My boys are young, but this is our experience so far. We also let the boys know ahead of time what is expected of them in a given situation. Last week, after their art class, the teacher came up to me and told me how good my boys are at listening and following directions (and asked if they wanted to move to an older group because theirs is so crazy and unfocused). My boys overheard the conversation and one of the asked me on the way out "Did the other kids' moms not tell them they were supposed to listen to the teacher?"

I've been using this with my 4.5- and 5.5-year-olds for about a month now, and I think it's perfect as a first science course - for the students and the teacher. It's fun, they look forward to science and they seem to be retaining everything. I have a decent background in chemistry and physics, but I've never taken a biology course, and I've never taught or tutored anyone under the age of about 16. For me, the scripting is a plus, because I sometimes have trouble breaking things down enough for my kids, and I don't have the science vocabulary that I hope they eventually will. I will say, I don't know if it would be worth the cost for an older child or a teacher who is more comfortable with elementary science. The lessons are very, very short and my kids often want to do more than one, so we'll finish in January or February.

Is he showing any signs of precocious puberty? While it wouldn't excuse his behavior, it might explain at least a portion of it. Being several years ahead physically, but not mentally could cause problems like this. I would make an appointment with your family doctor, as well as with a counselor. :grouphug:

Thanks so much for all the different opinions and sharing what works for you. :) He reads picture books aloud in French and does read some short things aloud spontaneously - interesting parts from his books, cool facts from wikipedia, e-mails from Dh, jokes, etc. Perhaps I'll have to change how and what I have him read aloud. Poetry and science books sound like a good place to start. My Ds does this too! He usually gets about halfway through reading the instructions or problem out loud before he stops and mumbles "nevermind." Of course, I'm not doing this on purpose, I just want him to read it to me so I don't have to walk across the room. :D

I realized from reading the other thread that I haven't been consistant about having Ds5 read to me for the last month or two. I've picked out a few books to have him choose from tomorrow to start him reading aloud regularly again, but I'm wondering how long you continue this? He prefers to read on his own and complains about books either being too long or too easy when he reads aloud, but I want to keep it up as long as it's beneficial. At what point (I suppose by grade level?) do you think it becomes unnecessary?

I would let him finish the series. If you want him to read something a little more challenging aloud, can you hand over some of the content reading to him? Today, my 5yo read SOTW aloud while my 4yo and I colored. :)

I do this as well. The chairs in my formal dining room (which we never use) are pushed in, but the ones in the kitchen are usually left out. They don't get in the way.

I'm curious about this as well. My older son is working far enough ahead that I suspect he would be labeled as gifted if he was tested, but "accelerated" seems to describe him better than what I understand to be the definition of "gifted".

We've never lived near my parents, and there is a language barrier between my mother and Dh. I don't think he's ever called her by name, but I believe he has occasionally called my father by his first name. I send cards addressed to "mom" or "dad" and sign both of our names. I call Dh's parents by their first names, but they are quite young and their other DILs do the same.

My 4.5 and 5.5 year olds brush their own teeth, but Dh supervises and helps them floss. I know that my parents never brushed our teeth past age 4 or 5 (some of my brothers were taller than my mother by age 8 or 9), and my siblings and I have never had any dental or gum problems.

Right after dinner. Dh and I trade off cleaning up after dinner and supervising showers. They put their pyjamas on after their showers and have about two hours to wind down before bed.

I don't think that is too odd of a way to show the number 2. In baseball, they use it to signal "2 outs" because it's easier to see from a distance. For the mother and the little boy, she might have just wanted to make it easier for him to count them? I don't think it's a weird gesture.

I think it can be done if you have to, but I wouldn't do it by choice. We do 5-6 shorter days, with activities or outings almost every afternoon.

Right now, my son is using BA as a core. I haven't yet decided whether to keep this up until we run out and then switch to SM or MM, or to add one of those in and stretch BA out. Either way, we love Beast. I think it's likely that my younger son will eventually use it as a core.

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My son has been using WWW for about a month (along with WWE) and he loves it. He loves that he can do it on his own and often does more than one lesson at a time. He started WWW2 about 1/3 of the way through WWE1 and it seems to be a good fit.

I have 180 friends on Facebook. About 10 of them live in the same country as I do and none of them live in my state. Apart from my siblings, I have five friends who I could call to just talk to, but four of them live in Canada and one in England. Around here, I have a few acquaintances who I chat with while the kids play, but no friends. This is one of the many reasons that we're considering moving back to Canada.

The most helpful thing for me has been this forum. Within a few weeks of joining, homeschooling went from terrifying to exciting. Writing With Ease, along with Susan Wise Bauer's audio lectures, has been the most helpful curriculum. English is not my first language, and I don't know how I'd teach writing without it. The most fun is Beast Academy. Or Life of Fred. They're both fantastic. :)

I think we're on about the same track. My boys will be 5 in December and 6 in January. The younger loves Magic Treehouse, Encyclopedia Brown and the Boxcar Children, but doesn't have the stamina or the desire to read anything harder. The older challenges himself more and just finished the first Percy Jackson book. It felt a little weird taking him into the "9-12" section of the bookstore today to get the rest of the series, but he's excited about reading, so I guess that's what matters! :)

Thanks for posting this! This sounds like something my older son would love, so it's nice to know we don't have to wait three years. :)

So far, I'm keeping up, but my oldest is 5. I can't imagine doing this for more than one child once past age 7 or so.

Congratulations! That sounds like fun. :001_smile:

In the documentary Born Schizophrenic: Jani's Next Chapter they explained that Blink was named after Blink 182, and that Jani is a fan and has a crush on the drummer. The whole documentary is available on YouTube.

Unless she's struggling or "behind" in another area, I'd let her use her time as she wants. My son sometimes wants to do math for 2-3 hours, and that's fine with me. He's weakest in writing (and he wants to improve) so we always do that first, then move on to math. I check with him after a while to see if he wants to do science or history, but if he wants to stick with math, we do.

:iagree: My 5.5 year old is loving BA. There's no harm in giving it a try. :)