My oldest still reverses the letter j on occasion. She's 10. ;) My youngest just turned 7 late August. She still has quite a few reversals. She's not as strong a reader as your daughter and her spelling isn't great. We just started working on spelling this year with Apples and Pears. But, she's 7. I wouldn't expect her spelling to be anything other than atrocious considering we've never done anything with it. When she reverses a letter, I just have her erase and correct it. We don't make a big deal out of it. I do try to make sure she is making the letters correctly as I believe this helps. The motions for making a d are very different than those for making a b and if she doesn't make the letter correctly, we stop and practice writing 5 or so on a piece of scratch paper before going on. Is it tedious to sit over her and watch her every time she writes? Yep. But I'm hoping that my attentiveness will help reduce her reversals before she's ten like my oldest.

I'd pick science over history any day. That said, we try to do both. Both of my children really enjoy reading about science and especially enjoy anything hands on. That said, science has been the bane of my homeschool so far. We haven't found anything that we absolutely love. We've dabbled in quite a few things. This year my oldest is taking an online science class and my youngest and I are trying out BookShark science. I try to get history done too, but I'm not as disciplined. My oldest and I made it through SOTW 1, 2 and half of three before calling that quits. She enjoys a good history documentary and kind of unschools herself that way. My youngest hated SOTW and I have just picked up a variety of books on ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece to see if I can spark an interest that way. All that to say, we are definitely working on history and science, but we always come closer to getting our science done.

OK, based on the responses in this post alone, I've ordered it. I'm a sucker for a good crying book.

My daughter was an advanced reader at that age. I used the Mensa Excellence in Reading List and let her choose from it, with the goal of her completing the list. Anything she wanted to read was fine too, but she really wanted to finish the list and get a shirt. I picked a grade level up, 4th to 6th since it was a more appropriate level for her. There were lots of good books on the list, many she wouldn't have picked up on her own. She hasn't found one she didn't like yet. http://www.mensaforkids.org/achieve/excellence-in-reading/ ETA: She reads at night after going to bed.

We do have a rule at our house that everyone plays an instrument. They get to choose the instrument but they must play. My oldest picked the piano and loves playing. My almost seven year old picked the violin. She isn't as thrilled with playing as her sister, but I wonder if that isn't an age thing. If they really absolutely detested it, I might rethink it. I don't actually play anything (don't tell anyone) but my husband came from a very musical family and it seems quite natural to them. That said, both of my daughter's have danced and I think that's fantastic too.

My oldest has started from scratch on her multiplication facts 4 times. Yes, 4. You would think I would learn to be a year round schooler, but I just keep hoping it will get better. I'm almost convinced. Almost. My youngest can't remember her addition and subtraction facts so I reset her progress in reflex math so she wouldn't be so frustrated. (I remain frustrated, but I guess it really is my own fault.)

I loved that video! My daughter watched it with me. I think it summed up our day perfectly. As for learning math facts. We've tried everything. Times Tales, Timez Attack, Math Ninja, filling out a chart everyday to use during lessons. Right now we are back to Reflex Math. We just keep plugging away at it and not making much progress. She's been tested and has slow processing speed and working memory issues but hides it really well because she's also really really smart. I try to keep her difficulties in mind, but four years is a really long time to work on it. I'm at the point of giving up and just saying it is what it is. Blech. Calculator anyone? And my youngest was just grumpy yesterday. She didn't feel like she could do anything. I reset her progress on Reflex Math so it wasn't as hard. She has to start from the beginning but she'll be back to speed in no time, I'm sure. A little wine and chocolate last night and I am feeling much better this morning (plus Grandma is here and they are showing off for her, so that's a plus). Thanks everyone for letting me whine. I enjoyed the suggestions, the silly video and just the general commiseration.

Anyone want to vent with me? So...no matter how many times I tell myself that we should keep up with the basics over the summer, we never do. We always live every summer day to the absolute fun packed fullest. Great! So now we are paying by starting all math fact and typing practice at the beginning. My oldest has been learning her multiplication facts from scratch for four fricking years now. My second grader can barely remember that 1 and 1 is two. She's upstairs crying right now because I insisted she do her best. I know it's completely normal, but it feels like they've forgotten everything. I don't want to be a year round homeschooler. Is that what I have to do?

You are right! Why in the world didn't I think of that? I think we both had a little bit of a mental block this morning. We are having a rough day.

I'm teaching the Beast Academy fraction chapter to my daughter and we've gotten stuck. Starting with problem 143: a divided by 1/16=20. What is the value of a? My daughter solved this in her head, but cannot for the life of her explain how. The next two pages are puzzles. Some of them require answering things like: a divided by 1/36=15 I know of no other way to solve these then with algebra. They haven't taught, that I can tell, a way to solve these except maybe guess and check. Is anyone else here? Did I miss something? Help! Teresa

I said yes. My daughters have an absolutely adorable wonderful sweet dance teacher who is super duper friendly and we chat on occasion, so nothing super close. On the other hand, I have a half A.A. nephew that I adore and I am close friends with Caucasian woman who is married to an African American man. Her children and mine are very good friends. We don't live in a culturally diverse area. We are out in the country in the south.

That was fun, thanks!

I got Singapore. We use Math in Focus, so not far off. We also use Beast Academy.

I liked her to write on paper because the words sometimes build on each other and she still had them right in front of her. I did write the incorrect words on a whiteboard or paper in multiple colors like the instructions suggest and she found that really helpful. It's so easy to use. The student response book isn't anything special. Just pages of numbered blanks for them to write the words in. Regular paper numbered 1 to 20 or whatever down the side works just as well.

If you feel it hasn't been covered to your satisfaction, addition and subtraction of large numbers is easily taught without any curriculum at all. "You remember we did this... Well this is how we do it with even larger numbers. Same method, more steps."

You don't happen too have an ipad do you? There are a few apps that make it really easy.

Is Tuesday close enough? Monday my youngest has a doctor's appointment so Tuesday we are jumping in with a full schedule. (At least I think we will.) What I really want is another full month of summer. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to accomplish that without giving up things like Christmas break. Who needs Christmas break, right? I have everything here ready to go except me.

I have only used the Island level but we did enjoy it. I didn't find it at all difficult to use. When I received the package, it came with a brochure that kind of gave the progression that one should follow through the books. It isn't super structured, so I understand why some people might find that part difficult. My daughter learned a lot of grammar that year and enjoyed doing it. She would ask to do it first and when I thought we had spent a reasonable amount of time on it, I would try to put it away and she always asked to read more. I will say that I didn't find the writing exercises super useful. My daughter needs much more explicit writing instruction than the Island level provided. We loved the poetry book and I found it very advanced but my daughter had no trouble with the material. That said, I did not purchase the second level. I think the books are very expensive for what they are--especially so if you consider that you are likely to continue to need something else for writing. I also think the materials aren't a good fit for every student. My oldest learned a lot from the story presentation of grammar in the Island level, but my youngest prefers more direct instruction. I don't even intend to try it with her because it is so obviously a bad fit. (In fact, I already sold it on the classified board. I'm so thrilled it's popular because I was able to get a fair amount of my investment back.) I don't know how helpful that was, but there you have it. :)

The Wordy Shipmates looks really interesting and the Landmark book looks like it would work well too. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Yes, we are doing Oak Meadow 5. Fortunately, she hasn't read the Little House books yet. :)

My daughter's history curriculum asks her to read The Witch of Blackbird Pond this year and then write about Puritan life. As it turns out, she and I read the book together two years ago and while we both enjoyed it, I think her time would be better spent on a new book from that era. Unfortunately, I'm drawing a blank. Anyone have some ideas for quality historical fiction taking place in Puritan times? Something a 10ish (but reads well above grade level) girl would like?

My car doesn't even have a spare. Regardless, I think it's a valuable skill that they should learn before they start driving.

Wow, that's fantastic! I'm so glad he stuck with it so he could see his work pay off. That kind of thinking pays big dividends in those tough college classes that he might meet up with later.

I'm so surprised how much my plans have changed since I originally posted. Glad I didn't go ahead and buy everything when I was still so early into the planning. :)

And I hear you about the dress rehearsals. I was glad when recitals and performances were over. Sheesh. What a drain.