's a great idea to suggest the teacher look for activities that aren't win/lose. I'm sure it is hard to think outside the box beyond the "typical" gym games. I did mention to the teacher that we have concerns and are pursuing an evaluation. She seemed really surprised, and it didn't seem to change her thoughts about things much as we were talking. Among people I know IRL (not just at co-op...kind of just the general culture among homeschoolers I know), they are generally not as positive toward seeking evaluations and interventions in situations like DS's. The unsolicited advice that people want to give is that either it's just a discipline issue, we should be changing his diet or "he'll grow out of it." Those attitudes won't stop me from getting an eval and doing what i need to do for DS, but I don't expect that telling anyone I know IRL that "we're getting an eval" is going to change much of how his situation is perceived.

I guess I see it as a subtle difference. You are right that he is willing to be active, which is a form of participating. BUT, he doesn't really have a "favorite game" so to speak that involves other people (unless he gets to make up the rules and thereby somehow insure himself of winning!). He would also like to play a standard game by "his own rules", but you can see the problem that arises when the teacher tells him that it is unfair to the other players if DS6 is playing in a way that is disruptive to the other players (i.e, not allowing himself to be tagged). Or he says he would like to play his own game by himself while the other kids play something else...fine at home but not in PE class. Besides attempting to play games by his own rules, his other common response (both in a class or with his siblings) is to ask if there are rules to follow and if it is a winning and losing game. If they say there are specific rules and/or it involves winning and losing, at that point he'll say he "hates that kind of game" and won't play. He also won't play "pretend play" games that involve winning and losing (like when his brother and the neighborhood boys all play aliens vs. space cops or something like that, and it is a nerf gun battle to see who is going to win...since he might end up on the losing side, he just won't play). I know he needs to grow out of this at some point in his life, and we have worked on it in small ways at home...but we haven't made a lot of progress yet. ETA: I did know that gym class might be a problem for DS6 ahead of time, and probably should have given more thought to it. But when we had to "re up" on our commitment to co-op way back last spring, I did feel like there was a chance we would mature out of it. I wasn't at the point last april/may of deciding we were going to pursue evals. (Hence, why I didn't even make the appointment until August and we are not on the calendar for it until Feb). By this fall I suspected it might be a problem, but at that point I thought I needed to at least see what happened once he was in the class before assuming it would definitely be an issue.

The thing is, these people aren't just some random moms I just met. This is our sixth year in the co-op, and I would consider many of them friends. They may not see eye to eye with me (or the moms on this board) about how to best handle DS6's issues, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't want to burn my bridges with them. I am really not prepared to offer up some kind of ultimatum about leaving if i don't get "my way" about DS6 not participating. My other three kids all love co-op, and it would be heartbreaking to them to leave at this point. Next year is a different story and if it looks like we just can't work anything out, we can do something different next year, as we would have plenty of time to discuss and find a different co-op situation that is a better fit. If the situation became truly dire, I could pull out just DS6 and hire a sitter for him on co-op days. But that would be a last resort (as I said, he like his other classes and it would hurt him to be left out), and I would like to think that all being adults, we can be reasonable and figure something out. But if I were in the shoes of the mom's on board, looking at a long-standing policy that says, "all students must participate in all classes," I would have a hard time granting an exception to the policy if the mom doing the asking wasn't prepared to explain herself and give a good reason. I want to work to find a solution that ideally allows DS6 to grow in his willingness to participate, or secondarily would give him permission to opt out. Pulling him out is a distant third choice option. The mom teaching gym is new to teaching that class, and I do want to give her some grace as she finds her groove. On the other hand, I think it is a bit of a coincidence. My DS6 is really a pretty active kid and would dance, run, bike, kick a ball, etc all day long if doesn't involve losing a game and/or being told he has to follow someone else's specific rules. He wants to run around and pretend to be a shark eating the fish while he is supposed to be playing freeze tag (giving the excuse that he can't be frozen "because sharks are more powerful than people who are 'it' in tag"), or wants to make goals in soccer on the side of the gym instead of the goal...he is marching to the beat of his own drummer. LOL! The other child who doesn't want to participate seems to be a very sedentary child who just doesn't like to run around, etc. I am making a bit of an assumption here, but when I observed class and this child was participating, this child seemed to be moving just the minimum amount, if that makes any sense.

All through the Ages, maybe? http://www.nothingnewpress.com/books/all-through-the-ages-2/

I'm doing a literature class for first and second graders, and it could easily have included 5's if our co-op's schedule had been set up that way. The first half of the year I am focusing on fairy tales (fractured fairy tales in particular), and teaching really basic literary terminology through those fairy tales (words like character, setting, conflict, point of view...in a very basic way). We're acting things out, drawing pictures, playing games, etc. The second half of the year I'll focus on genres and talk about tall tales, myths, legends, fables, etc. We only meet 2x per month (and only once each in Nov/Dec), so I don't have that many weeks overall to fill.

i think a thing that is hard for me too is how to even go about rewarding one kid and not the others if only one kid earned a reward, or worse yet, rewarding three but not the 4th that didn't earn it. I mean, if three earned going out for ice cream does the 4th have to stay home? So much for family time in that case. If it is screen time, the non screen time earner would pretty much be getting a bedroom time out as well since it is the only place you would t be able to see the TV or a sibling on the computer. We already do a lot of really fun family stuff with no rewards attached, and it makes me sad to think about getting to only do those things if our kids behave well enough to earn it. The "negative" currency that works super well for my older two is losing playing with neighbor friends. But DS6 has no neighbor friends his age so no currency there.

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas so far. I'm going to have to give it some more thought, I think. The co-op is fairly small (used to be bigger, but lots of families moved on for various reasons while only gaining a few new ones), and is run by a board w/o one person "in charge" as the director, so to get official permission to "break the rules" and have DS not participate, I would have to explain the situation to the whole board. Without going into a lot of details, I'll just say our group is not very special needs friendly, though if we get an actual diagnosis some might treat our situation a bit differently. The year will be half over before we get that information though. Despite how much we love everything else about the co-op and it is great for the other kids, I know we might have to think about something different next year. It is hard that co-op is a good fit and really helpful for my other kids, and DS6 likes everything else about it. I think we might need to find a group that allows choosing classes though to avoid this kind of thing in the future. If DS6 could do something else entirely during that time it might work, but I don't really have any place else for him to go on co-op days.

In a situation where he is overcome by negative emotions so to speak (in the heat of the moment angry or upset that he has to participate, that he won't be on the same team as a friend, etc), if I can't respond with a negative consequence immediately, it doesn't have much effect. So, me saying he won't get to watch a show when we get home at 3:30 doesn't have much sway with him at 1pm. If I had a negative consequence I could pull right away it might work. But he WANTS to not do it so telling him to sit out doesn't really work as as a consequence in this case. I don't really want to do a reward system with my 4 year old. I guess if it were what would make the most sense for DS6 and the only way to make it work was to do it with both I might consider. I think the older two would "get it" and be okay with it.

The problem is there is no way to pull him out of just that class. I mean, I guess I could bring him to sit with me, and see what happens...but technically thst's against the co-op rules. But it feels like a huge punishment to my other kids (and to DS6, who likes his other classes) to say we're pulling everyone out of co-op because of this one class. Everyone else loves it, and he loves his other classes, just not this one. I doubt they will kick us out if I "break the rules" to let DS not do gym class, but...who knows. They have the rules they have, and I don't know that anyone has purposely broken them in that way that I know of.

We have an issue right now with DS6's lack of willingness to participate in Gym/PE class at co-op. Our co-op is "all or nothing" in the sense that all the kids who are 1st-2nd grade age take the same classes -- no options. So, since our family does co-op, he has to participate in this gym class even though he totally doesn't like it at all. He is doing fine in all his other classes and the combined preK/K class for younger kids that he was in the last three years would definitely be boring for him and cause other problems if he had to not be with his friends who are his age. I was talking through it with the teacher today to try and figure out how to help DS6 participate even though he "hates" every game they play. DS6 is possibly ADHD, definitely immature in some ways for his age and has a hard time overcoming the issue of not liking something. (We don't have any official diagnosis or help right now -- we have an eval in February). She really didn't have any ideas on how to get him through this and I am not sure I like any of the ideas I have either. I have talked through it with him before class, but when push comes to shove, he doesn't want to play the game he hates, be on a different team from his friend, play by the normal rules, lose, etc. I have been really hesitant to do any kind of reward system because it is just not how I parent. We don't really do rewards for anything except maybe m&ms for potty training. I want to just freely give my kids screen time, treats or special outings for fun, not because they have to earn it in some way. On the flip side of that, my told older kids (as bad as this sound) generally respond really well to negative consequences -- time outs, losing privileges, extra chores, etc. DS6 is totally different and has never responded as well to negative consequences. Maybe he would respond to rewards, but I can't for the life of me figure out how I could "reward" him for good behavior without having to switch everyone to that system. I can't imagine how DS-almost-4 would possibly understand why DS6 gets extra screen time, a fun sticker or a piece of candy when he doesn't. But I don't "need" to do anything like that for DS4 because he responds pretty well to the methods of discipline that we already use. I feel like DS6 needs some other kind of support to help him learn to participate in class. On the other hand, I am not sure that I am consistently able to really be there in class (I am supposed to be prepping for my class that I teach when he is in PE class -- and some of it can't really be done ahead, like writing on my classroom white board, etc). And even if I am there, I am not sure how to talk him into participating in class. The teacher really, really doesn't want him to "get out of" participating if at all possible. There is another kid in class who "conveniently" has a stomach ache/headache/twisted ankle, etc as soon as class begins and tries to get out of playing every time. The teacher said that if my DS gets to sit on the sidelines or come sit with my in my classroom while I prep, she is afraid this other kid will keep trying even harder to get the same privilege of not participating. Yet my DS6 is certainly not making it easy or enjoyable for anyone else by his class behavior. Thoughts?

Many times, even if it does appear in the newsfeed, FB might not directly point out a friend's comment. So I see a news article and the heading "Jane Doe liked this" or "Jane Doe commented on this" - but if I want to know what they said I would have to go manually scrolling thru the comments myself. If there are only 1 or 2 comments it is easy to see, but on a news article with dozens or hundreds of comments, someone would really have to be looking to see what you said, (Not that I have ever scrolled thru comments wondering what a friend said on some controversial post...nope, never done that...) ☺ï¸

I'm doing Apples and Pears with my 8 year old DS this year after using rule-and-phonogram based instruction in K - 2nd with Logic of English (and using LOE methods with other lists as well). He specifically requested a workbook for spelling this year and I've been curious about Apples and Pears for a while so I decided to give it a try. While the method is very different, I feel like the foundation of having learned rules and phonograms was a great base for continuing on and practicing with Apples and Pears. Not sure if you would experience quite the same thing making the transition from AAS. He was exposed to all the rules and all 74 basic phonograms, he just needed continuing practice. I point out what rules and phonograms are involved in each lesson for A and P, even though that's not part of the program. Too soon to say if this is effective or not, but he is liking it.

I started my 8 year old DS in level B this year. Technically he tested into the last section of level A, but I wasn't going to buy an entire new workbook just for ten lessons. We reviewed the words he missed from the end of A, and moved on to B. There is plenty of review so if a few words turn up that he might have learned in level A and doesn't know, we just pay special attention to those words. It is going well so far!

I mostly only share with good friends I feel are reliable. My close friend has borrowed an entire crate of history books corresponding to a time period we weren't doing, and I've lent out TM's on occasion too. But I wouldn't do it unless I knew the person well and it was someone that I would see regularly so I would defintiely have a chance to get the item back. I've rarely borrowed things (other than maybe a novel I couldn't get from the library or something) - we just haven't had to, and most things I want to buy and then reuse with younger kids.

I don't have experience with group lessons, but it does sound like your DS would do better in a situation where the pacing could be tailored to his enthusiasm. I would bet that most young 6-8 year old instrumentalists are going to be like my 8 year old, who barely has the patience to practice guitar for 15 minutes. Time availability isn't the issue...he just doesn't have the patience yet. Even my 11 year old is having a great day if guitar practice lasts more than 30 minutes.

I was having a hard time finding a good fit for my DD when she was in 4th. I think the first two books worked okay for her at that time, but I didn't like the series enough (or felt like it was going in the right direction for DD) to continue it. She did Treasured Conversations in 5th and is doing WWS1 this year. So far so good on WWS...she feels well prepared for it and I feel like overall thrust of the program is exactly where I want DD working. Right now I am not expecting to return to it with my boys...but you never know. I suppose it could be "the right thing at the right time" for one of the boys at some point. I can't imagine doing the whole series though!

Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away Lake - Also by Elizabeth Enright (same author as the Melendy books).

Here are a few lists I have bookmarked: http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/uslit.html http://blog.wrappedinfoil.com/wrapped-in-foil-website/ http://growingbookbybook.com/sample-page/ I think these are mostly picture books. When looking for books about particular states or areas, I have had more luck with googling things like "childrens's books set in California". - rather than relying on lists with one book from each state. I also have browsed books on goodreads with particular tags. So I found one book tagged "California" and then browsed through more.

At what point does WWS1 get harder/longer to complete? (Sorry to slightly hijack, OP) DD11 did the first two weeks easily, and she felt well prepared from having finished Treasured Conversations last year. I'm just wondering how far in other people felt the lessons started taking more than a week to complete, especially for a young student.