Same here....I feel like I put off my youngest, 4 yrs old, because I don't want to play kitties or trains. DH seems to handle it fine when he has the time and fortunately ds7 is his best buddy too. I'd much rather do structured play: board games, read books, puzzles, projects, building stuff. We're quite sad at our house that ds4 doesn't love books and games like the rest of us yet. It makes it very difficult to find something to do as a family. Brownie

We use Easy Grammar and ds got the first 28 down pat in alphabetical order to the tune of I've been working on the railroad - worked like a charm in 2-3 days. Brownie

We really enjoyed The Golden Goblet as a read aloud historical fiction and did it as a light-hearted lit study, but ds are 9 and 7. The book is probably a 5th-6th grade level. Brownie

I'm a girl and mine was always dreadful...still is :)

Play catch and use a wipe board for writing on so the hand crosses the midline. I also think anything that involves scanning is helpful...card games, word searches, mazes. Just be careful you and your dc are not avoiding these things because they are frustrating. DS9 has issues identified by a vision therapist, but it is expensive to treat and he wasn't convincing that the issues warranted the money and commitment. DS's issues seemed to be borderline. We do have a friend who had larger issues and for whom therapy brought great improvement. He started around 6 yrs old I believe. Brownie

Halfway through our first year of homeschooling...I need more some ideas for how to be more efficient, not just with school work but overall. I'll share my one favorite time saver... When chicken is on sale we buy 20 lbs, I trim it, make a few marinades, and divide it into dinner sized portions before freezing. The day before I need it I defrost 1 bag in the fridge, pour it in a baking dish and 30 minutes chicken is served with no icky chicken cleanup. Brownie

We used the manual to hs science when ds was 5.5 but he was way obsessed with it. I intend to get it out again in the next year for ds now 9,7, and 4. They still play with them... brownie

We sometimes have issues remembering and I just don't worry about it. If I couldn't remember the sentence because it's just silly, I don't make ds's remember the whole thing either...we don't stress about it. For example looking ahead to next week there was something about getting up, washing up, eating breakfast, getting dressed, making your bed and brushing your teeth. I can't possibly remember the correct order...I'd have to use mental tricks and look at it, and I really don't care :) It's just a list that needs not be in any certain order. So if they ask what comes next I just tell them and there are many days they get the entire thing with 2 repetitions. Brownie

Personally We had no need for the HIG before 3rd grade...even then I use it very little so the cost rather annoys me. We need the text and workbook. We also use CWP, purchased before they went out of print. I supplement with drill sheets printed from a website. Brownie

I didn't have time to read all of the other responses, but we brought our ds 3rd grade (Asp) and ds 1st grade home this year. I think ds9 gets more social time now because playdates can last 3-4 hrs and the other bright boys tend to be a little quirky as well, although not as lacking in social skills; they are more tolerant. He is also building his relationships with his brothers, which equates better to future family life than does school. The best thing is that our relationship is much better. I'm the one person he connects with emotionally and we were losing that when we were always at odds, trying to keep up with the expectations of the ps world. Brownie

I don't know if IEW teaches outlining but ds9 is Asp as well and I plan on going to IEW next year bc it seems to teach a formulaic way of writing that I think will appeal to my analytical boys. Brownie

Sorry - Sea and Sky SOUNDED like it would be biology, but I'm not familiar with it. Maybe I should check it out. We do use RS4K. We are doing Chemistry right now but I ordered it last year before we started homeschooling, and I only noticed a couple of weeks ago how much they've come out with since then. Nonetheless, I'm not sure it looks like a cohesive science-directed curriculum. Has anyone bought all the books? I'm not aware that there is an overarching teacher's guide, or am I wrong? SOTW guides much of our reading. I would love to have the development of chemistry guide our non-fiction reading. A good reading list is really what I need :) Brownie

We would really be looking for something that heavily incorporates the physical sciences. That all sounds biology focussed. Brownie

I would love a math/science based curriculum as well. We are science oriented. This has been one of our frustrations homeschooling this year. We love SOTW and we LOVE to read but I feel like we spend less time on math and science than I would like bc it is easier to find good history/LA resources. Brownie

Our situation...we pulled ds 1st grade and ds 3rd grade out to hs this year. I have a 3rd ds in Pre-K. It depends on their personalities. I knew ds 3rd grade would like hsing...he does. I knew ds 1st grade would miss ps...he did. I still feel that if he could have suffered through 1 month of 1st grade, he would have gladly come home. Kindergarten was half day and all fun. 1st grade means sitting quietly at a desk for most of 6 hours. He was ready for 2nd grade and would have been incredibly bored, in addition to the difficulty sitting still. ds 4 goes to pre-k so that we get some quiet time at home while we get acclimated to homeschooling. The peace and quiet is nice and allows us to move quickly 3 mornings a week. We are still not sure if we will send him to kindergarten next year, but probably not. It's too complicated to engage with the public school, deal with mandatory attendance, and the issue that they all know he will be pulled out anyhow. Still, I feel bad. I think kindergarten is a good thing...it's social though, not academic. Brownie

I'm loving SOTW 1 so I can see using this with older kids. Definitely better than I had in school! However, I do think the workbook is geared very young. Even with my 1st and 3rd graders, we basically use the maps and narration questions. There are a lot of coloring sheets which would be great if we had time...but we don't. We've used 1 so far and we're halfway through. I am looking forward to having them for my 5 year old next year when I am guessing he will join us for history. Brownie

This is our first year homeschooling ds7 and ds9 (1st and 3rd grade). I bought the text first thinking I would pull the lessons from our reading but it was too much work. I fast-forwarded ds7 through level 1 using the text sample weeks to make sure he 'got it' and then bought WWE2 workbook for him. I think we are on week 5 of this. DS9 fast forwarded through WWE2 and is now on week 3 of WWE3 (workbook). I no longer need the text...wish I hadn't bought it. The workbooks are great...the reading it great and it is easy. There is not much writing required. They don't even take dictation til level 2 and even ds7 who hates to write handles it just fine. Brownie

I am starting my 9 year old on piano on my own (I had 11 years of lessons). My question is: how fast does a piano teacher typically move a kid along? We are doing John Thompson's series (Teaching Little Fingers to Play and Theory Drill and Games) and because I am his teacher, we can work through 1-2 songs a day in 15 minutes. He does show frustration but keeps plugging away. We only started last week and I can't gauge how to respond to him yet, which is why I ask. I can't remember that far back and I don't want to have ridiculous expectations and frustrate him long term. Brownie

Ditto the above 2 answers. We've only used levels 2 and 4 but it's not for spelling (although not too big an issue for a poor speller, the reading comprehension requires sentence writing) and thus far we haven't needed the teacher's guide. Brownie

Ahhh...I do have the same child. DH refers to him as having a pass-fail attitude. This is something my dh and I aren't familiar with. It is a constant struggle. I told ds today after he made another captalization error that he will have to redo work from now on if it happens again. Brownie

DS9 is very bright, went to ps through last year, and STILL does this here and there. It does drive me crazy and I will again need to start making him redo the entire thing when he makes 1 mistake like this. That is what I did with his dictations from school last year and there was a big improvement. Chances are your ds is not detail oriented. My ds isn't. Brownie

I didn't read the other comments but I'll put in my 2 cents...seeing as I just pulled my 2 kids out of a PS with a strong math program. The ps used Harcourt (heavily supplemented) which just barely touches on multiplication in the last few pages of the book for 2nd grade. Mostly, as far as core math, they focussed on regrouping in 2nd grade. This is all covered in Singapore 2A as well as more multiplication than the ps covered. However some topics like fractions aren't covered until 2B...so my feeling is that on average Singapore is about 1 marking period ahead of our ps's curriculum, at least in grades 1-3. Brownie

Thanks...annoying but at least the paper 'cover' gives me an option for now. I emailed the company. Brownie

I'm frustrated bc this was just delivered and I now see that the answers and worksheets are on opposing pages, meaning I am forced to copy the pages or buy the workbook. This was not how I understood it when I placed the order or I might have chosen something different. I at least would have ordered the workbook so that I don't need to waste time and money photocopying. Can someone explain to me the rationale behind this book's setup? Brownie

Great! I've ordered the study guide. 3rd grade level is fine for a book we will do in depth. Right now we are reading the Golden Goblet together which is quite advanced so we are not dissecting it at the same level of detail we could for a simpler book...I just was hoping it wasn't an easy reader! Brownie