For the moment (you know homeschool moms and curriculum....it is subject to change), I am doing formal spelling with my 12yo and 10yo girls. The 12yo is NOT a natural speller and is very auditory. She is using Phonetic Zoo. The 10yo seems to find spelling easier. She is using Rod & Staff, though I may try just copywork for her in the near future. They do their spelling independently, so it doesn't take much of my time.

I rarely follow my plans :glare:, so I've found it best to have a general plan/routine and then write down what we actually did. Here is what I use At-A-Glance Academic Planner . It is spendy, but I like it because it has an equal amount of space for all seven days. I use the "quick notes" square to write down the subjects I cover with the girls each day (general routine). It is my reminder list for this 40 something brain that tends to forget what subjects we haven't gotten to yet that day. I still like to make tables, though. It can be kind of addicting. ;)

:iagree: Beauuuutiful, Liz!!! I've made similar pages with Microsoft Word by making a "table." Of course, mine don't look nearly as beautiful.

Mom, you know her best. At the same time, she is a girl. Personality + hormones = interesting parenting ;) Personally, I have an almost 13 yodd who has completely taken us by surprise this spring. She is our mild mannered obedient child. We had no idea anything was wrong with her until she recently told us she is depressed. She wants quiet, doesn't like to be touched, and gets very stressed in crowds to the point of tears. The reason I'm sharing our experience is because maybe "suck it up" is not what a young girl experiencing growing up/hormonal changes needs to hear. I for one have no problem with crowds, so it is hard for me to understand how my daughter feels. But, to her, the stress is very real. I have to remind myself of that or else I become impatient with her. I deal with SAD during the winter and I feel awful when people are impatient with me because I look okay on the outside. Just a different perspective.:grouphug:

Drew has written a great article! You've got to read it. Freedom! Drew, thank you! I have to admit that I freaked out when I saw the current scope and sequence with all of the literature included. Reading the article brought a sense of peace. :)

I thought you said "1.5 yo is making good progress on reading." :w00t: I need to read more carefully. ;)

For most subjects...pick up where you left off. Math - look at the next level/book. For example, the first 30+ lessons in Saxon are review. We used Saxon K-54. We either skipped the lessons at the end of the book, or we skipped the first 30 or so lessons in the next level.

Yeah! It finally arrived. Tried to read it tonight while babysitting granddaughter. Um, it didn't work. She wanted my full attention ;).

Finally, finally, finally!!!!! I thought it would never get here.

Lynn, for what it is worth, I don't have any boys. I was a poor student ©. My mother made sure that I went to college, and again, I wasn't motivated. My poor ($) parents! What finally motivated me was getting out and getting a low paying job. Actually I had to work both a full time and part time job to make ends meet. I found myself sitting on the side of the bed every evening and morning wondering if this was all there was to life. I made a beeline back to college and was an A student for the remainder. Good luck!

Do what you can orally. It helps. My kids would hate me if they had to write down every sentence.;)

I haven't read any of the other replies. It's okay. :grouphug: I do not want my kids to memorize the wrong answer, so I let them use a math fact chart when doing their worksheets. I know it seems like cheating but I don't want them to guess and cement the wrong answer in their minds. This way, if they are unsure they can look up the answer. After doing this many times the correct answer is cemented in their brains and they can do their math problems with confidence. It has worked for us. Good luck. :)

I wish I had been a tortoise instead of a hare! We are playing "catch up" and it's not fun.

I read the Iliad to my dd when she was in 6th. I had never read it before, so many of the names were killer for me. Luckily dd had read quite a few Greek mythology books and was familiar with the story. You might want to find Black Ships Before Troy (Check Google Books for a preview). One thing that helped me stay on top of the story line was reading the book summaries in Cliffnotes before starting the next reading. (free online http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/The-Iliad.id-26.html ) I'm reading the Odyssey with my dd right now. We take turns reading and cover approximately 1/2 a book each day. After reading several books, we watch the corresponding lecture from The Teaching Company's course "The Odyssey of Homer" taught by Professor Elizabeth Vandiver. We have really enjoyed watching these!! I wish we had had her lectures on the Iliad when we read it. You're in luck as it is on sale! http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=301&pc=SaleLiterature%20and%20English%20Language

It seems that pre-puberty catches a lot of parents off guard. I know I was surprised when my 8 yodd started having B.O. I think it is great that you are planning ahead. Maybe you could read the information and then share it with her in your own words as the opportunity presents itself. Each child is so individual. I gauged my 2nd dd's development according to what I experienced with her older sister. She started her cycle a good year earlier. I hadn't talked to her and then one night I saw that she had hair. She is a very private girl and I was surprised. I felt prompted to talk to her about starting her cycle even though I thought she had another year or two to go. Guess what? She started the next day! Talk about being led by the spirit!!! He really does care about the little details. :)

I've been checking my e-mail since yesterday when someone posted that their copy had shipped. I received my e-mail this morning. I have the 1st edition and I'm excited to see what's new. :thumbup1:

Laura, thank you! I'm shaking in my boots over beginning Greek :001_huh:. Currently we are working on Latin and probably should spend at least another year or two before we start Greek. I'm trying to plan ahead. BTW, had you studied Greek before you started teaching your son?

R&S - About the amount of writing...we do the lessons orally as much as possible. We do diagramming on a lap size chalkboard. When sentences need correction (capitalization, quotation marks, end punctuation, etc.) I type those and then let dd correct them on the computer. She would much rather do that than have to write.

I love Rod & Staff math. It is simple and very affordable. Learning math facts seems to be the main focus in the younger years. Starting with the 4th grade book the lesson material is presented in the text. My dd and I read it together. We did as many of the problems as we could orally, because it cuts down on copying. Some folks even let their children write in the book. We don't because I have younger children that I need to save them for. There are a lot of great math programs out there. Good luck with finding the right fit. :)

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I have seen it mentioned in numerous posts that Galore Park has a program in the works for Greek. Where do I find information on this? Thanks!

We found that the first 30+ lessons in Saxon are review, so you'll hit it next year. Have a great summer! :coolgleamA:

:iagree: with Mama Lynx. "LCC gave me 'permission' to just focus on that which is most important. It doesn't mean we don't do other things, but it means I don't stress about the other things." I have to add that things have been quite different for us. I suffer from SAD in the winter (Oregon). Add to that an older child who caused a lot of family turmoil/lost her brains last year, and we are just getting back to LCC. My 6 yodd is NOT ready for Latin. She is my Leona the late bloomer :). My older girls (at home) gave me a lot of grief when we restarted but it had nothing to do with LCC. They just didn't want me to require anything of them. They had a little too much freedom while Mom was trying to cope with life. We are now using Lively Latin and I am learning right along with them. They don't beg for Latin but they aren't resistant either. I admit, I love it! I've always wanted to learn Latin and didn't think it was possible. My 12yodd really likes the idea of reading the classics such as Homer's Odyssey. It makes her feel smart :D. She has even ventured into the adult section recently to check out books on Greek Mythology. If we followed a "let's see how much we can cram into you" type education, she wouldn't have time to read those books or write her own book. Did I mention that just a year ago she cried when her father asked her to write several sentences about a camping trip they had taken together? Now she is writing her own book and I'm like this :blink: and :thumbup1:. I'll admit that we are not early risers. Yet, we are able to finish school by lunch time many days. That doesn't include reading aloud or Christian Studies. Those are done separately at other times of the day. I expect our time commitment to increase in the future as we are only doing the absolute basics at the moment. My 12 yodd is in a hormonal state right now (ah, the joys of raising girls), so I'm slowly adding in more. Can't overwhelm her or she might rebel. ;) I remember reading through TWTM and feeling down, because I felt there was NO WAY I could do it. I felt overwhelmed before I even started. When I read LCC, it was like someone gave me a shot in the arm. For the first time ever, I believed that I could do it. We're not there yet, but we are on our way and I know we'll get there. It is doable!

We do the oral review before each lesson. I tell dd that we're warming up her mind. We read the lesson together and then we do the exercises orally if possible. We do diagramming on a lap size chalk board. English grammar did not click for me as a child. I'm learning as much as my children do. Love Rod & Staff!:thumbup1:

:) Thank you for replying. I have spent way too much time trying to decide what to do about algebra. We were going to do R&S math 8, but after completing 3 chapters I don't think dd needs another year of mainly review. Math has become the daily grind. I believe dd is capable of starting Algebra even if we have to take it slowly. If Lial's works for dd it will be one of the best investments I've made with curriculum lately. $15 is a bargain compared to some of the other Algebra programs I've looked at.