Definitely second asking your dd. My oldest went to preschool, and the next year said he missed it. When I asked him what he missed, it was a hinged cabinet that opened to reveal bookcases inside. I'd have NEVER guessed that! Enjoy your newfound freedom! We've homeschooled through high school without CC (I've looked into it several times but never quite thought it would work. And, for that kind of money, I want a drop-off class!) We did do an every-other week co-op this year, and even that felt constraining to me, though my dd enjoyed it. I enjoy independent homeschooling!

BTDT! Sorry you've had a hard year.

Gotcha, it does sound like you have him at the right level then, at least for the fluency practice. I know what you mean--I don't like to change what's working either! Especially when my kids enjoy it. You mentioned not getting as many lessons done as you would have liked--maybe what needs to change is how you approach your day, so that the lessons can be more consistent and then you'll get through at the pace you are hoping for?

Does he need help with reading? If not, AAS is also a complete phonics program. If he does, I'd check the placement tests rather than take him through every level of AAR, unless he needs it. AAS is a building block program, so you do need to start with 1 and work up, but in AAR you can place him according to his reading level. Just an option, hope you figure out which one will work best for your son!

Illuminations, by Bright Ideas Press (publisher of MOH) has a complete curriculum. Sonlight G and H use SOTW. Doesn't Winter Promise also have schedules to go along with MOH (at least levels 1-3)? I made up my own, going by week number rather than daily schedules with page numbers. See my roughed-in plans on my blog.

Eugene taught my kids some great vocabulary too!

This article on dysgraphia has some ideas you could try.

We enjoy our regional fair, which is for K-12th grades. Here's a website with lots of info.

I've read aloud to my kids from birth to graduation (well, my oldest graduates next month!). It's awesome family-bonding time as well as a great way to build vocabulary, listening comprehension (a skill used throughout our lives), opportunities for great discussions on issues, character traits, making predictions, literary elements etc..., or just enjoying great books together. Our lives have been so enriched. My kids also enjoy audio-books and other audios. They have listened to every single Adventures in Odyssey multiple times and besides character lessons they have learned a ton of history (I'm amazed how many times they say they are familiar with a person or event from AIO!) Both had a place in our home school. Here's an article on 6 Great Reasons to Read Aloud to Your Kids. Overall, have fun. I might choose to split kids that far apart into groups & do 2 books instead of just one, though there may be times when one book would appeal to multiple ages (Chronicles of Narnia comes to mind).

I think your feelings of exhaustion, second-guessing your decision etc... are natural. What a little turkey for saying she was sad! But on the plus side, your K student knows the word "sarcastic" and also understands how to use sarcasm...kudos to her! She's earned Dairy Queen AND the joy of sleeping in past 6 am!! You WERE advocating for her--it's crazy the schedule we put little kids through, and an hour of homework on top of a 7 hour day for K is absolutely nuts! A K homeschool day might be 1 or at most 2 hours, and lots of time for playing, imagination, baking with mom, field trips, nature walks (obviously not all in one day!)...just plain "being a kid." Which, is what she should be doing at her tender young age. I'd read to her and do things together and de-school. She's earned a nice break! As for whether you offended the other teachers--I wouldn't spend a lot of time dwelling on that. You can't make decisions based on what others think, first of all. And secondly--if they are offended, what will be the result? Hopefully they would get past "offended" and think things like...maybe how we do school for K isn't developmentally appropriate for many kids. Maybe an hour of homework for K students is overkill. Maybe we should consider changes... One can always hope, but either way--now YOU get to enjoy time with your dd. Play together, learn together...what a huge blessing.

My high schoolers are using MOH 4 this year--here's a look at what they are doing. I SOOO wish this volume had been out in time for us to spend the entire year on it, it's very full and meaty.They are mainly doing the readings, map work, quizzes, tests, and exercises, some written summaries/T-notes, and an occasional paper. I would have loved the time to delve into longer research projects, but it wasn't out in time (as it is, we may still finish after our school year ends). My oldest graduates this year, so we couldn't put it off. I'm glad he could use this to finish his WH studies. As far as where to go next--that might depend on what your kids have done and how strictly you like to follow the WTM 4 year cycle. I like adding in a separate focus on US history, so my kids only did 2 WH cycles, have done US history twice (we use a lot of Sonlight, so they have done their US history cores), and have done some culture/geography-centric years (Sonlight A and F), plus government in high school, and a semester history elective (a focus on their culture of choice--my son did Japanese history, and my daughter I think will choose Mexican history--each basing their choice on their chosen foreign language). Some people do a year of state history (we worked a unit into our US history studies but didn't do a year). So...lots of fun choices!

All About Spelling is another that uses rules but no workbooks. Words are presented according to concepts. Aim for 15 minutes per day, which isn't too long, and go at your dd's pace. Hope you find something that is a good fit for you and your dd!

Oh, I thought you were asking about adding on other things that MOH/Bright Ideas Press sells. As far as info--I'd say yes for gradeschool kids. For junior high or high school aged kids who have been through a world history cycle before, you may want to add things, perhaps especially in the first two volumes (3 and 4 are much more meaty. I think 1 reads like an expanded timeline for older kids--it makes a good jumping-off point though. We did a whole unit study on how the 10 plagues related to gods in Egypt, for example). You can see some of the things I added for older students in my history blog entries here. I especially enjoyed the Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World (the one for older kids--I think there's one with a similar title for younger students. The one we used had beautiful 2-page spreads and pictures--not the small picture-small blurb that some Usborne-style books have.) I also liked a lot of the Famous Men books, and used these with the first 2 volumes. We had less time in volumes 3 and 4 and didn't work them in--those MOH readings are longer. For young elementary kids, I did use some of the Sonlight history books (not the spines but some of the extra books) from Cores B and C, as well as their lit. They weren't absolutely necessary, but were fun (my dd even re-read several of these when she went through MOH the 2nd time). But for young kids, we did some of the hands-on projects, like making Egyptian collars, being archaeologists in the sand box, making huge cardboard castle cut-outs they could play in for medieval times, and so on. I also like to add in some historical fiction for our literature to round things out--for high school, Maier's book on Pontius Pilate was intriguing and well-done. You can see the lit. I added in on my blog as well (again, a lot from Sonlight, but occasionally choices from Winter Promise, or from Illuminations, which is a program that the MOH publisher, Bright Ideas Press, put together.) I typically had more ideas and books than we had time to get to, but we had fun, and MOH has lots of fun ideas (I remember my kids enjoying the ice-holding contest on their stomachs when they read about the ice-age, or my daughter rolling up in a blanket, pretending she was Cleopatra hidden in the carpet...) MOH has project and paper ideas as well as activities like these--so you can really go into as much depth as you have time and interest. Have fun with it!

My younger tagged along. We didn't do a whole year, but did a unit study with a lapbook, and did some field trips etc...

I really only use the main book and the companion CD-ROM with the quizzes & maps etc... I got all of the cards one year...but there's a LOT and they did get overwhelming. I also got coloring sheets one year--but they were very intricate and even with older kids, they weren't that interested in them (or couldn't finish them even while I read the lesson). There's plenty to do in the companion book (which, in Levels 1 and 2, I think it's all in the same book--I don't have my books in front of me to check! Levels 3 and 4 have hardback books and the quizzes & activities are all in a separate book or CD ROM).

Essentials in Writing has worked well here. We've used levels 7-10. Here's a review I did awhile back.

Another vote for starting with MOH 2 if you switch :-).

Two tips that worked for us: Combine where you can (my kids were 2 years apart, and did many cores/science together throughout elementary school. We did split some things when my oldest got to junior high--and ironically in high school we've done some history and science together again!) Combining works pretty well if you have 2 kids in SL's suggested age range. You could combine your oldest two and youngest two, or start the oldest as you are, combine the middle two, and when your oldest is more independent, start a core for your youngest. (Before you start a core for little ones, you could focus on just read-alouds and 3 r's as they are ready.) Remember that Sonlight describes itself as a Thanksgiving Feast. No one expects you to eat every last crumb. Some people sample all the dishes, some people focus on a few favorites. If you only use part of the IG, or none of the IG--it's okay. If you need to drop some books--it's okay. And so on. Give yourself the freedom to adjust things and really enjoy the books--don't feel you have to abandon ship if it gets to be too much (some years we did cores over 2 years, some years we did a core in a year. Some years we added books, some years we dropped books.) Enjoy great books and learning with your kids rather than making the IG a taskmaster. Have fun!

Yes, I overgeneralized and wasn't really meaning to say that everyone speaks the same--not all dialects do drop the /y/ sound but many do because it's an easier transition for the mouth without the /y/.

I tend to say "Juh-ly" too, but the true sound would be a long vowel because it's an open syllable. We tend to say the schwa sound here instead though (a muffled vowel in an unaccented syllable). I had my kids pronounce this one for spelling to remember the spelling.

The “full†long U sound is really two sounds–it includes the consonant /y/ sound together with the vowel sound /oo/ as in moon. It can sound like “you†as in cute, or it can have just the /oo/ sound as in tube. This /oo/ sound in tube is not a new sound for the U, but a matter of our mouths dropping the /y/ sound when it’s difficult to make it. If you try to say the “you†sound with the words tube and June, the tongue cannot comfortably make such a transition, so the /y/ part of the sound is dropped. (I used to have my kids try so that they could laugh and have fun with it--and they seemed to easily understand why the /y/ sound of the long U was dropped in some words.) I hope this helps!

I don't think I'd do online learning with a student who needs more one on one attention and extra time to learn things. I might consider computer or DVD-based courses that didn't have deadlines and a timeframe like an online course will, if she learns well from those. But it may be that she needs individualized attention to adapt things to her needs.

Yes. I think before "relief" and "extra energy" come, there needs to be margin. Time to rest, think, regroup.

I agree, one needs to find out what the issue is. And, it's very possible for kids to have issues with more than one thing (you can have visual processing issues AND dyslexia for example--it's not necessarily one or the other). Sometimes therapy and remediation are both needed.

If you're watching the documentary with them, just commit in your mind ahead of time to turn the TV off during the closing credits--no time to get hooked on something new. You can still sit on the couch for a few minutes to discuss since you're all comfy there--but with the TV off, you won't get hooked into a new program.