I have been teaching the kids and myself recorder with $7 recorders from Amazon and a $15 "Nine-Note Method" book. We start in first grade and the book provides a few yrs of music instruction. Very doable, low investment, portable, and great musical foundation for other instruments.

I've only recently come across this curriculum in spite of many years of homeschooling, research, and forums. I think the title may have thrown me off; I think it sounds kind of gimmicky, not like a solid curriculum. But I've been pretty impressed with what I've seen. It uses the incremental, mastery method that I've loved in vintage math texts, but with big clear print, white space, and printable worksheets. The instruction is right in the text with every step illustrated so no need for a teacher's manual. The books are "levels" not grades, and you place your child according to ability and go at your own pace. You are encouraged to re-do lessons whenever there is uncertainty or confusion. The program covers grade one right up to high-school level-math, so there's continuity. With this aspect and the clear lesson layout, I would feel more confident recommending this program over vintage math texts, especially to newbies. I've ordered the first couple books to try out, but I'm just wondering if there are any users here who can offer their thoughts. http://www.learnmathfastbooks.com/index.html

My pill is now 17. I can't believe I didn't post on this thread! I would have been in the thick of it. It's been a rough ride all the way through, but we've navigated it and are almost done! Just one semester next fall, mostly at the CC. There's no way I could have done it without advice from Auntie Leila, Cindy Rollins, and many of the experienced moms here. Just in the past few months DS FINALLY has connected current schoolwork with future college and career and is showing spurts of motivation. Simplifying, outsourcing, and Dad have been key. As well as focusing on relationship outside of school. Oh, and money. Someone above mentioned having kids pay for expenses after getting a job. So many conflicts have been resolved just by directing DS to financial realities. High school with my type-A guy has looked a bit different than my glowing, Charlotte-Mason-y dreams did. It has been so important to remain flexible and keep the big picture, and whole child, in mind.

I'm curious! Please elaborate. :)

This time was my first ever at the Cinci convention. I've wanted to go for years, but it required a bit of travel since we are not in the region. I loved seeing speakers (and vendors) that never make it up to our neck of the woods, many of whom are in the classical/CM tracks. But I honestly didn't learn that much from their sessions. I guess I've just been doing this too long! We enjoyed meeting Mr. D, seeing Sr. Gamache again, and getting the newest S.D. Smith book signed. My favorite sessions were Pudewa's on lessons learned after 30yrs, Janice Campbell's on high school, and the little bit of Adam Andrew's on teaching with grace that I caught. The classical panels were good too. But did anyone think that Leigh Bortin's comment at the end kind of odd?

Is this the one? http://www.shopchristianliberty.com/memory-work-notebook/

Beautiful.

Lots of great advice here! It sounds like your kids are mainly "behind" in math. Another idea would be to have a "math year" where you just focus on math and unschool the rest, maybe with the exception of the high schooler. That would help you get those skills solidified as well as let you catch your breath and get the rest of your life under control, with margin to relax, craft, or whatever else helps fill your tank.

If you are libertarian/free-market-friendly, the Liberty Classroom has Western Civ 1&2 among other courses. One year access begins at $90. ETA: I just remembered, Hillsdale has several free courses along the same bent: https://www.hillsdale.edu/academics/free-online-courses/

My DS is taking Mr. D's SAT boot camp classes and is really enjoying them so far. I can't comment on results yet though. His first SAT is next month. https://mrdmath.com/sat-math-bootcamp/

My DS was in this class last year for tenth grade. Here is a quick review I wrote from my blog: This was a miss. It was mainly a speech class, with outlining as the only writing component. While Dusty enjoyed the teacher, he did not enjoy reading Aristotle, classifying types of rhetoric, and memorizing the different steps for each type. There was extensive quizzing on these parts of the class, and this brought Dusty’s grade down, even though he enjoyed and did well on the speeches. If I did this class again, it would be with an older student who had a keen interest in speech. Not DS's real name. :) He also had not taken a formal logic course beforehand (he had done Fallacy Detective). When we checked with WHA, they recommended he go through Introductory Logic before the class. We ordered this for him, and although he did not finish it, he did fine on the logic-related parts of the class. Just want to reiterate that he enjoyed Mr. Baker as a teacher.

While I know there's been "Charlotte Mason-inspired" curricula around for awhile (MFW, HoD, etc), it seems to me there's been a small explosion of more faithful interpretations in the last couple years. It would be helpful, at least for me, to see a list in one place. I'll list those that I know of here, and if anyone can add more, please do. Also if you have experience with any of these, please post your thoughts. Ambleside Online - the grandaddy, uses many older books, they also have CM's writings viewable for free Simply Charlotte Mason - this one has been around a little while also, good for combining different ages The Alveary - from the Charlotte Mason Institute Wildwood Curriculum - non-faith-based A Mind in the Light - by a poster here on the WTM forums, has some classical influence A Gentle Feast - this one includes plans for Morning Time and poetry teas A Modern Charlotte Mason - includes modern books and internet links along with traditional selections Ursa Minor Learning - this one readily admits that it is not pure CM, but I thought it interesting because it is only high school levels (for now), and has a stronger focus on science and math

I agree with other posters. Cut back to the 3R's: reading (not lit analysis), writing, and math. Then add what you love doing. Here's a homeschool philosophy quiz for fun.

We are classical/CM and here's what our 1st grade looks like: Smithhand for handwriting (chosen because it is a simple, stroke-based method) The Reading Lesson for phonics/learning to read (chosen because it is a combo of phonics/sight words and is easy to use) Ray's Primary Arithmetic for math, only 1st half of the book, done orally (chosen because it is short, sweet, and oral) Reading aloud with a variety of good books, and occasional oral narration Plenty of enrichment activities along the lines of what Bluegoat mentioned above Our K-2nd grades are pretty relaxed. Both classical and CM educations are very literary and you simply need an atmosphere rich in language and literature at this age. A reading curriculum (reading comprehension) is more of a modern construct and typically not part of CM or classical educations. In CM, grammar is held off until middle school. The early grades are focused more on reading, narrating, and writing. It really is a simple approach.

What we have done: 1st grade - handwriting program, short bits of copywork 2nd grade - copywork, my DD began dictation, but DS was not ready at this point 3rd grade - copywork, short dictations 4th grade - copywork, dictation, intro to written narration, a short, non-writing grammar program (Sentence Family) 5th grade - copywork, dictation, written narrations, review of Sentence Family My DS did not really hit his stride with handwriting until 3rd grade. I relied on dictation to "cover" spelling. No grammar until 4th/5th grade.

Smithhand

Strayer Upton was mentioned; it is a fav of mine. Cheap, old-school, open-and-go. The brown book is 5th-6th grade math. There's a lot of arithmetic review and fractions. The blue book is 7th-8th and covers a lot of percentage, consumer math, pre-algebra concepts, and some cool geometry. You could look at samples, but the blue book might be an option for more variety.

And I was referring not to math skills, but the knowledge of how those math skills apply to real life, in the context of taxes, insurance, loans, and investments. When we stigmatize "consumer math" for high schoolers, it can get relegated to middle school, where the practical information is lost on its subjects. (This happened to me.) Or it never happens at all. I see no reason why it cannot be done alongside a more traditional math track.

I almost put "Personal Finance" in the title and probably should have. I am not talking about consumer math primarily as a math course, but as a life skills course. The ToC of many of these programs indicate that they also include a lot of money management info which I think is valuable. Exactly. This is the problem I see with doing a course like this in middle school. Are kids really going to remember what they learned by the time they've graduated and gone out into the world? Of course learning these skills in the context of real life is the best way, but I have a very financially-minded DH who discusses these topics regularly and I think my junior could still use a systematic coverage of things like taxes, loans, interest, investments, etc. The Life of Fred book looks especially interesting. Has anyone used it? Or any of the other programs I mentioned in the OP?

I am becoming more and more convinced of the importance of this subject and am leaning toward making it a requirement for all of our kiddos. There really aren't very many threads on this topic, yet when I began researching I found that nearly all major homeschool curriculum providers offer some sort of course in consumer math: BJU, Abeka, Rod&Staff, CLE, AlphaOmega, MathUSee, ACE, Life of Fred . . . even my old Strayer Upton has quite a bit in the last book. Lori D. has also posted quite a few options here. Can anyone share experience, reviews, regrets, opinions?

Camera (on phone), list of questions, and comfy footwear.

I'm not a special-needs expert, but here are my thoughts. Hope you find some solutions. :grouphug:

Times Tales

I also think it is largely screen addiction. I would treat it as any other addiction and seek professional help. I wouldn't worry about academics until it is taken care of.

I think it is worth the ticket price, but maybe not five hours of driving. It is only an hour long.