Thank you, this is so encouraging! I only have a pre-Ker but during our very full ski vacation last week I realized how much learning we do without even trying: read-alouds for the long car ride, a discussion of habitat and terrain and animals and seasons while looking out the window, playing with blocks and practice counting at night, a bit of Seasame Street in the morning while getting ready etc.

If you can find the Pimsleur audio series at your library I highly recommend that for getting started with speaking the language. They are short 30 minute lessons that you do orally along with the CD. I lived in both Japan and China and used Pimsleur before going - amazing stuff. Not flashy like Rosetta Stone but way more effective I think.

We have to snack here or we get cranky. Blood sugar issues run in my family. BUT I don't schedule it for certain times, I base it on behavior and how much he ate at previous meals. I also don't buy specific snack foods - I don't think crackers even are all that healthy. A snack at home usually means fruit or veggies, hard boiled egg, olives, or cheese. I control the snacks to help round out what he misses at meals. For instance if he only had oatmeal or toast for breakfast I'll offer something with protein a few hours later. If he's been light on veggies for a few days he'll get carrots and brocolli for a snack. I know some people (especially Montessori followers) believe in encouraging independence by stocking a snack shelf for very young children, but I think training my child to eat what's available is an important lesson as well. I also want food to be seen as sustenance instead of fun. A little creativity and kid-appeal is fine for meals or when I need some motivation for our long bike rides and hikes, but snacking these days looks a lot like entertainment (colorful packaging, character themes, cute shapes, etc.).

I would go ahead and give it a try, but be prepared to back off. I tried it with my son a few months before he turned 4 and he hated it even though he definitely knew his letters and sounds very well and could do the exercises. He much prefers sounding out words in context and so we do that while we're reading aloud. We also play phonics games and he is just getting the hang of blending and really starting to read CVC words. I plan to try OPGTR again when he's closer to 5 because I definitely want him to have a strong foundation. I don't know why he didn't like it, but he hates the BOB books too :)

We brine all of our chicken breasts now. Just throw it in a Ziploc with lots of salt water overnight. Makes a HUGE difference.

Some of my favorites are: countingcoconuts.blogspot.com mymontessorijourney.typepad.com chasingcheerios.blogspot.com I'm not a huge montessori devotee but I do love all of the creative hands on activities for preschool aged kids.

:iagree: Great advice. My DS is not usually a workbook kind of kid so I don't have this problem but even if he were I think I would downplay it. The bulk or our preschool curriculum is outings - we have a weekly hiking group, family bike rides on the weekends, botanical garden, library story time, or simply working in our yard finding snails and grasshoppers. I'm a big believer in kids being outside as much as possible. At home we do hands on math activities, games, spell words with foam letters in the bath, and yes even the occasional workbook (DS is currently in love with the Richard Scarry themed ones I bought in the dollar aisle at Target). Have you checked out some montessori inspired pre-K blogs? I don't think there's anything wrong with workbooks if a kid is asking for them (I was that kid!), but there are so many great, creative ideas out there for learning that are far more exciting.

My mom is great, but she can be very hard and stubborn. I remember one special moment between us though when I was just barely 13. We were visiting a relative in a small town for the 4th of July. The town was celebrating its centennial and we spent the day having hot dogs and soda and shooting off some roman candles while listening to a local high school band. After dark we settled by the lake to watch the big fireworks display. It was cold and she put her arms around me and we watched the fireworks together like that. I remember it because I was almost too big for that sort of thing and it was the last time I really remember feeling like a little girl.

:iagree: This is what I do. Two other things: 1) Make sure at least a few of your weekly meals can be made with all pantry/freezer ingredients. Things like spaghetti or chickpea and tomato curry made from canned ingredients. This way there is nothing fresh to go to waste if you have to skip a meal on the list. It also insures that you always have something on hand to make a meal in emergency. 2) On weekends we're so busy that we don't do family sit down meals. Instead on Friday I make a few big things that heat up well like lasagna or a casserole. Then people can heat up leftovers with minimal prep and there's no waste (and enough for unexpected guests). Things like Costco salmon burgers also work well here since they go from frozen to cooked in like 8 minutes. I also keep a big tray of fresh veggies w/ranch dressing in the fridge at all times to round out meals and snacks.

My son is young, but I do have goals. Very broad and flexible ones like "be a proficient and enthusiastic reader" or "capable of entering a good college math, science, or engineering program without requiring remediation." I keep a running list by grade level of programs/curriculum that interest me, things I read about here, etc. but I never want to get into a mindset of finishing X program in Y amount of time. So much depends on the kid and you can encounter road blocks at any time.

I think brain chemistry plays a huge part, but upbringing as well. I grew up poor with parents who often made very dumb decisions about money so for me that is a huge security issue. I've lived abroad and traveled overseas extensively and that doesn't bother me a bit, but a lack of steady work or a low bank account balance would really trigger my panic button.

Yes, I had to start saying that I was homeschooling my 4 year-old because otherwise I would get a ton of questions about Pre-K and what I was going to do about school readiness. Even just saying "we plan to homeschool" would disturb some people who think that a child that age should be doing something formal. It doesn't help that my son is above the 95th percentile for height and speaks well for his age. People look at him and immediately think Kindergartner even though he wouldn't start public K until Sept 2012. Saying I homeschool heads off a lot of questions in polite conversation even though the things I do are pretty typical mom stuff.

Thank you. This is really interesting and make a lot of sense the way you describe it.

I agree, and I find it frustrating myself as a scientist. I have a friend who works at the CDC and spends a lot of time in Africa and so, even though I'm not a fan of routine infant circumcision in most cases, it bothers me a great deal when anti-circumcision support crosses the line into denial of the benefits for certain African populations. Places where HIV infection is so grave that almost no measure is too extreme and where any reduction (if proper procedures are taken afterward) in female-to-male heterosexual transmission can save entire populations. I think some of the zeal on the anti-circ front comes from being newly converted or because they had to battle with their partners over the issue. I never had either of those problems and feel like I approached my decision pretty rationally with of course, some biases against the irreversible and based on my own experiences. One thing that I haven't seen yet in this discussion is that there are different styles of circumcision, some of which leave more of the foreskin intact conferring some benefits of both condition. I have no experience but it intrigues me and I think would be an interesting addition to the debate.

I agree, but you seem to be guilty as well - assuming that everyone who doesn't circ just doesn't have all of the right facts and using phrases like "gambling with their future" (taken literally this phrase doesn't necessarily mean anything, but certainly comes across as inflammatory). Though perhaps I'm rare in that I'm not an "intactivist" by any means. If people ask my opinion I share my experiences as the wife of an uncirced man, and mother of an uncirced son, and having spent significant time living in countries where infant circumcision is nearly non-existant. I really don't care all that much what people do with their kids' penises, most of the time its fine either way. There are indeed benefits to circumcision, but the benefits to being uncut are significant as well. Benefits which are not readily apparent to someone who has no experience with it, not easily explained by scientific analysis of sensitivity vs. pleasure, and probably far too explicit to discuss on this forum. It's not surprising that a lot of circed men aren't eager to give much weight to those benefits.

It goes both ways - increased sensitivity is also a lifetime benefit. I agree there may be some benefits to circ, especially in areas where HIV is pandemic and safer sex practices are less common. However, as someone else pointed out, for me there must be a very high benefit threshold to consider removal of a sensitive body part. That simply does not exist in modern America today. Although I will admit to some bias as the men in my family have been uncirced for decades with zero problems or complications, and are very grateful for their "condition." *shrug*

I don't think it has to be fun, certainly not every single minute, but I don't think having fun hurts either. I think people are assuming that fun=easy. Sometimes doing challenging new things is fun. I spent a week last year trying to snowboard and ended up with aching muscles and a sore bottom, it was a ton of work to try and get my body to do what it needed to do. I had moments of frustration, but I still had fun. I had a ton of fun in elementary school, especially in 5th and 6th grade when I took part in our district's full time gifted program (lots of cool projects and hands on learning). I had no problem transitioning to a rigorous high school curriculum with top grades.

I agree with this! A few months ago my DS, who was still 3 at the time, completed a 20 mile bike ride on our attachment bike pedaling almost the whole way. It took half the day, and we had lots of breaks but he did it. He regularly does 5-10 mile rides. People really, really underestimate the amount of energy these kinds of kids need to expend.

OP, You've totally described my just turned 4 yo son right down to the running away during discipline and being repentant afterwards. I totally agree with all of the descriptions of "sensory seeking" and there are some great ideas here. My DS is very big for his age and very physical and I am worried about him hurting us or other kids someday. I think having healthy outlets for this is key. In addition to weekly hiking and biking and daily outdoor time we play "wheel barrow" where I pick him up by his feel and let him walk on his hands throughout the house. This is very physically challenging and really wears him out, but he's laughing at the same time. The sensory box, rolling him up in a burrito, bear hugs, etc. all work for him too. He loves it. As for discipline I started taking a much more casual tone and using some of the techniques from Playful Parenting. The lecturing just wasn't working. Instead I'll talk to him more like I would a teen: "Hey dude, you know that's not cool. Find something else to do." Somehow he doesn't find this as patronizing as a more traditional mommy voice and he listens more closely and stopped running away. I don't use timeouts and the tone shift alone has dramatically improved his behavior. When he does act poorly, like yesterday pushing some kids on our hike, I use it as a clue that he needs to be supervised more closely "Ok, you have to stay close now until we get to the end." It's not a punishment - he's not really being bad, but he does get wound up and then has a hard time controlling himself so requires more help. I also find that concentrated one-on-one time first thing in the morning, even if just 20-30 minutes, can really do wonders for the whole day.

We had an avocado tree when we lived in Hawaii -it produced a ton but they always tasted bitter, never like the ones in the store. We also had a mango, lime, and orange tree. The mango fruit were delish! Now in California we have 4 orange trees, a plum tree, and a loquat. Love fruit trees!

If I could find a good play based preschool nearby like this one featured here at Let the Children Play, I would do it in a heartbeat. However, I'm not really interested in paying a lot of money or dealing with the hassle of commuting several mornings a week to have my son be part of the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) machine that pushes early sight reading and worksheets. Since we will homeschool he also doesn't need to be taught how to stand in line or raise his hand to go to the bathroom. My 4 yo DS is on the rowdy side and has the usual boy-aversion to sit down type work like coloring and writing and I don't think he would do well in most preschool environments. Instead of preschool we do stuff like library story time, a weekly hiking-with-kids group, bicycle a ton (he regularly does 10-20 mile rides on an attachment bike with us), dig in the dirt, go on field trips to the zoo/aquarium, and a little bit of preschool-at-home work. I really try to avoid lessons, classes, sports, or anything that requires us to commit to being someplace every week, there's plenty of time for that when he's older. I believe studies show that kids from disadvantaged backgrounds benefit from attending formal preschool, but in an average home with attentive, literate adults, most kids are going to learn their colors and numbers, and how to color and cut without too much trouble.

Snacks for my 4 year-old: -hard boiled eggs -olives -steamed veggies (he's more likely to eat these if watching a video or we are reading together) -popcorn -toast -cheese chunks -trail mix -cooked cold pasta that can be eaten with the fingers like tri-color rotini. -rice cakes, plain or with peanut butter or avocado -fruit I don't buy crackers because I'm cheap and because I don't want to be tempted to nibble on them myself. I actually don't worry too much about having a lot of variety for snacks because I want him to snack only when hungry, not because the food is different or fun. I save the creativity for dinner when its harder to get my son to sit down and actually eat what the rest of us are.

I'm in the same boat with my 4 year-old. He really loves to sound things out letter by letter so we just keep doing that - mostly street signs, book titles, etc. It keeps his letter sounds skills going and keeps it fun. I also have the next Leapfrog video (Word Factory 2) which deals with some blending like "sh."

I haven't read all of the replies, but I was a complete non-swimmer and terrified in the water and learned to swim last year at the age of 35 by taking adult swim lessons at the local YMCA. One of the best things I've ever done! The first time I could swim a lap it was amazing. The instruction was great and now I get compliments on my great form. When I tell them I've only been a swimmer for a year they are amazed! ETA - I agree about finding the right instructor. I had tried before with teen instructors and it was a disaster. The woman I ended up learning from was amazing. Ask at the front desk if they have someone who specializes in teaching adults and try a private lesson first if you don't want to commit to a whole class.

I say give it a try for a year if they are game and put the money saved into a jar so they can actually see how it translates to new opportunities. We have the same philosophy of encouraging sports we can do as a family - cycling, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, and skiing. I know these are not lifelong sports for some people but I see a lot more people starting and/or continuing these activities in adulthood compared to typical team sports like soccer and baseball. Plus, like you, these are things my husband and I did pre-kid and want to continue doing. Why spend our Saturday sitting on a soccer field watching a game when we can ALL be out doing something together. I also like the idea of building family bonds through shared activities. If our son comes to us desperately wanting to do a team sport I'll sign him up, but its not something I'm going to encourage.