Here is the situation: My daughter is ten (soon to be 11) and has always been a very good math student. She is still an excellent math student. We finished BA 5A awhile ago and moved on to AoPs prealgebra. She is very unhappy. She's good at it (sometimes amazingly so) but she is unhappy. It could be situational. It's closing in on the end of the school year for us and I think she is just ready to be done. She's also emotional about most things right now. It doesn't take much to set off crying, frustration and anger. She's also ADHD (and medicated no flames please, it was a tough decision). We need to continue with math over the summer because when we haven't it's amazing how hard it is to get back up to speed. She's young for pre-algebra and I'm not in a hurry to get her to Algebra so take that into consideration. But...she hates to do boring repetitive work which is why Beast Academy has worked so well for us in the past. I have BA 5B on the way (paid extra to have it here fast) but it won't take her long to get through it (because she loves it so) so what can I do after that to take us through the summer that will keep her polished on skills but not make her so angry??? I feel like I'm walking a really fine line between just challenging enough and frustrating. I really don't want her to hate math, especially since it has been her favorite subject in the past. Help me!!! Also, (conversely to most people) I'm not necessarily looking for something independent. She likes to spend math time with me and we use the white board and take turns teaching each other and try to keep things as fun as possible. Right now all she does in wallow in the floor, pout and refuse to take her turn at the board.

Me! We're in GA, but we're going to Ireland so we could send from there if anyone is interested.

I will definitely try that. Thank you!

We have just one. We do it quiz show style every morning. I'm pretty good at remembering whose cards are whose but that might get more difficult as time goes on. I could probably tag them. I don't know. I only know the basics right now. :)

How about http://giftedhomeschoolers.org/events/face-and-figure-drawing-fall-2016/ I don't know if it's any good because we haven't taken that class. We've taken a couple of their others and they have been very good.

I've erased, and I've used the white board. Now I'm just so frustrated that we are taking a break for a little while. My daughter makes mistakes similar to yours. Also things like from become ferom. For whatever reason, the "r" phonogram is being mixed up with the "er" phonogram. I swear I don't pronounce words that way, so what gives? My oldest is almost done with Apples and Pears D and she has improved tremendously. I know that she was just as bad at this age so we'll get there, but I'm trying not to rip my hair out in the meantime. When I think of all the money I have spent on spelling programs... :crying:

Reflex Math on the computer and iPad.

I have two pretty different math students and I have used and am using Beast Academy with both. My oldest was 6 when the first Beast book was released. She had completed between August and April of her first grade year the first three years of Math in Focus and Singapore Challenging Words Problems and while she had enjoyed math to start and had been asking for more, she was becoming bored and angry and starting to decide she didn't like math after all. Beast saved her love of math. I wish they had released them more quickly. We drug them out as long as we could with other random things (Zaccaro among them). She never needed extra review. She did need extra math fact practice, but I view that as a separate issue. We have moved into AoPS prealgebra this year and she is enjoying it. My youngest started BA this second grade year and she likes it a lot, but she doesn't love math like my oldest. She also needs more review because if she doesn't do things for awhile she forgets them entirely. (Clocks, money, measurements.) So she is working on BA as her main math program and does one page of Math Mammoth's second grade review book every day to keep her fresh. If you like Beast and you think your son will enjoy it, I say go for it. It's pretty easy to tell where a gap is in math and fill it as you go along with a student who is a quick learner. Edited to correct for my iPads auto-incorrect... Good grief.

Ha! You aren't perpetuating the status quo... Shouldn't he be asian? :blink: ETA: I'm not serious of course.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/girls-math-international-competiton/478533/ Did anyone else see this? It was especially disappointing to read the statement that girls as young as second grade were relying on gender stereotypes that tell them that math is for boys. Anyone with girls want to chime in on whether they think these same stereotypes persist among homeschooled girls? I know that in our house my husband and I both have science backgrounds and are strong in math. I have two girls and both are good math students who enjoy math. I challenge anyone to tell my children that girls aren't supposed to be good at math. My oldest would just look at them like they were clueless and my youngest would probably punch them.

Congratulations to her!!!

I'm always optimistic for them. I too married the perfect man for me. It's only been 17 years, but they've been pretty great!

I really really really love the Changing Frontiers book but I haven't actually used it yet (helpful right? It was an impulse buy). I'm planning American History for my 6th grader next fall and was thinking we would use it for that. It's a great book and I think it would be best suited for your oldest (and not the best fit for my oldest who will be 11). I probably wouldn't teach out of two books because I'm just lazy that way. I'd find a way to adapt the assignments in Changing Frontiers for your younger child or use America the Beautiful and adjust it up for your oldest. ETA: Looking at my copy of Frontiers... Your youngest will be 12? I think you would be alright with it. The reading level is probably right on target for that age.

"And all this comes at a time when many mothers first experience the signs of approaching middle age, with declines in physical and cognitive abilities, and increased awareness of mortality." Ouch! Now they are just trying to be mean! My oldest is only ten but it has begun. She is the sweetest most loving person--until she's not. She can go to tears, foot stomping, door slamming anger in about 15 seconds. Still...She's not mean. My youngest is the queen of saying hurtful things that I try to brush off. Sometimes that's really hard. But... I remember being a middle schooler and that was one of the hardest periods in my life (and probably my first bout of depression though I didn't recognize it as such at the time). I wouldn't go back to being that age for anything even if I am "approaching middle age, with declines in physical and cognitive abilities."

Another vote for Apples and Pears. It's been the only thing that has worked for my 10 year old (and I've tried quite a few). I've never tried Spelling Mastery, though I feel like I've tried everything else out there. I'm pretty sure I've spent as much money on spelling curricula as I have on math--but I really like math!

I do this too!!! I've been trying to teach my daughter how to do it because she is very auditory too. Wed-NES-day is a good one for that.

I'm not at all intrigued when my phone substitutes the wrong homophone when I've entered the correct one. Why why why would it change all my "to"s to "too"s. It's also a fan of changing "you" to "thou". :confused1: I think Apple hates me and just wants me to look like an idiot. Autocorrect is my worst enema.

My daughters both practice 15 minutes or so a day. It's probably time for the oldest to practice a little longer but she's making good progress and really enjoys it. I hate to fix something that isn't broken. ETA: My youngest started with the violin and had 30 minute practices (in retrospect much longer than she could focus). She ended up hating the violin... Was it because we forced practice for longer than she was ready? I'll never know. What I do know is that she was really really good at it for someone her age and I cried (privately) when she told me she hated it and didn't want to do it anymore. She's never once complained about playing the piano. If your son is happy doing what he's doing and he's learning than you are probably on the right track.

Beast Academy is the only school book that my daughter has ever been excited about. And even that was pretty low key. She and my husband are much like Homeschool Mom in AZ. Their version of excitement just isn't the same as mine and my youngest's. My oldest daughter loves books so that might generate enough excitement for an "Is that the box with my book in it? Mind if I open it? Thanks mom."

I thought you said you screwed up! LOL My oldest (10) adored SOTW and my youngest, who will be going into third grade like your son, hated it the few times we tried to read from it or do activities. I just ditched history for first grade to focus on things she did enjoy. This same child also disliked the science I had on hand from my oldest so we ditched that too. This year we've been reading books for history and for science we've been reading and watching science videos for fun. Occasionally we try our hand at some sort of science activity (Grandma was a high school science teacher and has lots of things she likes to do with the girls but they aren't really related to our studies and are more just random demonstrations). Anyway, my third grade plan is to continue to read good books and watch cool science videos. If you aren't against a little video time during school I would check out Crash Course Kids and SciShow Kids on youtube. The videos are about 5 minutes long and are kind of fun little dose of science. If he's interested in the concept, you could follow it up with some books from the library along the same lines and I think you could quite reasonably call that a curriculum. If you need something for a portfolio, how about a short narration and a drawing? I used to be panicked without a specific curriculum but I'm slowly relaxing and realizing that at this age, the people upthread are right...just generate interest.

I hear the AOPS online class moves pretty quickly. Anyone want to chime in on the WTMA AOPS class? My daughter and I just started the AOPS prealgebra book sans class (having just recently finished BA 5A) and are really enjoying doing it together. I think your son will enjoy it. There are no monsters but the fun puzzle type problems are still there and the short videos that go along with the text on the AOPS website are great fun.

We aren't taking the online class and we are mid chapter 3 but I've heard many say the first few chapters are the hardest. We finished BA 4D at the beginning of the school year and did a little Zaccaro Upper Elementary Challenge Math while waiting for BA 5A. We finished 5A a little while ago and moved into AoPS PreAlgebra. It's challenging, but my daughter doesn't think it's "hard". She doesn't expect to get all the challenge problems correct (much like the star problems in BA) but she gets a fair number of them. She is a pretty good math student and enjoys it. Honestly, when I looked at the WTMA class, my biggest concern was the the Singapore portion because we left that behind so long ago.

I feel exactly the same way. It's like I can't wrap my mind around it. Usually I have a plan in place and I'm excited about next school year (as excited as I am about finishing the current school year) but this year...blah. I have no idea what to do next. I'm having a really hard time figuring out what I can do with a 6th and 3rd grader for history and science and literature. I feel like I just need someone to hand me something and say, just do this. If you follow this exactly, everything will be fine. :) Anyone know of a great free program that comes with a guarantee?

Wow, I wrote this in February and it mostly hasn't changed. That has to be a first.So small changes.. Bookshark history 2.

I'm so so so grateful for Apples and Pears. I thought my oldest would never learn to spell. We are almost done with D and it has made such a huge improvement. She's not perfect by any means, but she's pretty good. ETA: We tried AAS, LoE Essentials and Sequential Spelling before landing on A&P. When I think of all the money I have spent on spelling... :crying: