thanks all :D I got the signs from a teacher shop up by my parents house

The school closet inside of Liam's closet

the inside of my cabinet

the only thing that is missing is the ikea artwork hanging wires and clippies that DH hasn't put up yet instead of being half of the playroom I integrated the schoolroom into the playroom and made Liam's bedroom into the baby playroom It works out so well and we are loving it!! Here it is

try looking into saxon phonics. I LOVE it so much and that was after trying over 10 programs :lol: It is the best fit for both me and my son. It has lots of review and games that also go along with it. For moms it is very open and go and easy to implement. My son has learned leaps and bounds since we have started it and he actually begs to do his reading lessons!! You can find it used pretty easy and just replace the workbooks or buy it new and resell as it holds value pretty well. If he's already reading I'd start in 1 and skip K which is what we did. I can't recommend it enough! :D Saxon phonics has kids do the phonetic marking which really helps them to understand how to read and breakdown as well as compose words. I am also using saxon phonics intervention for my 10 who is a struggling reader/speller and she is really coming along beautifully which was/is so awesome to see :D You might also check out IEW's PAL reading and writing as it uses AAS in the writing program for spelling.

I know a lot of us use more then one math program or supplement our science. Does anyone use more then one reading/phonics program? If you do why ( just curious) Do you find it works well? Does it take up a lot of time? Do you find your child(ren) gain a deeper understanding that way? Thanks for answering!

I used it with my younger step daughter and we really enjoyed it!!

I like a mix of math in focus and montessori for K math :D

WE are having a blast with my young K'er! Seatwork wise we do MIF and saxon phonics 1 with ZB handwriting. We also do nancy larson scienceK which is super fun for us both and tons of Montessori thrown throughout. I know I could have just stuck with righstart but I dunno it just didn't mesh as well for me as MIF does. :tongue_smilie: I find though that throwing in a bunch of montessori math activities really makes it much more playful as well and really driving home the concepts. At this rate it will take us a long time to get through MIF 1 but that is perfect for us :D

thanks for all the ideas! We don't have a single montessori school within a 2 hour drive so yeah we are making our owl LOL not that I'd send them to a school but you know :lol:

Lay em on me! I have some funds to get some more montessori materials ( we love em here) and I want to know what you all think are the best and most used materials. We already have: Metal insets ( well ours sadly are plastic :lol: we'll replace at some point ) sandpaper numbers sandpaper letters upper and lower addition snake game thousand cubes hundreds flats decimal large number cards all the inset supplies ( frame, paper tray ect.) and a ton of practical life trays :tongue_smilie:

Rivendell Academy cause we're LOTR geeks here :lol:

I now file in reverse :lol: We go at our own pace so prefiling was just not working as well if I needed to slow us down or speed us up. So I still have the same file setup but instead I put work in each week's folder as it is completed. Then every so often I plan to open up the folders, go through the papers and pick out the best work of the month to go into our portfolio for the year. I also have library pocket on our folders that I slip in custom 3x5 vertical lined index cards (cut in 5x8s into two 3x5s LOL ) with our reading lists and movie lists. I plan to put these into a index card binder also for portfolio review.

If you want to add challenge into AAS try adding in how to teach spelling for different word lists. This was suggested to me and does work well.

I am not what one would call "experienced" per say LOL I am using saxon phonics with my K'er this year (lvl 1) and I use phonics intervention with my stepdaughter (9yo new 4th grader) Her spelling and understanding of spelling is flourishing with the saxon phonics intervention!!!! I cannot say just how much of a dramatic difference there is. However my plan with the boys is to go through saxon phonics for reading mainly and then starting in 1st begin the AAS program. AAS is fantastic and I think will follow up saxon wonderfully and give a really solid foundation. I should say I have used a crazy amount of reading programs before finding saxon and really giving it a try but it has been hands down the BEST program for learning to read that we have ever used!!

My son did the same thing but WITH HWOT :lol: He likes the ZB books better. I have 2 K level ZB books that he goes through at the same time and he loves all the little pictures and bright colors! I'd suggest getting some sandpaper letters to trace with their finger because it helps gain the understanding of correct form.

we LOVE Saxon phonics!!!!!!!! I cannot say how much this program has helped DS get it and have fun with it! DS really loves the echoing like the mountains and making the little books. It is a very thorough and awesome program!!

Wood puzzles ABC photo fish and say Laces Lacing beads, lacing cards, lacing trail mix Bin of black beans with measuring cups, plastic shot glasses and bowls with which to transfer with Crayon rocks and tons of things to color on Lap desk so he can sit on the floor by mama and big brother Ipad with lots of educational goodies on it toddler scissors and tons of scrap construction paper and a bin to cut into Mix and match games Sorting games ( we specifically love all the games from learning resources like cookie shapes, doughnuts, lacing trail mix ect. )

what do you guys use? I was using a adjustable height table I got at sams club for 29 dollars but it isn't nearly large enough for us all now and the seam where is folds gets in the way all the time. I would prefer on the cheaper side and free shipping if possible LOL I have been looking at the kidney shaped adjustable tables and drooling

I have manipulatives coming gout of my ears :lol: we love them here and they really do add a lot of fun and understanding to math :D if 140 seems high to you though shop around and piece your own kit together if you find there would be significant savings.

we are getting ready to start the rfwp philosophy program on thursday for my new Ker. It looks very good and we excited to get going.

We LOVE saxon phonics! We find the symbols make it much easier to learn the difference between long and short vowels and reinforce the why behind it. My DS loves the gestures (especially echoing like the mountains :lol: ) and looks forward to the little reader books that he gets to put together, color and add to his box. It may seem overwhelming at first but man I have seen huge leaps of understanding because of this program and it is easy enough to implement that my hubby or my mom could easily do a lesson if needed.

I modified things after doing a trial run last year with preschool. This year I will be filing but in reverse. We use workboxes ( a 10 drawer cart) , an accordion portfolio and a planner. So each day the work that is completed goes into the folder for the week. My milk crate has 36 folders, 1 for each week. It makes it easier for creating my portfolio for our evaluation at the end of the year. I am going to do a new blog post some time soon for it LOL

today was our first day of K :D we had a blast!

:bigear: same boat over here :D