Hi everyone- This is our first year in public school. I made the decision to send my 6(k) and 8(2) year old to public school following our move to a really really great school district. We've so far been pretty happy with the school, their class sizes, teachers, etc. My youngest child has autism (as well as some other comorbids) and having him in school was necessary. My 8 year old was a terrific homeschooler, a natural learner, and all around great kid, he's extremely intelligent- but he has dyslexia and dysgraphia. He's so far doing well with the supports in school, but given both of their learning challenges and their being accustomed to working with me (and I am good at keeping things light and fun)... I was thinking it might benefit them both if we reviewed/supplemented the school's curriculum at home. My challenge then is that I can't find ANYTHING online about this. Am I really the only person on the internet that has wanted to use the school's curriculum as a spine? I am assuming I am just looking in the wrong places. Anyone have any advice about this? If it helps, the children's school uses Harcourt Journeys. Thanks Michele

I picked up Abeka's kindergarten Social Studies workbook on paperbackswap. We are not religious so while I had to skip a lot, I found the book pretty decent. I'd say it covers just about everything you'd listed. I supplemented with books and kits from the library. It wasn't difficult to get through at all. http://www.abeka.com/ABekaOnline/BookDescription.aspx?sbn=26395&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

I don't suppose it's possible to "secularize" HOD? Anyone try?

Well! I am so glad I asked! I'll put it on the list for this year!

Is it worth it? It doesn't get very good reviews on amazon.com. Any experience?

I am happy to announce that I have a reader! I was given a gift card to Books-a-million and thought "what the heck, I'll get the Reading Lesson." I don't know if it was the book or his age/development, or what- but after one day he was blending. He's not especially thrilled to do it so I am sticking to things he enjoys like the Montessori Pink reading "games" and things like that. He has to date read the first 2 Bob Books and one Now I'm Reading Book. I don't know that I have ever been more proud. I LOVE reading so much. I look forward to sharing that with him someday. Thanks for you help and advice!

Thanks so much everyone. I think I will put it away and maybe try again after Christmas. He did love the Letter Factory DVD so maybe I'll request it from the library and just let it go. I am glad to hear someone else's son does the same thing. :) Thanks for your advice.

My son is 4.5 years old and very bright. We discovered recently that he has quite an extensive list of sight words and has been able to sound out letters since around 2 years old. Because of his other abilities and his eagerness to learn we decided to start kindergarten with him this year. (And by "start kindergarten" I mean mess around and hopefully finish K by the time he would start first grade. I by no means mean that I'm drilling him with flashcards and worksheets and expect him to perform the way a 6 year old in public school would.) Someone gave me a copy of The Reading Lesson and I started it with him to day. He liked it just fine(especially the drawing lines to the pictures that start with a certain letter, etc), but was really frustrating ME when we got to the part where he should sound out two letters together. He'd have no trouble reading "a" and then "t" but when they were together he'd look at ME and just say something "tat" or "lat" or whatever. Same for any combination of letters. A and S or C and A. No problems until it came to blending them. When I'd remind him to look at the page read what was actually written down he'd claim he "forgot" the answer. I put it aside and we did some other activities. Is he simply just not ready to do this or is something else going on? I've taught quite a few children to read but never had this happen before. Anyone else's kid do this? I honestly felt like he was stonewalling me. He'd look at me and not the page and just say whatever came to mind. I know he wasn't thrilled about having to do THIS part and not the more hands on "fun" parts. But a part of me figures this is school. It's not all 100% fun times. But then again he is only 4. Thoughts?

I ran a (supposed to be quick) google search on "preschool human body unit study" and found this thread. The Little Otter link was PERFECT! Thanks so much! I just spent the last hour and a half requesting every single book from my library. They have EVERY ONE!! I should have just come straight here. You guys never let me down!

Thanks. Good to know. I'll check it out again. I hadn't noticed that when I was first looking. :)

Have any of you every purchased these? Are they worth it? http://www.easyclassical.com/complete_product_page.html

This is all great! Thanks so much for the ideas!

I am thinking of doing kindergarten with my very bright 4.5 year old next year. We're in the *very* beginning stages of planning and gathering materials. What would all of you recommend for a child who can sound out letters and sounds, can copy writing unenthusiastically, can count but not add(although he's set with shapes and sizes, etc), and has an active interested in science and geography. We are in the process of doing Sonlight PS 4/5 with LA K. I can easily reuse the LA K next year since we minimally did it this year. Since he wasn't really into writing and reading I didn't want to force him. We were pretty unhappy with Sonlight as it didn't dive deeply into science and social studies. I had to add tons more materials myself. My son is also pretty across the board developmentally so a boxed curriculum wouldn't be practical. I look forward to your ideas and suggestions! I've been lurking the group and you all seem so open and full of ideas! Michele

It's frustrating when you ask for curriculum suggestions and everyone chimes in with answers about everything BUT what you asked for. Starting at about 15ish months I used Before Five in a Row with my son. I just bleeped over the religion parts. Homeschoolshare.com has lapbooks we used with the BFIAR as he got older. Letter of the week is free- but you could use the money for supplies to go along and supplement. I also liked Learn Today for Tomorrow workbooks. They're out of print, but amazon.com has them. They're VERY toddle friendly- especially the older one with the punch outs. Preschool Prep has some good DVDs and materials that my son learned a LOT from. Treasured Time with your Toddler is a nice book that breaks down the months into 4 weeks. Each week centers around themes from that month. I really like it for little kids. There is also the Little Hands art books, Slow and Steady Get me Ready, and The Toddler/Preschool Busy Book. Good luck and have fun!