Y'all must have a better Target! I went all through that section this morning looking for something else, and there were definitely no books! Fourth of July bowls, stress balls, water toys, pencils & erasers, etc. Nothing good - just junk!

There's always Letter of the Week (more academic), and Five in a Row (more literature based). Both amazing programs. I just wasn't organized enough to pull it all together - I needed open and go. If you can handle reading ahead, pulling out supplies, going to the library, etc., you can't go wrong with one of those!

For pre-K, we LOOOVED The Learning Box Preschool. Awesome crafts, and EVERYTHING was included and divided into that day's baggie so it was really convenient to actually do the crafts as opposed to just admire them in the teacher's guide! :)

thanks!

I bought a few different sets - these are my fav! FYI - upper case & lower case are separate sets. http://www2.abcstuff.com/cgi/Web_store/web_store.cgi/cart_id=2160893.9111&item=ML081&product=@magletters&keywords=&exact=yes

I know it doesn't matter, go at the child's pace, etc. etc., but in general, can you tell me around which lesson number a child who was reading at an ending-kindergarten level would be at, which lesson a child reading at an ending-first grade level would be at, etc.? Also, I know I have seen this, but I have searched and searched. What lessons should you be at before starting spelling, FLL, & WWE? THANKS!

"I'm nervous about the dog. How about if your kids came over to our house instead?" Repeat repeat repeat

That's what I was thinking! I had a kiddo in distress, and the nurse made one call. One second later one nurse was running down the hall with me on the gurney, while another was straddling my legs (riding along) and shaving my belly. As soon as we got to the OR, they put something over my face and I was out cold, and the babies were born like 2 minutes later!

I absolutely loved The Learning Box Preschool! It did all the basic preschool stuff, but the best part was the crafts! Great ideas, and everything was included. If you needed 4 red pompoms and a brown paper bag, it all came in a baggie labeled for that day. SOOO easy. I *could* do my own crafts, but I just did a lot more of them when they were pre-tested for age-appropriateness and everything was already ready to go.

Just after we got married, my inlaws (who lived over an hour away), decided to just drop by at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning. We were newlyweds - what do you think we were doing?? We peeked out, saw it was them, and didn't answer the door. Then they CALLED from the driveway. Peeked in the garage, saw both cars, and kept calling, knocking, and ringing the doorbell. I finally had to go to the door, open in about 4 inches, and say "Oh, I wish you called first! I am so sorry - it's just not a good time to visit". "Oh, whatcha doing?" "I'm sorry, it's just NOT A GOOD TIME for us to have visitors. Maybe we can schedule a time to visit next week - give me a call!" "Is everything OK, hon?" "Yes, it just is not a good time right now." "Do you have company or something?" "I'm sorry, it just isn't a good time for us." This continued about 10 more times. I just refused to answer, and refused to open the door and let them in. We had to repeat that little exchange on 3 separate occasions before they finally realized that I really wasn't going to let them just come over unannounced. Very awkward, but I am so glad we established that understanding early!

thanks

anyone??

My kids have known letter names & the main sounds each letter makes for ages, we just aren't making much progress with the reading. Due to some possible as-yet-undiagnosed learning issues (dyslexia, processing issues, visual issues, apraxia), it has been suggested that we consider the Gander Mtn stuff. But we won't know until we are a little further down the road exactly what our learning issues are, so I need to just cover all the bases in the meantime. (We can't test for learning stuff yet - long explanation for why, not relevant to this post.) Any thoughts about how AAR compares to the Gander Mtn products?? If this ONE program does the exact same thing as the THREE GM products, I need to just do AAR for time & efficiency purposes. - Which is EASIER to implement (ie scripted is my thing!)? Do they cover the same things? - Which is FASTER each day? We do a LOT of therapy exercises that take focus & concentration, so I really need something that is just going to get 'er done and help us keep moving forward. - Is one more fun/less painful than the other? Or am I comparing apples and oranges? THANKS!!! Copied from their websites: AAR: "Level Pre-1 for preschoolers and kindergarteners, and it focuses on what we call the Big Five Skills. These five fundamental pre-reading skills include letter knowledge, phonological awareness, print awareness, listening comprehension, and motivation to read. It is this specific set of skills that helps pre-readers understand the basics of language and how it works, preparing them to learn to read." GM SS: "Seeing Stars is a sequential program of instruction to develop mental imagery for letters in words, as a base for reading and spelling. The process-based instruction of Seeing Stars teaches the student to create mental imagery for letters within words, and to connect that imagery to the sounds of language. This visual processing of written sounds and symbols is known as symbol imagery—an essential skill that underlies fluent reading and accurate spelling." GM LiPS: "The LiPS® Program develops phonemic awareness for competence in reading, spelling, and speech. Weak phonemic awareness can cause problems in spelling and decoding, when students may add, omit, substitute, or reverse sounds and letters within words." GM VV: "Visualizing and Verbalizing (V/V) is a learning program that helps students improve reading comprehension, language comprehension, and higher order thinking skills by developing the ability to create mental imagery for the language they read and hear, and to create an imaged gestalt – imagery for the big picture, or whole. This mental imagery for language is called concept imagery, and it is essential to comprehension skills."

THANKS!! Such great tips!!

I would back up and say "we are going to do some easy stuff this summer, and go back to 'real math' in the fall". And just start them back over at the beginning, using a white board or something to make it look a little different.

Does your state require certain subjects? I have to document that we studied some history & science, along with reading, writing, & math. ETA - just rechecked our standards - it says "social studies", not history

A religious instruction group - the Duggars are the most well-known members. http://ati.iblp.org/ati/admissions/videos/ The countenance thing is something that they teach that I would like to learn, but I don't want to "join" just for that!

You know how the Duggars are always talking about the importance of directing attention to your "countenance"? How do you teach that? I have two kids whose natural expression is a scowl. I'm not talking about when things are bad, I mean all the time. They can walking through a parking lot and they look mad. If they aren't laughing, they are scowling. I am NOT ready to buy into the whole ATI thing, but I would LOVE to have my kids (and me too!) look happy most of the time!

We are in the Southeast - a little ways south of Charlotte, NC. We do the Little Gym (up to 12 kids per class for an hour), swimming lessons (4 kids per class for 30 min), and dance (I would guess there are about 10 kids in a class). Their are 1000 dance studios in this area, and they are all priced about the same. $60 per month for the first hour/wk, then around $10 a month for every hour/wk after that. (So the first hour is high, but it averages to a low price if you do several classes.)

The reason we went with something different was b/c by the time my kids had heard Bible stories in preschool, Sunday School, Children in Worship, and on Wed nights, I thought it might be nice for them to do sometihng a little different! LLOTG has the Bible stories, but adds a little thinking to them.

Ditto - we LOVE this one! "Big Truths for Little Kids" is another one that I see recommended a lot on here, but I haven't tried it yet.

WOW! My rule of thumb is no more than $15 per day for an outside activity, so that would definitely exceed my limit! But we haven't done any private lessons yet (like music), so maybe I'm just naive.

This was SOOO helpful! Makes so much sense to teach them as though they are dyslexic. My mom was diagnosed as dyslexic, so that is definitely a possibility. Can you tell me which of these programs is the MOST scripted? I am all about the scripted stuff so I can be confident I'm not screwing it up!

I know Classical Conversations is doing American next year, so I bet they have some suggestions. My manual is packed right now, so I can't look it up for you, but if someone else doesn't come back with it, remind me tomorrow.

Gotcha - thanks!