I think you should go for it! I think it's best to knit your first pair of socks on worsted weight yarn (and bigger needles...most patterns call for a size 4-6 with WW yarn). The only tricky parts are getting used to the DPNs and turning the heal...and even they aren't too bad.

We'll be taking June off (VBS, then 2 week vacation) and starting in July. However we're getting a puppy in July, so I don't know how much I'll be getting done then. :eek:

My DC love the If You Lived... series! The One Small Square books are nice to cover biomes, but I guess that's more science than geography. We have the book Material World (it's more of an adult coffee table book than a children's book). It shows families all over the world with all of their possessions and tells about their life. It's too much reading for littles ones, but they like to flip through the pictures.

We love them! I only used RS for K, but I've continued using the games since then. We switched to Singapore and I like the games to work on math facts. DD is always thrilled when we have a "game lesson". I love that it covers addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, money, etc. so we're sure to use it for quite awhile.

We're in NE. There's some way I can get out of it for another year, but it involves sending paperwork to two places instead of one...DD's info to the state and DS's to the local school district. Since I have to keep hours for my oldest anyway, we're just going to keep track for both. Our enrollment age is whenever they are 6 by Jan. 1st. DS turns 6 in November, so going by the public school's cut-off he's in K. I hope that made sense...it's been pretty confusing to figure out!

We have to get in 1032 for lower grades, 1064 for upper. Doing the math, if we have 180 days, we need slightly under 6 hours a day which is ridiculous. I count everything I can think of...chores, educational TV and computer games, crafts, listening to CDs in the car, gymnastics, Sunday school. I wish we only had to count days. DS is officially going to be in K next year and we still have to meet the 1032 requirement! :thumbdown: I don't really mind doing the work...It's keeping track of a ridiculous amount of hours just in case someone asks that annoys me.

I'm combining my older two in HOD next year (1st and 3rd), but they will be doing separate math, reading/phonics, and grammar. They will have the same copywork, Bible, history, science, and art.

We're using Cheerful Cursive next year. It is triple lined and open and go. It also works with them on reading cursive which I think is great! The only downside is that it's a bit pricey...$15 or so. I was looking into a cheaper workbook, but after seeing it in person I'm glad I spent a bit more.

My PreK favorites: -Little Visits for Toddlers devotional -The Toddler Action Bible -Before Five in a Row -Preschool Activities in a Bag -About Three preschool workbooks My K favorites: -Essential Math from Singapore -Explode the Code primers -McGuffey Readers (after the primers are finished) -Five in a Row -Rod and Staff preschool series For Both: Read alouds, cooking, science experiments, outdoor playtime, math manipulatives, games, music, art projects, etc. I just bought the Keepers of the Faith books for ages 4-7 and plan on using them with my younger two next year...lots of great ideas! Now I'm going to go back through all the replies and look for PreK ideas for my 3yo. :)

I'm going through a similar time. We're starting a new curriculum this July. Right now I'm trying to get them to sit for some readings and I'm struggling with my middle two (and my oldest can use some work too). They constantly interrupt, fidget, and sometimes get up. I'm hoping they'll be used to this by July, and save me much trouble then. I figure it's a new habit they need to learn and am trying to use lots of patience and consistency.

My DH just got a Nook and we both love it! I like that the battery can be replaced, you can add quite a bit of memory, and you can use 3G network...It now even has a web browser.

My oldest will be 8 in July. My 2nd oldest will be 6 in November. I plan on combining them with Beyond. I also purchased Bigger for the 3Rs section. I'm going to use the suggested R&S English 2 and Cheerful Cursive...I haven't decided on the spelling list or dictation yet. I thought about adding science (and Carrie suggests using it for 3rd), but I decided I'd keep them together for now. I have Apologia Astronomy if I later decide she needs more science.

I have it and enjoy it. I do agree with Marie that it is pretty light, but that doesn't really both me. Most holidays have the history of the holiday, a couple book suggestions, a craft project or two, a couple recipes, and a little about how they celebrate that holiday. Some also have poems or songs. Most holidays have a couple pages, some have several. There's also a page for each holiday to write your own traditions or memories. It's not really enough if you want a heavy unit study, but it has some cute and simple ideas.

I'm using HOD's Beyond with my 3rd and 1st graders next year. My DD will be using HOD's Bigger for the LA and Math portion of the lessons. All our LA and Math are using the teacher's guide suggestions. English--R&S 2, spelling/dictation in HOD Handwriting--copywork, Cheerful Cursive Math--Singapore 2a and 2b (DD struggles with math) History--HOD Science--HOD, may add Apologia Astronomy as time allows Art--HOD, Artpacs as time allows Reading/writing--I'm using the level 2 recommended books for DITHOR, but having her keep a reading journal. We may add DITHOR in a year or two. Keepers at Home--we're doing the program as a family. I'm using this to cover health, as well as arts, crafts, nature studies, PE, home ec, etc. Prima Latina--DH is teaching this! Gymnastics--She has 1.5 hour team practice and 1.5 hour class each week. Planned read-alouds: Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims, King of the Wind, Little House in the Big Woods, Key to the Treasure, The Trumpet of the Swan, House at Pooh Corner, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Follow My Leader, Pagoo, The Apple and the Arrow, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever DD's Read-alone books: Amelia Earhart: Young Air Pioneer, The Littles, Stone Fox, Pioneer Cat, Hannah, McBroom's Wonderful One Acre Farm: Three Tall Tales, Who's That Stepping On Plymouth Rock, The Treasure of Pelican Cove, Capyboppy, The Secret School...I may have to add more at the rate she reads! I'm hoping to finish our HOD assignments in the morning and spend our afternoons with Keeper's projects.

We're over halfway through RS A and love it! We spend less than 1/2 hour. Some lessons we finish in one day, some take longer. There are about 75 lessons so it's intended to complete 1/2 lesson per day. The abacus is really easy to figure out and really helps DD understand new concepts. Their abacus is different than ones with multi-colored beads. It only has two colors to help them visualize groups of five. We're planning on using this program all the way through. :001_smile:

http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html I love this site! It has 1000 good books organized by reading level.

I try to spend about $250/year. Almost all of this is on reusable materials, so my younger ones will be homeschooled for much less than my oldest. Most of what I buy are living books (picture books, chapter books, etc.), and if I had a better library, I could school for even less.

We're also planning ancient history for next year and I picked up one of the David Macaulay books, Pyramid. There's another one called City that fits in when you study Rome. These look especially great for boys, but I think my DD will like it too. I'm planning on ordering the other one later in the year. I got lots of book ideas looking at different curriculum literature lists, like those form Sonlight, Veritas Press, Tapestry of Grace, etc. I also found a great booklist at www.classical-homeschooling.org . Several books pop up on most of those lists, and I figure they must be good! :)

We've looked at the Apologia science, and from the reviews I've read, almost all have said it's geared toward older kids. From what I've heard, it works much better if at least one of your DC is 3rd grade or older. You may want to wait on it. I would just do the nature walks and maybe some fun science experiments, science read-alouds, gardening, etc. I'm not familiar with your LA programs, so I'm not sure if that's too much or not, but everything else looks good.

We use Leading Little Ones to God and I'm very happy with it. Each lesson has a reading, a few questions about the reading, a Bible verse, Bible reading, hymn, and prayer. There is also a list of memory verses for each section of the book. My K'er really enjoys it.

I plan on keeping most of our things. We don't have a lot of "curriculum" but mostly living books. Since we don't have a very good library, I plan on keeping those things. I have some curriculum type things that I'll probably sell pretty soon. We're also doing Rightstart, and I plan on keeping all of those books. My DC are each 2 years apart, so it's a little closer than yours, but math isn't going to change that drastically is the time you'll need it again. ;) I'd keep those for sure! The only things I'm planning on selling were things I wasn't too crazy about to begin with.

I voted for "other". A "foreign" language that would come in very handy would be sign language. In high school I worked at McDonald's and we constantly had deaf customers come in, and it would have been nice to say something other than Thank You to them. Many churches have deaf ministries, and your DC could use the sign language to translate church services for others. Also, Spanish would be good for our DC because we have a rather large Hispanic population in our area. I think anything they would likely encounter would be nice to learn.

There are several ways to make the program a little cheaper. Rainbow Resource sells an abacus that's identical to the RS one for half the price($10). I've also heard of moms making the card decks. We're 1/2 way through Level A and have only used the basic card deck and place value cards, both of which could easily be made on cardstock. The geoboards are pretty cheap from RR, and the color tiles could easily be substituted with something else or purchased form RR much cheaper. The tally sticks are just popcycle sticks. That's all I can remember using so far. Oh yeah, the abacus tiles aren't needed since there's one you can copy in the back of the book. You could do the program for quite a bit less than listed. We decided to buy all the manipulatives at once, since I really liked the program. It was a large investment last year (we used our tax return), but my other DC will go through the program for the cost of workbooks, and all we have to buy for my oldest is the book and workbook for the next levels. I've really be happy with it!

I have a K'er this year and we are doing: FIAR Rightstart Level A The Writing Road to Reading (just starting this now) Leading Little Ones to God Piano lessons (just started) That's it for our formal school. The rest of the day we play games, read, draw/color, play outside (although we didn't get to do this too much this winter), listen to music, etc.

I love seeing what everyone else has planned! DD-1st grade Five in a Row Leading Little Ones to God The Writing Road to Reading (phonics and handwriting) Rightstart Level B Prima Latina Alfred Piano 1A Story of the World vol 1 with go-along books Artpac 1 nature walks (Handbook of Nature Study) artist and composer studies DS-preschool Before Five in a Row R&S preschool workbook Preschool Activities in a Bag Leading Little Ones to God join in with big sis whenever he wants We're going to focus on world cultures and geography using FIAR books and Legends & Leagues. I'm hoping to do a Christmas around the world study in December.