If the Bob Books is what I think it is, it isn't the same as the books. We have two Bob books apps and they each have 12 scenes with three or four words, but not the whole books.

He is almost 14 months, so still very little.

My second child has a serious case of the wiggles. At his age, his brother would sit through several little board books and beg for more, but this one can barely make it through one without grabbing at it or throwing it out, or asking for the next. Additionally, the older brother is STILL begging for books, though by now (age 3) he can sit through ten books the length of "Bread and Jam for Frances," a current favorite. The baby tends to fuss or grab for the books if I am reading to #1 while he is awake, so I tend to do that when #2 is sleeping. All of this combined means that #2 is getting precious little read aloud time, which I fear will only contribute to making him a far more reluctant reader than his brother, who at the tender age of 3 is reading at a first grade reading level, according to the most recent assessment. What can I do? I know that #2 doesn't NEED to read as early as #1, but I want to encourage him as much as possible, too. At times I read to him when he is stationary, that is in his high chair or the bath tub, and sometimes he does overhear his brother's read alouds. He also hears NPR on the radio or my Great Courses CD playing from my computer. What else can I do? Sometimes it helps if he is holding one book while I read the other, but then it seems like he's not really getting anything out of the one I'm reading. Any thoughts? My main concern is that we, his parents, would fall into the trap of saying, "Oh, AGM is just not going to be a great reader," and shortchange him from the beginning.

Is I See Sam full of sight words? It kinda seems that way, with "see" in the first book.

Depending on how close we are to the couple, we've got three usual price ranges: if we don't know them well, maybe around $50 total. If we know them but they aren't close friends or family, $100 total, generally split between the bridal shower and the wedding gift. For closer friends it's usually about $50 for bridal shower and $100 for the wedding gift, though in the case of my husband's sister (who was married before met) I'm pretty sure he went way higher. It remains to be seen what we give to my brother and his brother, as they are 21 and 17, respectively, and unlikely to be married soon. ;)

So far, I've bought almost all of the books for 3/4 and some for 4/5, separately and almost all used, without buying the IG. We are undecided if our boys will attend a school or not, but if they do I'll probably use many of those books (and recommendations from TOG) as home read alouds to accompany what they're learning in school.

So far, I have a few favorite app creators, and I usually like most of what they make. PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY My absolute favorite is Preschool University, which has put out a number of reading and pre-reading/phonics apps, and is totally free, without ads. We are currently using Magic Reading 1 and 2, and well as Spelling Magic 1 and 2. I was just at their web site earlier today and I noticed that they have plans for a whole slew more of the reading and spelling apps, as well as sentence aps (short sentences with 3 letter short vowel words to coincide with Magic Reading 1, etc.) and a few others. I am super excited for all their future apps as they are released, as I'm sure we'll be using them. These are the first apps I've found that really work on decoding and encoding words systematically, and they allow my young son to practice encoding without having to write. You can see their web site here: http://preschoolu.com/default.aspx but be aware that it is under construction. Presumably they are too busy developing apps. Also note that the web site seems geared to sell the apps though for now they are free- so I'd get them now. Perhaps eventually they'll start charging. LEARNING TOUCH Bob Books Reading Magic 1 and 2 - These apps are cute, and mostly good (I disapprove of the word "car" suddenly showing up in the middle of short vowel CVC words, but otherwise it's great), but they don't offer all that much bang for the buck. Each one available so far is $1.99 and has twelve scenes, each with three or four words to read and spell. I bought these mostly to help motivate my son to read the physical Bob Books we have. APP ZOO - App Zoo has a number of useful apps, most of which are available in free versions, but be aware that those have banners which your child could easily click on to buy something... if they figure out your password. ;) Mostly the banner ads were annoying me, so I gladly shelled out $.99 per app to get them to go away! We have and use: Math 1 - Single and Double Digit Addition and Subtraction I most like how this works - it's a great transitional app for my son who recognizes numbers and can count, but isn't ready for the numbers-only drills provided by a lot of math apps. These show visually how many objects are being added and subtracted. Math Train - Addition and Subtraction - One of my favorites in how it demonstrates subtraction, by having you pop balloons. (Many apps simply put an X over something, which confuses my son, as he is still likely to count it) (they also have multiplication and division math train, but as we're not ready for that I can't review it) 1-2-3 tracer Meh. My son likes it, and it reinforces number order, but I'm underwhelmed. APPS IN MY POCKET ABC Pocket Phonics - this is great, though to my mind it moves too quickly too more advanced phonemes. Then again, due to this and "Baby Fwog," (Leap Frog) my son can read SH and CH and the like long before I taught him. Dot to Dot Number Whiz - we have the "lite" version. A nice simple dot to dot program. BRAIN COUNTS We have Dinosaur Kids Math and Ace Kids Math, both of which do simple addition and subtraction and demonstrate the sums visually (the former with dinosaurs, the latter with various objects including fruits) CLASSROOM FOCUSED LEARNING This is a teacher group who go together to write simple math apps. These are GREAT for number sense learning, but they definitely didn't have the benefit of an expensive design team. Still, check them out. They all have free versions: Count Sort Line em Up Patter Sets What Time What's Hiding? 10 Frame Fill DUCK DUCK MOOSE Park Math We love this. Wonderful addition and subtraction, visually demonstrated by apples falling from a tree (subtraction) and ducks climbing a ladder (addition), as well as sequencing, size sorting, counting to 50, etc. Beautiful graphics, though I think it's $2.99 Well worth it! GRASSHOPPER APPS 1-2-3 Learning Great simple counting app, with numbers showing up on top of the objects counted as you touch them. similar to this is: Toddler Counting by iTot Apps. When I received my iPad, I splurged and bought two of the MONTESSORIUM Apps. They are beautiful, and cool, but frankly everything they do you can get for free or cheap elsewhere. Still, if you have the $5 per app, or if they go on sale, go for it. (These apps were featured in the iPad adds, they are so beautiful.) PEAPOD LABS I love ABC Music by Peapod Labs. It links to YouTube videos of musical instruments and pieces being played. :) WEILY APPS Visual Math 1 has the potential to be interesting, but some of it is beyond my son's ability right now and there aren't great controls for difficulty. Most of the best apps (including the math apps I cited earlier) will allow you to change settings (or automatically adjust) to your child's ability. We also use Lingu Pingu for English/Russian and English/German language studies. Phew. That's it for now. Oh, wait, we also recently got the Number Line Frog (by BRIAN WEST), which demonstrates addition and subtraction by having a frog jump up and down a number line. Very basic app, but we like it. I for one can't wait until Leap Frog starts coming out with apps. I'll take an iPhone/iPad Word Whammer, please...because our physical one is busted. :(

I find the text itself nearly impossible to teach from. I've set about basically creating a "student text" myself, with just the words to be read in a large, legible font. Then I saved that as a .pdf and I transferred it to my Kindle, which makes it even more fun for my son, who loves technology. ;)

From a quick overview by way of the preview pages it seems like it would be difficult to implement without being a native speaker yourself.

Reading Pathways, which has a ton of "pyramid" exercises to help with reading fluency and multi-syllabic words. Check it out from your local library if you can find it.

I've downloaded the Mac version just fine. You should contact them!

As to the laminator: mine came with explicit instructions not to do that, so I'd check your manufacturer's web site first.

Yeah, the Helicopter Taxi, which my son would love, is unavailable. Boo. I've really started to love Park Math, which my son is digging. I am looking for apps in between basic counting and number recognition and the purely number-based drill programs. Park Math fits the bill.

I found the Crayola one at Michael's recently, it was $12.99 and I used a 40% off coupon, so after tax it was just over $8. Then last night, after reading this, I ordered the workbook window, too, just because apparently I have too much money floating around my PP. ... or rather, I viewed it as spending money to save money, as I can now use all the workbooks I've been holding on to because I didn't want to "chop them up," and I'd have to do that to be able to use the Crayola thing. So we'll keep the Crayola one for print-outs or the workbook from which I already removed the pages, and use entire workbooks (like ETC and the Singapore math ones) in the window. Thank you for the recommendation!

Missed out on reading, so thank you for the reminder!

Of course, my husband's iPad is his iPad and mine is the boys' iPad, but I'm okay with that. I've also got a ton of Russian language and German language learning apps downloaded, so I'm working on my Russian and using the German apps to help me teach the boys German. (I'm a native speaker, but clueless as to how to begin teaching them without completely confusing them.) Oh, and my iPad is wearing a tank. (The Otterbox Defender case.) Makes it rather less sleek and sexy, but rather more likely to survive the 3 and 1 year-old fingers.

So it sounds like 2nd grade / whenever cursive is introduced is the way to go. That was definitely how we did it in school, too. Cool. I looked at the Lamy ABC last summer when we were in Germany but it seemed extremely early (my son was 2 then), and I figured we'd get back before he needs it. ;)

I don't know if there is a separate curriculum - in Germany it is simply taught in schools, and of course there is no homeschooling. They even make simple feather pens for kids like these http://besten.welt.de/files/imagecache/detail/base_kid_lernfüller.jpg If I remember correctly, we began in the second grade, so right around the time that many here do cursive. Should I just combine the use of the new pen with cursive instruction, or do you think something separate is needed?

For our preschool/kindergarten, we have the following resources: Miquon Orange book, Singapore Essentials A and B, MEP, and I have grades 1-6 Math Mammoth Light Blue, which of course I bought for 20% off and not 50% like some of you lucky ones. ;) My question is, looking at this - if I went ahead and bought more Miquon as we go on, and used MEP and MM... what would we really be missing without Singapore? I'm totally someone who would rock every curriculum imaginable, but I have to control it SOMEHOW.

Speaking of which, I'd LOVE to know how to design iPad apps. I've long dreamed of combining the best of the free phonics programs with some cooler bits of the others. For instance, graduated reading sentences with colored pictures, as a reward but not WITH the text. On the iPad I would imagine this even as a coloring page in between text pages. That way the focus is on the text while reading, but the bonus stuff that kids love is there, too. (Pictures in Bob Books or HOP readers just infuriate me because my son guesses from them, rather than reading the words.)

Yup. That. My little three year-old "nerd" still gets his school on without me, though. He just rocks the phonics and math apps on my iPad while I'm nursing. He will not be slowed down, even if it means having no teacher. ;)

Have you tried Live Mocha? It's similar to Rosetta Stone, and online - parts of it are free, and then there are paid portions, but you could try out the free bits and see how you like it. JoAnne

My father-in-law gave some extraordinarily awesome gifts to us recently ... my sister and brother-in-law are currently on vacation in San Diego, we're not sure for what my young brother-in-law will use his money, but my husband decided to use ours for his-n-hers matching iPads. SO. AMAZING. I already know and love various apps for my son on my iPhone, especially the "Preschool University" reading and spelling apps - so cool for a 3 year-old who loves to read and spell but can't write yet. I splurged on the Montessorium apps for him, and we've got various other free or very cheap preschool/kindergarten apps. Now I'm looking ahead to the cool stuff my sons will be able to do as they get older, and I get even more excited. Any other apps that you would recommend for homeschoolers of younger kids?

So how does this work with the idea of studying history sequentially, from the earliest points to the present? I've always wondered about that.

I just got a Crayola dry erase activity center there, selling price $12.99, with 40% off coupon $7.80 - waaay cheaper than Wal-Mart, Amazon, etc. I'd been wanting to get him one because I'm too cheap to re-buy workbooks, and this way my sons can re-use the same ones.