Sounds like you'll be doing a lot of Science anyhow. I WISH we had those kind of options where I live, my boys would adore it. It doesn't have to be permanent. Try it out and see how it goes, it sounds like a lot of fun!

I'm using GoodReader. I"d be interested in seeing how Notability etc compare. I'm content iwth Goodreader, but not over the moon. It can be a little clumsy. But we only just started, so maybe it's just the operator lol!

I don't know how much time you have to spend with you 5yo, but it's amazing what can be accomplished in 20 minutes with a very young child. Set your 7 yo to half an hour of learning screen time and have a sit down with your 5 yo? In that amount of time, my ds4.5 has been enjoying learning about letters with the HWOT letter blocks and slates, OPGTR guided phonics (we don't follow it strictly, we play around with magnetic letters and such, just using it as a guide for what to do next). Alphabet lotto games. We're starting MEP Reception tomorrow, but maybe you need to cover more basic numbers and counting with calendar, which you could do with the younger two, or all three, of your dc. Soemthing I really used with dc learning letters and counting was 1+1+1=1 site and Homeschool Creations (for ideas of easy things to do sorting, counting etc w/pompoms or what have you - some of their things take too long for me to prep). Kumon books for some fine motor practice (cutting and maze books are popular in this house). You don't have to do everything every day, just fill a 5 drawer plastic dresser with some options and see where 20 minutes takes you! And don't under-estimate the power (and fun!) of easy card and board games like Candy Land or Go Fish or Dominos, as well as puzzles. Less hands on for you are the Leap Frog DVDs, also a big hit around here. Does you 5yo listen in on read alouds? If he's not into that yet, maybe you could find books just for him at bedtime (you do that already?). EVeryhting counts! ETA: If one of my dc is playing on the computer while I'm doing something else with another dc, I put earphones on him. That way the computer noised don't distract the other, and he can't hear what we're doing as well on the floor lol.

It's funny you posted this cause I was just looking at this last night. I think really you only need to ge the cards, or maybe even just the poster. I'd like the teacher's book. Anyone have it and use it? I suppoe the most important part are the virtues with the little saying that goes with them, but the having ideas and activities might be nice too? I'm bummed that I missed the 30% off for Black Friday last November!

I love the Home Routines app. It has room to make as many daily routines as you need. I make a morning, afternoon and evening routine for each day of the week. It also has space to make up to 7 "cleaning zones" (flylady style) and list everything you'd like to accomplish in each one. It's completely customizeable, and I believe it came with chores for each area, but I have totally switched it up. I'm at work for 12 hours on Wednesdays, so I've set a "zone" a la Flylady for each other day of the week. Kitchen and dining area on Monday, Bathroom and Laundry room on Tuesday, Living Room and Entry on Thursday, Basement and Stairs on Friday, Porch, Patio and yard on Saturday, and Bedrooms on Sunday. I made a list of everything that can possible be done in each room or area including baseboards, walls, cleaning/decluttering cupboards and closets, vacuuming under furniture etc. I commit to spending 2 15 minute periods in each zone (boys play outside) and whatever I get done I check it off in home routines. Next week I review what I did the last week, see where I should be spending my time this week and then clear the checkmarks and start over. Each daily routine I set up has dishes, meals, laundry, school time, play time, etc etc set up on it. I've also set aside time to vacuum about three times a week and mop once a week (on days when I don't tend to leave the house). I've set aside time for planning, for setting up the week, for downtown errands, uptown errands, getting gas, making an menu and grocery list for the month/week, going to the library, visiting great grandparents in the nursing home, EVERYTHING. AND THINGS GET DONE! It's a miracle! I've always made lists and had plans, but once I got into the habit of checking that app every day it took right off. I'm much more efficient and it keeps my house looking presentable every day. Even if I'm not hoe during the time I usually spend clening, I can usually find 15 minutes to do the most important things (like cleaning the toilet or something) later in the day. PS To really keep me motivated, I "pay" myself a buck every day I get everything I possibly could get done done. If life happened and we had a bday party one afternoon, as long as I got all the other things done that I could, it still counted. I spend that on books - cause I already would spend money on books, now I don't let myself feel guilty about it. It's a real motivator loL! Having lists and plans in place is only good if you use them.

Hmmmmm. Interesting. My guy would LOVE that. They can type their answers on it?

UU churches have sunday school classes for certain age groups

I've been following the order HWOT suggests. For me I know learning a bunch of letters that are very similar would be very confusing for me. That might be part of it? I have the TM for K, and the K book. I have the slate and wooden peices. We go through a page or two each day, using wooden peices then wet,dry, try. Review a few letters with the above. We ahve't actually started writing in the book yet lol. My son is only 4.5 mind you, but I know writing on paper would be too much. If you're not ready, you're not ready and there are a ton of other things you can do in the meantime that are a lot of fun.

I feel like we haven't had a chance to really sit down and appreciate the gifts yet lol. But we did get a chance to "try" out different things - construction toys a big hit (lincoln log-type things, magneatos and wedgits, as well as the architectural set of blocks from Melissa and Doug).

Take this with a grain of salt because my kid are too young to have a real school schedule (oldest is PK/K lol) but one of the many reasons we decided to homeschool was so that our kids could really be a part of the ranch we own and operate. I'm tossing around the idea of schooling year-round with days off as needed for "fun" ranch things like round up, turn out, branding and other big events as well as a full day once a week counted as school in areas like PE (horseback riding, physical labor, etc), Nature Study, etc. But, on the other hand, I like the idea of having a full month off in April or May to let them really get into calving and lambing seasons. So maybe rather than a long break in the summer, I'd do a long break in the spring? Hard to say exactly how it will turn out, but I can count on it be alternative and fitting us exactly!

You know your kid best and there's no harm in trying. For what it's worth my average (I think?) preschooler, 4yo ds, isn't really ready for forming letters. He's getting really good at forming them with the wooden blocks, he's getting better at forming the capitols with the little slate. He can complete mazes (a little shaky!) form Kumon's easy maze book. I'm thinking of using thin strips of masking tape to make lines for him to write between on our easel's chalkboard. But honestly, if I were to sit him down in front of the HWOT workbook I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be pretty lol. I figure if he's familiar with building their shape (not just their sound - he's started reading) he'll be on the road to better writing.

I'm part owner of a produce delivery service and often bring home leftover produce, so a favorite around here is the broccoli beef recipe lol

I'm using OPGTR very slowly with my four year old. We're still in CVC words. I use magnet letters to spell them out instead of having him read them off the page. The little phrases I write in a hardcover note book with a fat black pen. We play a lot of silly games, read BOB books and others from the library, and just try and have fun with it, but I use the OPGTR as a guide to where we should be aiming for next. We also skipped all the letter sound lessons. I do like it because I feel like it's helped me adjust my expectations where they need to be. For example, reading the word list first myself, then together, then him rather than just turning him loose on the list. It's much less frustrating! But if reading just consisted of the book, I don't think we'd be enjoying as much as we have been.

Are all those movies on netflix? REALLY??!! No wonder Canadians think Netflix.ca is rip off. . . I think I only get about 1/8 (if that) of what's listed there! Never the less, a great list. . . off to see if my library or Youtube has some of the missing ones!

Other places to get ideas for different ways to structure your day, I found steadymom.com helpful, as well as her book Steady Days. She has 3 children in two years, and I believe she wrote the book when they were preschoolers, so it was very helpful to keep them consttuctive (rather than destructive!) lol. Preschoolers and Peace blog is also another great resource! Since setting up a MOTH schedule, 30 minute increments, our days are better balanced. I've started a quiet time in the afternoon, a mandatory outside time, a "play with mom" time and a tabletop time while I prep supper (play dough, free art box, sensory bin, etc). It' been wonderful! I feel like I have the private time I crave without any guilt, and I feel like they have enough room for creativity within the boundares I set up which eliminates total disasters that take hours to clean up (and only a 20 minute free for all to make!).

I feel like I'm constantly redoing my schedule. For us, it's more of a daily routine. I have a few "checkpoints" that need to be done at a certain time of day (for instance, if I'm not doing readin with ds by 645, we're gonna be late for dropping off oldest dd to school) but mostly, it lays out the order in which we do things, not necessarily the time we do things. If that makes sense? And as soon as things start to get comfortable, something changes. A nap drops, we pick up an extra curricular, the season changes and we spend more time out or in, etc. So for us, it's a constant rearrangement of time. In that respect, MOTH really helped me see what was a priority, how much could actually be accomplished and where we needed to insert more down time or activity to get that balance we all need. I've always been a "routine-maker" but this book was helpful in other ways too. And I agree with the pp! When we check everything off on our lists, it's amazing! Even getting "almost all of it" done for a few days in a row is very significant!

My sister and I just discussed this a little bit a week or two ago. She is decidedly Waldorf. She and her family are very involved in their little waldorf school (she's the president of the board) and I was saying how even if I lived in a town with a good waldorf school and I could afford the tuition, I probably would still choose to homeschool cause I want to do it "my way" lol. I don't like any one method that dictates when my child should be learning what. I like to pull all the best parts from several theories and combine them so they're just right for each child. She laughed and said that they had just had someone in who gave a parent's seminar on "Smorgdorf". (smorgus board and waldorf lol). That sometimes these eclectic approaches lack the depth you'd get out of following a single appraoch. I can see the validity in that. To immerse yourself in one way of doing things, if it fits, could be very beneficial. But I'm still decidedly eclectic :D

1+1+1=1 The pioneer woman (just plain funny, not so much for printables lol)

Hi there, If you're still in Canada check out Usborne books. They have lots of storybooks in French as well as sticker books and colouring books and My fist 100(0) words in French books. I don't think the French selection is as good in US, but still worth a try! I'm also Canadian and also decent in French ( French immersion and travelling). And to motivate me I'm considering French for Little Boys. Some fun themes I figure I can use as a jumping off point for our weekly French Days (which I have yet to start:glare:). Have fun!

Very cool! Love what you've done. This thread has been very interesting. My ds is too young for written work, but with stickers . . . Definitely keeping these ideas in mind for future use!

Have you been doing calendar time? My ds has practically learned to count through that alone. We count up to the day, we count how many days until "X" happens, etc. I also made sun, cloud, rain and snow tiles on foam sheet, cut them into squares, then used them to make a simple bar graph that shows the weather that month. Then we count how many sunny days we've had, how many cloudy days, how many more rainy days than sunny etc. It's been huge in getting him over that "-teen" hump and he's just about nailed numbers 1-30. I don't know if math curriculum alone will help him out with that part, you may need to take a detour to help him master it. Maybe something like cusinaire would help, as it's pretty visual? The hundreds chart is a great idea, and I think holding off place value is also wise. hth and gl!

I do something similar, although with younger sons. We do must-dos before we're dressed in the morning (for us it's phonics and calendar), then chores and then "morning activities", which vary according to day of the week: Playgroup, science & art, swimming, great-grandparents & library, baking. Then lunch, quiet time, and then "game time" which is really more numbers and letters lol. It works really well for us, and is super adaptable. Glad it works out so well for you!

I think besides Leapfrog, the big thing around here was an alphabet lotto game. Ours was based on the Farmyard Tales series by Usborne (which DS loved). What's your son into? If it's anything on tv or popular books, I'm sure you can find and alphabet lotto game! Reallly ups the fun factor. Alphabet cookie cutters for playdough. And 1+1+1=1 for more fun alphabet things, like playdough mats and games and stuff (there are a TON of blogs with letter of the week if that's what you prefer). fridge phonics. Melissa and Doug letter magnets (still use these constantly as he learns to read - may even purchase a second set for words like bib and tot) Have fun with it!

I'm glad I'm not the only one! Ds is just in Kindergarten, so I'm restraining myself as much as possible lol. Next year he'll be officially kindergarten age and I can register him under an umbrella school that provides funds for educational stuff. THEN I can do all we want to do!

:iagree: my parents had an upright for me in their house, and when I moved out, I bought a touch-response keyboard. Loved it. Volume control is essential if you live in an apartment (or have napping belies lol) and there's no tuning needed!