Have you looked at before five in a row? http://www.fiveinarow.com/

thank you all for your replies! Nan, I haven't read all of your post, but did want to say that I have found WTM to be the best method of homeschooling, if there is a theory to our madness :lol.

of a child who works at a level that demands a bit more from them then they have the psychological/emotional ability for the child to sustain... what do you do? I'm not a teachery flavored hs-mom. I see myself as one who supplies her kids with materials, and is there to talk/read/ explain to some degree, and share my experiences, but not a teacher, necessarily (I'm a mom). My son is seven, and a very typical seven year-old, but can sit and read for hours at a time, or wants to know how things work in very minute details... I'm sure you folks can relate... but what does this mean to you if you don't see yourself as a teacher, but one who, rather, is a facilitator-- you provide the raw materials, but don't dictate the outcome... how does this shape your homeschooling? I guess I'm having a bit of an identity crisis, with the new 'school year' starting up in the fall (we've had to take a break from hs-ing for a few months, so 'summer' if you will) and I'd like to be a better hs-mom. So how does this facilitator role work in your home with your kids? Do you just put the work they have to complete in a folder and review it at the end of the week? Do you sit with them all the time they are doing their 'work,' or do you do your own thing? How much teaching in a traditional sense do you do (in contrast to reading out loud, or just talking and having tea, etc.) My son really learns so much with just reading *all day* but I'd like him to learn some other things, too, that he wouldn't naturally gravitate towards... but I'm just trying to figure out how I fit in there... does this make sense? How did you deal with the many ways you could relate to your child and how you found being a facilitator to be successful for the whole family? grazie! bloy

Thank you! Yeah! :) What a deal... high quality and affordable...

Miquon math and singapore are both inexpensive and easy (Miquon is fun with the rods, which are fun for lab math, etc). Family Math, by Berkeley Lawrence hall of science has a lot of games that teach a whole range of beginner to more advanced concepts... hth

Can one get away with only purchasing the teacher's manual for Caesar's English as with Grammar Island/Town/Voyage? Or is it best to purchase the studend book as well? TIA!

My L/A gifted guy loved Grammar Island at 6 years-old. We look forward to grammar town in the fall.

yeah... sounds familiar. I have an *intense* guy and it got really intense around 6. I think part of it just comes with the age, but also, does she have enough time to do her own thing? There maybe something brewing inside that she hasn't yet been able to identify and express... but it will come out eventually. I can deal with it, it is when it comes out on other children (his little brother seems to handle it okay most of the time), especially kids at the park or play group, that I cringe. He doesn't suffer fools gladly, if you know what I mean. I'm thinking of looking up some kind of anger management for kids and spending a bit of time on it each week, just to give him the tools to cope. But I haven't looked for what is out there, yet.

As far as notebooks, I would encourage the child to try a few different sizes, and see which one works best for them... I tend to like really, really big paper, as does one of my kids... :)

Wow, this is what we do, too! We like History Odyssey, but my son sometimes wants to do the crafty stuff, but usually doesn't. But then my 4 year-old enjoys a lot of the crafts, so he'll do them... But I do have my 7 year-old do the maps, and he enjoys them. He loves to read, and will read all day... So, I just keep lots of the books from the HO bibliography on hand, and we do read SOTW together (with younger brother). If you son remembers what you read, then I would have him do the writing and stuff. Discussion of what is interesting, and here I see the brilliance of Charlotte Mason style narration/ dictation, where you write down what the child tells you but doesn't do the writing him/her self... (which we don't formally do, but will try after we move :) )... But I wouldn't be strict about it, just make a record of what interested the child--but not ask that they recall specific things. There are so many good picture books, magazines, historical fiction, myths out there to really put meat on the bones of SOTW.

Do you have a local university that he could take a class at (perhaps one per semester, in an area of interest?) He may have to take a standardized test, or perhaps there is a local community college that might allow him to take classes. It really depends on their requirements. Adding second/third languages. Musical instruments. Mentors. Have fun.

No there isn't much difference, that is why we *only* got the teacher's manual--because it does have little notes in the bottom corner about discussing a topic, or making connections that were helpful--but it didn't have the answers or anything, so you could just give it to the student and have them read it. The teacher manual-ness won't spoil it for them. My son reads the book now, for fun (because it is really fun). So you could send $20 or $25 dollars on the teacher's manual alone and have a lot of good stuff to work with... this was what we did this year and it worked well. I think that this is a very reasonable price, and you don't have to get the other practice books. There are many practice examples within the teacher's manual--and it is simple to riff on those and make up your own. HTH

Well, we *just* used the teacher manual, and we were fine with that. But my guy was younger, and we didn't really do much writing. Next year we will use the additional books, but only if necessary (if he needs practice on a certain concept). If they're as fun as grammar island, though, he will probably want to do them :) So you could if you had some extra money, but they're not necessary (although I've read that Sentence Town is good). You can just read through Grammar town at the beginning of the year, and then refer to it and review later... And do additional exercises if needed. Maybe get one of each and have the boys share it? :)

As a mama of a boy who loves reading and language, I would highly, *highly* recommend Michael Clay Thompson's stuff. It is interesting, to the point, and when it seems like it will be dull, it gets silly (in a refreshing, good way). We've just used the teacher's manual this year (grammar island), but we will begin and use Grammar Town, Building Poems (I debate whether using the poetry book before this, but my guy really seems to 'get' poetry, so well try this) and Caesar's English... I don't think you are taking on too much. We did Grammar Island in five months, and just sitting on the couch reading through it, and doing the exercises in a real relaxed fashion. At the end we did all the exercises at the end at the table for 'review.' But he remember most of it because it is presented really well... So I could see doing Grammar Town, then doing the poetry for the second half of the year, and all the while (throughout the year) doing Caesar's E... And the writing was interesting, too. My guy was six at the time, so we did a lot of the writing prompts dictation style, orally, but he did want to write many of the stories down, as well (which is a testament to the books)... I'd like to get some more of his critical thinking, philosophy books by royal fireworks press as well...

Thank you for your replies! It is helpful to see what others are doing... and there are some great ideas here! We're in the process of moving from California to Oregon... and it is overwhelming! Overwhelming! At leas it will be for another month. But I am really enjoying thinking and planning this out-- I think we will do our minquon/math game first, then spelling... That should be about 20 minutes/30 minutes, depending on how many pages of math we will do... I am thinking of setting up a Montessori work space for the 4 year-old and the 2 year-old, so the older child will be able to 'teach' his baby sister... while I work with oldest son on math/spelling. Then we will do history together while the babe takes a nap/we make lunch/eat... And then I don't know... my oldest is a night owl and wants to do stuff before bed... so perhaps we'll do another page of math then... and reads all. day. long by himself (he will read for 5 hours at a time, if we let him!)... And then do Latin/Greek/German in the afternoon--we are yet undecided on language. We've finished minimus 1, and ds wants to do Greek and German... but we shall see. Please let me know what type of schedule works for your child/ren... thank you for those who have shared so far... :bigear: