Here's a link to a discussion from last summer on the same topic. Several people posted pictures of what they use. I posted in that discussion as well and would be willing to share my materials. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/410469-anyone-willling-to-share-their-self-made-planners/

I greatly appreciate all the good food for thought I'm getting from your responses. One thing that's clear is that my son's carelessness is showing up in LOF just as it did with Saxon, it just looks a little different. I don't think the problem is with either program. We were hoping the interest factor of LOF would pull him in and help him slow down, but that hasn't happened yet. With Saxon, my last strategy was to sit with him and coach him on each problem so that he couldn't get away with rushing and not showing his work. (I find this harder to do with LOF.) I was willing to skip some problems if he showed me he could work carefully and correctly. That only seemed to increase his displeasure. However, I feel like I'm starting to make some headway in other subjects where the same behavior is showing up, so I obviously need to keep at it and be creative. What's frustrating is that he hates seeing bad scores on his work, yet he steadfastly refuses to change his behavior.

What is the value of LOF as a supplement if he's learning the material in another program? I'm not asking to be annoying, just trying to think it through.

My DS10 has hated Saxon, and last year in particular (Saxon 5/4) was a tremendous struggle with him. Primarily, the issue was getting him to slow down his pace to do careful work. I made him correct each error on his exercises and tried to convince him that sloppy work made math take longer because it meant that he would need to spend more time making corrections. This idea never gained traction with him. We switched to LOF Fractions this year to try something different. He loves that the lessons are very short, and some of the early material is review for him, but he needed all 5 chances to cross the first bridge and has scored badly on the first two attempts at the second bridge. It doesn't seem like he's retaining anything, and I'm instead teaching the material as we work through correcting his bridge mistakes. Has anyone had a similar experience? How long should I stick with LOF? Any recommendations on how to make LOF work better?

I glance through the "List of Materials" for anything that I need to keep around instead of throwing them away or recycling (like empty containers for volume lessons, etc.) or things I will need to buy at some point.

I'm considering Astronomy from the Potter's School for my dd14. Does anyone have comments from previous experience with this class? Or have you used another online astronomy course that you would recommend? Many Thanks, JR

It's very interesting reading the wide variety of responses. Our situation is the reverse position - my wife works full-time outside the home and I'm the teacher. One great benefit in our situation is that she gets one or two days off each week (her workdays are long), although these days tend to be busy with shopping errands, doctor visits, etc. We share cooking & cleaning with different emphases and my wife helps out occasionally with schooling. We're discussing having her be the writing coach this year. The idea of a contract between us doesn't really work - our contract would be under renegotiation constantly. The reality of our lives is that when evening rolls around we are both exhausted but there is still more work left to do than we have time for. We also want some time both individually and together to wind down. It's an important first step for us both to acknowledge all these truths. We both could easily use all the available time at the end of the day to wind down individually, but that would have bad results! It's also not sustainable for one or both of us to keep toiling all evening long. We really have to wrestle with what is most important and what is realistic for us. It's critical to keep the mindset that we're on the same team because when we're worn out it's easy to grumble at each other. We could not survive if we weren't honest and open and committed to making it work as best we can together.

We used http://www.typingweb.com this year. It's free and has some Teacher Tools to oversee your children's progress.

DD14 will be in class 11 hours per week this year (not including rehearsals) and tuition for the school year is $3350. This is for a school affiliated with a ballet company and includes all costume fees.

We use store-bought. Our favorite recipe is a decadent pizza (for us anyway!) where we put pesto on the dough and top with shrimp, capers or olives, and cheese.

Do pita fillings count? If so, then I'd say don't forget about hummus sandwiches! We make an ultra-simple hummus (we multiply several times) with chickpeas (15 oz), some garlic (1 clove), lemon juice (6T), and tahini (3T). Puree and put it in a pita or on bread and top with some combination of olives, cucumber, tomato, and feta cheese. Another favorite for us in a pita is Oriental Bean Pitas: 1 can Great Northern beans (15 oz) 1/2 C crushed pineapple, drained 1/3 C diced red bell pepper 1/3 C chopped snow peas 1/4 C chopped celery 1T soy sauce 1T toasted sesame seeds 1t sesame oil 1/8 ground ginger Mix, chill, and serve in pitas. Add tomato if desired.

Sounds like our wedding! We had a small carrot cake with several varieties of pie. It was fun, it was different, and I wish I could have sampled more of the pies!

This is great advice, even if he's a "normal" kid who is just quiet - the Floortime method is very good for interacting with any child. The basic concept is that you join him in his "world" by playing the way he likes to play and then gently draw him by small steps into your world. If he doesn't communicate with you, just keep playing. Always keep an engaging, positive attitude toward him. If you want to draw him into communication with you, insert yourself into his play world. For example, have a dinosaur you're both playing with jump onto your shoulder while you're sitting there with him. "Look, the dinosaur jumped onto my shoulder!" If he wants the dinosaur, he's going to look at you and reach for it to take it off your shoulder or make some sort of verbal or non-verbal request for you to give it to him. You just communicated! Maybe you can turn it into a simple game to keep the interaction going. I think the most important things for you as a friend are to play in his world and keep a positive disposition toward him.

If you have serious worries that there might be a lawsuit, you should speak to your insurance agent to review your coverage for something like this. We have been in a situation where we feared a lawsuit that might include us and we ended up buying some additional liability coverage for a few years until it blew over. The peace of mind was definitely worth the relatively small additional cost. A brief consult with a lawyer might help with this also. Sadly, civil lawsuits often seem to turn into money-hunting expeditions where they look for defendants from whom they can get their damages. You are probably doing this already, but make sure you keep copies of all of your correspondence and any notes related to this, especially relating to how the issue was revealed to you. It sounds like you've done the right thing so far so you want to make sure you can prove that if necessary. If you disagree with how this has been handled since you became involved, I'd definitely leave and do so in writing.

DS4 has just woken up from a nap and drowsily declares, "I'm to young to sleep."

Our oldest daughter (14) has shown very good ability in both piano and ballet. This year she is dropping piano to focus on ballet which will be 2+ hours, four days per week. She is returning shortly from a 5-week intensive program a couple states away. She makes her own meals and squeezes workouts into her school days. Realistically, her chances of making a professional company some day are very slim. We also have some youngers who might be serious dancers as well. Because we've started all of our kids in the same ballet school at a young age, their interest in it can grow or wane naturally as they progress. We have tried to select activities for them that will allow them to go as far as they can without us having to eventually cut them off for financial reasons. This summer's ballet intensive probably postponed some much-needed landscaping, but oh well. We haven't had to sacrifice much of anything school-wise other than needing some additional flexibility in the schedule. I think the opportunities we give our kids to pursue a passion are very valuable. Here are some good lessons they can learn: 1) The discipline of working hard to get better 2) Learning to deal graciously with criticism and praise 3) Coming to terms with the fact that, as good as you are, there are lots of people better than you! 4) Counting the cost of sacrificing some things to pursue your passion Remember too that as Denise mentioned, piano is cheap in your time and money compared to horse riding, hockey, or many other activities. Piano is also a great skill that can come in useful later in numerous ways: teaching kids to earn additional money, being able to play for family and friends, playing at church, etc. I would definitely look at a more advanced teacher for your daughter - it may not be as expensive as you think. Hopefully you'll have several choices to consider and can do visits to find the right situation for you. I would initially stay away from teachers who only want ultra-serious students that are pursuing piano as a profession, however.

I forgot to add that after I correct their work, they have to re-do their missed problems. If they miss it twice we sit down and do it together. The point is that they end up doing every problem correctly, one way or another.

We have always used Saxon from first grade on. My oldest is finishing Algebra 2. I like it because I don't need to supplement it (too complicated for our numbers) and it's flexible so that I can move faster if desired. Here's how I'd answer your questions: 1) Some kids read the lessons themselves and I help explain only when they need me. For some I need to go over each new lesson with them. 2) I will allow doing the evens or odds if they are doing well and continue to show that they understand the material. If they miss them, I can always have them go back and do some of the skipped problems for more practice. 3) We use the test book. They have to do all of these problems. I base their grades off their test scores. 4) We don't use flashcards. Usually they enjoy the timed fact sheets, and I record their times and scores on the scoring sheet provided and keep them updated on how much faster or more accurate they are getting. I'd like to graph it for them but haven't gotten around to it. With this much daily practice, I don't think flash cards are necessary except in a case where they are really struggling with a particular category of facts. 5) We mostly use the graph-paper type sheets provided for doing the exercises and tests. I scanned them and print off copies as necessary. I have one sloppy writer for whom we are using regular lined paper sometimes. 6) When we struggle, it's usually a protest against something hard (like double-digit multiplication recently). I've gone back to prior lessons to review and sometimes use the supplemental exercises for extra practice. Sometimes I need to explain things from a different angle for them to get it. My strategy is to go back to where their foundation of understanding is strong and rebuild the steps to get to the current topic. Because of Saxon's spiral method, I haven't had to do this very often. My oldest that is doing algebra has benefited from keeping an index card or two with geographic formulas, rules for handling exponents, etc.

I would encourage you to look at all of the wonderful things that are implied by your comments: 1) You are intimately familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of your kids, not just in academics but in their personalities. 2) You are also familiar with how they are different from each other. 3) Your vision for learning is not strictly based on production. 4) You love them deeply! Who could possibly be a better teacher to these kids than you? Where else could you send them where they would be individually shepherded this way? When I feel overwhelmed, I try to remember the great liberty and freedom we have with homeschooling. We can slow down, speed up, experiment with different approaches, or take a break. Our first goal is real learning, not keeping to a schedule that moves at a constant rate. When I feel overwhelmed, it's often because I've let the schedule mindset take priority over learning. Remember that you're free to slow down and work on the areas where your kids most need it!

I've been at this 10 years and I still haven't figured out a great way to deal with resistant children. However, I would not let the resistant child exhaust you at the expense of the youngers who are eager to work and learn. I've done that too much in the past and everybody loses: you get worn out, the resistant one realizes that and gets all the attention, and the eager one is shortchanged. Because they need so much focused attention from you at this stage, also I don't know if you should plan lots of micro-hopping back and forth between them - enough of that will happen even without planning for it. I would recommend first giving some thought to how you might change the dynamics with your older to circumvent some of the resistance. Again, there is no simple solution. What subjects is he more interested in? What is it that triggers resistance? Can you break up hard subjects into 2 shorter sessions instead of one longer one? Do you need to slow down in some subjects? I talk about this with my resistant kids and we try to figure out a variation that will work better. Where possible, you can try to do subjects simultaneously. We can do sometimes do this with history, science, and reading. Usually, I'll try to get the older one going and then switch to the younger. If the older is stalling, switch away from him. You might even have some moments (math?) where you can turn from the resistant older and teach the same material to the younger one - she will probably relish it and might influence him. Hopefully someone else will have some great ideas that we can both use!

We certainly have a variation of your theme on a regular basis, and this is just summer school! I have two complaining about their work and wanting to sneak outside, 2 little boys who cooperate on getting into trouble, and the "baby" whose favorite thing is to find any lotion or gel she can and put it in her hair. At least we get some variety because the story keeps changing as they get older.

I'm about to start year 10, and my planning tools have evolved every year because the planning keeps getting more complicated! Most recently I acquired a netbook that sits with me whenever I'm working on school, so all of my tools are on it. This past year I created a little website that is visible only inside our home network. It has a page for each child listing each of their subjects and a brief 1-2 line description of the plan for the year. Some subjects have links to other pages for reading lists or week-by-week schedules. I also include links to the library card catalog, online encyclopedia, etc. I also have a schedule page for each weekday showing all of the kids side-by-side. This is mostly for me so I can see who is supposed to be doing what and who I should be helping at any given time. All of these pages can also be printed for the kids to use. I have several spreadsheets that I use as well. One has printable "progress sheets" for each child with check-boxes by each subject for each day of the week. Each printed page has 4 weeks on it. The kids use these to mark off what they've done each day and they are supposed to hand them in once they fill them up. In past years, before the webpages, I used spreadsheets to make printable schedules for each child and a master schedule for me with everyone on it. Another spreadsheet allows me to show the kids their progress with bar graphs for each subject so that they can see whether they are ahead of schedule or behind. Once it's set up, I just plug in what week of school we're on and what lesson they last completed for each subject and the graphs update. It also calculates when they are going to finish the year's work at their current pace so they can see if they will finish early or are looking at school over the summer. Id be happy to share any of this that sounds interesting. I'm a newbie here, but it sounds like doing it via PM is the way to accomplish that.

Your ratio of lentils to meat sounded good to me. Was the problem with your meatballs the flavor, the texture, or both? For flavor, I would add some beef broth to the cooking liquid. For texture, I much prefer red lentils to brown because it's easier to cook them to be tender but not mushy. For burgers and meatballs where keeping everything stuck together is an issue, I've had better luck with partially mashed black beans. This is where some grains (we use oats) can also be helpful. The adhesion problem is where finding the right amount of non-meat extender is the most challenging for me.