I've so appreciated your posts. I bought Singapore, then RS Level B. I keep going back and forth between the two. You give me hope! Thanks!

We built up slowly, one subject at a time. I started in January, and schools around here start in August (we school July-June, year round). I do not regret doing that. It gave me confidence, picking one curriculum at a time and seeing that he liked it. I would have been more worried about winning him over had we started it all at once. He loves school now and asks to do more after I've done everything I had planned for the day.

FWIW, I'm not working full time and I feel guilty about the things I want to do with homeschool that I never get to. There are only so many hours in a day.

Also consider the level of involvement. Are they doing it when they are filling in worksheets? Or is it after you read them a story and want a response from them? My ds does handwriting and math with manipulatives great, but reading (which also depends wholly on him to get done but is not kinesthic) was a great trial. He enjoys being read to (science, history, and literature). So the things I do with him go well, unless I am being passive (listening to him read) while he is being active. Math and handwriting so far has been interactive (learning how to write the letters and using the manipulatives) so those have been fine. So maybe change the format of some of the classes and see if that gets a different result. See if you can find a better balance between interaction and working independently and then gradually increase the working independently as long as it is working.

Well, take it in context of society today. We have the ACLU running around making public institutions take down the ten commandments and not have nativity scenes, etc. So I think it's sort of a knee-jerk reaction to being told to keep your faith to yourself and don't mention it to anybody all the time. The people who start these groups simply want a place where they can go and be Christian and believe in creation and not be given grief about it, so they create a group specifically for like-minded people. Is homeschooling really about Christian faith and believing in creation? No. We all certainly could mix together and benefit from each others company, and 98% of the time, those topics probably wouldn't be a problem. So it does seem rather unChristian to have such rules. But I certainly understand where they come from.

Is he doing this with one subject or all subjects? Mt ds (6) does this with phonics and reading aloud so we are adjusting our curriculum (for phonics) and we are now reading for a set amount of time (if we don't finish the story, we stop anyway & start over the next day). I totally understand how annoying it can be!

We have Singapore 1A and Right Start B. I started with the Singapore textbook and workbook, but it moved so quickly I didn't think ds could possibly catch the concepts. So I bought RS B at a curriculum fair. We got to about lesson 15 in it, and I just felt lost, like I was being led around blindfolded. It tells you do to x, y and z, but doesn't explain why or even tell you what the point of the exercise is. Then I heard about the Home Instructors Guide for Singapore. Now I love Singapore. The HIG tells you the point of each section, what is trying to be accomplished, and why. It's also very logical in the progression rather than jumping around. I've heard Right Start and Singapore teach the same way of thinking, and I am very happy with the "thinking" that Singapore teaches - more than one approach for each skill. With the HIG, I feel like I know what I'm doing - as in, I can see the big picture. Singapore doesn't use the abacus or other manipulatives, to my knowledge, but I have incorporated the abacus into what we're doing. My son likes it so I use it to show him the concepts there as well. People rave about how wonderful Right Start is, but I guess I'm a Right Start failure. I just got tired of trying to figure out what was going on. It's like RS needs a HIG or something. Oh well.

Should I put OPTGR on hold? We're close to lesson 100.

When I was in school, for "Reading" every week we had a story that we pre-read, and then we had to read it aloud as part of our schoolwork. Volunteers came to school and listened to us read our stories (I was in a multi-grade classroom in a small school). We also did vocabulary and other such things from our reading each week. So with ds, who is 6, I am doing OPTGR, and then I have him read aloud from a book such as a BOB book or Dr. Seuss or other early readers (simple ones) I find at the library. He is obsessed with books when we are not doing school (has been since he was a toddler) and many times when I tell him to do something, his excuse is that he is in the middle of reading a book. So it's not like he hates books or anything. But having him do oral reading is driving me absolutely crazy. When he applies himself, he does just fine. He can sound out the words he doesn't know. He knows a lot of the sight words. He can read a sentence just fine. But most of the time, he stares off into space or looks at the pictures and analyzes them or acts like he doesn't know how to sound out a simple word like "made" which he knows the rules for (like he's playing dumb). He just asks over and over how much longer this is going to take, and I tell him as long as he makes it take because we are reading to page x or this story or whatever. He just dawdles and dawdles and dawdles. I mean, he can make a BOB book last for 20 minutes or more doing this. I really don't think there is a physical problem such as absence seizures that is causing this. He simply isn't engaged in what he is doing. And I'm at the end of my rope. He hates the sentences in OPTGR just as much as he hates reading the stories. Sometimes he'll ask if we can do a BOB book or read Dick and Jane, but he still takes FOREVER to read the story. I can't remember people talking about oral reading much in the forums I read and such. Is this a requirement that no one does anymore, that I've just made up out of thin air? Do kids not read aloud these days? Should I just teach him phonics so he has the tools and let him read on his own? Are there reading books out there without pictures so he wouldn't be distracted by them? Should I read the book to him first a few times so he can learn the story and analyze the pictures to his content and then make him read it aloud to me? I am so tired of these painful reading sessions.

I started out with WTM but have found that I love SCM as well. WTM: SOTW and history sequence Science sequence Phonics Emphasis on core of 3 R's CM: Literature suggestions (we use these for our read-alouds) Grammar (tried FLL but didn't like it, and this is where I stumbled on SCM) Short lessons Narration (though we may try WWE) Haven't done the nature walks yet, but I would like to do them for enrichment I also am a member of a couple CM lists that I love where I find lots of inspiration and ideas for the realities of homeschooling. So that's how we do it. Just pick and choose what you like from each. Stuff like math and such crosses over for both. I think it's very easy to combine SCM with WTM.

My mom, who was an elementary school teacher before I was born, was here for a visit and we showed her what we do for homeschool (she observed me doing our routine). I am homeschooling DS (6) and also have DS (2) and a newborn, so this is our first year of official homeschooling. Here is our current routine: Read from a chapter book (currently Rudyard Kipling's Animal Stories) OPTGR DS reads a BOB book aloud to me HWT (I've been teaching him the letters on our Fisher Price DoodlePro) Singapore 1A SOTW Then, science, Bible, poetry, or music as we get to them (we didn't get to any of these on the day we showed my mom what we are doing) Everything we did, I do one-on-one with DS1. By the time he is in 4th grade and I start with DS2, he will be working mostly on his own, at least for his core subjects. But my mother thinks I need to have him working independently now, doing worksheets and such. I can understand the need for a child to be able to work independently in a classroom, but we are not trying to duplicate "school" at home. And I don't see anyone here talking much about busybooks and such that they make their kids do. Am I missing something?

I got really burned out on listening to my son struggle through all the sentences they have for each lesson. So now we split up the reading. He reads one sentence, I read one sentence. It goes much faster, and I don't mind it so much. We are getting close to lesson 100. We follow it with a BOB book, which he really likes.

My goal during the grammar years is to teach all the Bible stories chronologically. They need to know the basic stories. We're using Your Story Hour along with other Bible story books that tell the stories in order. Once we get to the Logic stage, we'll start getting more into the ideas behind the stories. But for now, I just want them to learn all of the stories.

We are using HWT to teach the proper way to form the letters. Once we have learned all the letters, I will start doing copywork to build handwriting skills as well as learn grammar, punctuation, good sentence form and spelling. So I see copywork as an extension of handwriting once they know how to form all of their letters properly. I don't like practicing handwriting just for the sake of practicing handwriting once they know how to form the letters.

We started Singapore with just the textbook and the workbook, but I found them too brief. Then I got the HIG and found it priceless. It tells you what concepts to teach, why they're important, and gives you ideas on how to do it. Then I use the textbook/workbook for review to make sure he's gotten the concepts. We love Singapore now!

You can also download them on i-Tunes for about $15 per volume. You don't have the CDs to put in a CD player, but it's sure a whole lot cheaper.

We're doing a four day week, but I have one child in first grade. I mapped out what we need to accomplish each week. Some subjects its a lesson a day. Other subjects, I just know how far I need to get over the course of the week. I like having a day of grace lest something goes haywire (little people don't take naps) and I don't get everything done.

I have my mom's Bosch that she got in the mid-1980s and used weekly to make 5 loaves of WW bread for years. I don't use it as often as she does, but the quality speaks for itself.

I totally agree with this post. I had some medical issues in my mid-twenties and my mother went with me (she had to drive me). But she was able to think of things I might not have thought of. She gave me confidence to speak up. A doctor is an authority figure, and it wasn't until I was in my thirties that I finally had the confidence to stand up for myself when I needed to. Even then, I still wish I had someone with me to help be an advocate. It's hard to stand up for yourself when you're being a victim, but when you see someone else being victimized, it's much easier to say something. Doctors are people, too. Yes, they are trained to ask questions. But they inevitably bring their own opinions and biases to the conversation. And they are an authority figure so they can be very intimidating even to the boldest among us. Eighteen is very young to be handling a medical condition by oneself.

Yeah, I would say, learn how to use your library. It took me a while to get the hang of it (we brought home a lot of dumb books) but it's much easier to decide if you want to OWN a book if you've had it out of the library and read it tons rather than buying it and not liking it at all.

I just went with daily experience. When my kids saw things and were interested, I elaborated. I think a lot of kids know the "drill" stuff because it is drilled into them by watching so much tv.

I was homeschooled for one year (1st grade) and it was the most fun year of school I had until I went to college...which is why I'm homeschooling my children. I want to give them interesting things to do and I want them to be challenged where they are. They don't have to be superstars - I just don't want them to be completely bored like dh and I both were.

I try to ask questions rather than explaining. For instance, my ds (5) has a puzzle he likes to put together but gets stuck on the bottom half of it (the tires of the tractor, which are a lot more difficult since they look so much alike). He puts it together every day, but I have to talk him through the bottom half. But I ask him questions such as, what color do you think the tab that goes in this slot would be? Where do you think this piece goes? I do that a lot with discipline as well. Do books belong on the floor? Do you leave your dish on the table when you're done eating? Where does the [name of toy] go? Which set of toys does this piece go with? Do we leave our clothes on the floor when we take them off? I think questions empower them to make decisions and decide what should be done. I understand how you feel, though. My 5yr old has very low drive and my 2 yr old has a very high drive, so there are things the 2 yr old figures out that the 5 yr old insists he doesn't know. It is frustrating. I just do a lot of breaking things down into simple steps to push the 5 yr old on, and he does seem to figure things out after I do that. It's hard though. A lot of work.