Thank you, thank you. I am finally in. I was able to join by clicking through the invite in my notifications.

Thanks for letting me join. I have looked and looked and cannot figure out how to access the group, though. Is there a link or listing of private groups somewhere?

I would love to join, too.

Big thanks to all of you who offered advice when I posted several weeks ago about feeling lost. I am happy to report that the kids are picking things back up very quickly. I am fully confident that by June they will be caught back up and expect that they will probably be ahead again. We are taking things at the pace they want to, and doing lots of hands-on and creative projects. Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving me the confidence to move past our negative experiences over the past two years and open my mind to doing things in a different way.

Thanks, Kiwik. :)

Pen, Terrilth, Tracymirko, Texasmama, and Mathwonk, I am so sorry I did not respond right away. Our schedule has been hectic and I have not had time to respond to anything. I appreciate all of you responding and am grateful for all the suggestions. I am in a much better frame of mind now that we are starting (and utilizing a lot of the suggestions on this thread) and I am able to see that all is not lost. Thanks for being patient with me.

Thanks, Nasdaq. I think you are right about SM with a supplement being the way to go. I have never heard of American Cursive Handwriting, so thank you for that. I plan to start having them all do typing, but I really want all of them to have penmanship that is at least legible. Thank you, thank you!

Thanks, 8filltheheart. The more I am thinking about this, the more I feel like Singapore is what we will end up doing. I have Beast Academy also, so may supplement with that. Thanks for reminding me about it! Also, I appreciate the sentiment about looking forward and not back. Dwelling on what has been as opposed to all the fun things we have to look forward to does not help anything or anybody.

I (and my sci-fi/fantasy-loving kids) can't wait to buy the book from him and read it cover to cover. He has a talent - I can hear his voice (similar to Tolkien's) so clearly when I read it. What an amazing opening!

Thanks, Ruth. I love the idea about the diary and will definitely be doing that. Thanks for writing up that schedule, I think I may use at least part of it. Thank you.

Thanks, Minivan (sorry, I don't know your actual name). I am so glad I reached out. I feel a lot better about things now. I appreciate what you wrote to me - it brought tears to my eyes. <3

Thanks, Incognito. Yes, I have been careful not to say any of the things I have written here out loud within their earshot. I would hate for them to get down on themselves about something that was not their fault. We actually have the entire series of LoF and Jared enjoys reading them and doing the work in them as he reads. I may start trying to do LoF with Hannah, though. Thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks, Tracy. That article is amazing and I appreciate you posting it here. Since testing the kids last week, I have felt so selfish for needing to take a break from homeschooling and seeing what happened to my kids because of my choice. This article makes me feel that I have not failed them and that it will be okay in the end. Thank you.

Thanks, Jen. Singapore and moving into AoPS was our pre-school plan for him, but I have been worried about putting him back there. I am glad to hear somebody suggest that, it makes me feel better about making the choice to skip Saxon in favor of SM. As far as Hannah goes, she has VERY mild juvenile tourette's (her tics manifest as eye twitching, clearing her throat, blinking often, etc). She also has a very mild case of juvenile epilepsy (petit mal absence seizures - basically, she appears to be staring off into space for a second or two). The neurologist is fairly confident she will outgrow both issues by age 12. Both the tourette's and the epilepsy are subtle enough that unless you are told they are present, it is likely you would never notice either of them. I have no idea why they were pushing for the 504 or saying that she is severely disabled, or that she needs a full-time aide, or how having a 504 would even qualify her for that. She is definitely not severely disabled. At the public school (non-Montessori), Hannah was surpassing the expectations of the classroom teacher to the point that she recommended her for the magnet school. At home, she might need to be instructed in how to do things once, but that is it. It is very odd to me that the Montessori school did not seem to know what to do with her because she is one of those very studious over-achieving, striving for excellence in all things kids.

Thank you both. Deschooling is a foreign concept to me, but it sounds like that is what we need to do.

Sorry in advance that this is so long, but I wanted to give as much information as possible to make figuring out what to do next easier. I am not sure I even belong here anymore. When we were homeschooling before, this was definitely where we fit best though, so I am back here. I posted in the general education forum a couple of days ago about trying to fit everything in. After thinking about it, I feel like I may not be making the right choices for curriculum and I am not sure how to fix the problem I have created (the stopping homeschool for 2 years and now the kids are behind instead of way ahead problem). My kids have always been way ahead. When I had my fourth child and needed a break (and she needed to be able to nap during the day), I enrolled my oldest two (going into 2nd and 3rd grade at the time) in the local public school and child #3 (4 at the time) in a half-day preschool. They were so far ahead at that point, that I figured that even if it was a complete waste of time academically (which it was), that it wouldn't matter too much because they would still come out of it ahead of grade level. The plan was to put them in the local public school for one year and then continue homeschooling. There were a lot of issues with the public school, the worst being that they refused to test my son for advanced math for several months based on my assessment. They finally tested him around January and discovered that I was telling the truth about him needing to be in an advanced math class. At that point, they would not place him there because it was not the beginning of the school year. In March of their year at the local public school (2011-2012), all three of my older kids got into what seemed to be an amazing school. We had been entering the enrollment lottery every year since my oldest child turned 3, trying to get in. Out of 12 spots available (and I believe close to 2,000 applications competing for these 12 spots), my kids got 3 of them. We felt like that was a sign that we should try it. We got our paperwork in and went to the open house. We were very impressed by the programs in place and the accommodations that were available: half-day Spanish immersion, free Kodaly keyboard and Suzuki violin/cello lessons, after school clubs like yoga, chess, and skiing that were covered by the activity fund, the teachers' willingness to bring in appropriate work from higher-level classrooms if the kids mastered the available materials, and on, and on, and on. We were so excited about this and had such high hopes. Between the open house we attended in May/June and school starting in August, a lot had changed. At this point, the school was $67,000 in the hole. Spanish instruction was reduced to 30 minutes 1x/wk for one semester, Kodaly/Suzuki was eliminated and the only way to get instrumental music was to pay $40/child per month for a group music class where they use small percussion instruments - no orchestral music at all, yoga club started costing $40-$50/month per child and I think the other clubs just disappeared. We were not happy, but sent them anyway, thinking that they would still be getting a valuable education from this school. My then 4th grader (who started teaching himself algebra at 3 or 4 and could add/subtract huge strings of numbers in his head at that point) had two "research projects" the entire year. One was a tri-fold travel brochure for a country of his choice and one was the science fair. He was also required to do 5-6 math problems per day (things like 7+4 and 5-2). I was told that my then 3rd grader (who entered this school doing Singapore 4B with ease, btw) was struggling to keep up with second grade work. There was a 504 meeting called (she has VERY minor tourette's and epilepsy) where I was told that she was severely disabled and needed a full-time aide in the classroom - fishy, as the lack of funding had caused them to lose their classroom aide the previous week. My Kindergarten student did not have any issues to speak of, but he was doing roughly the same level work when we enrolled him in Montessori as he tests into now. None of them were challenged in any way the entire year and there were no materials brought in to accommodate any of them at their level, so we pulled them and will be returning to homeschool this fall. They were all so bored that they have lost a lot of ground through lack of using their skills. I have no doubt that they will get back on the track they were on when we previously homeschooled, but I need some guidance on how to get there. My son who was previously so far ahead in math is now behind and dropped 40 points on his math score. My daughter who was ahead when she entered the Montessori school outscored the school, county, and state in everything by 25+ points after they told me she was severely disabled, but is also now behind where she was when she entered the school. As of last week (Jared is 5th, Hannah is 4th, and Nathan is 1st grade): Jared tested into Saxon 5/4 and Hannah tested into Saxon 2/3 (she was right on the cusp), but was able to place in 5/4 when I gave her the middle grades test. Nathan tested into Saxon 1. Jared tested into Spelling Power D and Hannah tested into Spelling Power G. Nathan tested into Spelling Power A. I plan to go back to WWE 3 and FLL 3 with both Jared and Hannah and do WWE1 and FLL1 with Nathan. Jared's handwriting is atrocious and can be difficult to read. Nathan's is typical of a 6 year old boy. Jared and Hannah both exceeded all the reading and comprehension tests I gave them. Nathan tested into 3rd grade reading. Jared tested very high in the inventing disposition with a performing disposition secondary. Hannah tested equally well in Performing and Inventing dispositions, with Thinking/Creating slightly higher. Nathan tested very high in the thinking/creating disposition and almost at zero in all the other dispositions. All three are extremely kinesthetic, with visual second, and auditory third. I have lots and lots of materials available and am able to get other things if I need to. Given the situation, what do I need to do to get them back to where they were and continue on the path we were on? Which programs would you use with kids like this? I had planned to put the older two in everything but spelling together and use Saxon 5/4 to build all their basic skills back up, but now I am feeling like this is the wrong way to go about things. I chose Saxon to bring them back up to speed because of all the built-in review, but I am afraid it is going to move too slowly for them. At the same time, I am afraid to let them go too fast this time through because evidently they didn't retain as well as I thought they were (although, it may just be the effects of virtually no academic challenge for two years). One more thing...my kids have never been IQ tested, but have always learned 99% of whatever they needed or wanted to with little effort. They have always been intense kids who somehow just know things they were never taught. I have been told by long-time "gifted" educators that they have no doubt. All this makes me wonder, though. If they are really gifted, would they lose ground like this? Does this happen to truly gifted kids?

The reason for spreading out the piano lessons was to let everyone be done sooner each day (including me). The 6 year old really wants to learn clarinet and not piano, but I feel like he needs the piano foundation to do well in another instrument - I could definitely be wrong, though. The recess/snack in the morning is so that Lorelei does not get left to play independently for a 4 hour stretch every day, but I am not married to the idea of morning recess and snack. Maybe I should eliminate that. I did plan for recess to count as part of PE, but they get plenty of running around so it is not mandatory. As far as finishing math in 30 min, it has never been a problem before, but two things were different. The last time I taught them, they were way ahead and doing a lot of it independently (using Singapore, mostly) and they were younger, so I expected a smaller amount of work from them. Despite having bought a *lot* of Saxon materials, I have not used them much. They were far too repetitive for my kids when we were using them before. We are going back to Saxon this year though, because I feel like it will get them back to where they should be. Besides Saxon, I have the complete sets of Math-U-See, Singapore (will need workbooks, but I have the texts), Right Start, Life of Fred, and one other program I can't think of at the moment. Is there something that would work better than Saxon to catch them back up to where they need to be and fill in the basic skills holes they now have?

Small Pig by Arnold Lobel Panda Cake by Rosalie Seidler Space Case by Edward Marshall

I was going to start with volume 1.

KONOS covers everything but math and phonics, and is a unit study program. All of us would be doing it together. I have tried implementing it over and over, and always end up dropping it because it is a lot of work. Maybe that would be better to use intensively every so often instead of doing it every day. I feel like the schedule I came up with is cramming too much in, but I want so badly to get to all this stuff (I probably need to let go of some of the things). I have also never been able to do SOTW in 30 minutes, but put it on the schedule to try. I think I am (as usual) trying to do too much. Another thing about it is that if we go by this schedule, poor Lorelei gets pretty much ignored for the bulk of the day. How would you pare it down and what would the schedule look like if this was your family?

It has been a while since I have posted anything to the WTM forums because my kids stopped homeschooling 2 years ago. I had my 4th baby, a 4 year old, a rising 2nd grader, and a rising 3rd grader, and just couldn't handle homeschool. We put the oldest two in the local public school during the 2011-2012 school year and the 4 year old went to 1/2 day preschool. The oldest three won the lottery to enroll in a Montessori Public Charter for the 2012-2013 school year. When my children were placed in public school, the oldest two were years ahead in every subject. I had not worked with the third child much at that point, so he was ahead but not years ahead like his siblings. I tested them all last week and while the rising first grader is at a first grade level in most things (except reading, he is ahead in that), the older two are now behind in everything except reading (oldest) and reading/spelling (second child). In some cases, they have fallen years behind where they were. We are going back to homeschool this fall and have no plans to return to public school. I would love some honest input on how to accomplish everything I need to do and some of what I want to do without losing my mind. Jared is a rising 5th grader, Hannah is a rising 4th grader, Nathan is a rising 1st grader, and Lorelei just turned 2. I have access to lots of different programs (especially math curricula), so if there is something you think may work better, please say so. It is likely I have it available to use. Jared is able to work independently 80-90% of the time, Hannah probably needs me at least 50% of the time, and Nathan needs me most of the time. The following is what I have come up with so far. I inserted a table and it turned into a long list...will attempt to fix later. Time of day Jared Hannah Nathan Lorelei 7:00-8:00 Wake up, dress, breakfast, brush teeth, make bed Wake up, dress, breakfast, brush teeth, make bed Wake up, dress, breakfast, brush teeth, make bed Wake up, dress, breakfast, brush teeth, make bed 8:00-8:30 Saxon math 5/4 Saxon math 5/4 HWT 1 ETC 1 8:30-9:00 Handwriting Reading Typing Reading Saxon math 1 9:00-9:15 Spelling Power D Calligraphy Typing 9:15-9:30 Piano Practice Spelling Power G Reading alone 9:30-9:45 Typing Piano Practice AAS 1 9:45-10:15 Recess and snack Recess and snack Recess and snack Recess and snack 10:15-10:45 WWE 3 FLL 3 WWE 3 FLL 3 Piano Practice Clarinet Practice 10:45-11:30 Independent project/research project Independent project/research project WWE 1 FLL 1 Reading lesson 11:30-12:00 For All – M/Th: SOTW 1 T: Atelier 1 W: MTWBH (Geo) F: Science For All – M/Th: SOTW 1 T: Atelier 1 W: MTWBH (Geo) F: Science For All – M/Th: SOTW 1 T: Atelier 1 W: MTWBH (Geo) F: Science For All – M/Th: SOTW 1 T: Atelier 1 W: MTWBH (Geo) F: Science 12:00-1:00 Lunch and recess Lunch and recess Lunch and recess Lunch and recess 1:00-3:00 KONOS KONOS KONOS Nap 3:00-3:30 Monday Piano Lesson Tuesday Piano lesson Wed: Piano lesson Th: Clarinet lesson

If you are crazy, so am I! I have a 3rd grader, a 2nd grader, a PK, and a 7 month old baby. I was overwhelmed and sent the kids to public school this year for a break, but we are bringing them back home next year. Here's hoping we both find a way to fit it all in without losing our sanity. :)

I always look under the couch first in cases like this!

Another gift idea is this: http://alphamom.com/family-fun/holidays/diy-fathers-day-gift-superhero-craft/ I did this for my husband and father in law one year and it was a HUGE hit. Maybe do something like the box of goodies for him to open and include a gift certificate for a parasailing (or whatever) date with just you.

Thanks! It's lore-uh-lie (it's an old German name).