Thank you for the reassurance. :001_wub: I am someone who needs to have some self-imposed structure or I'll let it all go, including house, personal (meals, exercise), play and so forth. I feel like there's a fine balance between zero and too much. lol I need to remember that when we play our "Purple basket! Empty basket! Basket on the right!" game during laundry-folding (throw the ball into the named basket), that's still *learning*. Last week, we spent hours at the playground, went to OT, did our soccer night, read books, colored/drew with crayons (self-directed drawing FINALLY, I feel like my guy has met a miracle milestone!), and that on top of an experience riding the light rail, walking around Inner Harbor, a mini homeschool seminar on sharks, the Aquarium (an electric eel pooped through its neck, just for us, lol) and the Science Center, are all living life/life learning. So thank you for the reassurance and reminder. Time for a deep breath and back myself down from an anxiety ledge. :) Oh, and Ping - I already have a feeling this is going to be a good one. As soon as the rain winds up tomorrow, we might head to the river to see how the ducks are faring. Or maybe I'll grab an umbrella and raincoat and we'll have "Rain school" later this afternoon when the thunder/lightning move on.

Yep, September is going by too fast. I love fall, and it always seems to fly, while by contrast summer and winter drag on endlessly.

I've been in a weird funk since around Labor Day, when my in-laws visited, weather was erratic, etc and so on. We kinda-sorta Five-in-a-Row'd Night of the Moonjellies and spent an entire day at the National Aquarium and Science Center, and we've read a little of our Progressive Phonics, but that's about the extent of anything school-ish and I need to rein it in before more time passes. Maybe part of the problem is erratic schedules, starting with DH's work and my need to do MY work while he's home. Anyway. Goals. These don't include reading/math because I need to look at my resources and figure out where we left off, what I want to be covering. Will come back to edit once I get an actual lesson plan in place. I wasn't planning on FIAR Story of Ping but thankfully while I was obsessively planning during the summer, I wrote out an entire week of activities and discussion leads. I think I need to take a weekend soon and do some more advance planning because holiday season! Work deadlines! New DH schedule coming up. Sunday (yesterday) Sunday School (for me and DS) Monday Start a "Row". Maybe Story About Ping? ​Read, looked at a map and globe to see where China is and how far it would be to travel East from US to China Phonics: Read-together "Dan the Dancing Bear", practiced/learned the, so, am, can, sat, cat Math: Reviewed writing 0-9 Evening Bonus Goal: Read another "read-together" book 5:30 pm - Water aerobics me; Kid Zone DS Tuesday 9:30 Playgroup 10:30 Butterfly Tagging Event (weather permitting) FIAR Read/Topic Phonics: Read-Together book Math: Review number/color relationship with cuisinaire rods, work on sight-identification of "how many objects in a group" 1-4 Bonus Evening: Read-Together book Evening: Gym for me Wednesday ***In-laws are here again....sigh. But I WILL do these things*** FIAR Read/Topic 1 pm - OT 5:30 pm - Soccer 6:30 - Yoga (for me; Kid Zone for DS) Thursday **In-laws** 10 am - Church storytime FIAR Read/Topic 5:30-7:30 - Gym time for me; KidZone for DS Friday **In-Laws** A.M. Gym time for me FIAR Read/Topic Evening swim time for DS? Saturday **In-Laws** A.M. gym for me, Kid Zone for DS Afternoon swim time for DS? (Sunday again -- ARTS day! Sunday School Me/DS, then afternoon at the local Arts/Crafts Showcase)

Thank you everyone. I'll be checking all your recommendations while I'm hurricaned in this weekend. I'd like to just leave this up to "figuring it put as he goes" but he's an only child not in school, and seems to have some challenges recognizing personal boundaries, can't figure out that he only has to ask once and give someone time to respond, doesn't "get" that it's hideously rude to point in someone's face, and so on. Hard to tell whether its underexposure to peers, parenting failure or some sort of social disorder but obviously I want to help overcome whatever it is.

And thank you Readingmama also!

Thanks Sarah. We've been working through Mathematical Reasoning Beginning 2 and I feel like u need something that follows through on math concepts we don't get, rather than just spiraling off to yet more shape recognition. I've been thinking of getting Miquon Orange but I don't want to push too hard...but I don't want to not progress either, if that makes sense.

I'm a genre fiction reader w/a strong preference for romance and I HATE audio books in my for-fun reading. It's all about tone of voice and pacing and inflection.. my head just does characters better than a voice actor. I have a sub to Tales2Go for kids books for my son though and I'm hopeful kids books will better for my son who hasn't developed the closeness to the written word.

"Twaddle" is just a gross, demeaning word. I despise it and don't feel much more charitably toward people who use it as a snotty condemnation when we live in a world where ANY book that leads a reader to READ SOME MORE has value.

Thank you very much! Do you think this program is suitable for a single child? I briefly looked at the Socialthinking website and the description isn't terribly thorough but left me with the impression that it's geared more for a classroom setting. Did you find that to be the case?

I feel like this is an absurd question and I should intuitively know how, but I don't, so... Can anybody recommend website, articles, books, curriculum, general resources that focus on teaching children more than please/thank you/wash your hands/cover your mouth - things like "You have to get out of the way and stop being a jerk when somebody needs to use the restroom instead of playing with you" and "stop pushing and shoving and generally being a jerk because you want to go down the stairs before somebody else"? My kid isn't a bad/mean kid but he definitely has his self-absorbed moments (because he's 4 and it's developmentally where he is) but I'm somebody who needs a map. It's just the kind of person I am. I've looked at assorted books on virtues but I don't think they really hit upon what I want. Story and picture books are probably most developmentally appropriate but heck if I can find the good ones. I'm probably searching for the wrong thing. Please help me figure out how to make this part of our "school". Thanks in advance!

I converted my son's crib into a desk using a sheet of birch plywood. It's really spacious and when I get around to it I will anchor some shelves or folders or writing containers to the crib slats. We went the DIY route because we couldn't find anything appropriately sized for a 4.5 year old. He doesn't spend a lot of time there but I figure this setup will last as he grows even if I have to get DH to drill a higher set of holes for the box spring (plywood support) to rest.

Will you tell me how you approached different topics? Did you stick to the "Preschool and Kindergarten Concepts" section of the site or did you venture into addition and subtraction to 10, and so on? What did your math "sessions" look like? Thanks in advance.

This came up in another thread but I wanted to make it separate to highlight the coupon code. The creator is offering a 20% off deal through August 20. It's a wonderful starter curriculum/guide book, IMO. https://raisinglittleshoots.com/2016/08/08/20-discount-on-exploring-nature-with-children-2/ code: EXPLORE

The coupon is EXPLORE and I was wrong, it expires August 20. https://raisinglittleshoots.com/2016/08/08/20-discount-on-exploring-nature-with-children-2/

Exploring Nature with Children (linked above) is a really terrific guide/plan for beginners. I believe she has a 20% or 30%o off sale the rest of August.