You could buy a bunch of these and rotate: Puzzles Sorting pie Lauri Primer pack MFW sells packs of toddler & preschool kits that might work.

I love having neighbor kids. We don't have any right now and I desperately want someone else for my kids to talk to that doesn't involve me driving. Don't offer them any food. Once you stop it'll be hard to stop being hostess. Tell your son that neighbor kids don't come in the house. Ever. Have him enforce it. They can play outside on your property so you don't have to worry about him being in someone else's house. That weirds me out too. Then sit back and enjoy the silence in your home.

I'm a huge fan of CC, so this will cloud my response. Do CC foundations for both and plan to do essentials in 4th with your oldest. Sonlight core B would go perfectly with cycle 1 if you want some guided history help. Feel free to not follow the guide and just read the books. Both kids would be a great age for that. Beware of choosing parent-intensive curriculum for all subjects. I've found I need a way to get some basics done one days when mom is out of it. You say you like spiral math but don't know how you feel about saxon. Look into CLE or Horizons.

My 7yo son loves the Smurfs graphic novels written by Peyo.

Sleep. And then when that's done I'll take a nap. And then I'll go and exercise. Then I'll meet a friend for lunch, take another nap, grab takeout for dinner, and go to bed.

Option 3, hands down.

I have a 6yo who can spell about anything too. I had to drop it, because spelling that was appropriate difficulty-wise tended to use words that he didn't understand and it became a pointless exercise. We took a break. No regrets. I've found copy work to be awesome for him. I have him copy random sentences from his animal encyclopedia and draw a picture about it. He ends up learning more complex words from that, but is able to grasp the meaning through context. And if he copies it once, it's set in his brain. You could finish the 12th grade list later, but right now he probably won't understand what the words mean.

I'd be dead tired on the amount of sleep you get. My kids are almost the same ages (8, 6, 4, 2) and I need 8-9 hrs every single night. A night of only 6 makes for a painful next day.

CC Foundations was a huge hit this year. The kids loved it, and my effort was minimal. I'd quiz them over lunch 3-4 times per week for about 5 minutes. Daily Grams. Nothing else. Blah.

If you had rice krispie treats on your mind, maybe you could make them with fruity or cocoa pebbles instead.

Corn flakes are sweetened with malt, unfortunately.

GF Rice Krispies have been officially discontinued. What about puppy chow with rice chex? Or Betty Crocker Brownies. Ice cream? Buckeyes.

BTW, I agree about the busy boxes. They just seem to make extra mess. And sensory bins too. Great for creating mass destruction in as little time as possible. I'm listening intently, because this is my life.

You'll be fine. The kids will be fine. Reading books about science topics is plenty. You might consider buying a few "First Science Encyclopedia" type books to keep on the shelf just to help spark interest in topics they've never heard of. And I wouldn't consider what you are doing to be subpar in any way. If you look around at actual programs/curricula for elementary science, you might feel better about yourself.

Could you maybe hang on for one more year with your 5th grader (i'm assuming pre-A starts in 7th with MM) and then do a different pre-algebra program? I would consider switching the others. I have MM and am not a fan. I find Singapore to be much more visually appealing, varied, and interesting.

Thanks for all the replies. Kate, I had missed your newest post and eagerly read it. I still don' know what i'll do. I think for the next week at least we'll take a break to do more facts practice and maybe 2-3 multiplication problems. I'd write more but my WasteNoTime is about to kick me off so I can do something productive.

We went from Horizons K to MUS alpha. Perfect fit, level-wise.

And Gil, I understand what you are saying about the parent needing to be near the child and I have taken that into account. I'm always trying to find the right balance of spreading time between all the children.

She uses the blocks almost never. The appeal of the program has always been the simple, clean pages (she gets so distracted). And we are in a living situation making it nearly impossible for her to have a quiet space. I have 4 kids and we are in an apartment temporarily. As in, a flat. There is no place for anyone to go. It seems that she understands the info, but that it's a bit of a stretch for her. She has yet to just completely not get something, but it all requires superhuman brainpower for her. It just really seems like the worksheets are taking too long. It's taking about 40 minutes when we're both working together. This was not the case at the beginning of the year, but some worksheets will have 6-8 multi-digit multiplication problems (3-digit x 2-digit) on the front, plus maybe 4-5 more on the back in the form of a story problem. I'm rambling. I have idea if the material is truly too hard (how do you judge that?) or if we're just burned out for the year. What's odd is that she says she likes MUS and doesn't want to switch, but then nearly passes out each day when we get the workbook out.

I just clarified something after reading your reply. I'd have her do double TT, not TT plus MUS. At this point, I feel like we're making up excuse after excuse to not do the actual work ("let's work on math facts today!!!") and there is no way we could do the normal lesson plus extra. So I have a vote for switch.

I are finishing up MUS gamma with my 3rd grader. We're on lesson 26 out of 30 and at this point, I think we both want to cry when the book comes out. She can handle the information, but it is overwhelming to her how long the worksheets take (especially review day) and I get frustrated with the amount of time I have to spend sitting with her, talking her through the problems or keeping her on task. I dread math time. I've been considering TT for some time. I'm even considering ordering TT4 today and having her do double lessons (of TT, not MUS) until the end of May when we're done for the year and then having her do one lessons per week during the summer. A lot of the material in TT4 has been covered in MUS gamma, but I wonder if she would benefit from having some easy math for a change to make it a more positive experience. Plus, some variety might be nice! I dunno. When do you stick things out and when do you throw in the towel? I thought we'd tough it out until at least pre-A, but the fact that *I* want to cry during math time due to it being complete drudgery makes me think it might be time for a switch.

I'd pass out from shock if my 3rd grader did that.

Gymnastics. Most places have multiple levels going on at the same time. And a lot of them have toys for little kids. Our local place has HS lessons for kids up to age 12 and as soon as that ends, there is a teen class. So you'd be there for 2 hours but all kids could have a turn. You and older kids could run on a track while the little ones play in the sand pit. YMCA with daycare for the littles while the big people take lessons. Other than that, I've got nothing. I have the same problem. And things that works for the whole family tend to be during nap time.

It sounds like she can't handle going to bed later than the little sibling and therefore needs to go to sleep at the same time. I'd say the later bedtime privilege needs to be revoked.

I wouldn't call them granny shoes, but they aren't young & hip. Something about the styling of the heel.