My own experience from going to a public elementary school in CA, to a private Christian school (which did the ACE curriculum) with much higher standards in AK, and then back to a public high school in CA was difficult socially. I wasn't accepted in elementary school, when I moved to the ps everyone all ready had friends and didn't want to include me, and then back to the hs with all the same kids from the elementary school was just as cliquish and bad, though there was a bigger pool of people to find one or two friends in. I doubt if things are going to go much better for your daughter than it did in elementary school. Are there no homeschooling groups in your area? Our local hs opens up their sports teams sometimes to kids out of the school. Or maybe your hs has after school groups that she could join, without having to completely switch. I attended an International Folk dance group that was affiliated with the hs, but open to everyone. It was one of the best experiences of my hs years. Our local CSD also offers classes for hs aged kids.

Lydia!

Evangelical Covenant Church. It's a small, older church, which means my kids are usually the only ones there. But we have in place a nursery/mother's room with someone always in there. They read a simple bible story to the kids (and as soon as we get a cd player they'll listen to a song, too.) We also have a 5-12 "One Room Sunday School" class. The children stay though worship and prayers, and then are excused to class before the sermon starts.

I understand private Christian schools (at least in my state) don't require a teaching degree. I figure if my kids do well they'd make a great resume/reference! My mother is (long story) looking at being employed for the first time ever in 16 years from now. She doesn't want to do all the education and cirtifications and hard decisions of being a midwife, but she wants to be a doula/birthing coach. She's had 12 home births, so she's got the experience!

"What Your Preschooler needs to know" by the Core Knowledge series has a few pages on him. Not a workbook or an in-depth study, but enough of what a little kid should know imo.

:crying: :grouphug: Reading and crying as I hold my 21mo that was born at 32 weeks, 3lb 1 oz. I forget who said it, but I agree with the thought that if you're going to engage in sexual activity, you must be responsible for what happens as a result of those actions. I have nothing against women wanting to have a career, but deciding that a potential life is an inconvenience to that career is beyond selfish. And to try to justify it as "some one else would raise our kids if we had more than 2" is incomprehensible to me.

My husband had two girlfriends before we met, neither of which was nearly as good as me (according to my mil :D ) The first offered him a 3some (thankfully he refused), and then cheated on him. The second wasn't as bad, but had issues like you're describing, and he dated her for 2 years. I like to think that those bad relationships got him to the point where he could appreciate his own worth and appreciate me (not trying to sound arrogant...) My point in this is that you raised your son with the best values you could. At some point you're going to have to let him figure stuff out, and pray that his hormones don't completely override his still developing frontal cortex.

I use $ store workbooks, and on some of them I put in page protectors to go over with dry erase markers, especially the pre-writing pages.

This is a GREAT idea! I've had the same problem with my ds. At 3.5 he knew all the sounds, but couldn't put it together. I made the mistake of backing off for 6 months without any review, so know we're relearning. I will try this, and I found the Starfall (thank you everyone who mentioned it!) He's been completely bored with the HOP game that he's memorized. He thinks it's funny to give every wrong answer before giving the right ones. :glare:

My oldest is only 4, so I don't have any experienced advice to give, but I can sympathize with your panic/concerns. My ds has been figuring out things way before I was prepared or expecting to have to teach him. It's great that you have a plan. There is a reason that you made those choices. Have faith in yourself and the resilience of children!

Can you add afterschooling activities that could supplement what they are learning now? It could also give you some practice time and work out some of the wrinkles before you start full on.

Thank you for those who replied. I apologize if my impatience led me to offend, but I am panicking a bit. I was not prepared to begin teaching my just turned 4 year old how to write this early. He has this habit of figuring out stuff on his own before I'm prepared, and I get worried that if I don't teach him how to do it right, right away, that he will learn incorrectly, and be unable to learn properly. My husband's handwriting instruction was very bad, and his attempt to correct it at an older age failed, and I fear that happening with our son. Thank you for the information on the Zaner-Bloser curriculum. I am going to give it a try.

Well, thankfully Chapter 4 is one of the sample chapters on the main website and I was able to look there. I am going to have to assume that chapter was from the 3rd edition, and therefore up to date. I am very discouraged that this topic had 35 views, but no responses. This was my first time on here, and I signed up specifically to get an answer to this question. I'm not sure I will post on here again, if this is what I have to expect.

I know I am asking you to look in your book; please, will someone help me? In the 2nd edition the information I have is in Chapter 4: Unlocking the Doors: The Preschool Years, under "Writing." I need to know if something different is recommended in the 3rd edition.

I only have the 2nd edition of WTM and my 4 year old is tying to write letters on his own. I looked up the Zaner-Bloser website that is recommended for the continuous-stroke approach, but it's been "updated" and the samples I saw did not look like what was described. Am I wrong, is this the one I need to get, or is there a new 3rd edition recommendation?