On this forum I have noticed people that I know or have known in real life (there's no doubt as to who they are). I prefer not to reveal my forum name to anyone.

Dd1, born 6/05, 2nd grade now, will graduate 1 month before she turns 18. Dd2, born 12/07, pre-k now, will graduate at 18 1/2. Ds, born 8/09, it's up in the air. I'm confident he'll be ready for K as a young 5. But I am open to giving him an extra year somewhere along the way if necessary.

Well, it's not just you. I was curled up in a ball crying the other night, telling my husband I didn't want to hs anymore. Fortunately the worst part of the feelings were just PMS. But I'm still burnt out. Not with the school part. I absolutely love teaching. The "school" part of homeschool is going better than it ever has. It's all the rest that's so hard -- four very strong personalities being together all day long, me as a socially-challenged mom being responsible for making sure my kids have time with friends (which for some reason means I have to do all the inviting because no one ever invites my kids anywhere :glare: ), dragging my kids to the gym only to find that childcare is full and I have to go home like a loser while my ps mom friends are working out, trying to keep my daughter on task while keeping my littles from destroying the house (and dd7 can't be in the room with them because she freaks out when they make noise while she's working). Yeah, I'm burnt out. I want so bad to send them next year to the very nice classical school that's 10 minutes from my house. But I can't justify spending $5K per year per kid while their college funds sit empty.

Send him here! I hope he likes the outdoors, because I have a 3-year-old boy who needs to be exercised for several hours a day. Plus I'm tired of paying someone to cut my grass. I've always wanted a garden, but there's no one to till the ground. And my flower beds are in desperate need of re-mulching. The tile in my bathrooms need re-grouting and sealing. I'm sure I could think of more things that would make chemistry look more appealing.

I understand. I'm really burnt out this year, though my burn-out has more to do with the two preschoolers.

Thanks for the kind and patient answers. I realize I may have sounded a bit nuts (the dangers of midnight posting). And for the record, I love the ponies, it's just the TV show that bugs me (all 52 episodes, unfortunately available on instant Netflix). And I am a huge believer in imaginative play, and I love to hear my kids engaging in it. I think I've made the mistake of reading this forum and developing unrealistic expectations. Dd has no interest in going to the library and checking out a bunch of books because she's so into a topic. In fact, she balks at reading anything non-fiction (except history written in story form). She doesn't incorporate the literature we read into her imaginative play, though I did hear her recently pretending that something was a Hydra, which has given me new hope. To her, the computer is good only for printing out pictures from the Barbie site and playing games on the American Girl site. She never wants to write any stories or poems. It's as though there's a school switch that turns off the minute her required work is done. I was the same way -- only doing what I had to do in school to make my grades. I've always blamed that on being a gifted kid in a mediocre school with no challenges, and was determined to give my dd something different. Now I'm thinking maybe it's a personality issue that she's inherited from me. I guess I'll just have to accept it and :chill pill:.

I would love for dd to hang out with some kids who are smarter than she is, more interested in learning and exploring ideas. I think she's capable of more academically, but I can't push her on it. Her test scores last fall put her barely under the cutoff for the gifted programs out there, so I don't have that resource. But hanging around littles all the time isn't exactly going to spur her on to greater things. I can see it now, an ad on Craigslist: seeking highly gifted 7-year-old girl to influence my dd and show her that there's more to self-education than memorizing the names of the My Little Pony characters.

Dd7 is on track to finish Singapore 3B in October. I'm undecided on what to do next -- go on to Singapore 4A or sidestep and go through the Beast Academy 3 series for the rest of the school year? I'm not really in favor of slowing her down. However, I love BA and really think she would benefit from it. Doing both at once is not an option because I don't have that much time to spend on math (we have to rush through school as it is, but that's a different post).

Oh yeah. Been there!

Well, 8 is definitely too young. That's when I read P&P for the first time. My mom was taking a grad school lit course, and I was dying to read her books. She would only let me read P&P and Pilgrim's Progress because the rest were too racy. I was young enough to prefer Wickham over Darcy, so I was obviously too young for the book.

I went through about 1 1/2 years of horrible times with my oldest dd. Punishments didn't work, taking everything away didn't work, bribes didn't work. A full psychoeducational evaluation revealed giftedness, ADHD, and probable sensory processing disorder. An occupational therapist confirmed the SPD, and dd has been in OT for nearly 6 months. The changes have been enormous. No more fits, no more physically fighting me, no more screaming that she hates me, no more aggression toward her siblings. She's still a bit on the dramatic side, but from what my friends with 7-year-old girls tell me, it's within the normal range. The OT also gives me really good parent coaching. We're about to be discharged from OT, but I'm going to get regular chiropractic treatments for dd because that also helps to settle her emotionally. You may want to try that as well. My chiropractor worked on dd for 30 minutes and she was like a happy little limp noodle for 24 hours afterward.

Here's my voice of experience as one who's been teaching my own child piano for a few years, and made a few mistakes along the way: You can do this! I highly recommend the Faber Piano Adventures series. I've tried Bastien and Alfred, and Faber is superior IMO. Make sure you get the theory book, it helps a lot. Treat it as a school subject. They do math, they do grammar, they do piano. Do you have privileges that they only earn each day once their schoolwork is completed (like screen time, for example)? Then add piano to the list of required items. It doesn't necessarily have to be 30 minutes a day. My daughter is in a slump right now. She's been through phases of wanting to practice an hour a day, but right now she's in a slump. So I require her to play her current piece three times. Yes, progress is slower, but better that than for her to hit a wall and refuse to touch the piano for six months (that happened last year after a few months of her obsessing over the piano and wanting to be a concert pianist when she grew up). If you can think of a huge long-term bribe, hold that out as a reward for when they reach a certain point of proficiency. My daughter has known for nearly a year now that I'm letting her get a cat when she finishes the Faber series. That helps to keep her going.

I read some articles about the Swanns way back in the mid-90s, when I first became interested in homeschooling. I remember reading that Alexandra actually got a job teaching in a community college when she was 17 or 18. Those who hired her never asked her age, just assumed because of her degrees that she was in her 20s, and they had a good laugh later when the truth about her age came out. As to why a family would choose this route, I can think of one reason, and that is if you really want your kids to have a shot at economic independence by age 18. I see the appeal. I would LOVE for my kids to have some sort of degree or certification that they could use to start out in the real world if they're ready, rather than be forced to spend 4+ years in this weird limbo our society has created of not-quite-kids, not-quite-adults. I'm not interested in doing what the Swanns did, but I would still love to find a way to make that happen. Maybe the Swanns were going for that rather than for greatness.

IF you're going to use Ambleside as your curriculum, I recommend waiting till age 6 for the year 1 readings, yes, even for a gifted child who can probably take the books in hand and read them herself. When used as a curriculum, these books become the textbooks. It is expected that the child is absorbing and learning from these books and remembering them, not just enjoying the stories. (And believe me, I'm not a "wait, wait, wait" person. I started K with my oldest at 3. I'm stressing because my second dd will be 5 in December and can't read yet. So, I truly get where you're coming from.) Now if you're not going to use Ambleside as your curriculum, take the book list and run with it, LOL! I love, love, love Ambleside. I'm using Year 2 for my gifted 7-year-old. Yes, she could have read these books herself at a younger age. Now she's getting the nuances and the meanings. And looking ahead, I think 12 is young enough for even a gifted child to tackle year 7. I'm a grown-up gifted kid myself and year 7 books require some concentration on my part. Since your dd is an only child (and presumably easier to manage than a houseful), I recommend ramping up the nature exploration as much as possible, so that it's easier to visualize the places that she reads about. I have a hard time with that as an adult, being a city-bred kid. As for pre-age-6 readings, I recommend: http://www.amazon.com/Ambleside-Online-Year-0-5-List-I/lm/R219J5AW8K41AB/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full This same person has put together 55 Listmania lists on Amazon, with Ambleside-type suggestions for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and supplements. I used a LOT of these books to fill in dd7's kindergarten year.

Throwing this out there in hopes that there are some expert party-throwers in the Hive: I have nothing yet to give the guests tomorrow at my son's birthday party. He will be 3, the guests range from ages 22 months to 7 years, both boys and girls. Some sort of "treat bag" or small gift is customary. Any last-minute ideas?

Yes, I think it's a great deal. Each activity is linked to a private YouTube video that shows real children doing the motion. The activities are varied each day, but with enough repetition that the kids get a chance really to learn the moves. They exercise different body parts and improve skills and stamina. I may end up only using the program a couple of days a week because my kids are already doing a lot of exercise through dance, tumbling, and soccer. But I think the program is just right for a mom like me who's ignorant when it comes to physical activity. Oh, and I would think 5-6 would be a minimum age to start this program. My 4 1/2-year-old is on the advanced end for gross motor skills, but she doesn't have the attention span to complete the daily routine.

There's a big homeschooling community in the Spring Hill area.

I just completed day 4 eating only meat, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. I've had no serious withdrawal symptoms, just some mild headaches and a little nausea. I'm just wondering, when can I expect to start feeling much better than I did before starting this plan?

How much writing does your second grader do for school on a typical day? By writing, I mean the physical act, not composition.

I'm FB friends with nearly everyone I went to school and church with growing up, so that includes quite a few former crushes. The one guy I dated briefly and the other guy I almost dated before starting to date dh? I don't care to look them up, but not out of fear of something happening. They're both rather embarrassing chapters of my life.

Dd 4.5 and ds-almost-3 will be doing Memoria Press Jr. K together. Dd is ready to learn to read, though, so we're going to try The Reading Lesson. I'm also throwing in the Developing the Early Learner books and Singapore Earlybird for dd. She's one of those kids who really likes schoolwork, or I wouldn't bother with all of this. I also have a heavy arsenal of tot activities for the little ones to do while I teach my second grader. All my kids will do Bible and PE together. I'm a natural couch potato, so I bought Family Time Fitness when it was on discount so I can lead them in PE and make sure they get real physical activity.

I signed my kids up for the summer reading program and promptly admitted failure within a week. I just can't keep up with reading times for 3 kids, especially when I have to log it all into a complicated online system.

I second the recommendation for an OT evaluation for sensory issues. My 4-year-old has had an evaluation and is about to start therapy specifically for picky eating. The OT told me that there are 32(!) steps to get a child to tolerate eating a new food. The goal is to have 30 foods (10 carbs, 10 proteins, 10 fruits & veggies) that the child will eat, so there can be a wide rotation among the foods.

My oldest dd looked at the samples and thought her sister would love it. Dare I take the advice of a not-quite-7-year-old? :001_huh:

Does anyone have any opinions on the Memoria Press Jr. K program? This would be for my dd 4.5. Ds3 could tag along if he wants to. My little ones will get neglected during the school day if I don't have something "official" planned to do with them.