My son was sad to leave the dragon book as well. It made it esoecially hard that he had siblings still working in it. Sometimes you outgrow stuff, and it sucks. We looked at Essentials but it's not "fun" like Foundations. I ended up- assigning books to read, picking copywork from said books, and continuing playing the spelling/phonics games via the LOE game book to finish out the year. We finished LOE around spring break and had 6 or 8 weeks left. Then this year we do ELTL and Rod and staff spelling.

I think it works as a supplement if you either skip parts, go year round, or have a kiddo that can complete 2 years of math in a year. It's not supplemental in length, is what I'm getting at. I find it more independent than Singapore. It's designed to be a self-teaching program. My son occasionally needs help, ediecislly on starred problems, as people have said. But I'm not teaching a lesson everyday.

I'll play :) I think you can't pile all workbooks into the same category- as others have said, they can vary greatly in quality. I also think they work better for some subjects than others, for some purposes than others, and for some children better than others. Which is a non-answer so I'll be more specific about my own use of workbooks. I think there are situations where a workbook is almost ideal. Multiplication fact memorization, for example. The only way to get them cemented is to repeat, repeat, repeat. Sure I could use flash cards but the workbook can be done independently- which is far more efficient of MY time. Or handwriting- I could copy out their copywork ahead of them (and sometimes do) but it's more efficient to have it done for me. There are other times a workbook is admittedly not IDEAL but I use it anyways because 1. It is easy to open and go and does not require planning. 2. It can be done independently. 3. It can easily be assigned as "homework" and used to teach time management. I tend towards workbooks in this division when we are sick or I am burnt out, for review over summer, or for subjects I'm not confident in teaching, or don't have strong feelings about (like spelling).

A couple thoughts- Thats one reason I don't take huge breaks. I mean, my biggest reason is because it messes up the routine and I need the routine to survive. But it's also for the wiggle room schedule wise. I take a good summer off but otherwise cap time off at a week. This means if I need a day here or there I can take it. I also don't take off for sickness. I know that's controversial, and not for everyone. But if I let every kid do no school every time another kid was sick? Yeah, we'd be taking off most of Jan-Feb. The sick kid gets the day off. Everyone else schools. Half the time even the sicky listens in and gleans something from his "missed" day.

Mine spends 20 minutes of focused hard learning. And later 5-10 minutes of review/fact memory/puzzles/ect.

Yeah. Combining is the dream right? But I agree with others, he will always be ahead even if you do take the time to "catch her up". He'll plain be quicker. And I'd be concerned he wouldn't be challenged enough and that nice "big brother" feeling will turn into plain laziness/egotism. :/ Combine in the content! Leave the skills alone.

Find other local homeschoolers. Look on FB, check out that co-op (even just for the social plug), search for conventions or homeschool sales in your area. Homeschoolers do not have to suffer socially. My homeschoolers tend to have better social lives than my ps'ers.

I'll give them an extra 15-30 minutes to finish their game but honestly? If I didn't interrupt play we'd NEVER get anything done.

I get them beginning in reading and and then start them on ELTL sometime between k and 1st. It covers great literature/poetry, copywork, early grammar, and picture study. Writing instruction begins in level 2 with letter writing and dictation.

I second Rod and Staff spelling. My second grader has been using it this year and it's very independent. I just introduce the words at the beginning of the week, he does part a and b two days during the middle of the week, and then I give a test at the end of the week. It is pretty Christian, words like Jesus and Amen are included and example sentences can have a slant. Just in case that matters. It's also dirt cheap, lol, so worth a try even if it doesn't work out!

I think it sounds like you are borrowing trouble ;) Right now, what you are doing is working. It "gets done" and you're all "loving it". When it STOPS working, when you begin to see signs of burn-out and the kids stop enjoying what you are doing- THATS the time to reinvent the wheel. You are right, sometimes a workbook approach really does work during those younger years. And I've definitely experienced the back-lash from mom-enforced child-led learning, lol. Believe me, you will notice when what you are doing isn't working anymore, and it sounds like you will be ready with lots of ideas when that day comes. Until then, enjoy this!

"The baby ate my math facts sheet!" The funny part is, he did...he's 9 months now and he looooves to eat paper.

I never finish a SOTW book in a year. We judged started 3 last week. I figure all 4 will take me a good 6 years.

Start in fall. That way kiddo "goes up a grade" when everyone else does. And you can plan with 80% of the rest of the board. Not that it matters. We even take a traditional summer break but still start new curricula whenever we finish the last one- scattered through the year.

I don't sleep in. 😭 I don't have quiet time. I know it works for so many families, but I need to use naps for lessons!! I don't home-make bread/yoghurt/ketchup/mayo/ect anymore, unless it's a special occasion. Something had to give and I've embraced that I actually hate cooking. When I get overwhelmed I don't get on WTM! A several week or several month break can do wonders for grass is greener syndrome.

I don't think I would have been able to teach Miquon if I hadn't already done Singapore w/ an older child. They are very different programs but I think it just gave me the knowledge (or the confidence?) to teach math. We trade-off me picking a page (I'm going in order of the book) one day, and my son picking a thread (a thread, not a page...because I like him to do different threads in order) the next day. We just do one page, front and back, every day, unless he wants to do more. During Orange I read the Annotation every single time. During Red it was about half/half...if I was confused of it was a new thread to us, or he struggled. We just started Blue after Christmas and I haven't cracked the Annotations since. I'm sure I will, but my point is, you start to "get it".

I love, love, love the idea of quiet time...and I've never managed to be able to finangle it. Like you, I needed that nap for school!! But if you CAN manage it, I bet it would do wonders. You aren't very specific on WHAT is distracting you? Maybe over a few days make a list? Phone calls can get me, I had to learn to turn it on silent in another room. The smaller kids...that's inevitable up to a certain point. But I do try to "fill their buckets" as it were early in the morning so they can hopefully play alone for a bit during lessons. I also baby wear well into 2 and 3 years old. And use an older as a "babysitter" while I teach other older, then switch. Maybe 9 and 6 can watch 1 for 20-30 min each? I also personally suffer from decision fatigue. Sometimes I can spend SO MUCH TIME (and energy) just deciding what to do next. This is where a good schedule or routine can really serve you. Knowing what the next thing is makes it far easier to do it! I'm willing to bet you are doing way better than you think you are! Home educating with littles in the house is a messy, unorganized, distracting business just by nature :)

I prefer block scheduling for things like science/history. Right now we do 2wks science, 2wks history, 2 weeks child-led, rinse and repeat. BUT looping has been great for all those bitty "extras" like Aesop fables, nature journaling, literature analysis, poetry teas, picture study, art appreciation, logic puzzles ect. You want to do them but aren't sure WHEN. We do our morning read aloud and memory work and then "one more thing" loop style. If you want to do a certain thing more often then others, you can put it in the loop twice.

We do a spelling program (rod and staff) and ELTL (covers copywork, a bit of grammar, and a bit of writing).

In my experience (which is limited) children read just fine, or at least moderately well. But adults dont read at all. Which means as kids grow up they become to see reading as a kid thing...not an adult thing, and leave off. :(

I've never been able to successfully guage how many books we will get done in a year- and for a variety of reasons. Some of my kids read faster than others. Some books are plain read faster than others (type size differences, pictures/diagrams included, re-reading necessary, ect). Sometimes a book will be a big hit and read outside of required reading time (something I don't fight). Sometimes a kid gets sick (or we are traveling) and he knocks out a book in a day via audio. So I just have a running list of books I want to get read. Some with very high priority (Needed to be read THIS year because it pertains to history/science we are studying) and others with medium (classics good for their age group, but can be bumped to next year if not gotten around to) and still others with low priority (suggestions that looked good, but could be skipped if not interesting to the child). The kids read an hour a day from MY choice and an hour from their own. Sometimes they choose from my list for their choice, often even, and sometimes they are reading endless terrible minecraft novels. This also messes with predictions ;)

It included copywork as writing instruction in level 1, begins very simple writing in level 2 (letter writing, ect), which ramps up in level 3 onwards.

Ive used 3a as a stand alone so far this year. It's been great and we just cracked open 3b. That being said I'm using it with a second grader, so the release schedule is far enough ahead of us to not be an issue. And we do have occasional review/rest days via Dream-box.

My second grader (7yo). -reads Magic Treehouse/ Charlottes Web/ The BFG level independently. He has 30 min my choice reading and an hour his choice daily. - He uses Beast Academy for math- this is not independent at all. We do it 100% together. Days I need "off" or if he's getting burnt out on Beast he uses Dreambox independently (2x a week usually), and often is assigned math warm up half sheets to do independently. - Writing/grammar is ELTL 2. It's half independent, he listens to the selection on librovox, I teach the grammar lesson, he does the copywork independently. If it's a book I really enjoy I'll read it aloud ;) - Spelling is also half independent. He uses Rod and Staff SSS. M/w he does the workbook alone. T/th we play a phonics or spelling game together via LOE. F I test him. -Latin is Song School 1. This is 100% independent via dvd and workbook. Sometimes we will play games on a review week together. - History/Science/Art we do together as a group. Living books, Notebooking, narrating, projects/experiments. Sometimes I'll throw an extra reading assignment (picture book, or related magic treehouse) at him. - given run of his own time he would play minecraft, Mario party, or watch Pokemon. If screens aren't an option he's outside doing whatever boys do outside (run, dig, bike ride, throw things on the roof, you know...)

Didn't have time to read the whole thread but that's a similar attitude to my husband. Although I'm not sure he brags about it. But supportive, generous with the budget, and clueless as to our curriculum/methods? Yep. I don't see a problem with it. I mean, I don't ask about his work all that often either- I don't know what programs he favors or how a project is going at any given time (unless it goes right up to deadline and he's pulling 2 or 3 day workdays). I get that homeschooling is more than a job because it's also our kids, but if they were in public school I wouldn't expect him to know what curriculum they use either.