I named ours (very unofficially) after our street name. Pond View School. It worked because we were also schooling with neighbors at the time.

I assign a chapter per day as part of their independent work. If they really get into the book, they continue to read it on their own time. Mostly, I do this for pleasure reading, but I'm starting to add literature related to our history when available and short enough for them to complete on their own within the week. In those cases, i assign 2 or 3 short chapters per day and we discuss. They do a lot of other reading for school subjects as well as pleasure reading, so assigning one chapter per day is reasonable for us. I don't always discuss it with them everyday, but they know they'll be accountable to me for it at least a couple of times a week.

If you feel like your boys have large gaps, I would recommend Alphabet Island Phonics Levels 2A and 2B. If your boys will tolerate a cutesy story, they'll learn just about all of the phonetic rules within these two courses and be ready to apply them to all words even as their vocabulary progresses. I've posted several times about what I like about it and why I recommend it. In your case, it does give a "why" to each rule and the exceptions, but it isn't a standard phonetic reason, but a story that makes it stick in your brain. Further, it is a fun way to learn the rules, but you get to customize the spelling lists based on their level. You don't have to spell "call" and "cell" to practice the two sounds of C (though you can, if that's where they are), you can spell words like "accent" and "success." You'll practice 50-100 words for each rule, distinguishing between words for which the rule applies and words in which it doesn't. I don't mean the exceptions (you do learn those too), I mean "do I need the rule about C in the word 'sale'?" When it is time to test, you get to choose the words at their level. This makes for better spellers, I think, than just memorizing 10 words that apply to the rule in a closed context. When they can choose the rule to use and then apply it out of the spelling context, that transfers to their writing as well. Check out posts #20 and 21 in this thread and #5 in this one. It is teacher instructed and practiced, but I believe the time investment is worth it. ETA: In regards to spelling had - H-A-D-E, I imagine that has just become a bad habit. I'd do some reprogramming on that one. Post the word on index cards all over the house...on the fridge, under the toilet lid, on the light switch, etc. Every time they come across it, they have to stop and say, "had...h-a-d...had." As a spelling warmup, call out 2-3 words they misspell frequently and have them write them 5 times, or stand up, spell it, sit down, spell it, stand up, spell it and so on until they've spelled it 5 times. The mistakes they make will get fewer and they will catch them more frequently. Make it fun, too. Any time they misspell it in their writing, they have to give you 5 (10? 50?) pushups, jumping jacks, etc (while spelling it aloud, of course). Get their bodies involved in the remembering.

What's it called? :)

Same here, I choose what the library has or what is already on my shelf from my years in the ps classroom. Mostly, we have enjoyed them. Sometimes the books are too long for my kids. I enjoy reading them, but I struggle with incorporating the longer books in our week. I searched long and hard for a children's version of Don Quixote and bought it used for $2 on amazon. It wasn't the one she recommended because I just couldn't find it, but it was fantastic! I bought a copy of Mary, Queen of Scots for 99 cents and it was too dry to be the read aloud that week. The book called Buried in Ice happened to be at my Half Price Books and while I found it fascinating, it was too long/detailed for my kids to enjoy, even with the "creepy" pictures for my boys. Typically, I make sure I find one non-fiction and one literature source for the chapter and fit them in during the week. I rely on the library for most of my books and I can usually find one of the selection there. I check out any additional available books and choose between them, encourage my kids to look through or read them, or simply show the pictures and captions that add something.

Also, because I worry, talk to the doctor about a good multivitamin. My clever 8 year old decided that he could just eat cake all day and have a multivitamin and be fine. We had to make sure he understood that many of those vitamins can only be absorbed in the presence of fats, acids, and other vitamins found in the real foods he was eating. They're a supplement, not a substitute. Cover your bases, but make sure she understands that she's still responsible for eating a variety of foods/nutrients. I might also suggest lots of soups, stews, chili, etc and a good food processor. I chop the carrots fairly fine and put them in chili. Actually, it's me that doesn't care for carrots, but you don't taste them in a strong flavored dish like chili.

I had a discussion with my kids today about nutrition. They are fantastic eaters, they'll eat anything I offer, which is great, but they eat a lot and it really forces me to make sure I'm offering healthy choices. A pound of carrots is a lot different than a pound of chips. ;) Anyway, a friend of a friend decided he was going to take in his 2000 calories a day in Snickers bars. That's all he ate. Whenever he was hungry, he ate a snickers. He figured as long as he was getting 2000 calories a day, he'd maintain weight and be a happy guy. (The monotony alone would kill me.) At first he gained some weight, but very shortly he started losing it, becoming skinny, losing his hair, which he attributed to male pattern baldness, sleeping a lot and falling down. The bozo was malnourished! (big "duh" from the rest of the world) He was hospitalized within 4 weeks of starting this "diet." The bottom line is that variety and nutrition go hand in hand. Similarly, if he'd chosen just one vegetable, a similar effect would have occurred, perhaps more slowly. You may wish to share this story with your teen, as well as investigate diet books that focus on health rather than weight. I thought there would be more books about eating by color, but here is one for adults that I found. It focuses on the visual indicators foods give of their benefit and obviously a variety of those is most beneficial to us. I've not read this book, but it is along the lines of what I was looking for. I'd check it out of the library. I would also suggest choosing a "food of the week" to highlight. Spend the first week researching the food and finding recipes that she would like to try, then implement 2 recipes the next week while researching the next food. Start with something she can tolerate, but doesn't love. Carrots, zucchini, blueberries, spinach, include proteins too, eggs, chicken, etc. Introduce smoothies, recipes like spaghetti squash, and try cauliflower pizza crust, etc. Let her explore foods, choose the recipes and prepare them. If she's still resistant to actually eating what she prepared, I'd set some ground rules for scientific food discovery. Conclusions can't be drawn by a tiny nibble gulped down with water. Set a reasonable number of human-sized bites AND provide a feedback sheet. Have her focus on one aspect of the food per bite and record her impressions. Color, texture, taste (scale from sweet to savory), taste-alike (does it taste like something else you've tried?), recipe (what could be added or removed to improve it), doneness (is it prepared to your liking, underdone, overdone, etc). Having her analyze these aspects, you get 5 bites into her and she gets to find ways of improving the food to make it more to her liking. You may discover, forgive me for saying this, that you don't prepare food the way she would choose to eat it. Overcooked broccoli is one of the worst things I can imagine eating, but I grew up with soggy brown broccoli, mushy canned green beans, and limp asparagus. YUCK! I didn't like veggies growing up, but now I can prepare them to my own taste and I like them just fine! I don't agree that giving kids the green light in the kitchen will magically make them like the taste of yucky foods, but experimenting and learning together how to prepare healthy foods in desirable ways can't hurt. Ultimately, I think it comes down to maturity to decide that the value of the food is worth getting it down and learning how to prepare it in the most palatable way. I also heard of a mother (was it a friend or an article?) who allowed her child to refuse one food...just one. He chose peas, so whenever she served peas, he didn't have to eat them, but he had to eat everything else he was served. In a more extreme case, you could probably say that she can choose one food each meal to skip, but then I'd be sure we were serving two veggies. ;-) In our house, we started by offering a balanced meal and praising them for trying something new. I don't have any picky eaters, so they were pretty much willing to taste anything. We continue to tell them how great it is to try new things and allow them to dislike them. Usually we say something like, "I'm so glad you tried it! How did you like it?...Oh, is there something specific you didn't care for? Hmm, maybe you'd like it with less pepper." It's ok if they try the roasted sweet potatoes and decide to leave them on the plate. We don't allow them to have seconds if they don't finish their first helpings, but if they've honestly tried a food and choose to leave it, I'm fine with that. I grew up sitting there until the brown broccoli was gone, I couldn't do that to my kids. Keep offering that positive reinforcement, some experience in food prep and she'll come around eventually.

Duplicate post.

On a slightly different, but related topic, multiple intelligences (discovering strengths, weaknesses and helping to address both) How Am I Smart? by Dr. Kathy Koch

My kids need sleep. If they needed to be up at 6:30, it would be 7 or 7:30 at the latest. As it is, they go to bed at 8 and wake naturally sometime around 7am.

My own son behaves in similar ways. It's SOOOO frustrating. When he's made crass comments about God, I put on my sternest face and tone and tell him that I will not allow him to dishonor the Lord in any way and it usually humbles him for a short time. I'm not sure the abs comment would have set me off, but perhaps a reminder about tone when discussing such matters. I'd like to say that I have a perfect solution for you, but I agree that the annoying tween/preteen boy stage is somewhat normal and will continue while they have an audience. In my case, he's got a little brother to giggle and in a few years, mimic him. As Paige suggested, meeting him where he is, acknowledge the creativity of his remarks and redirect. Clever, Matthew, vomit is definitely in motion. I'm not sure many people will appreciate the theme; lets find a more cheerful subject.

Golly, reading this, I feel a lot more "normal!" ;) I'm odd here because: we don't do co-ops. We start our year in Jan. We travel abroad in the fall and I totally count that as school. It gives us lots to talk about with other homeschoolers, but it means we can't (but don't really want to) participate in typical homeschool activities.

My lefty husband says that if your son or daughter are truly switching/ambidextrous, now is the time to encourage them to practice with the right hand. Don't force a true lefty, but if they can switch with equal results now, by all means, train them as a righty. He was never ambidextrous enough to be encouraged the other way, but his older brother was and learned to be a mainstream righty, much to his advantage. ;) Dh wishes he were a righty in this world, so encourages any who have the choice, to at least try to develop right handed skills.

I agree with so many others that church can/should be a family activity. He must attend and be polite. There are many Christian teens who don't want to be bothered to get up on Sunday and attend with the family, but in my opinion, it is non-negotiable. Obviously, you can not force him to have a worshipful attitude or heart, you can't force him to believe what he hears, but help him see that this is something important to you and as such, it is your responsibility as a Christian and a parent that you share your faith with him. It is his right and responsibility to accept or deny it. Allow him to express his opinions respectfully and have discussions with you about his doubts and questions. Eventually, you may offer to arrange a meeting with the youth pastor or someone else he trusts at the church to answer any questions he has, not to convert him, but just to discuss. Hearing this from someone other than his mother, may help him be more respectful of the faith at least on a surface level. I would have a heart to heart conversation and explain that you neglected teaching about Christianity in a positive way in the past, but that you feel better prepared to do so now. Ask him to take class with you. Being new to the faith yourself, you will find a discipleship class or book quite helpful to understand the deeper parts of your faith. Including him, but acknowledging that you can't force him to believe, nor will you try to, will give him a better understanding of YOU and his dad. I think that is important. Lastly, be up-front and deliberate about letting him see you live out your faith. When you have struggles, let him see you pray and rely on God. Allow (and invite, but don't push) him to see you read your Bible as a refreshing focus for the day. Act out your faith in service and love toward others. Point out the blessings in your life and acknowledge from whence they came. Seeing you live a Christian life of thankfulness, humility and forgiveness will be the BEST and ultimate way of proving your faith to him. Christian parents can start teaching the Bible from birth, but it is how the children witness the results of their parents' faith that helps them decide what they believe.

I'm unable to vote because it requires me to answer the second question. I also need more than one option available for the last question. :-)

Bedtime is at 8, if for no other reason than mom's sanity. ;) One child wakes around 7 and wakes his brother. My daughter is able to sleep until 8 or 8:30 if left to her own devices, though I don't think she goes right to sleep at 8. So, somewhere around 10 or 11 hours a night.

LOL. That just struck me as funny.

DH funds our schooling, is a sounding board for all of my school decisions, but leaves the final say-so up to me. He "encourages" the kids to cooperate with me. ;) If I specifically ask for time to plan, grade or just be away from the children, he makes that happen for me. AND he teaches science. It's something that interests him. He was frustrated with the science choices I looked at and said he could do it better without a curriculum (this wasn't a criticism of me, but of the programs we'd been working through). He feels like science is unnecessarily dumbed down for the young kids, so he plans and executes science two days a week. There is a lesson, perhaps a demonstration on Wednesdays and then a full experiment on Saturday mornings. He's doing a great job and he goes with what the kids are asking questions about for the next topic of discussion. This week: comparing baking soda and baking powder. He also reads aloud to the kids if I suggest a book that will fit well with our studies. One thing that I think is important if you are feeling worn-out, burned out, and overwhelmed is to be specific with a way that your dh can help you. Mine isn't a mind reader, he'll never think to himself, "gee, I bet it's exhausting to be with the kids 24 hours a day and think about school for 12 of them. I bet she'd like me to take the kids to the park so she can rest." If I ask him to take the kids to the park, he's on it. So, ask for what you need. You might be surprised how inspired he is to help with a little direction.

The first place to start is in the concordance in the back of the Bible. It's a good exercise in looking up any topic, finding all the verses, reading and deciding whether the verse applies to the context you are looking for. A friend of mine wrote this book, which has been a helpful research/teaching tool for us.

We have these too. They work well for visualizing. If you have an Ipad, there is also a fraction app that my 6 year old plays with. I'm sorry, I don't have the ipad with me to look up the name of the app.

I agree. I slice the binding of most of my curricula and rebind the manual as a spiral and keep the blacklines loose in a folder. It costs me an extra $5 per book.

Leading Little Ones to God was the book I used. The book uses the KJV. It tells the story in each lesson and we used NIrV for memory verses. It worked well for two of my kids, but as a little dry for one other.

I took it in 8th grade. ETA: It is not uncommon for students here to be bussed to another school for advanced math. For instance, a 5th grader might be bussed to the middle school to take Algebra 1 with the 8th graders. or a 7th grader to the high school for higher math.

I posted how I organize my books in a similar thread recently. I'm in post #5. I use a system of magazine files and storing books that are for different years in labeled boxes on the shelf. I have a lot of resources from my years in the classroom as well as specific resources for homeschooling. I have a board on Pinterest that has grown to an unwieldy size and I need to separate by subject and/or year. I'm happy to answer specific questions you have about my system.

Thanks. The reason I ask is because it was put that way in the cursory mention in the Horrible History book. I wondered how tongue in cheek it was.