This is along the lines of what my son does. Calls me out on things that aren't 100% literally correct 100% of the time or say, "but you said...." I call him pedantic. Now he sings a little song when I do, "pedantic, pedantic, so so pedantic"

The apps from New York Hall of Science are free at the moment (Choreo Graph, Fraction Mash, Volumize, Size Wise, and Playground Physics). I haven't used them, but they have been on my watch list forever after I read about them in an article about math, science and technology. They look like they are good for exploring concepts, but not really an app that you would just hand your child to play. Maybe upper elementary to middle?

Note I haven't used Kilgallon, so take my words with a grain of salt. I am currently doing WWE2 with my son, DS7. I was strongly considering doing Kilgallon but some threads convinced me that it would be better for a 4th-6th grader. I would love to hear more from people who have used both, too. One thing is that most people who have commented on various threads indicate Story Grammar seems to be slightly easier than Sentence Composing. But there was a thread here http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/619824-info-from-killgallons-on-how-to-use-their-materials-update-more-info-post-4/ where the author indicates that sentence composing should come before the grammar one. I thought that was interesting.

This has been helpful to get my thoughts out. We've been going about a month. I don't have enough time. My DS7 has a lot of time outside the house, which is a necessary evil based on me needing to take a college course and then the resulting commitment to the part time program we enrolled him in. If am able to continue homeschooling, I hope to get to a point where we don't need these programs because I am available all the time. So 1 morning and 3 afternoons outside the house, during which time he gets lots of things that fall under the category of art and some PE, plus hands on social studies and science stuff. And socialization. On top of that, he has gymnastics twice a week and swimming lessons three times a week right now. And we are averaging at least one field trip per week. We are getting done: WWE2, Reading Detective Beginning, XtraMath multiplication, math (switching around with MM and BA at the moment), free reading, some Analogy and Logic workbooks, lots of BrainPop and science videos. Things I wish we were doing some of or more of: Piano lessons, Nature Walks/Study, going to the park regularly, consistent read aloud from mom, free writing/journaling, using the MANY science experiments and STEM building kits that I have bought, more art, using more educational apps I have bought, more reading, more math, vocabulary, and a regular Game Night for our family. Things I wish we were doing but are even further down on my agenda: typing, foreign language, spelling, grammar, coding. My son wants more free time to play legos and computer games.

Chooky, My 7 yo is like that right now with Harry Potter. He insists there will never be another series of books he will enjoy as much after Harry Potter. However, just have got him through the first two Percy Jacksons and they at least rate 'good', and he wants the third badly (next on online library wait list). Unlike your attitude (which I admire) I fully intend to force him through other stuff. He thinks most things are ok once he gets into them. I can't have him so completely obsessed with everything he reads as he is with HP anyhow.

I wanted to make a few comments that your post made me think about. First, to be careful about judging a child's conceptual understanding by his/her ability to verbalize things in math. It is often very hard for even excellent math students to verbalize multiple ways to solve a problem. The explaining and verbalizing often don't go hand in hand with the math. This is one of the potential pitfalls of some of the common core stuff, asking young elementary students to explain the math behind their work. Second, I think, realize very few students - even good math students - are good at coming up with multiple strategies to solve a problem. I think this is something that needs to be deliberately worked on, and actually can be one of the drawbacks of homeschooling one-on-one - you don't have 20 other kids, some of whom certainly solved the problem another way. (Of course if the teacher isn't actively encouraging kids to share multiple strategies, the classroom kids don't benefit from this either). Can you model this? After the first way a problem is solved, share another way you know how to solve this. Or give hints for another way, etc. I think there needs to be a lot of repetition of the idea of going back to the problem after a solution has been attained and looking at it again. Usually kids just want to get through and never even consider this. Last, I think if you're looking for more numeracy, I think mental math is an important can be a good focus. I have been looking at the Singapore-based Mental Math workbooks to add for my son - they have the look inside on amazon and I thought they looked promising and it's a relatively short and cheap workbook. I like the idea of choosing a challenge problem or two a day to go in-depth with and do together with your child. Model it out loud, make connections, and consider multiple strategies as frequently as you can.

My son finished Saxon 3 in first grade in his charter. As I recall, it just barely introduces single digit by multidigit multiplication in the last 10-20 lessons (which they gave us for the summer and didn't get to in school really). He had done Saxon 1 in K and then skipped 2 to do Saxon 3 in first. I would say based on your post, skip over Saxon 3. It is slow and easy for an advanced kid to keep up, especially if you look over his stuff for the first little while. The other thing is that are you sure they are using 5/4 for the next grade? In our charter they continue with Intermediate 4 rather than 5/4. I think that Intermediate 4 is still a workbook, so you don't have the copying the questions from a textbook issue that is difficult for younger kids with the 5/4 textbook. That would eliminate that potential concern. Although I can see why many say Saxon isn't good for gifted math students, I think it's mainly because it can be boring. IMO, the slow approach isn't awful; it's gentle and easy for them to do independently when a teacher can't really work one on one, and I thought the math being taught was still pretty solid. I also liked the investigations they had and that there was some explicit discussion of problem solving strategies for these lessons.

I admit to being a bit shocked at the reveal of the book. In general, I think that is a much more fun and appealing book to a pre-teen/teen boy than a lot of things I would expect to be on the reading list. Like, I remember reading Taming of the Shrew in Gr 8 - no comparison. Hitchhiker is one of my DH's favorite books and up there for me too. Of course, we do like sci fi, and all things British comedy, so there you go. How far did you get in it? I think it picks up (at least for me) after they get off the Vogon ship? Have you tried the movie?

Is there an advantage in ordering directly from them? I have a few of these resources and I think I have gotten some from Rainbow Resource and some from Amazon but none directly from them.

Can anyone comment on the non-base sets? I have the biggest base set, the 750, but sometimes look at the ones called lights electronics, arcade electronics, snaptricity, motion electronics, sound electronics, etc. I can't figure out how much overlap there is in these kits, which has the least overlap, and which would be the coolest to add... By the way if you're interested, I would imagine at least some of these sets would be on sale black friday / cyber monday.

Thanks for all the replies and for soothing my first day panic. I am mulling your thoughts over as I decide what we'll do. I asked him to draw a picture and write 2 sentences on Stuart Little yesterday. It was kind of laughable, and not his best effort by any means. I am doing some read-alouds with him. I don't really love reading aloud as it goes too slowly for me and I have terrible aural comprehension, but I force myself. I am trying to do read alouds on myths, fables, and fairy tales each day/night before bed. I am trying to read 2-4 picture books a day to his younger brother, some of which he listens in on. And I also sometimes read aloud the first chapter as a way to get him going on books, as he is sometimes grumpy about reading (wants to be playing). I need to give it more time, I know and see how things develop.

I am new to this, and trying to take the advice to start slow with my 2nd grader, focusing on reading, writing, and math. In addition, I was thinking of mainly not worrying about spelling, vocabulary, and grammar, as he's ahead of grade level and seems to do all right naturally - I wanted to keep it simple. My primary goal was to emphasize reading, and have him get through more books. So I'm second guessing myself after day 1. I did a little bit of a rough run last week and today was our official first day. As far as LA, he did a bit (10-15 min) of a workbook on writing. Then I talked to him about grammar for about two minutes. Then we pulled out a book - Stuart Little. I had him read me about four pages aloud, then he went off and read it and finished it. Then we discussed it for just a couple of minutes, I showed him a list of vocabulary from the book and we discussed what a few words meant. What I'm concerned about is spending one or two days at most on a book and whether he will be getting enough out of them if he is reading 3 to 5 books a week. Last week he read Half Magic, The One and Only Ivan, and El Deafo (thanks recs from other threads). Should I be delving in deeper, asking more questions, making him reread? I can't imagine having to reread chapter books repeatedly a la FIAR. And I am not sure I have time to keep up with reading all of them (didn't read El Deafo, for example, so couldn't really ask him much about it). While I think his comprehension is OK, I also know he can gloss over or miss details and possibly major plot points... should I worry about that? I was aiming to eliminate busywork like worksheets for a boy who hates them, but now I'm wondering if that's doing him a disservice in terms of retention and learning. Do I need to think about close reading and requiring some kind of output or is just a large volume of reading enough? Should I specifically work on comprehension when it's above average for his age or just assume it will develop with time? I thought I knew what I wanted, but I don't know what I'm doing.

I quite like the app SlateMath K-1. It's free and I think it's high quality for a free app. I think it's pretty neat, although my kids love some of the games better than others. Counting Caterpillar is simply a counting app (count from 1 to 100, also skip counting by 2, 5, 10). But my kids both have liked it because you collect butterflies so that motivates them to do it. It's $2, but I got it on sale at some point I think.

I just requested to be added. Just one for me. Thanks for taking action, Jennifer.

Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom. Only 1 season (10 episodes).

I asked my 7 y.o what he wanted to learn about this year. This is our first year officially homeschooling and I wanted some interest-led stuff in the elective/social studies/science realms. He replied, "secret passages and portals" (not even sure what his mind has conjured up here, either magic (harry potter) or sci fi (star trek, superheroes)). My initial thought was I am going to look into some architecture related stuff. Does this strike a chord with anyone or spark any brilliant ideas on projects, tangential topics, field trips, resources or books that come to mind? I always love the ideas everyone comes up with. Thanks!

I'm just chiming in to say my son wants a membership but I'm not shelling out full price, so I'm looking for a group buy.

This will be our first year actually homeschooling. The reason my rising 2nd grade son (age 7) is on board is the lack of homework and more time to play. My reasons include wanting him to have strong academics at his level, no busy work, and time to explore his interests, which in my mind includes play. My question is, what is an appropriate number of hours of play per day for a 7/8 year old? What do you think is average? I am trying to reconcile how much he wants to play versus giving him an appropriate amount of school work, assigned chores, and outside activities. Coming from public school, my son feels entitled to his summer vacation and it seems like he plays all day sometimes. I am left feeling like if we have "not enough time" for what we want to do now, what is it going to be like during school? When can I cut him off from play and not feel like an ogre and not impact the desirable benefits that result from play? I'm not sure how to strike a balance.

I thought it was much better than last year, when there was nothing of interest to me (my main categories for searching are art and toys) and so little quantity I couldn't get anything. I picked up some art supplies (e.g. derwent watercolour pencils), some toys (lego), some games and quasi educational stuff (robotics) including some kind of remote controled machine thing and an osmo, which someone raved about a few weeks ago. I didn't see any kindle book deals (someone mentioned above?). also, how do you use tap/echo/alexa to listen to audiobooks. do you have to have them on audible?

This is on sale for $24 at Steam during their Summer Sale through July 4. It's certainly interesting and has potential for learning.

I did it. I was fighting with my son about his homework starting in November. In February/March, I called it quits. I told his teachers (reading, math and "homeroom") that we weren't doing it any more. This was 1st grade. They had him do as much as he could in class and sometimes held him in at recess. The teachers reacted differently - the reading teacher, whose hw is what sent us over the edge told me I was violating the Parent Handbook agreement. The math teacher sympathized. The curriculum he was doing was spiral, with heavy busywork and tests in reading and math every two weeks. He continued to score above 80% on all tests after not doing homework. His homework was 2-3 pages of math every night, 2 pages of reading comprehension worksheets, 5 reading comprehension questions plus a writing assignment every night (and a weekly spelling assignment). The writing assignment went from "write a paragraph" daily in the first half of the year to "write an essay" daily for the second (with the occasional write a newspaper article or write a poem). In 1st grade. It was ridiculous. They group for math and reading and he was working with a 3rd grade math text (with mostly 2nd graders) and a 4th grade reading text (with mostly 3rd graders). So I understand a little why the output requirements were higher, but even 3rd/4th graders shouldn't be given an essay every night IMO. Anyway, the whole thing spiraled when the reading teacher was reticent to work with us, saying she didn't want to lower the standards of the class, and I eventually told her we weren't doing it anymore at all. I should mention a big portion of it has to do with the burden of handwriting for a 6/7 year old physically, especially with a boy whose handwriting isn't great (read: legible) when rushed. That a request to type hw was denied. And that in January reading teacher said illegible HW has to be redone. Also, he kept up on homework on November and December, but was unable to do any reading at home whatsoever at that time. When we dropped homework, my son was able to read Harry Potter 1-4 between March and May. However, it has put me in an awkward situation now. We were able to make it through a few months, but I don't know if I can send him back to that school and continue the defiance for another year. I am looking to homeschool now, but not sure whether I can make it happen. My son loves his school, just not the homework and all the testing. But he will miss the kids and will be sad if I tell him for sure he's not going. And I felt tense and unhappy with a divided mind through the whole thing. Finally, to echo some others - not a lot of time for afterschooling. He had time for some extracurriculars, dinner, a little play and a little reading. And I still felt like he wasn't getting enough sleep. I don't know how some of the afterschooling peeps get it done consistently.

For the Teach Your Monster to Read, it's free but looks like still in beta for both ipad and android. Check out their facebook post for info and how to download: https://www.facebook.com/TeachYourMonsterToRead/?fref=nf

My 4 year old son is a picky eater. I am looking for ideas to improve his current diet and I know there's a wealth of parenting experience here. I am actually concerned that with me refusing him certain foods and his pickiness he is not getting enough to eat. His height percentile is in the 60%, his brother's in the 90%. Might not be the food or lack of protein but I would feel better if he were eating more. I should probably indicate that my preferred diet for him would be a whole foods with minimal wheat/bread/pasta and sugar. Both parents are obese, and we'd like to teach healthy eating habits. My major concern is lack of meat and protein/fat in his diet. He started refusing meat 3 years ago, just when he turned one. He usually will eat meat (generally steak, but has been beef stew, tuna fish, etc) about once a month. He will eat a relatively large portion that once but if you give him the same thing the next day or later that week - it's a no. He will also eat an unlimited amount of bacon. He will frequently say yes to restaurant corn dogs and chicken nuggets (but not homemade). I am loathe to give these to him very much. He has in the last 6 months started refusing more foods that he would usually eat before. This includes cooked vegetables (roasted broccoli, asparagus, spinach, green beans) and scrambled eggs. I am particularly unhappy about the loss of eggs in his diet. Other things that he won't eat that might be surprising includes any kind of potato or sweet potato except fries, corn (on the cob, frozen kernels, etc), and beans. He eats nothing with sauces, dips, etc. He sometimes eats rice and sometimes won't. A typical day of food might be: 2-3 tablespoons of peanut butter, 2 cups whole milk, 2 oz cheese, either some nuts (macademia, cashew) or pistachio) or a bowl of whole fat greek yogurt with honey, 1-2 wasa (rye) crackers with butter, a larabar (nut/date bar), a decent amount of raw fruit, some raw veggies (mainly cucumber, carrot, and grape tomatoes). This feels to me like it is overstating the amount he eats daily, but it is simultaneously pretty comprehensively what he eats normally. He would love more bread, doughnuts and cookies, candy, ice cream, and pasta. I try really hard not to give him these, and I still think he gets too much. I am wondering about recipes that might sneak in eggs, protein powder, or more fats (maybe olive oil or coconut oil?). I am wondering about whether I should be giving him more bacon, corn dogs, and chicken nuggets or not, considering the quality of the food vs protein content. I am wondering about the "being exposed" to foods 15 times when he absolutely refuses a single bite, ever (and he always wins) - dad is doing a LC diet and is eating almost exclusively meat so it's offered every day. Looking for feedback and ideas, whether brilliant, simple, practical, or unusual.

To second what Segway said, Toca Boca, Sago Mini and Dr. Panda are like the kings of the preschool play apps imo. Anything by them will be loved by the PreK/K crowd pretty much. Some are more super open ended with a lot of opportunity for creation than others. Speaking of that, I can't pick out one specifically but there are some art apps that would be good too. There's also the Pepi series of preschool apps and my kids particularly like the My PlayHome apps also. (These are all play apps, but have exploratory/imaginative play value imo, and useful for road trips). More educationally, Starfall has some apps for Android with ABC stuff, and Teach Your Monster to Read has an android app that's free (but may need internet, not sure?). PBS apps are always a few bucks each and rarely to never go on sale, but I don't think you can go horribly wrong with them. I don't know what to recommend for older elementary kids, but would love to find out what's out there..

Interesting thread. I just borrowed it from the library this week, and am only through the first 30 pages or so. I am motivated to read more of it. I see the point that hashing everything to death isn't good. At the same time, I was thinking about using light discussion to replace answering tedious worksheets and answering comprehension questions. Comparatively, discussing things for a minute or two seems a lot less onerous. I was hoping DP would help teach me how to have more meaningful discussions about it. On the close reading thing, it is like they tried to figure out how to explain "reading comprehension" to kids who weren't getting it, and this is what they came up with. It seems arduous, torturous, etc. But it may be that it is useful for those who really aren't getting it. And if they aren't getting it, they probably wouldn't be enjoying it for fun, either, I suppose. But I do agree with you about not everything having a deep meaning, insane amounts of symbolism and references, etc. That's something I thought about and struggled with in HS and University literature classes. Am I a failure of a reader if I would never have gotten all this symbolism by myself? Is the role of the teacher to simply point out the symbolism and references that the students wouldn't have seen? I wrote this insanely long paper on Macbeth in like 10th or 11th grade and it felt like in finding all these examples of symbolism I was just making crap up. Half the time, that is what I think the academic papers are doing too. As a teacher, do you view things as having only one "right" interpretation, or with evidence can you believe an alternate explanation (or no explanation). How does your position change depending on if the author is alive and actually comments, etc. I am rambling I know. Once I get going in this vein, I am just troubled by the purpose of the classics.