I had this same situation when my son was 5; we did SOTW that year, and honestly I wish I had waited. It's pretty easy to find readings that coordinate with whatever reading level he's at when you start (in the activity guide, it usually tells what level each book is appropriate for as a read aloud and what level for independent reading). If I had it to do over again, I would have had him do mostly the first grade recs for grammar and math and then maybe done some unit study type stuff for science and history (or whatever his interests were) for the year. He would have gotten a lot more out of SOTW if we'd waited a year. Of course, I'm sure it depends on the kid. You could always give a try and see how he does with it, and be prepared to put it aside for a year if you need to.

I'm ridiculously excited. Dh and I have been watching some of last season on DVD to whet our appetites. the only (non Netflix) shows we watch our Lost and American Idol, and we pretty much only watch American Idol out of habit these days.

I have carrots in the garden that WERE doing okay, but it's snowed a bit lately, so I need to go check on them. I think I could grow a few things outside year round here (in N. Georgia) except that we have so many trees and the sun's so low in the sky that the garden gets pretty much no direct sun for a few months (it doesn't get much even at the best of times). I keep meaning to get a window box (to keeps cats and little fingers away) and grow some stuff inside...I hear turnips will grow ridiculously well, even in a non-sunny window. I don't know how I'll get anybody here to eat turnips, though....

History: I'm pretty sure we'll do Winterpromise's American Story 1 (with my younger DS joining in) Math: Singapore 3A/B Science: I'm trying to decide between Noeo Chemistry and putting my own stuff together. I'm not sure I'll love Noeo, but I think having it laid out will keep us from neglecting science as we tend to do. LA: he just started FLL 3, so he'll be working on that until around mid-year next year. And I have my eye on SWB's new writing book. And I'm trying to decide whether or not to start Latin next year.

except now I see only the first two workbooks will be out...okay, then--will I be able to start with the second grade one?

I'm excited about this, too! Will it be easy/reasonable to start in the middle with the first volume? My son is mostly doing 2nd grade work right now--would I be able to pick up with the 3rd grade workbook in the fall?

we're at 60-62 during the day, 56 or so at night.

Free dining has been offered the past 3 years from sometime in August through September/early October. They haven't announced yet if they'll have it this year (historically, they announce it in April). We've been the past two years in September. We stayed in Pop Century last time, and were very pleased with it. We got two connecting rooms for less than we paid for one room at the Wildnerness Lodge the year before. You can also stay off site and get a good deal, but you can't get the dining plan that way. The disboards (http://www.disboards.com) are a great source--you can find out much more than you ever wanted to know about WDW there.

Ari's reading the Wizard of Oz, alternated with Henry and Beezus, and I think he has a Magic Tree House book in there somewhere that he hasn't picked up in a month but still claims to be reading.

I'm seeing 3 levels....the preK/K that spends a lot of time going over individual letters, then the advanced K that just reviews for a few weeks then jumps into reading, and then an accelerated K. Is it the middle one that you're saying is pretty challenging? He's sort of maybe on the verge of sounding out words...he can read the easiest of the Bob books with some help, but it's hard to tell how much he's really reading and how much he's just sight reading familiar words and/or guessing based on the pictures and the initial sounds. But we're still 4 or 5 months away from when we'd start, so who knows what could happen by then...

I'm thinking of getting it for my then newly 5 DS to use next year. I like that it has different levels to choose from, as he already knows his letters and basic letter sounds, so he doesn't need a lot of time on that. We've tried Phonics Pathways and 100 EZ lessons, and he gets bored very quickly. I think he needs something sort of....shinier. More color, more hands-on stuff, etc. Any thoughts/opinions? Thanks!

I'm another who didn't post much at all on the old boards, but I like this format much better.... I'm Gretchen, mama to 3 boys--6 1/2, 4 1/2, and newly 2. Ari is the only officially homeschooled kid. He's doing SOTW 2, Singapore 2B, and we just started FLL 3. He likes reading ("books are better than toys"), drawing, making books, and gymnastics. Milo's less interested in academic things at the moment. He's doing Singapore Earlybird, listening to lots of library books, and sitting in on SOTW and science when he wants to. He likes robots, superheroes, and aliens. Gus is 2, so his main interest is in destroying things and trying to give up naps. But he's cute.

you should definitely call the school district and ask. I think it might be a federal thing that they have to provide services for special needs, but I'm not sure. My six year old has been in speech therapy (for Rs, too), and we've just run into some trouble with the insurance company that we may or may not be able to resolve. So I may be going the school route myself soon. I know I've been told that in GA they have to offer services, at any rate.

x-posted....we skipped most of the writing when I was doing it with my oldest. He actually wrote well and early, but we were doing HWT at the same time, so I didn't need it. With my middle DS, we'd definitely have to skip the writing just because he's not nearly ready for that much. cost...yeah, it's expensive. You get a good bit of stuff for the money, but, honestly, it's probably more than you NEED just for a phonics program.

I used SSRW with my oldest. It starts out very slowly, going over a letter each week, which he didn't really need at the time, but it was good for boosting his confidence, I think. I got it because he's a very visual kid and kind of needed a lot going on--we had tried OPGTTR and he was bored to tears. So it worked well in that respect--really colorful and with lots of short activities--not too long sitting still, not too much time on any one thing. But he actually sort of taught himself to read before I got a chance to do it, so we wound up trailing off with the program around halfway through because the readers had gotten too easy for him. I'm looking for a phonics program for my younger son now, and I haven't really considered going with SSRW again, though I'm not sure why, really...it might be more a matter of me not wanting to do the same thing again than any actual flaw with the program. Or it may be that I remember it as being pretty time consuming, and I don't know that I can do it with my older son around and a 2 year old.

ooh! I think I will be posting much more often now...this is the kind of board I'm used to. thanks!