What is the difference in these two books?

LOL! Well, I hope it passes very soon! My dd used to be an avid reader, but since she's been going through this hormonal stage she can't seem to focus on anything for more than ten minutes. Her mind starts wandering while she's reading and she ends up reading the same paragraph five times before she knows what she's read. I can barely get her to finish a book a month now. :sad: It frustrates her so much and she's cried over it many times. I know she can't help it, but I'm getting impatient with the whole thing. I don't remember going through anything like this!

Thanks, Heather. This is what my gut is telling me too. She's 12yo and going through a lot right now with her hormones. It's bringing out some OCD issues, which are more thought-oriented than physical/ritualistic issues. I actually think she understands more than she thinks. It's just the OCD making her doubt everything.

Thanks, Jackie. I have considered LOF but wasn't sure if I should use it alone or with something else. I may have her do LOF this summer and start Horizons 6 in the fall.

My 12yo dd has been doing Horizons this year and doing well, but she doesn't understand what she is doing. She just knows what she is supposed to do to get the answer and does it. She doesn't know the "whys" behind the concepts. She was the one to come to me and tell me this. It was confirmed last week when we got the results of her first standardized testing. She did well with math computation and problem solving, but poorly on math concepts and estimation. I have been trying to use MUS to get her to understand what she is doing. She tested into Epsilon (what I expected), so we have been working through it from the beginning. It isn't helping. She is so upset and frustrated because she just doesn't understand MUS. She can do the lessons and get all the answers right, but doesn't understand how MUS is teaching it. Even when I go over it with her she looks lost. She just says, "I know what I'm supposed to do. Can't I just do it? I'm getting confused trying to understand why it's done." What should I do? She will most likely not go into a math-heavy field. She wants to be a writer, and that is where her strengths lie. Should I just have her finish Horizons (she will be ready to start Horizons 6 next month) or go completely to MUS and pray the "whys" start coming to her. She likes Horizons, but it only goes to 6th grade, so we'll have to switch in a year anyway. Then what? I'd appreciate any advice on this. Thanks!

I picked #2 (I read to my kids but not nearly as much as I would like) and #5 (I prefer to have my dc read most of their studies on their own), which may seem to contradict each other. However, it really doesn't. I DO prefer that my dc read most of their studies on their own. I think it's important to be as independent and self-learning as possible, BUT I also think that reading aloud to your dc is very important. It draws the family together and also has a lot of educational value. I just prefer to read literature, poetry, fun stories, good historical fiction etc. that may or may not pertain to what they are studying, just for the family closeness and joy of reading together.

I am finding this as well.

No advice, but just know that you are not alone. I started this school year out the same way. We made it through maybe 5 or 6 weeks. Then I had to start dropping books because they were either too hard or terribly boring for my dc. I substituted some and just plain dropped others. It got to the point that what we were doing was so modified, it wasn't AO anymore. And my dd, in particular, hated reading from SO MANY books at one time, but never finishing any of them since they are read over such a long period of time. We ended up just reading some of the AO books, but not with a schedule. There's still part of me that wants to make AO work though. I don't particularly care about hanging on to the 4 year history cycle. I do have a problem, though, with my dc being in different parts of the history cycle. I don't know why.

Fabulous, Rose! Thanks for this!

Julia, I'd love to hear more about how you do this. We tried AO years 3 and 4 last year, but my dd could not stand This Country of Ours. My ds like OIS though. They both really like SOTW, so I was wondering if maybe we could substitute the history somehow. Also, my dd hated the schedule. She loves the satisfaction she gets of finishing a book. With AO, the books are drawn out so much that she rarely gets that. Anyway, could you explain a bit about how you follow certain AO years without the history and schedule? What do you use for history? Thanks!

Yes, this is what we did also. Love them!

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Biblioplan Truthquest My Father's World

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1) Add a US history spine to do along side of SOTW. 2) Add more readers and read-alouds pertaining to US history. 3) Both - add a US history spine and more US-focused readers and read alouds. If you add a US history spine, what do you use? Thanks!

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Truthquest does.

Same here! I used a combination of TQ AHYS 1 and BF Early American Primary and Intermediate this year. I love to plan, but then I end up spending most of my time planning. I never get half of what I have planned done, so most of that time was wasted anyway. I ordered MFW 1850 to Modern last week. It's due to come tomorrow. I can't wait!

My two oldest do their math in their rooms while I do math with my 1st grader at the kitchen table. I grade his math immediately after he's finished or check as he's doing it (the same for his handwriting and Explode the Code). When my older two finish their math lesson they come to the kitchen table, grab the TM and grade their lesson right there with me in view. They have to use a colored pen and circle anything that's wrong. I then look it over quickly to see what mistakes they made and have them do corrections right there at the table on another sheet of paper. This has actually worked very well for keeping math errors down (especially for careless mistakes), as they seem to care more when they are doing the grading. Even though I always had them redo any problems that were wrong, when I graded the math they weren't as diligent about doing their best. They just wanted to get it done. They seem to take more ownership of their work when they grade it. Spelling is Sequential Spelling, so that's not really graded. Winston Grammar we grade together. My two oldest are working through it together. I teach the lesson to them together. They do the worksheet independently, then the next day we correct it together. They each take turns reading the sentence, telling the parts of speech and what they modify etc. That's the grammar lesson for that day. The next day I go over the next lesson, then they do the worksheet independently and so on. The only other grading I need to do is for writing (mostly written narrations). I try to do this each evening, then go over it with them the next day and have them do the rewrite then for their writing that day. I get behind grading writing because it's my weak area, so I dread doing it. I haven't come up with a good system for keeping up with writing yet.

In the past we have done a math lesson 2 days a week, 30 min of independent reading daily and piano practice daily. I really try to get 3 math lessons done a week and daily journal writing, but that doesn't seem to ever happen. My dc are on a swimming league in the summer, and it takes up a lot of time each day. Oh, one year I put together a packet of math fun sheets I copied from the internet or The Teacher's Mailbox and just had them work through them at their leisure through the summer. They did have to be completed before we started formal schooling back up though.

My two oldest dc read Little Pilgrim's progress on their own at ages 10 and 9. They LOVED it!

Me too! How do I get there? :001_huh:

You must have a good representative! My MUS rep is Queen's Homeschool and they are slow, slow, slow. When I have ordered MUS in the past it always took about two weeks. My ds has the same rep and has used MUS for years. She's always had to wait about two weeks also. One time it took three weeks for her to get her order. I have a homeschool convention in three weeks. I'm going to wait to purchase what I want then, even though I need it now. It would take that long to get it anyway. Plus, I'll save on the shipping. I wish there were some way to switch reps.