My girls are young yet so luckily it's been fairly easy to layer lessons around them. I'll be listening in though so I can get some ideas for when they are older.

Thanks!! Sharing it!

Anyone else's Wordpress acting up? I was able to post my blog entry for today but my Stats are not coming up at all. Anyone else having this problem?

OPGTR, Leap frog videos, Starfall, Nora Gaydos readers, and our Silly Sentences SightWord Game.

Those colored water globes sound awesome! Me thinks that given our geographical location, and the fact that we were swimming two days ago, these suckers probably wouldn't last long here. Sigh. I miss snow.

We are working through SOTW. I haven't blogged about it yet. I have a bunch of pictures from some of our projects waiting to be made into blog posts but just haven't gotten any up yet. Whenever I do I would love to be pinned. I can't wait to check your board out and get some ideas as we move forward.

I recently won two giveaways and, as a consequence, am thoroughly addicted. I'd love to win some more free stuff before Christmas. Does anyone know of any ones current running? My main passion is homeschooling resources/toys but I'd look at anything. I'll start -- I am running a giveaway on my blog for a beautiful hardcover book called Moonfinder by Jay Ryan of Classical Astronomy. It explains the phases of the moon. It's great for elementary aged kids and makes a neat resource for your astronomy and solar system studies. Check out my review and enter the giveaway here. Now add yours!

I'm sure there are a gazillion threads on this but I can't pull anything up on the search. My 6 year old has been asking question about the differences in boys and girls. I want to give her more detailed information without overwhelming her (or freaking my modest-self out) I realize she should probably learn the real terms for private areas and such and maybe briefly go over how babies are made. <p> I saw a thread on Facebook with this book called

Thanks for the info and suggestions everyone! Keep 'em coming. I'm looking into everything I can (and grateful my girls don't want a percussion instrument at this point! LOL) Has anyone heard of this collection of books- Circle C I get that they are Christian based but I was wondering if it would be something a secular family could utilize. I don't avoid books with mentions of religion or God but on the flip side I don't want something too in your face. Anyone have experience?

Hands down the singularly most played with toys in my house are all our figures (animal, dinosaur, fairy, etc) from Shleich, Safari, and Papo.

My girls ages 6,4, and 2 ADORE The Secret World of Arrietty. It has remained a much-loved movie after HUNDREDS of viewings. It was such a surprise find for us that it prompted me to write here a bit about it. There are no scary monsters or anything. There are a few moments of slight tension but nothing that I think would disturb a sensitive child.

Okay, so my dd6 has recently gotten infected with the horse bug. She's obsessed. It all stems from the fact that we are preparing to move out into the country and we told her we will eventually get a horse and stable. This is still at least 6 months or so away. In the meantime we have been hanging out with some of our friends who already live out there and have horses so she's been getting "loose" lessons from them. She saw this Baby Butterscotch FurReal Pony at the store and has been dreaming of it ever since. She told me it would be good "practice" for her before she gets a real one. She spent awhile on Santa's lap in the mall describing in detail how much she would love him to bring her one. I do not want to spend $100+ on it. I really can't stand those Fur Real pets. My girls have about 6 of the the smaller ones already and they just sit in the corner and collect dust. Sure, occasionally they get used but not as often as some other toys. I was thinking of instead getting her something like this barn/stable and a collection of horses and riders to go with it. But do you think that would be horribly disappointing for her. I just know that her Safari/Schleich and Papo figures are the toys that get the single most use in our home. They always go back to "playing people" with them after short-lived novelty toys wear off. But that being said- I feel bad. What would you do? When was the first time you didn't get your kids what they asked for for Christmas? Were they really bummed? If you have any alternative horse related gift suggestions I am ALL ears.

I just found this but I guess it's a few days old. I tried to do a search and didn't see it popping up here. I apologize if it has already made its rounds. But this cracked me up! I just love our military! http://vimeo.com/54226309?action=share

This fun prank was actually from last year but I just found these pictures again this week --- TOO FUNNY! My poor unsuspecting children! LOL

:hurray: Awesome!!

We purchased our oldest daughter a microscope for her 4th birthday. Everyone said she was too young for it but she LOVES it! She has mastered the art of tuning it and can get the magnification in focus on her own. She loves finding stuff outside to place under her scope. This is the kid-friendly and not too expensive scope we purchased. You can see my daughter using it here on a snake skin (at the end of the post).

:hurray:

I agree that you'll need to look into the exact specifics in what they are asking for. Like Farrar mentioned- they may only need a few bullet points. However, if you need some ideas I have my daughter's kindergarten curricula choices listed here.

My daughter is in a similar boat. I started her on AAR's prelevel and she hit a snag during the rhyming section. She's young so we just backed off a bit and have been slowly going through Nora Gaydos readers but even still- she was getting frustrated with sight words. So I created a fun 'Silly SightWord Flashcard" game with her that we do daily. It's quick, fun, and easy to reproduce at home. Here is a link for it.

:iagree:

A friend of mine is a high school teacher and she was telling me recently how once in a while she'll whip out a children's picture book and read it aloud (normally a famous/award-winning one) and they'll have a discussion about it. She said it all came about by accident but she was amazed at how interested her students were in dissecting them. Just a thought. That being said, I know how healthy a good purge is during a move so maybe now is your chance to goodwill them out of your hair. Maybe you can keep the classic, much-loved ones for your boys and take them out once in awhile as a novelty?

We use All About Spelling as well and love it. I am amazed but how much I didn't know. I too was pretty much a decent speller but I guess I just had words memorized-- now I'm learning the "whys" alongside my daughter.

What's up with all these "mid-season" finales and breaks though? My hubby and I don't watch too much television so maybe it's a new trend. Talk about aggravating.

Mine is up but not quite wordless.