Bump. Does anyone else have experience with this? I would love to hear what you thought.

Thanks everyone! I will try skipping some of the problems that I feel he has a good grasp on and then I will try splitting the lesson up into 2-15 minute sections. I feel like I probably should have come up with that on my own, but didn't. :)

My son is 7 and we are currently doing (mostly) 2nd grade work. Right now we are on lesson 130 of Horizons 1st grade math book. If we do one lesson a day it takes us about 45 minutes on average. My son, however, can focus really good for about 15-20 minutes. The lesson always ends with me pulling him along, trying to get him to complete the rest of it. He does NOT hate math. And he is decent at math although I would not consider him a math whiz. :) Sometimes I make the decision that we will not do math for over 30 minutes that day, but then I find us falling more and more behind. Then I go back to the "we will get one lesson per day" method. :) And back and forth I go. I was hoping to get some thoughts/advice from moms who have this type of learner. I really like Charlotte Mason's idea of keeping lessons short and focused. We manage to do that for almost all of our other lessons except math. I wonder if I should just limit the math to 15-20 minutes a day and either continue with Horizons and get way behind OR just work on concepts using games, worksheets, flashcards, etc. (and scrap Horizons). I don't really have enough money in the budget to buy a whole new curriculum. We do like Horizons, just not the amount of time it takes per lesson. :) I really wouldn't mind spending this much time per day on math if I felt like it could be handled (developmentally). However, my son has always been a wiggly, active child who has difficulty focusing and sitting still for school. :) It is not an issue with obedience - he is respectful and will do the work but I really believe it is a developmental issue. Thanks for the help!

My son is going into 2nd grade and we will be starting spelling. We did not do spelling in 1st. I really do not want to spend the money for AAS. After that, I really don't know what curriculum to get. Spelling Workout seems ok but then I have read reviews where people say it is a lot of busywork. That would not be a good fit for my son. I haven't actually had any spelling curriculum in my hands to look over, so I just don't know what to look for. I'm tempted to just print off grade level lists and review those with him without a curriculum. Can anyone provide some guidance on choosing a curriculum or chime in on what curriculum you use and what you like/dislike about it? Thanks so much!

Thanks to all who responded! :) I'm looking forward to starting with her this year.

My oldest child is going into 2nd grade and we didn't do spelling last year, so I'm new at this. :) Do I have to have a curriculum for this? Are spelling lists by grade pretty standard or would I get a thousand different results if I searched for "2nd grade spelling lists"? Can anyone recommend a site with good lists? I have searched for articles or blog posts on doing spelling without a formal curriculum, but can't find much. I read Leigh Bortins book, The Core, and I think she just suggested finding a list of the 1,000 most commonly used words and work from that. Are any of you teaching spelling without a curriculum? Thanks for the help. :)

My daughter turned four in March. I am thinking ahead to next fall and wondering what I should do with her. I have a 7-year old son who I did a very limited K with (reading, writing, math, reading out loud) when he was 5/6 because he was an active, wiggly boy who couldn't sit for anything more. My daughter is completely different. She asks me to spell out words so she can write phrases down on paper, she can read 3 letter words, count and add small numbers (4+2), write numbers, etc. She likes doing "school" at the table because her big brother does it. So my question is this - what do I do with her? Should I just start doing K at a gentle pace (reading lessons, Horizons K math, and a Reason for Handwriting)? I don't want to push her but she seems ready. I don't know what else I would do with her and I would like to plan something so she does not feel left out. Thanks for the suggestions!