I think the key is to find books that match their interests. Boys read for different purposes than girls. They will read, but they have to find the right books. Jon Scieszka's website Guys Read is great because it has so many book lists for guys. Here is a great quote from the site, "Research shows that boys are having trouble reading, and that boys are getting worse at reading. No one is quite sure why. Some of the reasons are biological. Some of the reasons are sociological. But the good news is that research also shows that boys will read — if they are given reading that interests them. So the biggest part of this site is the collection of book titles below. These are books that guys have told us they like. Our idea is to help guys become readers by helping them find texts they want to read."

Poetry is also a favorite around our house. Some of my favorites are Kalli Dakos, Douglas Florian, Mary Ann Hoberman, Sara Holbrook, Judith Viorst, and Karla Kuskin. I just found this great blog called Poetry for Children . The blog is great because is has a nice list of author links. Lots of new names that I will be checking out. Hope that helps.

I would recommend finding wonderful book lists and just reading great books for pleasure. This is one area that I wouldn't ask a lot of questions. I would just read for the true pleasure of reading. I would read from a variety of sources such as chapter books, picture books, poetry, etc. Jim Trelease is a great resource for wonderful read alouds. His website and book The Read Aloud Handbook are great starting places.

I am also another club foot mama. However, my little one has never worn the braces so I am not much help.

Thank you for this link. I have looked everywhere for a sample to see if my daughter will enjoy his voice. Yeah!!!!

I organized my picture books and chapter books by author's last name. I organize my nonfiction by topic. Then I add all of it to a Excel spreadsheet so I can easily search for it. It was some work getting it started, but it definitely makes finding things much easier.

When I was in library school, we talked a lot about how female teachers try to get little boys interested in fiction(chapter books etc), and then wonder why boys don't read. It isn't that men or boys don't like to read, it is just they many of them are interested in nonfiction. The website www.guysread.com is a neat website with the goal of encouraging boys to develop a love for reading. It has a great list of books that boys enjoy reading. Here is a great quote from that site, "Research shows that boys are having trouble reading, and that boys are getting worse at reading. No one is quite sure why. Some of the reasons are biological. Some of the reasons are sociological. But the good news is that research also shows that boys will read — if they are given reading that interests them." If this is true for boys, then I bet the same holds true for men.

We have used Egermeier's Bible Story Book this year for Kindergarten. My daughter has absolutely loved it.

About 7 years ago, we tried to sell a house by owner. After close to a year on the market, we decided to list with a broker for a $500 to get our house on the MLS and realtor.com and we also agreed to pay the selling agent 3% of the asking price of our home. We had a contract within two weeks of being listed on MLS. Of course, the market was better then, but it is very difficult to compete with houses that are listed by realtors because so many people look for houses on the internet. I don't know if it is still possible to pay a broker to atleast get listed on the MLS service, but might be worth checking into. I think it is much easier to sell a house by owner in a very desirable area where there is not a lot of competition. In my area, even realtors can't sell houses, so I don't know how someone selling by owner would even have a chance. The other caution I have is that the only offers we ever had when we listed by owner were people who wanted to steal our house or offer us 6% less because we weren't using a realtor. It was obviously a frustrating experience, but I totally understand your not wanting to use a realtor because their fees are so high.

Eat!!!!! I absolutely love all the yummy food in Chicago.

I would definitely contact the libraries before you send the materials. When I was an elementary librarian, I absolutely hated donations. I didn't have the time to catalogue or cover the books, so many times I just donated them to teachers or let students have them. Most librarians have so little time for the extra clerical duties, I am just afraid your materials will end up sitting in a pile of donations and never get used. However, maybe if you contact the librarians ahead of time they can let you know their policy for donations. Good luck!

Is there anywhere online where I could see an excerpt from CHOW? I haven't been able to find anything and I would like to compare it to SOTW for first grade for my daughter.

I think my daughter may beyond Jolly Phonics, but I wondered if anyone has used Jolly Grammar?

You can't go wrong with anything by Kalli Dakos, Bruce Lansky, Douglas Florian, Eve Merriam, Karla Kuskin, Bernice Cullinan, and Judith Viorst.

I recommend spending some time observing the kindergarten classes. I think you will be surprised by all that you can learn just by observing.

I heard a man name Jeff Anderson speak about this very thing this summer. His website is http://www.writeguy.net/ . I found a link to this blog with suggestions for mentor sentences. I don't know if this is what you are thinking about, but this might give you some examples. http://www.greatsentences.blogspot.com/

I have struggled with my hair my whole life because is is wavy. I have always wished I had really curly hair or really straight hair, but not my wavy hair. That being said, finding Ouidad (www.ouidad.com) has completely changed my life. I have found that my hair is much curlier than I ever imagined because I wasn't styling it correctly. After years of straightening my hair, I read Ouidad's book and then I ordered her deep treatment and styling gel. I honestly never straighthen my hair anymore because it looks so good curly and it is so much easier and better for my hair. Ouidad's "rake and shake technique" has completely transformed my hair. Here is a video link http://www.ouidad.com/video/Styling-Curly-Hair-With-Ouidads-Rake-And-Shake-Technique You might have your daughter try this with the gel she is using and see if it makes any difference. I always try to share my story because I know there is a way to love your curls, it just took finding the right products and styling technique for me. I wish your daughter the best in her hair journey because I definitely know how she feels.

I can't for the life of my figure out why there is so much teacher bashing on this board. Is it because homeschooling parents feel threatened by the whole public school system? I haven't been on the board very long, but it is definitely noticeable. I know sometimea people in the public school make stupid comments about homeschooling, but certainly that doesn't give us license to be ugly in return. As a poster mentioned, homeschooling is nothing like teaching in the public school. If you have never been a teacher in the current educational climate, then you really have no idea what most teachers go through every year. I am not saying it is the hardest job in the world, but it is definitely a challenging job and doesn't need to be constantly ridiculed on this board. Off my soapbox.

I have always washed bagged lettuce, but recently on America's Test Kitchen they said it actually introduces more bacteria to wash bagged lettuce. It seems they said it had to do with cross contamination issues in most kitchens. They said it was just safer to use it as it comes.

"Is this just how life is with a 1- and 2-year-old in the house, or am I doing something really wrong logistically?" Just wanted to let you know I can totally relate. My kids are the exact same ages as your kids. We aim for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hrs a day of school maybe 4 days a week. Right now my littlest one still takes a morning nap, as soon as that is gone I don't know how I will get any school done. To answer your question, yes, I think this is how it is with a one and two year old in the house. Atleast, this is how it is in my house. I keep telling my self things will be easier next year when the little ones are a bit older. Also, this is just Kinder so I am not going to worry too much.

We just started two weeks ago, but it is already my daughter's favorite subject. I love that the curriculum is so well laid out and very easy to follow.

I don't know if this will help, but I ran across Gallon Guy on this homeschool blog. Here is the link: http://homeschoolblogger.com/myquiversfull/616998/