We are using what we would have if we home schooled - FLL, Singapore & Rightstart, WWE. History and geography is being worked in through read-alouds and various videos. My DD in kindergarten likes school and workbook type activities so it has been working well her pre-K year. Now that school has actually begun I am pleased with their reading program but not thrilled with math. We plan to do the 3 R's and history after schooling but I will prioritize based on shoring up the weak areas in PS.

We have had opportunities to sign up for volunteering at registration in August, again the Back to School Night the 3rd day of school. For DD'S kindergarten, helping with reading/math/science small group "centers" starts in October. Sign-ups also filled up for the class for Room Mom (& 2 assistants), and a few other roles such as Recycling coordinator. There seems to be many opportunities for both in the classroom and more administrative roles. We'll see what happens next month!

"Curriculum" often means something else to the teachers and administrators. As other posters suggested, ask for ISBN numbers or textbook titles or at least publishers.

Keeping it generic to AAS is a good idea. We flew through AAS1 with my DD5 who was already reading. On our schedule sheet (which I use to check things off) I will also list the dictation for that day.

I've been using RS A and Singapore Essentials for my rising K'er and we are about to begin SP 1A/1B and RS B. I mostly follow the Singapore schedule and supplement with RS lessons using the abacus and games.

Our school also uses EnVision and I haven't really seen it yet. I plan to continue Singpore and some RightStart at home. Generally people seem happy with EnVision at the school but nobody can actually describe it.

Hello! My DD5 is starting PS kindergarten in a week. We have been ~ afterschooling the last year while she also attended preschool 3 mornings a week. She calls it her "activities" and the workbooks are "activity books". We used Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. She did not like the actual reading in that book, but I followed the lesson structure. For reading fluency, we did the Bob Books. When she finished the last set, we moved on to Frog & Toad. After using some Pre-K workbooks that had matching, patterning, color the R things red activities, we started math with Singapore Essentials. A was similar to the earlier workbooks. B has been actual addition and subtraction. I was also curious about RightStart so I ordered the game package and we liked that. So I ordered Righstart A as well. We still follow Singapore's order, but work in the RS games and use the abacus for addition/subtraction. Last April, she started writing. All the time. She was trying to spell things phonetically. She was around Lesson 190 in OPGTR. So I bought All About Spelling (AAS) 1. After a month long break while my parents visit and public school starts, we will resume with AAS3, Rightstart B & Singapore 1A and begin First Language Lessons (FLL) and Writing With Ease (WWE). At least, that's my hope :).

My DD5 mixed b/d up a lot going through OPGTR. We've finished and now that she is writing letters more and doing AAS, plus reading everyday, the mixups are less and less frequent. In the beginning I would just tell her "that's a d", then "try again", then she'd self-correct and now it is automatic.

Letter Factory takes care of the first 26 or so lessons in OPGTR. My 3 YO twins sing their phonics ABC song as much as the traditional ABC song. We play games with DD5's AAS tiles too or ABC blocks. Just picking up letters and making their sounds.

DD5 is tall and moved to the high-back booster at 4.

I was pleased to have a kindergarten late start option at 9:50. Regular start is 8:15 and we need to be out by 8:00. We can usually finish 1-2 subjects before school and I rotate them. Particularly if something new or tricky is being introduced it is scheduled for morning and the rest happens after school.

The RightStart AL Abacus (though it took me awhile to appreciate it) Tiles/Legos/pennies are popular here Tally sticks/popsicle sticks

My DD5 has been doing the k curriculum the past 6 months. We started out with two 10-15 minute lessons at a time, 3x/day. So after breakfast 15 minutes of reading then 15 minutes of math. After lunch spelling and math. etc. Now that she is 5 she can go for 25-30 minutes on a subject but we still break it up throughout the day. She is always fresher after meals, even at the end of the day after dinner.

I do both with my DD5. We went through Essentials A fairly quickly. When actual addition & subtraction began, we slowed down to supplement with RS A. The abacus has been a great manipulative, and the games are also great. For RS B and SP1 I will continue to follow Singapore but fold in the RS abacus activities and games.

My DD5's best time is usually right after breakfast and the past year we alternated math (RS A and Singapore Essentials) and OPGTR as the first lesson.

I also reco going with Singapore Essentials vs. Earlybird.

I bought a smaller one at first when I couldn't find a large one. It was a pain and I ended up getting the 2x3. It helps to have the tiles all set out and the groupings as AAS describes. However, now that we are finishing AAS2, we tend to use a smaller board with that lesson's tiles on it rather than drag out the big board every day. For AAS1 I'd definitely start with the big board but later on can probably work with smaller or multiple boards.

Empire Strikes Back. The dark middle of the trilogy without a happy ending. I still get choked up when they freeze Han Solo.

We are on AAS2 now and we do keep moving along even if the phonograms are not 100%. We just keep reviewing more frequently until they are mastered but always keep forward momentum with some new stuff each week.

My DD will sometimes re-read, but not immediately after the 1st read. We will review some over the next few weeks, interspersed with new material.

This may not have been the first, but the earliest I can remember is Fox & the Hound.

Mine are 3 & 5 so we don't watch too much. On Netflix streaming we watch old Superman cartoons from the early 40's and also the 1967 Spiderman. We'll do Little House on the Prairie soon. They like the 1950's Lone Ranger. 1970's original Muppet Show is at the library.

I had much ortho as a child 25 years ago and am now in braces again as an adult. I agree to go with an ortho specialist. For my adult round, I researched 5 orthodontists and had free consultations with each. A few points: You'll need to do x-rays at some point for a thorough diagnosis. Request email copies or hard copies of everything and save it forever. Save any molds made. We started actual braces at age 10 when all my permanent teeth were in. My teeth were perfect until my early twenties when they started shifting. Now I am on track for jaw surgery. I've since learned that people can outgrow childhood ortho, even when diligent about wearing retainers (I did every night, all my life). IMO, it is still worth it in childhood. Getting the bite right is important to protect the teeth. During my adult decade of shifting teeth, I ground down the enamel in my sleep b/c the bite was off. In my mid-30's I have the molars of a 55-year old. Ask about post-treatment follow-ups. I would choose someone experienced but not on the verge of retirement. Plan on annual or every other year checkups especially in the 20's when the final jaw growth occurs. Good luck!

I also enjoyed these as a child (though not as much as Little House). I read them independently so probably 1st/2nd grade. I'm an only child so the sibling situations were interesting but didn't really affect my behavior. I had to stop Ramona & Beezus as a read aloud for my oldest (going on 5). The sibling situations were more of an invitation to start behaving like that and otherwise she was not very interested. We'll try again when everyone is older.

We've found AAS and OPGTR reinforce each other well. Decoding and encoding really are disparate activities for my kids and it is neat when they get the relationship and start going back and forth.