You are not being unreasonable. I think that schooling is very important and family should respect that - for e.g. If your child were in a B&M school, would your MIL go there and ask for your child to join her for lunch? Show them that you are very serious about schedules. If you let them in your house on a school day and then keep on schooling despite their interruptions, they might get the chance to see that there is really no downtime for the kids to hang out with them. Another strategy is to pick up their phone calls only in the evenings - let them know to leave you voicemails and that you will call them back. If they still complain, consider making them work for you! For e.g. tell them that you will be running off to the doctor appointment with child #2 in the afternoon, so could they come over and supervise the math or literature work for child #1, #3 and #4 and give them their snack while you are out and supervise the bathtime for the little ones? Or, could they please take child #3 to soccer while you catch up child #1, #2 and #4 on spelling and history? Or could they do a craft or art project with all the kids while you get your weekly grocery shopping done? I think that you should not feel guilty for wanting to educate your children. And they should not make you feel that way.

Thank you so much, geodob and Kerileanne99! My child currently does Saxon math at school and I afterschool using Singapore Math. What I have found is that, though he gets very advanced concepts quickly and can produce accurate results, his speed at arriving at the results is very, very slow. I am a great fan of Soroban and Vedic math and I think that these skills not only make the math faster, they help in whole brain development. I have access to a Japantown near where I live, so I can pick up a pretty good soroban easily. I will check out the Pacchi soroban - it could be the right place to start. Kerileanne, I am off to researching those links on the brillkids site. And thanks for the tip on the SM style number bonds - it is heartening to know that Soroban and SM are compatible!

I always meant to teach my son Soroban, Anzan (mental abacus) and Vedic math. I am planning to start this winter (with my 6 year old son) and am looking for resources to use for these topics. I am thinking of doing them as "fun" topics together and hope to learn these with my child. Anyone who has BTDT and can point me to the right resources? I have found some videos online, but a textbook or a curriculum might be more helpful to teach in a systematic manner. Thanks for your help!

Private school 1st grade - 8:10AM - 3:15 PM. They do review work from 8:10 AM - 8:40 AM - so that part is optional. Actual lessons start at 8:40 AM. School ends at 3:00, but they hold the kids in the auditorium for a driveby pickup at 3:15 pm. Morning recess of 10 minutes and a 30 minute lunch break. Afternoon recess is converted into PE with a coach every day. No snack times, just lunch. 20 minutes of homework LA and math, daily test review at home (1 to 2 tests a day), monthly book report and 20 minutes of free reading to be done at home (the writing takes us much longer than 20 mins because DS cannot come up with sentences for his spelling words easily). Aftercare is flexible until 6:30 pm and I pick up at different times depending on my schedule and extracurricular activity schedules.

I am going to volunteer to teach science in a small group locally for under 8 year olds (BFSU vol 1) and I thought that I would implement worksheets/review tests after I finish each unit. Is there a source for such worksheets? Or does the instructor create them if needed? Thanks in advance. ETA: I have a small budget for this group, so I could swing a few $$ if the worksheets have to be purchased and are not available for free.

"I could never do that" - there, I said it to you all. But, I do not mean anything bad or negative by it. I know how hard it is to do what you do day in and day out. I know how many sacrifices it takes to spend so much of your life with your children - some of you with kids with special needs, some of you teaching subjects that you have to learn first in order to teach them etc. I cannot do it - my family circumstances are such that it is impossible. Life is full of choices. We all prioritize how we spend our time and on whom. We as persons should never feel that we owe an explanation of our lifestyle choices to people who are aggressively questioning us. And being an introvert myself, I can see how the OP felt when questioned like that. I say that if you feel that the remark was rude, you do not owe that person the courtesy of continuing that conversation. IRL, I only know 2 families who homeschool - both for academic reasons. Their kids are so far out academically that I am jealous of the amount of time these families spend on educating their kids to such a great level of excellence. One of those moms is a chess/math tutor to my son (she herself is a former high ranked chess player) and she is so awesome - I tell her that "I could never do that" all the time - and it is meant as a great compliment.

As you said, you should be happy that your child gets pullouts for reading. This means that he gets far more individual attention in an area where he needs the most help in. Far better to have that than the opposite where the child who needs extra attention gets lost in a crowd in the classroom. I am happy for you that they are still keeping him in the pullout and good job on getting the outside tutor to help him.

Thank you, thak you, thank you! I knew that you guys would be able to point me in the right direction! My library has a few too. I will try to get some used ones from the above sites as well.

I have been asked to help with a science fair project for a group of 6-7 year olds. I thought that the Boston Children's Museum Science Activity books by Bernie Zubrowski would be a great place to start looking for ideas on topics of interest for the kids. These books are not available on amazon and I cannot find them anywhere else using my poor googling skills. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

They did the "say no to drugs" campaign as part of the PS health program last year. This year, DS is in a private school and they cover health during PE classes and science classes - they emphasize that they are covering the health curriculum when they do it.

I agree. My child goes to school and I afterschool. The school is rigorous and has rigid structure - no chatting in class, no lingering at lunchtime. My DS plays with his classmates at lunchtime recess and morning recess (25 mins total). We afterschool, so he does not hang out with neighbors (who also afterschool)! The only socialization he gets is if he goes to play T-Ball, soccer, martial arts or to the birthday parties and playdates. So, because your DD is not ging to school, she does not miss out much on the socialization.

Thanks a lot for the explanation, Laura. I understand now, I think! Mom in High Heels, thanks to you too for pointing out the Greek to GCSE curriculum. I found some reviews on amazon for it and will research it further. I am not familiar with Greek too, and I plan to learn with my child. As always, coming on these forums and asking questions help me to learn something new every single time.

Laura, thanks for all your detailed posts on GP Greek, they are most helpful. I will be placing my order for GP Greek soon, but wanted to check with you if you know anything about the book "So you really want to learn Ancient Greek" from GP. Is that a precursor to the book "An introduction to Classical Greek"? Or could we get only the "An intro to Classical Greek" book and we would be good to go? Thanks in advance for your help! PS: we are doing the Code Cracker for an intro to the alphabet.

Good idea. In my household, it is rare when we are all awake at the same time and we are not afterschooling or eating or getting ready to leave the house. Nevertheless, just for the principle of it, I have a chore list for my 6 year old. I wrote it down and put it in a sheet protector so that he can mark off the chores with a dry erase marker for each day of the week. I do not offer rewards or money, but expect them to be done. DS actually is very proud to have the list and shows it off to family and friends. I think that he loves having the responsibility and the structure the chores give him. I put simple things that can be done on the go and manageable for him. I have not given household tasks or regular chores yet, just tasks related to him so that he can develop skills for organizing his own things and daily life. The list looks too long, but has been catgorized as morning, evening and night tasks. Evening tasks: 1. Remove lunchbox, water bottle from back pack and put in the kitchen for washing 2. Put homework packet back into backpack 3. Piano practice Night Tasks: 1. Gather uniform, socks etc for next day before bedtime and keep them ready 2. Keep your gear ready in gear bags for extra curriculars (with mom's help as there are too many pieces for a small child to remember). 3. Brush your teeth before bed, use mouthwash 4. Read to yourself for 20 mins (this is also part of daily school homework) Morning Tasks: 1. Brush your teeth in the mornings 2. Eat vitamins in the mornings (parent gives them out and he cannot get them by himself) 3. Get dressed for school in the mornings 4. Put "free reading" book from home into backpack 5. Sharpen all your pencils. I would love to add more household tasks like fold towels, make bed, clean up your room, bring grocery from car etc. But, I am hesitant that these will make his list too long and unmangeable for him. But the plan is to add new tasks to his list on each birthday.

I think that you are doing a great job planning to introduce instruments to your child at such a youg age. Look at craigslist for used keyboards. In my area, there are people giving away old pianos for free because they have been lying in their house unused for decades. Get some early elementary piano method books from Alfred, Faber, Little Mozart, john Thompson etc and your children are good to go. The beginner levels of these methods start from the basics and you do not need to know anything about music to help your child. This is a good way to get young children started. Please be prepared to learn along with your children as well as to sit with them for practicing for a few years. You can put out fliers at your library or high school looking for high schoolers who will teach (some charge as low as $10/lesson). The piano method books have a lot of people explaining how to play those songs on youtube which you can use as a reference for teaching. A lot of notes reading apps are free on Android and you can get those for your children to practice. If you still cannot find an economical instrument right away, give your children a head start on music by getting them some basic music theory workbooks that teach how to read the staff, the key notations etc.

I personally believe that every parent should provide the best opportunity available for their child. What you see the Indians and Asians doing is not unethical - it is in their culture to revere and value academics/education and to start early and to have great faith in their child's abilities rather than worry that they may not be able to handle early academic rigor. They will do what you call "prepping" irrespective of whether the schools have a gifted program or not. But to your original question - if you don't like it, stay out of it. By that I mean, stay away from what you feel is unethical because it might not make you happy.

As others agree, no TV or even screentime for parents and child in our house (no facebook time, no chatting on the phone etc). I manage to get things done by doing them in smaller chunks and being better prepared. So, as soon as I pick up from aftercare, we head out to an afterschool activity (sometimes 2 activities back to back) - the gear for that activity is already in my car, a small snack is in my car and we park outside there and finish homework before starting the activity. When I drive back home, I review material verbally for the next day's test. When we enter the house, DS is asked to head directly to the shower and then get dressed and get to his dinner. And while he eats, I read aloud to him. After dinner, we proceed to afterschooling some subject and then 15 minutes of free play time or a chess game before bed. I catch up on my work when DS is in bed. He gets 10 hours of sleep, but 11 might be impossible (anyway he needs only 10 hours). This year is a lot easier for me because I moved DS to a private school with excellent academics and I only need to spend teaching time for acceleration and interest driven activities and not on re-teaching poorly taught subjects. Some things I have learned the hard way are: 1. Brutally cut out dawdling time - for e.g. playing with legos before going to take a shower or hang out in the school playground for "just a little bit longer" in the evenings. DS does not like this, but it is his choice to do the afterschool activities and he has learnt that he can not have his cake and eat it too. 2. Take time out the previous day and prepare an afterschool work packet. 3. Make a plan for every meal, drink and snack for the next day - be it eating out or eating at home. 4. Make a spreadsheet to track all the afterschooling that needs to be done each week 5. Regroup on a Sunday and touch up missed subjects. 6. Prioritize the afterschooling over other things - because that is the only way to get things done in my house.

Thank you for saying that! I hate to do housework and always have a nagging feeling that I am not focusing enough on it. On the other hand, I always wonder why such things like cleaning and picking up are my jobs and nobody else's in my house. And I tend to download apps for managing messy houses, read books about how to clean them and watch TV shows on how to clean/declutter - like you said, I could get the toilet cleaned or loaded the dishwasher for every thread I read on that topic!

I watched it for the first time in the 90's because my friend used to keep quoting from the movie. And for a few weeks after watching this movie, the " ... Prepare to die" quote in the subject of your post kept going around in my mind like an earworm. I have since watched it thrice. I own the DVD too!

Yeah. I hate it too. I personally don't think that knowing the State Flower, State Tree and the year the first settler landed in some state that I do not plan to live in or my child would ever live in (he already has plans on where he would live) makes any sense. For e.g. Kukui Tree is the state tree of Hawaii, Nene bird is it's state bird, Sanford Dole was the first president from there in 1894 etc. etc. just drives me nuts. All these facts are irrelevant to learning about the state of Hawaii. Ask me these same questions tomorrow about Hawaii, and I won't remember the answers (we are doing state study of the Western states this month ... and it is like swallowing medicine to me).

Piano playing, take a course in nutrition and dietitics (just because I am always interested in healthy eating and cooking), travel to Egypt and see the pyramids (I am always reading about them and watching videos of them) and learn master level Yoga (I am about intemediate level now).

My DS will try to finish the homework really fast - the end result is illegible scrawling. Also, the homework is supposed to take from 15-20 minutes not including the free reading. Instead, yesterday, for the LA homework, he took 56 minutes and I timed it on my phone timer - he had a spelling list with 8 words like freeze, shin, face, gone etc and had to write one sentence for each word. The sentences he was coming up with were ridiculous - like "My body has a face". I told him to think at a higher level and come up with a sentence that he had to work on. And it took him more than 5 minutes per word. This was interspersed with perfectionism meltdowns. But, in the end, work ethic and putting in one's best effort are very important things that my child needs to learn. So, I help by asking him leading questions and giving him hints - I tell myself that I am "scaffolding" my child to reach his own level of mastery at this skill. This has been going on since last year (K). It is impossible for him to write a sentence that is meaningful or interesting - he is taking the easy and short path (lazy?) to writing. So, I am hoping that after a while, he starts to take pride in his work and will develop higher order thinking skills to produce high quality homework output for LA. Until then, I need to scaffold him! Returning an incomplete homework or one with mistakes or low quality is not an option for me - I have written notes in the past telling the teacher how long it took and they have generally been nice to us saying we should stop doing work at the 20 minute mark. For the foreseeable future, I am helping - unless my child decides to show me better quality homework output!

My extremely active boy does not like to sit and do homework at the end of the day. So, I let him know that he needs to finish his homework in order for me to take him to his extracurricular classes. He loves these classes and looks forward to them all day long - so he zips through his homework in a jiffy and gets ready because of his eagerness to go to his evening classes. Also, every time he finishes one sheet of homework without whining or asking for mom's participation and if he practices his instrument without complaining, I give a sticker of his choice (fun superhero and star wars themes) to paste in his sticker book. When the count reaches 100 stickers, he can trade the stickers for a Lego set of his choice. Try to see if this method works in your family. And please do not give your son M&M's ... even though I know that it is a personal decision on your part and I live with a sugar junkie spouse, I am anti-sugar, especially so for young children.

For us, testing at 4 years validated what we and the preschool teachers were seeing. It gained entry for our son into a gifted program and some gifted clubs locally where it is possible to accelerate in some key areas which has been useful to us to gauge how much work load he can handle comfortably. He was coasting through school and not putting effort into anything because things came too easily for him - work ethic and putting in your best effort are very important values we would like him to learn - so we were able to see that he needed to be challenged at a really high level in order for him to focus and work hard and produce an output that he could be proud of. In our case, the testing results played a big part in how we spend our time and money! And how we set goals for our child. It also hammered home the point to me that I was not doing enough to make this child reach his full potential and I am glad that I got that wake up call when he was 4 and not 14 years old. And it has completely changed how he is being schooled and afterschooled. I still spend sleepless nights wondering if I am doing enough...

The local Halloween pumpkin patches and Christmas tree sale lots just rent open space from the city and put up tents for the season. I was wondering if that would be an option for you. Also, how about the local community college? The company that I work for holds their "All Hands" meeting at the local community college where they rent empty conference rooms for very reasonable fees - so please call your local community colleges or universities to see if it is an option. Another thought I had was if you are near a big city, they have large convention centers for rent in the big hotels. Good luck.