I have been using WWE (completed Level 1) and FLL (half way through level 2) with my son who will be a 2nd grader in the fall. My experience has been fine. He can complete the tasks and it isn't bothersome to him. ;-) [Other language arts components: we haven't done formal spelling, but will be adding that this fall...likely All About Spelling or Grammar of Spelling, depending on if I decide to use all. those. tiles. (Purchased it, but put it away because of all the moving parts...) and we do regular read-alouds from various book lists and discuss, which we will continue in the fall.] Right now, I'm just trusting the process with WWE and FLL though...it seems too simple. I don't really want to switch because it isn't not working necessarily. I want him to have solid language foundations and I'm not sure if he's getting what's at the heart of the lessons. He can give all the right answers in full sentences, copy all the sentences with zero to one error, but if he sits down to write a letter to grandma or a flyer for his new club, he isn't applying what he has learned...not capitalizing, no punctuation, etc. I'm happy that he is willing to write on his own initiative though...maybe it will all come in time. Has anyone used this pairing of writing and grammar for an extended period of time and seen it yield great results? There are so many other writing and grammar options...ahhh! Maybe I'm just spinning my wheels for no reason? Or maybe he needs something different? Thoughts?

Thanks for the input. Definitely think we'll try having him slow down a little when he's talking and see if that helps. I appreciate the feedback!

I love names!! I would be Layla... :-/ Hubs and I would be Chase and Layla--sound like a couple from a book!

My nearly 8 year old son (end of July birthday) will often repeat the end of words as he is searching for the next word ("I thought-ought-ought-ought that we should go to the park-ark-ark this afternoon"). This happens particularly if he is in a new situation or if something is difficult. I was assuming that he would just outgrow it...he's always spoken this way. I've recently started googling "stuttering." "Early intervention" is something that seems pretty common, but I'm also reading this on private speech therapist websites. Is this something that we should have evaluated? Is it normal for a bright, energetic kid who thinks faster than his mouth can keep up? Should we wait to see if it will go away? Does any one have experience with this type of thing? Any practical tips to help him overcome it without causing him to be self conscious? Thanks in advance!

I ended up purchasing a Canon MF4700 Black and White Laser printer with a copier, scanner, fax, printer, and document feed tray. It was $100 from an online store and so far, I'm loving it! :-)

I killed my printer! :-( It was 8 years old and for the first time in it's history I purchased ink from Office Max instead of Cartridge World and it killed it...plugged the nozzles! Anywho... Most of the printing that I do is black and white. From what I'm seeing online, I'm going to save on ink in the longrun if I get a laser printer, but I also want to occasionally print in color. Does any one have any recommendations for printers? Thanks in advance!!

The science teacher at our co-op classically homeschools his children, so he has planned the lessons based off of scientists throughout history. It has been a lot of fun. They have an optional worksheet to complete before class that always asks the students to write down something about the time/place the scientist lived, a contribution they made to science and something they thought was interesting about the scientist. Then in class, he goes over a brief history and they do an experiment related to a discovery the scientist made. With Galileo they dropped objects of varying weights and saw that they fall at the same rate. With Volta, they made batteries that powered a tiny light bulb using pennies, zinc circles and salt water soaked construction paper squares. It seems like a nice structure to implement that covers many fields of science and with there only being 6 weeks in the class, you could just do big name scientists.

The losing the pencil thing is a bit more dramatic than that. It starts right away after sitting up to the kitchen table and is directly linked to the emotion. Since starting this thread, I've determined that it's not just math! It's everything! We were always starting with math and it would take 2 hours, so that was all we were doing for about 2 -3 weeks. He seems to just not want to receive my instruction for school activities at all. Doesn't matter, hands on, kinesthetic, listening to a story, coloring, etc. I haven't been requiring him to work independently. I'm present and interacting with him throughout the whole lesson and worksheet combo. One complicating factor is that I have other kids! ;-) I can set them up with a show for a good 30-45 min, but after that, they are back with us. Any time I try to include them or even just have them color at the table near us, he says that they are distracting him, etc. And when we've actually finished what can take up to 2 hours, we put school away for the day as everyone is pretty crazy! I'm just nervous going into our big month to two month break when baby #4 arrives. What if after another big break it is even worse!!? I don't feel like I've been pushing him too hard on anything. He's had a very gentle introduction to all of formal school. He's been excited and motivated and slowly, and sometime between Thanksgiving and now, he's shown a great amount of resistance to me teaching him. I'm just sad that he isn't receptive right now to being taught. I hardly know what I'm asking anymore.... just looking for encouragement...

What is Zeus on the Loose? Sounds like fun!

I like reading these age/grade threads. We don't know that we'll be homeschooling the entire time and so it feels really important to me to pick a grade that you won't switch them out of if they go to a public or private school in the future (or if you do that you'd be advancing them a grade, not pulling back a grade). So, we have labeled our summer birthday kids a grade under what the state cut off is for those things that have required a label. It gives wiggle room for the subjects they may be behind in and it never seems insulting to give a child a book that is further along than what they feel their grade is... which does come up all the time because of non-homeschooled friends/Sunday school/grocery store conversations etc. We're still just starting fresh, but that's where we've found ourselves. And I do still think about it all. the. time! 😊

Really? Do you just mean for bookwork/school work or do you redirect if a child is playing/working at one thing for more than 30-ish minutes? We don't do a ton of media, but he can sit and listen to read-alouds or books on tape for hours and he does have the attention span to watch a 2-hour long movie. Or even work on making books and crafty projects or legos... ? And then I assume that if he can be self-directed on something for 2 hours, that he would do okay focusing on tasks I give him for that long... Haha! I have so much to learn!

Thanks everyone for the tips. I think I'm going to attempt a clandestine operation for a bit and see if we can't do math without him realizing it and put a bit more emphasis on the history, spelling, and science/art projects since he welcomes that. Maybe the tides will turn and it will all balance out in the end. :-)

I guess that is what happens...and FLL, AAS, History...are the subjects he likes to do, but as we've been going along, I felt like reading and math were the most important items and so if we did nothing else in our 2 hour formal bookwork setting, we'd stick with the math and reading.

When is the time to say, "yes, it takes a bit of effort, but by practicing, you reinforce what you're learned." I don't like doing the dishes and I can do them well, but I still do them. Doesn't this element of "school" factor in at some point? I definitely don't want to wreck him, but I want to teach him that if he works efficiently and accurately, he will be rewarded. But maybe it just comes later on...

What about formal k for an older student? We started my ds on "formal" k work the September he was 6, having just turned 6 at the end of July...I feel like he should be doing "formal" work in some capacity. Maybe it doesn't make a difference?

I still can't find it...what is the link titled in the list on the left hand side?

Sounds interesting! I'm going to check it out.

A local bakery serves a salad with their breakfast quiches. I've never done it at home, but should! It's delicious and refreshing! :-)

I am curious if others have experience with a reluctant student and anything you have done that has helped him/her turn the corner. I'm homeschooling our 6-year old son as a Kindergartener, he has a summer birthday...we started him as k in '12/'13, but then ended up listing our house, selling our house, living with grandparents, and moving to a new place all fall/winter of 2012. So we just played a lot and read a lot, but didn't officially start up again until fall 2013. We are doing OPGTTR and Saxon Math 1 consistently and fitting in when I have bandwidth, FLL 1, SOTW 1, and AAS level 1. We are just reading library books and pursuing interest led science and reading aloud literature books to round everything out. We are also in a co-op that does science, art, and gym every other week, but without homework. All sounds rosy, yes? NO!! I say, let's do math. TEARS!! Emotion!!! Staring into space...dropping pencil...not paying attention to details...losing place on the page...etc. If however, I ask the questions and write the answers myself, without him realizing he's doing the lesson, he's fine. "oh that's easy...(answer)." (I've done this occasionally just so we can get it done with, but I feel like it is good for him to just do his work.) And it is not a handwriting/hand-development issue...for when he gets an idea to write a mystery series, he goes for it...illustrations and all and it is wonderful...aside from spelling errors, which I just leave when it's his fun project... What should I do differently? What's with all the emotion? Why does he spend 2 hours not doing his math when he literally could finish in 20min. or less? I'm not have success in helping him understand that. I feel so bad for him sitting and wasting his time. I'm also not into complete interest-led/unschooling though I do see a place to the interest led elements to learning. What tips do ya'll have to motivate him to just do it? Do you see flaws in my thinking? I'm super tired of fighting him, but I really want to homeschool and enjoy when he's enjoying it.