I had to edit my previous post a few times. All set now!

My older DSS (14) is a freshman in High School now. I'm not afterschooling him anymore. He's having a hard time to adjust, and doesn't quite realize that he NEEDS to do his homework in order to not receive an F :-( Other than that, he Loved marching band and is definitely sticking with it throughout the schoolyear. My twin boys (5) have been doing wonderful in Kindergarten. After much pushing (I hate to be that parent) their teacher finally got their reading level tested, but will not assess them higher than DRA 8 (exiting Kindergarten). According to her, their comprehension is lacking. I know that Twin B will always answer "I don't know" to any questions and will then later on proceed to tell me all the details of anything he reads...! She further states that their writing needs to match their reading. I don't know; I have never written a novel, but I've certainly read thousands of them. So for now they are stuck reading books with one sentence per page / 8 pages per book. At home they will happily pick up any of the "Strange Museum" chapter books by HOP and we've made it through the blue level. We really all love this curriculum; it's sparked many interesting conversations! In math my kids' school uses Everyday Math. I have actually been surprised how much the twins have learned by doing all the little homework assignments! We are supplementing at home with Math u See and both the boys have a really good grasp of numbers now. They even argued with one of their classmates that negative numbers actually DO exist :-) The only thing that doesn't get done around here is German. We've been doing games from Planetino, and they both really like it. I do notice that my German is getting worse and worse though, and I always slip back into talking English! So much for our progress lately. I'm so happy to have found a forum with like-minded people!

Thank you for the suggestions! We've worried that he may be depressed and talked to the school about it too. A counselor was supposed to talk to him, but nothing ever really came of it. Not sure where to go to from here. I think he just detests the idea of doing any kind of work, school or at home, and is trying to get out of it whenever possible. He also doesn't really have any long term goals, ideals or visions. This makes it hard for him to be motivated at all...

My DSS(14) is currently attending public school. He is extremely smart and very capable of doing A level work. The problem is that he has zero motivation and does not care about any sort of consequences (taking away electronics or after school activities). He will consistently lie about any homework he has, and then get a 0 for it. My husband and I don't know what he has for homework until it's already too late. My question to those of you who have BTDT: Would keeping him home and attending an online school such as Penn Foster help us supervise his homework? Will it cause more friction in the house and just make it worse? I know that if we don't find a solution, he will end up as a dropout or repeat another year in High School! Please Help!!!

I would slow down a bit. Let her watch the videos on Crewton Ramone and Education Unboxed. I agree with a PP to maybe have another homeschooling mom or a local highschooler do a little math with her, someone else's perspective can sometimes be a real eye-opener.

My kids' school uses Everyday Math. It is a spiral curriculum and jumps around from topic to topic, making it hard to consistently supplement with any one curriculum. EM is supposed to be a very hands on self directed learning experience. The weak point is that it never really teaches the kids specific rules and standard algorhythms. This is what I would supplement my kids with, either through Singapore Math or Khan Academy. Hope this helps!

Hi and welcome! You actually welcomed me on my first ever post, too! My husband was never really for homeschooling either. When we had our twin boys though, we couldn't afford preschool. I was actually sad for them to be missing out on all the fun activities, while their friends were all gone during the day. So I decided to do very light preschool at home: crafts, games, etc. By the end of the year my husband and I were both amazed at how much more they both learned compared to their same aged peers. They can swim, ride their bike without training wheels, started reading before kindergarten, and many more things. We still decided to go the public school route, but he is no longer opposed to homeschooling if this was my choice. Did you ask your husband why he doesn't want you to homeschool? If this is really what you want, or feel is the best for your kids, maybe there is a solution to his concerns?

I would stick with MUS Alpha for now, but add a few things from Crewton Ramone for more fun challenges. He uses the same manipulatives and has his 6-year old boys even do simple algebra! My twin boys (5) are very similar to your son, and really enjoy those math games!

Hi Everyone! I've been lurking around here for a few weeks now and thought it was time to introduce myself. I am from Germany, married to an American and living in the US. I've always entertained the thought of homeschooling, but settled on Afterschooling for the time being. I am a firm believer in limiting our TV time to an absolute minimum; outside play, reading and schoolwork always come first. We love learning through play in addition to a very loose curriculum as mentioned in my signature. I am always open to suggestions!