This was us with the Narnia series. I had read the first book hoping to inspire DD10 to pick up something fiction. She loved the book, but wouldn't ever pick up TLW&W to read. So, I ended up reading the whole series aloud. Not the plan. AR stands for Accelerated Reader which is a computerized reading comprehension program. Books are assigned a certain level and the child is free to move between the levels as they desire, but upon completion of the book, the student takes a 10 question comprehension test and the program assigns points based on the number of questions answered correctly. Many schools tie a certain number of AR points into LA grades and/or offer incentives for reaching a certain level. The point value each book is given is based on the length and difficulty of the book. Something like Junie B might be a reading level 1.7 and if all 10 questions are answered correctly, the student earns .5 points toward their reading goal. Harry Potter may be a 7.2 and worth 14 points. These are just examples, I didn't specifically check for accuracy. :thumbup1: Personally, my kids used AR when they attended parochial school and I found it to be a flop. It didn't encourage reading, it encouraged reading AR books. Both girls wouldn't read books that weren't in the system b/c they wouldn't get any points for them. :cursing: Also, DD10 buzzed through their entire collection of "Who Was" books in 3rd grade, many of which had an AR level of 5+ and scored great, but generally her reading level isn't that high, but her interest level was. I would caution people against using their placement tests as a true reflection of where their kids are.

Most of our libraries have it.

I don't think there is a specific teacher's manual. The text is set up with complete explanations and then the problems. The HS kit comes with the text, worksheets/tests book and solutions manual.

That was wonderful! Thanks for sharing! :hurray:

When I attended/taught in public school, we never finished anything, EVER! I remember in probably 4th or 5th grade taking home a math workbook at the end of the year that was only half completed. Once I started teaching at parochial school, however, it was understood that everything would be completed every year. I'm sort of in that mindset now, especially for workbooky type things where there is a definite endpoint. With history, I sort of pieced it together, so we just ended when everything else was done. Next year, we'll just pick up where we left off, so nothing gets missed.

I want to know this too. Our situation is pretty much the same except that we've only been homeschooling a year. The girls get to see their school friends 2-3 times each week based on which activities they are participating in, so it's not like they are missing out on those relationships. I'm coming to the conclusion that for some kids, the grass is always greener on the other side. The downside is that DS was completely on board with homeschooling, but after hearing all the little comments the girls make, now he wants to go to "school" too. :cursing:

Thanks.

DD10 will take 2-3 hours if left to her own devices. To speed the process along, I've started doing the writing and now we are down to completing the lesson practice & mixed practice in 20 minutes.

I would tell stories with manipulatives as part of play. When playing with the farm set. "Oh, there are 3 pigs in the pen and here's another 4 in the barn. How many pigs are there all together?" Something like that, very informal.

We have the Melissa and Doug geoboard and DS really likes it. It is a bit bigger than the regular geoboard and comes with pre-made pictures. DS is really into that creative type thing, so he enjoys it. He likes to see how he can stretch the bands to make various letter, numbers, etc. I also used it to help DD10 when she was learning perimeter and area of a rectangle, square, etc. Sure, other things work too. It is just something we have and like.

We have snap cubes, pattern blocks, play money, and I have a set of c-rods waiting for me to pick up at the teacher's store. :laugh: I made a wish list on Amazon and directed those who want to buy gifts for DS to check the list-that's how we've been able to get most of our manipulatives. When teaching and I needed mass quantities on a budget, I used beans of varying colors and they worked quite nicely for many concepts. You can even dye navy beans various colors for holiday manipulative fun! :thumbup1:

I'm glad to hear that most everyone likes it. DD10 picked Flying Creatures and Swimming Creatures for next year. We are doing astronomy now and I tolerate the notebooks. I'm not getting the notebooks for Zoology. We'll do notebooking pages and I'm checking out the links that pp listed above. Hopefully I can come up with some nice complementary activities.

:grouphug: Your child's twin lives at my house. I completely sympathize! I haven't had mine tested for gifted yet b/c I wasn't sure that she was-her motivation and distractability are off the chart. Reading through these responses, I can see that I probably do need to have her tested. What I've found most helpful is to arm myself with a timer and I time everything. For example, in the next 10 minutes you need to do 2 math problems. Get it done and you earn 10 minues of ipod time. Don't get it done and you lose 10 minutes (each day they start with 30 minutes). Now, we are still in the 10 minute boat, but I'm hoping that at some point I can expand it to 30 minutes or longer assignments. I don't know if that is feasible in your situation or not, but this is what we've had the most success with (and it's marginal at best). This is DD10 that I'm talking about (just for reference).

I like this idea! Especially when the 12yo has to rise from bed at 6:30 am to go to school when she currently doesn't get up until 10 am. :001_rolleyes: Thanks for the advice everyone. We've decided (I think :tongue_smilie: ) that DD12 will go back to B&M school in the fall, DD10 and DS5 will stay home. It will be phrased as once you are in 7th grade, you can have the option of going back. DH and I discussed the fact that 6th grade at our school is just horrible and it would be pointless to let DD10 return for 5th grade and come home in 6th. She'll just hs until 7th and with big sis off doing who knows what by that time, I don't think that B&M will look as enticing. Even if she chooses to return, I'll be ok with it, especially since I know all the teachers and I will make sure they understand what she's capable of. ;)

The "them" is DD12 and 10, and I "know" it will be an issue b/c DD10 has already expressed that it won't be fair if DD12 returns and she doesn't get to. The issue is that DD10 doesn't really like to apply herself. She could skate along in school, make A's just by picking up a few bits of knowledge here and there. She was around her friends and all that goes with school. Our problem at home was that she worked so hard to "be good" during the day, that when she came home she was a terror. It was like we unleashed a maniac every afternoon at 3. Now, I hold her more accountable and expect a lot more academically (which she has no problem doing-she just doesn't like to :tongue_smilie: ). Is the battle worth it? Probably-just when I'm in the trenches, it's hard to think clearly. Yes, I have definitely thought of the inconvenience of scheduling. That is another thing to consider.

This is our first year hsing. I think it has been a pretty successful year, but DD12 is miserable. She is very much a "grass is greener on the other side" kind of kid. School was horrible, now hsing is horrible. Quite frankly, she'll complain about wherever she is, so I might as well send her back and lighten the load on the rest of us. It's a good school and she has really great friends/support structure there, and the staff beyond 6th grade is great, so no worries on that front. My issue is with DD10. She thrives at home. She is learning so much more than she ever did at school. She is most likely ADHD and I think she spent all of her school day trying to be good (which she did-always got A's and was rarely corrected for her behavior, although she has learned so much more since she's able to move about constantly). I definitely want to keep her home, but I know that there will be a huge battle when we tell them that DD12 is going back but not DD10. DS5 is not an issue-he has no desire to go to school. Has anyone dealt with this type of thing before and what did you do, what was the outcome, etc.?

DS turned 5 in January and attends a prek program that uses Saxon K. The teacher was nice enough to let me look through it and I chose to purchase Saxon 1 for Kindergarten. I found the TG used for $6, so I went ahead and started it now instead of waiting for fall. For the meeting, I found a meeting sheet that was originally used for a 1st grade classroom. We print one out each month and just use it as discussion for our meeting time. DS adds the number on the calendar, practices the days of the week and months, skip counts and he's just added counting tally marks. I do the lesson as directed in the teachers guide (at least kind of closely-I have issues with scripting). Then I write out a few representative problems for DS to do at the end of the lesson. So far, he seems to be having no problems with it. As we get on into the book, I think I'll add a bit more written work or a second shorter session to make sure that the concepts are sticking, but so far, I think my $6 has been well spent. He'll probably finish Saxon 1 about January 2014. I'll decide then whether or not to get Saxon 2 or switch programs. My problem is that I really like Saxon for the older grades, so I hate to switch around in the early years.

DS's prek program uses Saxon K, so I purchased Saxon 1 (TG only) and he's already started that. By the time we actually start K in August, I figure he'll be halfway through Saxon 1. I'll decide at that time if I want to continue with Saxon or switch to something else.

I'm reading this thinking, that sounds a lot like Heather and I read the siggie and it is you! Ha! OP: Having taught classroom prek for many years before hsing, I tend to be in the camp that believes everything we do goes somewhere into kids' brains. For some, they can file it and immediately retrieve it at a moment's notice. For others, they tuck it away and it only comes out intermittently (and never on command). Just keep giving her opportunities to work with the concepts (she'll file them in more places) and one day, she'll just "know" it. Good luck!

We started the beginning of the year using SOTW1 with my older kids and DS (then 4) sitting in. He was bored to tears. As a Catholic, I didn't have problems with SOTW1. I heard there were more ideological conflicts with 2 as it covered the Reformation. I tend to be a person though that will use whatever and explain to my kids that different people have different perspectives and then state the other side. I think we'll kind of do a more patriotic theme with DS entering Kindergarten. We'll cover the Pledge of Allegience, Star Spangled Banner, patriotic symbols, etc. We are also going to do EM: Beginning Geography. DS is welcome to sit in on US History with the older girls as he chooses. He tends to really like documentaries and loves LIberty's Kids.

Here's what I have so far. It is subject to change on a whim, so by the time we actually start "K" in the fall, it probably will look different. Reading: finish The Reading Lesson (we're about 1/3 through now and we'll continue doing a page each day during the spring/summer) then we'll move on to read alouds for reading Once we finish TRL, we'll start other LA Grammar: Scott Foresman 1 Spelling: Success with Spelling 1 Writing: WWE1 Math: Saxon 1 (we're already working in it) and then Saxon 2 next spring Geography: EM: Beginning Geography Religion: Faith and Life 1 Science: BFSU and other interests Tag-alongs with big sis: English from the Roots Up, A History of the US, maybe French if he's interested Extra curriculars: Soccer (fall and spring) Basketball (winter), 4H and Boy Scouts (all year)

DD10 informed me yesterday that she "needs" to learn French. I'm thinking of all the crazy requests she makes, learning French seems like one of the more doable. :laugh: What is available for a pretty intelligent 10yo that has no background in French. Most of what I've seen seems like it is for younger elementary or adults preparing to travel to France. Affordable would be a plus! :tongue_smilie:

Maybe these will help http://www.readingbear.org/ http://www.literactive.com/Home/index.asp

This is very similar to the way things run at our house, except that I don't check daily. I work 50+/week, so I check things when I get time. The only area that it's ever a problem is math, because DD12 won't tell me if she doesn't understand something and I have to find that she's missed several on her assignments. DD10 will complain the second she doesn't "get" it. I long for the happy medium where they would attempt to work through what they don't understand, but ask for help if they need it. I don't want much, do I?

Thank you.