As a reference for you as a parent Shepherding a Child's Heart is a great resource. http://www.doorposts.com/ has great character training resources, the book Get Wisdom is what we are going to use after the break http://shepherdpress.com/titles/getwisdom/ we choose virtues is good and confessionsofahomeschooler has some character stuff too.

I am a photographer and understanding exposure is a great resource. The other thing she can do is read up on composition, rule of thirds, leading lines etc. if she is interested in portraits she can learn posing do's and don'ts. Also if she can find a local photographer she can work with in the industry by carrying bags, packaging orders or what not is great exposure.

My dd is 4.5 and this is what we are doing slowly and will continue it. Reading: I started with 100 easy lessons, she knew her letters and sounds from the letter factory and other things. She didn't like 100 easy lessons and dreaded reading, so I shelved it and we are starting IEW PAL program after the new year, I think she will love it! Writing: we did get HWT get set for school and she learned capital letters and numbers but we are moving to IEW PAL writing after the new year and the letter stories with their sound and how to write the letters have really helped her craft better letters. Math: mus primer, we are about half way through will cover to alpha when we get there. We also do classical conversations and I love it, so does my dd. She is hanging a lot of memory pegs and is really connecting the dots on something's. I use cc as a direction to go, we supplemented with picture books this year for history. Some things I am gong to add next year is reading along story of the world and something for science, maybe the library and videos for science.

I was wondering if any of you use a child's encyclopedia, and of there were any recommendations.

Check out http://www.doorposts.com/ for some great resources. For younger kids the book Get Wisdom is good, after Christmas we are starting that here. Also we choose virtues.

We are half way through our first year of CC and I am so thankful my dd will get the opportunity of completing each cycle twice. I have already seen how the math, history, and geography work have helped her to have a place to "hang" all the other information she comes in contact with. I am planning to use cc as a framework for the material we cover. All that being said, I do not force her to remember everything, we just go over it A LOT and whatever sticks is a-ok by me. I am also a tutor of the abcedarians, I would recommend only going for mm if the student truly wants to and it will be a positive milestone in their life. I wouldn't force it upon a child who is not interested or who is not motivated.

I was reading about this too. We have a chalkboard, whiteboard, paper holder easel that dd got last year for Christmas. It has been in the garage until last week. We used it today for handwriting and I plan to use it much more in the future. She enjoyed it today. I just asked her and she said "I liked it!" :) I got mine from hobby lobby or michaels.

My dd is 4.5 and my oldest and ready for school. We are part of a local classical conversations group, we go over all the memory work, dig deeper where she is interested and read picture and youth books about the history. We did HWT get set for school at the beginning of the school year and 100 easy lessons but moving to IEW PAL program. Also MUS Primer. Alana memory verses. Beyond that reading books, puzzles, starfall and other fun games.

You might have already looked into this and we just got our boxin today so it might be more than you are wanting but I am really excited about IEW PAL program. http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/pal

I have no experience with EIW but IEW does have a yahoo group that has been really helpful. I am sure if you joined and asked there you would find your grammar answer there http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IEWfamilies/ :) hope that helps!

I should of clarified things more so, my friends daughter is three, the suggestion was to focus more on critical thinking and spend a lot of time reading because she is already learning basic phonics and such. The friend suggesting critical thinking teaches her children Using systematic sequential phonics which is where I think she was coming from. Any other suggestions other than critical thinking company?

Long story short, I am curious what some good resources are for critical thinking skills for young children. It was recommended to another friend to skip "teaching reading" and work on critical thinking because reading will come to her child anyways. I am just wondering the logic behind that and what resources are out there. I have seen a few critical reasoning things listed in peoples signatures, so I figured you were a good group to ask. Thanks! ~ Kara

Thanks so much for the responses. It has been really helpful to hear what others are doing. I think I will pick it up and see what I think and go from there. I love lapbooks and hope to do a few more so I feel like this will give us great guidance and great jumping off place!!

Hi everyone, I am new here but have enjoyed all the insight you guys have to offer. I was wondering if anyone did Before Five in a Row and FIAR. I already have a copy of FIAR that I bought used, I was planning to use that as more of a K curriculum in the next year or so. I noticed they have Before Five in a Row and the recommended ages are 2-4. I have a preschooler (3) and I was thinking this might be a great start to push us in the right direction but wasn't sure if B4FIAR was enough different to purchase it as well. Any thoughts or insights? Thanks! ~ Kara