I have signed up for a free trial of Reflex Math, nothing to lose and figured as it's a computer game based thing I'll have less push back initially. It's hard to make an accurate assessment of where the gaps are in his knowlege and then know how to plug them, I do know he has a hard time remembering the basic facts and that slows him down ( multiplication tables etc) but he has no trouble understanding the concepts. Will look at various options once school stops next week, thanks for the input everyone.

Gil, Thanks for your advice, the textbook sat on his shelf all year I don't think he referred to it at all, no practice in it as far as I could see. With our move and a whole host of other factors this past year we rather dropped the ball with him (or at least I feel like we did) and so will try and implement some review over the summer and then some extra math practice. The handwriting, I'm not sure he cares enough to do anything, might need to let that one slide :)

A little background, we homeschooled last year for the first time (5th Grade year) and used Singapore Math $A and B which worked well I think. At the end of that School year we moved to a different city and the kids are back in school. My 6th grader is in public school, he was tested duing the summer with the MAP (?) test and did not qualify for the advance math class, which is what I expected. They are doing Common Core Math, he had a Pearson Textbook, I think it was this one. He rarely has homework, they have math two days one week and three days the next, I feel like we would have plenty time improve his math after school. He is an average math student, sometime's A's, mostly B's, sometimes C's. He is a bit lazy and doesn't really apply himself and although smart (he understands the concepts) he often forgets what to do if he doesn't practice, which he currently isn't doing. He's also not great at listening, a bit of a day dreamer and I suspect misses some of what is going on in the classroom. I had thought about getting some singapore math books to supplement at home as I am somewhat familiar with them. I am also wondering if we should try something more closely aligned with the math curriculum he will be using at school, though I don't really know where to start with finding something like that, any ideas? Lastly, his handwriting is an appalling mess, it always has been. He is left handed and maybe there is not a lot I can do about it, but if you have any suggestions for a child of his age I would be grateful, thanks!

A 17yr old daughter of one of the families in our church went missing yesterday morning, they are a really sweet homeschool family and would value your prayers. There are various theories surrounding her disappearance but no definitive leads. There is a Facebook page for her, it would be great if you all could like it (make the setting 'public' when you share this) and share as widely as possible and encourage all your FB friends to do the same, this needs to go viral. Thank you all very much, there are many heavy hearts around here :( https://www.facebook.com/Lookingforabigail this is the latest status update for the page: Update 8/4 8:55 - Thank you all. Thank you for posting and sharing. • We appreciate so much your help. • The family is....you can imagine. • The police have told us that they have assigned 2 investigators to this and told them to move into the phase of "expect the worst, hope for the best." That is devastating to hear! • The police have been very appreciative at all the Facebook activity. • People have already begun to call in to the police stations around there because they saw the info on Facebook. • Please ask your friends EVERYWHERE to post this information and to contact the police if they see / know anything. • Because we have reached the 24-hour marker since she went missing, she is 17-years old, it appears she may be a runaway or she went with someone (or got picked up), she could be anywhere in the country by now, posting her information as far as Seattle, New York or Florida would not be a waste of time or effort.

On most of the other forums I frequent the default setting is that you are automatically subscribed to posts and you are then emailed when someone responds, you don't have to check a box somewhere in order to make that happen. This is helpful beacuse if you post something and someone doesn't respond right away, or if the post is old and you've forgotten about it or you simply don't frequent the forum on a regular basis then you miss out on potentially useful responses. Simply put, it's easier to expect new users to unsubscribe from posts via an email than to have them looking around for the subscribe box when they write new posts, especially if they are not overly familiar with forums and how they work.

On most of the other forums I frequent the default setting is that you are automatically subscribed to posts and you are then emailed when someone responds, you don't have to check a box somewhere in order to make that happen. This is helpful beacuse if you post something and someone doesn't respond right away, or if the post is old and you've forgotten about it or you simply don't frequent the forum on a regular basis then you miss out on potentially useful responses. Simply put, it's easier to expect new users to unsubscribe from posts via an email than to have them looking around for the subscribe box when they write new posts, especially if they are not overly familiar with forums and how they work.

On most of the other forums I frequent the default setting is that you are automatically subscribed to posts and you are then emailed when someone responds, you don't have to check a box somewhere in order to make that happen. This is helpful beacuse if you post something and someone doesn't respond right away, or if the post is old and you've forgotten about it or you simply don't frequent the forum on a regular basis then you miss out on potentially useful responses. Simply put, it's easier to expect new users to unsubscribe from posts via an email than to have them looking around for the subscribe box when they write new posts, especially if they are not overly familiar with forums and how they work.

It's fabulous, my 8yr old always es excited by how many smiley faces he gets in a row, and then they always check their score on the little graph to see whether it went up or not. I can really see the difference it's making with math in general.

I have looked at The Story of US and it looks really good, however it's rated TV-14, do you recall if there are parts that would not be suitable for younger kids? I guess I'll just watch it ahead of time and see.

We are using SOTW for our 5th and 2nd graders and we are enjoying them, however I want to add in some US history. I don't want a time consuming program and would jump at anything that is internet or DVD based in order to buy more time for me We're not American's and so I'm even more clueless than you might expect with this, all suggestions appreciated. :001_smile:

So we just started with the online version today and it is so *slow*, is that how it is for everyone else? The screen appeared to freeze up on several occasions also. If it doesn't improve then I think I'll have to ask for a refund as it took my son over an hour to do the first test because of the length of time it took the program to move onto the next step.

You could add in Xtramath.org, it helps my son when done every day.

These websites may help you to create your own worksheets: http://www.writingwizard.longcountdown.com/multi-word_handwriting_worksheet_maker.html Here is a link to Zaner Bloser fonts online, you have to pay for the premium version though which will allow you to store pages I think. http://www.zaner-bloser.com/media/zb/zaner-bloser/FontsOnline_Sampler/FontsOnline_Sampler/index.html I have this link bookmarked for a 50% discount until the end of the year if you want to buy the online version, I have no idea if it works though! http://jensotforkids.blogspot.com/2012/01/50-off-zaner-bloser-deal.html I have been using this book for my 2nd grader (and the next one for my 5th grader as he has only done a very little cursive in the past) and they can work independently from them and they were pretty cheap. Amazon may also sell them. http://www.christianbook.com/handwriting-simplified-improving-manuscript-writing/9781571102263/pd/570226 Hope this helps :001_smile:

I am using Singapore Math (standards) with a 2nd and 5th grader. Today my 5th grader was doing a couple of pages of review, it took him 45 mins to an hour, but mainly because he was arguing and had a bit of a melt down in the middle of it (tired, not math related really) :) If he had just got on and done the work it would have taken less than 30 mins. Todays pages for the 2nd grader involved some simple multiplication and it took him about 15 mins. It can take longer when we are introducing new and more difficult concepts, but I usually cap it at about and hour because they start to lose focus and it just becomes difficult for all involved. I would say we average about 30 - 45 mins per day, sometimes less, the 2nd grader has less to do.

A little background, this is my first year of homeschooling, I started in July with two boys, 2nd and 5th Grade. We are using Shurley 2 and 4 and for the most part there are few complaints from the boys though they don't love it. I am finding it very labor intensive and often feel like I am wading through treacle to complete one lesson per day per child, it takes forever. Like many others we do not use the writing component (or the stuff about the states and state capitals), opting for WWE instead. I am a little torn as I believe it's a really good program and they are learning and retaining well, but I really don't like the constant scripts and the time it takes to teach both of them. I've only read a little about Analytical Grammar this morning and it looks like a possibility, has anyone switched from Shurley to this program? Has anyone used it with a child younger than 3rd grade? How labor intensive is it for the teacher? I'd hate to ditch Shurley only to find this takes the same amount to time to teach and do the lessons. I'd like something that didn't require constant input from me for every single lesson. Thanks!

My son did it this morning, now it's a white screen for me too :001_huh:

I want to buy Lightroom and they do say that Homeschoolers are eligible the proof they require is as follows: Homeschooled students and their teachers: - Dated copy of a letter of intent to homeschool2 - Current membership ID to a home school association (for example, the Home School Legal Defense Association)2 - Dated proof of purchase of curriculum for the current academic school year2 I'm not clear on whether they need *all* that information, or just some of it. I don't have a dated copy of a letter of intent to homeschool, we just had to sign a piece of paper and we have no copy. I can provide proof of the other two requirements though. Has anyone bought Adobe products as a homeschooler and got the student discount?

Have you looked on Amazon? you might want to try Amazon.co.uk, of course the shipping will be a little more. Or you could try google.co.uk and see what you can find there on the internet.

yes, that brand of clay was easy to work with, it will break easily if you make it too thin though and it takes a day or two to dry before you can paint it. Here are the K-4 lesson plans, you can see the clay ones listed there. http://www.dickblick.com/lesson-plans/grade-level/k-4/

My kids are 8 and 10, and are boys. I bought supplies between hobby lobby and Walmart. If you are interested Dick Blick have really great projects from K all the way through high school. We have done one or two so far and have found that you don't always need the exact supplies listed and can improvise with similar (cheaper!) things. So we have large bottles of tempera paint (HL) that were on sale, a small pallate and paint brushes that were less than a dollar and a couple of dollars each. I bought some amaco air dry clay at HL which is priced at $11.99 there but I printed a 40% off coupon and so got it for less. We made Byzantine medallions for their history project last week and they loved that. We will have plenty clay left for other projects. We painted them with metallic paint. I have stocked up on paper of various kinds, pencils, crayons, glue and so on. I haven't used a lot of it yet as we have just started. I got a box of Woodsies that was reduced in HL, Dick Blick have a project that goes along with them that I intend to do.

So when will his book be published? :001_smile: What a great imagination, my son couldn't have written like that at nine.

I've read The Read Aloud Handbook, Honey for a Child's Heart and am just finishing up The Book Whisperer. Do you know of any other books that would be similar? I have really enjoyed them and would be interested in any others that you would recommend.

So, yes, I also have a chronic illness and it can be a challenge, fatigue is a big problem, I have only started to homeschool this year though. It's a long and tedious story, but the short version is that I *believe* that I have Celiac disease. I started having episodes of severe diarrhea about two years ago, think the worst food poisoning you've ever had and that would be somewhere close to this, they started happening about once a week and I was then unable to get out of bed or function normally for two days afterwards, and then would still be severely fatigued for up five days after that. I had celiac blood tests, they were negative but I should have also had an endoscopy with biopsies to rule it out. My gastroenteroloist failed to do this and instead did a colonoscopy (which cannot diagnose celiac) , "you have IBS" the doctor said, and sent me home. So I went home, scoured the interwebs as I was still having these severe symptoms and was losing a lot of weight rapidly. I started on a gluten free diet and then also ommitted dairy. That helped a lot and the episodes of diarrhea reduced in frequency significantly, but they still would occur every couple of months or so. I read and read and read all about celiac and gluten intolerance for the next year or so. I realised that I have several family members on one side of the family with rheumatoid arthritis which is also an autoimmune disease, that was a red flag for me. I also read that it is widely underdiagnosed and the symptoms are many and varied. about 6 months after all that, my seven year old started to complain of very occasional sore tummies and also a little diarrhea. It was very infrequent and mild though and I didn't think too much off it until I realised that although he was very well outwardly, this had probably been going on for a long time with him. I took him to the doc, pushed her to do celiac bloods (she was not keen) and they came back positive. We went to a super GI Doc this time (I did my homework!) and had the endoscopy, his biopsies were all positive for celiac and he had quite moderate damage to his GI tract. I went on the GAPs diet about 10 months ago and that stopped all my horrible symptoms. I find if I deviate from it too much then I have a tendency towards being ill again. Thankfully my son is very well and did not have to endure a protracted illness before he was diagnosed. :001_smile:

Oh my, another mom with AI diseases, they seem to be so common! I hope you are coping ok with all that :grouphug: At risk of sounding like a broken record, but I'll ask the same as I asked the other mom, have you ever been tested for Celiac disease?

That's a lot of autoimmune diseases! :grouphug: Have you ever been tested for celiac disease, is there a history of celiac or other AI diseases in your family?