I know this is an old thread, but I was hoping Mr. Morrow might still be available to give an update. I have looked for the Sequential Spelling app in the IOS app store and have been unable to find it. Is the app still available?

What a wealth of information! Thank you so much for taking the time to provide detailed advice. This was my first year homeschooling and I realize I was part of the problem. The advice on establishing rules and consequences and a more organized structure to our time is something I will be working on this summer. Thanks for giving me some hope!!

I have 3 students that will be in 1st, 2nd, and 4th this coming school year. I need some ideas on how you handle teaching multiple children at once. We will be using CLE which is workbooks and allows for some independence. I only have the mornings to teach because I work afternoons. I would love to have one of those beautiful homeschool classrooms (like Confessions of a Homeschooler) where everyone sits together at the table and works, and Mom goes around helping and keeping everyone on task. BUT...I've tried working together at the dinner table, but that always leads to tears because when someone has a question, they never want to wait for me to finish teaching another child. Then they cry or get frustrated. Then someone complains that they can't concentrate (usually my oldest). Or I am teaching a lesson to the youngest, and the other two are too distracted by me to work. Then I tried sending everyone to their own space to work. Then I am running all over the house. My younger ones complain they are scared to be alone in their room, hearing sounds, etc. Or they start playing and no work gets done. Then I tried working with each child individually, but after the others finish, the last one also rushes through his schoolwork, makes careless errors, just so he/she can be done. Maybe this dream isn't possible yet until they are all older? But I really want it to happen now.... (stamps foot!) Help?!

I like how the Magic School Bus Science Club looks - a fun science kit that comes in the mail every month. I think the subscription goes on sale for half price at the end of the month. I was curious if anyone has used it and what your thoughts are on it, or anything similiar that you have tried.

If she likes Thornton Burgess books, then she will love Arthur Scott Bailey. The one downside is that it's hard to find the actual books because they were written so long ago. They are available for free in the public domain. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=arthur+scott+bailey&go=Go My ds read them on his kindle.

I have been working through PAL reading and I don't think it provides enough reading practice. I need some books that will reinforce some of the phonograms that I teach. I would love to find a set that focuses on one at a time (like a book with a lot of words using the ow sound, and another book that focuses only on 'ew' words, 'ch', 'sh', 'th', 'ck', 'ng', 'nk', etc.). I can find those books here and there at the library, but I want an entire set. Anyone know where I could find something like that?

This is our first year officially homeschooling, since DS will be entering Kindergarten. However, we did CC last year in K4, as part of a community. Here is what worked for us: I eliminated all the "extras." Unless I wanted DS to be doing school all day and night, there was only time for Math, Writing, Phonics, Bible, and CC Memory work. If you want to do all the other stuff (history, science, geography, art/music), I would suggest tying it together with what you are learning in CC because your child will most likely have questions about that stuff anyway. Keep in mind though, that your child does not need to have an understanding of the memory work to be able to recite it. I skipped the CC stuff that was too difficult. For example, DS did really well on the skip counting up until about the 13's. Then he was mixing up numbers and just wasn't getting it right, even though we were practicing the same amount of time. Same with Geography towards the end, it was just too much for a 4-year-old. So instead of drilling endlessly and getting frustrated, we just skipped it. Listening to the CC Songs really helped! I downloaded the CD to my ipod and played it softly in the background while they would play with their toys. DS learned all the songs so easily this way. Good luck!

I have a 5 year old, and we did CC last year and have registered again for this year. In the Foundations level, you will need to supplement CC with your own Math and Phonics/Reading. That's it. CC is not supposed to be done alongside another curriculum. They do not recommend adding anything else, unless you want to.... but keep in mind you could easily burn out your child with a lot of extras. Foundations is the "grammar" stage - which means they will be mostly memorizing, memorizing, and memorizing. They are absorbing lots of facts that they will (hopefully) be able to pull from memory later on when they really need it. CC has a lot of fun songs to remember the history and math facts. They now have a timeline song that corresponds with the timeline cards. They memorize facts in Math, History, Timeline, Latin, Science, English Grammar, and Geography. Each week at class, they do a science project and something related to the arts/music. Each child has to make a presentation to the class as well. It's also a great place to meet other homeschoolers and develop friendships. CC is definitely a full curriculum and it moves very quickly. With my 5-year -old, we are not going to do much else besides CC, Bible, Math, and Reading. We spend about 30 minutes per day reviewing the memory work for the week. I have found that my son is much more motivated to learn the CC stuff because he wants to know all the answers for class the next week. Hopefully that gives you an overview of what the program does. You will have to decide for yourself if it is something you want to add. Good luck!

:bigear: I have found that my kids get turned off from bible time if the reading is too long and/or complicated. Since it is important to me to have them enjoy this time and instill positive memories while they are young, I generally use assorted bibles and devotion books and if there is something I don't agree with - I just skip over it or reword it in my own way. I can do this because none of the kids are reading yet. For the upcoming school year, I have chosen a curriculum for Bible that I will work on with my K'er in the mornings, but we will still continue to read from the bible for family worship before bedtime. We have been using Devotions for Preschoolers, the NIrV Story Bible, and the Jesus Storybook Bible this year. I am thinking of using the NIrV starting next month, but I don't know how to do it with a 3-year-old and a 1.5-year-old too. Unless we read to my 5-year-old separately, which I really don't want to do because that kind of changes the "family" part of our worship. Maybe if we just take it in small chunks and add in a corresponding picture story for the little ones...

:iagree: Although I think I watch too many episodes of Criminal Minds :tongue_smilie:

All my kids are up at 7, toddler goes down for a nap from 1-3:15. Bedtime is 7:30. If I let him sleep an extra 15 minutes to 3:30 - he will take an extra hour to fall asleep at night! Sometimes my 3-year-old will nap from 2-3. If she naps more than that, she's not asleep for bedtime until after 9pm. I don't know how old your kids are, but if they are having trouble falling asleep for naps consistently - it may be a sign that they are ready to drop the nap :( I feel your pain. Naps are such a delicate balancing act. :svengo:

I like bigoven.com. I think I paid $15 for the year and it has worked really well for me. I needed something where I could type in recipes on my computer, and access it from my iphone or ipad. It makes a shopping list too, based on what recipes you pick for the week. It's so much easier than writing out a grocery list every week. I can just take my iphone with me and check off the items as I buy them. I'm curious what other people use, because I really didn't do much research... so there might be better options out there that are free.

Yes, the speed issues are annoying. I don't have a lot of free time as it is, so when I get online, if a page isn't loading quick enough, I go somewhere else. So we are going to lose members that way if this continues to be a problem (gets slower and slower). I agree that charging a fee is going to drastically reduce the members that use this forum, and we won't have the diversity that we enjoy now. They will just go somewhere else. Is there a way to purge or archive some of the really old stuff? Would that even help? Perhaps a moderator can give us some options.

:iagree: I think it's impossible to have quiet, attentive students that hang on your every word. They are going to talk to each other and bicker and fight - even in homeschool. As a K teacher, I had a behavior chart that I used to prevent disruptions and excessive talking. Especially good behavior was rewarded with a star and a trip to the treasure box. Negative behavior earned the student a card change and a consequence. I would allow some chatting, but not when I was directing a lesson. Once they knew what to do - if a child took his time in completing his work because of too much talking, the child would have to sit and complete the paper on the playground while all their friends were playing. Would something like that work for you?

The only one I actually stay in the bathroom and watch is my 18-month-old. The other two (5, 3) take baths alone but the door must be open and I stay within hearing distance. I think I would be a little concerned if my child was left unattended like that upstairs with the door closed.

:bigear: :bigear: :bigear: I would love to hear what some other parents say about this!!

So encouraging! Thanks for posting this! :lurk5::bigear:

My kids are nowhere near ready for college, but I guess I've always thought what your DH thought - that if you have a high SAT score - you could get a scholarship to almost any college. For homeschoolers, since it's about more than just the SAT score, some posters referred to it being about your child's whole package, what can we provide? I mean, would a college admissions office really accept my grades/GPA as an unbiased accurate reflection of my child's academics? Seems to me they would be more inclined to accept those grades from a school. So then what else... volunteer hours, sports, dual enrollment records maybe? Uggh... this thread is so disheartening! Time to rethink our college savings plans...:banghead:

I am looking at PAL-reading for the same reason. My son needs something FUN to hold his interest. It has a lot of games and it also includes some independent activities too. PAL also seems to jump into more advanced phonograms right away (ee, ow), which is a plus for my son since he seems SICK of reading all the "cat sat in a tan hat" stories, and he already knows all the 26 letters and sounds of the alphabet. I haven't used it yet, so maybe someone else can chime in and give you some more info about the program if you're interested.

I had 3 natural births at a birth center, and each time they sent me home 5 hours after giving birth, so I can't really compare to a hospital, but I'll chime in with my experience :tongue_smilie: The first time I was so happy to be home so soon, but I quickly discovered that I really needed to be resting in bed - not entertaining family and showing off the baby! So with my other births I really took it easy and made sure I had some help once the baby was born. I think that's what is great about being in the hospital - you have that time to just stay in bed and not feel guilty about it. And not think about the laundry that's piling up, or the dishes that need to be washed, or the mess in the playroom. When you're home... you can't help but see all that.

I can't really offer any dining advice for you... but I can offer a few tips since you have little ones. Pack snacks/sandwiches to eat in the park. Even if you are planning to eat meals in the park, your little ones might get hungry much earlier than you are ready to eat. Bring a double stroller for the two young ones. The 2 year old cannot walk all over the parks, it will be too much. Expect the (little) kids to be cranky by the end of the day if they nap in the stroller. My kids normally nap for two straight hours at home, but I could only get about 45 minutes at the park. We always napped our kids in the stroller because it was such a hassle to go back and forth, but that meant we couldn't stay for the fireworks show at night because our kids were too exhausted. One option could be that you alternate evenings with your husband and one of you takes the young kids back to the hotel early while the other stays in the park with the older child. I found this site to be very helpful in planning the dates to go. http://yourfirstvisit.net/ It has been very accurate with crowd levels the past three times we have used it. Hope that helps a little! Enjoy planning your vacation!

This app is awesome! Thanks for sharing!!!

Two of my favorites: Teaching The Trivium, by Harvey & Laurie Bluedorn The Core, by Leigh Bortins

:iagree: But it definitely isn't easy

I think you will find advice for doing either style. Some say cursive first, others say manuscript first, and both seem to have valid reasons. I decided to do manuscript first because that is easiest for me... I like to print. I loved Handwriting Without Tears because it gives you an "order" to teach how to write the letters. They recommend capital letters first, and they group them together by starting stroke. There's not a lot of practice, so my 4 year old didn't get overwhelmed looking at a whole page of tracing letters. The dry erase board can be a fun supplement for your child to practice writing. But my ds could never write small enough to fit his letters exactly on the lines, so we just used a blank board instead (on the back side).