I think as of right now our goal for read alouds is just introducing new books to our daughter. To get into a routine of reading more regularly and trying to work on her retention/comprehension and attention span. Any good picture books you would recommend? Also, I've heard a lot of people mention 5 in a row book or curriculum. I tired looking it up but I'm still now sure what it is. What does 5 in a row type books mean?

We've been reading Magic Treehouse, Zoey and Sassafras, The Princess in Black and other intermediate chapter books. I write those down in our read aloud section of our homeschool planner. Would you include regular kids books as well? Not chapter books but just books with lots of pictures that you'd find in the children's library. I don't include them but do you?

These are all really great prices of advice. I'm going over them with my husband and we will find the best route. She hates it because she says it's boring to sit down and read the words but we've explained that some things in life just aren't fun. Reading is something she needs to learn to do and wether we stick with this curriculum or switch, it'll be the same. We've decided to stick with Teach your child to read. I do have a follow up question though. I've heard good and bad from the curriculum. Anyone who has used it, what do you feel is missing from the curriculum? I haven't noticed digraphs being covered or sight words. I want my daughter to have a solid foundation in phonics. If you could add anything to the book to make it a "well rounded complete curriculum", what would you add?

She spends many hours a day building Legos and first. She loves to draw and paint. She's in tumbling and piano outside of the home. My family just does her school quick and moves on. Which, I think I'm going to give a try and see if that helps. When I was a kid, I would have loved to spend my days doing worksheets and reading. I guess my kid isn't like that. Weird. Haha.

Oh my gosh. This is exactly what I needed to hear. I've spent so much time prepping and trying to find fun additional worksheets and crafts but my daughter doesn't like to do that. She wants to finish school and go play. I honestly don't know why I didn't see that earlier. Thank you! She's learning everything she needs to learn without the worksheets and the Play-Doh molds.

So much amazing advice!! I'll look into all these options! Thank you all so much! I love my curly hair and I can't wait to enhance it even more!

I have curly hair. It looks great straight out of the shower, but then it dries. I look like a deep fried poodle. It's ratty, knots galore and puffy. There are a ton of curly hair products but they're all filled with terrible ingredients. Propylene Glycol, manufactured silicones, dyes and man made fragrances. That is only to name a few. I try my best to stay away from that stuff and lean towards more natural products. (Bonus point if you have any at home DIY's!!) Anyone know of any products to help tame frizz and bring out natural curl?

My daughter spends her days building Legos. She builds houses and spends multiple hours doing it. She loves being crafty and making things. It's not like she spends all day staring at a screen or being plain bored. Everyone in my house is on board for homeschooling. I just wish they shared my passion is all.

This is our first year homeschooling our oldest. She is 5 and is in kindergarten. I took a lot of time finding good (but relatively cheap) curriculum to use and was so excited to get the school year started. I had so many good ideas. I work full time. My husband is a stay at home parent and my in laws lives with us also. My mother in law homeschooled her boys when they were in middle school so between her and my husband, they have talked about taking the reigns with her schooling. I've written down and even organized by category many different tactile activities to do for the difference subjects. Some involving Play-Doh, a lot of going outside and very play based activities. My husband or MIL don't do any of them! They just sit her down, make her do a lesson in math, do some handwriting copywork and call it a day. My husband says he'll do her phonics curriculum with her but everytime I get home he says he has been too busy with the baby. My oldest isn't really enjoying it because they're not making it super fun or following the curriculum at all. I know not all subjects need to be presented as fun but in kindergarten, it's a big part of it. I'm the only one who reads with her or sets up the crafts. I read with her nightly and do crafts for school on my two days off, which are Thursday and Friday. I just feel like I'm getting no help. I've done a lot of research into homeschooling and I'm always looking up a ton of free resources to use with her schooling but no one else seems to care. I don't want to put her into a public school. I want to make homeschooling work. I work 4am to 1pm so by the time I get home, she's over the schooling she's done and wants to play with her friends who are home from public school. I can't quit my job since we're hoping to buy a house in the next year or so and you need steady income. I've been at my job 4 years now. Am I glamorizing kindergarten too much? Should it just be sit down, do this work and after 30-45 minutes, call it a day? I just feel like I'm trying to burn the candle at both ends. I try to have the next week loosely set out for my MIL and husband (I prefer to track rather than to plan) but having a guideline helps them. I'll ask them how the crafts and activities went and they just tell me they didn't do them. Also, my MIL will do a math lesson a day with her and when she gets to the checkpoint, she can't do it. It's like she just reads the lesson plan, goes over it once and then gets ready for the next lesson the next day instead of waiting until she grasps the information. It's driving me nuts. Thanks for listening!

Our local co-op is talking about making a yearbook this year. I've done some research and trying to decide what route to take, if any. Anyone have experience? Resources or websites you've found helpful?

Thank you so much! Great resources!

Thank you everyone for all the advice and tips! I definitely think it'll be beneficial to step away from formal curriculum and just focus on phonics games and tactile activities for a little bit. @HomeAgain My daughter says she hates it because it's boring to sit down and sound out the sounds. She also says the pictures are really boring. I don't blame her honestly. They're poorly drawn black and white sketches. I've explained to her that sometimes we have to do things we don't really want to do in order to thrive later in life. 100EZ lessons is a very cut and dry curriculum though and it's losing her interest. @Clarita and @sweet2ndchance Thank you for the advice also! I'll definitely look into those resources. What a great idea to print out the scope and sequence! Sometimes the best solutions are the easiest. I had never thought about doing that. We've gone over letter sounds and some digraphs and I've been at a standstill on how to progress to the next phonics rule. However, like you guys said, there is no sense in rushing it if she needs a little more help. Honestly, I have quite a few people in my life who are against my choice to homeschool. So, I feel like if my daughter finishes K and isn't on the same reading level as public school K's I'm going to hear a lot of "I told you so's" and I really don't want to deal with that. I believe that's why I'm stressing so much about it and trying to push it faster than I probably should.

We've been using TYCTR but my daughter is starting to hate it. She knows about 30-ish CVC words but I just realized I have no idea what to teach after that. I'm interested in Logic of English but my husband thinks it's too much money and we should just push through with TYCTR. If she didn't fight us in it, I would be fine with that. Is there a free or cheap phonics program to try in the meantime? Is the good and the beautiful really free? Is it good? Any other suggestions? Thank you!

These are all great recommendations. Thanks you! I've looked them up and they cover art us adorable and I can tell they'll keep my daughter's attention. We've read one book in the Magic Treehouse series so far. When reading aloud at the kindergarten level, do you finish an entire series before moving on to the next? Or, do you read whatever you want in any order?

What's been some of your favorites? We were starting with a Roald Dahl collection we have for kids but upon reading the first few chapters of a few of them, they're not kindergarten appropriate 😂