I love FIAR book lists and the idea behind it. I treat it like I do any of the other resources that we use. I use what we need, take helpful ideas and discard the rest. I am currently teaching a FIAR co-op class and the kids seem to be enjoying it. I never read a book 5 times. We "row" books 2 weeks at a time. I use the book we are reading at the time for copywork and narration. We usually read another book relating to the topic and do one or two projects. We don't do lapbooks. We do "Waldorf style" lesson books for each book we row. One year we did make a lot of meals and art projects at the end of each two-week period. It was time consuming but I planned it all at once in the summer and stuck everything I wanted to do in a file folder until I needed it. They still talk about that year and the meals we made.

What works for me is to have a comprehensive planner. I have a Plum Paper teacher planner that I list all of their social/sports/clubs on the calendar section for the whole session in advance. So we will be meeting with our co-op every Friday for the next 12 weeks then I sit down and list the time and label it for the next 12 weeks. Same with swimming, gymnastics and park days. I have a "Field Trip" printout I got free online and I fill it out every time we got to a museum, theater or workshop. I can fold them and keep them in the pocket of the planner. What is most helpful for me is to label what did weekly but after we have done it. So I label subjects as Math, Language Arts etc. and then this week I would fill in what we accomplished last week in every box. I put all 3 children in the same box. It takes me 10 min. once a week to do. You could also do the same thing but fill it out every night for the "school day" just completed. I save completed workbooks and samples of progress. Copywork and notebooking works well because it's all together in a spiral notebook already. If it's loose I might save something every month or so in every category. I just have a cubby that I pile it in totally unorganized and then at some point in the year I put it in a binder. I take pictures of artwork or quick videos of music lessons or things that are nice but I don't want to keep.

If I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the 5 year old at a time when I normally would not, then I would take that opportunity. I do not spend my days "at elbow" with my 10 year old. We go through a lesson and then he works through it with me popping back in every few minutes or him asking me questions while I'm in the kitchen etc. Is your son able to handle some things independently while you focus on your daughter? Could you get him set up on one task while you play with her, then switch for the next thing and work with him, then shift back to her. Asking a 5 year old to amuse herself for that many hours while you focus on him is tough. If she is only doing it for short bursts of time which is broken up with direct interaction and fun with you and your son is a lot more manageable for her. I would have on hand things for her to do while she sits with you both at the table. I have a shelf of quick games, an art cart so they can independently do crafts and books that are rotated. Anything that they might remotely enjoy, I encourage them to all participate. So read-aloud to both of them, play a game together, involve her in art and have her listen to history while she keeps her hands busy with Lego or something.

I would go ahead and try out cursive. My oldest son taught himself to write when he was 3-4 and his writing sounds a bit like your daughter's. He forms his letters from the bottom or goes over them too many times and it's quite sloppy. I tried to remediate it for two years and I still haven't seen much improvement but he wanted to learn cursive when he was 7 so we did. His cursive however is beautiful, clean, quick and legible. I think he finds it much easier and now in his personal writing it's a mixture of both. I do not print really so I've just decided it's not the hill I am willing to die on.

My 10 year old likes them and has read them for a few years. Not difficult reading level and not terribly challenging vocabulary but I stop short of calling them twaddle. He has referenced some of the history he learned in them and that inspired him to read more about some topics. The kind of book one could read in a day. I think I lump them in the same basket as Horrible Histories which my son loves. Not as dry and depressing (his words) as Wicked History but engaging for the child that enjoys historical fiction and things like that.

We very rarely take actual sick days. If they are truly sick (vomiting, fever, just lethargic) then they gladly go lay down. I carry on with the other children as normal. If they just don't feel great or are tired well sorry. Get some tea, put a sweater on etc. but studies will continue. Surely they are not too sick to hold a pencil or read a book. If we get stuck in a cycle of people being vaguely sick and tired all the time then I will reevaluate our schedule. Perhaps less running around doing activities and errands, more insistent on early bedtimes, take a look at our diet, kick up the probiotics etc. But the party line is typically, "Sorry you don't feel well sweetie, I'll make you some tea." I also see no problem with just hitting the basics (morning work, math and literature) and then letting them go rest or whatever they need. No screens regardless during the week.

On average in a week my 5th grader is writing about 2 pages total (3-5 paragraphs each) across different areas. He does a journal entry with a writing prompt once a week and ranges from 2-4 paragraphs with that. Then we notebook for our content subjects and switch every other week. So this week he might do a written narration with key points (about 3-5 paragraphs) for history and then next week do the same for science. Sometimes he enjoys doing a "book report" type written summary of some of his favorite books he has read. Those end up being about 5 paragraphs or maybe a little more.

Both of my older children are advanced readers but have solidly age appropriate spelling skills so those things are not typically related. While my son has an adult reading level, he is still in R&S 4 and it is challenging. He does do it independently but frequently I need to walk him through things. There is a big jump in difficulty from 2 to level 3. So my 6 year old is able to do level 2 and it is not a significant challenge, I am dragging it out because I know a few lessons into level 3 would be too much for her. Only you know how his spelling is so taking a look at the samples might be helpful. Some children are natural spellers and some need more hand holding and still others need intensive scaffolding.

This is very much how we approach our studies with the use of Main Lesson Books and handwork. We still do use a workbook and/or text for math, Latin, French and a couple other workbooks that my children enjoy using. For science, Literature, History and geography topics, spelling, penmanship (i'm sure there's more but I can't think of them now) basically we use a Lesson Book. It's been really great for us. I realize that there is a lot more to it. We are eclectic, so not fully immersed in any one methodology. I feel like the mix of Classical, Charlotte Mason and Waldorf combine well for us without having to be prescriptive about it.

If reading comprehension is what you are worried about, I have always found it better to discuss short reading samples or non-fiction. Things like science and history. Otherwise I feel like it would kill the love of just reading a good book. Other than discussing the book or certain things they enjoyed, no I don't think dissecting it is helpful or necessary at this point. It's not my job to decide what they get out of a book or what "I" think the main points are. That's not how good literature works. I want them to enjoy reading and to read widely. I pick 7-8 books for my 9 year old and maybe 2-3 for my 6 year old that I really want them to read. We loosely discuss those over dinner or in the car etc. Otherwise I let them read whatever they want (within reason) at whatever pace they want and I don't bug them about it.

My daughter started using this one when she was 5. I don't know the brand but it's easy to hold and manipulate for her.

Both of my older children have learned with HWT. It's easy and they like it and it gets done with no complaints. Once they got comfortable they made their own adjustments and so neither script looks exactly like the HWT font anymore. It was just a great jumping off point. My son started at 7 and my daughter started at 5 and they both write primarily in cursive now.

I think the key is to keep it fresh. Nothing works well all the time for me but some things work really well on different occasions. As long as I have another idea for when the thing that was working stops working, then we can manage around him. The most successful option is to give him one on one time first thing in the morning. If I read to him, play a game and/or just cuddle but me focused on him for about 30 min. before 9am helps tremendously. He goes into destructive mode when he feels like he can't be heard or can't keep up with the other two. Time consuming food options. He can spend a good 15 minutes on some carrots and hummus. Fold washcloths under the table. It's only mildly disruptive. I downloaded Hoopla onto my phone and I can check out up to 7 digital books a month. Park him in the recliner and he can have his own personal "read-aloud" time. I just discovered I can do the same with the YouTube Kids App and then it goes to sleep after a set time. Lately having the 6 year old do her 10 min read aloud time with him has been helpful as long as it's a day when they are not trying to harm one another. Now we can get through with a minimum of screaming as long as I keep rotating all of the above.

Tokyo Pen Shop!

The usual stuff we get lots of notebooks, graph paper notebooks, so many pencils and erasers and lead for mechanical pencils. Special stuff I got this year was cute erasers, notecards shaped like animals on a d-ring for Latin and French flash cards, post-its and duct tape to cover notebooks.

It's just easier for us to school year round and take breaks when it seems like a good idea. We were super burned out so we took two weeks mid-June and now are back to a lighter summer schedule. The plan is to finish up some of our basics and then take another break for two weeks in August and start our "new school year" at the end of August before our outside activities start up again in September. I do try to balance the work in the summer with lots of opportunities for them to be bored and do what they want and also swimming, and all the typical summer activities.

That is basically what we do. I have a basket with a pre-selected reading list for the year. My oldest has to read from a "school book" for 30-40 minutes a day. The 6 year old has to read for 15 minutes. They can pick whichever book they want from the basket for their required reading time. They read lots on their own from books of their own choosing (within reason) but they must pick something from the basket for their reading time. It's worked well for the past 2 years. All the books are ones I have selected but they get the control to pick what they want to read and when.

Private language tutors, all the music lessons and sports at the best facilities. Books, so many books and a maid. Personal assistant for me to juggle appointments, bills and scheduling and then go pick me up some coffee whenever I need.

Mine are all early risers with everyone awake by about 6:30. My oldest wakes up anywhere from 5a-6:30 and always has no matter what time he goes to bed. From birth to about 3, that just means I got up when he got up. At 4 the older two got those clocks that light up and change colors. They can wake up when they are ready but must stay in their rooms and play or read quietly until the clock turns green (7am). They frequently walk out of their rooms at 7:01 fully dressed and beds made so who knows what time they actually got up. That obviously doesn't work with a little one. I wake up when the 3 year old wakes up. He wakes up as soon as he hears me if I get up earlier. I shower and prep the night before. We prep breakfast at night as well. Children's audio books on my phone (if he's up before 6am because I just can't interact at that hour) gets hims to sit quietly while I have my coffee and do my morning chores.

I start planning for the next year in maybe March and then start buying materials for September to February. I'm usually done by about July. We take all of August off and I want to have everything I need so that all I am doing in August is organizing, putting things and curating. I then usually place another couple of orders in January for February through the end of July. I found I was being overly optimistic about what we could accomplish in the Fall and then bored in the late Winter so breaking it up works best for us.

Using the Deconstructing Penguins method of understanding (which I really, really like) then I think he is both. Sidenote, shortly after reading it at home we had the opportunity to see a theater adaptation and I ugly cried through the entire show.

HWT has those Character Traits, U.S Presidents and I think another one. I'm pretty sure the same books come in different scripts at RR. We have the Presidental quotes book and my 9 year old enjoys it.

I am currently dealing with a very similar situation. In this case their home is also filthy and cluttered to the point of being dangerous and with human and pet waste. The condition of the home and their constant state of filth was my main concern. My husband and I thought really, really hard about if we should report them. I do not have a close enough relationship to discuss it in depth but others who do have tried unsuccessfully. I see that they are trying, it's just so far gone though that the climb up is hard. In your situation it may be that it seems overwhelming at this point and they don't know where to start. I would funnel books and offer experiences to them when I could. The thing that was the decision maker for me was that would their lives be better off if an outside authority were to intervene? We decided that for whatever the issues are, they are loved and provided for and they are very bonded to their parents so risking their removal was not a positive outcome. If the parents are already stressed and it has just filtered down to the children, then the added stress of calling CPS would not be in their best interest either. What I decided to do instead was to help the children when I could and be encouraging to her when I see efforts made. Whether or not their children are reading on level or at all is none of my concern.

The reality is the a high volume of writing is required in the lower grades. There is a high focus on content and expression. In order to achieve that, they need to let some things go. Spelling with very young children is what gets put aside. There are so many components to writing that it seems unrealistic to nitpick 5-6 year olds when they are working so hard at simply forming letters and getting a thought out on paper. I assume this refers to when he is doing things like journaling, questions of the day and morning work? If your child is going to be in a brick and mortar school, there really doesn't seem to be a way around this for a majority of teachers. It's not laziness, they really actually do believe this a stepping stone on the path to greater writing skills. Is that true? For some kids yes for some no, but this is the predominate reality in the school system. Writing is forced in that environment and there will be lots of it. Yes the content ends up being formulaic. That's the price. The problem is with the amount of writing required.The spelling will be worked out over the course of the next few grades and would be the least of my issues.

When my oldest went to PS in Kindergarten, this was the method they used. The goal was to have them become comfortable with expressing thoughts and ideas without worrying about the details. That's a separate skill. Plus if the child is stopping at every word to make sure they are spelling it correctly, then they don't really produce much in the limited time they might have for free writing. Now should they be required to write that much anyway is another topic. First grade is when he started spelling. Still not correcting directly when they were writing on their own but definitely working toward that goal. If he asked me directly, I would sound out the letters for him instead of telling him directly how to spell it. No harm really in the long run for him, just a different direction. When forced to think about it instead of me just telling him, he would refer to those spelling and phonetic rules and usually spell it correctly or at least come pretty close.. We do copywork and dictation and I correct immediately with my 6 year old but when she is free writing I do not correct the spelling at all unless she asks. In that case the answer is to ask her, "How do you think it's spelled?" I want to encourage her to sound it out and remember her spelling rules for the most part.