Is he comfortable with addition and subtraction? Saxon 3 introduces multiplication and division. If he's ready to start multiplication and division, start in Saxon 3. Any issues he needs more review with, simply add them to the calendar work before the main lesson. I'm assuming issues such as counting money, telling time, and shapes. If your son isn't comfortable with addition and subtraction, I'd start him with Saxon 2. :001_smile:

Homeschool Tracker - computer I used it for many years like you mentioned. Grades, tracking, bumping, weekly lesson plans, transcripts, etc.

We do 1-2 hours depending upon the day. I've found it's about right. The preschoolers do better with time to relax and play quietly. My 11yo enjoys the uninterrupted reading time. The teens have time to study and work or personal projects quietly. I can't see doing more than 2 hours of quiet time in the afternoon unless the household rose early and stayed up late. :001_smile:

Here's some ideas: Turn TOG into a family project. Use the LG or UG books for everyone and make that the core of your TOG readings this year. Go through the weekly timeline and famous people lists. Chose a couple each week you really want the children to know and build a memory list over the unit. Also choose a couple dialectic discussion questions to discuss at dinner. I was amazed how much my 3rd grader was able to contribute just from reading Story of the World! Assign the dialectic literature assignments to your daughter and have her do the worksheets. Or use the dialectic literature as read-alouds and discuss the worksheets later. I found the children need to know the terminology learned in dialectic to do well in rhetoric. You have 3-4 years to get there, so don't stress about it. If she's interested, you can have her read one or two of the dialectic history books and write the answer to 1 accountability question this unit. Next unit, add 1 question. Eventually she'll be answering all the questions. ;) Your son will mature. For now, just do what's right for him and ignore the rest. I had one with tracking issues who struggled with the appropriate level of TOG when we started. So I bumped the child down.... way down. It built confidence and reading skill. By the end of the year, the child was reading at grade level. Children grow and mature. These irresponsible, lovable boys do turn into responsible, caring men. :001_smile: HTH :001_cool:

Just the 3 R's will be fine. The kids love having a light school day and tons of time for projects. I was on bedrest with #5 from 21 weeks on. The kids learned. They also got a crash course in home economics.... you know, all the stuff I'd meant to teach them but never found the time. :001_rolleyes: Baby #6 came hard on the heels of baby #5. I was under strict orders to take it easy even though I didn't need to go on bedrest. I'd waddle into the kitchen, put my feet up, and tell the children how to cook dinner or bake cookies. My oldest still can't see me carrying something heavy without taking it away from me. :001_huh: The older 4 children came out of our baby years knowing how to cook, clean, do laundry, change diapers, iron, etc. :D The academics balanced out. The life skills balanced out. The children learned.

I tried a wall timeline a couple years ago, actually it went up a door. It looked beautiful. We had timeline figures.... My youngest 2 children, then 1 and 2, tore the figures off and colored on the timeline. It didn't survive 2 toddlers. :blink: I'm going to try it again because using timelines in a book didn't work. The little ones are preschoolers, not toddlers, now so I'm expecting better behavior from them. ;)

Thanks for sharing! We use Saxon although none of mine were into Saxon 54 in the first grade. :001_smile: I'll be interested to hear your experiences over the next few months. :bigear:

What do you want out of TOG? Can you define a successful year? TOG is meant for older children to work through it mostly independently, so you have more time to spend with your younger children. This means, give the reading assignments to your oldest. Cut the readings down if necessary, but let your independent readers read. On Fridays sit down, have some tea and cookies, and discuss what your child(ren) read and studied over the past week. Later you can add activities, writing assignments, and art studies. For now, just focus on history and literature. The bulk of your time is spent on your younger children, the non-readers, who need the one-on-one attention. Just remember, TOG isn't meant to be done fully the first time through. It builds on itself, and your oldest is only 6th grade. You have 6 years before your oldest graduates. Next time around your oldest children will be that much more mature and independent. Define your history goals for this school year and work from there. :001_smile:

I was just about to recommend them. :D

No, we use 1 working binder that holds all material needed for the week. Finished material is placed in 'portfolio' binder. Some of my teens choose to use a spiral notebook for math. I actually used the same technique for college. One slender binder held all the information I needed for my daily classes, and another thick binder held all completed material and tests.

I use a filing system. All loose papers are filed, assignment sheets, tests, anything I'll need through out the year. It's kept us on track for a couple years now despite all types of last minute surprises. Here's the post I wrote about it: http://classicallyhomeschooling.com/simple-filing-system/ :001_smile:

I'm in place this year, but the year my oldest started high school was a different matter. I planned out a wonderful curriculum for him based on TWTM.... then scrapped it the week before we started the school year in favor of combining the children in Tapestry of Grace. Yes, the WEEK before we started the new school year, lol. :gnorsi:

Calvert. :001_smile:

If you're doing reading, writing, and math, I'd go ahead and count it as school. It's really up to you and it's not set in stone. We've run the gamut from Jan-Dec, year around, and now we're on the traditional school year. My young children do better working year around, while my older children appreciate having time off to focus on personal projects. I plan for the school year now, although not by day but by week. It simply takes too much time to print everything for the family and one year we had a minor crisis every other weekend or so. I simply didn't have time to plan or print. Now I plan, print, and file all paperwork I need for the school year. My children are older and we're through the curriculum hopping stage, so it works. I plan a 4 day week for my 5 yo so we can skip a day as needed. ;) You're just starting with a young child. In my experience young children vary dramatically from week to week. Some weeks they absorb everything like a sponge. Other weeks it's like herding squirrels to get the child to pay attention. It also takes time to adjust and adapt your homeschool to your family. My recommendation is to plan for short time periods such as a month, 6 weeks, or a quarter. As time passes, you'll figure out a good system for yourself. :001_smile:

A varies child to child. My 4th child, 5th grade last year, tended to spend about 45 minutes on Tapestry last year doing the readings. My dialectic and rhetoric children spent about 2, maybe 3, hours a day. That was for history readings, questions, literature readings, writing, and discussion. It varies as their workload varies child to child and day to day. I plan the year in the summer and print everything I need. It's all filed by week and by child. On Friday I hand out the next week's assignments and the children make their own schedule. One enjoys light Wednesdays and Fridays so plans accordingly. Another likes to do all the readings on Monday and Tuesday. A third enjoys an evenly paced week. Everything needs to be finished by Friday so we can do our discussions. :001_smile:

Your son will be fine. This is the line-up for progression through the Saxon Math. You can also work through the summer months and gain another year if needed. ;) 8th grade - Saxon 76 9th grade Saxon 87 (if he does well, he can go directly into Saxon Algebra in the 10th grade) 10th grade Saxon Algebra 1 11th grade Saxon Algebra 2 (geometry is integrated in the older editions of Saxon Algebra 1-Advanced Math. Use those... the homeschool 2nd or 3rd editions.) 12th grade Saxon Advanced Math (the book is dense. If he can get through it in a year, he'll be ready for calculus in college. If not, he'll easily test into precalculus.) Google Art Reed and Saxon homeschool. Art Reed taught Saxon Math for many years, has a book on how to use Saxon Math in the homeschool, and is available to answer questions by phone or e-mail. He's helped me a couple of times when I had children get stuck. :001_smile:

I'm still working on my cards, so I don't have many. Currently I have daily cards for swishing 'n swiping, making beds, shining the sink, etc. Weekly cards for dusting, mopping the bathroom, mopping the kitchen, running trash out, changing sheets, etc. I also have a card to spend 15-20 minutes in the current zone. I'm about to make cards to tackle the fridge as Motivated Mom does. First the top shelf, middle shelf, bottom shelf, drawers, and door. Later I should have a lot more! :001_smile:

I'm transitioning into the card system using what I like from Flylady and Motivated Moms. Flylady: I love the swish 'n swipe, zone system, and weekly bless the house. I'm at the point where the kids can do most of the weekly cleaning as part of their normal evening chores on Friday or Saturday. Motivated Moms: She has a beautiful breakdown of really annoying chores and includes tasks I tend to forget. Card system: Being able to personalize my cleaning system to my likes, dislikes, and household. :001_smile:

Yes! Sometimes it's wonderful to browse your shelf instead of curriculum shop when you run into a problem. Also, if I know I'm going to re-use it because I love it, why repurchase it in 5 years? I have plenty of storage space. If you move a lot or are tight on storage space, it might make more sense to sell then repurchase. Transporting and moving books can be expensive. ;)

Have you asked your son if a different program would make a difference? One of my sons dislikes math, but changing programs made no difference. "It's still MATH, Mom." Your son might love another book and thrive, or perhaps not. My suggestion would be to let him see samples of acceptable math programs and see what he has to say. I've heard good things about Life of Fred, so you could try that one as well as Thinkwell. :001_smile:

36 weeks from the end of August/first of September to the end of May/beginning of June is our official school year. Summer tends to be for projects and intensive reading.

We've used Platinum Tel or ptel.com for several years and been very happy with it. :001_smile:

I don't think there would be a problem any place you start; none of the three expect a science background. My personal suggestion is to start with the one that looks the most interesting, then go ahead and start biology in 1st. Paige, creator of Elemental Science, is at http://elementalblogging.com and can answer any questions you have. :001_smile:

I blog and have children from 3 to 17. You can see the age spread and blog in my signature. :001_smile:

:iagree: Mom taught me this trick for remembering to turn off the car lights. Turn on the lights, toss the purse into the back. Put in the baby, put the purse at baby's feet. :001_smile: