We got plenty of "bedtime" books as gifts, but reading a book was part of our sleep routine for naps too. Finding a book specifically about napping was harder, but this was our favorite.

We keep it simple but we carried on our yearly tradition of eating soup by "candlelight" (err... the christmas tree lights and some glow toys) and watching the Little Bear Winter Solstice episode.

If you want something from the earlier part of the century, I really enjoyed "Uprising" by Margaret Peterson Haddix. It's a fictionalized account of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911). Depending on what your class entails, there is a series of historical role-playing video games called Mission US that I use with my students. The "City of Immigrants" game pairs very well with Uprising.

Lucky Charms!! We had other sugary cereal from time to time, but my mom refused to buy Lucky Charms because my sister and I would eat 2/3rds of it in a day (including all the marshmallows) and then leave the last third (of just the brown cereal) until it went stale. Then I went to college where the dining hall had that row of cereal dispensers available at every meal. I think I had Lucky Charms at least twice a day for the first few months of college. And I was far from the only one. The novelty of sugary cereal with dinner was definitely a thing!

I've seen people discuss doing DNA tests using throw-away email addresses or by using a fake name. Is anyone knowledgeable on how/if that changes the privacy concerns?

We live local to the NC Zoo, so we're pretty spoiled in that regard. Construction on the new Asia section is slated to start soon. We also really enjoyed the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo: 1. a really cool treehouse playground 2. koalas 3. daily 'elephant walks' where they close the pedestrian path to walk the elephants across from one exhibit to the other 4. a really cool veterinary care center where (if you're lucky and catch it right) you can see them caring for the animals

To add on to this, some museums have multiple reciprocities. We’re members at the western North Carolina nature center, which is not local for us, but gets us reciprocity at science centers (Astc) and zoos (aza). There are a few other museums around with multiple affiliations, but that one was the cheapest we found.

Thank you all for your responses!! I think I'm going to purchase Math With Confidence to look through in more detail. I love the idea of RightStart but with the complexity of the program I just don't think it'll get done reliably in our situation. I'm decently mathy myself, and I've done enough digging that I feel I can figure out how to suppliment along the way as needed. The more I think about our situation, my biggest need is a reliable spine that'll lay out the conceptual teaching for me and her. I feel comfortable adding to or condensing as we go, I just need the basics of how to teach it well laid out with a predictable routine. DD won't start school until fall of 2023, so we still have lots of time to take things at her pace. She's a pretty typically developing, eager-to-please, slightly ahead of schedule kind of kid. She's known her letter sounds for well over a year and has been reliably able to blend for about 6 months. She can count items up to about 30 and does some natural basic subitizing. We've purposefully kept her in a play-based preschool instead of switching her to the district's Pre-K, so 90% of her day is just unstructured play with her friends. Right now she asks to do "lessons" every night, but I've definitely got an eye out to make sure I don't burn her out. So next question... For those of you who have used Math With Confidence... do you think most the concepts and activities in her Facts that Stick books are/will be in the MwC series? I know she's only released K & 1st so that may not even be applicable yet.

I recently started Level 1 of AAR with my 4 year old and from what I can tell I think it's going to be a really good fit, both for her and for me. I'd like to start more purposeful math instruction with her in the summer or fall. Is there a math curriculum that's structured similarly to All About Reading? A little bit of background: my husband and I are both teachers and DD will almost certainly go to our schools with us. There's a lot we love about our district (most notably, the chance for her to be in a dual language program), but the math and reading instruction are... well... what you'd expect from a run-of-the-mill public school. Obviously, I'm going to go at her pace and follow her lead, but I'd like to introduce the big reading and math concepts at home before she encounters them at school to prevent any bad habits or misunderstandings. In my daydreams of homeschooling, I loved the idea of getting a set of C-rods, using Education Unboxed videos and Miquon, and doing lots of exploratory math. But with working full time, I'm realizing we'll really need an open-and-go curriculum if math is going to get done. With that said, here's what's working well for us with All About Reading, and thus what I think I'm looking for in a math curriculum: * Solid conceptual teaching... I teach middle school ELA and have had some Orton Gillingham-based training, so I knew what to look for conceptully in a reading program. But I'm not totally sure what constitutes "good math teaching" (though I suspect it's similar... learning the concepts and 'whys' instead of just memorizing) * A balance of games/hands on teaching and more straightforward work... the predictable variety in AAR is probably what I like most right now. I like how each lesson is a mix of 3-4 different activities (instead of me having to cobble together a game or random app or search for extra practice problems). I don't need anything crazy elaborate, but DD thrives on the more imaginative games... feeding the monster her review words, etc. * Clear lessons with ongoing review... I like their structure of working for 20 minutes and not feeling pressured to finish a lesson in a day. I really, really like the review box. On days where I can't work with her but she really wants to do a "reading lesson", DH or grandma can pull out the review box and play a game with her current cards. RightStart piqued my interest because of all the games, but I don't know much about how the program is truly structured, plus it feels like a LOT (sort of like how Logic of English seemed way more intense to me than AAR). Singapore feels like what I think "good conceptual teaching" is supposed to look like, but is it mostly workbook based? Is there a script like in AAR? Would I be left to find my own games to add? Math with Confidence seems to check a lot of boxes, and I like the few Kate Snow webinars I've watched, but I haven't heard much about it. And I'm sure there are lots of others that I'm missing. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated! 🙂

ME TOO! I've decided it's the fact that I came of age with Little Mermaid and Aladdin, so Alan Menken music just feels so right to my soul. Plus the pro shot version is so well done, I feel like I 'know' the show better than a lot of others.

I like a lot of the ones listed here, but Mean Girls is the one show where I like every song from beginning to end almost equally. It’s not necessarily my all time favorite show (though it is really good and funny) but it’s my go-to for cleaning and driving since I don’t feel the need to skip songs.

These swim rompers from target were a game changer for me last summer. Look good for lounging, comfy for swimming, and they have POCKETS. I bought a lightweight kimono cover up and a uv-material drapy cardigan that I wear over them poolside.

There's a Crayola Experience in Plano. We haven't been to that one yet, but we did one last summer and my 3 yo LOVED IT. I was expecting it to be super commericialized and cheezy, but it was super hands-on and so worth it.

This is random, but you might consider reaching out to a local lactation consultant/La Leche League. Since lip + tongue ties can interfere with breastfeeding, they usually know who in your area specializes in it.

That's interesting. My body has always been fine with straight shots, but in college/my early 20's I'd get that response with blood draws and TB tests (which I had to have every summer working a summer camp). Thankfully I only truly passed out once or twice before I connected the dots and figured out how to ward it off. I still always warn the nurse before a blood draw and plan to hang out for awhile after. But now that I stop and think about it, the last 5 years or so I haven't had any issues.