My dd would tutor him in history and literature 2-3 times a week (she is almost 19 and very reliable and has a passion for these subjects) and I am really considering hiring a math tutor. I do have my mom to take him to the library, tutors etc as needed. so language arts and science would primarily be what we do in the evenings/weekends. He would have to do a lot of independent work however. But the sleeping in/staying up later might work actually.

The other half of this story is he will be leaving the elementary school next school year that he has been attending since Kindergarten and moving to my side of town (his dad, who lived across the street from his current elementary school, just moved across the country in September and I have been relying on my ex-husbands very wonderful but very....how shall I say this.....very messed up family...aka 2 grown kids and their kids all live with the grandparents in one big house because my ex's two sisters and brother cant quite get their lives together....not the ideal environment for *my* child and I believe a contributing factor to his problems). But they literally live across the street from his school and I work till 5, so I had little choice but to keep him there this year since my ex gave me no warning that he would be moving. I live closer to my family (across the street from my sister who doesnt work, my parents and my dd), who are all healthy positive influences and more than willing to help me. While the schools closer to me may be better in some respects, he will be starting next year at a new school in the last year of elementary (gr 5) as an almost 13 year old...his birthday is in November. (he already is a big kid for his age); he was diagnoses with a mild sensory processing disorder and I believe has ADHD; we have tried afterschooling and to be honest, he was already done with "school type activities" at noon; public school has killed his love of science...most recent grade in science is an F, down from a D earlier this year..... I could go on and on.... This is THE KID that I definitely should have kept home from day one and done Charlotte Mason with. He needed a later introduction to academics and more "exploration time". He is very Kinesthetic, physical and wants to do science projects all day...or work a full time job (yes, he has already expressed many times the desire to "just work and not have to learn anything else". I really am afraid that he never will recover/succeed if he stays in public schools. I *feel* like this can work....but I have my doubts since this isnt the traditional way to homeschool or how I did it with my daughter years ago. Sorry if this was incoherent...trying to type fast before I leave for work. Thanks for listening :)

Hi all! Do any of you home school while working a full time day job or know anyone who has pulled this off successfully? I have family that is willing to help tutor here and there during the day but about half of it will be up to me to teach in the evenings/weekends. My fiance works week nights and can be there during the day to supervise but he wont be actually teaching or really assisting, except perhaps if he gets really stuck on something. A little background...I taught my dd (now in college) at home for 3 years ala TWTM very successfully. My son (12 years old) has been primarily public schooled (minus a 1/2 year unsuccessful attempt at home...due to mostly external factors not present any longer) and needs remedial work badly. He is two grades behind and still doing poorly. (Very long and winding story). There doesn't really seem to be another choice but to home school at this point. I know in my heart that this needs to happen, I just need some guidance and encouragement I guess. Thoughts? Thanks in advance :)

I have the TM and besides an initial glance, I haven't picked it back up. The student book is pretty self explanatory. It shows you at the beginning of the workbook how to form the letters. I dont feel like we have needed it but thats just my personal experience.

...and what grade are your children in? We are getting everything done in 2-3 hours and my son is in the 3rd grade. Is this enough? I *feel* like we accomplish a lot during that time and that he is progressing wonderfully. We just live with ps'ers who in comparison do school for 7 hours. But I know its different when you are getting one on one. Thanks!

Thank you for the link! Did you all buy the TM and the workbook? Are both necessary? I like that the workbook is under $10 and was looking for a cheaper option to AAS. Is the TM necessary to teach the program?

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http://www.christianbook.com/how-to-spell-grade-3/laura-rudgins/9780838818527/pd/41852?event=CF#curr I was looking at this workbook for a soon to be 4th grader. It looks pretty good from the few sample pages I was able to see. Has anyone used this successfully? My son is not a good speller (also not good at decoding words) but I recently found out that he likes memorizing rules, so I think it may be a good fit since the workbook looks like its pretty heavy on memorization. Any thoughts? We've only been home schooling since January and haven't used any spelling curriculum thus far. Thanks!

Charlotte Mason ....but Im pretty much doing that already with my son. I decided to take a different approach with him. My dd was very, very different and really thrived with the classical method. Honestly I don’t know that i would have felt as confident or loved what we were doing as much if I had never come across TWTM. It was the ultimate inspiration for me and pretty much my homeschooling bible and the one I always reccommend to families interested in homeschooling. I shudder to think of a world without Susan and Jessie and their phenomenal work.

Thank you all so much for your advice! Im having so much fun reading through all of the ideas you have suggested! I think Im just going to redefine "deschool" and slow down and make it lighter and more fun for awhile. I think I had intended to do that in the beginning but lost sight of that goal becuase I was worried that in comparison to the time he spent on his subjects everyday in ps, that we weren't doing enough school. Which is rididculous because most of what drew me to homeschooling in the beginning is that we could take our time, begin where he is comfortable and from there work for mastery and most importantly go at his pace instead of a classroom pace. Just needed to be reminded of that. How does this sound: Continue memorizing math facts and reading/spelling practice but make lessons shorter (10-15 minutes at a time). Other than that just do read alouds together throughout the day at a comfortable pace. We could definitely learn history and cover literature this way. Maybe learn about some scientists and their life and work. It could possibly inspire him right? And maybe do these RA here and there, instead of fiting it into such and such time block, during "school hours". Maybe also a weekly science project would help him "like school" more. Does that still sound like too much? I tend to fall into the "over-do-it" camp, so I really dont know :D And then if we still have problems, I will see about getting him tested. Thank you all!

Im looking for a good reader for a boy reading at a 2nd-3rd grade level that he can use for practice everyday. Any suggestions?

We are new to homeschooling and there is a long list of reasons that I pulled my ds 10 out of ps. #1 we moved to a new town and i am now able to stay home and not work. I decided to go back to school full-time and am doing online classes and had some time freed up. #2 my son is did 1st grade twice, is now in 3rd and was failing miserably in every subject. He used to be good at math but fell way behind in that area too last year and after taking the MM placement tests, is in 2A and does not have basic math facts memorized. He is reading at about a late 2nd, early 3rd grade level but very very slow. So slow that he cant comprehend most of it. But he actually is pretty good at comprehension when I read aloud to him. His spelling is horrid. #3 He still has seperation anxiety at school and says he uncontrolabely daydreams a lot of being at home and missing his parents. This improved a little near the end but got replaced with daydreams about skateboarding and bmx racing. #4 He has very low self-esteem and gets easily frustrated and embarrased when he doesn understand something that other kids get with ease. (other kids that are clearly a year or so younger than him). #5 He cant seem to focus and gets distracted easily. We went through counseling at school and privately as well as taking advantage of the free reading tutors and afterschool programs offered by our ps system. None of these helped. The school thought maybe he had a learning disability but then changed their minds and said it was a lack of motivation and then changed their mind again but by the time they were going to get him free testing for that, we moved. He was very excited initially at the thought of being homeschooled but since we started, he has changed his tune. So, currently: we started January 3rd and Ive tried to give him some time to de-school. We started with only read alouds and practicing math facts, while adding a new peice of cirriculum every couple of days. We live in a house with a four year old and had some initial distractions, which are slowly improving. But because of that, we mostly do school in my bedroom where it is quieter. At his request, we went to the library today to do school and had a horrible time because he would totally loose focus when someone walked by and then he just got mad and silently refused to cooperate. I think he just does not like school. He tries to put it off by saying he has to go to the bathroom right when we are starting or saying he misses his dad and wants to call him, or wont get out of bed when I tell him to get up or any other thing he can think of to not start on time. When we do start, he is fine and happy one moment, then at some point gets frustrated and just puts his head on the table and refuses to move until I make him sit up straight. (did I mention he is the most moody kid on the planet?!) When i have him answer a question or read aloud to me, he mumbles so badly that I cant even understand him. Even when we revisit math concepts that he has been doing for over a year, he says he doesnt understand them, so his retention is very poor. He just keeps saying that he is stupid. I know that is far from the truth because when it comes to science, he understands very difficult concepts and explainations and retains that information perfectly. If he had his way we would do science all day. When we arent doing school, I ask him for input on how to make it more fun or easier for him to understand and he says its fine the way it is. Im so frustrated and dont want to yell at him, because that just makes him cry and freeze up even more. Im now saying no xbox, no tv if he isnt going to at least try. Thats not been too effective either. I think he really has trouble controling his moods and doesnt have the mental space when he is in the moment to think about consequences. I cannot put him back in ps. The schools are even harder in the area that we moved and he is not at all ready for that. I had hoped to keep him home for a couple of years to do remedial work with him and get him caught up but he refuses to even try. Im at my ropes end. Thank you for listening. I know it was a long rant.

Im trying to find documentaries to suppliment pre history and early ancients that we can find on netflix for an older ds doing SOTW. I have found numerous ones on Egypt but need one for prehistory, about the neanderthals and early hunter gatherers. Any science related video's would be great as well. Any suggestions? Our library might have something too. Thanks!

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I treid sending you a pm but your box is full. Can you pm me when you get a chance? Thanks!

What do you do when you have purchased something from the sale and swap board and you have not got your package and the seller wont respond to messages? The seller stated she would mail it before Christmas, but the tracking info states that the post office was electronically notified by the seller of a future shipment on Dec 30th, but no item yet to deliver. Now her pm box is full and cant receive anymore messages. I feel like Im at a dead end. Help?

I looked up Nature All Year Long and it looks great, but its focused on the New England area. Perhaps someone could recommend one that is more focused on the south...specifically Oklahoma, Kansas area? Sorry, not trying to hijack thread. :D

I will be staying for about 3 years. Today is going much better after talking to my sister. We worked out a "quiet time" and we will just use the library if its too distracting or use my bedroom. I guess thats part of the beauty of homeschoolong...you can do it in any room of the house. :) Thanks for the advice!

No, he does not take a nap and yes his mother is home. I think we may just try to get up earlier and get the things done that he really needs quiet for and then take library trips too. I feel bad because this is their home and they have a routine down and I dont want to be demanding and disrupt that. Maybe I'll just ask if before 11:00, it can be quiet time and try to do things after lunch that my nephew can participate in like story time and science projects.

We are now living with my sisters family and her other boys are at school but she has a 4 year old who is at home and wants to do school with us, then decides he doesnt, then he does again....and the tv is on in the other room pretty much all day. I know eventually this will normalize (I hope) but Im not sure how to handle it. We are incorporating the 4 yo into some of our school day but my son gets distracted by noise and movement easily, which was one of his problems in ps and Im afraid this is something we will just have to learn to deal with. Its a small house. Not sure what to do. Help?

We are doing this too for the next month or so. My son loves this website: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm He does this for fun without considering it work. We do some flash cards but found more success in timed tests. He wants to beat his time, so this seems to motivate him more.

Does anyone have a list of books you used? or maybe know where one has been posted on a blog, specifically in correlation with SOTW 1? I just moved and have been unpacking for days, have a very sick Grama:sad: (I will not even mention the chaos of Christmas this year!), as well as trying to prepare for ds school and my own...so I haven't had much time to fill in these details. (I'm usually so prepared!) I figured we would just go to the library and look around but I dont want to miss anything thats really really good. Im looking mostly for books he can read independently and maybe some good quality read-alouds as well. Thanks! (ds is 10 and reading on a 3rd-4th grade level)

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm My son loves this and I thought I would share.

Is the Plus version really superior enough to justify $50? If so, what are the most notable additions in Plus that you find unable to live without? Are there any other downloadable planners you like better? Thanks!