Maybe the mail carriers need to carry treats to give to the dogs so it is re-framed as a positive encounter. (but I don't know because I have never had a dog...we have cats at our house). Good luck with finding a solution.

Yesterday I read The Sign of the Beaver to my two 11 year old sons. We all loved it so much, we spent the whole morning on it and finished it by noon:). Such fun. The day before we finished Little Men, which we had been reading for a few weeks. Before that, we read the Lord of the Rings books. I also read aloud the Bible to them each day and I read history and science aloud also. I love it. They also read on their own though.

My two sons beat the stuffings out of the Christmas tree with their stick horses. They also opened the door to the gas tank of our van and then shoveled sand into it....both of these events happened while dh was in charge;). We used to have to duck tape their diapers on them at night. Oh, the good ole days:))

Our two sons (11 year olds) would play all day if they were allowed also. They are allowed 35 minutes on weekdays and 70 minutes on Sat and Sun. We have explained to them that it is not healthy to play games all day long. They clearly cannot moderate their playing time without help so we set and maintain the limits.

Yes, there are both elementary level and middle/high school level teacher guides and student guides available for this. Check out www.joyhakim.com and click on the Teacher Resources tab. There is a table at the bottom showing the different guides available for each book. I have found the guides at Amazon and also Rainbow Resource. The description of the middle/high school guides say they have map work. I just purchased a couple of the teachers guides and I know there are maps in it but I have not had a chance to review it yet. I have purchased a student guide and it should arrive in a couple of days. I have not seen anything about map work for the elementary guides but the samples available are very limited. I did not find anything about map work in the descriptions of the elementary guides though, although I could have missed it. I do not know if the guides have the timeline work but there is a list of important events with dates in the back of each of the books that could be used for timeline work. That is what I am planning to use, along with some figures from Home School in the Woods. ETA: The student guide also gives the student some direction and graphic organizers for taking notes and sorting information as they are reading the chapter. Looks like a good start in helping children learn how to read-to-learn.

Where did you order from?

Go to www.joyhakim.com website, click on the Teaching Resources tab and scroll down a bit. There is even a table showing which of the books have which teacher/student guides. It is very helpful. I have found many of them on Amazon. I have not been looking too hard yet because I wanted to wait until our local homeschool curricula resell shop is open tomorrow to see what they have first. I know they carry many of them. ETA: If you want to see samples of the Student/Teacher guides, check out Amazon and then also check out Rainbow Resource. They each have different samples. I am very impressed with the guides. They even lead the student in how to take notes as they are reading. Of course, they also have the map work and they combine chapters together into theme units and provide information about the theme. Really look like they are well done.....but I am anxious to actually get one in my hands so I can really go through it and see the whole thing.

I just discovered there are Student Study Guides and Teacher Guides specifically written for the A History of US series and they have map work of some sort in them and they also have discussion questions / answers, writing projects, vocabulary work, etc. Not sure exactly what the map work includes because I haven't been able to find sample pages with map work but the samples I have found still look pretty good. They made a set of guides for elementary and another set for middle school / high school. I ordered one from Amazon so I can take a look at it first hand but I have a feeling this is very close to what I was looking for and a ton cheaper than the Sonlight route. The A History of US books also have a section in the back where they list other books to read along with the history book, so I think that covers everything I was looking for. Thanks for your suggestions!

I have looked at Guest Hollow but have not found any map work there. I have not checked out TOG but I don't really want to use it. I have two of the years and it just did not fit us very well so we are not using it anymore. Thanks for the suggestions though. So far, the teacher/student guides from Sonlight for History and Literature might be the best fit but I am still looking:).

I haven't looked at that one....going to check it out now. Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback. I have been looking through everything and anything I can find all day. America the Beautiful sounds really good but when I read through the samples, it just doesn't sound as interesting as the books I already have of A History of US. I am thinking I might like to use A History of US but I would like map work and book suggestions to go with it. I was looking at Sonlight because I read they have a schedule for these books and guide that helps the parent discuss some of the possible liberal bias and that sounds really good. The only thing is I have never used Sonlight, I don't want to spend that kind of money and I think it would probably move a bit faster than I want to move....possibly. I'm not sure what I would need to buy if I wanted to go with the Sonlight guide. Anyone familiar with this? I may have to start another thread.

I would like an American History study that would work for 6th graders, that includes map work has suggested books to go along with it, kind of like SOTW-ish. We are Christian so Christian content is fine. Give me your favorite American History suggestions.

OK, thank so much!

Wow, this is awesome! Thanks so much for all of this Elizabeth. I will definitely go through what you have suggested and do the testing.

This is all very helpful. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it out. He can read aloud quite well and has always been a strong reader. His phonics usage and vocabulary are both pretty solid, as far as being able to read new words, sound out words, etc. I have always read aloud to them a ton. I normally read a bit above their level and I think that is why they both scored at the 7th grade level when they were tested in 2nd grade. I was just wondering about the reading aloud thing vs reading silently to himself, if his comprehension would be different. I am going to try that and see how well he comprehends if he reads aloud. I definitely need to start working with him on smaller passages. He has always had trouble with narrations. We were using Writing With Ease in 1st through 3rd and he could never get the narration part down so I switched to something else. I was hoping it was just something he would grow out of but I think we may be dealing with something more than that. Well, at least I have a few things to start looking at and working through with him. Thanks!

Thank you for this encouraging bit of wisdom. I greatly appreciate it and needed to hear this:).

This sounds like it would be a better method of test taking for son2. I may have them retake the test using this method and see how he does. Thanks so much for the info.

I had read that the Stanford was not timed but the practice test booklet did have me time them on their practice tests. The first one they did they both bombed badly. After that they improved quite a bit but son2's scores were lower than son1....but not to the level that they were at the private school. I will have to check in to the reading detective. Thanks for suggesting that. I have some of the Singapore math word problem workbooks so I could use those for math. Thanks for these suggestions. Great ideas and very helpful. With the online version, they take the test online and there is nothing in writing?

My dh and I recently decided, for many reasons, it might be good for our two sons (both currently 11 year old 5th graders) to go to a nearby private school. We submitted applications for the boys to start in August and they would be starting in 6th grade. Both boys have always been homeschooled (except for one week of public school in 2nd grade:) and had never taken a standardized test before. Also, we have been using Math U See for the past year and half or so (CLE before that). Knowing they would be taking portions of the Sanford Achievement Test, I found a Sanford prep booklet to do with them so they would know somewhat what to expect and how to fill in the little bubbles and all that. I also started reviewing some math concepts that we had been over with CLE but they had likely forgotten or were very rusty on so they might be more prepared for that. So we spent the week before the test just preparing for the test and taking short practice tests. The sections of the test the school gives are the Reading Comprehension, Math Problem Solving and Math Procedures. Son1 scored above average in all three sections, no problem there. Son2 scored in the 2nd percentile (2nd grade level) in Reading Comprehension, the 3rd percentile (2nd grade, 5th month) in Math Problem Solving and 43rd percentile (5th grade, 5th month) in Math Procedures. I am completely blown away by this and, I must say, quite disappointed. I am happy to keep homeschooling, so that is not a problem. But I am very concerned that son2 may have some sort of processing issue, although I also wonder if he didn't just get off on filling in the bubbles. He loves to read and he reads a lot and always has. In second grade, he was fighting me a lot, so we put them in the nearby public school where they tested him as reading at a 7th grade level at that time. But, he has always had a very difficult time being able to tell me about something he has read or being able to tell me the basic plot of a story. We are currently using CLE Language Arts for grammar and we are also using CLE Reading and have switched back to CLE Math. I switched over to Math U See because they needed some extra work with long division and I had not switched back because they kind of liked it. I have switched back to CLE now though and I think they will do fine with it. I was thinking maybe he needs more practice with these kinds of tests (and being timed) so I will have them take the Iowa test with our co-op at the end of the year and I may give them another test that I can administer at home sometime during the summer or in August. We are planning to keep homeschooling another year and possibly try the private school again in for 7th grade. Anyone know what would cause a child who loves to read and reads a lot not to be able to formulate his thoughts well enough to be able to tell the plot of a short story he had just read? Also, we use IEW for writing and he has always had a lot of difficulty using the key word outline to tell back the short story in his own words. He just really struggles to find the right words to add in to make it make sound good, if you know what I mean. He will put in the most basic words to fit the words from the KWO together in the simplest way. When he actually sits down to write/type, he can do a better job then when he is doing it on the fly. Any words of wisdom, advice, encouragement, etc. is totally welcome but please go easy on me because I am feeling pretty low about this. Thanks.

I think it is nice to explain how you are trying to parcel out the space in the best way possible to meet everyone's needs. I'm sure she longs for the days when she could build and build and take up more space building and not have to put it away at night, like when you let them build in the guest room and possibly when the bonus room was all play room. So I think it would be totally normal to long for that freedom again, after having had it. We are blessed with a fairly large house with extra rooms for play. We have a dedicated play room with a huge wall of shelves and for years it was the lego room (plus other toys but legos take over everything). My sons are now 11 and are not spending as much time as they once did playing legos. After discussing it with them, we moved their legos upstairs to a smaller area in the workout room. They don't have as much room or as many shelves but they can leave them out longer without me having to look at the mess every day and wanting them to clean up. I think letting the kids help to come up with suggestions might help. Maybe the two girls would much rather share a room and have one whole room as a play room. That sounds like it might be an awesome idea. Or maybe she just needs help seeing that it was quite a luxury when we could spread out our legos and build huge stuff and leave them out but now we have a new family member, which means everyone has a bit less space, etc. I agree with what others have said though. I think a lot of it is just the age and they are just going through a period where they don't always think of others first so they can come across as selfish and self centered. Most of the time, when I nicely explain it in a way they can understand, they can usually see how they were only thinking of self. It does take a lot of patience though.

Same story at my house although we have had ours for five and a half years. No problems whatsoever. No water spots. Love it!

I don't post often but I have been following this thread and praying for your beautiful little son. I am so sorry for your loss and I will be praying for you and your family.

I got a pretty cool metal compass that opens/closes and a pretty good pair of binoculars for each of my two 11 year old sons.

I have had it happen twice (years apart) after doing some repetitive type work that really strained it. The first time I had it checked and they recommended the brace linked by Beth S above. It took a long time to heal but it did the trick. The second time, I pulled out the brace and used it again. It took FOREVER to heal (it is so easy to keep irritating it when it is your dominate arm) but it finally did heal.

You have received very good advice in this thread. One of my sons seemed to have a sudden onset of OCD symptoms a few years back, when he was probably 6 or 7 years old. We did all of the testing for the PANDAS, just to be certain. We tried to get him in to see a specialist but the wait was forever and we needed help right away. (Our son was really struggling with not being able to throw anything away and hiding trash and he was very upset by it.) I ordered the book mentioned above and read it with him and then I reminded him often of the three main tools that it teaches a child to use when they are struggling with OCD telling them to do something over and over. By the time he went to the appointment, the worst of his issues were already under control. I'm really not sure if the specialist ever really helped him at all. So definitely get the book (if the chart doesn't help) and read it yourself first, so you can see whether it is too far above his head (it says it is for 8 to 12 year olds). Even if you think parts of it are too advanced to read to him directly, you will find it very helpful and can help him with the tools you learn. Also, if you search for OCD children on Amazon, you will find another one that is rated for younger children (Mr. Worry; A Story About OCD). I have never read that one so don't know how helpful it would be but I did happen to notice it was rated for younger children. I hope you are able to get to the bottom of this quickly.