Sounds totally familiar. Just remind her that she learned the multiplication tables just for times like these. No need to get all confused (she was thinking on a higher plane...she'll be great at higher math)....just do the simple thing. It's great that she is mastering the story problems. My son is doing much better at them since I taught him to ignore the names of the people and most of the extraneous information....Eduardo had sixteen toy cars....Jillian had a jumprope that was eighteen feet long....this is "fake" math diguised as being "useful".... :drool:

My daughter was having a lot of problems with her skin. One day I looked at the products' lists of ingredients. In just a handful of them, there were dozens of chemicals, so I suggested she just use water, just water, for a few weeks to give her skin time to heal from all of it. When she did that, her skin cleared up and has stayed that way. The fact is that all those chemicals burn the skin, which has an effect on all the underlying structure, too. The temptation then is to try more stuff...and it becomes an endless cycle of trying to repair the damage.

Every time I've had that, I was pregnant!

I have finally figured out that homeschooling, like parenting, is not a popularity contest. Yes, I would love for my child to think I am the greatest teacher (and mom), but in the end that isn't the point. I know he doesn't like to work at this sometimes, but he needs to put in as much effort as I am. One of the most difficult things is that when the school day ends, whether it has been great or not so, the child is still there to be nurtured. I am learning not to let the schooling carry over so much to the rest of the day. This has been my hardest lesson so far....well, next to not treating him like a mini-college student.

There are a lot of great children's books on YouTube, with some very fine readers. My son has listened to all the Artemis Fowl books recently. Charlotte's Web is as terrific a listen as it is a read. Sometimes the chapters are not in order; other than that, it's a great free resource.

My son is 10 and we are married and all live in the same house, and always have. Thanks for all the advice on this. I am retrieving the tax stuff tomorrow!

I am having to file an extension on my taxes and the tax person said that I have to have a note from somewhere 9school, doctor etc.) in order to claim our son on our taxes! Did everyone have to do this? Since I homeschool, this may be difficult. I am kind of not believing this.

Thank you all SO MUCH for those very helpful suggestions! My husband is doing the safety lesson and one project (the helicopter one) as I write. He is going to play with it on the table and put all the pieces away when he is finished. It appears that it will be the best toy ever.

On the advice of several of you, I bought an Elenco Snap Circuits Extreme set. Being a little :) controlling, I don't want my son to play with this until we read the instructions, actually have a project in mind, etc, which I have not had time to do yet. He won't leave it alone, though! Should I put it up or let him play with it at will until we have time to sort it out? It was pretty expensive, so I am worried about it, but admit I don't know much about it, anyway. Maybe he can't hurt it by snapping stuff together? Help!

I decided to do 5th grade American History for fourth grade. My little son is hooked! There are so many great resources online, Liberty Kids among them, that you barely need a book. We have learned the 13 colonies, what led up to the war, including the very important fact that it was fought in the hearts and minds of the colonists more than on the battlefield, and about the various acts that aggravated the colonists. He loves James Madison! I never thought this would get such a great reception. This week we are making soldiers out of clothespins and felt and setting up a couple of battles. If you need to brush up on American History, yourself, there is a great Yale course on ITunes U. Three cheers for American History.....it's fascinating and wonderful, but it is not all beautiful or even good. The country nearly failed, slavery continued, people fought, the Vice President killed the incredible Alexander Hamilton etc. Seven million American Indians were killed to make room for expansion, the Civil War happened. It isn't possible to skip those things and give a real picture of American History, at least in MHO.

I think anything we can do at home, such as nature crafts etc. is not what I would be looking for. The science camp sounds really interesting. I am going to have to travel and stay somewhere for anything other than a church camp. What about cost? How are the camps actually set up? Is it more like school or more like the camps I remember as a child? That would be more like toasting marshmallows and singing around the campfire etc...after the day's activities. Does anyone have experience with camps near Athens or Atlanta? Madison?

Do any of you have experience with educational summer camps? There seem to be a plethora of them, from musical theatre to violin to magic to soccer.......but: are they fun, are they cost effective, are they really educational? My son is 10 and has never been to camp, so I am thinking it is about time, but I would really like the low down on the actual experience from some of you who know.

Unfortunately, my left breast looks like childrens' wallpaper due to a tattoo I got on a (dumb) whim about 20 years ago. It's Winnie-the-Pooh with a bunch of balloons. I fantasize about having it lasered off, but don't want to spend the money. I should have gotten a dragon in my groin or somewhere....but that would look like a Chinese menu....really, I should have just skipped the whole thing. Ugh.

We are doing all subjects all summer, too. This is my first semester, and I have had health problems, so I feel somewhat behind. I thought we might do more French and art than we usually do, but I'm not sure yet. I am rather looking forward to it as this is getting more fun every day. Also, I can bribe Kevin with going to the pool all summer! Seriously, there is too much great science, too much great literature to miss three whole months.

Does anyone watch Sister Wives. Thank goodness Jim Bob hasn't thought of that...the show would be 76 Kids and Counting.

http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/tricksters/ I am teaching a unit on tricksters in literature (fourth/fifth grade level), and I found this terrific website.

I never use the library...ever. I created my own, floor to ceiling on two long walls, plus dining room lined with bookshelves. I probably would have spent the same on overdue books, anyway. :laugh:

I am assuming that not every word is misspelled, so she must know how to spell up to a point. Whatever that point is, that is where I would start. Here is a link to commonly misspelled words by grade.http://www.spellquizzer.com/SpellingLists/Frequently-Misspelled-Spelling-Words.htm Our weekly spelling test is whatever is in the curriculum plus any common words misspelled in any writing that has been done, plus some words from other lessons. This is working out well, so far.

Ignore my previous post, if you copied the link. It links to James Thurber fables, but they are mostly for adults. Delightfully funny reads, though. We are reading A Wrinkle in Time for our read aloud.

http://faithtap.com/922/ward-miles-first-year/

I have a child with cancer who is just finishing a year of chemotherapy. We provide extra-good nutrition, extra rest, and pain medication when needed. We are very matter-of-fact about medical issues, and we don't really tolerate any malingering (though it is hard to tell the difference sometimes). She is pretty resilient and good-humored most of the time. I think what we do that is really, really good for her is to focus on the medical issues as necessary, but we do not make them a focus, if you know what I mean. We have never let her illness become herself. I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's illness, and yours as well. Hugs and love to you both.

I am bumping this back up for those of you who didn't see it or check it out the first time. It is a goldmine!http://librarianchick.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

The directions say this: Read the story again and underline the best answer for these questions. Result: He read the story and underlined (messily) all kinds of things. Next, he circled the (correct) answers. This happens so frequently that I am becoming really concerned!

http://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/pdf/81_brain.pdf I found this very helpful.

Possibly a voice crying in the wilderness again, but I am homeschooling because our school district couldn't even come close to implementing CC, which I think is an awesome standard. If I can reach 75% of the CC standards for fourth grade by the end of the year, I will be really happy. That will be about 50% more than my son would have been learning with the (highly inadequate) standards in place now.