This is fantastic! So many of these I have never heard of. I just put a bunch of holds in at the library, and I'll check back later and add more! :D

I could not possibly pick just one. today? maybe Bread and Jam for Frances.

These prefolds rocked. I did use them for cloth diapering, but also as burp cloths, and now cleaning rags. http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/diapers.htm

Congratulations! :D I have b/g twins who will be 4 in just a few weeks. I'll echo the others that the first year was intense, but it only got better. There is nothing sweeter than listening to their little 3yo conversations and watching them play. They are truly best friends. It's wonderful!

Lifelong Texan here, currently relocated for DH's job to New Orleans. :iagree: with the ladies above. Stick to the DFW area. There is more than enough for you to do there. I don't think Austin, Houston, or San Antonio will be worth the drive for you unless you want to spend WEEKS in Texas. It's a big state! I grew up in Arlington (where Six Flags and the Rangers and Cowboys are), and my brother/SIL/their kids live in FW. This thread has made me ready for a visit!

I am wearing braces for the first time. I have had them about 7 months and was told to expect treatment to last about 18 months. I am in regular metal braces, and I let my 3yo daughter pick my colors. :lol: Invisalign was not offered, and the more I've read about it, I'm glad. I would not have been well compliant with Invisalign. I have a hard enough time keeping my rubberbands in, etc now. If I had to remember to wear full trays, forget it. It'd never happen. Other than a few sore days after adjustments and the fact that I look a teenager, they really haven't negatively affected my life at all.

I voted sunshine-y yellow, since that's what color my school room is, and I like it. I didn't choose it, though. Previous owner did. Posted a pic of my room in your other thread.

Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics

Well, my homeschool room is in my converted garage (although we didn't do the conversion--the previous owner did). I think it's light, bright, and inviting. It's still in progress, but here are pics: (big world map will go above school table, when I get around to buying one) On the wall you can't see in the pics, there is currently a very cluttered desk with printer, etc. After I make a trip to my dad's in a few weeks, who has an Ikea, there will be a 5x5 expedit on that wall. And then I'll buy a map, and we'll be ready to roll for the fall!

I bought c-rods to use with my rising Ker and PKers in the fall. I also bought MMM since I still felt intimidated by Miquon, and didn't feel able to throw enough together with rods on my own. I needed direction. Yesterday I watched the videos that the PP posted, and I'm now feeling excited, confident, and like MMM was probably a waste for me. Those videos are RICH! My plan for PK/K is to do c-rod play and activities a few days a week along with MEP reception. I figure at some point down the road, I'll try to figure out Miquon.:lol:

I really enjoyed those! Thank you! And your daughters are absolutely lovely. What sweet temperaments, all of them. :)

OK, I figured I was over thinking this. Thanks, ladies. We'll practice informally through the summer, and I bet we're good to go for the fall!

We have been using HWT for PK, having a blast with all the manipulatives, not doing very much pencil-to-paper writing at all. And now, I've got an almost 5yo who is getting ready to start phonics and reading, and only recognizes uppercase letters with consistency. OPG, PP, etc work with lowercase letters. Easiest way to get him (them, as my others are just a year younger) up to speed? Play uppercase/lowercase matching games, watch more letter factory, and get a lowercase set of fridge magnets? That should be sufficient right? I don't care if he knows how to write the lowercase letters yet. I just need him to know what they are, and associate them with their uppercase counterparts, right?

:lol: Our psychologist said, "Well, normally I wouldn't diagnose a not-quite-5yo, but who are we kidding? Let's not prolong the inevitable." We felt exactly the same way. It's OBVIOUS.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge? Absolutely! I didn't read any of her others, but I loved those!

We actually find that there's a good amount of wiggling built into the pre-AAR. The story reading is really fun if you let him act out some of the passages. :lol: Many of the games are active. Some have you jump or clap, or other such things. Others are easily tweaked to incorporate those things even if they're not written that way. 2/3 of my students are wiggly preschool boys, one of whom is diagnosed ADHD, so I understand the need to wiggle. Like I said earlier, I do have a hard time getting them interested in the coloring pages, but I also think that's the least valuable part of the program, so I'm not overly concerned about it. eta: lessons take us about 15-20 min. Longer if it's my daughter who chooses to finish meticulously coloring her page, long after her brothers have run off.

OK, I just went and planned out our homeschool week, and that involved some time with my pre-AAR manual. I looked ahead ot parts we haven't done yet (3rd pass through alphabet) and the phonemic awareness games DO start to be associated with the letter of the day in the 3rd section. So, I don't know if that would overly complicate your plans to do things out of order. I'll be curious to see if pfamilygal comes back to share how she made it work! Also there were some missing beginning consonant games like the missing ending consonant games that I overlooked in my count of "mistake" games. They, too, feel more like "what's the missing sound" than "what did Ziggy say wrong", but since they involve beginning sounds, I didn't know if your little guy would be sensitive about them. I thought I'd mention it.

They actually are not. It's weird, IMO. The lessons are in 3 parts. Reading the story or poem about the letter, playing the phonemic awareness game with the puppet, and then doing the coloring/activity sheet on the letter. But the games really are stand alone. It won't be hard at all do them in order, marking your spot with a sticky note, and to do the letter story and coloring page of your choice, whether or not from that lesson.

If you have Trader Joe's, I love their store brand cotton deodorant. I actually don't have Trader Joe's, but stock up when we visit my MIL.

You guys have me rethinking this now, too! I'm currently accelerating our pace through the rest of pre-level (doing 3 lessons/week, instead of the 1 we had been doing) since I suspect some of us are ready for explicit phonics and reading instruction. We are about to start the 2nd third of the program, or the 2nd pass through the alphabet. I may put the letters together, doing A two days in a row, and B two days in a row until we finish up. That seems more palatable than doing a full two passes back through the alphabet when we already know our letter sounds and names. Most of what we're learning now is the in the phonemic awareness games. Hmmm...

I don't think it's nuts, nor would it be difficult. The letter part and the phonemic awareness part are totally separate. You would need to do the phonemic awareness activities in order, because yes, they do build on one another. But there is no reason why you would have to do the letters in order or why you couldn't do all 3 pages of "A" in a row, etc.

I understand your hesitancy with those sorts of games. My kids find them hilarious, but one of mine has done his time in speech therapy and I certainly understand your concern with them, especially as your little guy is still struggling. I just scanned through my book and counted. I only came up with 3 games where he makes mistakes like a wrong rhyming word that needs to be corrected. There were several others right in a row where he leaves off the ending sound of a word, trying to get the kids to hear the last consonant sound. Like, "I cleaned the carpet with the vacuu...." and they have to say "mmmm". I wasn't sure if you'd consider that in the same category of "mistake" games. I wouldn't. They're written in a different tone. Not "point out the error" but "fill in the sound". Hope that helps!

Mine ADORE it. We are mid-way though pre-level 1. IMO, the phonemic awareness activities are first rate. We are clapping syllables and isolating the first sound of words, and rhyming, and all that other good stuff. Ziggy totally makes the program. My kids will do ANYthing for Ziggy, hug and kiss him, say goodbye longingly when we put him away at the end of lessons.:lol: The coloring pages are definitely getting old. My almost-4yo girl does them daily. She loves to color. The boys (almost 5 and almost 4) don't like to color, so I try to change it up a lot for them. Paint, marker, color, glue stuff onto it, or just totally scrap it. They probably make an attempt at half of them. The books are cute. The posters are pretty and not obnoxious colors on the wall of my school room (all things I appreciate). I'm very glad we're using it. I may continue on with AAR 1 for phonics, but may do PP instead. Still deciding, but I'm sure I'll have to find a way to incorporate the puppet as we go on, regardless. They will expect Ziggy to be part of our school experience for the long haul.:D

I would do Five in a Row with your nephew, adding in phonics, handwriting, and math, and let the littler ones listen in and participate as much as they'd like.

here's a thread from earlier in the week http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=380936 I posted my thoughts on there.:)