Well, let me clarify. First we have Bible study, then from 9:00 until lunch at 11:30, that is the time we are spending on math. This would be teaching the lesson and doing the work ... and hopefully correcting, but we don't always get through that.

I have three using Saxon (5/4, 6/5 and Algebra 1/2), and we spend almost ALL MORNING on math. TWTM says that at these ages we should be spending between 30 and 60 minutes a day (or 45-60 minutes). I'm not a cookie-cutter teacher that says we need to follow everything by the book, so I'm not that rigid on time, but it seems to me that math takes a long time. Some days we don't even get things corrected. Does anyone else who has multiple children take this long to get through math? I should note that this is our first year homeschooling, and so we're still learning how to work independently and stay on task. Am I alone here? :lurk5:

Where did she get the idea that she needs to be in school to make friends? Is this something that someone told her? Kids are very impressionable, and is it possible that she is living with the false assumption that this is true and she can't have "real" friends in the activities she is already in? Are there kids in your neighborhood that she plays with? What kinds of activities is she in, does she enjoy these, and does she interact with the kids there? Does she enjoy learning with you, and does she enjoy the curriculum you use? There could be many things at play here besides just wanting to go to school. I would try to get to the bottom of it. It sounds like something else is going on if things are bad enough to need counseling, but that counseling can be very helpful if it is from someone who is sound. Of course I cannot tell you that you should or shouldn't send her to ps. All of us here are biased towards homeschooling, and I think for good reasons. Mine don't just concern the "worst case scenarios," but more importantly the humanistic worldview of the public school system, which is in conflict with our biblical worldview. I would also suggest alone time together, as it can be difficult to find your place in a large family as you get older. If she cannot find love from within her own family she will struggle her whole life trying to find it elsewhere. (And this is not to say that it is all your fault, only that you can speak her language so that she can see that she is loved and accepted from the people who matter most.) I hope this is helpful. I will pray for your family.

So this is the end of the second week of our first year homeschooling :) I think things have been going really well, and the kids are learning and seem to be enjoy it too. My quandary is what to do with the last hour of the day. I am not sure I'm packing enough things into the day. I see other people's schedules, and they seem to hold so much. Our days are not packed in yet as we are just getting into the groove: 8:30-9:30 Bible Study (not optional, not changing this one) 9:30-11:30 Math and Language Arts, with a 15 minute recess around 10:00. My dd9 uses Saxon 5/4, dd11 uses 7/6 and ds12 uses Algebra 1/2. He was using 8/7 but seemed bored with it, and I know that he is very math smart and capable of the work in 1/2. 99d uses Rod and Staff English 4, and dd11 and ds12 are sharing Rod and Staff English 7, because dd11 is way advanced in her writing and is ready for this level. However we are all reviewing sentence diagramming together because no one learned this in public school, and we're still working on grasping the concepts. 11:30-12:30 Lunch 12:30-2ish - History (SOTW on Mon. and Wed.) or Science (God's Design for Life on Tues. and Thurs.) 15 minute break after this 2:15ish-3:30 is open time for things like art, logic, free reading or extra Bible study (connecting the dots between SOTW and Biblical history). It is this time I am wondering if I should make more structured. Fridays are off, used for field trips and other commitments. What do your days look like? Is this enough? I am looking to add some computer skills at the end of the day and I am hoping to get the kids' computers fixed by the end of this weekend. Please give me some feedback. Thanks!!

Thanks for your input. We are only into our second week, but I'm finding it hard to keep my ds12 on task with 8/7. My other two are doing great and stay on task pretty well, but he seems bored with it. He is very math smart, and so I have wondered if I should put him into Algebra 1/2 already. But this is our first year homeschooling as well, and so I don't want to push too hard when we're just getting into things and trying to find our groove.

I actually have a couple questions about how you do Saxon Math: How many problems do you give each day for schoolwork? How long do you spend in a day/week on math? Do you include correcting their work in that time? I have kids doing 8/7, 7/6 and 5/4. Thanks!

I like the Tyndale Kids series Questions Children Ask. (101 Questions Children Ask About God, 102 Questions Children Ask About the Bible, etc) I also like Ken Ham's Answers in Genesis ministries for questions kids ask about creation and evolution. :)

I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. I don't know about the labels, and quite frankly I do agree that sometimes people are too quickly to label children when there is absolutely nothing wrong. Sometimes things are wrong however, so diligence is important. With that said, none of my kids knew how to follow instructions on their homework until they were "trained" to. And none of them even now follow more than one instruction, maybe sometimes 2, at a time. The older ones are 9, 11 and 12. So here is what helps us. For homework, my kids like to underline the key word in the instruction, and this helps them remember what they are supposed to do. Last year my 9 year old, in 3rd grade (in ps then), had some subject/predicate work (underline subject, circle predicate). I had to do this with her for several weeks before she internalized it and was able to do it herself. She is a bright kid. She just didn't get it yet. For doing multiple tasks, two things work for us. One is lists. The kids have a chore list. If the chore is not written down, only one of the tasks tends to get done. So we found that if we write the things down, the child can go down the list and make sure what needed to get done gets done. The other thing that really works is having them explain things back to us. It looks like this: 1. Make eye contact. Make sure there are no distractions (eg: TV, loud music, etc). 2. Explain what needs to be done (eg: "Could you please get dress and brush your teeth. We are getting ready to go to the store") 3. Have the child repeat back what they understand. (eg: "what do you understand?" "I need to get get dress and brush my teeth. I need to do these things so we can be ready to go to the store") After this point they have shown they understand what has been spoken to them and what the task is that they need to do. If they have a question they are free to ask or if they forget a part of the instruction they can ask. But they usually don't because they have heard and repeated back the instruction. This is also useful in discipline. Example: (After making eye contact - sometimes having to say, "Please look at me") "You need to share the game. You cannot play it all by yourself and tell your little sister she cannot play. Do you understand?" "Yes." "What do you understand?" "That I need to share the game. It's not nice of me to tell her she can't play." I hope this is helpful. It took me a little too long to figure this out (:banghead:) and so I wanted to pass along what I've learned. Things have been so much calmer in the house since implementing this.

Verbal apologies are very important in our household, because they allow the person to admit what they have done wrong and then make things right. BUT actions must follow the apology or it is meaningless. You can't say, "I'm sorry and I'll never do it again," and then walk away and do the same thing five minutes later. Something else I have learned is that verbal apologies are not the only type of apology. While it is important to make things right verbally as soon as a wrong has been committed, we have found that sometimes it is hard to make amends if one party is not ready to hear the apology of the other, if it is a more serious offense, or sometimes if the offense happened right as someone was heading out the door or if it was over the phone. In this case I have found that a written apology can also be extremely effective. I have had to learn how to make good verbal apologies. I find for myself sometimes the written one is easier. And my husband appreciates the written apology because it is one way I know how to express my heart, and this sometimes better than I know how to say it. I find my thoughts flow better on paper when I have time to think about what I need to say than in the heat of the moment when, "I'm sorry!" might come more out of emotion and the desire to make things right than from real brokenness and repentance. Humility and brokenness - the attitude of the heart - is more important even than the words spoken or written. My husband has expressed this to me, that the attitude with which you come with your apology is so important. An arrogant, "I'm sorry" never makes things right.

We're Acts 20:24 Veritas Academy. It just fits us. Acts 20:24 is the name of our ministry. Veritas means truth, which is important to us as well. We're really not into the subjective humanism of the public school system. We believe what we believe in because it is true, not because it just "works" for us or makes us feel good. One day I hope to become certified in our state via a weekend university program available here. We have a vision to be able to do also teach other kids besides our own, if only for afterschooling or tutoring. In our state you can teach your own children but no one else's without a license ("Not even your own grandkids," as I was told). Great question. I have enjoyed reading the other answers :)

We use empty baby wipe plastic containers, one each for crayons, pencil crayons, markers and pens and pencils :)

We are doing biology this year. My kids are in 7th, 6th, 4th and K. What kind of science tools do you use for your science lessons and experiments? We have 2 microscopes. I would like to get a couple magnifying glasses and an anatomical model. What do you consider essential tools?:bigear:

The only thing that really works is a change in lifestyle and adding exercise to your change of eating habits. There is no quick fix. But losing weight, at least after having babies, wasn't too hard for me. I just started walking every day around the park across from our house, and cut down on the amount of junk food I ate. For example, instead of eating 8 cookies with milk before bed, have just 4 cookies. Small changes. I also eat less frozen food like chicken nuggets and french fries and eat more "home cooking" like chicken and potatoes for supper. It is more work to cook but healthier for me and my family. These small steps have really worked for me.

I'm not sure what part of the city yet. We used to live in Pilsen before we moved to Washington :) Thanks for your help! Where do you live? Are there any homeschool groups that you attend?

http://www.cps.edu/Programs/Academic_and_enrichment/Pages/Homeschooling.aspx So on this link it says the Chicago Public Schools "request" these forms. Does that mean I don't actually have to submit them? But if I don't submit them then how does the school board know that my kids are not truant but are receiving home education? Also, can anyone tell me what kind of homeschool support groups/co-ops/etc exist in Chicago?

Well, we're all set to begin our first year of homeschooling here in Washington State. But my mother-in-law has been talking about buying a house in Chicago where she lives and wants us to move in with her. We have talked about having her by a house with us over here, but she really wants us to go there. So my question is for anyone who homeschools in Chicago (or in Illinois in general)... I am really ignorant to the homeschool laws there. What are the requirements? How much can the state meddle in our methods of homeschooling? I noticed on the form that you have to tell the Chicago school district HOW you are going to teach and with WHAT curriculum. Here in Washington all you have to do is fill out a declaration of intent to homeschool saying you are homeschooling and that's it. Also, what kind of support for homeschoolers exists there? Here there are lots of homeschoolers in a close-knit community, and lots of homeschool groups, moms' nights out, etc to get together. I love the big city and there is SO much interaction there with all the museums and such. I guess I am just looking for a little support, looking at the possibility of moving across the country for the THIRD time... Can anyone tell me about homeschooling in Chicago? Thanks so much :bigear:

When do you order your curriculum for the next year? Is now too early? How long is it possible to wait without having all the books out of stock? :bigear:

First try undoing the system restore, and then install and run Malwarebytes. This is the best software for getting rid of viruses. (And it's free :)) This has worked for us, and also for my mother when she got a virus.

My dd9 was the exact same way a year ago. She was reading at lower than a kindergarten level at the beginning of third grade. The thing that really helped was just practice. Lots of practice. Reading 20 minutes at a time any story book that she wanted to read. Now she tests at almost third grade. In a year she almost completely caught up. So I wouldn't worry too much. Just keep working at it :) Another thing is she got glasses this year. This may or may not have had an impact on her troubles learning how to read in the past.

We are having the opposite problem. It is very dry up here in WA and we need a humidifier. We were told to keep the humidity between 30 and 50% in order to keep from mold (as a previous poster said). You can by a humidity monitor for $2 at Walmart. It's definitely a good idea to have a healthy humidity in your home.

We're going into our first year. I was thinking something along the lines of: Mon-Thurs mornings - Math and Language Arts Mon, Wed after lunch - History Tues, Thurs after lunch - Science Afternoons after history or science - whatever "extra" for that day (Logic, Art, Computers, etc) I'm not sure if I'm going to have too much spare time with this schedule, or if I'll be cramming too much in... :bigear:

I do have a copy of TWTM (2nd). I would like to fit Spanish in there somewhere once we get settled in. Bible is a given too (left that out, but we always start our day with it, even now). I want to do Latin with my 4 year old and younger ones as they grow up and are old enough, but will probably wait a year for the big kids if we do it at all. I teach music, so that's not part of our school day, although it is part of our week outside of school

We're going into our first year homeschooling next year. I know it's going to take some time to get adjusted to our new schedule. How many subjects do you teach? I was thinking Math, Language Arts (grammar, reading, writing, spelling, cursive), History, Science, Logic and Art/Music appreciation. Am I missing anything? They will be in 7th, 6th, 4th and K. Thanks!

Next year we're planning on doing a 4-day week, Monday through Thursday, with Friday being for library, field trips, and other around-town things. How do you schedule your homeschool week when you only have 4 days?