Even if it wasn't in style, I believe in wearing what makes you feel pretty.

Yes.

It sounds a lot like how I talk to my children when there is a disagreement that gets ugly. Each person could have been more tolerant or more understanding. For example if two kids are working together and one is continually sniffing. The non-sniffer can choose to tolerate it, offer a tissue, or say something politely. The sniffer needs to realize that their behavior could be annoying and do something about it. I guess many situations can't be easily fixed-like with a tissue- because the "annoyance" is a part of the child. Learning to tolerate and hopefully coming to appreciate these differences is a long process. I think the teacher is trying to point this out.

Would we really be missing out? We have done informal logic (The Fallacy Detective, Art of Argument, and we are currently doing the Thinking Toolbox.) I would like to be able to focus on the subjects that we enjoy (history and science) and the subjects that I know are important (writing and math).

Are your younger ones in the grammar stage? It seems like maybe it would be easier to combine your 5th grader with a younger sibling rather than an older one.

What has helped my son become more independent has been the change in curriculum. It has just worked out that the curriculum is better suited to working alone. For example, in history he reads a chapter and writes down facts. That would just be awkward to do together. WWS is written to the student, with the parent nearby for help. For grammar, I tried to have my son copy the grey box that is at the start of the R&S Grammar lesson and then read the lesson on his own. He had a lot of trouble doing this on his own, though. My dd can do it this year in grade 6, however.

We are doing a few more than the OP only because I am including some poetry and short stories in with our literature. I am following a three week schedule of read, discuss, write. Each book gets done in three weeks. Short stories and poetry will be done in one week each. My children read a lot for their own pleasure, so asking them to read a 300 page book in a week is not a problem. 12 books is a good number to discuss if that is how much is comfortable for your child to read.

At second grade, there doesn't need to be reading across the curriculum. You can still read to them. I always like to end reading before they are tired. So, I agree that one story is enough. Model that reading is fun by reading aloud a lot and read for enjoyment yourself. One day they will do it too.

When my just turned 8 year old was asked by an adult what his favorite subject was... Pizza and CD's

I started it with my 11 year old daughter this year, but we had to drop it. Becuase of her attitude towards trying new things though, not the book. I thought it looked great and hope we can go back to it. The lessons are pretty short. My plan was for her to work on a lesson a week. It would take anywhere from 1 - 2 hours. There is an extra challenge for each chapter that I wanted her to try if she had time. I don't think you will have any trouble helping your daughter with it. There is a section that explains to the teacher/mentor what the point of each lesson is and what you are looking for.

Our situation sounds similar to yours. My oldest is type 1. We hardly call for anything as I feel comfortable adjusting his dose myself. I would be very upset if I had to pay that extra money. We could afford it, but $100 is a lot for us. If that is what it takes to keep this Dr. in business though, you may just need to pay it. I do feel like now that my son is a teen, we do have more issues. I have called this year more times than the previous 5 years combined!

I have friends that do popcorn and apples on Sunday nights.

If a hostess has asked that we begin eating, and everyone around me has food, I would eat. If there are people close to me who do not have food, I would not eat.

Strange! I know that shingles follow a nerve, so your husband's case sounds more like typical shingles. If you had poison ivy on your hands, it makes sense to have it on your eye as well.

Chicken soft tacos 3 pound bag of chicken breasts 1 jar of salsa 1 packet of taco seasoning blend Cook in the crock pot. Serve with tortillas and taco stuff.

I felt that way too! I was hoping that going through it the second time, I would learn a little more. By the time I got to my 4th child I would finally understand it! I'm not sure that IEW Fix It! is for you. I switched my oldest to IEW Fix-It! this year after completing R&S 7. (He was just not retaining the material and I decided my goal for this child was learning grammar up to about R&S 6 or 7. I was hoping IEW Fix-It would keep that knowledge fresh in a fun way.) The program actually recommends starting at the first book and working quickly through. I decided to do that after looking over the placement tests and being confused at the way they were labeling the sentences (instead of diagramming them) with their own terminology. I am sticking with it for now because my DS finally enjoys grammar, but it is another method for me to learn. If HE was doing fine with R&S and it was just me that was confused, I would recommend sticking with R&S.

I enjoy reteaching. I know the material and where the curriculum is going. Sometimes the children even know some of the material from listening in. It goes much faster the second, third, and fouth time.

Thanks for those details. I think I am underestimating the time that this program takes.

I stopped in the middle of an AAS book for the past two years with one of my children. When we start back after a break, I just jump back in. However, I make sure that we review all the cards (except the green word cards) the first week. There is no rush to get through the books. They may enjoy going back to the beginning of the book and redoing the lessons. If they know how to spell all the words it would really be a confidence booster.

At a young age, it is ok for them to tell you one thing they remember. Then make it two things. By 8 they should be able to give you only important details. About 3rd or 4th grade you may want to progress to a summary of the whole passage. They tell you (and you write it or they write it) key words/phrases of what happened in the proper order. Cross out unimportant details. (SWB says to ask, "could we leave this out and would it still make sense?") When you are left with 4-8 items, then they can turn them into sentences. This is a skill that takes years to develop. Middle schoolers may still be working on it, so do not expect much from a young one.

Great list. Don't skip the dustpan and brush or broom. It is so nice to have a clean floor.

My DS 14 is working on WWS 2 this year. We schedule about an hour per day for completing writing, but some of the assignments seem really long. I would really like him to stay on track and complete the book this year, but it is a lot of work. What has been your experience?

Good luck! How exciting to have your first week coming up! I always start with a plan and then change it after the first week. I often continue to change it throughout the year. I found it really hard to do anything after lunch. I still do, and we have been doing this a long time. Just this week we moved lunch to 2:00 so that we could finish school before lunch. So, a change that I would suggest is doing your Bible Time during breakfast and your read aloud time during lunch. Our read aloud time extends after lunch as well. We all quicly clear our plates and move to another room. Along the way the kids grab something quiet to play with or draw on. Since we have a long wait until lunch, we have a snack time. We do memory work at snack time. If your children can work independently with math with a few words of explanation from you, that is great. I do not think it is age expected at 9 and 7, though, so don't be discouraged if it doesn't work out. You may just want to stagger working with them since it probably won't take longer than 20 - 30 minutes each. You can give each boy 20 minutes while the other 2 play together. The years that we are most successful about doing the "extras" is when I make sure to do them early in the day. Like I said - I can't manage to do anything after lunch! Enjoy your first year!

I am using the Physics for the Grammar Stage as well this year. My boys are 7 and 9. We do an experiment and reading from the science encyclopedia twice a week. If we are short on time, I skip writing up the experiment. It hasn't happened yet, but if we would miss a day and can't make it up, I may or may not double up on the experiments, but skip writing the lab report. Just verbally run through what we learned. I would add the reading onto the next day's reading. Since my 7 year old has a very short attention span I have him point to a picture on the page of the encyclopedia that looks interesting. Then I read the little blurb about that. He tells me what he learned and I write it for him. This could be a way to speed things along if you are behind. On Fridays we do the unit project. If we miss that day, it is very easy to double up the next week. We don't do the quizzes.

Although she is your oldest, she really is just a baby. Doing school work is especially hard when everyone else in the house is playing. Do you think your expectations are too high? In complarison, I am asking my 9 year old to write two sentences, then I finish writing the rest of his narration. My goal is to have him writing all of his narrations by the end of 4th. (But, he is a boy... my dd was doing it by 2nd...)