I would add that if your father will be concerned it is too light—if he has qualms about homeschooling—maybe go ahead and keep the three Rs going for the eight-and-six-year-olds. We just came off a season of needing to scale back. I had my 8-yr-old copying a page of McGuffey’s first reader every day, then correcting her spelling and punctuation errors. When they became easy (few to no errors) we started one sentence of dictation, as well. If she knew she didn’t know how to spell something, I dictated the spelling to her. She always felt supported and proud. She was reading above this, but for copywork and dictation, the first reader was perfectly scaled. He could have the school-age children spell the words from the beginning of the lesson, copy it, practice reading it for fluency, and dictate it. Take a week to do all that in one lesson, plus reading every day. Reading, writing, spelling, grammar taken care of. or, look at Cottage Press. They have an all-in-one Language Arts, Picture Study, and Nature Study that is for the eight-year-old. They can just buy the one for Spring and jump in. The whole family can join in that picture and nature study. And listen to the story portion that is read. If her math is mom-intensive and he needs something else, could he use the steps of arithmetic from Sam Blumenfield’s How to Tutor, just fifteen-twenty minutes a day? Free to print from CampConstitution.net. How wonderful you can all support each other. There’s going to be enough uncertainty in the young children’s lives that scaling school back will probably be best. Lots of snuggle time with grandpa telling stories of when he was a little boy, or when their mother was a little girl. For the littles, Pick a nursery rhyme and folk song to teach them each week. Or a letter of the week. When I had a few littles that age, I started buying cheap paper plates with the ridges around the side for them to color on. They held paint better than regular paper, were smaller than special paint paper, and and the kids loved to just color around the edges on those ridges. Saved my sanity in the late afternoons many a day. Also, I don’t know if your sister follows AmblesideOnline, but regardless there is a place on their website that is devoted to emergency plans for occasions such as this. That might alleviate your sister’s qualms, as AO is Twaddle-free.

Memoria Press recently came out with a curriculum for this. We have the book and CD set.

I am moving my 5th and 3rd grader on to morphology (the chunks of the words that carry meaning) instead of phonics. Both mine are struggling in the way you mention. I have decided on this. I can't recommend it yet, but it might be worth your time to research, as well. https://www.rainbowresource.com/viewpict?pid=042181

Their website has Mueller's Caeser and NLE reviews as well. They even have Henle III and IV for sale. https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/latin/ I ran across this a few days ago. I have no idea how reliable this website is, however. http://teachdiligently.com/articles/which-latin-curriculum

We have had success with these: http://rosskingmusic.com/sing-and-learn/ This past year we took Proverbs 3 and just added a verse a week. The first day we talked about what the new verse meant (much of the proverb it takes two verses together to complete a thought). Subsequent days we practiced, with Friday as a "Check Progress from Memory" day. This next year we are going to try this: http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/hoffman-you-can-memorize.pdf

Memoria Press republished Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans and kept the syllable breaks. DonPotter.net has a Psalms reader broken in syllables. And yes, search for books "of one syllable" as mentioned upthread. Josephine Pollard has many books done this way. We have her Life of Washington and it has been wonderful so far.

*hugs* I offer these suggestions as a fellow MP-user, with a mildly dyslexic 10-year-old, exasperatingly distractable 8-yr-old, and rambunctious, attention-seeking 4-yr-old with speech delays: If you go to the Latina Christiana teacher manual, and go to the back to the History Guide, (p.83), you will find: "The Charlotte Mason approach of asking students to tell the story back to you would also be a very valuable exercise." The context of this is how to handle Famous Men of Rome WITHOUT the guide. So, even though on the MP forum NOW mention of CM methods are quelled from well-meaning users, there is actually proof that Cheryl Lowe herself valued narrating. So, my suggestion to you would be for Literature and classical history-- use the reading notes, people to know (practice pronunciation), and vocabulary as a warm-up(done orally and quickly). Laugh over learning to pronounce those names! Use that laughter as a time to be "mom" and build a warm memory. Buddy-read (at whatever proportion doesn't frustrate you) and then train her to narrate, which is oral composition. Example: she reads a paragraph aloud and then tells you, without looking, what just happened. Then you read a paragraph, or two, and she narrates again. Maybe you go on to read a whole page, or two pages, stopping each little bit for her to tell that back to you. Then it is her turn again. It is very subjective how much, but the key in our home is that it can't take too much struggle on her part reading or I grow frustrated. After all, I have two other children who need me, etc. Anything she doesn't mention in her narration is fair game from the comprehension questions. For example, I might get a narration that doesn't mention the characters' names, just plot line. I might hit that first question in the guides that asks for main characters' names. I usually use the rest of my time with my daughters on the questions that draw inferences--the ones that I feel I can disciple them best through. This would nullify her chance to cheat, and keep it quick for you to manage other children. If you need the composition exercise, do as suggested on the MP forum and pick one or two to compose together, then leave her to copy it. OR We also have a cheap composition notebook going for written narrations. There would be no chance of copying from a teacher manual this way. Just a blank page. It might not keep you on the lesson schedule from the curriculum guide, because you will have to budget your time, but on Tuesdays when Classical Studies is scheduled, we just don't do Literature; the classical studies IS literature. We either work ahead on Monday or catch up on Wednesday (theoretically) but it will keep you moving, keep her reading, thinking, and composing, and build your relationship. (Christian Studies on Mondays isn't usually a very difficult subject because of our familiarity already). BTW-I know I have misused parentheses like crazy! Don't hold it against me! ;)

Regarding your suggestions, I am torn. As a pure business, I agree. I am concerned about finding that threshold where a family is paying enough that it becomes/maintains its value--enough to work toward mastery of the material the rest of the week. If the families don't value it, they will show up without having learned the material, and if that happens, it will get a bad reputation! However, the reason I was going to all this trouble was for my children. There is nothing that fits all my requirements in my area. CC dominates here. There are good co-ops around, and even a Christian college that runs extracurricular classes for homeschoolers, yet none of them are running what ClemsonDana described--where there is an established curricular path in place for core classes. These seem to run more along the lines of what parents want to teach. And they are good, but they are random. Even the core classes at one of them aren't really cohesive from one year to the next. But I am concerned that if I hold ground on what the classes are actually WORTH, my children will miss the chance to have this opportunity. AND, it really isn't for social reasons. We have plenty of friends. They would enjoy the peer interaction, giving a little energy to some of the harder subjects. It would help with motivation on their part. And, it would give my preschooler a richer morning routine than he has right now. Thanks, everyone, for your input! I had an information meeting last night. It went well, but everyone wants a lower price! I thought I was scraping as it is, what with having to stock a lot of supplies, too. I even have to buy three whiteboards. Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to help me sort through this.

This is so true! Are the prices set by the co-op, or do you set your own? And would you teach for practically nothing the first year, just to get the ball rolling?

This the the problem; I am trying to set up a hybrid that has a set curriculum for consistency through the years, and I am walking a fine line between employee and ind.contractor. I can't give complete control over-- To clarify, parents pay you $15-20 a month, or per hour? Thanks!

Good point--I have a Price breakdown sheet that I sent to a few people when they balked, but it hasn't produced any fruit. I agree; I am one who hears the entire thing and thinks NO WAY, but when it is broken down, I think to myself, "Do I get water or tea 3x a week? Water. There, I just paid for a class." Maybe I should price it by semester. . . that is only $187.50 for a semester! That sounds a lot better!

Thank you for that. I guess I could accept post-dated checks to help people out, but honestly, if someone came to me demanding/pleading for their checks back, I don't think I would have it in me to refuse them:/ For 3rd-6th, I am planning 90-minute classes for 34 weeks at $375. It breaks down to $11ish a class, which is $7ish an hour. And these are core classes, that actually move the week along! If someone enrolled for a full day it would be $1500, so that works out to $167 per month. Hmm. I am sorry you miss your group! I am getting through HSLDA's recommendation; it isn't that bad. Maybe another facility would host if you wanted to resurrect it?

I am intrigued. . . so teachers set their own price, therefore assuming "risk-of-loss" which helps maintain independent-contractor status. At registration with the hybrid, facility fee & insurance fees are paid. Teachers just pay director a percentage, or flat fee, for managing all the overhead. Question: how were you hired? I mean, was it a situation where you wanted to offer a class, so this was a way to do that? Or are you filling a class that the Hybrid wants taught, specifically? The co-ops around here have very random offerings based on what someone wants to offer. There is no cohesion. I am offering classes from within one curriculum. I am trying to figure out if this would work. Thank you so much for your insight!

There IS a list . . .but I can't remember the name of it right off the top of my head. There is a blogger who sells this long, annotated list to help parents navigate this issue, she updates it yearly, and sells it cheaply-like $5 the first time and updates are $1...I can't find it tonight. I am sorry-- is this ringing a bell with anyone else? Until that mystery is solved, there is: Honey for a Child's Heart, and maybe in your situation: Honey for a Teen's Heart http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html This takes you to the page at CCH where you choose the grade range for the 1000 good books lists. Also, Ambleside Online books-- a lot of the actual scheduled curriculum books might not be something he picked up for pleasure reading, but the Free Read lists in each year would be a gold mine for you. Those are the ones more accessible at the libraries, for example. Of course, he MIGHT take a look at some of the scheduled books.

I have run a small Enrichment co-op of 5-10 children for three years now. We rotated hosting, and it worked; we all had a lot of fun and learned a lot. There were zero fees, except supply fees for some nature study and art prints. Now that I have rising 5th, 3rd, and a 4-year-old with speech therapy, I am changing my focus. I want the accountability/help to ensure some of the main academic work gets done, and leave the enrichments to be family studies. I have a church willing to host us for a reasonable facility fee, and I have one friend committed to teaching two classes. It isn't meant to be a co-op; I want it to be drop-off, but I am starting to doubt myself. People seem so eager-until they see the tuition. But I have worked it down to the nubs-and it is less than a teen babysitter, you know? Less than minimum wage! But oh, the sticker shock! I am offering classes a la carte, but I really do want it to become a community of learners for my children. Does anyone have any wisdom/experience with this? I am open to mothers teaching to offset the cost, but most of the people I am running into are used to the inexpensive nature of a co-op, are needing the drop-off option now, but are struggling with the idea of paying for that. If I let them pay by semester, am I going to end up holding the bag when people drop and how do I pay the other teachers 2nd semester? That kind of thing--how do you do it?

I was a horse-book junkie growing up. Along with several of the ones mentioned before, I would add: Stallion of the Sands by Helen Griffiths Runaway Stallion by Walt Morey Both have boy main characters, and I remember checking them out multiple times and rereading them greedily. :)

I grew up with a limited number of books at home, and as a voracious reader, it forced me to reread. Still, when I want to really relax/veg out I will grab an old favorite, and reread, rather than start a new, lesser-quality book. I assumed everyone did this. I was very surprised to hear my 17-yr-old (accomplished, intelligent) niece declare that she couldn't remember ever re-reading a book! She devours books, but couldn't remember ever rereading one. I then asked her what books she loved, and she blinked. This has led me to ponder how I am raising my children. Question for discussion: Is there such a thing as too many books? Is always reaching for a new book better or worse than occasionally reaching back to laugh, sigh, bite your nails through, or cry over a book again? And, if you do find value in rereading, is it valuable enough to MAKE it happen by assigning a reread? What are your opinions?

Alternatives: This is a video of the Sixty-Second Sweep. With the Saxon drills, to keep from frustrating the child, an alternative way to use those fact sheets is to give the child a time limit (that will be below the frustration threshhold) and mark the page however far s/he gets. Keep track of how many were answered in that time. The next day, continue the same sheet, marking how many correct in the time allotted. When that sheet is finished, the next day, give that sheet again. This time through, hopefully you will see improvement, and you have been charting it so the child sees the improvement. (This idea came from the Robinson Curriculum website.)

Happy R&Sers here in our 2nd year. We enjoy the simplicity, and the Oral Drill is really GOLDEN. It is building stamina in my children counting, which has surprised me that they needed. I was under the mistaken impression that if the child UNDERSTOOD it, could count to 100, etc. that counting 150-249 would be easy, but actually, my children's internal patterning starts to break down--I wouldn't have known that until it was too late but for these prompts in the TManual. We never got this kind of counting in Right Start or Saxon.

I second Zoo Keeper. I have FM of Rome from both and FM of Middle Ages for Greenleaf, but I will use MP from now on. The Greenleaf guides are really good, but I feel like I have to do everything with the students to know what is going on. I couldn't figure out how to turn it over to my eldest when she actually could have handled the reading. They both have vocabulary and/or persons to preview, but MP will give you a short definition to preview. Map work is included, not another purchase. We consider the comprehension questions as starting points for discussion, but it is helpful to be able to write when I am not available. My student can read it and work on her own, gaining independence, and then I can jump in and discuss it with her with my handy teacher's guide to fill in gaps in my knowledge. However, Greenleaf guides have more supplementary reading suggestions, laid out right there on the page when it would be a good fit. Their questions are very, very good. Insightful. You will enjoy either.

Besides the ease of it with the state, I would add that in the areas of which I am familiar (NWA and the River Valley), it is friendly toward homeschooling. Libraries offer classes, museums run things for homeschoolers, some private schools will allow high schoolers to enroll a la carte (science class with a lab, art with all the materials, etc.) We have enjoyed it.

I am just about to begin with 5/4, also, and have 2nd editions. In discussion last week with someone who was familiar with first edition, he said 1st editions did not have the tiny reference number by each problem in the review set. Also, they probably cut the number of problems in the 2nd edition because they added the mental math/pattern/ box at the top of each lesson. I will learn more as we go, but hopefully that is helpful.

I keep peeking at it, too, mostly for the guides that have the prepping narration already done for me: But this will be my first year to need something she has finished. I am waiting for the next LuLu sale to hit before I buy the guide for CHOWorld. I am slobbering over the Dorothy Mills books but...just don't have a child old enough yet! lol Kfamily posts here; that is actually how I was first led to her site. She shared a huge resource she had put together on different narration topics. I think it may still be up at her site.

I sort of "CM" Memoria Press. Lit guides are easy; we narrate, then look at questions that weren't already answered. We use the discussion/quotation section for more in-depth/more creative narrations. The Christian Studies has map work in it. All the guides have reading notes/vocab to watch for, etc. that CM had her teachers prep the children before the readings--that can all be done from the guide, just using it differently than MP suggests. Exchange their recitation of facts for the CM-recommended poetry/parables stuff-- it isn't going to match up to a PNEU schedule, that's for sure, but it might help you get a backbone going for a school curriculum. Depends on if lean more CM or Classical? Good luck, though! What a wonderful undertaking:)

Another vote here for Hoffman Academy premium subscription. It is all done for me but the printing, downloading the practice tracks, and making sure it gets done with good posture. I have a 9yr and 7 yr old who now go pick around at the piano at odd moments of the day, unrelated to actual lesson or practice time, just because they like it so much. They are getting staff music, rhythm, sol-fa--it is so, so good. I can't compare it to anything else, but we are blessed for sure.