I have it on the shelf to use next year. It does seem to talk about the cycle of life quite a bit (death), but such is nature. We will use it as a jumping off point for our nature studies. Both my girls love science and we plan to combine this with Elemental Science for more hands on experiments.

The Wizard of Oz series. My 4 year old is eating them up right now. We are on book 5 of the 14 book series and they just keep getting better. I would say it takes us 10-15 minutes to read a chapter.

Thank you for the review. That is a shame that it has so many errors. It sounds like a good program otherwise, but we will stick with Singapore.

My youngest will be in K/1st this fall. I was planning to use Singapore 1A and supplement with Miquon, but then I started reading the Rainbow Resources catalog and found Math in Focus. I have read all the online reviews I can find, but I wanted to ask has anyone has tried this program yet? If you have used it, I would love to hear your opinion. Thanks!

My daughter loves the ThinkFun games. They are great for teaching logic and spacial reasoning. I bought her Rush Hour Jr, but she flew through it and is now working her way through the regular Rush Hour. Castle Logix and Royal Rescue by Educational Insights have been great for her as well, but they are a little easy for her.

That is adorable thank you!

I have been doubting myself the last few weeks. We have not officially started to homeschool yet since my oldest is enrolled in a private pre-K, but we do supplement her education. I have spent this school year planning for the fall when she will be in kindergarten. I was reading through my HS blogs this morning and found this article. It helped me tremendously and I wanted to pass it along. I know in my heart we are doing the right thing for our children and they will be just fine. Thankfully those pesky doubts that have been creeping into my mind lately are squashed back in their box where they belong. http://simplehomeschool.net/burying-the-big-yellow-bus/ Laura Mom to Madeline (4) and Lily (3)

My oldest will be in K this fall. We will be doing: Miquon Orange Five in a Row and BFIAR with her little sister A Living History of Our World (Queen's Homeschool) Nature Walk With Aunt Bessie (Queen's homeschool) Elemental Science Intro to Science Hooked on Phonics 1st grade (we are almost done with the K book) HWOT Artistic Purists and lots of art projects Lots of reading (from the AO list) Ballet or gymnastics Korean school on Saturdays (langauge, art, culture and history) We will be doing this as a family. My girls are adopted from Korea and we want them to learn the language. Laura Mom to Madeline (4) and Lily (3)

We are starting HS next year (my oldest is in private pre-K right now) and I have to say, thank you for your advice! I love the idea of starting with one subject, then adding another etc... I never thought of doing that. I can't wait to start HSing but I am nervous too. Laura Mom to Madeline (4) and Lily (3)

Jan Brett's Christmas Treasury is a favorite in our house. I could spend hours looking at her pictures and I love her use of foreshadowing. http://www.amazon.com/Jan-Bretts-Christmas-Treasury-Brett/dp/0399237410/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1290393218&sr=8-1-spell Laura

I bought my children a magnetic calendar. They switch the day every day to match the month, day and weather. They love it and it has really helped my oldest learn to recognize the numbers beyond 10. http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-LER0504-Magnetic-Calendar/dp/B00000IVNF/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1289863756&sr=8-1 Laura Mom to Madeline (4) and Lily (2)

My girls are the same ages as your children. We were going to start with FIAR, but it would have been way above my 3 year old and I have found it is easier to beef up BFIAR for my 4.5. We tried to row Ping (FIAR) and Jesse Bear (BFIAR) the first week and it didn't go well. We dropped Ping and we will pick up FIAR next year. We are finishing up week #2 and we love this program! Laura

Plimoth Plantation is offering a free virtual field trip in conjunction with Scholastic on Nov 16th. http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/letters_signup.asp Laura

I couldn't agree more. I feel the same way about picture books vs chapter books. I read chapter books to my girls (ages 4.5 and almost 3) at lunchtime, but the rest of our day is filled with wonderful, quality picture books. The only reason I read chapter books is because it hurts my eyes to read sideways and I don't like have to pause and show the pictures on every page. We do listen to the classics on audio books in the car or when we are coloring and working puzzles. There is such a small window of time when these books are appealing to little ones I don't want to miss it. Why rush them to grow up when they will do it soon enough on their own? Laura

I was having the same problem, so I called them. Log into your account and right click on the link. Select Save Target As from the menu. That worked for me. Thanks OP for the link, it looks like a great resource. Laura

I have been collecting the BFIR and FIAR Vol 1 titles from Amazon as I have rewards. Only 5 of the titles are out of print for BFIAR. Laura

For all the 100EZ haters (myself included) Amazon has a trade in program and this book is on the list. I sent mine in (postage was paid) and received a $6.31 gift card in return. Laura

My girls are 2 and 4 but they both help out as much as they are able to. We bought them a kitchen helper (enclosed stepstool) for Christmas 2 years ago. I have it pulled up to my kitchen island and they spend most of their time on it while I am in the kitchen. In the meantime they have learned fractions, addition, measuring and basic chemical reactions all from helping me cook and bake. My 4 year old can scoop and level, crack an egg and recognize most fractions as a result of our time together. As they get older I give them harder and harder tasks. They also help fold laundry, set and clear the table, wash the floors (their favorite task!), dust and sweep. These tasks are as much a part of their daily lives as playing and having fun. We make the chores into games which they enjoy. As they get older (and taller) I will add new things to their list. I hope by doing so I will raise two, self-sufficient young ladies.

I have to say Bill your wonderful, thoughtful posts sold me on Miquon. It should arrive this week and I am so excited to start using it! My daughter is 4, but loves math and I think she will enjoy this. She is in a private pre-K 3 days a week, but we homeschool the other two days. We will be moving to HS 5 days next year, but she wants to get started now. I can't wait to dive in! Laura

I haven't used this curriculum yet, but this is the nature study course I am planning to use with my 5 year old next year. I love how the lessons are told through stories. http://www.queenhomeschool.com/productpages/sciencecourses/sciencecourseframe.html Laura

I am not sure if this is the same source the OP used, but Home Science Tools has kits for R.E.A.L. Science already put together. http://www.hometrainingtools.com/r-e-a-l-science-odyssey/c/2055/ Laura

Thanks! We haven't officially started homeschooling yet. We made the decision in June to homeschool starting in K. My oldest is 4 years old and we enrolled her in a private pre-K for the 2010-2011 school year 8 months ago. She went to nursery school at the same place and we love the teacher. We decided to stick with a 3 day a week pre-K for this year and then start homeschool for K. My youngest is 2.5 and she will start nursery school at home next year. Right now we do baby school with her while her sister is at school. The book collection is a combination of finds at a very good used book store where kids books are $0.65, my books from when I was a child and our town transfer station. Our transfer station has a wonderful swap shop of free items you no longer need. There are quite a few homeschool families in the area who drop of books in great condition. I found a box of 50 Newbery award winning books a couple of weeks ago which made my year! Laura

I use the metal buckets that Target sells in their dollar section to store crayons, markers, glitter glue etc.... I used to have them arranged on a bookshelf and then I ran out of room for books. They have been relocated to a deeper drawer in our homeschool room. My youngest is 2.5, but she is good about not coloring on things other then paper. The girls can open the drawer and help themselves. My girls are 2.5 and 4 so we still use washable Crayola supplies. [ I also bought one of the wire drawer systems from Home Depot and I store the larger supplies in that. I used the smaller clear Sterlite containers inside the drawers to organize pompoms, foam letters, wiggly eyes, feathers, etc... I posted pictures of our homeschool room earlier today, but here is a picture of the drawer units. The skinner unit is from The Container Store. Scrapbooking paper storage cubes make a great place for construction paper, collage supplies and other flat supplies. Laura

Thank you everyone for your kind words, I really appreciate it! Laura

I have been lurking for the past few months, but I love looking at pictures of other homeschool rooms so I wanted to share. I am thrilled to say our room is finally done! This room used to be our den. I love the fact that I can close the door and all our school supplies are in one place. My talented husband built all the bookshelves and the cabinet that houses our work boxes. The base cabinets were unfinished from Home Depot. I spent hours and hours painting and varnishing all the cabinets and shelves. I finally moved the last of the books in last night. My husband still has to finish the crown molding on the top of the long wall of cabinets, but other then that the room is done! The finishing touch was hanging the South Korean and American flags. Both of my daughters were adopted from South Korea and we are trying to incorporate their culture into our studies. I hope you enjoy the pictures! Laura Desk area, history and literature Work Table Workbox Cabinet Science and Math Shelves Art and Misc Supplies inside the tall cabinet Base cabinets under the science and math shelves. The other base cabinets house educational games, puzzles and my printer.