https://treasuredconversations.wpcomstaging.com/store/ It still is! She's renamed it "Teaching Writing through Guided Analysis."

I think you’ll really like the Kate Snow math - Kindergarten Math With Confidence. It’s gentle, thorough, and hands on without too many moving pieces. Just right for moms who have close together kids. We’ve also enjoyed the recommended picture books, and the four day schedule has left plenty of room for games or other manipulatives.

Two boys in one room, two girls in another: Closets: underwear (10 pair per kid, except the potty training toddler, who has about 1,000 pairs); 10 outfits + 5 pairs of pajamas per kid; socks and shoes go downstairs in drawers by the backdoor. One bin in each closet (up high) with out of season clothes that I think will fit the next year. Small bedside table between the twin beds in each room - big enough to hold their OK to Wake clocks and their sound machines and water bottles An 6 cube organizer from Target with 6 fabric bins: each kid has their own "special bin". I clean these out about 4 times a year; they keep special treasures in them. One bin in each room holds stuffies; the girls' have a baby doll bin and a tutu bin; the boys have a lego bin and an army guy bin. All other toys are in the playroom, which sometimes looks like an Instagram pic but usually looks like a tornado blows through. When I'm committed, 15 minutes of picking up everyday keeps the playroom mostly tidy; when I'm lazy or overwhelmed, it takes about an hour to put everything back to rights once a week.

Unfortunately, I have the opposite here. He's a young kinder - May birthday. It's one of the reasons I'm thrilled to be homeschooling him; I don't have to really decide what grade he is until we're closer to high school. If we survive that long!

We have a set of 300 also free from my teaching days. Honestly, they are not my favorite math manipulative. As far as math goes, for one of mine, snap blocks seemed to be the only way she grasped subtraction. Something about physically snapping off the blocks worked better than anything I tried with the C-rods or any other manipulative. For the preschool/kinder set we use them in place of counters. My kids use C-rods, too, but there's some satisfaction of snapping together the blocks to make 5. Also, with chunky hands, the chunky blocks work better than chips on things like 10 frames or as board game counters. Also they are GREAT for modeling bar graphs for the pre-k/k/1 set. The game "Bump!" is popular around her for mastering math facts, and the snap cubes are perfect Bump! game pieces. But honestly, they are used most as building blocks. If you google "Snap Block Centers" you can find lots of pre-made pictures to match/build. I keep a rotating set in the schoolroom for my 3 and 4 yo. My 3 yo can't reliably make the pictures yet, but my 4 yo has a great time "doing school" and figuring out how to use the blocks to build the image. If I'm available, I can extend it by helping him count the blocks he used and sorting them by color/graphing greatest and least or any other sort of mathy thing. But mostly it's a pattern matching exercise that keeps him busy when he wants to be with us in the school room but is having a difficult time not being distracting. I also think it's a good fine motor exercise for him, since he's a kid that doesn't love coloring/drawing. If I think about it, the snap cubes probably get used daily in my school room, but only occasionally as actual math manipulatives.

Yes to all of this. My kids are younger than Wendy's; they are 3, 4.5, 6, and 7.5. Next year I will have a 3rd grader, a 1st grader, a kindergartener, and a 3.5 yo. Everyone has separate work for their skill subjects (math, handwriting, phonics/reading) but so much of our learning time is communal. I consider it cultural literacy - music, art, geography, history, science, French, lots of time in nature, and lots of literature. Kindergarten skill work takes no more than 30 minutes - 10-15 minutes of math; 10-15 minutes of phonics; 5 minutes of handwriting if my kinder is ready. I have always had too many balls in the air to commit to more time for kindergarten, and I needed to make sure that the skill subjects were addressed in a short, targeted burst. BFIAR is lovely for 3-5 year olds; everyone would enjoy it! Or the first volume of FIAR. Or Wee Folk Art. Mostly we just read. A lot. We are always reading 1 chapter book, we cycle through a book on mythology or fairy tales, we have a daily poem, a history and science trade book, and all the picture books they request. On average, I spend about three hours reading aloud - broken up in several sessions throughout the day. Often I use something like BFIAR as a springboard for more books - a week of Eric Carle; a week of picture books about colors after Brown Bear Brown Bear; a few weeks spent on insects after reading Eric Carle. I have a loose list I work from, but lots of our reading is inspired by the kids interest in topics. I also try to make sure I'm switching up the target audience. About 60% of what I read is for my oldest and 30 % is for the middle two and 10% is making sure I get some preschool subjects in for my littlest.

Yeah, I went down that rabbit hole at one point and learned some things. One of which is that I’m probably going to stick to steaming vegetables not vaginas. But mall yonni steaming? Hygiene? Privacy? Nopity nope, nope, nope.

You could always try SCI which is basically BFSU broken down with demos and note booking pages. It's not quite as robust as BFSU but it's basically pre-planned, which helps.

My most challenging kid is my upcoming kinder kid, so we'll see how this year goes... Phonics/Reading: LOE Foundations B and I See Sam readers; working on penmanship. I have no idea where he will end the year reading wise, so I'll just plan as we go. Math: Kindergarten Math With Confidence has been perfect for this guy. I think he's capable of more, but he melts down completely at a challenge in any sphere of life. KMWC has pushed him very incrementally, so we're able to move forwards without meltdowns (at least in math). We'll finish KMWC and move right into First Grade Math With Confidence. I think eventually he will thrive in Beast Academy, but he won't be doing it early like my oldest. We have a lot of work on frustration tolerance first. Geography: We're working through all 50 states as a family right now, so he'll keep tagging along. I think we're going to map Asia next year, so again he'll tag along as he likes. History: Any eavesdropping he does on big brother's history. And I have no idea what big brother will be doing yet, so I don't know what eavesdropping will happen. Science: Scientific Connections through Inquiry 0 with DD6, because I can't juggle two levels of BFSU. Lots and lots of work on family chores, working without complaining, handling sibling conflict, etc. Life stuff. More important than the school stuff for him.

If you really want it all done, Ivy Kits are spendy but come with all the supplies you need for games/crafts/stem activities surrounding a book a month. When we were subrscribers, adding a sibling to the kit was very reasonable ($5-6 doubled everything in the box). Blossom and Root and Wee Folk Art are both lovely, and if you have summer to prep all supplies/crafts it's great.

When we lived in a place with colder temps, -10 F was when I stopped letting the kids out for more than a few minutes. Above that, I made sure they were layered, checked on them to make sure they kept the layers on/inner layers were dry, hydrated us all, and otherwise let them play. But we definitely had appropriate gear for the weather. I wouldn't mess around with kids and makeshift cold weather wear in temps below 20 F or with serious windchill.

Thanks for posting! My 7 yo decided on Monday that he's really into birds and has been carrying around a bird identification book all week and venturing out despite the cold-for-our-region weather. This is very timely, and he'll be thrilled to take part.

We don't use the Extra Practice or the Tests, and I don't own either book. As Lori pointed out, I'm sitting with them for math; I don't need a test to show me if they have mastered a topic. And the introduction to the HIG definitely states that the Extra Practice and the Tests are supplemental and not necessary for success in the program. It also recommends choosing one of the tests (chapter OR cumulative) rather than both if you are using the tests. If I had a student who clearly struggled in multiple topics per year, I might consider the Extra Practice, but so far the textbook and the workbook are sufficient for us. We also don't write in our textbooks. We use manipulatives when helpful and discuss the problems orally. If need be, we might work through a few on the whiteboard, but I don't spend a ton of time working through every bit of the textbook. We also do fact drill at a separate time so that our math time is spent engaging new ideas and working together. We started the year doing 20 minutes/day and are working up to 30 minutes/day, but that is more of a building stamina thing than being worried about not finishing the book. I do think we'll finish this book in more or less a school year, but I'd rather take whatever time we need to make sure things are mastered than worry about the time frame too much.

Scientific Connections through Inquiry, maybe? (scicurriculum.com)

We had a child-free wedding, and I can't imagine having quite so arbitrary an "age line". We invited a few of my cousins in the 13-16 range because they all had older siblings. I made sure their parents knew the kind of evening it was (black tie, seated dinner), so it was at their discretion that kids did or did not attend, but I wouldn't have invited only some of a family with all older kids. That's weird. I do feel differently about family with independent adult children. One of my aunts has a two younger kids and two older; at the time of my wedding, the older two were living on their own. They received invitations but their at-home siblings (probably 10 and 12 at the time?) did not. That felt different to me. ETA: I have a LARGE extended family. DH does too. Family alone was 150+ guests. So I truly understand wrestling with how to and whether or not to invite all family members. Many of my cousins have made different choices by preference or budget (like only aunts and uncles and no cousins of any age) but to weirdly split a family with all teenagers in pieces is strange to me.

from Pandia Press with their History Quest? Thoughts? Likes/dislikes? Just figuring out our next steps over here.

My kids have had an unholy love for this game. I was so relieved when my two older kids could play independently. My 7 year old is almost finished with BA3 and he will still happily play with his two younger siblings. I do not get it. But yay for practicing facts to ten! (and actually, I use other target sums as well)

I'm glad to hear her 2nd grade program still has four scheduled days. I like the flexibility that brings for me to add in other things for my kindy kid this year. He is (at least right now) very bright but easily overwhelmed, so the gentle but thorough KMWC has really been a good fit. I can see us continuing and knowing that later books allow for easy supplementation without having to double up math lessons makes it even more likely.

I’m using Kindergarten Math with Confidence, and I’ve really enjoyed it this year. It’s gentle with lots of hands on opportunities. The lessons are short, incorporate review, and there’s one worksheet per lesson. My kid using it this year is prone to anxiety, especially when he thinks things are “too hard”, and this has been perfect for him. It’s scheduled four days a week, so I have lots of time to add in extra games or play with c-rods or whatever. There is also a picture book suggestion for every chapter which is nice. I’v used RSA for my previous kindergarteners, but I knew this kid would not thrive on the way RightStart jumps around in a somewhat erratic spiral. This program is more mastery based with built in review. Also, I have a 1st and 2nd grader right now; I could not handle RS’ many pieces this year. I do find myself pulling some things in from RS (tally sticks and the abacus) but that’s because I own them. The one thing not really covered at all is place value, which the author clearly states and says will be covered in the first grade book. We’ve gone ahead and done some place value work when it was appropriate, but I don’t know if you need to. I’m looking forward to the 1st grade book and planning to use it for this kid, at least. I have one more coming up, but she’s three so I don’t have to think about her yet! Full disclosure, all of my kids have started RSA between 4 and 4.5, so my kid using Kindergarten Math With Confidence started just before 4.5 ETA: To give you a picture of my year, I'm also homeschooling my neighbor's kids this year. So I have two second grade age kids, one first grade, one kinder, one preschool, and my three year old. I needed a program that was doable, would make my little guy feel accomplished, and would move him forward without making my lose my mind. I truly only have 15 minutes scheduled to sit down with him for math, and we can easily accomplish a lesson in that time. Sometimes the worksheet is completed "independently" (i.e. I've moved on to another kid but am keeping an eye on him) but I also don't consider the worksheets essential this year. I have my bonus kinder kid join in for the lessons, and he is also learning things despite being a year older.

I had this experience with a student once. She was in my 2nd grade classroom and could not move beyond cvc words. Nothing worked. Medication changed that child’s life. We still had to put in extra time and effort during the second semester, but she left my classroom reading easy chapter books. She cried the day she read her first book (I did too). I had many, many kids pass through my classroom that were able to function without meds and with accommodations from me, but that little one always stands out as a reminder that meds can be life changing.

Is there an answer besides “yes, obviously”?

We just painted our lower cabinets Benjamin Moore's Hale Navy. I love them. I can't upload a picture right now, but I will try later.

We have an hour of quiet time daily that has to be spent on their bed. There aren't a lot of things that can be done while staying on your bed for an hour, so reading is the usual choice. They also can't come downstairs until 6:30, and I have early birds, so there is quiet time in their rooms in the morning. I don't micromanage free reading at all - if he wants to read the same book/series over and over, so be it. I do frequently update our bookshelf (library trips, birthdays, holidays) and try to stock it with books that I hope pique his interest. He will fly through a series, probably reread it, and then struggle to find another book of interest for a week or two; the cycle repeats. He received a Calvin and Hobbes book for Christmas, and the pages are already worn. He definitely reads books that I wouldn't prefer (more fluff, less substance), but he has school time reading to balance out the bubblegum books.

My family all likes the spices in Wellness Mama’s kima recipe, and you could easily make a pan with beans. This lentil stew is very unattractive but hearty and delicious: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/lentil-stew-sausage-potatoes%3famp=true

This is good for me. My family hates vegetables, so even though I serve them, it’s mostly me eating them all. This week so far there has been red cabbage, carrots, yellow peppers, red peppers, cucumbers, arugula, romaine, some curly green leaf lettuce I don’t know the name of, onions, garlic, tomatoes, celery, zucchini, mushrooms, broccoli, green beans. Most of these will feature in more recipes this week, but I also have spinach, kale, 3 more kinds of lettuce, white and orange cauliflower, and bok choy in the fridge that haven’t been featured in a meal yet. That’s 24 different vegetables for this week. Add in blueberries, pineapple, pears, oranges, and apples and I’ll almost squeak 30. Does freshly squeezed lemon juice count? ETA: I just remembered the parsnips and the purple sweet potatoes! And a turnip and a watermelon radish. Roasting root veg tomorrow, so most of those will get used up. Don’t know what I’m going to do with the watermelon radish, but they are just so pretty. Definitely over 30! Easy to do for one week; repeating the task is the challenge.