:svengo:Really!?!? Wow!

I give grades. I always got grades, starting in elementary school. DS likes grades, they motivate him. For math, if he misses a problem, I give him clues. If he gets it after one or two clues, I give him half the points. If we have to walk through the whole problem together, he gets no points. If he gets 90% correct in the first lesson, I expect the last lesson on the topic to be 100%. We work to mastery, but I can still grade the initial work on any assignment. There are lots of freebies kids can get around here with A grades on a report card. I want him to have those fun opportunities.

Yes, but he would rather tell me. He does not like to write.

We get up, eat breakfast, do math, phonics, English grammar, science or history and then reading alone. It takes 1-1.5 hours.

If you want to work at reading longer stories for retention of what is read, have him read a chapter a day. Pick a book with chapters that are close to the length of books he reads all.e already. I started my DS on Magic Tree house books. It took him 10-15 minutes to read a chapter. He came back and told me what happened. We finished a second book yesterday, he is reading a chapter in 3 minutes with the same retention level. Now we will read longer chapters, or 2-3 a day.

We used the Folger editions in high school, I love them! They have text in one page and definitions and other notes on one page. I don't want to he told everything. I love to read the language! I have spent enough time on Shakespeare to be 0retty comfortable with it. If you want help teaching Shakespeare as more than lit, get and acting styles or acting Shakespeare book. Studying the Globe and staging of the period really adds to the experience.

1 cup brown rice (not instant) 1 can black beans (or equivalent from dried beans) 1 can rotel tomatoes Sometimes I add a can of green chilies. We usually throw in some grilled chicken, cheese, sour cream, and ALWAYS add green tobasco sauce. But if you are trying to save money: the beans, rice, and tomatoes are great!

We made a sugar cookie (my kids only like pepperoni pizza, I wanted something they would eat). It is not amazing, but we had fun. When we come back around to Biology in a few years, we will take more time with it and maybe they will be more creative than I was. I am a dancer...not a visual artist :tongue_smilie:. There are pics on my blog.

I used the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons when he was 4.5. He learned to read very quickly. We used the Bob Books at the same time. He was reading on his own in less than 2 months. Get the Core Knowledge books - What You ____ Needs to Know, I am pretty sure they have a preschool book. I did not use a curriculum until this year (1st grade) and we are doing all 2nd grade work. Don't stress too much: read, draw, make arts and crafts, practice counting and singing the alphabet, do some nursery rhymes, go over colors, and animal sounds.

How exciting!! I hope the transition goes smoothly!

I know, I tend to think in 5s and 10s, he does stuff with 3s a lot. He also works out the 10s sometimes. He plays with numbers a lot!

So my son had to do this problem out loud for me: 35+28 His first answer was 44. I said "No, that's not right." He said, yes I have 44 and 19! Here is the full reasoning of the problem... 35+28 I take 9 and get 44+19 I take the 10 and get 54+9 I take 6 and get 60+3 The answer is 63! I would have taken 10, then 5, then 3...the way his brain works!!! Geesh!

We learned the concept of multiplication last year. He can work problems out in his head, our next step is paper work and facts. He only has a few addition facts that he is slow on, we are getting there. He flipped to the multiplication section today and got VERY excited! We will start measurement next week and then multiplication within a week. It will be a good change! I am holding off on the IPs until later. We can do IP 3 digit addition in the midst of text and workbook multiplication. We shall see, I am learning to be flexible :tongue_smilie:It is very hard for me!

I am having mushroom stuffed pasta with basil pesto sauce for lunch. I don't know about the kids...they just ate breakfast :glare:. Our schedules are a mess, but school is done for my first grader. Preschooler has not asked yet, we only do school when she asks. I am headed to my parents house to pick up a mini fridge for the studio, to make a deposit at the bank, and to get some supplies for our edible cell project! It will be desert after dinner tonight!:D

Get real objects - blocks, her favorite stuffed animals, grapes, cookies, etc - and demonstrate with objects. Say "1 cookie plus 1 cookie equals how many cookies?" She should see two cookies, and say two. Keep it concrete for a while. Check every week or so to see if the concept is sticking yet. Eventually, she will get it. I try to make sure my kids understand 0-9 and some basic addition before we start looking at numbers over 10. There seems to be less confusion. We count higher than 10, but we don't look at the numbers until we get some addition out loud first.

I want a better name too - we are LAST NAME Classical Academy...I want something cool ;). Aidan is proud to say he is homeschooled, but for official paperwork - report cards and transcripts (later) I want a nice name that sounds nice.

I used my Grandma's old Singer until the motor went out, then my mom bought me a Brother at Walmart. Once I learned how to adjust tension and stitch length, I have had no problems (I did nothing impressive with Gma's machine, now I make costumes for huge shows. I am self taught and don't always do things the best way :) but I have not had trouble with the Brother. When it dies, I will probably get a better machine from a sewing/fabric store.

That would not be okay with me, even in High School! There are so many other amazing team building activities!

Firefox. I love it!

I created a learning space in out dining room. I have a desk and each of the kids has a desk. They were so excited to have the desks! Lilly sits in hers for hours each day, coloring and playing.

I went to a college prep high school and only did 6 hours and 45 minutes a day. That included 55 minute lunch, and 1.5 hours for choir and drama. So that was only a little over 4 hours. I had no more than 2 hours of homework a night (I was pretty efficient) and I was more than adequately prepared for college. I had a solid education. I would not count piano in the hours, and I would spend less time on math each day. If a lesson is too hard to complete in 30-45 minutes, I would do it over two days. It will help cement the ideas in the child's head.

I am trying to watch my portion size. I am not always successful, especially when it is one of my favorite foods! I lost some weight for a while, but then with stress I started drinking more Coke and that all went away...

We never did Kindergarten math. We kind of skipped first grade too. I bought a 1st-2nd grade math workbook from Walmart and we played in that for 3-4 months, then started going through it more systematically. We did 4-6 math problems a day in Kindergarten. They were addition of 2-3 digit numbers, addition or 3 or more numbers, and introductory multiplication concepts. He picked it up fast (I felt very comfortable teaching the math concepts without a TM or full program). We also played with some manipulatives. After that workbook he scored 97% on the 1A placement test, 90% on the 1B test and he could have tested out of 2A, we are speeding through that and will be getting to 2B before Christmas.

:lol: I have not caught my kids going anywhere crazy, but the dog used to go in the cat's litter box....not as funny as the Cheerio bowl :)

Take some time and work on your relationship. My DS came in my room crying one day because I always talked mean to him. There was some yelling and lots of time outs. We had a good talk about him following directions so that I could speak nicely to him. When he does not mind I get cranky and upset and it is hard to talk nice sometimes. We then spent some time together. We went on a date - Sundays in the car at McDonald's. :) I would stop with the curriculum and structured learning for a while, maybe you just need a week or two, but take a break. Get some historical fiction, some cool science books, and fun literature selections. Spend a couple of small chunks of time each day (30 minutes to an hour at a time depending on what you both can handle) and read together. Take turns reading out loud and discuss the books. Do some fun and easy experiments. You can have him do some math pages, but just do a few problems a day. Do them on a white board instead of paper. He will still be learning, and it will all be teacher intensive; but that is what you need. He needs to know that you are invested in his education and in him as a person. It will help build your relationship and his confidence. If you think he has some learning disabilities, I would try to save for some testing, or do some research on your own. Look for similar issues and then look for natural remedies and behavior management tips. Changing his diet (I know some people cut out high carbs or gluten and get behavior changes, look at sugar intake, and even food dyes. I have heard of people cutting a dye out and seeing changes.); tv/game time, and your approach to his education and behavior management will not hurt him; but you may find a new way to deal with him that works. Most importantly, spend time with him, get to know him, develop that relationship. :grouphug: