I'm a creative person, I write, knit, doodle, sketch. I love art, we have nice water colors and prisma color pencils. My 6 year olds (appropriately!!) love googly eyes, pipe cleaners and GLITTER. :glare: They talked me into buying a "Giant Craft Jar!" from Costco the other day, because Costco + hunger = bad decisions. Anyways...they LOVE it. They are crafting fools. I don't mind it because they are away from the t.v. and mostly not fighting. I know I can just go and buy random craft supplies, but I like that the subscription services send everything you need along with instructions. I'll be honest, I'm bad at following through things I pin, I need the "Giant Craft Jar!" staring me in the face before I actually get to crafting. So long story short, has anyone used Kiwi Crate? What do you think? I know these things are often a waste of money so I want to be sure it's worth it.

Interested as well. I also can't figure out where to buy the book.

I will look into that one, thank you!

When this thread was first posted, I was on track to start applying to MFA programs. Because of life circumstances, I had to put it on the back burner and when I was able to come back to it, I was in a different frame of mind about what I wanted a "career" to look like. I am now changing course and going to apply for a masters in Public Health. I've been told on numerous occasions that my undergrad in Creative writing will be an asset because of the ability I developed in communicating with the written word. I still want to write, and I think I will always be a writer. I don't regret my undergrad at all, even though I'm changing fields. It sounds silly but it really fed my soul at a time when I really needed that.

I'd just like more money for travel.

I know, the price is killer! But, the tiles are so similar to Montessori moveable alphabet, it really is the best fit. I think most of level 1 will be review, that's why I'm dragging my heels a little bit. That being said, she definitely needs a refresher in phonograms so it's probably best to just get level one and progress quickly.

yes, for the sight words she will read the correct word if I point it out. I guess I'm more concerned about the phonograms, but the more I think about it, the more I think I can just practice with her and try to see if she starts to remember the sounds.

My 6 yo DD just finished her K year at a Montessori school. She made it through all of the phonograms, and was bringing home easy readers by the end of the year. I would say she is an "ok" reader. I gave her and her twin brother the 40L quick screen reading test last night and she tested a .7 *edit: I did the test wrong. Tried it again and by the time she missed 10 she was into 4th grade words, so she levels around grade 3. Her brother was at 2.8. (With me administering the test incorrectly, he's probably around 4th grade) I am not concerned that anything is wrong, or that she won't eventually become a fluent reader, but I also want to be on top of things. I didn't use a reading program with my oldest, he taught himself to read by site, and then sort of intuited the phonics, so I'm starting from scratch here. I like the looks of AAR, but it's expensive and she is closer to a level 2, (I think) but there are a couple of things she didn't get on the placement test. Neither her or her brother were taught about vowels yet, and they didn't do any syllable work at school either. I don't know if it's worth it to go down a whole level for that? To give you an idea, she read "rat" as "rate," and "hog" as "hug." She also has a hard time following multiple lines of text, and she sometimes reads common site words wrong, like she will say "the" where "and" is. I'm thinking about these two options: 1. Getting the later Bob books and just reading a lot of "easy readers" until her fluency picks up, and also doing AAS to reinforce phonics (I know their website said this isn't a reading program, but I do think it's helpful for phonics) 2. Get a level of AAR, either 1 or 2, and work through them with her, adding AAS in at a later time. Also....I'm not sure how to explain the fact that she needs to do a reading program but her twin doesn't. I know the "right" ways to explain it, we all have strengths and weaknesses, etc etc, but I'm still nervous about it. She can tell that he is a stronger reader than her. :( Any tips? This is all over the place, I apologize. We are starting next Thurs and I'm just now getting my act together. :ph34r:

I think the first 2 books are solidly elementary and the second 2 are upper el - middle school.

congrats! That's exciting. (and scary, I get it!)

We did GSWS alongside Duolingo last year and I really liked that approach. He finished GSWS so we are moving onto the Galore Park books, continuing with Duolingo.

I've tried researching BW classes and asking about them on this board, and it seems that not many AL kids take them. I'm listening in as well as I'm also on the fence.

Does anyone watch VEEP? "Didn't they ever hear of odd numbers?"

I'm excited to vote for the candidate I'm voting for, but I have considered what I would do if faced with a choice of two candidates I did not like. I'd go with the one who matched closest with my beliefs, unless that person had some serious character flaws, in which case if vote for the one I thought was a better person, even if that person was not a member of my party. Whew, that wasn't political, was it? That was hard!

We have an hour requirement. I don't count.

That's a whole bunch of NOPE for me. No idea the percentages, don't care. It's disrespectful to women, both the ones stripping and the ones the husbands go home to.

I took extensive notes, thank you to all who posted and to Farrar for starting. I don't know if my DS is ready for physics, but he loved A Wrinkle Time series so I'm going to get some of the lighter books and see what he thinks.

Look up Melissa Wiley Tidal Schooling, and if you haven't watched any Julie Bogart periscopes, start with the Enchanted Home school. I promise these two things will help you focus in on what is important at this stage. This is coming from some one who has these same exact feelings on a regular basis. :grouphug:

Thanks for the recap, I can imagine he's tired and ready to be home.

Your DS is awesome! It's been so fun to follow along, thank you both for the opportunity to cheer him on. :)

Don't stop posting! I'm on the edge of my seat. :)

You should!!!! Mwah hahahaha

6 isn't too young. At 9 my DS has kind of outgrown them.

Oh that feeling is tough. The melancholy of completion. I get it. Here's to hoping he hit the mark!

Thank you for linking!