Starting off slow and building is a great suggestion. I'll piggyback a couple other thoughts onto that. As a general rule with my rising 3rd grader, I find it works better to do short, frequent lessons than to try and cram more into less frequent sessions. This is especially important with subjects my DD has trouble with. So the first thing I do when scheduling is to consider my DD's needs at the time. Right now, reading and math are the big pushes, so I offer these every day. Beyond that, I look at the curriculum I want to use and how fast I want to get through it. That tells me how often to offer each, which gets put into place around her "daily musts". For instance, let's say I had a history book I want to use over an 11-month school year. The book has 22 chapters. That means we would need to complete 2 chapters per month (1 every 2 weeks) to finish on time. If the chapters are simple, we might only need one session per week for this. If they are more involved, I might have to bump it to 2-3 times per week. If that time investment doesn't mesh with the schedule, I can either omit lessons or spread the book out over a longer time stretch. Either way, it's a pretty easy approach for figuring out how and when to offer things. And it's a good way to gauge when I'm going overboard on curriculum, since I'm one of those who gets all excited about buying things and ultimately wind up with too much. :lol:

I've taken fish oil for a while and hated the effect on my stomach. Then I ran across a hint online that recommended keeping the pills in the freezer. Heartburn stopped immediately.

We use Kumon practice workbooks along with School Zone workbooks you can find in lots of stores. I like how colorful the School Zone books are, though the Kumon books are good when we need repetition. (Both are pretty essential for my SN learner.)

Great thread to read through. I saw a couple of my curricula choices for next term listed multiple times, which makes me feel good about getting them! 1. Setting up a bi-weekly LA/Math "track" schedule with focused table time each day 2. Workboxes (and organizing for them in advance) 3. Sing Spell Read Write 4. Math U See blocks (and playing math games with them) 5. Right-brained math (for multiplication)

We school year-round even though the home charter we work with closes for the summer. My DD is officially "promoted" to the next grade level as soon as the school year ends (which was May 30 this year). However, we don't actually begin instruction in the next grade's work until fall session in August. I use our summer session for enrichment and remediation to help her catch up and get ready for the coming term (she has LDs).

I ordered the program that included a DVD and some CD's. My DD learned nothing, got frustrated with it, and gave up. We gave it back to her charter school. Honestly, I didn't get the hype.

I'm the primary wage earner in a stressful job (along with being the homeschooling parent), plus I work at earning a secondary income from writing. My husband stays home and watches our DD while I work. He earns some income on the side, but much of it goes to funding personal hobbies. And yes, I am often envious that he gets to stay home. I'll admit it can be very hard to come home after a bad day, and what I perceive I'm walking into makes a HUGE difference in my outlook. If I come home to find the house tidy, my husband reasonably calm and willing to let me vent if need be, it's easier to decompress and to see that we're a homemaking team. (The addition of a favorite food offering is a nice bonus at this point!) If, on the other hand, I come home and trip over toys on the floor, can't get a glass of water for the pile of dishes in the sink, and find a sour face on my DH as he recites a laundry list of what went wrong with HIS day, it's very hard to grit my teeth and be gracious about it. It's like I've just fled the frying pan to land in the fire. And God help him if any kind of money grievance comes up. So in answer to what can be done to encourage a spouse who hates their job, I would say make it clear how much you appreciate the personal sacrifices he is making for his family. Not by simply telling him, but showing him with all the little things you can do for him each day. Make it a point to add him to your to-do list. Every small gesture adds up to the big picture of the benefits he is reaping in return for his misery and stress. My DH has been known to have a bath waiting for me (candles and all) after a bad day, or a special meal we share after the child is asleep. Occasional days off are designated "me" days, where he will take our DD out for the afternoon so I can de-stress by myself. Or he'll rent a movie he knows I want to see. This silently, yet effectively says he really GETS how hard I work for our family, and that he is running with that ball by taking pride in how our house looks/runs and in caring for me personally. It's darn hard to be resentful of someone who is that appreciative and invested in easing my stress.

Sounds like you'll be making some adjustments (such as the best way to haul curricula and supplies back and forth), but it could be a good opportunity. Keeping up with your own home (and sanity!) might mean dropping some of the "other" responsibilities for a while, though.

I hope this isn't too nosy-sounding, but might I ask about how much folks are spending per month for the supplement program? I've seen some that are somewhat cost-prohibitive for us at this point.

I agree that a lot of it has to do with how the program is monitored by parents. I found my DD will use the "any old answer" approach, too, and not just with computer programs. Worksheets get that treatment as well. (This was great fun during STAR testing.) However, she's much less likely to when I'm right there monitoring. So for the time being, she's not doing much independently. For worksheets, I'm sitting at the table with her. For computer programs, I sit in the room so I can see the screen. Another advantage to this is that I can jump in at the first sign of frustration, before she progresses to I-don't-care answers or outbursts. Once she's on track, I'll gradually start pulling back so she's more independent again. We aren't using TT yet, but I've viewed the samples and we're ordering it next month as our computer lab for math. Even if she types in Whatever, it still seems a big step up from PS. In PS, math assignments are handed in and scored right or wrong, and there wouldn't often be an opportunity to retry the answer or see every mistake worked correctly on the spot. So I do like that approach.

We're only taking 1 week off for vacation and are doing a 10-week summer program. We kept the 6-day school schedule we were doing, but there's less time per day since we're just doing 3R's and enrichment. Activities involve a lot less worksheets and more fun. Reading and math lessons may well involve schoolhouse rock videos or Timez Attack gaming, and the other day a lesson on nouns and verbs was reinforced with a pantomiming game. I figured even if she has to keep working through to avoid retention issues, she can still have fun at it. Heck, she'll probably want us to keep this up for next year.

We bought the light blue 2B to remediate her over the summer (while we're waiting to order MUS with next term's charter funds). She HATES MM, and I can't say I'm in love with it, either. I got it because I thought the worktext concept would be useful. Thankfully, I'd also picked up a Right Brain Math download from CurrClick and she's really enjoying that, but it's only got multiplication facts and we really needed to cover some other, more basic concepts. I wish it was easier to find other Right brain stuff.

School happens during a 3 hour stretch, but there is a "recess" break and a couple stretching/therapy-type activities. So it's more like 2.5 hrs for my 2nd grader. I'd probably try to do more, but she doesn't have the attention span to retain more, even with breaks. You can see her eyes glaze over, and you know nothing is getting into that brain. We're going to the workbox approach in about a week to test it out over the summer, and I'm hoping the increased variation in activities and "fun" stuff will help me sneak in some extra learning. :lol:

Ooh, and I didn't know there is a version of Dragon for the iPad, which I'm planning on getting for her in the next few months. Good to know!

A lot of dysgraphic kids are using it and my DD is nearly 9, so I figured it should be an option. Maybe it's older kids? It's sounding like Dragon works better, though, so maybe we might give it a shot.