Great idea! I'm more than able To think through different ways to arrive at answers, but it's helpful to quickly check that my daughter basically gets the lesson, or whether we need to work on the concepts more.

Love all the suggestions. My little one also joins in with our morning basket, which takes about an hour. Definitely may manipulatives, she loves using them!

Anything I really want my kids to study, memorize, or ponder, gets hung in the bathroom! Right now we have number bonds, squares, irregular verbs, and a Psalm for Life all posted. Our nature journals are really accessible on our nature shelf, which currently also has a birds nest, 2 rocks, magnifying glass, and tulips. I try to let kids leave out in-progress projects. Right now dd11 has water samples, microscope, droppers, and a list if questions on an open shelf. Ds8 had a bottle paddle-boat that he made, as well as a book and a couple photos of him making it. Dd4 just has her princess Elsa fake snow in a box on the shelf. The tricky part of course is keeping it to just one project each! I do also leave out books that tire in to their current interests, or sometimes I'll use at materials just to expose them. The hardest, for me, is letting them join in on the things I consider "mine," such as church choir, sewing, and needle felting.

We try to keep a few logic books in the car, like mind benders, 5 minute mysteries, Sudoku,etc. My son has been getting into codes so anything with codes to break he loves. Dover coloring books are great, especially if it's about something we studied.

Does it make sense to do a Mediterranean schedule? Up early before it gets too hot, siesta in the middle of the day, and then staying up late in the evening? Things outdoors might be more doable, such as bike riding, dinner picnic, and Geo caching

Ds8 started 2 months ago. No specific vision problem besides strabismus, but he had a little trouble tracking, and tired easily. His exercises are basically going through text and identifying specific letters. It takes 5 minutes a daddy and he's generally happy to do it. He just went in for a check and all his numbers now look totally typical. Additionally, his reading specialist is raving about his sudden progress with her, and I've noticed a greater willingness to read to me, and much improved stamina. Do I credit the VT? Not necessarily, it could have been a variety of factors. But we will continue it for now, to see whether there's any improvement in his attention.

Definitely outside time, mine catties buckets of water all summer and sculpts snow all winter. The swing, slide, and monkey bars all get used most days. Indoors we have a mini trampoline, air hockey, and a finished attic with space to make pillow piles to jump into. Sometimes we set up an obstacle course. He plays a game during which I call out animals or people and he does a lap as that animal (crab, bear, penguin, but also clown, trash collector, Baker...). When he's about to lose it I can sometimes get him back by offering to let him push me around the wood floors. This works best if I sit on a blanket that he either pulls, or pushed me on.

My dd11 is also if the "the more the better" variety. She does soccer 3x/week, church 2x/week, co-op weekly. Girl scouts is twice a month, and she does a science class every other week. Lately I've talked a lot with her about the importance of taking time to do solitary things, of filling her own time but not with people, etc. She sort of gets it but it takes a lot of insistence on my part. If it were up to her, she'd be with friends 24/7!

I do keep a nature journal with them. Dd4 usually copies my entries, but not always. I keep a personal journal but rarely in front of them, as it's mostly my therapy homework :-) I may be feeling inspired to keep a note general "things that strike my fancy" notebook right now! That would be more modeling I think.

No Anne frank on the list? Subbing to use as I plan next year!

We are listening to the Cricket In Times Square and loving it!

My kids love your lit selections. Dd11 is working her way through middle ages logic stage, and I stick many of the grammar stage books in our book basket to read with the littles. Thank you for the wonderful work you do!

What does HE say about all of this? My dd11 can be a lot like you described, and I often find myself thinking "but... she's 11! Surely by now she should be able to..." Her ideas sometimes sounded unrealistic, but then I'd remind myself that the way I'd dreamed up wasn't working either, so why not try it. Some things worked, others completely flopped. It did help to encourage her to help be part of the solution though. I think she became more invested, and also more aware of what helps her and what doesn't. For these conversations, I take her to the local bookstore/cafe. We get some soup and sink into the comfy chairs. I open with something that I've noticed that IS going well: "it seems like you've been having a great time with your friend M lately..." Once she's done talking about that (if she has anything to say), I talk about what homeschooling experience is like: "you know, when we started the year I was really looking forward to helping you explore microscopic life (or going on field trips, or enjoying history, or...), but somehow that hasn't happened at all. What's going on?" She usually has some sort of self-deprecating remark and we talk about that, her feelings, her experiences. Lots of reflective listening. When she seems ready, we come up with some solutions. I ask her for her thoughts, keeping my non-negotiables in mind (we must do science, but I don't really care what topic she focuses on for the next few months). We agree on something to try, even when it feels preposterous and doomed to failure to me. After all, I have high expectations of her in terms of working independently, so I want to nurture high expectations in terms of problem solving as well. We try out her suggestions, check in about it, and tweak as needed. There's usually something worth keeping, and something that we end up changing differently. This takes time and practice, and there isn't a right answer until the two of you agree on something that's at least partially his idea. I've found it very worthwhile, and it's helped me through many a head-banging experience! (and I still get to that point, and it's not all roses, we're struggling massively with history right now and I'm about to stop it for the year, but at least now it's just history, rather than everything).

THANK YOU all so much for your thoughts and encouragement. I feel like I at least have a doable plan for the remainder of the year. It'll be very different, and I'll keep working to keep skill work out of it. No outlines and no summaries, but I do want to include some written work and projects for her to stick in the notebook. Instead of doing this crazy "one topic per week and plow along" we'll do fewer topics more deeply. We have 5 weeks left in our term. She'll read A Proud Taste for Scarlet, and in our book basket we'll have a bunch of biography picture books to read with the youngers, including the ones listed on the task cards. Those are nice and quick. We'll do one unit from the Stanford site (I'd forgotten about that!). Either revisiting Black Death or the Crusades through that, her choice. If we still have time, I'll have her read the Trumpeter of Krakow to get a bit in about Eastern Europe, but if we run short on time I won't worry about that. During our together time (with littles) we'll pull the globe down and discuss. She said she's willing to keep doing maps, but I'll let her off the hook for them. We'll pull out the timeline together a couple of times and mark dates, but I won't require her to do that on her own. She's definitely more willing to do things together, and if it's not weekly that should build a little goodwill. Next quarter we'll do a unit on the conquistadors, that I found through Mr. Donn's history. She said she wouldn't mind just answering questions (in writing), but doesn't want to summarize for now. I also found a 3 week unit on the Reformation that I think she'll be interested in. If she liked the Stanford unit then we'll do their Martin Luther one as well, but if she didn't then we won't. We'll do renaissance stuff next year. She also just ended an art book and was planning to get going with Discovering Great Artists. That starts around 1200 I believe so will be another way to get a bit of history in there. I'll get library books with prints from the artists to include in our morning basket. I have lit suggestions to go along with each of the units, and in the past we've just gotten 2-4 titles from the library and she picks the one she wants to read. That has worked well for her. I'm feeling really good about this new plan, though it may still be too much. If nothing else, I have the SOTW 2 audiobooks on hold so we can always just spend time listening to those and call it a day, if she still hates it. The WWS thing - she's doing well with it. I meant that when she uses those skills for history she really hates it. That's just a lack of interest in the topic and a discomfort with the new skills, I think. She's showing real progress in that area so I'm going to lay off her and just continue WWS, not making her do it for history.

I appreciate the suggestions but don't think any of them are fitting. We have watched a few of the great courses lectures this year and they're mostly too dry/long for her. I think the coursera stuff is too much reading... We'll definitely continue with the historical fiction. Part of the problem is that I'm not particularly well-versed in history, and so it's intimidating to me to let her stray from the encyclopedia. After all, what would we miss? And how would I know that we're hitting on the most important events? Of course that gets me right to "does it really matter?" Of course what we're doing now spends all of one week on the Renaissance... Do I just let her stop the outlining and mapwork, and instead maybe have her show me on a map where her fiction takes place? She's doing WWS and gets some outlining practice there, but I don't currently have her do it for anything else. I do think it's a very helpful exercise for her to do outlines and summaries each week, because it forces her to really say "what's important about this?" But she struggles with it, and often her answer is a very frustrated "NOTHING!" Any further thoughts? I feel like I'm going in circles! Edited to Add: As an example of how insecure I feel about this, I'll say that we somehow went through following these task cards and I completely missed when we were at the Magna Carta. Now I thought this was a HUGE document, not to be missed, pivotal... but somehow we missed it. It's not even listed as something to put on the timeline. What do I make of that? Was it just not a big deal? Did I learn wrong? Or is it an omission to not cover it? I don't have hours to make up for lost study time... how do you handle this type of stuff?

My dd11 hates history. She hasn't really enjoyed it any point, but has been willing to try and to (mostly) do the work. In 4th grade (her first year at home), we did early modern times. We started with History Odyssey and SOTW and the activity guide. She felt "eh" about it. She was willing to do the stuff, but didn't enjoy much of it. The only thing she liked were the field trips to many historical sites here in MA. Fifth grade we did ancients. Her friend had been super into it and we used SOTW and activity guide. She again didn't enjoy it, though had fun with a few of the projects. She isn't curious about it though, how it all fits, etc. It's like it's all just a big "blah blah" for her. This year we agreed to try the Creek's Edge Task Cards, including liberty to say "I don't want to write about this person, I find this one more interesting." She's, again, slogging through without enjoyment or curiosity. We've tried projects (they are abandoned halfway through or completed sloppily). Historical fiction she generally likes, and we use Classical House of Learning for ideas. She's a pretty slow reader though. Movies and field trips are good, but she can't abide by reading about any of it. She hates the timeline, the maps... Anytime I get excited about connections or things we're learning she shrugs it off. Not interested. We've tried to focus more on topics she's interested in, but that still took place during the middle ages. I've tried to direct her towards interesting people (away from battles), ways of life, adventurers, mysteries of history, science... she has basically decided she hates all of it! Suggestions? Either for now or for next year? I wish she could see how cool it all is...

thank you! That link didn't work, but I was able to google it and found this. Thanks again!

Phases of the moon, love it. I think we'll do that for April

My kids, this year, are enjoying the use of a calendar notebook though. They just sit down, mark the number of school day (first to 100, now to 180). Ds8 is still practicing tallies so he marks that. They fill in the day(s) on their calendar, and graph the weather. We've done weather things, including type of weather in a bar graph, temperature plotting, and measuring rainfall and wind direction. I just change it based on what ds8 could stand to practice/learn. He enjoys it pretty well. I will add that he still struggles with time concepts, and is working on that with his SLP person as well. Dd4 will do anything big bro does, so she's fully on board! If it was a fight or a drag we wouldn't do it.

It worked out fine for us. Last year I had one dd home, ds in first, and younger dd in preschool. That was a lot to manage! But the year before I had both girls home and ds in k, which works out well. It did affect field trips and such, but when needed I could usually find someone to pick him up until we got back. I do enjoy having all of them home now, but different things will work at different times. As long as you remember that you can change your mind, it's OK to try the thing that seems to make the most sense.

Edited to add: It's ok to take a break from it! Good for you to admit to yourself that it's not working for you and you don't want to spend time on it right now! That said, when/if you feel like you want to start doing a little bit... We don't formally "do" art either, though my dd4 LOVES to call anything she does art, so I let her. However, we do try to hit on it in a few ways that feel more organic: our morning book basket usually has an art book from the library. Last month it was Escher because dd11 had been talking about his work in math.Earlier in the year it was Mary Cassatt because one of her works was in FLL. in browsing pinterest I occasionally run across a project that I'd like to. I don't put pressure on myself to do x number of these each year, but if I see something that I want to make time for, then I do. Dd11 does have Discovering Great Artists and she knows that that can count as one of her history assignments. The deal is that she has to find full-color images of the original artist's work. Sometimes she does that on the computer, but more often we just get a book at the library and stick it in the morning basket. Again, this only happens a few times a year, but it's no sweat off my back. our co-op had an arts and crafts class last term, and this term is doing a Waldorf-style seasonal study, including beautiful work with pastel pencils (this is for dd4). I think it all counts, and all adds up to more projects and more interest than the 40 minutes/week they used to get in school

Are you able to share the free curriculum? This sounds like a great fit for the kids at our co-op!

what a great thread! For our older kids (10-12) I combined Philosophy for Kids and Art of Argument. Everyone was encouraged to buy the books, but not everyone did. We share books when needed, and occasionally the kids copy down a definition in their notebooks. We start each session with one of the questions from the philosophy books. They love discussing their thoughts. For the 2nd half, we focus on a group of logical fallacies. The goal isn't for them to be able to name each one, but rather, the main types covered in the book. That's mainly a time thing. The kids also each bring in an occurrence of a logical fallacy. This is completely voluntary, but we've promised them a sundae party if they bring in a certain number (as a group) over the course of the term. We're almost halfway through our term and the kids and I are loving it. Occasionally, during the discussion part, someone will say "hey, that's actually a logical fallacy and here's why." The kid making the fallacy is usually off guard but then we think of what s/he was trying to say, sticking to the issue at hand. It's been a great experience, so far.

I agree that bfsu could really work. While it is confusing in terms of what order to do it in, I don't think it's haphazard. It's definitely possible to turn it into units, as often there are 3-4 lessons in a strand that delve more and more deeply into a topic. Also, have you seen the interest boards for it? My kids do a science group using Engineering I'd Elemental materials from the museum of science in Boston. Each unit is 4 weeks and includes a hands-on project. It's very well done, but not quite as affordable as bfsu, of course.

YES to your lightbulb moment! I think that's exactly right. At least I hope it is, since it's what we're doing :-D