It apparently applies to kids who will turn 5 during the school year, regardless their grade. I need to check on the paperwork issue because that caught me off guard too considering prek isn't compulsory and my son wouldn't be eligible for 2016-17 k. I don't envision we will be doing more than 15-20 mins a day of either math or phonics. We're fairly busy between therapy, YMCA activities, my work, my husband's work...etc. you know, life. We're in a co-op that meets weekly for educational stuff and then again a different day for recess. I think I'm starting to talk myself down off the over-achiever ledge. Maybe we're better off continuing as we have been with read aloud and I can use the math book as a road map for games.

Hello all, I have a 4.5 year old boy (5 in early December) and will be homeschooling this year. He would be pre-k in our public school system and has been in preschool (a "mom/child together" 2's class and a 3s class on his own--they did basically Letter of the Week). He has some fine motor delays, which have affected his willingness/attitude about using crayons, writing his name, and so on, but we're working on that through physical therapy and a lot of one-on-one and firm encouragement, now that we're not relying on preschool to handle it. Anyway, I fell in love with the Five in a Row curriculum the moment I heard of it and I intend to work with a mix of Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row younger titles/age appropriate activities, but I'd like to supplement with math (because I believe a strong early math foundation is important, and in my mind he can't count past 13 without stumbling, but in reality he climbed up on my lap earlier today while I was looking at math printables and he started adding) and phonics (because he's been asking questions like "What is that?" [pointing to an exclamation point] and "What does that spell" and "How do you spell _____" and in a quick-and-dirty test, he was able to read the sentence, "Cat sat on a rat"). And I'd like to introduce Spanish. I'm looking at Mathematical Reasoning Beginning 2 for some foundational math mostly so I can become familiar with teaching math and I can determine what foundation he already has. Maybe move on to the next level mid-year? I have no idea. I only have one kid. :) For phonics, I bought the bundled version of Reading the Alphabet created by This Reading Mama. Has anybody ever used that? Thoughts on it? I'm second guessing the Reading the Alphabet purchase due too all the printing/cutting/laminating but I'm not sure what else would be a gentle phonics program that isn't just worksheets. Suggestions? For Spanish, I'd like to introduce colors, articles of clothing, weather maybe? Is there a good Spanish curriculum for the pre-k age? Or at least a loose guide? Basically it's almost midnight on a Friday and I'm starting to second guess all my decisions so far because the Five in a Row people are generally of the "Five in a Row is enough at this age, don't do anything else" school of advice which is...not especially helpful. In my state, we're supposed to teach equivalent to what public school kids would be learning and while our evaluations are fairly lax, from what I understand, I want him to be able to transition academically if homeschooling doesn't work out for whatever reason. But I also don't want to push him past developmental appropriateness, which is one of my big reasons for homeschool. Help please. Am I on the right track? Way off track? Over-thinking? :confused1: I'd love to do total play-based learning but I'm somebody who needs a plan (and to be prepared in advance) or I'll be overwhelmed and nothing will happen.