Hi everyone, My daughter is in kindergarten this year. She is an extremely bright child and many ways, way above the K level. We just had open house and as my daughter read the packet of information within earshot of her teacher that was meant for parents to take home, I kept getting told over and over again throughout the night how smart and "with it" she was. I let the teacher know that my daughter doesn't want to go to school becasue she's bored and wants to "stay home and read long books". The teacher admitted that the first couple of weeks are boring for everyone and starting in October things will start flowing as the reading groups become leveled and such. I also commented on the alck of homework and how my DD is disappointed. We do after school using Singapore, lots of reading, FLL and Sonlight. I suggested if i sent in a bunch of worksheets, could the teacher put a worksheet or so in her folder for homework and she agreed, wanting to make my DD like school and also work with me to meet her at her level. My question for you all, what can I send to the teacher that won't seem like I am critizing her teaching? I don't want to send our Singapore work as that is extremely different (thankfully!) from what they are using at school. Any suggestions on how to handle this situation, knowing that whatever "homework" worksheet comes home will be up to her father and I to teach her as it won't really be from the teacher..... Ugh, this is SUCH a delicate balance! Andrea

I am having the same problems, except that my daughter gets home from school about 3:30 and i immediately have to start making dinner so that I can eat and leave for work by 5. Since she doesn't leave the house until 8:30, i thought we'd have plenty of time to "before-school" but it takes us nearly an hour and a half to eat breakfast (our only family meal since I work nights), pack lunches, and get ready. I am getting frustrated since i can't even seem to fit in a 10 minute FLL lesson. My daughter needs much more than the school offers, yet I can't seem to give it to her at home. I work 1-10 most Saturdays and 9-5 most Sundays so i am hoping to sqeeze a little in during that time, but the time I don't work on weekends is sacred family time as well since we don't get much at all. My husband is home with the kids all night, but he is also going to school online full time so busy with his own work.

I'm going to try this year. We'll be doing year 1 with 5.5 dd. don't really have a schedule laid out. I was just going to take it easy and read a chapter or 2 a day in the morning from a listed book

How does this work? We apparently don't have an communities near us.

Thanks for the information! I just looked for a community around us and the closest is an hour and a half away :-( which is surprising because we live in a pretty well known small city.....

I have been looking into the classical Conversations program and I am very confused! I am looking at Foundations. Is it a program for homeschoolers to implement? Do I teach it or someone else? What does it consist of? I have found the website very confusing. Any information would be greatly appreciated! Andrea

Thanks! That looks interesting although I am concerned about how advanced it seemed to get from the sample of level 2. Any other suggestions?

Bump, anyone know of anything???? Please?

Hi everyone, I am looking for suggestions for history and science for my dd, who is K-1 level. I am doing Elemental History as well as Elemental Science: Intro, but I was looking for a supplemental history and science that brings God into the equation (or at least mentions him). I bought the stuff from HOD LHFHG (History for Little Pilgrims and The World that God Made from Christian Liberty Press) but these are too much for my dh and I. I love the idea, and it's what i want, but my dh and I just don't like the way things are presented. We wanted a general overview of history with God mentioned and how he helps to influence what happens. I don't mean to offend anyone who likes the program, but the 2 books just seem too pushy for our tastes, especailly at this young level. Does anyone have any other suggestions that we could try to add a religious component to these 2 subjects that is a little bit more gentle? Thanks so much! Andrea

I don't really think it seems too much for 6th grade. I didn't have a technology class, but we were required to write 3-8 page papers in middle school from 5th grade on, each year the length increasing. And we used MLA through my public school career until college when i started learning APA and Chicago because of my major. I never had to add pictures or charts, but again, i never took a technology class. I'm sure it'll be okay and it'll be good practice for her. just break it down into chunks. I'm sure that they aren't expecting a perfectly written paper. At that age, it's mostly just about getting experience in dealing with the style and taking notes from sources and stuff. Good luck!

AHHHHHH!!!!! I love you ladies and knew you'd come through! :D That is the exact blog I was looking for. thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!! If anyone else has any ideas, I'm up for them! I found a program called Cantering Through the US (I think it's by the same people who make Galloping the Globe) today and thought that looked interesting, but seemed to be geared towards an older crowd. Any thoughts?

Hey everyone, I am doing Elemental History with my dd and she loves it. It has a small section each week on a different state, but I would like to increase that into our geography curriculum. Does anyone have any ideas on studies of the United States state by state that would be at a K or 1st grade level? I remember seeing a blog that had a whole curriculum about it, but I can't seem to find it now. Dd is very hands on and I would like to cover stuff like flag, capital, flower, bird, maybe some regional food to cook, landmarks, anything to make it really fun and give us some great memories! Any suggestions? Thanks so much! Andrea

Very awesome and organized! I LOVE the reading tree! What an amazing idea!

Thanks! I'll have to look into this. Anyone else have any ideas?

Hey everyone, I was reading through a post about your favorite pre-school activities (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=342198&highlight=Preschool) for my ds and LOVED a lot of the ideas like the activity bags, and busy boxes and bags (mentioned on page 2). I would love to do stuff like this! The problem is, i also have a dd who is 5 and well beyond ABCs, 123s, colors and shapes which is what most of these activities seemed geared towards. She would love stuff like this too. I am wondering if anyone knows of "play" or "hands on" like games such as those listed in the preschool thread, only for older kids? Andrea