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I tutor and teach piano in the evenings, so it actually fits quite nicely with homeschooling. In fact, it was a main consideration in deciding to homeschool--I felt I wasn't seeing my daughter enough, as our schedules were opposite. Last spring, I also worked outside of the home two days a week. I had her go to friends/parents houses and do independent work there for an hour or so, and then I would work with her when I got home for another hour or so. Then we'd do heavier homeschooling on the days I wasn't working. Sometimes I have evening work that I can do after dd goes to bed (editing/writing mostly).

Shockingly simple.

GORGEOUS artwork!

We're in the middle of The 21 Balloons (William Pene DuBois) which was one of my very favourites from elementary years. In grade 6, we made balloon houses and hung them on large helium balloons in the school library. We also had a feast to go along with the book, where everyone brought in a dish from somewhere around the world.

We didn't do school today, because we don't start until Tuesday. But I'm sure jealous of you being at Qdobo's today!! I ate there once, and have never stopped dreaming of it since. yummmmmmmmmm Unfortunately, there are none in Canada. :glare: Despite not doing "real" school yet, my daughter just got her subscription to Mark Kistler's art lessons online, and she immediately got addicted to the drawing lessons and did six in a row today. :)

I started chapter books when my daughter was around just-turned-five. I used recommendations for first chapter book read alouds from books like Jim Trelease's Read Aloud Handbook (loooove that book!) I think our very first was My Father's Dragon. I've always continued to supplement with picture books as well. As for when, I almost always read at bedtime. Sometimes I used to read while she was in the bath. I often read a lot on days she's sick, throughout the day. And we listen to audio books occasionally in the car (hope to do that a lot more this year... but we are music lovers who like to sing during our car time!)

I was lucky enough to attend a stellar elementary school, so I know they exist. My daughter's ps that she attended from Kindergarten to 3/4 of the way through grade 4, was not what I would have wished for. It was a lot of what you describe above. There was so much time wasted on endless "parties" with movies and junk food. They never taught phonics (so that was part of our afterschooling). They didn't teach cursive, or typing, or music. In math, they were endlessly reviewing concepts like multi-digit addition and subtraction. By the time I pulled her in March of her grade 4 year, they had not covered ANY multiplication (nor did they in grade 3). Needless to say, division hadn't been taught either. And yet one day, they sent home a worksheet on reducing fractions--how can they do that without division? (Well, I know they could do it with pictures, but that hadn't been taught either.) In grade 2, during one of the key "socialization" times--lunch--they were playing movies so the kids could stare at a screen instead of interact with friends. Daily. For 40 minutes a day. I was pretty upset. (This is considered a good public school in an upscale neighbourhood, and just for context, this is in Canada.) To sum up, I was very disappointed with the curriculum at my daughter's school. Because of this, I've always supplemented with afterschooling. Without my extra teaching, I hate to think where she'd be right now. Sure, some schools are doing a pretty good job, but I can beat pretty good any day. Plus, there are more reasons than academic that we're now homeschooling.

I don't know if I'm a plugger, but I sure relate to the word "overwhelmed". I use this word to describe myself. I feel like maybe I was born in the wrong century, or at least decade. When there's too much... it's too much. When I get that overwhelmed feeling, I tend to shut down and hide away, which really makes the problems much worse, but there ya go. ;)

That just *might* have crossed my mind, too. :D But I won't admit it.

:iagree: totally with the above. It *really* needs to say simplify, not evaluate. Or, maybe the page was out of context, and there were values for the variables somewhere (maybe on the board at school??)

:grouphug: I've said things I've regretted, too. I can't beat myself up about it; I can only move on from this very moment. I can have a groundhog day (a complete start over). I can even ask my daughter if she wants in on the the complete start over along with me. Then we are both looking for a new way forward together. Breaking out of ruts is so, so hard--I speak from experience. But you can. It is possible. :grouphug:

Especially if Gordon Ramsey is describing it: "You'll have the MOST AMAZING lemons and they'll bake into this MOST AMAZING pie..."

What?? Our cat LOVES our hamster! She rubs against him with her cheek, with the kind of affection she shows us. :) Not saying I'd let the cat and the hamster be alone, or anything. But the hamster is always in a cage or under direct supervision, and they mix fine. :) Another vote for gentle, affectionate older cat here! Or hamster. They're easy, and don't stink at all if you clean the cage weekly (which takes only about 5 minutes).

I agree... watercolours work very well for young kids. They need some teaching to learn how much water to use, how to swirl the colour to make it stronger, how to rinse between colours. But you can always rinse the whole set under running water to clear up murky mixed colours. That said, I LOVE watercolour pencils. Draw the picture and colour it with watercolour pencils, then use a paintbrush and water to brush over areas to give a beautiful watercolour effect. It really simplifies the whole process. Similarly, there are watercolour crayons, which are maybe even better for a six year old, depending on how precise they try to be with their drawings.

I haven't read all the responses, but I will tell you my aunt's experience. They (aunt and uncle) already had two children who were teens. They never particularly intended to adopt. But, they lived internationally throughout my uncle's working years, and somehow ended up "touring" an orphanage in Poland. There was a family of 4 kids (from the same mother, although 2 different fathers) living there, and my aunt really wanted to help them stay together as a family. She knew it was unlikely anyone would adopt all 4. So she talked to her brother and his wife (who already had 3 teens) about each of them taking 2 of the kids, so they could at least remain in the same extended family and see each other at times. They decided to go ahead with it, and each took two children. So why did they adopt internationally? Because it just spoke to them at the time, and was something that happened to grab their hearts. Now, I can't say the story has a particularly happy ending. When they were first found, I think they ranged from about age 5 - 10. When adopted, perhaps 7 - 12. Their mother was still alive, so there were some difficulties putting the adoption through. Now they are all in their late teens to early 20s. They have caused considerable heartache for both sets of aunts and uncles. Many pregnancies, dropping out of school, lying, stealing, and on and on. In great part I blame the birth mom, who drank through her pregnancies, and it appears that her kids suffer mild effects of fetal alcohol syndrome. Anyway, it has not been an easy road at all, from the very beginning. A client of mine, who adopted 3 kids domestically, age 5 - 9 (after raising her own 4), has also suffered tremendously, as each kid in turn reached the mid-teen years and ran away permanently from home and cut off most ties the the adoptive family. It's so very sad to watch.

Me, too. Dedicated user here for about 10 months. Ask away, if you like. A pm if you prefer. :)

I think your ideas are great, and it's going to be fine! :grouphug:

Agree with the Usborne suggestion... sooo motivating, so many styles and techniques, and so much fun! There is actually a set of Usborne art books for younger kids, where they use crayon in imaginative ways (and other media too) and draw all kinds of little-kid friendly stuff. Good for age 4 - 7 or so, I'd say.

AngelBee and Aquinas Academy: Thanks so much for the welcome! :grouphug:

Lots of things: :) Go to storytelling events and/or festivals. Google storytelling or similar terms to find good first stories to learn. Use a row or a rectangle of index cards... on each, draw a stick picture of what happens in each chunk of the story. Use them as a guide to remembering the story. Then try telling the story each time with more detail and expression. You can also add to the cards with little symbols or details to help jog your memory for what you want to say when telling. A good method for feeling more comfortable is to let a puppet tell the story. That way, it's not a big deal if the "puppet" messes up or forgets. The puppet also allows the narrator to be a character, which adds a layer of richness to the story. Or, find a story with two or three characters, and let puppets represent each, and "tell" the story by having them improvise/act out the story.

Now I'm feeling paranoid, like some of the others. I have no avatar up yet, no signature listing kids and curriculum, no blog ('cause I don't do one), and the dreaded low post count ('cause I just joined a couple weeks ago). Oh, and I haven't formally introduced myself... am I missing the board or thread where people introduce themselves? I'd be happy to, if I knew where to do it. Every board has its own "feel". I'll be honest; as much as I've enjoyed reading the consistently intelligent thoughts and opinions on this board since I joined, I can't say it feels all warm and fuzzy and welcoming. I'm hoping it feels more comfortable soon, though, because I really like it here overall!

Just outside of Ottawa, Ontario!

I've been a reading tutor for quite a few years. It sounds to me like he could use additional work in phonemic awareness (basically the ability to manipulate the sounds within words). This is often the missing link in kids who understand phonics, but can't put it all together. You can play/practice even in the car, by simply making the individual sounds in a word (orally) and having him blend them together into a word (also orally). Start with 3-sound words. Move on to 4 sounds, and then 5 when he's confident. He should also do the reverse--you give a word, and he tells the individual sounds. Be sure you understand all of the different sounds--for example, the word "church" has only 3 sounds... /ch/ ... /ur/ ... and /ch/, despite the fact that it has 6 letters. Then practice saying a sound, and asking if he hears it at the beginning of a certain word, or somewhere in the middle, or at the end. When he's good at all of these, try this type of manipulation: "Let's start with the word cat. If you take away the /c/ sound and replace it with a /b/ sound, what word will you have? (bat) Now take away the /t/ sound, and replace it with a /g/ sound. Now what word do you have? (bag)" I find the book Reading Reflex does an excellent job at helping parents teach reading while incorporating phonemic awareness with phonics in an effective way. I totally skip using their stories in the book, but I use all of the other stuff. I really recommend it. As for silent/magic e, I agree that it shouldn't be "explained" as much as played around with. Use tiles or magnets as well as props. Let the e magnet wear a little piece of tissue as a cape. Give him a toothpick wand. When he comes across a CVC word like "can", have him do his magic... it's a magic that forces the vowel to say it's own name as you're blending the new word together. (While kids are first learning, I leave off the other silent e functions, as in se, ge, ve, and so on. It's too confusing all at once.) Hope this helps!

If you move away from the traditional, mainstream games like Sorry, Candyland, and so on, I find there are a lot. I played games with my daughter like Rat-a Tat-Cat and Hey That's My Fish, where you had to count up cards/etc. of different values at the end to get a score. And Sleeping Queens, where you can lay down more cards if you can come up with a "number sentence" that used 3 of your cards. There are lots more, but I'm too lazy to go up to dd's room to check right now. :)