Yes, do please PM the email. I'm also curious if the superhero drawing is a recurring event.

Hmm, I wonder if the instructor would consider a 6 year old for the online class? He spends several hours a day drawing.

I just tell them what I want them to work on for the day and they mostly manage their own time. Exceptions are when I'm involved the whole time like read alouds.

Yes. My kids and I are strongly visual learners and thinkers. My middle son, who is really good and detailed at drawing, is a natural speller and I think the two are related. My older son, who is good at building and translating/rotating objects, will often spell from the back. He sometimes drops syllables or letters in the middle though. Now my youngest son is three and is just beginning to read and spell. He puts letters one after the other from front to back. They are often the right letters but usually he puts consonants first then vowels. Maybe he'll end up being more of a phonetic speller?

Haha. Blast from the past. Well three years later and I now know my kid is just resistant to change, not just in regards to spelling or dictionaries.

I use living picture books and discussion.

Well the ancient Greeks weren't Christian. We are atheists. We study all the major world religions, their role in society from an anthropological perspective, and observe those traditions that we connect with (mainly the less dogmatic ones). I don't see any reason not to study religion.

You could look at the Writing Lessons to Meet the Common Core workbook series. These are basically writing prompts with step by step outlines for assisting students to meet the objective of the writing.

Thank you. I'll look into it. Turns out this year is his first state testing so we're actually practicing with his supervising teacher with an online program through his school. The questions are likely vastly different than cognitive tests but it's still good practice for basic test taking skills.

My third grader is a somewhat reluctant writer. He hates with a fiery passion things like opinion writing and book reports. He'll tolerate informative writing. But he'll also write pages and pages of creative writing. In first grade I made sure to do some oral narration and copywork, and we used Memoria Press Simply Classical Writing which is designed for Special Needs but I found it worked for a reluctant writer too. My current Ker (but older, turning six this month) is not as much a reluctant writer, just a normal reluctant to anything Mom says kid. He's been doing well with Evan More Super Sentences. I'll probably need to find him a stronger program for first than the MP special needs writing. Both kids used and liked Royal Fireworks Press Aesop Books of Reading, Writing, and Thinking. They are structured in the sense that the lessons have a repetitive format but it is not a full writing curriculum. I find this program is perfect for adjusting to any level and it holds kids interest and touches on a variety of writing topics (a bit of grammar, reading practice, bit of creative writing, list writing, etc).

The BF book is not too young for that age range. You can add in output pretty easily as well if you wanted more.

We do all of those all the time. It just depends on the day and what the kids and I happen to be doing at any given time.

We definitely don't follow the grammar stage=memorization thing in that way. I think part of it is actually...me. I think sometimes he acts put out because its mooom quizzing him, again, ugh. Then I overhear him discussing things with his supervising teacher, or talking to online teachers, or lecturing his younger brother and suddenly he's outputting at a much higher level on his own. So we must be doing alright, but I do still want to educate myself more on teaching subjects at that middle school level. I just like to be well-informed before doing things when possible. I think I first started researching homeschooling about five years before I even had a kid. Thanks for all your insights.

Mep Reception, Miquon, picture books, discussion My kids jump right into grade 2 math in K no problem. If there's a gap, address it then.

Thank you everyone! I'd like to eventually write a fiction picture book about homeschooled children as well, but I haven't thought of the right angle yet that would go over well in the broader market too. I think current experiences with distance learning might open up interest in something like that.

Just curious if anybody in the writing community happens to be here too. I just got offered a publishing contract for my first book! It's a picture book about establishing physical boundaries with family. So excited to be a "real" writer, assuming the contract and publication goes through with no hiccups.

I would use Publisher for that. There are a variety of templates to choose from.

Its older but she might like the Everworld series. Especially if she does end up liking anything by Rick Riordan.

I sometimes can't sit because of physical issues so my three will sit on the top bunk and I'll stand and read to them. A couch would work too if you sat on a chair across from them. You can also print an icon on a piece of paper for them to stay in their spot on the floor, then the fight could be who gets to sit on what icon instead of who gets to lean all over mom.

Yeah, he's done some of that stuff. After reading this thread I think I've been misremembering what an algebra text would cover and I'm realizing DS is likely ready for a full algebra program. I think I'm still going to pull parts from Singapore 6 though just to check for possible gaps beforehand. Honestly, I like that I can be so hands off with math for him now because I have two younger kids learning foundational stuff.

This is the problem we're having with HOE. The equations are so basic and its becoming busywork too. Upper Elementary Challenge Math and some lessons in BA5 are still an appropriate challenge at least. However, doing the easier algebra with HOE does allow for learning how to write calculations down in an organized way and the student can gain practice with self-checking answers.

Thanks for the video. This does look painless.

Thank you for the update! So, if I'm understanding right, you pay for a monthly subscription and have access to all courses, and now you can assign a whole course at once? So the student can log in and it will be obvious what assignment they are suppose to do? Are the assignments then graded or passed and the next assignment is automatically loaded? Could you tell me what the monthly subscription fee is? I think their website is malfunctioning right now and I can't see the pricing plans. Thanks so much! I'm glad it's working out for you now.

I don't think its too much. My kids run two math sessions most days. Usually one is drill/review and the program I use varies. Right now my 8yo is doing BA5 for main and Hands On Equations for review. My 5yo is doing Miquon Blue for main and either BA2 or LoF Dogs for review.

Yes that's exactly what I am looking for. Thank you.