When I pulled my second grade son from school two months ago his second comment (after "no homework - Yippee!") was that he wouldn't have to take the FCAT next year. It's scary what is happening to our students because of that blasted test.

I also use Barton with my son and it's great. For math I use SM and make sure to have plenty of manipulatives (we use Legos whenever possible) around. I have found that working with actual objects rather than the representation of those objects in numbers is the key for him.

My mom made my dress. I already had the fabric (a simple cotton lawn) in my sewing stash so I don't count that. I bought a pattern for 99 cents and a zipper for about $2.50. The shoes were the expensive part at $12. Our whole wedding was about $1000.

My son is most of the way through second grade and is finally improving in his reading. He started out strong a couple of years ago and then just stalled for a long time. I liked the "slow and steady" comment. We pulled him out of school so we could take the pressure off and taking that pressure off has really helped him.

We use Artistic Pursuits and Music Ace Deluxe.

It's pricey, but I'd recommend Barton. I'm using it with my son and it's helping him greatly.

We don't do them everyday, but we'll do the odd numbered problems (usually 5 of them) for one lesson in a sitting. However, we don't do the calculations. He figures out what the problem is asking for and sets up the problem. That's the hard part with word problems. Once students get to that point, they usually have no problems with the calculations.

Thank you for posting this. My mom has Alzheimer's and I miss my "real" mom so much. I also am sad that my kids will never experince what a wonderful woman she way (although they love her just the way she is because that's all they know). I need to think about all the wonderful (metaphorical) gifts my mom gave to us long before the days of computers whenever I'm feeling less than adequate.

Here’s our schedule that we try to stick to. The order in which we do the lessons varies and we don’t always get to everything, but it’s our guideline. Reading – Barton Reading and Spelling – 45 min/day in three 15-minute segments – M-F Spelling – spelling words to go along with the Barton lesson we’re on – 10 min/day – M-F Fluency – fluency words to go along with the Barton lesson we’re on – 5 min/day – M-F Grammar – GWG2 – 2 lessons/day (approx 15 min) – M-Th Math – Singapore 2 – 15-30 min/day – M-F, we just have started Reflex Math for 10 min/day too Handwriting – HWT – 2 pages/day (approx 15 min) – M, W, F History – Intelligo Unit Studies on Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley – 30 min/day – M, W, F Science – CTT Elementary Science 1 – 30 min/day – T, Th Logic - Primarily Logic - 2-3 pages/week (approx 10 min total) Music – Music Ace Deluxe – 15-20 min – one day/week Art – Artistic Pursuits – one day/week, usually on the weekend because my other son who is in PS loves to do art

Your son sounds like mine. I use Barton and he's suddenly struggling with multisyllable words when he's perfectly fine with single syllables. It's so frustrating (for both him and me). I've heard good things about Reading Pathways and am going to order that. The psychologist who did his neuro-psych eval suggested Great Leaps. I haven't used that yet, but my neighbor has and she said it helped her son some.

Is it Scratch programming? http://scratch.mit.edu/

Thanks! These are adorable and I can certainly use them with my kids.

I knew I'd get some great advice here and thanks to those of you who replied. I think for now I'll get the textbook and give my son the placement tests. I'll then know where to place him. I definitely want to give him success and make sure he is solid with the basics. If that means starting at a lower level, I need to do just that. I'm feeling better that even someone weak in language arts mechanics can be successful with this program.

We do this as a reward for good behavior and the kids love it - special time with Mom and Dad. Our rule is no TV, computer, or video games. We mostly play board games. However, we also work on jigsaw puzzles, read more or a different book, and with one child often do craft projects.

I have a son who will be in 3rd grade next year. I pulled him from PS in February and have used GWG this year and nothing specifically for writing. I like the fact that GWG is easy for him to complete, but I'm not sure he's retaining the information and, as others have complained, it's so formulaic that he's assuming things like "the subject pronoun is the first word in the sentence" since that's all he sees in the examples and practices. I am considering using FLL next year rather than GWG and WWE rather than going with WWW. My concern is that he has some processing issues and I'm not sure how they will be affected by the harder book. His comprehension and higher level thinking stills are very strong for his age, but his reading and spelling are well below average, and his ability to write good sentences is shaky. So, for those of you who have used FLL and WWE, specifically level 3, do you think they are geared toward students who are advanced, or are they for a vareity of levels? I like the look of the programs overall. Before spending the money, however, I would love some feedback.

We use Lollipop Logic (DS K) and Primarily Logic (DS 2nd) and they both enjoy them.

With my kindergardener the only structured, academic afterschooling we do is reading three days a week for 20-30 minutes. He also really enjoys math worksheets (just like I did when I was a kid :tongue_smilie:), so I have some available for him to do whenever he wants. He will usually do two or three one afternoon a week. I do art with both kids (the other is homeschooled) one afternoon or one day on the weekend for 20-30 minutes. Other than the reading, I don't push anything. I want learning to be fun and I also am a big believer that kids need to be kids and run around outside and play as much as possible!

Our local school is considered one of the better schools in our city. However, he was in a terrible class and the principal has a strict "no moving students" policy (alhtough shortly after I pulled my son he transferred three of the kids to other rooms...). My son has some learning difficulties, but since he's a good student, he got none of the extra help he was supposed to be getting. He was learning nothing and I was afraid of putting him behind for next year. We could have gone down the fighting the school route, but decided the best thing for everyone was to bring him home. With the exception of one sister, everyone in the family agreed with our decision. I think that they understood my son's special needs and the fact that his class was horrible. My other sister is a pediatrician and she just wanted to make sure our son was learning what he should and we're not sitting around playing video games all day. Another factor that I believe made my family not question us is that our other son is still in the school. So, they see homeschooling as a special need to homeschool for the one son. It is, but I love it so much I'm planning on keeping him home indefinitely. We're also considering bringing the other son home next year. I'll be curious to hear what they say then.

Thanks. It is a good idea to see if the cause is physical rather than mental. Plus, that way I won't worry about the insurance for now.

I have a question that I’m hoping someone here can help me with. I’ve read other posts where people have given wonderful advice on health-related issues. I also feel some comfort in the anonymity of the forum where I won’t feel people will look at me funny for having a “mental issue.†I’ve been struggling with depression for a while and have been able to still be productive, although every day is a struggle to get motivated. Lately, I’ve noticed it getting harder and harder to accomplish anything. I feel I need to see a psychologist and possibly be open to medication. I hate the idea of taking any medication for anything, but I’m desperate to feel like my old self. My concern is about my health insurance. Both my husband and I are self-employed so we have an individual family policy. I worked for years for a health insurance company and I know that any mental health issues are red flags and can possibly lead to much higher rates or possibly non-renewal of coverage. I’m considering not using my insurance and paying out of pocket, although I really don’t have the money for that. This really aggravates me that I am afraid to use the insurance that I pay dearly for every month. :angry: My question is have any of you had a similar situation? Would you recommend using the insurance and risk losing it later? Self-paying and really feel the pain of the expense (i.e., not getting eye exams this year no summer camp for kids, no vacation of any kid really)? Or try to get over it on my own?

My son has built the great pyramid at Giza complex and the sphynx.

Love Story Dr. Zhivago Toy Story 3 - thinking about the day my own boys will grow up and move away. I'm almost crying just thinking about it.

Wow! It sounds like you have a writer in your home. I'd encourage the creative process of writing with her and I bet she'll be amazing. My DS is 8, while great in some subjects, he struggles to put together a sentence with vocabulary words without just writing the definition.

I saw some at Chik-fil-a recently. I can't remember exactly how much they saved, but it was $10-$15/ticket I think.

:iagree: We'd love to have him back home in Jax! Heck, they couldn't do much worse and we could really use a player to excite the fans.