flamommy2mygirls
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Posts posted by flamommy2mygirls
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My kids loved (and still talk about it today) when we read Tum Tum and Nutmeg. You can read my more detailed post about it here and see if it's something you might enjoy.
Picked this up at the library and my girls are loving it! Thanks for the suggestion!!!
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I realized a couple years ago that my youngest won't eat much for lunch unless it's a hot lunch. It's hard to come up with things he likes that I can pack if we're eating somewhere else, because he got so used to me cooking lunch at home.
Oh my this is us too!!! My Odd is going to 1 day a week enrichment classes that go from 9-2 (and therefore needs to bring a lunch) and we have settled on yogurt and fruit as her lunch. She has definitely been spoiled by hot lunches at home.
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We school year-round, but celebrate "Not Back to School Day" every year on public school's first day. I take the kids for donuts and we head to the park for a while :)We do a field trip week the week that the public schools go back. Children's museum, science museum, zoo, and the airplane museum. The schools haven't gotten organized enough to start field trips, so it is a really quiet week.
These are great ideas too! I am working on my "fun hsing mom badge" and these will definitely help out so Thank You!!!
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We start with a family holiday - Not Going Back to School Day! Each kid gets a brand new pair of pajamas, which they get to wear all day, outings and all. I give them a first day of school paper, for them to write down favorite things, what they hope to get better at, and such. We play games, bake cookies, go to the park, talk about why we enjoy homeschooling, and such. Usually we end up tossing around old favorite homeschooling related memories somewhere in there.
They love the reactions being out in pjs on the first day of school gets. They wear them proudly. LOL We also take their "school" pictures that day.
^^^^This is awesome! I definitely need to do something fun like this. Thanks for the ideas!
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Just commenting to keep track of this amazing list! Thanks!!!
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Great thread! My yDD will be 4 in Sept and all I have planned for her so far is R&S ABC series. Lots of great ideas on here though to help me broaden our horizons. :)
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Thank you all so much! All the comments were so very helpful!
I definitely know that we need multiple years of phonics lessons I just wanted to confirm that these two programs were different enough...which I figured they would be.
And thanks for the perspective on including AAS. I originally wanted to incorporate it into our K year but with a new baby around we were lucky to get our phonics lesson done each day. I may hold off a bit on buying that and see where CLE takes us.
I have heard that CLE is a very thorough program and I am excited to try it out. I hope we have success with it!
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Has anyone used a different phonics program before using the Learn to read program by Christian Light? Last year (for K) we used McRuffy Phonics and Reading and I am worried that the LTR program may be redundant and she will get irritated that we are doing the same stuff over again, i.e. letter sounds and such. BUT I don't want to just skip over it and go right to the Reading LUs in case McRuffy had any gaps. She is doing well with the McRuffy readers but is not up to the level of reading chapter books or the like.
Any opinions or advice? Thanks so much!
ETA: Oh and I also plan to use AAS too. Will this add yet another level of redundancy?
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Just today I tried to convince my sister to pull my niece (9) out of ps and hs her b/c (a) she has always disliked school, (b) sadly has to repeat the 3rd grade this year and (c...even sadder) has not been eating and making herself sick so she can stay home from school (which just started on Mon). Her response was that she just could not picture her kids not being in school...that is was weird. Thanks sis. :glare:
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Does anyone else have an issue pulling up their order status? When I log in and enter my order number and zip it tells me that no orders match the order numbers entered. I understand they are slammed and it might take a bit to ship everything out but I am worried that my order did not go thru properly. I did get a confirmation email (hence the order number) and am wondering if maybe I won't see a "status" update until it is ready to ship. I don't want to call and bother them but I guess I might have to so I know what is going on.
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Man I just had a whole cart full of stuff and now my cart is empty. So sad. :(
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My Staples had their 2x3 magnetic whiteboards on sale this week for only $10. I have been looking at them every week when I would go in for school supply deals but was not about to pay their regular price. I was so excited when I saw the sale sign. I plan to buy AAS in the near future so knew I would be needing the board.
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Newbie here...what does WWE stand for? When I tried to google it I got wrestling. :001_huh: Thanks!
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Just bought mine. So excited!
And it is funny, while trying to justify the cost in my head, I thought about how we just paid $105 for 6 (summer) art classes at the local Art Museum (and didn't bat an eyelash at that) and here I am going to get 18 classes for the same price. Definitely makes sense when you think about it that way. I hope she really enjoys it!
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So is one kit (3 modules) enough to do art for the year? It looks like each module has 6 lessons so that is 18 for the year. I guess if you only tackle 2 a month it would last you 9 months. Is that how most people do it? My DD LOVES art so I was thinking she may want to do one a week, but I guess if I alternate with other art projects then we wouldn't go thru it so quick. Any thoughts? Thanks!
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Thanks for the great list!
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I haven't used it yet but I plan to buy Memoria Press New American Cursive. If you scroll to the bottom of the page you can see an example of the whole alphabet. I like the more contemporary look of the letters, especially the capital Q and Z, which always seemed so obscure to me when written in traditional cursive.
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I am pretty sure she meant that they're studying different continents, not that they are actually going there. :)
^^Haha...ok that makes sense! Newbie misunderstanding. LOL!
Making the year a "virtual" trip around the world sounds like great fun too!
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So glad to find this thread...
^^^Me too! I was just contemplating what handwriting book to get for my soon-to-be 6 y/o and really never thought of doing cursive first. I thought it would just be too complicated. Then I read all the responses on this thread and was wowed at the fact that 4 and 5 y/o's were starting with cursive. So I hopped over to MP and printed out some sample lessons and showed by daughter and she was totally intrigued. She looked at it and immediately wanted to try it...calling it "fancy" writing. She loves drawing so I thought that this might be a natural extension of artistic expression for her. She went to bed asking me to remind her that she wanted to do cursive when she woke up. I plan to buy the MP New American Cursive book and hope her enthusiasm continues when we get to actual lessons. Like others have said, we have never really worked on handwriting before, print or otherwise, she just learned from seeing printed letters all around her. This upcoming "K" year was going to be our 1st "formal" lessons. And I was --this-- close to ordering the ZB K book.
Thanks so much for all the info on this thread! So very helpful for a newbie!!! :thumbup:
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Thank you all SO SO much!!! All the comments have been very helpful!
LynnG in Hawaii - Thank you, thank you for your McRuffy reviews!!! And for the AAS and Zaner Bloser recommendations!!! I have heard (read about) AAS on many, many threads but have never heard of ZB. I just checked out the website and am so happy to have found it. Like you, I have looked into both HWT and A Reason for Handwriting but wasn't sold on either. ZB looks awesome!
I am curious on how to incorporate AAS. Did you just start at the beginning of that book 2/3 into your year? or jump ahead a bit to match what was going on in MR?
As for Right Start, it does look nice but the price is a little high compared to MR. In your opinion, it is worth the extra $?
And I am making a list of the SL (level A) read-alouds that are at my local library. Great idea!!!
All you advice was more than helpful! :thumbup:
Kristinannie - Thanks so much on your review of MR Math and for mentioning Miquon! I have been looking into possibly supplementing that too.
And how amazing that your children get to explore the world this year! Definitely not something you can get from a textbook. WOW!
And thanks for commiserating with me on all the time it can take to figure this out.
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Gently, I want to REALLY caution you on this attitude. "Real" work and progress is not accurately measured in workbooks and worksheets. Please don't fall into the trap that you think that unless you complete x amount of worksheets you haven't learned anything in math for the day.
I do appreciate you mentioning this! For myself, I know that what she learns is not measured by worksheets, especially since I am not one to encourage their use up to this point, my DH was. Mine and DD's math lessons consist of real world, everyday application. I guess I should have been more specific with that stmt. By "real work" I really meant 'more structured'. I am not a structured, scheduled person by nature so I feel I need to work extra hard to ensure I provide her with what she needs to learn and grow. And yes I have lots and lots to learn. ;)
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You sound like me last year. I was due with a little one in September and having a hard time making decisions about what to buy. The more I read the more I couldn't make up my mind. I finally made a list of the few things I was thinking about, turned off the computer and thought about each one and what I liked and disliked about it. Then I ordered what I had chosen and then didn't read the Kindergarten threads anymore.
This is what I learned last year. Fun is the most important thing.
Learning how your child learns is important.
^^^(SO true! Thanks!) Your child learning is an added bonus.
Thank you for giving me your experience! I haven't really thought about how much time we will take off b/c of the new baby. I guess I hoped we could still swing the 45 minutes it would take to cover the basics. Prob a little idealistic.
As for the lists, yes I have made a couple different ones and felt "great" about each one of them...for a bit.
Original list:
Singapore Essential Math K - B, then moving on to Primary 1A
ETC books 1 & 2
Christian Liberty Nature Readers
A reason for handwriting K (wasn't totally sold on that one though)
2nd list:
McRuffy Color Math K
McRuffy SE Phonics and Reading K
McRuffy Science K
Now that I am still looking (and reading), I realize that ETC might not be so great on its own. The Memoria Press - First Start Reading looks like a nice base and is inexpensive enough. (Thanks training5!)
O gosh I really need to just pick something. :blushing:
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I really appreciate all the responses so far! So very, very helpful for a newbie!!!
I agree with the idea that life right now should be enriching enough for my DD but I feel like she is at a point where she needs more structured content. She is 5.5 now but will be 6 in Nov and I have seen so many posts on kiddos in reading programs at 4 and feel like I am way behind. I know children should not be compared...I just feel that at 6 we should be ready to begin a structured phonics/reading program. I believe we have a good foundation in phonics since we are always sounding out and spelling words and often doing word families with foam letters in the bath, I just feel I need help explaining all the rules and ensuring we don't miss something.
And the same goes for math...I want to be sure we hit all the necessary concepts before moving on to higher levels. We have focused on + and - but not so much on reading clocks and money concepts.
And then add in my DH who likes to see what we have accomplished for the day...(i.e. workbook pages and such) and while this past year he has humored our "laid-back" days, I know this next year he will want to see real work....as will I. For myself, I need to know she is progressing and that I am not holding her back from her potential. KWIM?
Any more opinions? I am all :bigear:!
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I know Kindergarten is discussed 1000x over on these boards, but if anyone feels like talking about it some more, please do!
I thought I had my core subjects (phonics, math and science) figured out but I am having a hard time committing. I was planning on going with McRuffy K for all 3 since I have heard they are complete and nicely scripted, which for a brand new hsing mom who will be adding another LO in Oct sounds like exactly what I need. I have read practically every thread relating to McRuffy curriculum and was sold on it based on everyone's raves but am still hesitating. I am blaming it on the fact that I have also read one-too-many "Kindy curriculum" threads...and it (of course) makes me second guess my choices.
DD likes math workbooks but not phonics. She can sound out CVC and CVCC words but refuses to add the missing letter to a simple word in the workbook. She LOVES art and creating things out of anything and everything so I thought the hands-on aspect of McRuffy would mesh well with her.
Some other random thoughts...
If I do go with McRuffy K math, should I add some MM for extra challenge? DD has enjoyed doing addition and subtraction workbooks over the past few months and am worried she could be bored with what may turnout to be a bunch of "review" concepts in McRuffy K Math.
And to add even more to the mix...I was SO set on CLE Learn to Read for many, many months and feel really torn on whether I should go with that over McRuffy.
Any advice is appreciated! Tell me I am not the only one obsessing over what should be a fun and low stress year. Thanks!
Sleepover question/situation
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I think this ^^^ is great advice! I am a middle child with an older and younger sister so I also see both sides. My kids (2 girls 7&4 and a boy 1) are still young so including everyone when friends are over is very important to us. IDK how this will change when they get older b/c I can't see ydd leaving her sis alone, voluntarily. I would definitely have to find something fun to distract her from getting in the middle of the older girl's time together. That would be my only advice, do as much as you can to distract the younger girl but explain, ahead of time, to your daughter that the younger sis may not take to these distractions and the older girls will need to be kind and patient with her. No reason to rock the boat over 1 night. It will all work out. :)