I actually used the recommendations from this thread, too, this year with my dd for K. I wrote a blog post about it here. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread!:D

Oh, I'm PLENTY worried about the toddler phase, too. :tongue_smilie: I just have to take one crisis as it occurs. :) Thanks for all the reassurances! Right now, our day revolves a lot around reading together, so hopefully we can continue in that same vein.

Okay, folks, I'm beginning to get just a little bit nervous. I'm due with our third in about a month, and my eldest will be starting 1st grade next school year. I'm looking for advice/btdt/encouragement concerning this transition. . . Here are some questions I have: 1. Is it realistic to think that if the baby is born end of May/first of June that we can resume a light school schedule in July? 2. If I ALREADY struggle with getting things done during the day, am I being unrealistic to think I can do this? I should probably qualify this by saying that I have admittedly unrealistically high expectations (at time) of what I can accomplish. Help!!!!:ohmy:

We were outside and the girls were swinging. We had just been discussing the fact that yes, they would continue doing rest time "even when they're 11!" I told them that it would be a time for them to do something quiet--reading, drawing, etc. DD2 suddenly announced that she wanted to go to public school because they do "more fun things than just reading" and that they "play on playgrounds" and "have recess." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. :tongue_smilie: All this on the heels of my girls having a great "light" day of lots of reading--Bible story book, lots of picture books, a couple of chapters from The Secret Garden, and a phonics review game. It was their second trip outside, too, for DD2 to practice her newly-acquired skill of pumping her legs to get going on the swing all by herself. I knew it would eventually come up, but I didn't expect it when she is still an entire school year away from being old enough for K!

Good sound advice all around, everyone! Thanks! It turns out that eldest dd is sick--she ended up having a fever yesterday afternoon. I'm not sleeping much these days, so it might be that I'm going on forced maternity leave soon! :)

Thanks so very much, everyone! I'm printing out these lists to use as a reference as I begin the task of locating these books! Anyone else?

Speaking of storage, how does one store all of these lovely things like lapbooks, etc. Perhaps this question deserves a thread of its own. . . :001_huh:

Thanks for the list, mommaBuck! :D

Thanks! I guess I wasn't too clear in my post. I was hoping to find someone's list of favorites, since I'm pretty sure we can't do it all. :D

Can anyone point me in the direction of a thread or website in which someone has detailed favorite resources (books) to use with SOTW1? I'm trying to get a handle on next year, and I'd like to have some of the groundwork done for me! :001_smile:

I suppose I should qualify all this by saying that I'm 36 weeks pregnant, so I'm pretty emotional myself. ;) My girls both have colds, too, and that has made it worse this week. My eldest dd gets frustrated easily with new things. That's the main issue we face. I do think that getting started early with the bulk of our lessons helps, too. Some days, though, it just doesn't happen, for various reasons. It helps to know I'm not alone! :grouphug:

That's pretty much how I handle it, too. :) I guess I just need to emotionally un-involve myself from the tantrums, huh?:D

I'm thinking here about my preschooler, whose tantrums can reach epic proportions at times. I'm not really looking for a discipline solution here ('though I wish I could extinguish the tantrums!), but more just how do you carry on with schooling? Actually, this applies with my school-aged child, too. She's just in K, but lately she's had some major melt-downs that have derailed our lessons, too. What do you do when this happens?

This is the first time I've understood that WWE and FLL are to be used TOGETHER. Thanks for posting this! :D

This year for K we have used Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, Right Start Level A for math, lots of read-alouds (chapter and picture books, including Five in a Row titles and go-alongs), HWT and a reading log for practice for handwriting, and miscellaneous resources about the human body for science which I detailed here on my blog. All of these resources have worked well for us.

I haven't read all the replies, so this might be repetitive, but here goes: My girls have listened to and LOVED All the Little House on the Prairie stories (except These Happy Golden Years--we haven't done it, 'though I'm sure they would love it) Charlotte's Web Stuart Little Mr. Popper's Penguins Heidi Henry and Ribsy Clementine Caddie Woodlawn The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (this one did scare my younger dd a little, but I think it's the dramatized version from Focus on the Family) the American Girl books Ginger Pye Akimbo and the Elephants; Akimbo and the Snakes (I believe there are lots of titles in this series) I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that come quickly to mind. We love audiobooks!

Lightly Salted--Yes, actually this is something I've gone back and forth about, too. My older dd is doing very well with reading, and this has been her true K year. I feel fairly confident ('though I am admittedly ignorant about the program as a whole) that she would do well with Core 1. DD2, though, as you can see from my signature line, will not be 5 until November, so she won't be a true K'er until the next school year. She is wiggly and fun but not really ready to buckle down to do seatwork. I suppose my main concern with starting dd1 in Core K is that if I ever do drop SL and just use TWTM history cycle, she'll be off. Input, anyone? :D ETA: Another hold up on Core K is that we've already read several of the books as read-alouds over the past couple of years. My girls LOVE to be read to, and we've done a lot of it so far.

Thanks, everyone! I have had my heart set on TWTM/SOTW, etc., for a long time, but that was before the reality of homeschooling with a newborn hit me. Now I'm trying to tell myself that it's just first grade, and we can tweak it to be whatever we want it to be! :tongue_smilie:

I've been back and forth about this SO MANY times, but I think I've just about decided. (This is with dh's help, of course!) I think we're going to use SL Core 1 next year for dd's 1st grade--history and literature. I had originally planned to simply use SOTW, but dh has encouraged me to purchase something that will require less time for me to plan. We will have a new baby in the house by that time, so my brain will be on overload. My question is this: will SL make this easier?

Next year will be our second official year homeschooling, and because we will also have a new baby, my dh has encouraged me to find something a little more planned. I've just about settled on SL, but I wanted to still do it WTM-ish. Thanks for this thread! I'll definitely look around your blog!

Thanks for the encouragement and the links, etc. I'm off to look for the book!

I guess I'm such a black and white thinker that it's hard for me to combine anything! :glare: I'm thinking I will probably do language the WTM way--starting with FLL next year and continuing OPGTR. However, I like the idea of all the little extras inherent in a CM education--the artist studies, etc. Too, I like the short, gentle lessons. I've been greatly influenced by CM blogs, too. Jimmie's Collage is one I frequent and am so inspired by! Although I'm not sure I can pull it off, I love how she incorporated a lot of art/lapbooking/notebooking in her CM homeschool.

I found Lindafay's curriculum (she used to blog at Higher Up and Further In), and I'm intrigued by her approach. Has anyone used it? I'm thinking about using it for my rising 1st grader. I like the idea of doing both world and American history each year. Really, I'm just still torn between a CM vs. a WTM approach, and I just can't make up my mind! Help!:confused1:

Does anyone know when these two separate volumes will be available to purchase?

Thanks so much for all the excellent and insightful replies! I especially appreciate the links to resources. I have much to think over now! :D