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MrsRobinson

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  1. Yes, I know that we have to actually teach writing. I have been doing so the entirety of their educations. This has just been a tough transition with me going to work. Dd being behind grade level probably sounds worse than than it is. I think that I still think of it from a place of rock bottom, which is where we were a year ago but she's made so much progress since then and I think it's hard for me to shake that terrifying feeling of "being behind and learning challenges will make it impossible to improve." Needless to say, I've learned and grown a lot, too! 😊
  2. Yes, dh and I looked at it and did the placement tests with them, well we tried with dd, she cried. She doesn't like change. She cried when we showed her Math U See, too. Guess what? She's still doing Math Mammoth, lol. After talking with the kids and looking at all the suggestions here, we decided to order a few Critical Thinking workbooks. Dd has done one of the word root books in the past and enjoyed it. I completely forgot about it but she recognized it right away. I'm also looking at Evan Moore workbooks but I haven't decided if they are busy work or not. Hopefully these will help ease the burden a little bit. We are also going to start a notebook for each of them to turn in some written output for the content subjects. And we are starting a notebook for book reports. I'm really iffy on this because when I was a kid, I loved reading just like they do and I hated when I had to "turn it into schoolwork" so to speak with a book report or project. It really sucked all the enjoyment out of it for me and I started to not like reading. I'm thinking I may try to assign a book I want them to read and require a book report but the books they choose for their own enjoyment get to stay fun free time reading. We may tweak this part of the plan as needed based on their responses. The idea with the current plan is building off of what we are already doing. Things like typing lessons that aren't fitting into the schedule will be on hold until summer and we can add those in as well as flesh out Language Arts a little more since they will be on break from their other subjects. We've also told them that if they don't get on board with the new plan, we will be getting an all-in-one like CLE. Back when we told dd that if she didn't stop the daily math meltdowns, she'd be switching to MUS, she got it together. The meltdowns are just weekly now, rather than daily, lol. So hopefully they are motivated to cooperate. Thank you all so much for your helpful suggestions. This has been the last big hurdle in a year of huge changes and my brain is just fried. I could not "see" any solution. You guys are the best! πŸ’•
  3. Ok, I looked at CLE and it does look very doable and like less book juggling than what we have going now, maybe. And the price is amazing! I'll show it to dh when he's home later and see what he thinks. Is there a lot of Christian content in the text? It's not a deal breaker, we are Christian but not a constant shove it down your throat family, if that makes sense. I'll see if I can find some YouTube reviews or something for a better look inside.
  4. Thanks for your thoughts everyone! I think Lori D's schedule is what dh is wanting to try and some of ClemsonDana's suggestions for material might fit the bill there. I'm just worried about giving dh too much to deal with. He's a typical guy, not very detail oriented, and not very nurturing. He's a mathy guy though so he's giving his all with math and dd has made huge strides in the last 8 months since he took over. I'm so proud of both of them and so impressed. I'd hate to rock that boat by putting another thing on his plate. As far as Wenyroo's concerns with dd's challenges, we've gotten to a good place with most everything. We've got some good routines and dialogue in place that is helping her be successful and she can tackle pretty much any curriculum we put in front of her with a few modifications that are second nature to us all at this point. It's just a matter of staying on top of things (read: hormones throwing some days out of whack) and catching up to grade level. And I have tried to do the LA the way we planned, it's just not been consistent. Any little thing that ruffles the schedule and the LA is the first thing that seems to get dropped. Preschooler does go to grandma's one day a week and its helped so much that its prompted us to look into options for him for kindergarten. We found a school that has a 10 to 1 student to teacher ratio and a 4 day week with Fridays off. We are not zoned for that school though, so we are waiting to hear back from the board if they will accept him as an out of district student. We will have to make the current situation work though, since that's not until next school year. What about summer? Dh did math with them all summer (with a few breaks for trips) to help them catch up so what if we did a Language Arts summer this year? Is there some educational/brain/retention reason that would be a terrible idea?
  5. I haven't been on the forums in probably 8 or 9 months with life being extremely busy and chaotic. But I'm back to get some feedback on the one homeschool thing we havent managed to iron out yet. Here's what things look like right now and keep in mind this is our first year with me working: I go to work full time, days. Kids are home with dh who works from home and can care for the kids while working. His work is really low key. They do breakfast, morning chores, math (1 hr give or take), Bible (20ish mins), then science/geography/history student interest led rotating one subject per week (30 mins). All that takes up the morning with potty break, snack break, preschooler interruptions, and other random ADHD breaks. Lunch and playtime about an hour, chores 20ish mins, screen time 30 mins. Free time with whatever is left of the day. It's really hard for dh to get them to do bookwork in the afternoons. They are both avid readers and spend lots of afternoon time reading. Dd (11) also is very artistic and creative and spends lots of afternoon time on art, piano, crafts, sewing, crochet, and baking. Ds (8) does 3d puzzles, model ships and planes, etc. The boys play outside a lot. This is why we homeschool. We feel this time is invaluable. Please don't tell me to put my kids in B&M school! 😬 Now here's the problem: I'm supposed to do a language arts lesson and assign "homework" that they would theoretically do the next school day with dh's supervision when I get home from work. It's not happening. I get home, get a shower (a must after work), put dinner together, clean up kitchen, bathe kids, bedtime routine, then I sit down with my college classes before bed. How do we fit LA into this already exhausting schedule? For reference: 3rd grader has EIW, Spelling Workout, and McRuffy handwriting. 6th grader (ADHD, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia and is behind grade level) has EIW, Sequential Spelling, McRuffy Cursive Handwriting, and she's dabbled in free online typing lessons, and we have, but never used, BW Partnership Writing. So what magic can you super smart and insightful people work on this hot mess? 🀣 TIA
  6. Critter, we got caught in flash flooding on Thursday and had to find alternate routes twice! It was scary how fast the water came up! Are the bees okay? Friday was a play outside all day kind of day for the kids. I really think the school year is winding down for us. They will continue math, dd will continue writing, and reading is huge here, but other than that, I think everyone is ready for summer fun and relaxing. Have a great 3 day weekend everyone!
  7. Well, I'm wide awake and can't get back to sleep so I guess now's a good time to update! πŸ˜‚ We had some crazy unexpected events yesterday that threw our whole day out of whack but we managed to get reading, handwriting, and science in before everything fell apart. So I guess something is better than nothing. Today's plan is for the kids to have a playdate with friends. We will do reading at home but other than that, they'll be playing hard all day. They are super excited!
  8. Thanks for all the responses and links. This definitely helps me come up with a plan. ❀️
  9. I'd like to have a checklist or loop or something for the kids to work through some independent work and activities. I have a few ideas like vocab, brain games, math games, word search, and mad libs but I'm looking for more ideas. What do your kids like to do independently?
  10. Good morning. My internal clock is trying to make the switch to my new work schedule but I've been waking up 10-20 minutes before my alarm rings. πŸ™„ Today's plan is orthodontist appointment for one of the kids, full school day, and after school playdate with our ps friends. Oh and our evening activity. I probably crammed too much into today but I have to take advantage of a full day off work.
  11. I don't know what to say about today. It was a little chaotic. But school things got done. Reading, writing, handwriting, art, outside time, chores, and science. The older kids were asked what they wanted to learn about as a science topic. They both said physics. πŸ™ƒ It was managed and later we got some books from the library to help us. 🀣 I messed up printing both of their math curriculum so badly that there is a huge stack of several printed math semesters for 2 kids that I need to organize. Uggh, its such a mess! Its waiting for me in the other room... taunting me... teasing me! 😭
  12. Whew! So glad its nothing urgent and scary! πŸ‘ I got home about 12:15am so I was pretty close to my goal of midnight. 😊 I worked today at the last minute so I didn't have schoolwork put together and ready for dh. He took the kids to the library and a few other errands. They went for a nature walk this afternoon. I'll be better prepared for next week. We are doing family movie night right now and I'm folding laundry while we sit here and watch. I am officially a student myself now, as of today. After the kids are in bed, I'm hitting the books! 😱 Lots of changes around here all at once but we'll manage. ☺️
  13. HSL- lol about your kids states game! They sound like my kids! πŸ˜πŸ‘ Critter- anything medical appointment is exhausting. You are preaching to the choir. I hope you got some rest! Journey-I hope your son's issues continue to improve! Well, we found ourselves in crisis mode on Tuesday so not much school work got done. Dd and ds did math and handwriting. They got a lot of free reading time in while dh and I dealt with things. And a lot of video games, too, unfortunately. We made it to our evening activity which proved to be a nice escape. Yesterday, we did some volunteer work in the morning and the kids got to spend some time with their friends. I had a ton of errands to do in the afternoon but the kids managed to convince me to squeeze in a library trip. Today, I have an appointment this morning, then the kids are going to a relative's house for lots of outdoor time. Gardening, playing in the woods, and at the creek. They will have tons of fun. I am travelling several hours to another relative's hs graduation. I probably won't be back til midnight so dh will have to help shower the filthy creek kids and get them to bed. That should be interesting! 🀣 So this first week back to the books doesn't seem to be involving very many books! πŸ˜‚
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