I'm not loving it either, but I have to say that my 4 year old corrected him this morning on the exact definition of a proper noun. So there are people at the table that "get it." That being said, my son sounds a lot like your daughter. Memorization, narration, etc, all going fine in FLL, but concepts...I can't tell if he gets it or not. I think the suggestion of supplemental worksheets sounds great.

Percy Jackson all the way. I think we're on The Titan's Curse now, and they love it.

Yes! Your kids are little and with a baby nap time is so important. For you, too! I make my 3 have two hours of quiet time every afternoon so I can lay down. Before I was pregnant, I would use those 2 hours for emails, cleaning, shower, you know, things I can't do unless they are away from me. Now that I'm having another baby, I need to take naps and will be using that time to have one on one time with the baby when it comes. It's so easy to compare yourself to someone that looks like they "have it all together," but I am good friends with lots of those ladies, and believe me, they are missing out on a lot. I agree that a fun thing to do is to stayh home but then join some sort of homeschooling group. You'll find lots of support, your kids will have fun, and the commitment can be minimal. Good luck, sorry about your mom, but don't let it get you down! Don't forget the reasons you are homeschooling!

Hmmmm. I see his point, but it's not something I would ever do. I like to pay my ridiculously high taxes, (seriously, 11% income tax on top of $5000 a year property tax, not to mention state and federal), so that the government can't say anything about how I spend my time homeschooling my children. I don't want them involved in any way, shape or form, so I'll keep paying what they ask and doing everything in my power to assure that I will never have to answer to anyone. Full disclosure: I was a federal employee for 10 years, including 2 at the DOE. It was one of the biggest reasons I decided homeschooling was the only way to go. Seriously, it's THAT bad.

I had this dilemma last year, until I found our amazing homeschool group. We don't meet up every week, although there is opportunity to as we always have activities going on. But we meet enough that I feel my children have a stable group of friends, much like school school Except, even better! Because all the mom's are there, fighting is squashed in a minute, and my kids have things like bday parties to go to. I don't know if this makes sense, but it has totally made me at peace with not having a regular school experience. Another thing that got me over feeling I was making my kids "miss out" on some romanticized notion I have about the joys of traditional school is watching the neighborhood children start having all of the terrible issues that I am so excited my children are missing out on. We live in a great neighborhood with one of the best schools in our city, and they don't have art, field trips, limited access to science, etc. Not to mention the 7 year old girl down the street comes home crying because other girls are ganging up on her, two of the kids on my street (6 & 5) also have gotten in trouble for throwing rocks at school, I mean the list goes on and I'm so excited I get to protect my awesome children from this. At least in these impressionable years, they have me to guide them, so when they begin to get more freedom they will have a strong sense of right and wrong, and will be able to stand up for themselves and others. This turned into a rant, but the longer I'm doing this, the more sure I am that my children are not missing out on anything of substance. I can't recommend a great homeschool group enough.

I don't think it was too harsh. My kids have to keep their stuff organized and cleaned up all the time. I agree with finding one place in one room where everything can live. Maybe having just a file folder he can dump all his papers in together, and on Friday he can have a filing moment?

I read TWTM before I came to the boards. My mom got it for me when I told her I was thinking about homeschooling.

What a great idea to do the maps at half size! Huh. Great, another thing on my list ;)

I have lots of amazing teacher friends that are all about homeschooling. In fact, I used to work for Reading Is Fundamental and my job was to talk to teachers all day long. I'd say roughly 70% brought up homeschooling as an option when they found out I was pregnant. I think there are more and more teachers who are totally on board.

Mouse Gaurd! Graphic novels really helped to pull him in in the beginning.

I would totally say its worth it if you're planning to sell in 2 years. Kitchen remodels are super expensive, and a way to get around a total redo is to replace appliances. Lots of places have financing options, and if you can get it all paid off within a year, with no interest, I'd say go for it :)

Looks similar to ours! History: SOTW I Language Arts: Spalding Science: Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding Math: MEP Year 2 Art: Geography Through Art

I get this all the time. One of my neighbors even asked me if homeschooling made me exempt from taxes (??) I used to struggle a lot with this question, especially when I first started and wasn't as confident. I would say something like "It's just what works best for our family." But now that I'm more confident, I say "For the socialization." A much less political answer than you're looking for, but I find it knocks out the inevitable follow up question. (But how will they be socialized???) Congrats on doing what's best for your family.

I get up with the kids at 7, and make breakfast. If I'm feeling it, I make them something elaborate. (eggs, french toast, something hot basically). Usually, my son gets the girls cereal while I throw in a load of laundry, get dressed, wash face and hopefully clean a bathroom. We always start school right after breakfast. Usually between 7:30-7:45. I like to get the "bad subjects" over with first thing. Math and spelling. They are the most intensive for me in terms of instruction, and while my son is doing that I have my older daughter working on her letters and doing math. My youngest has coloring books that she's not allowed to see until school time, or Playmobil or Calico Critters, puzzles, you know, that kind of thing. I find that if we do the subjects that are more intense right when he gets up, he's less resistant, and more pleasant to be around. It also helps that right at the end of this time (around 8:30-9) he sees all of his friends from the neighborhood headed off to school. I do not miss an opportunity to point out to him that they are just getting started and he is finishing. We do have at least one activity every day to go to, and I work the afternoon study around that. My youngest still takes a nap, and that's when I do the Wee Folk Art (with 4 year old, but 6 year old joins in mostly), and science or history (whichever we're doing that day). We also belong to a great homeschool group so I work in those extra activities, too. My son reads to me throughout the day -- two pages every time he wants food, for example. I also read to them for at least an hour every evening. House hold chores are everyday. Kids have to have their rooms clean before we go anywhere, and I require them to pick up their messes. I usually spend about an hour total on chores--laundry, cleaning kitchen, etc. The way I get my alone time is that they go to bed early. Between 6PM-7PM every night. It is lovely and wonderful and they are allowed to play quietly as long as they stay in their own rooms. Night weaning: Have you tried giving a glass of water when he wakes?

I love love love Mrs. Pigglewiggle. What about Pippi Longstocking?

I agree with the boy neighbor-- I spend WAY too much money on printer ink. It's actually one of only a handful of complaints I have about homeschooling. Totally worth it.

Emily of New Moon Emily Climbs Emily's Quest Anne of Green Gables Anne of Avonlea The Golden Compass The Subtle Knife The Amber Spyglass The Secret Garden The Little Princess

I know in September, lots of resort-type places have special deals. this doesn't help you for next week, unfortunately, but may be something to think about for next time. We always take our holiday when everyone else is back to school. Good luck to you and have fun!

We're doing The Railway Children. Kind of old fashioned, but they love it.

I keep a lot of toys away from little hands until school starts. All the Calico Critters, Playmobil, wooden puzzles only come out when brother and sister are doing school. She also loves doing color by number activity books. I always have art supplies and paper at the ready, and she gets to try to do some modification of whatever activity her brother or sister are doing if we are doing an activity. I try not to use tv or apps. Way too distracting for the other kids. I have to hear "do I get a turn?" the whole time, so it's not worth it to me.

Traffic and cost of living will be horrendous. We moved from Alexandria a year ago, and are now in Oregon. Alexandria was ok because there is the metro and we lived right next to it, but I knew as our family grew we could no longer live in 800 sq ft. My husband was making tons there, (close to 200k) and we were not going to be able to buy something that didn't have an outrageous commute. We lived in Baltimore when we were first married, which is about 30 miles from DC. 2 HOURS EACH WAY. Do I miss the Smithsonian? Sure. Do I miss the NoVa homeschool groups? Yeah, ok I guess. We took a 50 % pay cut and don't love Portland at all, but we can afford to live here. My husband has a 10 minute bike ride to and from work, and we are together as a family all the time.

My kids loved Ancient Egyptians and Greek Myths. My son has informed me that he would much rather learn about Viking times, etc. anyone want to tell me it's ok to just forget continuing ancients and just skip to Medieval fun?

Rainefox: wow your situation sounds horrible! I did just have a talk with all three of my kids about manners, and how playing with the neighbors is not very successful at the moment and outlined that I'd be hanging out right by them from now on while they had interactions with them.

GSOChristie-- I loved your rant! It's how I feel all the time! I have to bite my tongue so hard when I see those two coming, and until now have just pulled my kids inside. Now that my kids are older, and it's nice weather, etc, I feel it is so unfair to penalize my kids because they might sass back to one of the sassy girls. I totally hear you about your trampoline incident. This happens all the time in the neighborhood. A perfect example is yesterday, the girls are pushing each other othe swing, and then my son takes a turn pushing this kid on the swing and she immediately starts whining "stop it!" getting more and more shrill, and of course, that was another example of aggressive behavior that the mother pointed out to me. I often wonder about this mom, just because she only has girls, and things that wouldn't phase me for a minute about a boy, really seem to bother her. As a mom of a boy and girls I feel so lucky. If my son was pushing one of my daughters and she started whining petulantly I would immediately tell her to stop that horrible whining and tell her brother no. Then I would spell it out to my son that she was saying no. These girls egg him on, and then get annoyed with him. He try's to think of games to play with him, and they shoot him down every time. I'm over it. I saying limited contact and I'm going to have to be right with them the whole time.

There is also Geography Through Art, which so far seems to be great - probably right at her age level.