That's great to hear! I got a copy of the book and have been comparing it to a few other curricula -- I think we're going to give BFSU a try.

We've got a week left for this year still. New baby due mid-August so we'll start again either mid- or late-September.

>For instance, if someone wanted to visit a mosque or a synagogue or a... what do they call the meeting places of Buddhists? Temples? I don't know about mosques, but anyone can generally just show up for services at a synagogue (with the exception of a couple of major holidays like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when many synagogues require tickets). That said, the services of the different Jewish denominations are very different. A Reform or Reconstructionist service will be the most accessible to a non-Jew; a Conservative service will be a lot of Hebrew but you should be able to follow what's going on to some extent, and an Orthodox service will be quite different (men and women sit separately, for one thing). I also don't know what the rules are for carrying things into an Orthodox synagogue on the Sabbath (when observant Jews don't carry things, drive, turn on lights, etc.) -- that would be something to check into first.

I have two very energetic boys (2.5 and 5), and we have always lived in small NYC apts. Yelling and/or running around the apartment is out, not only for space reasons, but also because it disturbs the neighbors (as I remind them only about a thousand times a day). IME, there is just no substitute for getting outside and running around. We go to the playground just about every day, unless it is pouring or someone is sick. In the winter I bundle them (and myself) up and they run around on the deserted playground while I sip hot coffee out of a thermos, and in the summer I lather them up with sunblock, take them to the sprinkler park, and jostle the other parents/nannies for a coveted spot in the shade. I can't say that I enjoy doing this in the cold or the heat, but it's still better then trying to deal with the kids in the apartment all day. It's a real shame that your local park isn't usable, but if you can drive to a decent park I would prioritize doing that as often as possible. With my kids, at least, it makes all the difference in the world in their behavior. Since you also have some outside space, I'd say try to run them around that as much as you can. Kick a ball and have them chase it, have them sprint from one end to the other, see if their older sister is willing to play keep-away. A sandbox is nice and my kids love playing in them, but it's a little too sedentary for getting out the ya-yas, I think.

I'm also Jewish and find religious proselytizing to be a profoundly foreign notion, but as I have learned more about Christian theology I take it little less personally. I think it really does go to core differences between the religions, particularly with respect to the role of faith. That said, although I do understand that people mean well, I find it so strange to be urged to consider conversion. It's like someone urging me to consider having a sex-change operation.

I'm an agnostic Jew, DH is agnostic and unaffiliated, we're raising the kids as Jewish. We're at the beginning of our homeschool journey (oldest is 5) but emphatically secular. However, we are moving next year from NYC to the Bible Belt and I am wondering and worrying about how this is all going to shake out. Oh, and I so wish I believed in homeopathy! It would be so much more convenient.

We're moving to Nashville (from NYC) next May.

Jennifer, thanks for your very clear explanation upthread about why that 'statement of faith' wouldn't work for a Catholic. I'm Jewish so all of this is a bit alien to me, but very interesting. I wouldn't join a homeschool group with a heavily Christian bent in the first place, so the statement of faith business seems rather beside the point for me personally, but I can see why it might be controversial among Christians.

This is such a great idea. If we had a yard I would SO do this! I have yet to figure out a decent way to keep my 2.5 yo occupied. He wants to do what the older one is doing, but of course he can't quite manage that and gets frustrated, but then if I give him something else to do -- a puzzle, stickers, etc. -- the 5yo gets completely distracted and wants to do that, too. Half the time we wind up doing our school stuff at 6:30 am before DH leaves the house, so he can keep the little one occupied as he gets ready. Not an ideal long-term solution, I must say.

We're in NYC, so although our local branch library only has a handful, I can put anything in the entire city system on hold through the library website. The library system here is a truly amazing resource, for sure.

My 5yo has almost finished reading the entire Boxcar Children series (all 120+ of them) and it has been like his own personal unit study curriculum. He has gone down innumerable rabbit trails with this series, constantly asking for more library books about this or that subject, all related to whichever Boxcar Children book he happens to be reading at the moment. Those books have been a terrific educational experience for him; I'm only sad that it's coming to an end!

Looking at the website -- are all of these groups explicitly Christian?

I have nothing useful to add, but I wanted to say that this has been an incredibly helpful thread for me, too. Thanks for starting it!

This is not directly responsive to your question, so if it's unhelpful I apologize, but my son learned all the Presidents in order amazingly quickly from a placemat. I think I got it from Rainbow Resources.

Thanks! Paige, what sort of access to the outdoors would you say is necessary to do your program? Also, the link to sample pages on the website doesn't seem to be working.

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions! I am definitely going to investigate BFSU and some of the others mentioned here. Someone on another thread suggested Elemental Science (http://elementalscience.com/) -- anyone familiar with this?

No, I hadn't seen that -- thanks very much for the link! We live in a no-pets apartment in the middle of New York City, so I'm looking for something that's hands-on but doesn't emphasize, say, digging up worms in the back yard.

>*every single Magic Schoolbus science kit (and lots of supplementary picture books) for a "science sampler" How did this work out? I am looking for a low-key but reasonably organized science curriculum for my K'er next year.

I've gotten such great suggestions from this board -- could anyone possibly recommend a good secular science curriculum for kindergarten? I'm looking for something low-key but relatively structured, feasible to do with my 5yo for a short while 2-3 times a week with a toddler underfoot and a newborn hanging off of me. Also, we live in a no-pets apartment on the 16th floor in the middle of the concrete jungle, so all of those charming science activity books that begin, "Go dig up worms in your backyard" tend not to be so great for us. Thanks so much!

My older son trained shortly before he turned three -- and about two weeks after his younger brother was born. Once he saw the baby wearing diapers he was ready to be done. At 5yo, though, he is still not night trained. He stays dry because we take him to the bathroom while asleep in the middle of the night, but he never, ever wakes up on his own. My younger son, now 2.5, trained immediately after he turned two. I did almost nothing; it was all about wanting to be like his big brother. He also stays dry at night and regularly wakes up when he has to go. (I keep him in pullups, though, because his older brother has to wear them and I just can't open that can of worms.) FWIW, I know lots of folks have great success with the run-around-pantless thing, but it completely freaked my older son out. He did MUCH better with the security of pullups. #2, OTOH, was happy as a clam to run around sans pants.

I'm so sorry to hear about your stress, and I am hoping beyond hope that your results are good. FWIW, I would be completely horrified if a medical professional started talking about religion.

Wow -- this looks fantastic. Thanks so much for the suggestion.

I'm in the market for a timeline of human history to begin using with my almost-5-year-old. We're not doing any sort of formal history curriculum, but he's constantly checking various history books out of the library and I'd like to give him a way to mentally organize his ramblings. We live in an apartment with sharply limited wall space, so I'm thinking that a sturdy notebook setup is the way to go. We're Jewish, so I would greatly prefer either something secular (although I can't find much on that count) or at least something that can be easily modified that way. At the moment, I'm leaning towards the Sonlight timeline. I like the fact that the years are more spaced out as time goes on, and it seems that I could readily use it from a non-Christian perspective. But I would love some feedback from anyone who uses it and would of course very much appreciate any other suggestions. I'm also willing to entertain the possibility of making something myself, but I am not so crafty, and I really want something that will hold up for a while. Thanks in advance for any help!