I think it could be! I'm using it this next year for K and PK. FIAR is a series of week-long unit studies, each on a different picture book, mostly classics or award winners (lots of Caldecott winners, etc). The units are stand alone, so you can pick and choose or put them in any order. Each unit has you read the book 5 days in a row (hence the name of the program). After each reading, you do a lesson from the manual, one "subject" per day. Each story has lessons on Social Studies (history/geography/relationships), Science, Applied Math, Art, and Language Arts (mostly recognizing use of literary devices in stories or vocabulary). There are also multitudes of blogs and lapbook printables available online to help you beef up and add to any book you choose. There is an optional bible study supplement and a cookbook that you could use to add to your story studies, too. We plan to keep it pretty simple (no lapbooking of us!) and mostly follow the manual. We're adding phonics, math, ETC, and handwriting. Did that help? I can pull a manual off my shelf and give more specific examples of lessons if you want me to.

My 5yo and 4yos are about halfway through AAR pre-level and have LOVED every minute of it! I think Ziggy will be our permanent school mascot, as there is no WAY they'll let him go after they finish the program! We were in the same boat as you, OP, where they already recognized letters and knew basic sounds (from Letter Factory), but I still feel that the phonemic awareness activities have been very valuable and absolutely worth the price of the program.

Purple House Press is a good place to find FIAR books, too. Check their bargain basement. Great deals!

I own the Bible supplement, and I don't think I'll use it much. I'm not one for bible curriculum with little kids, though. We just read the story bible at bedtime and say prayers. We also aren't using the cookbook since we have too many food allergies here. I plan to stick pretty close to the manual and do very little found-on-blogs stuff. I think my kids would riot if I tried to introduce lapbooking. The topics in the manual are plenty for PK/K, IMO.

I am planning to use it with my kids this year (same ages as yours) and we are so excited! I got volumes 1-3 so that I could pick and choose books that seemed a good fit for them since we're on the young end of the target age for the program. In each volume you'll find books that are younger and some with more mature themes. I have a list planned that I think we'll have a great year with!

I bought it a few weeks before the Education Unboxed videos started to come out, because I was still feeling insecure about figuring out Miquon, yet everyone on here raved about c-rods, and I wanted to try. We've been using it, and it's nice to have a sequence of activities to go through, but honestly, there is VERY little on there that is not in an Education Unboxed video or in the the Miquon teacher's materials (which I have now read and am no longer intimidated by). Unless you really want "lesson plans", it's really redundant.

My 5yo is GF, so we only keep GF snacks in the house. We mostly stick to fruit (including fruit leathers, raisins, applesauce, etc), but some of our other favorites are popcorn (homemade microwave), veggie straws (buy at Sams), Glutino brand pretzels, and tortilla chips with salsa or hummus.

For us, it has been the strategies in Parenting with Love & Logic. I'm pretty sure they also have a book specifically for early childhood.

:iagree::iagree::iagree: We lived in Sugar Land for 6 years (recently moved away) and it is CRAZY diverse. It's a great place to live, too! The other nearby suburbs (Katy, Missouri City, etc) would also be good choices.

Ooh, those will be fun! Three of those speakers are faculty members at the classical school I taught at pre-kids. :tongue_smilie:

I honestly cannot imagine. My twins were born when my oldest was only a year old, and it was complete chaos for a full 6mos. I cannot imagine trying to school older children (or really do ANYthing other than baby care). I would agree with barebones, as independent as possible, and getting comfortable with the idea of not getting much school done at all this fall. Twins are a wonderful. I wouldn't trade mine for anything. But those first 6 months are INSANE.

We use All About Reading Pre-Level for PK and reading readiness. I has a daily story to read, a craft/coloring page to do, and a phonemic awareness game to play. Oh, and a puppet to play the games with! It's awesome! http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/all-about-reading-level-pre-1/

I was faced with the same dilemma when we started both in January. Because I was planning to postpone the workbook and only use the manipulatives for handwriting at first, I chose to ditch the HWT letter order and just use the HWT materials to practice the letter of the day for AAR. It's worked out fine. When we finish AAR, probably mid fall(?) I'm going to move to Phonics Pathways, and plan to go back and have them do the HWT workbook in order. I expect we'll move through the PK workbook pretty quickly and start on the kinder workbook before the end of the school year.

50! Unless I can convince DH to adopt another kidlet. :tongue_smilie:

Five in a Row!

I taught 3rd grade pre-kids and yes, there are topics listed in the Miquon Annotations that are 3rd grade appropriate and beyond. Go for it!

I am the queen of slipcovers. The ancient hand-me-down-from-my-aunt sofa that I am sitting on has its 4th slipcover on it. I have had two one piece ones (like the PP mentioned--even bought them from uglysofa.com), but the ones I preferred are the three piece stretchy ones. Surefit.com is where mine came from. I don't have to adjust it repeatedly when it gets jumped on my preschoolers (a daily occurrence). I just checked and Sure Fit recommends stretchy slipcovers instead of twill or drop cloth varieties if you have loose back cushions. http://surefitslipcovers.blogspot.com/2011/05/need-slipcover-and-have-loose-back.html Hope that helps! eta: My couch is on its 4th slipcover because I keep trying new ones, new colors, etc, not because they are wearing out. I've never had one wear out.

I put your kids' names into nymbler.com, where you can put names you like (or have used) and it suggests other names that "go" with them. The ones I liked, with Seth, are: Seth & Noah Seth & James Seth & Jack Seth & Ava Seth & Anna Seth & Ruthie Ruthie & Anna Anna & Ava (too matchy for my tastes, actually) Ruthie & Ava My own twins' names are Charlie and Hazel, which I think are adorable. ;)

We live south of the lake, in Kenner (where the NOLA airport is). We chose to live closer to the city rather than across the lake to minimize DH's commute time. My husband works downtown in NOLA and we like him at home instead of driving 25 miles across the lake very day. The schools are horrible here, unlike across the lake (so I'm told), so a lot of families that DH works with live on the northshore for schools, but since we are homeschooling, it doesn't matter to me how bad our schools are. ;)

Food History/Culture Fun Things to Do

I would absolutely drop science and history. The only science or history we are covering in K is what comes with FIAR. Our K lineup is FIAR, handwriting, phonics, and math.

We moved 14 months ago from Houston to the suburbs of NOLA for my husband's job. I had been in Texas all my life and I came kicking and screaming. But, we love, love, LOVE it here!! Not kidding! Please be reassured. There is a large homeschooling community, we are in a great church, and my new life mission is to convince everyone that NOLA is fantastic place to visit with small children. There is a TON to do. I'm going to PM you my email address. I'll be happy to answer any of your panicky questions. I SO remember being where you were. This will all be OK. :grouphug:

I'm another whose kids learned their letter names and basic sounds with Leapfrog Letter Factory, a wooden ABC puzzle, and ABC fridge magnets. In January when my twins were 3.5 and my oldest was 4.5, we started AAR pre-level 1 for phonological awareness, and really I started it for my 4yo, but my twins tagged along and are doing just as well with it as he is. We use the Handwriting Without Tears PK materials along with a salt box for making letters, but we don't do the HWT tears workbook (yet). Really, we've been VERY low key, maybe an AAR pre-1 lesson 2-3x a week. We read TONS of storybooks. IMO, that's the most important thing we are doing. The Sonlight P3/4 and BFIAR lists are good resources. No need to panic. She sounds perfect!!

if it makes you feel better, we have no bunker or basement, and a really crappy attic. I do have a nice shed, though. You can't build basements here in New Orleans because the city is below sea level.

the Frances books by Russell Hoban anything Virginia Lee Burton anything Robert McCloskey I agree that the Sonlight P3/4, BFIAR and FIAR lists are all wonderful places to look.