We had an unexpected family medical crisis over this past winter and took 2 months completely off... As in if I got us dressed and fed and the animals taken care of it was a successful day... We're schooling through the summer to make up for it... So if you WANT to do it... I think the thing that I MOST love about homeschooling is that we make schooling work for us, instead of making our lives work for schooling. BUT... If you want to wait a year I think it's perfectly fine if you do. Take care of yourself also... and do whatever you think you can do, is good for you, and your kiddos. Best of luck and congratulations!

Yeah... I think this is also why B will work better. I've done quite a bit of teaching before (new to HSing... but not to other education... was actually a LD tutor at one point) and that's how I've been going through A already. There's not a single lesson in it I've been able to go through as read... But in order to make it both fun and challenging honestly I was reading 10 lessons at a time and trying to basically rewrite the whole thing in my own pace... my life is ridiculously busy (hubs works 7 days/week and I manage a small farm on my own as well and frankly I wasn't always finding the time to do this. When I didn't the whole lesson fell completely flat...) and my very organized/visual brain REALLY wished that each lesson step had a bullet or something... I find it very hard to scan through... I ordered B and already I can see that it will work better. There will be some parts we have to go through slowly... But that's awesome cause that's what I wanted! In those parts I can add in more games and change it up. If I don't change things up frequently he is just not interested... So I need some kind of bare bones/core that moves quickly enough or is at least efficient enough that I have room to work with it... The reason I considered trying Math Mammoth is because sometimes he actually likes workbooks! ha! I'm studying B and we'll start next week and see how it goes. If this doesn't work I'll save these for kiddo 2 who I think will LOVE righstart as is... :) Thanks all!

OK thanks! I wanted to use it as copywork practice later in the year but for some bizarre reason couldn't wrap my head around how a lesson or visit with it might go in a day. THanks! ;)

following...

What she said... 😙

I gave up... I have too much going on in our lives and couldn't stay organized enough... Books that we HAVE to have I buy used... Then with everything else I am flexible and just look for topics... What is there is what we use... But it is usually bonus extra stuff... I think this will change as they age... There is a much larger library we visit 1/week and I expect we will use them very frequently... When I did plan (with peak with books/fair/etc...) I requested 3-4 weeks early and just hoped it was renewable if it came early... But honestly the only way I made it work was to be flexible... We go to 2 different libraries usually every week but it was still too hard... Eta: my libraries don't do online inter library loan also... Which made it hard...

?? Feel free to link to another thread... I am sure there is one here somewhere but can't find it...

This sound exactly like I want to do.. I love the living aspect of Fred... And the mental word problems of ray's... I would never insist we do them all... But right now they are the simplest way for me to offer fun snippets of other approaches... My toddler makes the games difficult.... Bit she may almost be at the point to join in a bit... Thanks! Eta: sorry for typos... Tablet keyboards confuse my fingers...

Thank you all so much! I have been so confused all week and this just finally seems clear to me... I also want to try to commit to a program and carry it through as long as we can... So I feel a lot better about this decision... I ordered B this morning...

I didn't have a chance to read all the answers yet... but my son is a guesser (in other words it's hard to instill step by step phonics... I was worried about that. In one of Susan Wise Bauer's lectures/audio things she talks about doing a spelling program as a way to re-teach phonics to a child that already knows how to read because when they get to more advanced reading/words they can stumble... To be honest I think this happened to me when I was a kid and I've worried about it... I plan to do "spelling" like this later... I can try to remember which lecture it was if it will help.

The two most helpful things I've been working on are 1) planning (our lives have gotten unexpectedly super exhausting and I'm usually not a planner... but I just made our 1st semester's checksheets to help keep me (us) on course)... We're finishing up our loosy-goosy PreK/K year and doing real K/1st on July 6th... 2) And putting up a fence on the back pasture so that the goats will stop interrupting us by dancing around on the roof... yes... the roof... ETA: I'm also going to buy 127 glue sticks for my daughter... cause if she has a glue stick in hand she will happily let us do school uninterrupted...

We've stumbled into schooling with the weather. Spring and Fall are the most wonderful times to go outside... so we tend to do less work then... Summer and Winter are good times for inside school stuff.. We go year round, taking the biggest break in December (for solstice, a bday, christmas and new years)... In spring and fall there are always a few weeks we take off. They're not scheduled ahead because we take them off when the weather is good to play/farm chores/garden, etc.. This week... for example... we took off because it's cool outside so a good week to play, snack, and do way too many farm/garden things. Growing up I just read read read read during the summers..

Ok thank you thank you!!!!!

I have a K1/2er... we're starting K next year but he's an older K er and is doing mostly 1st grade work (as long is it's not handwriting... ha!) He is 2E... so complicated. I've been SOOO frustrated finding a math groove. I LOVE rightstart, we're about half way through A... he has no problems getting the concepts but seems frustrated at the repetition, is tired of the same songs and games, and my concern is that he doesn't seem to click with a spiral approach... BUT... I love the foundation I see possible with Righstart... and I THINK I've figured out one main problem. We can NOT do the same math program more than 3 days a week. He gets bored, resistant, and shuts down if he sees the same book come out every day...So I've been planning on doing RS 3 days a week... and doing LOF/Ray's the other... I had considered switching to math mammoth but if I can figure out a way to make RS work I'd rather... so I thought maybe the answer is to switch to B? Then we could take our time going through it because we'll have 1 1/2 - 2 years to get through it to be on grade level... but I've heard it moved quicker than A? I like the way RS presents things... it makes sense to me... but he tends to be a git 'er done kind of kid and is getting impatient with the 10-3 labeling and other things... Does any of this make any sense? Why is math so complicated to figure out!

So far my own! ha... but I talk about mindfulness and meditation... so maybe not completely secular depending on how you look at it... I'm following because I need some bloggy inspiration for my mornings again. My very favorite blogs aren't secular but I love them... but they haven't been posting much lately. I'm a bit out of the loop because I haven't had much computer time for the past year or so and don't know of many anymore.

I found this thread while searching for threads because I have very similar confused thoughts! :) For what it's worth... if it helps and you haven't decided yet. I've been using RS A (second edition)... I LOVE LOVE it... but I'm thinking of ditching it for Math Mammoth... Here's my reasons. I personally think RS is better for the kid... but we sort of spiral a lot of our other topics and learning and I'm pulling our curriculum together myself. My son resists consistent practice, but really needs it regarding math. I LOVED RS at the beginning of the year because his handwriting was nonexistent... but as he's shown readiness in that area it's not as much of an issue... But here's the thing... My life is super duper packed and we tend to not get around to the very best parts of RS... The games, the discovery, I haven't been able to get my prep in place enough to really dive in like we should... and he's not too excited about it. I feel like a not as good a curriculum done well can work better than a better curriculum done badly... does that make sense? It's not like RS is high prep... but it's teacher intensive and by the time I wrap my head around the main part of the lesson my son's over it and doesn't want to do the games or more in depth stuff... I'm thinking of trying Math Mammoth over the summer to see if it clicks... then maybe try RS when my toddler is a bit easier and my head is a bit less jumbled... I have no idea if that's helpful in the least... but in case it might be I wanted to share. :)

Thanks! I love rightstart, love LOF, and actually love Ray's... so I'm hoping I can figure out a different way of prepping/teaching to make the combo work... but math mammoth just looks so lovely and streamlined. My son gets bored of lots of practice... but also needs it... so I have to be crafty. Thank you all so much... it's helped! I'm going to try to change my prep and teaching and see if I can get it to work... and I might have to get 1 math mammoth book and just see how it works.

Per day? We use right start as our spine... But my son gets super bored and reluctant... So I end up math hopping to keep it fun...but if I keep doing this I need a more git er done spine... I LOVE right start... But right now it isn't working... I think it will for my daughter when she is ready... Eta: I want to use BA when he is ready for it... Eta2: has anyone used LOF exclusively and moved into BA?

I do what I call Kinder Garden. I definitely do it... but don't push most of what they push in schools... We're super gently doing school stuff. I mostly started by working on what I knew my kiddo needed some help with - like dexterity, motor skills, beginning handwriting. Now we've moved into doing phonics, a bit of math, a bit of handwriting... but it's all really small. What I consider our schooling this year is mostly work on routine, behavior, physical dexterity, as much time in nature as possible, beginning his work on self-awareness, beginning mindfulness techniques... and lots and lots and lots of reading. I feel like each kid is different in their needs at this age... which is why it's such a complicated thing to legislate or regulate. My daughter is practically ready for kindergarten. She's 3 for crying out loud!!! My son? I'm calling him K just now.. he'll be 6 late summer. Ever kid is different. For us... doing a bit of school helps us also regulate our day and focus our minds... which seems to help my older with his behavior, and therefor keeps me from going insane. So lots of pluses here. :) :)

Any opinions? I want to use BFSU but not yet... I want to do my kids together on it so I have 1-2 years until we would begin it. I was planning on just using mudpies but it's not getting done. I don't need anything rigorous... My kid's naturally interested in it and we mostly do science as a nature based thing... exploring as we get into things. BUT... I know he would love more experiments and I think he's ready to begin more formal science learning... My husband is AWESOME at experiments... but he's gone 7 days a week now... and I can't seem to get it together to add any mudpies in. We have been doing nature based and reading pretty random science books to follow his interest. (I know way more about reptiles than I ever thought I would) I am thinking of getting either Lentil science or Bookshark science to do this next year. I feel like it would simplify things, be all organized and help me make it happen.

If she's friendly enough I'd say catch her and get her fixed... usually local shelters have low cost options for people doing this. It's the best thing you could EVER do for her, no matter if she sticks around or not. I have one feral cat who lives in my office... she's warmed up to us and prefers to be inside... she's pretty timid (when the kids are awake anyway) so sleeps in my office where it's quiet during the day and comes out (is actually quite obnoxious for pets now) once they're in bed. I have another that is now an outdoor cat. She was also a stray... but not feral... We live rurally and I think she was dumped. Frankly, she's happier outside... She gets pets and loves whenever we're outside... has a super nice heated cat bed I made out of 2 giant rubbermaid containers and straw with a warming bed. I brought her into the bathroom this past winter because of our freakishly cold nights a few times... but she's super happy and healthy. Once they're fixed they will need yearly shots and worming... and if you have an ourdoor cat it's best to worm them a couple more times a year also... Both of mine found us as strays. The now indoor one was a starving kitten who was feral... I found her one day by complete chance... the other one is either our guard cat or our maskot... I'm not sure which. Both of mine warmed up to us pretty quickly. The second one was so sick she lived inside from the beginning. If you're up for it I've often had sick or new kitties in the bathroom... sort of a sick room. After her surgery she'll probably need to stay inside until they remove stitches... Even just a little bit of time can help them warm up to you.... Good luck!

Wow I need to sleep more! Ha! You're all so right. Thank you so much for the ideas!

?? I feel like keeping yourself balanced is SOOOO important when teaching/parenting... but what does everyone else do to manage this? I'm in a bit of a rut personally and am looking to branch out... But have others I'm helping with this and am curious what works for different people. :)

Thank you! I understand that people have their own opinions about things. We all have different lives, different experiences, different opinions. It's one of the things that makes the world interesting! Nobody on the planet could make me feel like I'm penalizing my kid for allowing him as much precious growing time as possible. I know I'm not. In my experience I would feel more worried that I was punishing him by insisting that he reach an academic/social maturity level that he's not prepared for...With this kiddo I'm pretty sure that in a few years he's going to make leaps and bounds... I'll deal with that when I get there...With my littler one?.. I totally get the don't ever hold back a kid ever idea... But kids are different from each other... and sometimes until you've had a particular kind of kid you don't fully understand what their situation could be like. I will always teach him where he is at, where he wants to be, and wherever his unique gifts take him. If I wait to officially begin K a year... truthfully he will be closer in age to most of the kids than if he started as early as he could... Especially in my area. I don't ever plan to send him to school, and am mostly looking at where to begin him/call him in terms of paperwork and some curriculum material that I want to line up to a possible future class. We're going to continue with my original plan of doing 1 1/2 years of K... then do 1 1/2 years of 1st. This will line us up to take advantage of a few years of Latin and other classes that I would love for my kids to have an opportunity to be a part of... if it works out. Life is unpredictable. I've had experiences lately that make me grateful for every single day, every single breath, every single thought. We ALL love our kids. Of course we do. We're spending our extra time in a homeschool forum for cryin' out loud! We all do our best for them, with every fiber of our being. Thank you all SOOO much for reading, putting thoughts to paper. Sometimes other perspectives and other stories can help you think through your own so much. So truly, thank you.

Thank you all so much! It's really helped me think through things today. I have no problem letting him work ahead on stuff... or behind, for that matter. It's just picking a grade to call him that's confusing. As a kid I was a pretty straight forward kid and student... but he's (gets a lot from my DH) is more complicated... He's miles ahead already on stuff that frankly a Kindie kid doesn't really even need to be doing... but is reluctant on typical "K" goals... I think I'm going to go back to my original 1 1/2 years of K... then just take 1 1/2 for 1st also... Then we'll be lined up according to the "school" calendar. Thank you all tons! Truly!