Well. . . both I guess. This is one area where I thought maybe I could gain a bit of time to work with my six year old. I *know* I could drop history or science or enrichment topics we do, but that's what we LOVE about school. Everyone says to focus on the basics and add in stuff as you have time, but all that add-in stuff is what makes the struggle in the basics worth it, kwim? And yes, eventually, it would be idea to have a student working independently in math - but I don't expect that for some years, at least not complete independence. I consider math to be her strength, so if I can't find what I need to get her language needs met (or I'm unwilling to let go of the resources that are helping her) I thought maybe this would be better. At nine, I do'nt expect her to be completely independent, I'd check in every day, but if someone else can go over the concepts with her, if she can rewind and play again, pause and repeat, then I thought maybe that would be the way to go? Her dyslexia hasn't really affected her math ability except when reading and writing and perhaps a bit of fact memorization.

My dd9 is using Math Mammoth 4. I really like MM, I feel like the way it is set up helps me teach her the concepts behind the calculations. I use what I've learned in her math to teach concepts in my ds8's CLE as needed. I think dd9 likes MM too. She has a good instinct for math, but she also has dyslexia and I've found it really affects her ability to read and understand the instructions in the math pages. She has a low working memory, so I can't go through each page with her ahead of time and then turn her loose either. It's possibly that with a lot of practice, we could get there, it's just so frustrating for her, it's not worth the challenge to me at this time. Maybe it's partly a character problem in her because she is still working out acceptable ways to express frustration. I feel like we go through that enough with reading and especially writing, let's not do it during math as well lol. The only complaint I have with MM is that there is possibly not enough review for her, I'm not sure how well some concepts are being retained. So. My ds8 is also dyslexic. They are both progressing in reading but not independent yet at all. Writing also takes a lot of time. As it sits right now, I spend most of my day with them and I feel like my (neurotypical, leaning toward advanced) six year old doesn't get enough time from me. We barely touch on the basics each day and I feel like he needs more. I've tried outsourcing reading and writing but, for where she is at, there is nothing available in our area. She's using REWARDS and I think it's working really well for her, I don't want to change that while it's working. We're also working our way slowly through Fable and everyone is enjoying it, enthusiastic even, so I hesitate to change that. So now I'm thinking maybe I should try a more independent math program? Even if I gained another 1/2 hour each day, that could make a big difference. I'm considering Math U See, maybe with some MM chapters for things MUS doesn't cover. I have both gamma and delta (multiplication and division), except for the student books and manipulatives, so that's my hesitation. It's $150 for one level, another $50 for the next. I'm thinking she'll probably need to do some of gamma before delta but that's fine because she would be tackling multi digit multiplication in MM4 as well and we're still working on memorizing the times tables so it would be good for her. I'm wondering if the video component, as well as manipulatives, would be a good fit for a language-challenged but semi-mathy kid? Can it be sort of independent? If I only needed to spend about 15 minutes with her each day, instead of a whole 45, that would be great. Possible? Experiences? I've also thought of Teaching Textbooks but I've heard mixed reviews . . . thoughts? Other choices? DS8 works with CLE, still in the 200 level, but I love it, it works wonderfully for him. But we're in Canada and CLE doesn't have Canadian versions past the 300 or 400 level (can't remember which). Is this a big deal? And I've heard that conceptually, it gets weaker as the program progresses. True or false? Anyone have input on higher levels of CLE? TIA!

I know the feeling Soror! How long till things let up for you guys? Town day for us today. No school. Although I'm tempted to do a morning time over breakfast to make up for one of the ones we missed earlier this week, but there's nothing pressing so I"m just gonna leave it. So much to do today in town. Our guinea hens are eating more than a bag a week of feed, so I'll need to pick up a few of those, as well as some dairy tex and laying pellets. Plus grocery shopping, library, toy library, piano lessons and swimming lessons. And we're meeting a lady at Tim Horton's at 10 to buy a dog crate off of her. Recycling needs to be brought in, but at least our bottle count is low so I don't have to stop there, nor go to the dump since we did that last week. I think that's it? I feel like I"m forgetting something. Off to sip more coffee and mull over my bullet journal. Productive day to all!

Aurelia, a little of both us pretty realistic. We can't be stellar every day lol! Soror, you guys always have so much on the go! It sounds so interesting but I don't think I could keep up to your life! Critter, I'm endlessly popular. I find it ridiculous to even go in a room and close the door unless I'm willing to lock it and yell at anyone who dares try and ask for snacks while I'm in there (such as when in the bathroom. I absolutely draw a line to asking me for things while I'm using the facilities!). I do all my planning at the school table, rather than my office, and save that lovely haven for really intricate or personal stuff. Eventually, I'm sure I'll get to string two thoughts together, just not yet. Right?!? Sorry everyone else, I'm running out of time. Once again, livestock ruined my plans. Had to chase sheep back in their pen despite a check at DAWN to make sure they were behaving. Fixed their wagons, though, locked them up in a small pen with only a bit of hay and water. HA! You wanna escape the meadow with juicy, frosty grass? Suffer. I am sooooooo done with sheep! Came in, tried to rescue the morning, had a nice discussion regarding rememberance day. Amazing the good discussion you can have about war and gratefulness with little kids. squeezed in some recitations, some Latin, some math and a boring science lesson and then got a ohone call from DJ asking me to move milk cow, set a gate, roll up an electric fence, etc . . . Blah. Two and a half hours later I come in for lunch. Wish the sheep hadn't deprived me of breakfast cause 230 is a bit late for my first meal of the day - even for me! So. I think I'll just do a quick reading lesson with dd9 since she has a quiz today and I want the material fresh in her mind. Maybe we'll do the 15min typing/cursive/spelling block too but we'll see. I'm not a terrible substitute rancher (many ranch wives could probably do better, but so be it) but I sure wish there was a substitute teacher to take my place when I get busy ! (And if she could get the toddler to nap too that would be an awesome bonus!)

Morning everyone :) Well, my morning will start waylaid as I need to set up an extra line of electric fence to keep the bulls away from my milk cow and fill a bajillion water tubs so four stud horses and three bulls will no longer be thirsty. . . pretty sure I could bribe ds8 into helping me out (from the other side of the fence). Whenever I'm done, I'll hop into group time. Priority is to start the rewrite in Fable, then either latin or read aloud if there's time since I didn't plan any grammar for today. If all behave, it should go quickly (and I'm referring to the animals - bulls and horses, not kids! - here). I've been feeling kind of off for weeks now. Some cold symptoms but nothing that really knocks me down. I get a bit better, a bit worse. Last night I was in bed before nine and this morning at least the achiness is gone. Just a stuffy nose and sore throat. Sigh. It can go any time now!

Morning done without major incident except I forgot to freeze a cup of water for our experiment on mass. Will do that tomorrow instead. Starting to hear rumblings that chemistry is boring. . . not sure what to do about it right now. Maybe just order in some kits and call it good. Reading this afternoon and odds and ends. dd9 has her riding lesson and ds8 wants to go and play with the boys that live there. We'll see.

Soror, I admire your ability to let other things slide. I try and do everything and drive everyone (including myself) bonkers. I know this - and yet I have a hard time letting go of some things. Aurelia, I was a competitive trampoline and tumbler until I was ten and wrecked a knee. Barani's on the doublemini was my absolute favourite :) It's also extremely impressive to friends off the end of the diving board lol! Critter, look at you go! I adore a day at home by myself and am also extremely motivated at any hour of the day to make this happen lol. Nearly 6,000 words! Amazing what some uninterrupted time will do for the thought processes. Makes me wonder how us moms get anything done at all! As for me, we had a full morning already. Minor melt down over multiplication drill with DD9. So silly of me to assume that since she knows 2x11=22 then 2x__=11 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too hard. Sigh. After a break we had a big talk about how I couldn't care less if she makes mistakes, I'm happy to help her work through challenges and frustrations, but she needs to be respectful and kind while we do it. Once her frantic emotions were out of the way she was able to complete the twenty similar questions easily. I hope she felt foolish lol. So not looking forward to this child as an 11 year old lol! All that's left to do is individual reading instruction for the olders, and train unit study and math for the little. Oh, and our typing/cursive/spelling block and some piano practice. It's all individual work and that seems so much more relaxing than our group times :)

Morning ladies :) Well, I downloaded ticket to ride on my iPad and then decided to play a few games so I could show my train-crazy ds6 how to play - and I've been obsessed ever since lol. It's a fun game, I've never heard of it before. Yesterday we went to town for all kinds of lessons and after literally years of pleading, bargaining, saving, researching and accumulating used equipment, ds8 finally bought himself two gold fish and a can of food. He's ecstatic, and it looks nice in our living room :) DS6 got inspired a week ago and asked if he could buy a pet snail. That seems fairly harmless (compared to the lizard dd9 wants!) and he has $10 from his birthday so I said he might if his brother would let him use his tank. Alas, the pet store was out of fancy snails so we'll try again next week. DD9 is now aiming for a gerbil, a hamster or a guinea pig. Once we're finally finished reading Ivy and Bean I said we would take out books on small pets and do some reading on the topic and decide if it was a good choice. I'm not against furry animals - I just feel sorry for anything in a cage and I worry she'll whine and complain too much about cleaning out the cage. She's really big on the whining and complaining . . . Today is "fun day" in that our usual group time is Draw Write Now, Home Art Studio, geography (which are fairly fast and easy) and maybe a history or science documentary. Then I go on to math and reading as per usual lol. I think this afternoon, instead of that with dd6, I'll show him how to play ticket to ride, hope it's not too complicated for him. Have a great day!

I'm literally taking notes on your reading post-phonics. DD9 and DD8 are *still* in the throes of phonics (REWARDS Intermediate and AAR3 respectively). They are not reading independently yet, though they CAN read. I had DD9 assessed by an O-G tutor to see if she would benefit from tutoring but she basically said that while she could help her with a few things, she's mostly mastered what O-G she has to offer (and she complimented my teaching :D). Definitely some kind of dyslexia there and I'm beginning to suspect dyslexia in DS8 as well (Dh is probably mildly dyslexic though he was never diagnosed). He's the first kid I've taught to read and I only have my own experiences to call upon (and I learned abnormally easily so I thought I was the anomaly). Now I realize that maybe his struggles isn't all that normal. . . At the other end of the scale, I have this wiggly six year old who's reading at a level higher than both his older siblings and I was having a hard time figuring out what to do. I *think* I've got that figured out now. All that to say that I'm always looking for ways to get kids to enjoy reading, reading more. So thanks everyone! These threads are becoming like a board within a board and I love it :) AFM: I'm trying out planning my homeschool week in my bullet journal. Trial basis. May be too much re-wrting the same things every week. But may help me keep the day running if I have a checklist in front of me, may help me remember to write down thoughts, observations and inspirations as they happen and keep better track of where we are and what needs to be done stil. Normal day today, which is a delight for me!

man! I wish I had peanut butter cups! No Halloween candy here either. We're way too far out of town for ToT but there's a really fun community bonfire and tailgate ToT. The kids got a good bunch of candy, but not so much it's ridiculous. Therefore, it's gone already lol.

Morning everyone :) I'm back! In full swing this morning, although we sort of eased into it in some ways since there was no writing in Fable and DD9 and I only did one page of MM instead of 2. Plus I for some reason thought we were half way through chapter three in SOTW 3, but we had done it except the map work, so history was more of a review lesson than full. Which we really can't afford as we're behind a week or two, but what are you gonna do, right? I've got a plan for DD6: Train unit study and he is stoked, but I'm just waiting for the book from Peter's Railway to arrive so until then I'm going to teach him how to go through his independent work. DD9 is miffed I'm not doing a Horse Unit study with her but she needs more reading instruction and we have only so many hours in a day (although i didn't put it quite like that). Consolation prize: Once her current fiction novel is done, we'll read a non-fiction book on horses together. Now I just need to find a suitable one at her level! I've got a multiplication review and fact memorization plan in place for DD9. Review the concept together for a few minutes each day (watch Times Tales if applicable). Once I feel the concept is mastered, practice with drill sheets and/or flash cards, progressing to missing factors. I've also decided to drop the CLE addition/subtraction drill for DS for a time and work backwards a bit. He's stressing out over them, even when I don't have a time limit (and that takes forever that way). And when we do flash cards with the same problems, he does great. So I thought it was time change to a different program entirely, at least for fact mastery, and we're now working through Tier 2 of "Two Plus Two Does Not Equal Five". He's happy because it's pretty easy but I may skip pages until he's a little more challenged once his confidence builds up a bit. Left to do today: Reading for all three olders, math for DD6 as well and a typing/cursive/spelling block for the three olders. Oh. And piano practice. Now I need to go grain the cow, drink some water and eat lunch! Have a good afternooN!

I'm planning on doing a "CLE-ish" fact practice over the entire year, playing games from Right Start or other and using those MM pages as reference if there's a fact he can't master. Some kids need all that practice, some kids don't :) You know what your kid needs.

BAD HOMESCHOOL MOM ALERT: I'm just tired of teaching reading in general. My two older learners are *still* trying to master it after years and years of diligent, perseverant and dedicated practice. They're making progress, but it is hard won (language LDs). I'm sure some of you will forgive me in my sheer, utter (albeit discrete) euphoria in the fact that my third child just sort of "picked up" reading when he was five. I suspect the toddler will do the same in the future as she shows a lot of the same promise at an even earlier age than ds6 :)

morning ladies. I'm not posting much this week since I've got no school aged kids :) Figured out a plan to review and memorize times tables for dd, a plan to re-review some addition and subtraction with ds (Two plus two does not equal five) because he has some problems that will just not stick and the CLE drills are starting to stress him out, so I thought we'd go backwards a bit and build back up to CLE drill pages. The unit study on trains I'm planning for younger ds is falling together. Would like to get more history into it, but that may come with some of the other picture books I've ordered. There's a pretty good looking documentary on the transcontinental railroad on youtube, but it's American. Would love a Canadian equivalent! Mom from down the road is coming for coffee this morning, bringing her three babies (aged 4, 2 and seven months - as much as I miss it, I'm glad to be done that season of life). I've got apples on the stove for sauce. Listening to Mystie's talk on paper based planning (bullet journals, my favourite!) today at 2 so that's a chance to get some art journaling done. Still need to pull the hoses out of my garden (snow melted thank goodness!) but I did get the bulbs planted! Also need to check the sheep today since I hardly glanced at them yesterday. Have a great day everyone - get healthy sahamamama!

Well, maybe this will interest you? I've ordered the first two hardcover books to see how we like them (with Book Depository). It's a series of books written by a (retired?) train engineer for children aged 6-12 (actually, I think it says 3-90 but it specifically mentions that it's hard to find good books on trains for the over-preschool group). I think this is where most of my technical/science info will come from for us since I admittedly know nothing about trains. Looks like it would be pretty easy to fit in some simple physics (friction, inclined planes, etc) to go along with the technical pages they include with each chapter. Mind you, I haven't used them yet, but I'll let you know if it's amazing. Sure hope so! Also, I was thinking, we could keep track of the lengths of trains going by our house across the river and graph them. Note times and whether they are heading north or south. Discuss car types and possible cargo. And, if anyone else is wondering, train signals are complicated! I mean, I'm starting to understand them after watching a 15 minute youtube video, but they may be beyond my ds :P

I'll check that out too, thanks FairProspect!

Okay. I can do that. Thanks Farrar. I'll check out 8's book too. I'm in Canada and I know some of her stuff isn't available here, so hopefully that's not one of them! I'm thinking this will cover content subjects and reading and sometimes supplement math. He's usually around while the older kids do FLL3 and I've incorporated him into CAP W&R Fable in a very modified way, so that's all good. He's picked up reading almost efortlessly and we're just about done OPGTR but I think I'm still going to go through at least AAS1 before deciding if that's something else that needs to change.

Awesome guys, thanks for your thoughts. Farrar, there is actually a train museum near by, and across the ricer from us are trains all the time (not steam of course, but still). Near my parents' house is a restored-for-toursim steam train, which we've been on at least three times for his birthdays lol. There are tons of opportunity for field trips! I'm even considering taking a trip by train to a town a day away :) I've tracked down a few good resources, I'm sure there are more. I guess I'm stuck more on exectution. So basically, I just choose what I want to do, do it, and see where it leads us lol? I'm sure it seems really silly to some, but I *like* having a paper or page numbers/per day or lesson/per week and I'm not sure how to plan for this, if there's any planning at all. I guess I really just need to start and see what happens :P

Okay, so I think I know what to do with my advanced first grader with the focus of a (six year old boy) gnat. Unit studies. We can read about what he likes (steam trains!) and he can pick up some science, history & geography, more in depth math, and all sorts of other fun things. He's spent the last three years learning with his older siblings, picked up waaaay more than I expected, but just doesn't have the attention span to keep up with their curriculum any more. He's passed them in reading ability, though, and is too advanced for other first or even some second grade curriculum. This seems like the perfect answer. But how do I do it? I've looked through some books, internet sites, found some good resources, I think. I have a list of potentional topics we could cover. for instance, Math: time (train schedules), fractions (types of train cars), measurement (car lengths, train journeys). Science: steam engines, gears, why train tracks are level - building train tracks, expansion in tracks according to weather, bridges and tunnels. etc, etc What now? Choose a spine, work through it a few pages or a chapter at a time? Supplement with other resources as needed? I'm a real box checker. I makes lists and the first thing I put on my list is "make a list" so I can check it off right away lol! But this little boy of mine throws me for a loop every time I try and plan for him: either it's too easy and he's bored or it takes too much focus, too much in one sitting and it's too much for his six year old little self. Maybe just keep a basket of resources that I think we may go through that week and see how far we get? Any links to help me through this process? I'm entirely new to unit studies but I can only find preschool unit studies on trains and he's well beyond that. TIA!

Hello! Busy checking things off my list, just taking a break with a cup of coffee, watching part of Avatar and trying to figure out how to pull a unit study together for dd6. You wouldn't think it would be that hard, but I'm floundering a little. Maybe I'll check with the boards, or start a new thread even. Got our first snow today :( Hoping it will melt since I don't have all the hoses pulled out of the veggie garden yet. Also need to get a few new heat lamps. One for the older hens and one for the ducks, feel sorry for them today although it's realy not that cold. Got three coffee dates lined up this week lol Gotta take advantage of my "free" time while I can! Have a great day!

See, Critter, that's exactly how I feel about Latin! I realize it's not the most useful language in a UN kind of way, but it's so useful in so many other (albeit indirect) ways! I can't believe it's not accepted as a second language in Canada? Maybe just because it's not a spoken language anywhere in the world? Someone said it was because you can't do cultural studies with Latin, but really? That can't be it, can it? Romans had so much culture, you'd be an idiot to think cultural studies weren't part of Latin. IDK. I forgot to mention that I have my own to-do list this week since all three of my official students are gone this week. Man, can't wait to really get down to business (for like 6-7 weeks before Christmas anyhow lol). The list is as long as my arm - I consider this the end of my Harvest session, although officially we're still finishing it up when the kids get back. The next Holiday Session is coming up: Rememberance Day, a shwack of extended family's bday's (mom, nephew, MIL, father, another nephew, oldest dd - not listed below, she'll be 21!!), then Christmas and New Year's of course, then another nephew's bday on January 2. Can't believe we're there already! So usual new-session planning (unit study on trains for dd6, multiplication review and memorization for dd9, that kind of thing), usual weekly planning (history resources for the week and a bunch of iPad maintenance since we have five, that takes some planning lol) and a good chunk of cleaning: wash all the bedding and change to winter bedding (need to figure out where all the flannel sheets went lol!), scrub the bathroom from top to bottom, same goes with school room, clean the windows, and sort through toddler's clothing since nothing seems to fit again. Make a list of winter stuff kids still need. And since most of the kids are gone (and dh lol) I can make super yummy food and enjoy it with out any complaints! Paneer sag, Pho soup, salad rolls, pesto spaghetti squash and lime cilantro peanut stir-fried veggies, maybe cabbage curry salad, maybe more braised cabbage :) Almost gone through my garden cabbage! I also need to focus on finishing up the winterizing of the yard - still have some hoses lying about in the garden and I have a bag full of bulbs to plant. And I want to catch up on some of my own/creative stuff: Art Journal, water colour lessons on Youtube, book reading just for fun and listening to my Renaissance and Reformation lecture I bought on audible books by Great Courses. Ha. I only have till late next Friday to get all that done. We'll see how that goes! I'm also thinking probably my poor baby will get lonely with no one to play with so I'm inviting moms over that I don't usually get a chance to visit with because I'm too busy for school and I don't know them well enough to invite them over on Saturday at 730 am coffee like I do with my neighbor lol. I'm looking forward to that!

Agree with the above. I'm not familiar with PAL, but I've used the first four levels of AAR. It's a fantastic program, but it's not right for every child. If you feel like your child "gets it" and doesn't need a ton of deliberate, structured phonics practice, you may not need to buy the whole program for her (although I highly recommend the readers in any level if you're having trouble finding stories she can read!!) AAR has been perfect for my oldest son, but it was way too slow for my more natural reader. Look through the sample pages and placement tests of AAR2 (and other levels?) to help you decide ETA: I used OPGTR for my child who basically taught himself how to read - just as a way to point out why words say what they do. That may be the way you'd like to go? There are so many options, if you don't want to create your own program, you won't have to :)

Soror, you got the jump on critter this week? I didn't think it was possible :P Critter, what do you think you'll use after Ecoutez Parlez? My kids have been slowly, slowly going through book 2 (orally only). We play games with it, review a ton, practice. Mostly I wanted exposure and I wanted to keep up dsd's French since she transitioned to homeschooling from French Immersion (not sure I succeeded, but I'm not sure she had the greatest french vocabulary anyhow - although her accent is wonderful). Now, in light of the fact that she may have (mild?) dyslexia and I'm suspicious of my oldest son as well, I'm questioning whether a second language is even a good idea. I've read it can be extremely difficult for people with language disorders to pick up a second language. A second language is mandatory in our country from grade 4 or 5 on and although Latin doesn't qualify (wait, what?! I know, right?!) ASL does. . . so now I'm not sure what to do. My younger son has been picking up a lot of French and Latin vocab really well, so now I'm extra torn lol. I've been eyeing up French for Children (created by the same people as Song School Latin and Latin for Children) too. . . I adore languages. I'm loathe to give any up, although I admit, sign language certainly has appeal too! Onegirl, my Oma was attacked by her cat when I was a kid. I spent a week at her house because, of course, it became infected and she had to have an arm in a sling. I helped her out all week with dishes and baking and gardening etc. It was a great experience for me as a 10 year, honestly, but I was always terrified of her grumpy, crazy cat lol.

Ooooh! Aurelia! Dick King Smith has a really sweet little series that starts with Sophie's Snail. The protagonist is an animal-loving little girl, not an animal, but the illustrations and style reminds of Catwings. Check them out too?

I also had a dd who loved catwings and she also enjoyed the Guardians of G'houle (how do you spell that?!). Although I think those are longer. Catwings is a series, isn't it? Has she finished the series? I think there are four or five more. What about Stuart little? Not quite the same flavor, but it is a talking mouse lol. Goodreads lists these as being similar but I'm not familiar with them all. My father's Dragon, if I remember correctly, has a similar layout to Catwings, but may be an easier reading level. Good luck!