CurrClick is having $1 days, you can get Mammoth Math there. I don't know if any of it is on sale, but you can look.

I reread chapter 1 tonight and also left a reply on your blog...but it did not show up either :(

I bought Edu-Track. In my state, I don't have to report anything, but lots of places give kids free stuff for A's on report cards and for high school I will have to create a transcript. I need to start now with record keeping to build the habit. If I kept nothing and then had to start when we hit HS I would be a mess, plus we will likely do Algebra before 9th grade, so I need those records. A woman at the local convention this year spoke on record keeping and she advocated doing what I am doing for the same reason. You don't want to get to the point of college apps and not have your records in order. With Edu-Track you can download lesson plans for a lot of the big curriculum companies! That saves a lot of time. It has a place to create a reading list, record vaccinations, list awards (even the ones you create - "Reading X books in a year" or anything you feel worthy of an award! You can print certificates and diplomas, graph paper, writing tablet paper, and much much more! It was cheap too! I mention it a lot...but that is just because I truly LOVE this program!!!

I can't help it, when my 3 year old has freshly cleaned hair it forms beautiful ringlets as it dries...I can't stop the incredible urge to pull a curl and say "Boing!!" I read the Ramona books in 2nd or 3rd grade, a long time ago, and that is the most vivid memory I have from ANY book! Anybody else do silly things like that because of a book?

I kept it to an hour a day last year (kindergarten). We could usually finish everything we needed to do. I did math and reading everyday, history/geography 1-2 days a week (more if the book we were reading was history), science 1-2 days, spelling everyday (sight words - usually out loud or on the fridge with magnets) Bible once a week, some basic grammar (nouns, verbs, adj.) daily in the last month or two. We did various activities (mazes, crosswords, word finds, etc) a few times a week. This year, I am anticipating 2 hours a day. I plan to complete the curriculum for math and grammar, science is 2 10-15 week sets (depending on how many days a week we do it. I will alternate that with SOTW, we are doing the memory work for CC Foundations (I don't anticipate much work on that each day, plus we will listen to it in the car anywhere we go without Daddy :D ) Oklahoma does have a hours requirement, but no reporting. I will complete at least 180 days (on record), and I count his dance, theatre, piano, and gymnastics toward his school hours - that is at least an hour a day. ***I am exhausted...sorry if this post jumps around, I don't have the energy to proof read :tongue_smilie:***

I would agree that you should stick to the individualized instruction, benefits of grouping by ability rather than age, and cost to educate. *ETC: A friend of mine used to teach kindergarten in the town we lived in. Each year they did kindergarten screenings. Each child was ranked below average, above average, or average based on the knowledge they had coming in. I assumed they divided them into classes by ability...no...they made 6 piles of the evaluations (dividing each group into boys and girls). The teachers walked around the table and took one child's sheet from each pile until all the children were placed in classes. They did this to be "fair to the teachers" so that no teacher was stuck with all the kids who needed more work. It also meant that those kids who already knew how to read had to learn the letter sounds with all the other kids! That is when I knew we would homeschool.

I am completely confused by all of these things!! What is the kittens and apostrophes thing?

I started dancing at 3. At 12, I started doing theatre and became a night owl. I would go to school at 8, be home at 3:00, take a nap or eat a snack, maybe do homework, then go to dance/theatre from 4:30ish until 10pm sometimes...then I would do homework. When I got to college, I never started class before 9 am, 11 if I could have my choice! I only had a regular schedule job for 6 months...then I switched to teaching dance completely....I have been a mess every since. DH is also a night owl. He was homeschooled from 1st grade on and did theatre. Our kids take after us. DS has started waking up at 8:30 most days. Once a week he sleeps until 10 or 11. I like to start school work by 9am if we can. That way we are done by 11am and can relax, play, run errands before we start our evening activities. On days DH works, our family time starts with dinner at 9ish and ends with bed time at 11ish. It works for us, but some find us a little crazy! (mainly my parents) It does make it hard to schedule daytime playdates during the week. We are ready to play while my friends kids are ready for naptime. :tongue_smilie:

My DH has a window cleaning business and we co-own a performing arts academy for which I teach most of the dance classes. I would continue with homeschooling. If your business is growing so much, can you afford to pay someone to do the house work? If you had someone come once or twice a week to do the laundry, bathrooms and other deep cleaning; would that give you some relief? Can you rearrange your school schedule? We do school between 11 am and 3 pm, sometimes at 10 pm. The kids go to bed around 11 pm and don't get up until late (3 year old sleeps until noon sometimes!) This allows me to work on studio paper work in the mornings before school. If you school at night, could your husband help with school work? Those are just my thoughts if you really wanted to continue with homeschooling. If you are okay with the PS in your area, put them in school for a year. We have a school by us that is 2-2.5 days a week of school and you homeschool the rest of the week. Do you have anything like that near you?

I have a friend who put her child in K12 for this year and he hates it. Having been homeschooled for all but a year of school, he is hating the k12 program because it requires him to log 6 hours of time a day, I think he has to do it all on the computer. If he finished his work in 4 hours, he has to stay logged in and do stuff for another 2 hours. He was getting really frustrated with it one day that he finished really early.

I feel your pain! I try to declutter and clean and it just gets worse! I find more and more stuff!

I had this done with scripts all the time in college, Kinko's was fairly cheap. Just a couple of dollars a book.

My parents were not supportive of our homeschooling choice when we started last year. My dad always asked my son if he was ready to start real school. DS would always say "No, I homeschool." My dad would go on about how fun school is and how much he would learn. We live close and see my parents often. I made sure that my DS "showed off" a little knowledge. My dad babysat one time, I took some of the most advanced books DS was reading and some workbooks for him to play in. My dad saw what he was doing and was impressed. Every now and then I tell my mom about the curriculum I have for next year and she is impressed with what we will be doing. She does always express her concerns:"If he learns chemistry before high school, won't that cause problems when he takes the class in school?" I just have to explain, that he would be fine if we chose to put him in school for high school. He won't know everything they are learning, he will just have some important concepts (parts of the periodic table, basics of atoms and chemical reactions) memorized. He will not have to cram like his classmates...and that is only if he goes to a school for high school. It helps that she just spent the weekend at the family reunion with family members homeschooled through high school and that her best friend's daughter homeschools. They are coming around. Can you find someone your parents know that has been homeschooled and done well? Can you have your boys do something impressive to send to her? I found a blank book at HS convention this year that has lines for writing a story and blank space for illustrating the story. Do something like that to show their good handwriting, spelling ability, artistic skills....make it a birthday or Christmas gift for your parents.

We are going to a local dairy in August for a tour and we go to the zoo when ever we can. We did not do many last year; but this year, I would like to get one in a month.

I am working to turn our dining room into a school room. We only use it for meals if we have a lot of people over. I want to have the table for puzzles and projects. I have a book shelf and dresser for supplies, a desk for me, and one student school desk. The room also holds my elliptical. The main problem is that it is the room you walk into from outside...it becomes a dumping ground. The playroom also tends to explode into the dining room! I need to get rid of stuff....but it is tough!! We start school Aug 1st, I won't have it ready by then; but I hope to get it done by September!

I guess I will just add my first grader's curriculum to the list. Here is what we are doing: *Classical Conversations Foundations (at home, mainly for History and Latin; it is Christian) *Singapore Math 2A&B *Read Science for Kids - Chemistry and Biology Pre-Level 1 *SOTW Ancients may do some of the activities *What You First Grader Needs to Know (as mentioned by a PP, to make sure everything is covered; but mainly for Literature selections! These books have a great variety of poetry, fables, tall tales, etc. Plus mini history lessons) *Shurley English Level 1 *Core Curriculum of Basic Skills ($8 workbook I picked up from Sam's Club) we are using it for the Phonics work pages and the reading comprehension. Also as supplement practice for math and English. *Writing Road to Reading (for spelling rules and phonics work) *Spelling Plus and the corresponding Dictation book *I am making my own copywork notebook pages of Memory work, Bible verses, and poetry for What Your First Grader Needs to Know It seems like a lot, but we are not doing all of the CC stuff. I am using the memory work and the history timeline, we will not be doing any of the music lessons and we may do a few experiments if we need a change of pace.

a list of how many posts you need to reach a different level with the titles below your name? I am just curious what it is, I think mine changed at 40? It is one of those things that will drive me nuts until I know the break down :) I just can't find it anywhere.

An AP score should not affect admittance to schools, just whether or not he gets college credit for the class. I would wait and report it to the school he is attending if it will give him credit, but still report it on the transcript. Not everyone takes the AP tests and lots of people don't pass with a 3. It shows that he is working. I think it would be good to have on the transcript, but only pay to send the official score to the school he is attending.

Contact private schools in the area to see if the test homeschoolers. Several in our area do. If not, a private school teacher might like to make a little extra cash for the summer.

Congratulations!!!

Touch math assigns points to each number. that you count as you add or subtract. 3 for example has a "point" at the end if each line extending to the left. You touch each point as you count to add. You cam do the same for subtraction. I was taught this way at some point (rather than drilling my facts) I started relying on it. I could do a multiplication timed test, but not addition! We drill facts on paper and mentally at our house. As far as th dots....she is just using pictures to do her math. For some kids the ability to think of numbers without looking at the pictures develops a little later. You might get a workbook that starts with illustrations of problems and moves just numbers. When ever she is with you, you can do math drills. Flash cards at home are good too, but if she has not made the transition to the more abstract thought in math, she may just struggle and get frustrated.

I have a first grader this year and we are using Shurley English. It is scripted and has a CD with it. I have purchased some used R&S books to look at for the future. Shurley English was highly recommended by a friend. I don't like that is does not have diagramming, but it was suggested by someone whose children have wonderful grammar! Much better than mine! I will either start R&S in 2nd and work from the beginning of the series, or pick it up in 5th grade. Not sure yet.

I am trying to come up with a list of copy work for my 1st grader. I saw some copy work notebooks on CurrClick and decided to make my own rather than buy them...I want to do some Bible passages as well as literature/poetry. Any suggestions for verses or other things that have worked well for your young ones? I made my first book for Psalm 23.

I want to do year round schooling. I just have to figure out how to make it work. We own a performing arts academy. We do a musical in Dec, another in January, recital in May, 2 musicals back to back in June, and a two week musical theatre camp in July. That is 7 weeks of the year that we can't really do school. Sometimes in Dec we can manage a little school during the show week, but if I am making costumes....no school! With 1 week for Christmas, Spring break, and Thanksgiving that really leaves us 6 more weeks to play with in our schedule...I just don't know where to take a longer break. We can take one in Sept, one in Feb/March and the whole month of July (which over laps with the 2 weeks of camp so really still leaves me 2 weeks!) It really seems like a lot more time off than it did when I was in school :) I am afraid that we might get burned out if all of our breaks are for shows, the most stressful weeks! If I could manage school in those weeks, I would take the week after off instead :) Any suggestions?

Have fun! I went to my first one this year. The one here sold recordings as well. It is $6?? I think for one or you could prepay before the conference and get the whole thing for $30. I kind of wish I had done that :(