If you want to focus on her writing interest, what about One Year Adventure Novel ? It's a big project, but I know a few people who have done it, even with middle schoolers, and it's a great sense of accomplishment for them.

They're less about regular reading and writing skills, and concentrate on things like memory. My ds had already been through Calvert's first grade and was reading Magic Treehouse books at a rate of 2 a day when we did them, but he still enjoyed and learned something from the DEL books ... I wasn't sure that he would.

At that age, and with littler ones needing attention, we definitely schooled in bits through the day. It was the only way to get things done, and the attention span wasn't always there for longer, anyway. Now that they're bigger and more independent, there's an impetus to get things done so that they can get on with the rest of their day.

It is tough. My 6 year old wants to learn Spanish. There are plenty of full-day immersion schools around here, a few classes all the way across town that would take too much time away from my other dc, but little in the way of tutors, even in a state with lots of native speakers/native bilingual people.

I used to. We never kept to it, which would sometimes stress me out. When I analyzed it, I decided that it wasn't worth the stress. The older dc have weekly checklists (sometimes broken into days) that come with some of their curricula ... I copy those, but they're free to rearrange as long as the work is done by Friday. (My 12 year old learned the hard way that maybe it isn't a good idea to go really light on Tuesday, as Wednesday is busy with outside activities, Thursday is moderately so, and doing schoolwork for 8-9 hours on Friday isn't any fun.) My 6 and 10 year olds have a general routine that they follow, but it's mostly self-imposed. I'm available to all of them all morning for any questions, and then on a more limited basis in the afternoons (not usually necessary for the littlers). for the first week of school, they were all starting at the same time, doing an opening with prayer, pledge, etc. Then various people started sleeping in some days, and it didn't happen anymore. Strict scheduling is somewhat against our educational philosophy. Dh works in an office environment where there is some variance to when people come in, sometimes by design, as they deal with clients from both coasts. As long as their work gets done, and they get to the meetings they need to, nobody is telling them that it's 10:00, it's time to do status reports or whatever. There are people who work for him that are so conditioned to being told what to do that he does have to do that, and it kind of annoys him, so he has outright told me that he prefers that I try to get them to manage their own time as soon as possible. (As illustrated earlier, it can take some trial and error, but better at 12 than 22, I suppose.)

This is my dh, too. I grew up in a sports house. His dad watches lots of college sports (football, basketball). I had to convince him that it was ok to let the boys watch part of a game today. Overall, it has its advantages. For the game in question, I took the older dc with me to watch it with the youth group at church. Dh wanted to watch a movie at home.

My dad would probably watch that one. My parents were at the first game at Tulane stadium. We schlepped a TV in our minivan when we were moving once because the Saints were in their first playoff game. (We had no furniture, not even dishes, just sleeping bags, the TV and an antenna.) So yeah, I could see him rewatching that one game over and over and over.

Me too. I made a themed meal with Pumpkin Pasties and I forget what else (dh found a butterbeer recipe that was potent ... the kids got none of that!) Then I took a nap while dh took the older two in costume to B&N for the party and release. They got home at 12:30 or so and I got up and started reading. It was fend for yourself until late the next afternoon when I finished (I did have to tend to the then-2 year old now and then, but the others were 6, almost 8 and 9). We have the read the book first rule too. So far, my 10 year old won't, so he and my 6 year old are staying home with a sitter tomorrow while we take my older two and my cousin to finally go see the last movie.

I second the Magnifikid subscription(s). They really have helped my dc follow along with what's happening in the early elementary years, especially ... and there are comics, saint stories, and other related things for them to read/draw/color during the homily. My youngest gets really upset when she forgets it. I also agree with the sitting up front. Just because it didn't work the first time, don't give up on it. Between being able to see and getting complimented the first time they DO behave (it always happened for us that someone would say something to us or them when they WERE good), it does end up better. Of course, when we had an infant and/or toddlers, one of us was usually in the back for part of the mass with them. The kids were watching a video of my dad's deaconate ordination -- they were 11 mo, 2 and 3. My two year old was carried up by my brother in the offertory procession because I'd been running her in the narthex when it was time to go up. So she has video of herself meeting the bishop (now Archbishop Kurtz). that was pretty standard for her until she was 3- 3 1/2. Her sister was similar. The boys actually were able to settle in by 2 1/2 and 3. But I can still remember my younger son's phase when he liked to hang upside down from my arms during mass. We were at a new parish, and like I said, we tried to sit up front so that there was a chance of dd paying attention (this was right as she was starting to). When Father met us and found out our little one's name, he quipped that we had named him after the wrong brother (his name is Andrew).

Agreeing with the others, not totally necessary, but they were a favorite part for all 4 of my dc ... I didn't make them do any school at that age, but they all loved to bring these to me to do anyway.

We tried creek water, and didn't get as good a sample as they seemed to be expecting with the pond water. I did have some microorganism prepared slides, so with those and some online pictures/videos of what we *should* have seen, we called it good. We're coming back around to it, and living in TX too, will have the same problem. :(

It's too soon to say for certain, but many/most storms on the path Katia is on now tend to get caught in the Gulf Stream, which pushes them north, then east, where they fizzle out in the North Atlantic. I grew up in SC and VA more than anywhere else and used to track storms as a hobby as a kid.

My younger children have been in the room when my husband, my oldest, or I have been watching them. They generally wander back out of the room, as even the high school level courses don't hold their interest (several that we have don't hold my oldest's interest yet, and half of his coursework is college-level this year). I certainly wouldn't put in any kind of investment expecting an elementary-aged child to watch them, but if you have a nearby library, you could check some out to be sure.

I like the themed concept -- gives enough structure to give you and everyone else a general idea of what's for dinner, but enough flexibility to avoid getting into a rut.

1. How long have you been homeschooling? 9 years 2. Which homeschool philosophy(ies) do you use? I read up on just about everything, keep what works/applies and dump the rest (Eclectic ) 3. Why do you homeschool? Because the public school system doesn't have the resources to meet my kids' academic or other needs ... I tried to sign them up for Catholic school when we moved here, but was informed that I had too many dc to expect to get them all in :glare: 4. What was your biggest waste of money in homeschooling? Whole, boxed curricula -- we used several -- Calvert, Seton, Sonlight ... I just don't have one size fits all, boxed curriculum kids. 5. What was the best money you have ever spent? Usually, these have been overall lower cost items -- Singapore and Miquon for elementary math, SOTW for elementary history ... I don't always use the extras for SOTW, usually don't for Singapore, Miquon doesn't really have many. Right now, my best course choice is probably an MIT open course for my oldest, and all it's costing me is a cheap ($15), used textbook. 6. Which curriculum/curricula did you want to love, but didn't work for you? Sonlight. I even consulted for them (at a few conventions and informally on their boards before they were pay-only), but I ended up tweaking it so much with every child that it was completely unrecognizable, and therefore saved me no effort. 7. Which curriculum/curricula did you end up loving that you thought you wouldn't? Latina Christiana -- my oldest needed foreign language, wanted Latin and it was something that I could get quickly. It turned out to be a really good introductory course, and my younger ds will start it next month. 8. What is your best advice to anyone just starting out? Relax. You've taught them a lot already -- they're walking, talking, etc. right? What? You didn't teach them those? Well you provided an environment where they had the opportunity to learn those things, and you can keep on the same way. 9. Which mistakes have you made with your olders that you will not repeat with your littles? Formal academics too soon. I tried not to do much with my younger two, after completely burning my oldest one out on school very early (like, 7). Now, my youngest is at almost the same age that my oldest was when he started showing burnout signs, has just started regular, formal, schoolwork, and is at about the same place academically as my oldest was at the same age. 10. Anything else you want to share? This isn't a "real" poll, but I still feel compelled to have an other!!!! Don't let anyone try to sell you on the concept that there is a 'best' curriculum or methodology that fits every situation. Use what works for you. If a curriculum isn't working for yo or your child(ren), feel free to either adapt it or chuck it and move on to something else.

If writing/drawing helps her retain it, then I agree that you probably want to investigate auditory processing issues. If that's the case, you'll just need to use picture-heavy materials for her. In my kids' karate class (we moms spend the hour chatting/venting/sharing ideas), one of the kids has auditory processing disorder. Another child in another family has visual processing disorder, so their moms have to use exactly opposite approaches, and they joke that if curriculum was awful for one of them, it's probably something the other should try.

We're still supposed to be in the 90s here ... I've lived in the South for most of my life and still can't believe I'm calling that a cold snap!

Yes, children have been taken into custody in the juvenile system, and the parents have faced loss of custody. I haven't heard of things going as far as convictions going through, but it did involve parents having to pay for lawyers, the kid actually spending time in custody, etc. There have been cases in CO, CT and WA that I know of. All of the cases seemed to be easily avoidable by just providing adult supervision when playing with the guns, as kids this age just don't always show the best judgement.

Servicemaster are miracle workers. I'm sorry you're going through this. It's going to be a rough few weeks, but it will be ok. :grouphug:

Fake it if you have to, but go apologize again. Then make sure that the gun is put away, returned to dad's house is best. If not, it needs to ONLY be taken out when you or dh have the time to closely supervise him. In various places, children even as young as your child have been arrested and charged, and their parents charged with negligence, which is a whole area that you just don't want to get into, I'm sure. Now that there's bad blood, you'll have to be careful not to give her opportunity to report.

My 8th grader would probably do his college courses under the table if he didn't need the computer for them. His AP Biology answers usually come out just fine from under there. He was in ps for 2 years and CAN sit at a desk all day, but under tables, on countertops, etc. are his preference.

This might be where I'm headed. Out of 8-9 moms who said they were interested, I can only get 2 other girls to commit. I might have gotten a fourth, but all of the other mothers want to 'see how their year starts' ... I can't seem to explain to them that there won't be a troop to join later if they don't sign up now. The 3 for whom I have registration are all homeschooled and within 2 months of age of each other, so I'll just have them Juliette if needed.

My kids are mostly tiny for their ages, except my littlest. So at those ages, they were still all on carseats/boosters and we had fit issues. Now, they can sit wherever, as long as they don't fight. The one in a booster doesn't move much, but the others tend to rotate pretty frequently.

I was pretty uncomfortable for a few days after each of mine. (I had 2, almost 10 years apart.) The first one was probably worse. The doctor just told me to keep the Advil going.

I'm experiencing this phenomenon. In sixth grade, ds was on the metro area's competitive math team -- one of the higher-level players on the 'B' team. He had always been accelerated several years in math, was doing Geometry at home with Dad, no problems (except for Dad's work schedule). Last year, all that went out the window. He quit math team halfway through, and math was a fight. Out of all of his subject scores on the ACT, math was by far the lowest. This year, I've put him in review mode. We're going back over all of the Algebra and Geometry we covered in 5th, 6th and 7th grades. I'm really not projecting any forward progress for the next year or two.