My rising 4th grader's attention span for math ranges in the 60-90 minute range (he loves math), so that is what we do (4 days per week). He will be entering Algebra this coming year as a 9 year old, so I plan to follow his pace but we will have 1 1/4 hour available in the schedule if he wants to use it. We will be in no rush to "finish" algebra this year because he is so young, so I figure that if frustration sets in we can do a few tangents along the way to keep it fun. ETA: I just read your other post... I didn't realize how similar in situation we are :) Are you planning to do Algebra this year or stall with other things? I debated on that for a while with my dh and we finally decided to just go for it and start Algebra since he really is ready and would enjoy it. We are doing Jacob's Algebra this coming year and may do a second year of algebra with a different text if we feel he needs it after this one. We are just playing it by ear. Having the Algebra foundation under his belt will give us many more choices for "fun math" along the way in Middle School before we tackle the higher math topics (we are looking at The Art of Problem Solving books http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Books/AoPS_B_Texts_FAQ.php).

I do a lot of "skipping" when I know the material has already been mastered. My ds was so bored of Saxon 7/6 this past year that in March I ended up giving him the unit tests instead of doing lessons and sure enough - he aced them all, one after another. He loves taking tests, so I gave them to him daily until the book was finished (it took a week or two). I did find two concepts that he didn't know based on the tests, so we did a couple of lessons on those after we retired the book. The spiral curriculum thing backfired on us since he generally digs deeper than the book typically goes, which means that he then knows the next concepts before they are even taught... making the end of the year dreadfully boring. We will be switching curriculums next year, needless to say!

I shouldn't have read this thread... now I want a laminator :lol:

I always have a huge list of things that I want so I would have the hardest time deciding which to get. :lol: If you don't know what you want right now, I think you should wait until you do. :)

:iagree:

My DH wasn't ready for me to hs at first either. Since we both (and practically everyone else in our families) are certified ps teachers, we had more faith in the ps system than we should have. It wasn't until the ps failed our kids miserably that I was able to convince him that we should be hsing. I started hsing with a newborn in the home and, though it was slightly more of a challenge, I would say that a two year old poses more of a challenge than a newborn who sleeps and nurses most of the day. I would venture to say that it would be easier for you to start hsing now so that you can get into the routine rather than waiting until a toddler is running around the house to shift gears.

Schoolhouse Rock! My kids LOVE it (at all ages).

I'd do a lot more listening than talking. :) If she wants your opinions I would bet that she would ask... and she may be getting more than she wants from everyone else. She will be much more receptive to your thoughts if she knows that you care enough to listen to hers.

Can any of the 3 hours siblings are in scouts be used for school work? I used to pack a bag of schoolwork for my older son to work on while my younger son was in gymnastics.

I use Edu-Track and love it. In Texas I really don't "need" to keep records, but I like to keep myself organized. My favorite feature of this software is that I can tag my son's courses as the grade level he is working on, and it will keep track for me how many hours of instructional time was completed at each different grade level within the school year. Since my son is all over the place, it really helps me to "see" what grade level he is working on.

Our full tithe (at least 10%) goes to our general church budget... then we give additional (above and beyond) to specific ministries within the church, ministries outside of the church, and to missionaries. I'm not sure how we are able to make ends meet with all that we give back to Him, but somehow God makes it all work... and THAT is exciting! (BTW... we are living on a single church-music director income but DH does additional music "gigs" on the side).

Here is mine... We plan 30 weeks in unit blocks similar to the PS schedule but with week breaks for Grandparent visits and traveling. (We also have 2 weeks of testing scheduled in addition to that.) We don't "do school" in May, June & July because we have those packed with activity: church & boyscout camps, swimming lessons, vacations, etc... but what the kids don't know is that they are learning just as much during that time- just in a different style.:lol:

Do you follow the PS school year, do year-round, etc? I'm just curious what everyone's yearly schedule looks like and how many weeks or days you consider "in-class time"... Please share :)

HUGE COWBOYS FAN HERE :001_smile:

I just started doing this too... ds9 blue, dd7 red, ds4 green, ds2 yellow. It works great! I purchased 4 colored chairs for our homeschool table and we have no more fighting over chairs... and even the 2 year old goes right to "his" yellow chair. I also have colored trays for art projects, storage bins, cups, pencil grips, toothbrushes, picnic plates, etc... I love it and so do they :)

Thank you... my husband and I have looked through the Jacob's book and think that it is very much what our son can handle, esp. since the first few chapters are more like a pre-algebra curriculum to break him in, so we plan to start him in that next year and go at a reasonable pace, maybe taking a year or two to get through it with supplementation on areas of difficulty that may arise. Then we are considering the Art of Problem Solving Intro books (Number Theory and Counting & Probability) as an extension before moving into Geometry. How does this sound?

That is a great idea. That is very helpful! Thank you!

This sounds very much like my son... he "figured out" multiplication in Kindergarten (along with exponents though he didn't know it by technical terms) and is constantly showing me alternate ways of coming to correct answers using his own logic and mental understanding. He is utterly bored with drilling, and knows concepts for good with one explanation (if that). He isn't at all interested in hands-on and prefers to think abstractly and work through books.

What version is recommended? I saw a newer version with the tag line "An Accelerated Course" http://www.amazon.com/Pre-Algebra-Accelerated-Mary-P-Dolciani/dp/0395591236 Does this edition move more quickly through material than the older editions?

Would he be missing anything if he started Jacobs without a pre-alg course first or should he do that first?

The Art of Problem Solving books look like something that he would really enjoy... and it seems as though he probably needs to get a little bit of algebra down before tackling any other math... am I right? Would you suggest that we do something like Dolciani's Pre-alg first or just do Jacobs Algebra before doing AoPS? How do the AoPS books work? Are they all stand alone, or do they need to be done in a particular order? Would they be considered a full-year curriculum?

I've been pretty hard on him for a couple of years now to show his work, and though he dislikes it, he is pretty good about writing it down now. He likes to do it in his head first and then write it down after :lol:.

We purchased a set of colored pencils (RoseArt maybe?) from Target or Walmart that came in a rectangular plastic holder - each pencil has it's own hole. I think the set was $9.99 or something like that. I don't know if that is what you are wanting, but we love it.

:iagree: Me too :)

We have one too. It has helped some, but I do have to point out the sign to some salespersons. Mostly, though, they start off by saying "I'm not selling anything, I am just letting all of the neighborhood know about..."