Irishmommy, Those are my concerns too. Will he be academically challenged? ( spelling?) Academics are my only concern. I am planning to ring the head teacher tomorrow and your comments have helped me jell some questions about assessment, etc. She says they don't test. I get that, but how do you know where to place them in spelling for instance? ~c.

So, I'm considering putting my 10 and 8 year old in the local , small Montesorri school. moslty as a break for us all and to hopefully get them back loving learning. maybe at Christmas and through next year, then back hom for darling son for 7th grade ( unless he is testing fabuously , then he can stay I recon) I am frequenlty tired and so our work has become a slog to " get it done" there is no joy of discovery. The house and the school room are horrible disorderly piles . not pleasant. ds is saying , " school isn't fun". Because of my energy and personality, I'm not sure I can make it fun. I truly do just want to " get it done" The teacher says ds 10, can bring his Chalkdust Basic math and a video player and that can be his math ( He wants to go to the state Math and Sceince school at grade 10, so we have to stay on a pretty tight math schedule if he is to get in.) I assume he will prtty much be on his own for math though if that's the program I want to use. I would after school Latin and piano teacher says she will make afternoon slots for them. I am planning to call the teacher back tomorrow to ask again about academic rigour .. I'm trying to get classical material in a Montesorri setting. something is going to have to give. one of those things is control on my part. Has anyone else put kids in a school setting for a limited time, for a sabbatical for everyone? Any thoughts, I know this is mostly thinking out loud, but wow, I value this community. ~Christine in al

I pm'ed you, and I'll send you our car copy, but it's only classical. Might someone else be able to send Stacey a complete copy? ( unless your are doing classical, then let me know) ~Christine in al

Staceyshoe cleaned up her house and threw away her cd. I said I'd send her a car copy of mine... I just got it out of the car and realized I only copied the classical part.. Can anyone who still HAS a Song School Latin cd ( unlike me, sold mine) help a sister out and make her a copy? Christine in al

I'm so sorry , honey. I just didn't get anything on my computer but some lines... I didn't get words on my screen at all, I was just trying to say... uhm, I didnt' get that. and not ignore that you had send something. Are y'all better? I truly didn't mean to be snarky in anyway at all. just to convey that what you sent didn't come through to my computer. I hope things are better there. ~Christine

I'll send you our " car copy" cheers. ~Christine in al oops, you'll want to pm me with you addy I suppose. not publish it for the world. but I'll make you a copy . ~c.

I don't have my glasses , I'm I'm supposed to be downstairs with the family not talking to my " imaginary friends" but, I'd love to know what a participle is and what a verbal is. ~c.

I've used Right Start for my first child but am switching to MUS for my second and highly visual ( and stubborn) second child. It has had the unexpected benefit of an external authority. oops, gotta go.

wow, thank you so much. Those links are amazing. so very helpful for ds and me to see. he's really not that far off. He's just now in 5th so these samples are right on target. This was so very helpful , thank you very much. ~Christine in al

the sample was very very helpful. ds' younger sister is an artist and took to cursive at age 6.. ' cause she wanted to " write pretty" so having her in the fmaily is not a helpful thing for him. I'll show him Sweet Pea's work and hopefully he'll relax a bit and keep working, but not freaking out. And I'll keep the OT, dysgraphia thing in mind and move toward that approach too. Thank you so much for going to the trouble to link those samples. christine in al

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I'll check for dsygrahia, etc... the spacing and sizing thing is a struggle here too. A reality check on " average writing skills" would be helpful. any leads on sites for that? ~c.

I agree, but when it comes time for him to write... ie timed essays later.. he won't have the skill. Do you think that it's just a physical development thing and physical writing will come easier say when he hits puberty? his typing is quite good, but he takes a co-op writing class and needs to actually write. he will do it, but when it comes time for him to re-write his science notes for his tutor, he is in agony. ( I'll talke to her about him typing them.. so that's very helpful.)... hmm, maybe more writing when it's not important. ) So, we're on the same page with the typing... he does that, I completely agree that's the way to go sometimes with him... but what about those times when it's not workable? ~c.

Or somework booky thing from Evan Moor. It was an effort to just make sure at least they got SOMETHING. Mine ages 8 and 10 even have a science tutor this year, ( I can barter child care with her) I am looking at Galore Park Jr. Science and So You Really Want to Learn Science. for next year. AND Discovery Education Streaming has amazing videos. but is pricey, last year we got it free through Alabama Public Television, but this year had to buy it through Homeschool Buyers co-op. I look at the state requirements,, ie weather versu climate, and call up some videos for them to watch... very much less than perfect, but something. We bought the Discovery subscription because ds is doing Elementary Spanish via DE Streaming anyway. We already hve the workbook from Northern Arizona University. good luck. ~Christine in al.

He is so frustrated that his work is not neat. It is heartbreaking how hard he works on just getting the eye-hand coordination to do what he wants. He can write in cursive , but he hates both cursive and manuscript. He needs to not be shut down my the physical act of writing. What can I do? It seems to be that the pen or pencil jsut won't go where he wants it to. even his art is stick figures... An art class? a drawing class? please help. ~christine in al

proto type out and back. samplese soon, work continues. yeah!! ~Christine

Any word on how these are coming along ? ~christine in al

about adoption and honestly , it was a sub concious and awkward way of exploring the possibility. might not be the case here..but maybe sometimes it is. And it does sound like she was reaching out in a complimentary way. I love our " pass the bean dip" analogy And about the grocery bagger giving career advice... really? a grocery bagger? My real answer for any " I could never do that" sort of comment was learned from an old mountain , hippy fiddler who chose to do that rather than hold a " real job" Anyone can be a musician, you just have to want it more than you want anything else. Anyone can homeschool, you just have to want it more than you want anything else. And from the same source, when folks tell JD that he should do this or that and he's wasting his life.. etc. he just looks at them and smiles and says, " Thank you" stops 'em every time. ~Christine in al

I am so excited . We lost our first batch of yard birds to a dog, so as we investigated chickens, I found Red Dorkign variety. Most folks think this variety was brought to England with the Roman invasion. They are hard to find, I've been online and looking and looking, found a farm in OK, But THEN found a farm in GA. She is shipping me fertile eggs so we can try to hatch them.. SO excited here. I feel like I'm expecting!!! Just wanted to share. :-) ~c.

FM not lupus. I think the loop schedule will work for us, and we don't ever go to 3:00 My kids love a todo list. when they are finished with the list, they are done. my weakness is tend to put off till tomorrow too easly. But I'm incorporating the looping a bit more so at least everything gets covered. And If Math, Language Arts and piano all get covered, I WILL count it as a school day. but not a great one. ( I also want them to do History, Sciecne, Latin, Modern Foreign Language, cursive, memory work, and geography. every day, I am thinking that each of these every day might be too many things) Do your priorities first. If they only do three things in a day what do those three things NEED to be. At our house, Science was never getting done so I've outsourced that, they have a science tutor. good luck dear, don't go to 3:00 ~Christine

but no guilt. I was the 20 year old girlfriend,,, and not welcomed.. he chose me. If you try to force a choice between parents and love... young love wins. Shakespeare even wrote that play.... I'd consider these: 1. offer ticket for the girlfriend IF you can really include her. 2. talk to your husband about y'all's future as a couple in future Christmases when your children are grown and are developing their own traditions. and yes, sometimes at thier own houses. What do YOU TWO want to do? 3. just tell him how you FEEL. not what he should do about it, or that he is responsible for your feelings, just that you are having them and it's just how hard it is for you that he's growing up and you will miss him. and it's hard for parents to transition from having children to the sideline coaching of being parents of young adults And it's his relationship with his sisters, not yours. He should be the one to tell them if he makes a decision that affects them. Try not to trangulate on this. Just tell him that he needs to tell his sisters. and let it go. \ And one time my husband and I went to his families house for TEN DAYS over the holidays./.....What were we thinking!?!?! oh goodness everyone was ready for us to go. That was 28 years ago. NOW...disclaimer: my oldest is 10, so check back in a decade!!!!!! I'll eat some of these words I know. good luck, but i would truly think of this as a transition. Even if he comes home this year. he won't be coming home forever. Don't use power plays and guilt.. It will carode (spelling ! ) y'all's relationship. ~christine in al

I would start with Music of the Hemispheres. ~c.

:001_smile: I kinda think that too, but having to back track with RS, I'm wondering if it's a good enough fit. She might be a " just the facts kinda girl". She does love worksheets I'll check out the MUS drill site and we'll play some more games. She just took the MUS competency test for Alpha she missed only one subtraction problem. so we'll work on subtraction. and also wait for more ideas RS goes from addition to multiplication, changing scope and sequence might be asking for trouble. ~c.

Please help, I've been using Right STart for both. I love it, DS loves it, well , he appreciates it. And we suppliment with Galore Park Junior Maths. DD flew through level B, then most of level C,, when I realized she just didn't have facts,,, so this year we started over in C. She is very resistent to tell me how she did something. DD, is very visual, ( not so verbal) she loves worksheets, ( she finished her first 9 weeks of Evan Moor problems in the first week of school, " to be done" ) she wants to work independently, she's just turned 8, I think Singapore is great, but I don't get it. WWYD? keep plugging with RS ? MUS? Saxon? other? I'm pretty tired and dont' want to learn ANOTHER program that is teacher intensive. ( I tried MEP and Singapore and dabbled with Saxon for DS 4 years ago, not a fit there) I like that with RS, I open and go. and I like the way the concepts are taught. Please help . Thanks, ~Christine in al

means they'll have nice skin and they know what feels good :lol: ~christine in al