I agree that in this case OM2 might be a good fit (although generally speaking I'm a fan of OM's "childhood is a valuable period and nothing is to be gained by hurrying through it" philosophy, and OMK/OM1 is so "sweet" that it almost seems like a shame to miss out on it lol). But yes I do think you could probably do OM2- the early years, OMK-OM2 in particular, are not overly difficult. What you'd perhaps want to consider is what might happen down the road if you start him off in a higher grade now. Once you get to OM4 and OM5 they need to be able to do a decent amount of writing. The writing assignment choices are interesting and you want them to get out of it as much as they can- the reading, the writing, the discussions and so on. My daughter was a young 4th grader when we started OM (because if she'd been born 1 day later than she was, she'd have been in 3rd grade that year instead; she started out in public school and I didn't pull her out til toward the end of 3rd grade), and we loved OM4, but for a lot of those writing assignments, I remember giving a decent amount of hand-holding and thinking "if she was doing this next year, she'd probably do a bit better with it/get a bit more out of it." And this year, in 5th grade, she is indeed doing better (i.e. being more independent etc) with her writing assignments. So just something to think about! (Of course, you could always do something like doing OM2 this year and then spreading OM3 out over two years or some such, so that's something to think about, too!) OM has really good customer service from what I've heard btw and if you call them and explain your situation and ask what they think you should do, I think they will give you good advice which very well might be to use OM2 for him, just to throw that out there. LOL...I'm "craft impaired" too but we don't have trouble with most of these crafts. Every once in a while I'd say to my husband, "Why don't you do this one with them" lol- but most of the time we had no problems. They were pretty simple and fun.

Oh! Thank you for letting me know! :)

Who he used to

Maybe you need to write her one of those "Do you want to do fairy tales? CIRCLE ONE: Yes/No" notes that teens are so fond of hehe. I'd leave it up to her at that age- my 5th grader definitely still likes fairy tales.

Not sure but my inclination would be not to use it and to use the stovetop/microwave/grill until I could replace it. Not sure if you can get a glass place to replace it instead of needing a new stove- or maybe a used appliance store or craigs list or some such.

I'm with you! I eat the same thing pretty much all the time. Usually chicken and broccoli, or sweet and sour chicken, ribs, or shrimp and garlic sauce/shrimp and broccoli. We've had fried rice, lo-mein, dumplings, egg rolls, soups. But like you said there are SO many other things on the menu- I just don't know what any of them mean, are, taste like etc- and I tend to stick with the same few things all the time once I find something I like at a given restaurant rather than taking a chance on ordering something I DON'T like.

I don't have a preference, so I didn't vote. (Other than the fact that paperbacks tend to be cheaper! But if it's something I want when it first comes out, I'll get it regardless, and if it's a used book and a reasonable cost either way, then I don't have a preference one way or the other).

Well, I follow Oak Meadow's curriculum, and they do: 5th Grade - Basic Environmental Science/Basic Life and Physical Science 6th Grade - Life Science/Life Science & The Human Body 7th Grade - Earth Science 8th Grade - Physical Science Then the high school years don't really list grades but going by the order in which things are listed, I'm assuming: 9th Grade - Biology 10th Grade - Environmental Science 11th Grade - Chemistry 12th Grade - Physics

Well my daughter is only 10 but I don't usually expect her to do school while I'm gone. If I'd had time to get her started on something she can do independently before I leave, I'd probably say "finish this and then you can go do your own thing" or I might tell her to read some of her book (whatever she happens to be reading independently at the time) but that's about it. It seems easier to be there to supervise it myself.

My son loved the stomp rocket- but ended up destroying the rockets by picking at and pulling off pieces of them very soon after he got it. (And he doesn't tend to destroy things in general but that must have had a tempting texture that he couldn't stop himself from picking at or something!)

Really? I would let my kids watch A Baby Story and talk to them about pregnancy and birth and so on. But heck no I wouldn't want to have to give a one or two sentence explanation of why some guy is talking about sex with a blow up doll to my 10 year old. Those two things are not REMOTELY the same.

See, I think it WOULD be a good fit. It's definitely a "playful, hands-on, organic approach" to schooling, which I love about it :) There are lots of arts and crafts and nature studies. While the readers may be not advanced enough for him, the fairy tales likely WILL be, and plus he can do other reading on his own for fun- which I imagine he does. The math won't be advanced enough for him but WILL be fun reinforcement, and you could always continue doing your own math program. There are hands on projects and crafts and activities that you will probably both enjoy. He may enjoy the recorder books. Oak Meadow is NOT overly time consuming. I think for first grade it wouldn't take more than an hour or so. I'm a big fan of Oak Meadow in general though. I love their philosophy, their approach, their hands-on, creative gentle style in the younger years, and their hands-on, creative, approach which adds on interesting discussions and writing assignments and reading in the later years. So far I've used it for part of K (before deciding we were going to wait until next fall to do K with my son), all of fourth, and more than half of fifth, and I plan to continue using it. My daughter will be using it for 4th grade (which was our first full year homeschooling) through 8th grade at the very least, and my son will use it for at least K-8th. I haven't looked into their high school yet as that's a bit off in the future but may very well continue it into those years, too!

That would absolutely bother me. I'm glad you wrote to them! I hope other people do, too! In fact, I'll go click that link and send an email as well, just for the heck of it, even though we didn't see it :P

My daughter takes about 30 minutes or so to do a TT5 lesson using the CD and writing her answers out (she watches the lecture, does the practice problems on the computer, then does the main part of the lesson on notebook paper, checking her answers on the computer after each problem, as she goes.

I just want to add that I agree with "loving them through it" and the snuggling/rocking and so on ideas IF they work- but for some kids that just makes them more mad and it takes longer for them to get through it, and if that's the case with yours (as it was with mine when he had those moments- which fortunately weren't every day and which fortunately isn't an issue anymore at his age), then I stand by my initial comment which is to just cheerfully ignore it until it passes.

But you HAVE been teaching your children. From the day they were born. It's not that far a stretch to continue teaching a Kindergartener what he needs to know. Or a first grader... or any elementary school student... even if all you have is a high school diploma, if 12 years of being in school didn't teach YOU enough to be able to provide an elementary school level education to your own child... then maybe he shouldn't even THINK about sending his own kids to public school. Furthermore, you have their interests at heart more than a harried, busy teacher who will have them for one year and then never see them again would. And you can provide one on one instruction, which no harried, busy school teacher can. And you are certainly capable of finding out what you need to know even if you don't already know/remember it in order to stay a step ahead of a five or six or seven or eight or nine year old. You might also want to show him this link: http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/comp2001/HomeSchoolAchievement.pdf Which demonstrates how homeschoolers outperform public school students pretty much across the board despite the homeschooling parent's level of education!! Saying that homeschooled students are "weird" or "not normal" is a stereotype that he should be ashamed of perpetuating. And you can tell him I said so. haha. And he thinks that in elementary school, shutting the kids away in the artificial environment of a classroom with 30 other kids their exact age and one teacher, where they're barely allowed to talk without getting in trouble and have very limited recess time is teaching them to be socially adept? And he thinks that sending them to middle school where they can deal with peer pressure, bullying, sex, drugs, smoking, violence and who knows what else is teaching them to be socially adept? Having them living their life day by day IN THE REAL WORLD as opposed to being shut away in one room all day "preparing" for life- for 12 years!!- is teaching them to be socially adept! (And if that's not the case, is that why most public schooled kids are so mature when they get to college?) <insert eyeroll here> Does he realize there are millions of extra curricular activities and social activities a homeschooled kid can be involved in- and that said homeschooled kid has more TIME for those things than a public schooled kid does? My daughter goes to a library book club every 3 weeks, she goes to Girl Scouts every week, she goes to Judo every week, she goes to Homeschool PE at the Y once a month, she's starting a 10 week homeschool bowling league next month, she recently finished an indoor soccer league program at the Y, she accompanies me on many of my errands and outings, she plays with neighborhood friends when they are done with school, we belong to a homeschool group and go on field trips and educational tours with them as well as other types of activities, and she's done things like taking gymnastics, swimming lessons, art classes, we've hosted a Fresh Air Fund child over the summer, we have family nearby, she gets PLENTY of socialization. See number 3 above. He's 5. He'll outgrow it. Or it will teach you/help you to become more patient. Many homeschooling moms have reported such a thing. Myself included. Besides, you're a grown woman, and you're his mother, why wouldn't your husband trust you to know whether you are having enough patience/having a good relationship with your son and to say that it's not working out if you decide it's not. This isn't a one time decision where you're stuck for life once you make it. You can send him to school anytime. See number 6 above. ETA: And I would INSIST that he read these articles and even at least ONE of the books I mentioned to you before- if he's going to fight you on something that is so important to you and such a major issue in your lives, he should at LEAST do you the respect of fully hearing your side and informing himself with something other than stereotypes. That would make me furious!

O.M.G. !!! !!! !!! :svengo: I just read this whole thread with my jaw on the floor. I cannot BELIEVE that woman!!! You have nothing to feel guilty about and that nutcase should have been fired as far as I'm concerned! If she does so much as look at you sideways next week or refuse to greet you politely or anything, I would be right back in that director's ear complaining about how awkward she is making me feel as a paying customer... ...who CERTAINLY shouldn't have to be hiding out in the car or "running errands" instead of watching her kids' class in order to avoid any sort of unpleasantness or awkwardness...YOU PAY THESE PEOPLE!! Man, I feel all mad at that woman and I don't even know her lol.

I agree that the brain isn't fully developed as a teen and that it can impact decision making skills and so on (which is why teen drivers scare the heck out of me lol). But I don't agree that it's impossible to care for a baby as a teen, that's such a generalization. I had my oldest daughter when I was 18 and I cared for her just fine. Despite being kicked out of my house initially for refusing to get an abortion. I made some tough (but very good) decisions on my own that helped me be able to raise her to the best of my ability (including giving up my freedom and moving myself into a group home for pregnant and parenting teens with all its restrictions and rules, and doing all sorts of things to turn my life around while I was there, including getting my GED, my license, and going to business college followed by getting a job etc...) Furthermore, said daughter turned out to have all sorts of developmental delays (which eventually was made clear to be some mild to moderate retardation) and I got her into early intervention and took her regularly to work with a teacher, a speech therapist, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist from babyhood through her preschool years, I was very affectionate with her and protective of her. I was a better mother then than some adult mothers I know are now. Said daughter is now older than I was when I gave birth to her, and I still think I did a very good job taking care of her. Even back then.

I'd personally continue with the "ignore it, don't pay it any attention, go cheerfully about whatever task I'm doing without even glancing at her til she calms down" type of approach. Don't worry, she'll outgrow this. And she/you won't be doomed to a life time of disrespect or anything like that!

Thanks so much for this! I just went on the Philadelphia Free Library site and printed out the application and it turns out that if you live ANYWHERE in Pennsylvania AND belong to a library in your own community and are in good standing at that library- you can get a free card from Philadelphia Free Library and don't even have to pay the $15.00 a year! :) So I'm sending in my application in tomorrow's mail.

Oooh! That's a good idea!!! Mine doesn't either. How does it work, anyway? Do they have a lot of titles or just a select few or what?

Oh, also, "The Incredible Journey" might be a good one.

Cool, I think I will check it out from the library (oh btw it's actually spelled Carolyn as I found out when I tried searching by author first and nothing came up lol)

Thanks for posting!

Mary Poppins Lassie Pinocchio (not the cartoon version) The Black Stallion Peter Pan Escape To Witch Mountain Babe A Little Princess Annie (my son LOVED this at 4 when watching with his older sister) Pollyanna The Swiss Family Robinson Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original) Wizard of Oz (if you think it won't be too scary) Enchanted The Sound of Music Dumbo Bambi Lion King Lady and the Tramp Pippi Longstocking Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Alice in Wonderland Oliver Heidi