Wow, you guys are amazing. In our house it goes like this: "Hey honey, it's June. I need to order curriculum for next year." "Oh." "I need $600." "Ok. There's some in savings. If we don't eat out this summer, and we push the car repair back to August, we should be able to cover it." :blush: So I buy pretty much everything during the summer, then I spend around $30-50 per month on crafts supplies, stuff we run out of, books. Maybe I should look into direct deposit...

DD8 is ending 2nd grade now, and we've been doing narration all year. When we first started I was met with dumb stares at questions like "what's one thing you remember?". This progressed into tears until I finally started asking specific questions ("what did the prince turn into?"). Over the year she's gotten much better, but I'd say being able to remember a specific detail like that is pretty good. Just keep asking questions to get more complex answers, they'll come.

I've been browsing the website and it looks great, but I have some questions. Does anyone know how it compares to Saxon, specifically with having geometry completed by the end of 10th grade? (For the PSATs). Are there answer keys?

:lol: I lock myself in the house the last few weeks just in case!! My suggestions is sleep as much as possible. :001_smile: Make a list of all the things you want to do that you won't be able to do once baby comes and start doing them. When are you due? Good luck!!

I've seen at least 3 threads mention MEP in the last few days but I've never heard of it and it's not on the abbreviation sticky. I heard you can download it for free, so I'm interested. :tongue_smilie: What is it?

Thank you so much! Ellie - I'm not even going to LOOK at that book list! Between WTM and Ambleside we have too many already and I know I'll find more I like! :tongue_smilie:

Ok, I think I've got next year's LA figured out for dd8, but I'm worried about having enough writing work. We're doing R&S 3 (also SWO and handwriting) and I'll have her doing narrations and dictation. Should I be doing WWE or another writing program along with this? Also is there anywhere I can find good dictation exercises? I can read aloud and then let her listen and dictate, but where do I find the stuff I'm supposed to be reading aloud? Do I just take it from our history/lit? At this point I'd love to not have to think about anything else.

I looked at the abbreviation thread but couldn't find MEP. What is that?

Lots of good advice here! I can't recommend enough the book Boundaries by Cloud and Townsend. It completely changed my outlook on my relationship with my parents. Very freeing, it'll repeat some of what you've been told in this thread, but it's a great read. Some encouragement - my relationship with my dad was very hard for a long time. After reading that book I wrote him a long letter telling him how I felt about our relationship and that I wanted a better one. His response was completely awful, belittling me and blaming me for every issue in our family since I was a child. HOWEVER, afterwards I simply told him I wasn't going to have contact with him until he could be civil. Several months of silence ensued and I thought our relationship was over. Then he called. Things are still not good, we may never be close, but I think it was a wake up call to him and I can say he's putting in more effort than he ever has before. So you never know, maybe someday you will have the relationship you want. Until then, you've got some great advice here on how to deal with it if you don't. :grouphug:

Thank you so much for all your suggestions!! I'm going to print this out and take it to the library. I'm starting to think part of the problem is me being too picky. One PP said to let her pick anything, but when I do that she picks books way below her reading level - picture books for preschoolers mostly - but maybe that's ok since she does assigned reading at other times? She does like to read aloud to her younger siblings so maybe that's an area to focus on. I like the reading challenge idea, too. We're doing the library's summer reading program which has some pretty good prizes, so I hope that helps. Thanks again!

Help! My 2nd grade dd (will be 3rd in the fall) does not like to read. I can barely get her to read Junie B Jones, which I don't like much. I'm looking for good books she can read over the summer. I think you all know what I mean by good. :001_smile: So far the only series she likes that I like are American Girls. Suggestions?

First, let me take a leap and say that God would not have given you that child if He didn't think you could handle it. (I see you're using Bible curriculum so I hope that isn't offensive :tongue_smilie:) You can do it and it will get easier!! :grouphug: This year I had my own 4 and 1 year olds plus 3 other preschoolers in my house - I feel you! The behavioral therapist is a great idea. If the one you're seeing isn't working, try another. You say you're also working with the school board to get him tested. It might help to stop looking at this as "let's find out what's wrong with Billy" and get a new perspective. "Billy is very active. Let's find a way we can work with that." School boards in my experience tend to want to label kids so they can be 'dealt with' rather than look at the individual child. Ok, for the behavior itself - Diet is a big one. Try eliminating all sugar, not just candy and cookies but sweetened drinks, sugary cereals, jams and jellies with lots of sugar, go to natural peanut butter (no sugar), maybe even cut out ketchup and that sort of thing. Many families have noticed huge improvements in their ADHD kids by changing diet. Lots of fresh fruits and veggies, protein, encourage him to drink water. If you have a good pediatrician, talk to him about it. Sometimes food allergies or sensitivities cause behavior problems. Structure is big, too. Not sure if this is his issue since usually preschools are pretty structured, but I've found that the more free time I give my little ones the more trouble they get into! Again, this isn't easy but planning his day might give you both some relief. Set a schedule for eating, sleeping, washing, playing, school time and keep it consistent. Plan lots of activities for him. Not all of them have to be 'hands on' for you. Maybe you could put him on the back porch with a tub of water and bath toys while you sit inside the window and work with the 6th grader. Let him make a big mess, water dries. If he's tactile try finger painting, play dough, sand play, manipulatives, etc. Maybe accept the fact that for now messes are going to happen, so just choose where you want them. For example, Billy only gets to play in the kitchen and back porch. That way the mess is contained. Buy gates and close off parts of the house so he's kept close by. Discipline is hard but necessary. You've tried a lot of different things, but here are a few more to try. Early bedtimes and naps are great discipline tools. If he won't stay in his bed, put him back in a crib. If he climbs out, get one of those crib toppers so he can't. That might sound cruel, but he's safe and comfy. Set very clear and simple rules and deal with one or two things at a time. You might start with "we don't hit and we don't throw things". Every time he hits or throws things you calmly say "you just hit, and that's not something we do. Because you decided to hit, you're going to go take a little nap. We'll both feel better when you're done." Put him in the crib and walk away. Yes, he'll scream and rant, maybe for the whole time you leave him there. Decide how long you're comfortable with and when that time is up, go get him. Love on him, tell him he's a good boy and you're glad he's going to stop hitting. Next time, do it again. He might spend all day in the crib at first, but he'll get it. :) Once hitting and throwing are under control, move on to another behavior. I love the dollar store! Go pick up a bunch of new toys and use them as rewards. If you behave well all morning, you can have a new toy from the bag! Use lots and lots of praise whenever you can. Dollar store toys also work great when you need 15 minutes to do something.. a new toy will keep my kids occupied for a while when they're bored. I hope some of those suggestions will help or at least encourage you! Even if none of this helps, there is a lot of help out there. Read lots of books (some of my favorites are The Strong Willed Child by Dobson and The Well Behaved Child by Rosemond, but ask around on the boards, I've seen a lot of really good recommendations). See if there is a support group near you of parents you can talk to. Hire a babysitter and go sit quietly for half an hour, take a walk, whatever. I'll be praying for you!

A friend of mine started doing 'calisthenics' with her kids every day during the summer since it's too hot here to do much outside. She set up a routine for them with sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks and other activities (I can't remember what all they did) and called it gym. The fun part for the kids was that everything was timed, so they'd see how many sit ups they could do in 1 minute. They kept track and tried to beat each other and themselves. It took about 15 minutes in the morning and everyone was much stronger by the end of the summer. She noticed that having done that, they were much more inclined to want to go ride bikes or do other demanding physical tasks because they felt stronger. Not a complete solution, but maybe a partial one.

Some families find something they love and stick with it forever, but I find that every year I tweak (sp?) my curriculum and try new things. I agree with the PP who said to buy things second hand so there's not so much regret. It is better to stick with one curriculum if you can, but don't sweat it too much. Are there any homeschool groups or conventions near you? There are usually curriculum fairs this time of year so you can go look at things and compare side by side. A note on SOTW - I think you can do it with a 3rd and 8th grader together, just like MOH. You can probably check out SOTW at your library to preview it before you buy.

We do year round school, mostly. We do 4 day weeks, taking Fridays off, and go 40 weeks out of the year. Our year starts usually the last week of August, we take a week for Thanksgiving, a few weeks for Christmas, a week or two in the spring while we're antsy, and then usually 6-7 weeks in the summer. During the summer we do lots of sports, classes, summer reading programs, etc, so they're days are still full, just less academic. It works for us.

Anyone at all in or around Las Vegas/Henderson? I'd love to get together with some classically minded hsers. Brieana

I babysit, and it's been fantastic for my kids learning to socialize. They have friends a few years younger than them because of it, which requires more patience and understanding than the friends who are their age or older. Plus, before 4 all the other kids are in school anyway. We do all our getting together during evenings and weekends. Put them in sports or Sunday school or rec center classes if you want to reassure yourself or someone else. They're going to do great!!

:lol: Oh, I love this! We had a 'socialization' experience just last night at the park. DS6 was playing happily with his 1yo brother when a girl his age approached and asked for a turn. He stepped aside and let her have her turn, after which she turned to him and said, "See, I'm kind of better than you." He just gave her a funny look and went back to playing so she persisted, repeating herself twice. "Did you hear me? I'm better than you." He continued to ignore her so she found another area to play in. I may be wrong in assuming she goes to ps, but we don't have a lot of hser's around here so it's a safe bet. Couldn't help thinking I was glad my kids don't have the social skills she does!

Haven't read it.. can you post a link?

Sounds like you're doing amazing; your ker is way ahead of mine, and I'm not worried about mine at all. Try to keep in mind that teachers try to evaluate based on standards that (IMO) are bizarre.

Do you have song CD's of these that you play in the car? Or do you record yourself and then play that? I'd love to find some memory work on CD but I don't know how to make them myself, or even if I can.

I think that depends on how old they are. If you're in the grammar stage (1-4th) I wouldn't repeat it since they'll go over it again twice anyway. If they're older, maybe. These are great suggestions. How do you do reenactments? We do projects and usually my older ones read aloud instead of me, which I think helps, but I've never done one. I noticed a few pps mentioned switching math programs. A Beka is really good about reviewing concepts continually. They use what's called a spiral approach. It can be overkill sometimes, but they REALLY know the math when they're done.

I'll be really intersted to see what kind of responses you get to this. For myself, we do very few tests. We use A Beka math which has tests and quizzes pretty frequently, but apart from that I really don't do any. For history I find that having a time line on the wall is good for reference. It jogs their memory. Just going back and talking about things is a good way to reinforce. I'm not sure testing would improve memory, but... :lurk5: Let's see what some seasoned hsers have to say.

I remember 1st grade science being really fun. We started with the 12 weeks of animals. I went through the list in WTM and let dd pick her 12 favorites. Each week we'd google pictures of the aniIt , check out books from the library, see if we could find some videos. She'd do narrations about the animals once per week. We visited a pet store and a zoo and an aquarium. It was very relaxed and fun. For the human body we found a book at our library (I could probably go back and find the title and author if you really want it) that went through the body systems. It was aimed at lower elem grades and had a fun project for each chapter. We made 'vests' out of paper bags and the books had photocopied organs that we colored, cut out and put on the vests. Whatever organ or system we were working on we'd get library books for and do narrations. It didn't take 12 weeks though. Then for plants I'd gotten lazy. :) We again got library books and we planted some seeds and grew flowers, but that was about it. So we never used an actual curriculum and the whole year cost me about $50 including field trips. It does require a lot of planning and doing the directing yourself.

:iagree: Which is funny in a way because I'm a Christian (my husband is a pastor even!) but I don't think the state should be able to determine which religions are valid as part of a religious exemption. And who gets to decide whether you're sincere? A committee? I think the religious issue should be left out altogether. I want to homeschool my kids. That's my right as a parent. Period. No different laws for me because I believe in God.