I agree with everything above. Language acquisition will happen best and happen fast if that is what is permitted. When math content begins, the student may need to count in his / her first language in spite of learning number words in English. This should be allowed, as some people never are able to do computations in a second language. At such a young age, however, they may eventually change, but I don't think a kid should be forced to compute in a second language, as long as they can understand the numbers and systems in English. As far as a formal curriculum is concerned I am not sure...I tried formal French curriculum with my kids, and they learned more from books like "goodnight moon" and "green eggs and ham" translated into French than by me trying to teach them French grammar. I took the organic approach like the poster above did, and if I had a child coming from another culture and language, it is the approach I would use to immerse them in English.

It's not called classroom management in this case. It's called parenting. If it were a venn diagram these two would be in the middle. How you parent and set boundaries cannot be different for how you manage your lesson time. You cannot be two different people. It's not about the kids and how they behave but how you discipline (or don't) and manage your household. We have the same standards for respect during school time as we do any other time. Teaching your kids to have good boundaries with each other and with you will help manage how much you can get done in a day.

link to the blog post??? I'd like to read that just for a laugh.

I have settled into a lovely groove that suits us just fine. I hardly even make recommendations anymore except to say that "It's all so personal--we like this, but it may be all wrong for you, so take it with a grain of salt." If it's working for you, go with it. I had a revelation recently. I would always worry about being relevant and needing validation from the outside. Recently, my mom died of alzheimer's and as she journeyed through it, she became less and less relevant to people outside of her immediate family. To us, though, she was still the most precious gift that God could have given us. I became very, very private. I wanted to protect her dignity and my feelings about her losses. I pulled in tight to my family. As I come out on the other side of this, I realize that we strive so often for what is unimportant and compare ourselves needlessly to state standards, others' expectations, others' kids, how clean HER house is and how TOGETHER she seems...when all that really matters is how well we are loving and serving those we've been charged with. It suddenly just didn't matter any more. It's all perspective. Oh, and if you have a boy or 7 boys...don't ask a mom of all girls anything. I absolutely concur with that. :iagree:

I am a huge fan of moms of littles getting help from a cleaning lady. This helps with the sanity part. Everyone spends a bit of time tidying up and then someone else comes and cleans. that way school and laundry and cooking can get done. This is how I did it when mine were smaller, and recently I called them in for a one-time cleaning because I was completely overwhelmed. It helped to tip the scales in my favor, and I was able to get ahead of the stuff that was stressing me out. That's my solution...

I loved the Trixie Belden mystery series when I was a kid. She was very spunky. I absolutely second Ramona Quimby. I love them as an adult! They are for everyone...

Just re-read the original post. saw that your student is only six. That's young. My son started at that age and by age 11 was burnt out on piano. burnt. out. I had to allow him to take more than a year off and figure out what he wanted to do with music. Now he's having fun again. My DD started at six and unlike her brother didn't get burnt out, she just "noodled" (flopped like a wet noodle and wouldn't. do. anything) and I realized that a combination of immaturity and the personality of the teacher were not a good combo for her. She started again at nearly 9 and now she is doing fabulously. Don't be in a rush...They make much bigger strides and faster progress when they start an instrument later, unless you have the unusually talented kid who simply needs to be guided into great and wonderful things.

There are pros and cons to being able to help your kid with music. I play several instruments (piano, guitar, woodwinds) and my kids take piano and my son is learning mandolin. I CANNOT HELP THEM MUCH because we get soo frustrated. Even when I try very gently to help them understand, they get so mad at me. It isn't like this in other things that we do. I can't figure out why music is a battleground, except that they hear me play all the time and there is some feeling of comparison or projected sense of expectation. That said, we have a phenomenal teacher who is able to draw their very best from them and they are becoming lovely musicians, all on their own. I hold them accountable and try to stay out of it. It works better that way. Now we are getting to the point where we can play together and it is starting to get really fun. Something I've always dreamed of...

our kids get stockings. always will. My husband and I quit doing stockings because we kept forgetting to buy stocking stuffers for each other, and one year I got dental floss. I wasn't thrilled. I really was not thrilled. After that I "outgrew" the stocking. But my kids will get them as long as we have Christmas with them.

NM

For us it will be a matter of starting again the things that are more teacher-intensive--grammar, writing, spelling and experiments. I have been allowing myself to step back since October when my mom passed away. Now I need to get the ball really rolling again. For my son, I had switched him from MUS to saxon algebra. While he is doing fine with the saxon, I am not--want to stab out my eyes. I just don't know why or how one company can make math so boring. So we are going back to MUS and Khan academy supplementation and other things as we need. My daughter will start phonetic zoo spelling, which has worked fabulously for my son. I'm hoping she likes it as well -- it takes me out of the equation, and makes them responsible for their own learning, which I love.

FLL 3 is probably fine for the reasons stated above.

rugman.com I got my favorite rug from them and they are great to deal with...

How can I say thank you for all of your kind words. I really, really am taking them to heart. It's strange that a place that I go for homeschooling thoughts and to swap ideas and opinions is also the place that I have found some of the best comfort. I'm comfortable here--so many of us have been on these boards for a really long time, so I know that your words are not just hollow gestures thrown out to a stranger. I truly appreciate the time and care you ladies have taken to reply to my post.

I posted a completely original pancake recipe on my blog. My family LOVES THEM. I'd love for you guys to try them and post a comment. I called them "guinea pigs" and the reason why is in the blog post. thanks, and I hope you enjoy them!

Thank you so much for checking back with me...I just stopped by and saw the more recent responses. It has been getting better, slowly...I had a really rough, tearful day the other day, but they are fewer and further between. I am concentrating a lot on getting ready for Christmas early. I have not felt very "christmasy" the last couple of years, and so this year I am determined. My mom WAS Christmas. She loved Christmas and giving gifts was a real thing with her--the apple doesn't fall far. Thankfully I have such fond memories and can find enjoyment in honoring her memory this way, so it's very therapeutic. We are keeping up with math and science and history reading, but have let most things fall aside until January. I will get back to the Mom-intensive things after Christmas. I have made a herculean effort to combat my laziness and get to the gym four days a week and get back to routine. I think that taking care of my health will be critical to getting back on track... Thanks so much for the support!

I've got a 13 yo who is very fragile right now. When he's good he is wonderful. When he is tired, hungry, overwhelmed......... (smh) ugh. :huh:

I should have done a multi-quote but didn't see this before...but the no excuses part didn't work for me. I had to get out of the house. I had this aversion to working out at home. I don't know why...I guess because I hate it so much. I just needed to get out of the house. I admire people who do it on their own at home.

This was always my problem!! I would never do it at home. Never, never, never. Also, because I find exercise to be an entirely unpleasant thing, I hate to do it at home. Now we have a few things in our garage that we will use for a quick work out (kettle bells, a pull-up bar, rings, jump ropes) so as a family we can do a CF thing if we are not going to the gym for some reason. This is fun--but again, I needed to realize that where I am concerned, I must be active with other people or I have NO motivation.

I love this post...it is helping me to get the motivation I need to get back to more intense training...I am feeling sluggish and have gained weight, mainly due to the past two months of being "off" with my nutrition and not as many workouts. It has been hard to find the "why" in the midst of losing my mom and trying to still keep the household running. I would really like to get serious about the nutrition again, try running more as I think that is simply one of the best ways to simply burn the calories, and push harder to make some pr's with weights. Thanks for the inspiration.

Monica in Switzerland, One of the reasons I love CF is that all of our family does it together. We all go to our own classes, but the kids' coach will often have family workouts or special occasions when we join their class. Sometimes my son comes to my class with me. My DH also goes to a CF class before work and whenever we can do it all together, we do. It really is an excellent bonding time. Also this weekend my son is going to compete in his first Olympic weightlifting competition, and we will all be there to support him in that. exciting! Karen in CO, Krav Maga looks devastating. I can see why you like it! Watched the vid with my son, and he thinks it's cool. He is a very testosteroney thirteen right now and would like to hit things. I'm sure he would enjoy this. :smash:

I have never heard of Krav Maga. What is it?

ROFL I have seen that before...I wish it weren't true...but it kinda is... People who first start seem to react that way. It's not that way for me anymore. Just part of life! :lol: It's definitely not for everyone...

It really is...I realize how very rare it is, but it happened because of something not so great--one of our coaches who is also a fireman developed a ruptured disc in his spine and was unable to do anything for months, and ended up having surgery. He was so bored and frustrated so one day we decided to bring him lunch. He requested instead that he come to one of the ladies' houses and have lunch instead because he wanted to get out. Unwittingly we agreed to his diabolical plan... Two days before he messaged us all and said, "how about I program a WOD (a.k.a. Workout of the Day) for you ladies before we eat?" UGH...he always makes really hard workouts, and yet we agreed. We had so much fun that he started doing this for us on a weekly basis while he was recovering and it just stuck. Every week that he is not at the firehouse on a Friday, we hold this cross fit club. If there are a number of weeks in a row that he can't make it, one of our other coaches fills in. Usually it works out to be about 3 weeks a month or so, and there are five of us who regularly attend and two who come when they are available (they don't homeschool and they work outside the home). Sometimes the kids participate and sometimes they just play together. That said, I have found that the reason this happens so naturally is that most CF boxes (what CF people call their gym) seem to develop a pretty tight community. Because you have your workouts in classes, and there is so much going on in them (i.e. sweat and suffering! :tongue_smilie:) there seems to develop a "band of brothers" mentality that really keeps you motivated and coming back. We would rather hang out with our CF friends than most anyone else. Last Saturday, for instance we all brought food after the Sat. WOD and people worked out in costumes and then afterward ate, played corn hole and drank beer. It was a great time. ETA - one of the things I didn't realize as I was struggling so hard to find a way of exercise that would help me is that I need other people in order to feel motivated. I simply won't do it on my own. I am naturally a bit of a sloth...I never wake up in the morning and think "oh! I think I'll go lift weights or do 100 sit ups" Never. It took a friend to invite me to go and the continuing relationships to keep me going. If it all fell apart I would definitely pursue that kind of situation again rather than lose my fitness that I've gained. It's too important. Prior to this I thought it was a flaw in my character that I could not motivate myself to exercise. I figured out that, no....just I'm just extrinsically motivated and I'm okay with that.

Thanks for all the replies, and keep them coming. I work out at my CrossFit box 4-5 days a week when I'm really on, but right now, I am recovering from the loss of my mom and have been out of routine, so 3-4 days per week is what I've been able to maintain. Some weeks over the last month or so it was only one or two...and this week I'm feeling it! I do the regular posted "met con" (metabolic conditioning) 2-3 days per week, a powerlifting / conjugate strength conditioning class two days a week, and on Fridays some friends and I get together for a cross fit style team work out and then we all bring lunch and eat together with our kids (we all homeschool). That is my absolute favorite! Before I started exercising two years ago (and admittedly I jumped into the deep end first with CrossFit!) I was very lethargic, achey, overweight, and desperate to improve my health. I was no longer able to sit on the floor with my legs crossed, or get up and down easily from the floor. I could not run a 1/4 mile let alone a mile or more (which I can do now, though I still am slow). I am always experiencing some form of muscle soreness, but it's different every day--just depends on what we've done. I don't mind so much and it's not was bad as it used to be. Today I am super, duper sore, coming back from erratic and not as intense workouts for approximately one month. My only disappointment is that I have not lost weight with CF. I know that this is true for many folks--there have been times when I was really dialed in on my diet and did lose some body fat (what I mean by "weight" because I have gained 10 pounds of muscle easily) but it is very difficult to maintain a strict paleo diet at all times, with a growing teen boy who has an enormous appetite. That said, though I am in considerably better health, and have become very, very attached to my CF routine and more importantly the friends we have made there. It's a fantastic community!