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.

We're looking at HWOT because DS has fine motor delays, especially wrist flexion, so he needs the letters in order of "easiest" to more difficult. That's why I'm trying to figure out how to tailor to HWOT. I ordered materials including little chalk bits and the slate, which I think will be helpful for pencil grip but there is still the matter of "arm writing" and sort of folding his wrist so his hand tucks in toward his forearm. Using chalk to draw/write is therapeutic anyway and he equates the smiley face to "fun" instead of "work". I might just skip the letter formation aspect of ETC because HWOT is uppercase and ETC is lowercase, and just use the verbal or non-tracing activities while doing the letter sounds out of order. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Winging it, more or less. My son is pre-K but very interested in science. I figure I can turn him and DH loose on weather/space/plant/animal/other.

I don't have an 11 year old and I'm a newbie homeschooler BUT I am also a writer, and somebody who needs time to mentally process the things I want to say. So.... Can you stop asking her more than the question you REALLY want her to answer? (The directions I presume) Because when you give her the directions and their questions, and then you toss some extra "idea generating" questions at her, you're taking away her opportunity to think through and process, let alone get to the writing stage. Not all writers (even academic writers) operate the same way, you know? That's why in public school we're given different methods of brainstorming/mapping. Or we used to be, back in the stone ages when I was in school. Something like this software/app might help her put thoughts down and organize them, if she's allowed computer work/computer time: http://www.inspiration.com/ -- Inspiration is really excellent and I've used it to brainstorm, plot and organize novels. It has some interesting functions, like creating a visual map with blocks you can move around, as well as a "show as outline in word document" feature.

Oh, thank you--your response has been VERY helpful. I'm reluctant to add two different handwriting programs if occupational therapy is going to use one and I'm going to use another, but I really love the Progressive Phonics material. Phonics without writing is exactly what I need. I'm printing Alphabetti 1 now. Will give Progressive Printing a closer look to determine whether it will fit with OT.

I was going to hold off on handwriting and just stick to verbal/intro to phonics (Get Ready/Set/Go for the Code) but my son's occupational therapist had him working on letter formation using HWOT at this week's session and believes he's ready for that (although it'll be slow going/attitude dependent at this point). So I have a few dilemmas. 1) HWOT and Code workbooks approach the alphabet in different order 2) They approach from different directions (capitals vs lowercase) 3) If I do both (should I do both???), should I align the letters? IE use the HWOT letter in conjunction with the Code letter (with the HWOT letter leading) 4) If I can only do one, which is more important? (He knows most letter sounds, I found out when I approached from a "movement" angle instead of a "point at print and tell me" angle, so I've been thinking of returning the Code books but I'm new at this and don't want to screw up)

Today I bleached my stinky washing machine, did all the laundry in the universe, roasted another big batch of cherry tomatoes and rendered a few lbs of slicing tomatoes down to sauce, and generally made a disaster of my kitchen. I'm leaving it for DH to clean tomorrow. Now I SHOULD be putting in an hour or so on the next deadline book but I'm here on the forum instead. :P So I left off with lessons and our a.m. routine this weekend and now I feel totally scatterbrained and unsure what to do with myself in the morning to begin a new week of school, especially since my idea of a perfect school day was tossed out the window 10 mins into Day 1 last week, and since I'm still second-guessing whether I want to do beginning phonics. Anyway, tomorrow is occupational therapy day. I also really want to try to find some sort of exercise routine again before I regain the 50 lbs I've lost this year, so my goals are 1) morning routine, 2) introduce new B4FIAR book, 3) therapy, 4) YMCA in the evening.

I impulsively bought two blogger-created curriculum packages which I regret, because neither met my expectations/standards. I only spent $30, though, so at least I'm not out a ton of cash. I also --not really an impulse buy but maybe a carried-away buy-- bought several Five in a Row manuals and books to go with them, and now that I'm actually in the process of implementing everything, I wish I hadn't. I'm debating whether to resell the manuals or not. I'll probably keep the books because they're good books, but the manuals? Eh..maybe keep until next year and see whether we use them/whether they'll fit next year's rhythm. Not curriculum but I impulsively bought a big folding table we could use as a workspace/school space and it's too big for the room it's in, my son is too little to comfortably sit it with a regular chair, and it's kind of just collecting stuff now.

Highly under-appreciated rhyming and slyly hidden character message book: https://www.amazon.com/Frog-Log-Kes-Gray/dp/0545687918/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470512678&sr=8-1&keywords=frog+on+a+log Not a fancy award winner but I personally believe good books aren't limited to Caldecott-seal-of-approval, and this is beloved by my son: https://www.amazon.com/Unicorn-Thinks-Hes-Pretty-Great/dp/1423159527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470512711&sr=8-1&keywords=unicorn+thinks+he%27s+pretty+great Love. https://www.amazon.com/Wonderful-Wildlife-123-Meadowside-Board/dp/1472334442/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470512784&sr=8-1&keywords=wonderful+wildlife+123 A gentle book with some sweet things (the steadfastness of an oak, the passage of time, life goes on even after it passes): https://www.amazon.com/Oak-Tree-Grows-Brian-Karas/dp/0399252339/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470512811&sr=8-1&keywords=an+oak+tree+grows These are just a few. We read them for enjoyment, not for cultural enrichment (although an enjoyable book is enriching regardless IMO).

I didn't realizing the company published a book of similar actovities. Thanks for the tip!

Thanks everybody! We don't have an iPad unfortunately, just a Kindle Fire. My FIL wants to build him a computer for Christmas but I'm thinking I should ask for an iPad. Anyway, at the moment I've decided to put off handwriting stuff. Since he's in occupational therapy for fine motor development (gross motor development) I'm going to spend the warm months that are left this year doing stuff outside, doing math, reading a lot, encouraging him to color and draw and helping him make letters when he wants to write. I'm going to look into HWOT when the weather starts to get too dreary to do outside stuff and we'll be looking for inside activities anyway. I appreciate all the suggestions.