Ugh, responding on my phone is so confusing. Hope my previous response didn't come across as curt. Definitely appreciate your thoughtful response! Phone answering is tricky! Going to continue to assess and reassess what works best for us. And will take all these great suggestions into account as we do so. Thanks again! <3

Thanks for all your thoughts!! I need the quiet at naptime. They all have quiet time upstairs for 2 hours in the afternoons. If she sleeps less than 2 hours, she hangs out in the pack and play in the kitchen while I cook/clean. My sanity hinges on that time off. I'm not unhappy with our current routine. Just trying to remember how best to incorporate and entertain an older baby during school. I know the Ergo can be worn on my back so I'll have to practice. Thanks again!

Is he adopted also? I have another friend who has the older siblings take turns with the younger siblings. I think she calls it buddy time. I'm going to think about how that could look for us. Thanks! I honestly didn't plan on starting school again so soon, but my boys act out if they don't have structure. I figured, we would start off really slow with really low expectations and go from there. The first day was great, the second was awful, and then it kind of evened out. We added in a couple subjects this week and it is going really well. Honestly, the hard part is figuring out how to keep them all happy when we are not doing school! She is not big into books yet, but I am trying. We are in the northeast, so we have not been outside since getting home, no. Thank you so much for being available as a resource! You are brave! Someone else mentioned the sensory bag. I am going to look and see what we have and try it out, I think. Thanks! She would definitely shove them in her mouth. I bet she and my 3yo would love that when she is a bit older. Thanks! I was responding on my phone before and didn't see your signature. You have lots of experience with this age! I look forward to trying out the water play this week. She loves being worn, but not as much at home as out. It's worth a try, though! Thanks!

Great ideas! Thanks!! We have a boogie board for her, which is basically an electronic magnadoodle, and she does love it. Getting different versions of something she enjoys is perfect! I'm going to look for those markers. We used to have a couple. She enjoys coloring but has enough teeth that she gets serious bites out of crayons at this point. We have megablocks, so I'll give those a whirl. Duplos weren't. Huge success. Too small I think. She loves puzzles and sensory bins. The puzzles only last a couple minutes before becoming weapons. I'm going to look into the gel bags. My youngest bio didn't really get into them but it's worth a try with her. Appreciate all your thoughts!!!

Water play is a great idea!! She loves baths. Thanks!! I think a little bit of water and stacking cups on a towel on the floor would buy me a ton of time. Thank you! Yeah, definitely time. The boys and I need routine and function best with consistency, which is why we jumped back in. But you're right. It's all new to her and she is still figuring us out.

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this! Since I need her entertained while schooling with the 7, 5 and 3yos, I think it works here? Thanks!

We are home from China 2 weeks now with our first daughter. Developmentally, she is around 16-18 months. She.mouths.everything. Short attention span. Chucks everything on the floor. Our youngest bio is 3.5 and all my boys have been blissfully eager to hang out at the table and participate in school. Only one mouther previously. I need a refresher. What kinds of things do you give your older babies at the table? She screams if I'm not in sight, so table or high chair are the best places for her to be. We only school maybe 2 hours a day (oldest is 7), and she snacks through part of it. And she has floor time with our 3yo for part of it. I just need a ton of ideas to rotate for her while the 3yo is coloring or doing play dough or those kinds of things since she eats play dough and crayons. Thanks in advance!

Absolutely appreciate the gentle honesty! Thanks! Yeah, I have 2 mathy kids, and MM works great for us because they are both fluent readers and I can sit with them but they do it on their own, asking for help when they need it. I think maybe he wants more attention and being more hands-on would be good for him. So I am resigned to more teacher-intensive than MM for sure. And thanks for mentioning that about BA. Are there a lot of manipulatives, or is it teacher-intensive because it is just intense generally speaking? Like I said, I am sitting with them while they are schooling, and just switching my attention to whichever kid needs it at the moment. I don't mind things being teacher-intensive, but I need a balance because of the 2yo and 3yo being extremely needy. And still figuring out the 2yo (she has only been home 2 weeks). And she mouths everything, so manipulatives freak me out right now. I think CLE would be the opposite of what we need based on what you said. Someone gifted us Saxon and I looked at it last night, but it is exactly what you said. it actually doesn't seem very challenging, and I think he would get bored and hate it, too. I will look into MEP and Singapore/MIF. Thanks!

I am considering Bob Jones because it is not a lot of problems and is very colorful. We did it for K and it was way too much for me, but they learned a TON. But I am a more experienced homeschooler now then I was then, and think I could cut back on the "stuff" of Bob Jones without losing the skills. But when I look at Bob Jones for 2nd compared to ABEKA for 2nd, ABEKA seems way harder. So I am worried that BJ isn't as thorough and wouldn't be a good stepping stone from MM1 to BA3. Thoughts?

That's Singapore, right? I have heard mixed things about whether Singapore is a complete curriculum or not. I am looking for a sample. I need something that is completely different than Math Mammoth as far as looks go so he will give it a chance. Out of those, which is fun but also open and go? I need it to be fewer problems and more color than MM, but not ten billion manipulatives and super teacher-intensive. Just brought home our first daughter from China and looking to simplify where we can for the rest of this year and for next year. I know the transition to 4 kids is partly why he is fighting me on everything right now. He doesn't transition well in general, and this is a huge transition for all of us. September. I looked at the schedule and am worried we will go through it faster than it is ready. Thanks for the thoughts and advice, everyone!

My son is doing MM1 and basically hates it. We are on page 91 of 1B and I think we are just stopping and doing the Star Wars 1st grade math workbook for the rest of the year. My older son is starting BA next year, I think, and is looking forward to it after reading the samples, but I am trying to decide what to have my 2nd son do to get ready for BA3 that is NOT Math Mammoth. I want him to be ready for BA3, and I think MM does a good job preparing, but we need math to not be a fight until then. Wish 2nd grade was out! Thanks!

Thanks! I think we are going to do something similar. I was listening to Dana Dirksen's Q and A songs using a version of the catechism yesterday and it is beautiful but Ask Me Whooo seems a little simpler actually. Thanks :) Hahaha, being interrupted is the only way I do things :P Thank you for your thoughts!

Slache- I have looked into it, several times over the past year or so, actually. My SIL used it and brought it over and I even looked at it, in person. I feel like Stick Figuring covers the facts in a way that is much more coherent for my boys. Stick Figuring feels less like worksheets. And the cost is better. But it is lacking the application, which I know BSGFAA does include. I WANT to like BSGFAA because it is so inclusive, but I look at it and just have a gut feeling that it is not a good fit right now. Thank you for the suggestion! desertflower- I think, after talking about it with a friend today, that I am looking for a holistic approach to discipleship, if that makes sense. And Leading Little Ones might do that. Thank you for the encouragement! We took a break this year from the Jesus Storybook Bible because my older 2 boys could literally recite it with me and wanted something different. They like variety. But, I think my 2yo, who is turning 3 next month, is the perfect age for it, so maybe we will start reading it again. It really is gorgeous story-telling. We don't have the Big Picture Story Bible. I have heard other people mention it. Is it like the Jesus Storybook Bible? Any devotions suggestions for my 6yo? Thanks! I loved reading the Jesus Storybook Bible out loud to them. I think we will start doing a story a day again. For the benefit of my youngest. Maybe even have my oldest help read it. Or, like you said, get the audio for the car. Thanks! I really really like Long Story Short and Old Story New. It just was wonky with the pacing with Stick Figuring. A way I might correct that is to do Old Story New (New Testament) while we are doing the Old Testament with Stick Figuring.

I post about this all the time because I struggle with wanting to do it to the best of my ability. We've tried a lot of different things for Bible. This past year, we tried to do a light version of Bible Road Trip, but it was still too much with a 6yo, 4yo and 2yo. We switched to Stick Figuring Through the Bible, which they love and we will use next year, but it is just facts and stories. Doesn't really touch on why or application. We tried doing Long Story Short with it but the formats weren't very compatible and it frustrated my 6yo because one moves quickly and one really settles in. We have done We Choose Virtues for several years, but I'm feeling like its a bit too disconnected. We use the Charlotte Mason Bible verse memory system with their Sunday school verses. So, all I know for sure next year is that we are doing Stick Figuring because they love it. And continuing to memorize verses. I got Leading Little Ones to God. Does Leading Little Ones cover the discipleship/character aspect enough for our 3 boys? Should we be doing something else or more?

I am trying to find a greater range of character- building stories and poems than The Children's Book of Virtues has. More variety about more traits. Does anyone know if there is a book or website that has short stories or poems grouped by what godly character traits they give examples of? Thanks!

Any thoughts on these character/habit curriculum? Thanks!

Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading has worked well for us.

We are finishing OPG and my 6yo son nails every word. I don't read them to him first, I just read him the rule then he flies with hardly any stumbles. My language arts plan for him next year is WWE level 2, FLL level 2 and Evan Moor spelling grade 2. He nailed spelling this year because he just gets reading and spelling so he probably could do a higher grade but I think we will just move quickly and sequentially. Does he need vocabulary lessons if we casually define words as we go already? Does he need reading comprehension if we do narrations for Bible and history? I guess I am kind of looking for something post-OPG that includes reading out loud practice, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Does that exist? Thanks!

We have been doing We Choose Virtues for...maybe 4 years? And it has 12 traits, which I have either cycled through 3 times or done for a couple weeks at a time. There isn't a ton of hands-on stuff with the curriculum so the problem with the repetition is that, while they know the definitions and stuff really well, we all get a bit bored. I think we could all do with some more variety and practice. But, looking at KOI, there is a lot of application, so even with repetition, that might work. Thanks! Thanks for the suggestion! Do you use it? I looked at samples of this one and it seemed a bit confusing. How have you used it? Thanks! We tried it for a couple weeks in the fall, using the free stuff on the website. It seemed harder to implement on a daily basis than We Choose Virtues has been. How do you use it? Thanks!

I am looking for a site or program that has 36 godly character traits so we can study one a week. Most seem to have between 10-20. Thanks!

We use Long Story Short/ Old Story New with Grapevine Stick Figuring Through the Bible. The first dives deeper in a heart level, the latter is more about remembering the facts of the stories at this age. There are different levels of the same study. I'm doing level 1 with my 4yo and 6yo together and it works well. They love it and beg for more pages many days.

We use the Building Spelling Skills and really like it!

1-2 hours of language arts a day for a 1st grader sounds like way too much to me. Our whole school day takes maybe 3 hours on a long day and that's with 3 kids and breaks. My 6yo and 4yo do most of their school together. Reading- OPGTTR (1 lesson, 5-15 min) Writing- WWE (1 sentence. Narration every other day. 5-10 min) Grammar- FLL (5-10 min) Spelling- (they begged) Evan Moor (5-10 min) Read Alouds- whenever! As far as them reading to me, I do BOB books with the 4yo and Pathway Readers with the 6yo. 1 book for the 4yo, 1 chapter for the 6yo. But we don't do this every day. Good luck!

I have 6, 4 and 2 year old boys and we have been reading it weekly since September. We read about Alexander the Great recently and the 2 older boys were cracking up about the Gordian Knot. So, with a grain of salt, my opinion is it depends on the child. My middle little was 4y3m when we started reading it and I have no regrets.

I have those on our wish list for him! He also is obsessed with penguins so I think that will be the first one we get :) Thanks!