Well, we never mummified the chicken. Absolutely no extra science or SOTW projects that I had been planning, though there has been a lot of art. We had a too long break from math but are now catching up to the summer goal. Reading also regressed but has bounced back with daily practice. What has thrown me off is that one of my 4 year-olds is racing ahead and both 4 YO's are taking up more time than I expected.

They got out June 8th and start August 28th, one week later than last year. And the last day of school, they announced a new staggered schedule for 1st-3rd that makes the school day 45 minutes shorter. I am one of the few parents excited about this, it is a gift to our after schooling plans.

Welcome! My oldest just finished 1/2 day K. She was a late-start at 9:30 so we did most of our AS'ing in the morning before school. I planned things out for every subject, every day, by the week and had it in a folder that I could easily take with me. We also did a lot in the car or walking to school (SOTW, FLL, addition/subtraction facts). We also did WWE which was flexible and could be skipped or doubled up as needed. The most time consuming part remains her reading aloud to me, and doing math. We do that nearly every day and it has shifted from early morning to afternoon as her peak energy levels shifted. It was unexpected, but by the end of the school year she did much better on math after school. I thought she'd be too tired but she seemed to be just warmed up. Good luck!

I only used craft sticks with my dd in 1a and 1B this year. She used the abacus and Go To the Dump from RS for making 10s. I wish I had used C rods and am starting to now with my preschoolers who will start Essentials in the fall.

We do both. DD5.5 started ballet at 3 and gymnastics at 4. The twins also started gymnastics at 3. All else being equal, gymnastics has been overall better for reasons PP's mentioned - the range of skills, etc. Our first ballet class was mostly hopping around and dressing up for the June recital. Year 2 we switched to an excellent teacher who teaches real moves, pilates/yoga type warm ups, and the poise and presentation that gymnastics doesn't address until the older girls. From now on I will always preview and preferably do a trial class for either gymnastics or dance because there can be a lot of variation among studio/gyms or teachers.

Winnie the Pooh (new to me) Little House (childhood favorite looks completely different now as a parent) D'Aulaire's Myths (new to me) Betsy-Tacy

I agree with the PP's that it is best for me to read and be able to explain as we go along. However, I cannot read the extent to which they listen to audio books and stories. Originally we got audios to wean my oldest off of the TV she watched too much of when my twins were born. The audios are also good for stories they want to hear over and over again. But nothing beats snuggling on the sofa together with a book.

Mad Men Tudors Firefly Battlestar Galactica Life on Mars Sherlock Downton Abbey Office Psych Burn Notice

We read about composers and listen to their works. I try to do it in chronological order. Mike Venezia has a "Getting to Know Mozart, etc." series and we have mostly used Opal Wheeler's books. I will also go through more contemporary music, again in chronological order from ragtime to today.

We just finished WWE1 and it was enough DD5.5. She has been studying French with Rosetta Stone and me reading French children's books, and a few times a month she will also do some copywork in French which has been helpful.

Are you following the instructions closely? In the beginning, I did not always use the tiles or do it exactly as suggested. Especially in AAS1, we moved quickly and rarely used the tiles. We used them more in AAS2 & 3 with more vowel teams, etc. Again in AAS4 we only occasionally used the tiles for certain rules or concepts.

We dropped Right Start but I am still using some of the games and the abacus with the younger kids.

My kids (5.5 and 3.5) love singing Quid est tuum praenomen? back and forth to each other. I am always amazed at how much they pick up singing. Then they go off and explain it to their swim teachers and babysitters.

DD5.5 just finished WWE1 this week. She didn't mind the copy work, but the first 10-12 weeks of comprehension questions was hard. She was not used to paying attention in that way, or answering in complete sentences. It was worth sticking with that and she got much better through the year. For awhile, I would read the questions before the passage, so she knew what to listen for. Then I switched to reading twice before starting the questions. After a few weeks of both she could get most of the questions with one reading and minimal fussing.

At 36, I have been struggling with this too. I did not try dietary changes, but an aesthetician during a facial recommended using a silk/satin pillow case and washing it every day. That has made a huge difference. I also use a clean towel every time I dry my face.

More and more activities are after 5pm now that my daughter is school-aged. For parent-scheduled activities it is usually driven by working parent schedules and for park district activities it appears to be because preschool and kindergarten classes are in the afternoon and age 6+ start around 5pm. It is frustrating for us b/c the 3YOs go to bed by 7 and it's been a priority to have dinner together. So far the compromise has been to have 1 late activity a week with a free-for-all dinner but I'm not sure what to do when all 3 kids are in the 5pm and later group.

My pre-K twins are enjoying connect the dot pictures (ABC or 123) and then coloring. I will also draw shapes and then they will cut them out and glue them on construction paper to make a collage (and learn their shapes). I've also been saving any kind of cardboard boxes and letting them paint them. A more expensive but popular activity has been sticky mosaics from Alex and Orb Factory.

We have only read the book but the Greek and Norse myths are DD5's favorites right now. I usually read them to her but she also will read them herself. It's worth the purchase and I am on the lookout for a used copy for my other kids since the first is looking extremely 'well-loved'.

I'm in the East Bay now and loving it, but do miss the years living around Stanford (volunteered in Ravenswood too).

I after schooled my DD5 in kindergarten last year and it worked well. My priorities are things that are very important to us (math and language arts) and things the school doesn't offer or do systematically (history, French, Latin). They do a good job with primary grade science so we do nothing beyond science videos and reading books. I also let the school do the bulk of handwriting. I've followed the WTM forums plus trial and error with purchasing curricula. The amount of time per day and the time of day we do afterschooling changed over the kindergarten year as her stamina increased and her personal preference shifted from before to after school. So far, it has worked well. My daughter isn't always thrilled to sit down for afterschooling but she likes learning and knowing the topics and will ask for it when we take breaks. Originally we decided to afterschool to ensure the kids have a strong math and writing background. Then I discovered all the other great aspects of classical education and that got folded in. But one of the best parts has turned out to be sharing the learning/teaching experience. I was more academic than athletic or artistic. While we do go out and toss a ball around and sing songs, we are starting to have a new kind of bond over SOTW, Latin, and even grammar.

That's great! 1/2 day K worked so well for us this past year. On the last day (Friday), we found out the whole district is going to staggered start for 1-3 next year because of larger class sizes. It means 45 minutes less per day for a given student, but then smaller class sizes for 45 minutes to focus on reading. I'm just happy for another block of time to either before-or-afterschool.

Welcome, My kids are the same age. DD5 (6 late August) just finished kindergarten and my DS/DD3 twins will be 4 in September and heading for K next year. They are all on the young side and while there is some red-shirting there is more of a mix here. DD5 was done with OPGTR going into K. We spent the year doing WWE1, FLL1 and reading leveled readers. WWE1 was probably the best and helped her comprehension and narrating skills (which were minimal at the beginning). The best part of FLL for us is the poem memory work. She has been a strong speller and we just finished AAS4. She finished Singapore Essentials before K and much of Right Start A - the abacus work and the card games. She is finishing Singapore 1B this summer. They use Envision at school and I much prefer Singapore and we will continue with it. I learned they do timed math facts in 1st grade which is hard for some kids. DD5 gets flustered with timed activities so we started using the Timez Attacks Addition/Subtraction Beta download which has been great. We also started SOTW1 which she loves. We got the audio book and she does the map work and questions. We also have almost every Jim Weiss CD. DS3 is 1/3 through OPGTR and through the 1st Bob set. DD3 is uninterested. Both watch the Leap Frog DVD's and every other week or so I try some more formal phonics with DD3. They do connect the dot activity books ABC and 123 which is helping fine motor skills. DS3 was trying to spell so we do AAS 1 gently with tiles only. I am starting the Rightstart games with both and just order Miquon too based on the positive reviews of combining it with Singapore. Probably the most important thing the past year was figuring out the best time of day to do this. We were a late start K at 9:30 and for months I did it before school. But DD5 finally told me she prefers afternoons and she does much better later in the day. The 3 year olds can do activities 4-5 times per day but often in 5 minute increments. Good luck and enjoy!

Their whole grain pancake mix and the soy/flax seed nacho chips

Since you love history, consider Will Durant's The Story of Civilization. It is an 11-volume (mostly big volumes) set and I spent 2 years reading it (with other books scattered in between). It starts with pre-Greece, then a Greece volume, Christ and Caesar. Now that my oldest is going through SOTW for the first time I've been thinking about re-reading the first SOTW1 related volumes. I'm planning to wait until the next cycle though, when all my kids do SOTW at the same time. SoC ends with Napoleon. Years ago I read all of Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire which is also packed with juicy background info.

My kids are young (3.5 and 5.5) but the Wee Sing America CD has been great.