I haven't read all the responses, but in my case, it was "first born syndrome". I've noticed the same syndrome in other mothers. It's a learning curve. It takes a dose of reality. My 4 year old is still running wild. My nearly 8 year old was reading at his age. I have a child in the middle also. She just turned 6 and is reading pretty typically for what homeschoolers, not necessarily school districts, would like. Her kindergarten is pretty light, and I'm sure most pk3 and pk4 do more book work than she. Thoughts/opinions on school for 3s and 4s is often directly proportional to the number and ages of older children being schooled in the home ;) I've decided to put my 4 year old in playschool next year. We toured a couple of preschools. After we toured the school to see rooms full of little ones chanting "va, ve, vi, vo", the director told us "if you're looking for a place for your kid to play- this isn't it." Definitely not. He'll be going 3 days a week to a preschool whose curriculum is based on play.

We do math and reading (most often the title for that week in WWE) every day. Everything else we just kind of get around to doing. cello- 4x a week drawing-2x a week co-op- 1x a week

We do math and reading (most often the title for that week in WWE) every day. Everything else we just kind of get around to doing. cello- 4x a week drawing-2x a week co-op- 1x a week

You get a Lexile when you take the SAT 10. Other than that, I'm not sure how you go about it.

*following* and I wanted to ditto the Edgar Edgar suggestion. My 7 year old LOVES Half Magic. She's reading 5 Children and It, and The Hobbit right now. This thread will be very useful to me.

I started with C25K in Oct 2011 and am still running. I've done dozens of 5ks, a couple of 10ks, a half marathon, and a marathon relay. I'm a co-leader of my local area Moms Run This Town. To keep from going broke, save your money and join a local running group. They'll have group runs and you'll get some of the best friends you've had in your adult life ;) There's no shame in walking, in fact, Jeff Galloway endorses a Run-walk-run method (google for more info).

I'm pretty much a purist when it comes to the WTM. I started PHP products in the 1st grade and have kept with them. I love transitioning into the next level. The books are so inexpensive that I'm able to stack our library up with the additional reading suggestions in SOTW. She rushes through the things she has to do to sit and read from her book bin. We've only ever changed math. We started with Saxon, but when I had her tested, I thought her math scores could be a bit higher. I started 2nd grade with the 2nd semester of 1st grade Horizons because I understood it to be a little above grade level. She's just finished the 1st semester of 2nd grade. I do believe that she's at or above grade level now, when I compare it with what her publically schooled peers are learning. She is a little bored with it now, but I think she's just ready for a break. She's having fun with Teaching Textbooks 3 right now, and we'll pick up where we left off with Horizons later in the summer. I'm the kind of person that I like to find something that works and stick with it. "If it ain't broke don't fix" it and all. We'll continue with FLL3 and WWE3. SOTW 3. We never went back to Prima Latina after our Christmas break, but I may try again with a harder level. She'll also continue to work through Spelling Workout, Worldly Wise, and Comprehension. She's done with ETC. We're using Draw and Write Through History for cursive. It's been a big hit because she loves to draw, and she loves cursive. My only real change will be science. She takes science at co-op, and she does a number of experiments when she's working on badges for AHG, and watches the Happy Scientist, but she feels like she's missing something because we don't "sit and do" science. I've been searching threads. I know that I don't want to do Apologia. She's reading Sassafrass vol 1 right now in her free time on her Kindle. I'm leaning heaving towards doing Elemental Science next year (the Classic version) but I'm unsure of which subject. I will have a 1st grader who is focusing on learning to read currently. Extras: She'll continue to play cello with the Montgomery Music Project. She loves Mark Kistler's Virtual Classroom for drawing. She'll be in her 4th year of American Heritage Girls, and she takes Aikdo.

I got the 2nd semester of 1st grade math off of Amazon and had my daughter work through it before we started 2nd grade math (also Horizons). She's just finished the first half of 2nd grade. I feel that she is "caught up". I've read, and agree that Horizons is a grade level ahead, so I feel comfortable taking a break and just starting up again. I've been looking at "Beast Academy" and may get that as a little fun thing for her to do over the summer. I try not to get caught up in grade levels, because each program is different on how it evaluates grade level. We did Saxon for K and 1st. When I had her tested, she was not as strong in math as she was in reading/LA.

I use titles from PHP. We'll keep chugging through FLL, even if it spills over into next year. We'll get the next SWO when she finishes this one. She's already doing ETC for next year. It really is just busy work because she is an advanced reader, but I do want her to at least read the rules. I dropped AAS, not because I don't like the program, but because it felt like busy work. I am skipping weeks in WWE because we read the books, and that can take more than a week. I will probably "Fast track" history. DD is stuck studying knights, so when she gets her fill of reading books from our book bin, it may be time to pop our Jim Weiss CD in the van and get it done. She has been working on the lapbook each week, so we'll probably finish that up too. We're VBS junkies, so we'll do school the weeks she isn't in VBS with friends until it's time to start all over again.

I wanted to add that the internet links in UILE can be great. My 2nd grader still plays a game that she played last year on Mesopotamia. When I have the time, I'll open the links up in additional windows at the computer and she can click them to her little hearts desire. http://www.usborne.com/quicklinks/eng/catalogue/catalogue.aspx?cat=1&loc=usa&area=H&subcat=HE&id=3922

I'm on year 2 with my 2nd grader. We listen to the audio, answer the questions- orally, do the coloring page, and map work. Since we're doing narration in FLL, I've dropped it from SOTW. I do keep a book bin in our school room. I plan our weeks in 6 week sections and then take a week off. During that week I plan for the next 6 weeks. I try to buy at least 1 book from the lists in the activity guide to keep in the bin. She reads these books during our 20 minutes of intentional reading every day. I've also downloaded the lapbook (the link is somewhere in the forums). We do those on Saturday. She asks to do history on Saturdays, so we're doing something right I think. I have no problem skipping over all the stuff in the activity book. Last year for year 1, we were total car schoolers for SOTW. Well, that and the additional texts I would occasionally buy when my daughter showed an interest in something. She loved Greek Myths, so we read a lot of them. We have Kingfisher and UILE, so we often use those for additional reference texts, but I use my 2nd grader, and not the guide, as a cue.

I'd say dump it. I have degree in English, and I didn't start doing grammar until the 6th grade. I do like the idea of doing Grammar Land. You may even listen to the audio version on Libravox. Good luck!

I have it, but haven't started it in earnest. We have MCP plaid phonics. It's pretty simple, and after we've progressed a little in that book, I plan to pick up PP and use it in conjunction with ETC. Good luck! Thanks for the info.

Could you post a link to the FB page. I was unable to find it using the search function.

I switched from Saxon to Horizons. I actually started halfway through grade 1, and she's up to using grade 2 now. Math is actually getting done now here too! I think you can view sample pages and the scope and sequence on AO's website.

My 2nd grader uses both. We used AAS last year. I got SWO just to check it out this year, and she could finish it in a week if I let her. We carry it on outings and she works on it in the car and when she has a few minutes. We use AAS during our school day.

yay! I was schooled with Saxon from 6th grade on, and I always planned on using it with my children. We did for 1st grade. My daughter didn't dislike it, but I was just really tired of muddling through the teachers manual. If I knew how to get lesson plans to simplify it, I would've. I switched to Horizons this year, and my kiddo is loving it. I do plan to go back to Saxon at the 4/5 level.

Have you looked at Scholaric?

BOB books are great because they elicit so much confidence in beginning readers. These are cute, but I'd worry about making reading too much like work. The less printing I have to do the better. Having said that, there is a wonderful Bob books app available on the ipad.

I have a 2nd grader and Kindergartener. They take a science class 1x a week at co-op, and that's about as formal as we get.

My oldest is in 2nd grade. We're working slowly through the last of FLL 1 right now. We didn't skip or double up and have 15 lessons to go until we complete it. We will before we start level 2. I'm not sure it's the "grammar" program that comes to mind when people ask of grammar, but I think that the narration, dictation, and copywork provided is more than enough at this stage. I did look at Shurley English very briefly, but I thought it was too much too soon. I haven't looked at level 3 and 4 yet, but I don't plan to sway from it. We do enjoy Grammar-Land from time to time, but only really for its literary value.

It does get better. I took my kids to a local homeschool photographer and had "school" pictures made. I felt the same way, and still do have a twinge of guilt and doubt. We'll post "1st day of co-op" pictures on Thursday. Just think, next week, those same parents will be complaining about all the homework ;)

FWIW: I googled "reading level assessment" and had my daughter take one of the online tests that came up (I'm sorry, I don't remember which). But it was a good indicator. She took the SAT 10 a few weeks later. She got a Lexile reading score as well as other scores, and the free test was right on.

FYI: Grammar-land. http://librivox.org/grammar-land-by-m-l-nesbitt/ I've got the audio on my ipod and we listen to it in our van from time to time. The kids love it. I have done a few of the worksheets, and I may do so again when she's older, but I love the book!

I bought Spelling Workout B and C- because Susan told me to. Seriously, I have traditionally stuck pretty close to her recommendations. We did AAS pretty quickly last year, and I didn't go ahead and get level 2 because I couldn't justify spending that much money on one year of spelling. I couldn't find it used anywhere. In looking at Spelling workout B and C, I've decided to put it aside for the next used curriculum sale, and I got AAS 2 again. I like the lack of workbook approach. My daughter did well with the tiles and the dictation.