Yes! I think he is such a doll, and seriously kind of amazing. Lucky is the girl who marries him someday! (And I thought it was hilarious--though not surprising--that the audience responded like that. Can you imagine him announcing that anywhere else?)

I was just looking at the laws and notice of intent for Virginia, just to be aware of everything I need to provide next fall. The information I read said that children do need to be current on their immunizations, just as if they were in public school. My dd is current on pretty much everything, but we have opted to wait on hepatitis B. I KNOW there are a lot of you who don't immunize at all, so what do you do for this requirement if you don't claim a religious or health exemption (neither of which apply to me)?

I should say that this is me, too. I prefer to print forms and then write on them. I just like the portability of a notebook or binder. Sure, I have an iPad, but it's just not the same as flipping to a page and seeing what I need to see. I've been looking at the Donna Young forms and they seem to be just right for me. Thanks, ladies!

I am kind of a grandma. I love the computer for some things (like this forum!)but I really like paper, too. When it comes to anything that I need to reference or read (like a planner), I prefer paper. If there are any other old ladies out there, what do you use for planning?

My dd loves ETC, too. She also likes Happy Phonics. It's a phonics program that is JUST games. Happy Phonics + ETC = a complete phonics program. (Though I am going to start using OPGTR as well, just to make sure we're not missing anything.)

Rainbow Resource has some Italic cursive workbooks here and here I don't know of any copy books with quotes or whatever (though I do feel like I've seen them somewhere.) What I did is I bought the StartWrite software so I can make my own copy work pages. If you buy it through Homeschool Buyers Co-op, you get 25% off. It has Italic and Italic cursive (along with a million other fonts!) Then you can just get one of those quote books and use those to make your copy work. Or you can use passages from what your kids are already studying, to help reinforce it.

My dd is turning 5 in June and here is what I'm planning to use for her: Math: Singapore Essential Math and Miquon Phonics: OPGTR and ETC, supplemented with Happy Phonics games because dd LOVES games Handwriting: Getty-Dubay Everything else: FIAR because we're expecting a new baby in June and I want to keep things simple If your DS is doing well with pre-writing and enjoys Starfall, I think ETC would be a good fit for him. As for his letter sounds, I couldn't agree more with pp that the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD is probably the best educational preschool video out there. I'm super picky about videos in general and especially about what I justify by calling it educational, but I have to say that DVD is kind of magical. Two weeks of watching it and my dd knew very single letter sound. Then we stopped watching and she still knows them all. So easy!

Phonics Pathways did it for us, too. :thumbup:

I just learned about (and purchased :lol:) We Choose Virtues flash cards. The front of the card has a character and the name of the virtue. The back has a little catch phrase to teach kids what the virtue means.) For example, Attentive says "I watch and listen carefully"; Gentle says, "I speak quietly and touch softly", etc.) They also have a little phrase that says what the virtue does NOT mean. (For example, Diligent says, "I am NOT slow to get started or lazy, and I don't quit early.") I guess they come with ideas for games to play with them, but I also plan to have a sort of virtue of the week. I'll post that virtue's flash card on our morning board (which includes the calendar, weather, hundred chart, etc.) We'll work on memorizing the little catch phrase. During the week, I'll try to catch dd practicing the virtue :thumbup1:, or I'll point out opportunities for its use :glare: . Bonus: These cards are available as "faith-based" cards with Bible verses OR in a secular form without them. It's hard to find non-religious character training materials, so I really appreciate that.

I just came across this idea, too. I think my dd would really take to it.

Blokus, Monopoly Jr., puzzles, books, art supplies. But now that I have looked up some of the things other people mentioned, I think I want to add Inchimals and Animalogic!

I'm right there with you! My daughter was responding really well to Phonics Pathways (which I checked out from the library) but I decided to switch to OPGTR and she started to HATE reading. I did buy Happy Phonics and she loves those games. That could be a fun supplement, maybe a "reward" for getting through the OPGTR lesson. We honestly haven't picked up OPGTR in a long time. We've just been working from ETC, Progressive Phonics (free!), and Happy Phonics. I figure between the three of them, we should cover everything. I'm hanging on to OPGTR as a reference, to make sure we cover all the different phonics rules, but it really didn't fit for my daughter.

Oh man, I can totally see this being me! Yeah, I think I'll hold on to Happy Phonics. It is a really cute and well-done program and maybe I'll want it more later. I would love to browse a homeschool store! But I can't seem to find any around here (Northern Virginia). I know they must be here because there are tons of homeschoolers here and the area is just super-populated in general. Maybe I'll ask one my Yahoo groups. Thanks for the tips, ladies. It's nice to know I'm not alone. ;)

Oh my gosh, my dd is only 4 and I'm already beginning to regret some of the choices that I researched and thought about so thoroughly! I'm kinda frustrated about it. My most recent curriculum relationship gone sour is Happy Phonics. It didn't actually go sour, I'm just realizing that we probably don't need it. Originally, I thought games would be the perfect way to go with my dd--and they ARE--but as it turns out, she's perfectly happy with playing memory from the *free* Progressive Phonics site, or fishing for laminated fish with a magnet and reading the words written on them. It just turned out to be a little simpler than I thought it would be. But now I'm out $50! I need tips from you veterans for avoiding this as much as possible in the future. Also, when something like this happens, do you sell or do you hold on to it in case it's the right thing for another one of your children? I would hate to have to drop another $50 in 3 or 4 years when I realize that Happy Phonics would be the perfect thing for ds. Grrrr....

My friend has an autistic son and she is struggling with school choices for him. The tuition at the school she would like to send him to is out of their reach. I suggested homeschool as an option and she's actually interested (woohoo!), but I would like to provide her with some links to resources for homeschooling autistic children. I obviously intend to include a link to this board, but are there groups or special curricula or anything else you wise ladies know of? ETA: Also, I wonder what you do for breaks and things. My friend said she was kind of looking forward to the break, and I can totally understand that.

I'm looking for some secular materials to help reinforce concepts like gratitude, kindness, honesty, hard work, etc. I've always thought the idea of character curriculum was kind of silly--I figured we would just teach our kids those things as they grow, in daily life, right? But while I still think example is far and away the best way to teach those traits, I'm finding myself having a hard time explaining certain things to my dd when I'm addressing things like honesty and kindness. I would love some good books or activities that aren't Bible-based. ETA: Never mind. By creating this thread, I found links to a bunch of other similar ones (which of course did not come up in my prior search.) But if you have anything that you REALLY love, please do share.

I almost bought the workbooks but ultimately decided to just go with StartWrite. I like the Italic font (and I HATE the HWT font, btw), but I wanted to have more control over the worksheets. My dd hates handwriting sheets that consist of writing the same letter over and over. She puts up a lot of resistance. But she's more than happy to write a letter to her cousin! If I were tring to get her to do one of those GDI workbooks, I would be avoiding handwriting and telling myself that she "just isn't ready". But she totally has the fine motor control and loves writing if there's a reason for it. On top of it all, StartWrite is a better deal! (Buy it through Homeschool Buyers Co-op.)

Can I just say that I'm LOVING your idea of the "Morning Board"! My dh hates the idea of hanging up school stuff all over the dining room (and I'm not to keen on it either), so I have to find alternative places to put the calendar, weather wheel, etc. Such a good idea and a great place to put memory work. Thanks for sharing!

Or dads? I am currently pursuing a master's degree in library and information science, but I'm also very committed to homeschooling. I'm pretty sure I've seen a few people's siggies indicating that they are librarians. So I'm wondering how you make that work, what type of librarian you are, and the realism of doing both of these things. Thanks!

Here is my blog entry about how we homeschool in the kitchen, store our supplies, etc.

We're total gardening failures, too! But not in the same way. We just keep dealing with blight, spider mites, blossom rot, etc. We shared some of our seedlings with our neighbor and her plants are totally thriving while ours just look pitiful. We've tried so hard! So I can't relate with the wildlife (except for chipmunks digging little burrows in my soil), but just know that you're not the only discouraged gardener out there.

What a great tip! Thanks.

We love "Oceans" by Disney. It's beautiful and completely sustained my 4-year-old's attention for the entire time. At the same time, dh and I were completely captivated. I've also seen a lot of people who really love Beakman's World. (Around here, we're still into the Leapfrog videos and Sid the Science Kidm but I realize your kids may be a little above that ;))

This is totally me. I started out buying Happy Phonics because dd loves to play games. Of course I bought ETC to go with it. Then I wanted to be sure I wasn't missing anything, so I bought OPGTR (which she HATES). Then I finally succumbed to the Progressive Phonics bug. Technically, they can all kind of work together, but I hate knowing that I could have accomplished this without spending so much money. (I've spent almost $100! I eschewed SSWR because it was so expensive and just look at me!) As for math, I researched my head off and finally decided to go with Miquon and transition into Singapore later. I'm still pretty set on that, but I get really confused by talk about RightStart and Math Mammoth.

Faith, where do you live? Where are these Amish farmers with such amazing prices? Are you in PA?