Ok and I don't mind increasing math to about 30-45 min average.

It takes her about 15 min to do an exercise. If it's new material than I do 10-15 min lesson with her in addition to the exercise. If it's review then we don't. I had never thought of that so interesting idea (about US math track record). Hadn't thought of that.

We used mfw k & 1st for her during k-1. Then for 2nd we started Singapore Math which is recommended by mfw. They suggest taking placement test. She struggled in k & 1st and didn't have all the concepts down so I didn't do the assessment and decided to start at level 1A. In retrospect she would have placed well in 1B. 1A was all review for her and 1B was for about the first quarter of the book. On the other hand it built her confidence up. And I had a newborn, so it was nice to give her a math book and let her work independently for the most part. I was under the impression with the levels that level 1 was the first formal math book and not grade level. Since in Singapore "formal math" begins in 2nd level 1 would be started in 2nd grade. As far as picking up pace I think it's doable. She spends about 15 min a day doing an exercise a day. So if we doubled up that would take about 30 min. a day most days. There are some days she has harder time and needs hand holding and lesson might take 40 min. On those days we wouldn't try to "double up". I don't do a lot of math drilling since she is beginning multiplication and division. We never have done the practice tests on I-Ready but I started last week having her include that in her independent work time, doing an exercise or two a few days a week for practice. As far as why she scored below level- some was because she had not learned the material (such as we hadn't done division yet when she tested, but it got intro a week later). Some was being new to testing or not understanding the questions. As far as testing, before Ca adopted common core our charter wasn't big on it and tended to just want to see progressive improvement. It seems like now the educational specialists are being more pressured to met the CC guidelines and emphasize more testing and scoring at level. This is new... My feelings are if it starts to impede on what is am teaching my kids, we'll drop the charter and do the private school affidavit. As far as am I concerned with the results? Yes to an extent because if we test twice a year and are regularity behind that does make me feel like we're not doing enough. On the other hand I feel like the pace we're going at seems generally more appropriate. It's what I remember doing in math in 3rd grade.

We are in CA and homeschool through a public charter. My dd is in 3rd grade. She did the initial state testing and scored about a grade level behind in math. My ES said that she'd like her to do some practice on the I-ready practice tests and could provide extra math supplement material. I did informal, more hands on math for k & 1st. In 2nd we started Singapore Math 1A / 1B. This year we started 2A for 3rd. I planned to do book 2A/2B this year but we could probably complete book 3A if we pick up pace, and maybe 3B/4A/4B next year. My question is would you be concerned? I feel like well right now she might be "behind" she's getting a solid foundation on the basics and if we progressed at the current pace (1 level per year) she'd "catch up" be ready to start pre-alg by 7th grade. I feel like grades 4-6 spend a lot of time reviewing math learned before, so it would be more like her continuing to move forward versus spending a lot of time reviewing until she's ready for pre-Alg. What are your thoughts?

We usually get a 1-2 week fall break, a long winter break (4-6 weeks), a 1-2 week Spring break and a 4 week summer break. I have about 2-4 week cushion for Federal holidays DH is off for and sick days. Seems to work well for us.

My 5th grade teacher did that too and I still remember some of the books. It was really nice.

Yes until I learned to read well myself, so up until about 3rd grade.

Memberships to somewhere fun they like to go.

We do this, too! Ideally I can sit both my kids down at the table and do k time with my ds and dd can work on independent work getting most of her Lang & math done while I am still nearby enough to answer an occasional question and keep her on task. And baby play nearby or sits at the table with play dough or scribbles or something, but so mornings that's not going to happen..... So on those mornings I might send my dd to the table or her room to do independent work whilr me and my k'er play with baby. He might be entertaining her while I remain in view doing some chores. Then when dd's done I might ask her to play with the baby in their room while I work with my k'er. She's 8 so able to play with baby without needing me in the same room. Not quite as time efficient but it still means we got to Bible, Lang and Math in the AM before her nap. Then we utilize nap time for the rest of our school day to the best we can.

Under these circumstances I could see this as an option. When I did preschool at home with ds, it made sense for a lot of reasons. I only had 2 children, and I was homeschooling kids that were only 2 years apart, so having a preschooler / k'er tag along for k, 1, & 2nd was pretty easy. They did the same core and add some preschool / k workbooks. Now I have an 18 month old in addition to a 6 & 8 year old and twins on the way. In order to make homeschool work, half day preschool and kinder might be something I would need to do to get school done with olders while giving them what they need until they are old enough to join is. But on the other hand I love having my older kids home with me with a little one. Watching them play with her when we go to story time is previous! And snuggling a baby while we read is so sweet. I love the family unity of it all. My dd went to preschool and when we decided to homeschool she'd sometimes but for the most part it wasn't a big issue. When she attended preschool homeschool was not on my agenda. She had a mostly positive experience.

The schedule is a guide and it's there to help but we can make changes. For example to day we walked to the library (hour round trip), stayed for story time for my toddler and browsed a half hour, then came home and we made lunch. I had planned some stuff for school but felt like it was nothing I couldn't roll over for Monday. We enjoyed an hour documentary on Lewis and Clark and then I napped for an hour and the kids had quiet time for an hour (no electronics in their room). My 6 year plays quietly in his room, and my 8 year old does crafts. I am calling it a day- PE, Literature, Library Skills, cooking, history, crafting or imaganitive play----sounds good to me!

We waited for spelling until 2nd grade. I felt it did make sense to start until she was solidly reading. We waited to start gentle grammar in 3rd, because she was pretty much done with phonics. She's doing etc books 6-8 this year but more a review than anything else.

We waited for spelling until 2nd grade. I felt it did make sense to start until she was solidly reading. We waited to start gentle grammar in 3rd, because she was pretty much done with phonics. She's doing etc books 6-8 this year but more a review than anything else.

Read our last chapter of naya nuki and she's reunited with her mother making a 1,000 mi journey across North Dakota and Montana to get home. They are both being squirrelly and have a look like when's this gonna be over? Deep breath. Well, I was captivated lol!

I think I do tend to agree that it would be hard. Perhaps since she will be in 3rd next year and two years have passed since Cain and Abel upset here tougher things in history won't upset her as much. Another thought? Feeling sad, upset, confused, angry etcetera are healthy emotions for kids to experience and go through. Better with you there to guide them through it then later on.

^^^this! My k'er still naps for an hour after lunch. He's 6! He has time to play outside and with his toys. He is learning all the same stuff you should learn in k, but in about an hour and a half a day. He's learning how to get along in his family, how to help with household chores, how to find things to do that are positive when he's bored, how to be a big brother to his sister and yes he learns to listen to instructor at his lessons and play in large group of multi-aged children at park day or even waiting in line during field trips.

I tend to agree if I were going to send a child to kinder I would likely pick a half day program in a private Montessori or Waldorf school. That way it's mostly play based, gentle learning and group time. Most PS k is much more academic / test driven and play time and recess is being cut, so even at the best public kinder you wouldn't likely be getting what dh wants. My dd in k got a lot out of her being in AHG, AWANA's, and gymnastics. We did arts and crafts at home. Ds has done similarly in k- homeschool group, swim lessons, horse riding. More activities than that and my kids get grouchy actually lol!

I know some families how've sent their younger kids to preschool and kinder so they can spend more time with the older kids. This can be especially helpful of you have a fidgety 3-5 year old who might be disrupting school a lot. Academics would probably not be a concern to me. I'd probably pick a program for preschool or k that's more play based. IMO, I would not want to do it with a full day kindergarten class as I don't think children that young should be doing a full day of school. I would prefer to use it as "social time" and do academics at home in the afternoons. That being said, although the thought crossed my mind plenty of times, I did not send my boisterous boy to preschool or kinder and kept him home instead. We did preschool at home doing about 15 min then 30 min a day of work geared to him and then he tagged along with big sis for our core activities and read aloud time. Now in k he does about an hour of seat work type stuff and then tags along with big sis. I wanted to go ahead address the behavior issues at home and work on getting him used to a school routine at home. As for socializing, right now he does a weekly group horse riding lesson, swim lesson, and we participate in a homeschool group once a week doing field trips or park days. He also attends Sunday school. In preschool he did AWANA's and as a toddler I did MOPS and a stroller stride class. Point is, there are other ways to expose kids to working in a group and socialize them besides school. Maybe address your husband's concerns by planning to participate in something were she's in a group setting a few times a week, at least 1x a week where someone else is the instructor and your not present.

Another idea for a girl with a younger sib tag along I am using is Portraits of American Girlhood (based on American girl series) or the Prairie Primer (based on The Little House series).

I might still give MFW Adventures a look. It doesn't have any killing from what I recall and works for a 2/3 grade oldest and a k tag along well. It also fit the bill for 1 year Us history.

We also have non academics "routine" in place. With some "time anchors". Kids wake between 7-8 Kids dress, brush teeth / hair, make beds, tidy rooms, and feed pets Breakfast Help mom with housework Play together with baby Bible (together) ---start no later than 10:30 but usually more like 9:30-10:00 K time w/ mom while dd does independent Lang + math Mom does grammar with dd Lunch Chapter reading 1 hr quiet time / baby naps 3 hrs. ---baby goes down around 12 pm - 1 pm depending on our schedule that day Spanish Subject of day--done at 3 or 4 or when baby is up Free time, errands or extra curricular activities Dinner / evening ---baby goes to bed after dinner Family time Bed---9-10 pm for kids

I also agree if you like block scheduling you can do that with core subjects and then do content subjects 3-5 days a week. For us, we do Lang, Math, Bible, Spanish and literature about 3x a week but we only do art, music, science, nature journaling,handicrafts, etc about 1x a week. And that works ok for us! We usually spend about 45-90 minutes on our "subject of the day" depending on what we're doing. The daily stuff is in shorter lessons- Spelling - 10 Phonics - 10 Free Reading - 15 Book basket (unit theme tied independent reading)- 15 Bible - 10 Spanish - 20 min Grammar - 10 min Read aloud time - 25 min Core subject of the day - 45-90 min

This is something I would never have thought of and might be crazy enough to work. My 6 year old is driving me batshit crazy with his baby voice and it's been going string since he was about 4 years old. Nothing seems to work. I have a 18 month old and am pregnant with twins. My whole patience thresh hold us increasingly low!

We have a general flow to our days but not a 1/2 hr by hour schedule. We used to. And that worked for me, but than I had a baby and so that went out the window. My kids are 8, 6, 1 1/2 and I am expecting twins this spring. So now we shot for a flow. We do have daily tasks and then subjects I generally tie to a day, because then it helps make it no brainer planning. But we vary from that occasionally. We might want to do a science week or art week instead. So this our typical "daily schedule"---- AM- Bible, Lang, Math (before lunch)--- About an hour and a half PM- Chapter reading, Spanish, subject of the day---about another hour and a half Mon - art & music Tues - science Wed - history Thur - library trip and nature walk / journaling subbed for AM work and handicrafts & cooking in pm Fri- park day or field trip day (usually no other work) I usually make a weekly plan and fill in the day to day breaking it into sections of independent work for my 3rd grader, k time and our core curriculum / unit study time (stuff my kids do together). Math and Lang is pretty much do the next thing. My "subject a day approach" helps plan out the core stuff pretty easily. I am doing 6 week units were I make a general overview of each unit and what we'll do for longer term projects and week by week overviews.