You can check out Hoffman Academy for piano lessons. They have well made, structured lessons, engaging for young children. The videos are free and supplemental materials are inexpensive.

I wonder if it would help to try stressed words before examining stressed syllables? WARNING: domestic violence trigger When I was little the thing to do was examine the meanings of the different stresses of the sentence, "I never said I beat my wife." (Public school shenanigans, you know.) *I* never said I beat my wife. (Someone else might have said that?) I NEVER said I beat my wife. I never SAID I beat my wife (maybe I implied it...) I never said *I* beat my wife (I had the robot do it.) I never said I BEAT my wife. I never said I beat MY wife. I never said I beat my WIFE. I suppose you could tame down that sentence for sensitive souls, but "I never said I threw my ball" would not be nearly as scandalous and snarky.

That is me! I remember a poster that I read everyday in the cafeteria, and then one day I noticed it said actually something different than I had always read previously. I don't know if it's related, but I also used to "transpose" words from other places on the page when reading a sentence. I guess, you know, because I love reading and learning and managed to get a degree and learn a foreign language, etc., it's not something debilitating. Other than that one time I misread that work email when I worked as a translator ;)

I'm interested in a tip I saw on pinterest. Put painters tape on the wall and use double sided tape to attach the print.

I actually have that book. I'll have to look at it again. I put it away very quickly because I didn't like the scripted approach. I would like to think a script could make a good tool, but the introduction seemed to say, "the script is necessary because reading is very complicated and teachers will screw it up left to their own devices." My children will not be engaged with me while I read a script verbatim. So the hunt is on for a program that trusts the teacher with the purpose of the lessons and not so much, "trust the process. this is gonna work."

What phonics/reading curricula have very clear objectives or skills laid out before every lesson? Right now I'm looking at LOE because it is research-based and the online samples seem to have very clear objectives. This is important to me; I want to know what the goals of the lesson are so that I can tweak the lesson or supplement with practice and still meet the systematic learning objectives. I looked at AAR but the lack of clear objectives was frustrating. e.g. Why are we counting words? What's the point? Is it just so that she knows that sentences are made up of words or what? Any other curricula that spell out "the reasons why" for every lesson?

Thanks for all your thoughts. I appreciate the insight. I have not read that. It's at the top of my reading queue now. Thanks!

How can I make occasions for my children to be alone? I remember needing time to myself when I was a child. I'm an extrovert (barely) but I loved that time to think and to pray and to just be on my own. I have four sisters, but with different public school schedules or if I stayed home "sick" from school I was able to get that time alone. I was also able to wander the neighborhoods we lived in and woods and such on my own. My oldest is only four so I know that when they are older, there will be more "alone time" opportunities but I'm a little anxious not being able to foresee how that will play out. I don't think it is as culturally acceptable to let children wander off and I imagine it would be frustrating to constantly be around Mom and sisters all the time no matter what. I know I'm worrying about nothing, but I'm hoping some mothers with more experience will set me at ease with obvious solutions that I haven't thought about yet.

I'm trying to plan how I want to do memory work with my children in the future (they are 4 and under now). I looked at the Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System. I liked the systematic way of going through verses, but I only want to do memory work as a part of a "morning time" on days that we have "school" so that system wouldn't really work. I like the idea of a "loop schedule" so that we won't be thrown off if we have short weeks or miss a day. This is what I came up with. It's very simple in my head! Just maybe hard to explain. Do y'all think this would work? THE PLAN Learn and review memory work in 10-day cycles. (If you have 180 learning days in a school year, you will have 18 cycles) Eventually, you will review 4 pieces every day. You will number each of the memory pieces as you begin learning them (The first being 1, the second being 2, and so on). There will be 13 sections in the memory binder(s). Every time you start a new 10-day cycle, the lowest numbered piece will move down a section if it's current section is at capacity. Learn (1) The new piece you are learning lives here. You will review it every day. (10 times in 1 cycle) 1 piece is in here at any given time. Review (5) A piece lives here for five weeks. You will review it twice in a cycle. (10 times in 5 cycles) 5 pieces are in here at any given time after the 5th cycle. Remember (10) A piece lives here for ten weeks. You will review it once in a cycle. (10 times in 10 cycles) 10 pieces are in here at any given time after the 15th cycle. After a piece has cycled through the first three sections, it will be retired in a Recall secion. Pieces 1, 11, 21, etc. will be filed under Recall X1. Pieces 2, 12, 22, 32, ect. will be filed under Recall X2. For every day of the cycle, you will review a Recall piece. On the fourth day of the 10-day cycle, you will review a piece in the Recall X4 section. You review Recall pieces in a loop, Piece 4 one cycle, Piece 14 the next, Piece 24 the next. If that's all you have filed in Review X4, you will start back at Piece 4 the next cycle. How often a piece is reviewed will depend of how many pieces are filed. Recall X1 Recall X2 Recall X3 Recall X4 Recall X5 Recall X6 Recall X7 Recall X8 Recall X9 Recall X0

Do you have a piano? My children aren't old enough yet, but I plan on using Hoffman Academy. (I think they are launching an app soon?) I think the method there is to have a child learn a song by ear and then to come behind and teach them the music theory in the song. The videos are free, then you can pay extra for supplemental material.

I'm happy to hear that you've had success with this program! I have three girls too young to play the piano, but eventually I want them to learn to play. I poked around the website and played many of the lessons--that is really good stuff! If these lessons are everything I want them to be, we'll be able to learn beginner-intermediate piano at home and leave money/time to do another extra-curricular like dance, gymnastics, or swimming. Now I need to get a piano...

I feel like I've been presented with this wisdom: Keep it simple, use resources already available, or you'll never stick with it. BUT Now I feel excited about digging through issues of The Friend and dividing up Scripture-related material into categories for "level one" curriculum. ((Hey! I can see you experienced mothers, sitting back, eating bon bons, laughing at my naivete! Maybe I should join you...I do like bon bons.))

(Personal Background: I just binge read The Well-Trained Mind and loved it and now feel confident and hopeful and excited about how to proceed with homeschooling my three daughters, none of whom are yet school aged) Forgive me if anyone has talked about this before, I tried to search, but couldn't find what I was looking for. One of the things that I really loved about the classical educational model was taking History and Science into four segments, and doing a segment a year, repeated three times though each stage of the trivium. Has anyone done this with scriptures study? I love the idea of following the LDS Seminary schedule and doing a block of scripture that we really focus on every year (delving deeper as the child matures through each cycle) so that by the time they graduate they will have a really solid understanding and knowledge of the scriptures and Church history. I'm sure this could be done with just Biblical studies, etc. (eg. The Law, the Prophets, New Testament, and Church history/reformation). Any success with such a model?