The WTM has suggestions, but they are by no means set in stone. You will find as you go along that what works for one family does not work for yours. We are all unique. I like having some programs lay things out for me, because when the day gets busy, you know you still were able to work with your Ker. I can see the youngest as easy to fall through the cracks, especially if mom is so busy with lots of older siblings. Also remember, the original poster says her kid 'wants to do school.' Should she say no? (JK!) My DD3 says she wants to do school. So we do school, at her level. ETA: We do 100EZ, RS Math, and homegrown copywork. DD sits with me, and our little white board with large lines on it. I draw a letter, and she draws the letter next to mine and we keep alternating back and forth untill the line is full. She watches how I create the letter, and I can instantly correct her technique. When the board is full, we are done.

I use a different program to cover what is in the beginning of OPGTR, and then switched over into section four somewhere. But once we started using the book, we did do every page, and eventually did the 'one new, two review' every day. By the time we got to that point, it was not too much reading for my oldest, but I shall see with the others. It seems like a lot of phonics, but you have to remember where this book is taking your child: to a fourth grade reading level (if I remember correctly). Just remember you are in this for the long haul, and it can feel like a long haul sometimes. But it is just one book. Have a big party when you finish, Make it a big event, because it will be. I did not read everything off verbatim that the instructor is supposed to say. Sometimes it was just too much talking from me to keep DD's attention. She just wanted to read. So I tended to summarize. For example, in Lesson 108, I would summarize the second section into something like, 'These words look the same as these up here, but are sounded differently. The U makes the /oo/ sound. Let's try it.' Much more succinct for a young reader. ETA: I did not make DD memorize all the rules, I wanted her to internalize what the sounds could be. I wanted her to enjoy reading, and get to a point where she can read what she really wanted to read. We have gone over more explicit phonics rules in spelling.

I think you need to figure out how much you care about the results for the test, and go from there. If the test results don't mean anything to you, and they don't affect your daughter's future, then they don't matter. If the results DO matter, then personally, I would take steps to work towards better test results. I love teaching truth, beauty, and goodness. I want my children to have great connections and ideas. BUT my family must also operate in the modern real world, which does not believe in the same things I believe in. My state tells me what subjects I must teach (though in lower grades it does not tell much how much I must teach in each subject), requires my children to take standardized tests periodically (though all they need to show is improvement), and eventually they could end up in classes that require them to learn a set of facts and regurgitate them. I'm hoping when my children get to this point, something in the system would have changed, but I realize that it is the world we live in. We try so hard to give our children the ideal education... :sad:

Thank you for responding. I realize that is all that is necessary, but there is that voice in my head saying, "is this really it?" I will try and see what happens. So far I have been lucky in that my school district seems friendly towards homeschoolers.

Could someone please give me an idea of where to start with this? All I see in the regulations is 'written narrative' and 'adequate academic progress.' So I am sitting and staring at a blank screen wondering how to compose this. About the only sample online I could find was this. Is that really all that is needed?

I started eldest DD in RS B1 in kindergarten. (I have never tried RS A.) We just went at her speed, and if we ever hit a spot where she didn't seem to be getting it, we would stop and play the math games for a while. The games are a big part of the program, and a fun way to drill math. Eventually something in her brain would click, and we would move on to the next lesson. Now, we are about 1/2 of the way through C1 and still going strong. DD7 has had such a good foundation in math from this program. Her ability to manipulate numbers in her head blows me away sometimes. My current plan is to finish up RS C1 and then I'd like to try some BA and see how she does with that, and go from there. I am torn between BA's greener grass and 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it!' I have just started doing math light with my second DD (who just turned 5) in the past month. We just play a few early math games based on the early lessons in RS B1 and the table of contents for RS A that you can look at online. We have fun, and it doesn't take that much time. DD3 is determined to "do my reading, writing and math," so I am using RS B1 as a start for her too. She loves lining up her animals to count out ordinal numbers, and doing some easy matching games. I will say this about C1: it is designed for a normal school year, so there is a lot of review in the beginning, where normally kids would be coming back from summer break and have forgotten some things. Since we moved directly from B1 to C1, review was not necessary, and we skipped a bunch of lessons. It can move slow at other times, but I have chosen not to speed through too much. We do a small lesson and then break out the games! I would rather do a short lesson and hope that one addition or subtraction method sticks instead of three methods in one day and hope they all stick.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'll look up the Wheelock Guide, but maybe I just need a different text that is more explicit in the 'why' and 'how.' I got Wheelock from the library to try out before I bought it.

(Bump) So does anyone really know why we are supposed to memorize o, s, t, mus, tis, nt, instead of o, as, at, amus, atis, ant?

I am trying to learn Latin, and I am already stuck on the First Conjugation! Wheelock says: -o, or -m -s -t -mus -tis -nt O or M? Other sources I've looked at just have -o. How do you know when to tack on an M? I have seen other places on the web this paradigm for First Conjugation: -o -as -at -amus -atis -ant With this way, I can see where the macrons are supposed to go easily. (Even though I don't know how to show them here) Is one system better than the other? The top one seems more prevalent, is it better to know that -o is really -ao, but when speaking it doesn't work well so we just say the -o, or is it OK to just get by with the second example? Do kids have trouble remembering to drop the A in -ao and just put an -o?

Problems without numbers are tucked in around the end of the chapters. Try pages 50, 111, and 152 for starters.

A lot of bills do fizzle out, but I just wanted to give people an inkling of what some lawmakers in NY are thinking about. NY loves to regulate everything it seems. New York City has made kindergarten mandatory recently. Who knows what is next.

There is a bill floating around the New York state assembly now that is an attempt to help homeschoolers enter college by changing the rules for needing an high school diploma. The homeschooler would need a notarized transcript instead. Some are worried that the wording could also imply a student can not enter higher education without a transcript, so no dual enrollment. There is a bill in the senate of New York to give an income tax credit for "the purchase of instructional materials approved by the education department or board of regents for use in non-public, home-based educational programs." It is on page 6, section W of the bill for those who wish to read it. There is also a bill in the senate that would make parenting classes mandatory for all parents and guardians. A child would not be admitted to 7th grade unless the parents/guardians attended FOUR parenting seminars. The wording seems to cover all families in NY. There are some other ones in the mix, like two separate bills that require students under 18 to "maintain good school attendance" in order to be eligible for a driver's license or permit. The senate version also requires "satisfactory school grades" (70 or 2.0 gpa). The wording of the bill says a person must either have a diploma or be enrolled in a program leading to a diploma. In NY, homeschooling does not lead to a diploma. These fun filled findings and more can be found at NYHEN (New York Home Educator's Network). :P

I have been doing exactly what EmilyGF suggested with my dd4. We have been doing this for a few weeks, and now she can reliably recognize quantities up to 6 (Lessons 1-3 in RS B). I also look at the table of contents for RS A online to get an idea of what else would be added at that level. We spent some time with patterns and making rectangles with tiles, for example. That mixes up what we are doing a bit so we are not doing number recognition every day. We are also working on the song 'Yellow is the Sun.' Dd4 has it memorized, but she hasn't been able to apply and understand what it means yet. But she is 4! I'm not worried, and she is happy to be 'doing school.'

"Tapping can be done once the leaves are off the tree and until buds are about to open (November through early March). Sap flows are normally sweetest in January and February. On the West Coast, sap often flows a day before or after a weather change. Back East, cold nights followed by warm afternoons give the best flow." http://www.blmaple.net/ ETA: I don't know how tapping the trees during the spring/summer will affect them, but the site above says that the trees use their sugar to grow leaves, branches, buds and more. I have also heard that when the sap warms over 50 degrees Fahrenheit... it either changes the flavor, or mold grows or something. I forget and I can't find my reference. Please be careful with your trees.

Ecclecticmum - You mentioned Math Art in your post, and the name intrigued me so I did a search and came up with multiple books with that title. Which 'Math Art' do you use? (If you were even refering to a book)