I will have to say from my own experience that middle school standards seem to vary the most from location to location. I attended middle school in a middle class area and completed geometry in 8th grade along with several other students. This wasn't considered an advanced track at my middle school, but was rather normal. However, when I moved to a new city for high school the teachers were absolutely astonished that I had completed geometry as an 8th grader. Students on the advanced track were taking Algebra 2 as sophomores. I took it as a freshman. Had I stayed in the same town I completed middle school in, finishing calculus as a junior would not have been remarkable, but in my new city it was practically unheard of.

I was referring to returning the reader when I stated that parents were not told of a consequence. Each child is sent home a different reader for the week and simply returns it signed by the parent showing that the child read during the week. The class does not address the readers as a whole so not having it would not impact class instruction. It is also specifically written that students who return their reader on Friday receive a "house point" which is their class reward system. If you state that bringing it receives a reward, it should also state the possible consequences. My son's father and I have decided this isn't a battle we want to engage in and will simply monitor his folder better. It was a parental responsibility and I will make sure to keep up with it from now on. I'm sure the homework and reading level are much more important to fight for. Thank you for all the different perspectives. Sometimes a vent to others is the most productive solution.

Thank you all for your comments. Kindergarten is much different than I expected and it is good to hear that others have had similar experiences.

We are about to enter the 8th or 9th week of school. Reading tests have still not been done. Correction we just completed the 9th week of school.

This I would have no problem with.

My son is in kindergarten and lost 10 minutes of their 30 minute recess because he did not have his homework and take home reader. I don't particularly like either of them as the homework is several worksheets that are very repetitive and the reader is well below his reading level. Mind you the teacher has not even tested the students for a reading level at this point in the year and just starts everyone at the lowest level until testing. However, I still make sure both are completed each night. Last night and this morning were very chaotic and my son and I both forgot to place them in his folder to return to school. I don't mind a consequence being given, even though parents were never informed of a consequence, but losing 10 minutes of recess seems wrong to me. Am I overreacting? Is this perfectly normal?

No school work last week (today is a holiday so it's still the weekend right?), but my oldest made it through his first week of public school Kindergarten! http://joysoftwo.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/a-new-year/

Haven't posted in a bit due to some re-arranging and re-thinking, but we are schooling through the summer! http://joysoftwo.wordpress.com/

I use the same series. The book is self-explanatory. I just took it to staples and had it spiral-bound to keep the focus on one page at a time.

After trying everything available for beginning math, we landed with RightStart and I could not be happier. I kept talking myself out of it because of the cost, but considering how much I spent on things that didn't work, I would have saved money starting with RS. My DS is working through Level A (about 30 lessons left) and we complete about a lesson a day in 15-20 minutes not including games. My DS is very, very visual and he needed something to grasp in order to understand concepts. He also loves the warm-up section and enjoys the variety of RS. Many people have commented that it is random or jumps around, but so far I've seen a logical progression that builds on previous skills. I love the games and DS enjoys teaching them to DD which also helps him to retain information :) We will definitely continue with RS!

I did the same thing. My DS dreaded the fluency sheets, but doesn't complain about reading from the Activity Book. Silly boy, but it works! We break the sheets up into a couple days and usually only a little at a time throughout the day. I also write all of the word review on a whiteboard and only have him read the phrases and sentences from his book. I would say feel free to skip what you don't find relevant for your child. We just passed a lesson that had 5 pages (maybe 6) of fluency practice! I picked out 2 pages and my DS read through those. We may go back later and work through those extra pages at the end of the level, but it was way too much for right now.

I think that I might try this. She has been drinking a lot of milk lately! I will cut it out and see what results we have.

Thank you. I trust my pediatrician and she hasn't even mentioned tubes or alternative solutions. This really just came out of the blue. I'm glad that I am not the only person confused.

My DS is my lanky boy. He is tall, 44", and 40lbs. His first doctor questioned me about every meal he had! We went to every test she could think of looking for a "solution" to his height and low weight :glare: . I wanted to scream at that lady that my son was fine!! But I was only 20 and I'm sure she thought I was too young to parent anyway :glare: . I was so happy when we switched to our current doctor. She took one look at me (5ft and 100lbs) and his father (6'1" and 160lbs) and congratulated my son on his good genes :lol: . He progresses every year, but his height is shooting up faster than his weight. I think he went through three pant sizes this winter!! I'm sure one day it will all even out.

My DD is dealing with a double ear infection and throat infection for the second time this year. Besides a minor illness within weeks of being born, this is the only sick time she has had. A friend of mine suggested that I take her to a chiropractor. Has anyone done this? What happens? Was it successful? Is my DD a candidate after only two ear infections? Does insurance typically cover it? This is just completely out of left-field for me. My DS had chronic ear infections as a baby and had tubes put in his ears. He hasn't had an ear infection since. The doctor even gave DD a different medication in order to keep her system from being flooded with the same medication. Any thoughts??

First time finishing on a Friday :) http://joysoftwo.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/weekly-review-34-38/

We love AAR here, but I wouldn't recommend it for every child learning to read. My DS was struggling with reading and really needs a step-by-step approach. If my son was flying through the program, I may look elsewhere such as OPGTR or Phonics Pathways. Much cheaper approach and complete programs.

Update is up :) http://joysoftwo.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/update-time/

There is an enormous amount of review of AAR Pre-1, IMO. We did a couple of lessons at a time with my DD, but she caught on really fast to the pattern of the questions.

This is just my first year homeschooling my children and I can understand this point from the view of people with older children. I will only be keeping DS home this year. It isn't by choice, but that is a whole different conversation. I wouldn't want to take the spot of someone who plans to homeschool beyond the younger years just to have some social time. We have karate and a local homeschool group that doesn't mind and is geared toward the younger kids. It is mostly park play-dates and zoo dates and activities that are very simple (like the Easter egg painting event scheduled next month). I may feel different when my DD reaches the same age since the plan is to homeschool her through, but I think we will stick with the same group we have now until she outgrows it (maybe 8?) and then look for other options.

Finally finished ours! Not a lot of pics, but typing that out made me realize just how much we did last week! http://joysoftwo.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/weekly-update-211-215/

I have a younger, but still toss most of the activities after DS finishes them. After trying to keep track of all the pieces from Level 1 for my DD, I gave up when Level 2 arrived. I realize it means a little more money and cutting out the same activities again, but it saves my sanity LOL. I did take out all the fluency sheets from the activity book and spiral bind them. It makes it so much easier to keep track of and it can serve as a reminder of all the words DS can now read. Wish I would have done that with Level 1 as well.

Next year I will be using OPGTR, Singapore K Essentials, D'Nealian Handwriting (she is already trying to form numbers and letters on her own) and possibly BFIAR with my DD who will be 4. She may pick various workbooks to complete as well, but I won't push any of it.

Not many photos, but a good week :) http://joysoftwo.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/weekly-update-24-28/

This is my first year homeschooling, so it wasn't a crappy start, it was just a 6 month learning experience. I needed to figure out how my DS learned and what approaches worked best. He processes things almost the exact opposite of me so it took some time to transition my approach. Now the days are really zooming by and I can see my DS starting to get excited about learning! We finally found a math program that reaches him with RightStart Math and my DD can sit in on the lessons and play games with us. My DS loves this!! He loves group activities so I brought in more of the "extras" that DD could do with us. We started HomeArt Studio and Story of the World (well its our starting point) and Fridays are full of science discussions. His retention is way up and (besides reading) school time has become a very enjoyable time for all. DS is even showing improvement in handwriting :w00t: