Kindergarten classes in our district, even though 3 hour, also typically have one teacher and one assistant. Classes are usually about 20-22. We have one regular teacher, one special ed, and one assistant with 15 since it is an inclusion. The ratio alone is helpful. But we are also wondering about how the curriculum compares to other districts and classes. To the nice poster from Canada...I'd still like to hear what your school is covering if you don't mind. It is always nice to hear different ideas/approaches. We are HSing our older son, and also part-time HSing our daughter in K. So I keep in mind things we want to cover in the time other than 3 hours she's in PS. :) Amy

Our daughter just started kindergarten. She is in an inclusion classroom b/c of a vision impairment. Most of the work they are doing now though I would think is not K level. She was in the same school last two years for part-time inclusion preschool. This fall they are beginning to sort by attributes. Following directions (color this thing yellow, the apples red). I don't even think they have started working on patterns yet. Recognizing letters. All of this she has done at least a year back in preschool. We are in a "good" school district, I am just trying to get a handle on whether for any reason they might be moving slower in the inclusion class. It is also only a 3 hour program in our district, and with specials every day. They also include a play period (which is good, except it's such a short program anyway). Our son did PS kindergarten but it was 5 years ago and another school, he was also reading a year before starting. DD is on target in all areas, and on DIBELS reading readiness they gave all kids -- she is just starting to recognize words. The inclusion class is good however in a smaller ratio and DD needs assistance with magnification etc. b/c of vision. If you are willing to share the kinds of beginning kindergarten work your child is doing, it would be helpful. Thanks! Amy

Hi, We did a lot of the activities in SOTW Activity book last year, as part of a 4th grade study of world history. We were using CHOW but supplementing with SOTW and lots of add'l reading and hands-on activities. This year DS is doing 5th grade. He loves history, but is finding the study much more dry so far. We are planning to supplement w/Joy Hakim's History of US. But is there a book or list of activities (or a living history book) that we could also use? Any suggestions? We need to do something w/this year's plan. Amy

A few years ago I would have said NO don't get one, I hated ours. Things were constantly falling off. Then we raised our ranch (literally, built to a second level) and redid our kitchen. I insisted no corners, but eventually caved since they made good use of two corners in our modest size kitchen. The designer said they would be good. And they are really, really useful. Nothing really falls off. We use one for canned goods and tupperware, and the other as my baking supplies cabinet. I love them both! Amy

Yes! Try sugarfreemom.com. I love her ideas, she also posts on FB. We try to cut back on sugar to a reasonable level. But we found her when searching for recipes for o0ur daughter, who has a dairy allergy. Good luck! I also noticed the idea for whipped frozen bananas. They taste wonderful, and our most recent batch of bananas suggested we go to yonanas.com. Good luck! Amy

We've looked into what she would be eligible for in our state as far as assistance b/c of her vision. Has anyone who has pulled out after starting K experienced a difficulty in transitioning with the kids? Did they have more difficulty adjusting? When we pulled our son we did over summer, so he was ready to jump right in in the fall. Amy

TXmom, she gets accommodations only for vision. This is adapting the classroom, and also the school contracts with state commission for blind to have a Teacher of Visually Impaired (TVI) visit school and consult with them. She isn't delayed in any area, just has the vision impairment. The other side to all this is that the organization in our state for blind will not support braille for her (for her, we believe it might be helpful to learn both print and braille. Other kids with her medical condition have been encouraged to read print only, but hit a wall in 2nd grade and later when they can't keep up reading speed or read for extended time b/c of eyestrain. Braille would also allow her options in, say, presenting to a group when she's older or taking notes in a dim lecture hall. She would not be able to read from notecards, she needs to have right up to her nose and very large print. She would not be able to see in a dim or especially very bright room as well b/c of light sensitivity. They also dictate what technical aids she would be able to have in classroom. They do support magnification devices, but TVI will not set goals for her in the IEP. If we pull her we could try to give her Braille at home or through a tutor,and we would be free to see and use what works for her. However -- and this is a big one -- we would receive no more assistance from the state group, they control federal quota funds toward equipment and TVIs and won't assist unless she is enrolled in public school. But part of me says, buy and iPad, we have a CCTV and brailler at home...and go for it. They have really been less than helpful so far, they do go into school but have only assisted when we've pushed for it, and it is very hard to get info/assistance out of them. Thank you so much for your thoughts, any more are very appreciated. This is a huge decision, especially as it would mean pulling her out of the state program for blind/VI. But we've also found a great group out there for homeschoolers of blind and VI kids -- they are doing it. Amy

So do you think that b/c she started the school year, we would get a lot of questions/difficulty from the school? We do belong to HSLDA and just renewed our membership. I would also check with their legal dept. first since she has a IEP. Does anyone here know if having an IEP makes it more difficult to pull child from school? Wish now we would have just done HS and co-op. She said she wanted to do K, so I thought it would be a good thing and only a short period. Didn't realize it would be so regimented/unyielding. I should have known from our previous experience with her brother. Amy

We homeschool our son, now in 5th. We planned to do both 3hour kindergarten AND homeschool our daughter, who just turned 5. She has a visual impairment and did two years of inclusion 1/2 day PK before this. (She also did HS co-ops with us though, so she's really been both all along.) This year is just NOT worked out well. She does well in K (only one week so far) but the atmosphere just isn't sitting well with me. At what point do you think it would be okay to pull her and just HS? At first, we were going to pul her after K (she is VERY active and needs lots of redirection). But I just don't see it working well even for 1/2 the year. The school just doesn't want involvement from the parents (other than contributions and reading). It is very corporate. The 3 hour in the morning period also is not enough for me to do all HS with our DS. The amount of time responding to teachers, getting her ready and then calmed down after (she is WILD, we think it is sensory or related to transition) -- is more than the 3 hours she is there. And the main reason for trying kindergarten -- the low vision devices we're trying -- is really not getting much attention at school. At home we could do so much more with her. So, has anyone else had a child in school or in kindergarten, and then decided early to pull and homeschool? Any thoughts would be so much appreciated! Amy

Jen, do you happen to remember which Walmart model you bought that worked okay? We'd certainly be open to a nonThule if we knew which one(s). Thanks! Amy

We need to get a bike rack for our car (4 door sedan, Mercury Milan). Ideally it could hold 4 bikes. I understand we need to first get a tow hitch. But any recommendations for the kind of bike rack to look for? I'm not mechanically inclined, so would like something that I could get in and out of the trunk with jt on-- and not have to get the whole thing set up every time we bike. Also, I'm not one to want to lift the bikes onto the top of the car. So something that would be in the back would be great. Not for long distances really, but to drive to parks etc. relatively close by (w/in an hour or so). Also I really apologize b/c I posted sometime last year about something like this and just CAN'T find my previous thread. But we really need to get something set up now. Thank you so much! Amy

My mom takes them monthly. Apparently the ability to absorb B12 decreases sharply when you are older (she's in her 80s), so you sometimes can't get enough from your food. She had problems with mental functioning at times until she began getting these. While we don't know what was dietary (we are helping now and she is eating much better) and what was simply this one deficience -- it has made a world of difference. She had been okay mostly before but processing was very slow and she would get confused at times. It got quite bad before it turned around. She's been doing great in the past couple of years since regularly receiving the shots.

Our daughter is just starting kindergarten. I saw someone mentioned doing BFSU with their older children...do they have books for olders? I just saw on Amazon the BFSU for K-2. Also wondering if someone could tell me if it would be too much to do BFSU and elemental science (one more serious, one more fun) and alternate? Which one has more hands-on projects etc? She is very crafts and, um, bug oriented. Likes to stir and mix things and all that. :) Amy

Our daughter is dairy free --she has a minor milk protein allergy and is severely lactose intolerant. This just started about 6 months ago. So no lactose in anything even medicines. As far as getting enough calcium, we have a variety of milks, favorites are flax and almond. In addition there is soy yogurt. Also some juices are calcium fortified. We also started her on a children's calcium supplement since she doesn't drink a lot of the flax milk, just a glass a day. She also takes a daily enzyme to help so she doesn't get sick on small amounts of hidden (unlabelled) milk sugar in vitamins etc. Hope this helps! Amy

This was our first year home, our son is in 4th grade. He did CHOW and the accompanying workbook as part of Calvert 4th grade this year, along with SOTW. We also added some additional readings from the library. He really enjoyed CHOW, and it and SOTW complement each other. CHOW alone may be too simple for a 4th grader. So I'd say try to use them both if you can. I will say that we have not done as many of the supplemental activities/projects from the SOTW guide as we did at first, as there is a lot of time period to cover. But it gives a great overview and the stories are fun to read. Next year he'll be doing a Child's History of Art, a separate course. Amy

I am looking for a way to help assess reading skills and comprehension. Mostly it is for our daughter, who has a visual impairment and we are concerned about developing reading skills. She is just starting K in fall but with her visual impairment many fall behind. I was also wondering if it might be helpful with her older brother. He reads well but it looks like it might also test reading comprehension. Has anyone used this inventory and how does it work? Did you find it helpful? Here's the link on Amazon that shows this item: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=basic+reading+inventory%3A+preprint Thank you very much! Amy

I just bought a subscription last week from Living Social, but here's another I just saw in my inbox today. Maybe it will still work? mothers day promo code - momday15 Someone had got a subscription for $31 after entering promo code I don't know when this deal ends but it seems like a great deal! Especially if you can get someone to buy you another one (if you have more than one child like me!) since it is 1 deal per household. Here is the link to the deal(this is my referral link): http://deals.mamapedia.com/deals/reading-eggs?ref_id=536892&utm_source=deal_share_popup&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reading-eggs&utm_term=536892&utm_content=gmail

I've heard several people recommend on this site but don't understand what it is. Could ssomeone explain? How does it differ from free sites like Starfall? We have a 4 year old just learning to read. Amy

Our son did a science fair project last year for 3rd grade on food preference of worms. We started a worm farm and have had them ever since! We started with a purchased worm farm (made for children's science projects). Learned the hard way (during the science fair project) that that worm bin allowed worms to escape. Not sure why, maybe our worms were smaller or smarter? The soil was too moist at first, and the worms were escaping the first 1-2 weeks in search of air. We had it in the basement and this freaked me out big time. We (quickly) researched to find out what our problem was, and my husband helped build a set of small worm bins for the project. I'd found instructions on web for building them out of plastic bins. So on a trip to WAlmart I found the perfect bins, with a flip-down latch. Of course, the color they had that evening in the perfect style had to be hot pink. :) We carried on with the hot pink worm bins, and my husband and son build what we called "worm condos" (20) out of recycling containers for the multiple science project trials. It was a great project, and the worm bins travelled to the fair too. On the new improved bins and the little condos we have lots of ventilation (they need air), but all holes are covered with a screening which prevents, um, escapees. But anyway, my son was a little off worms by a few weeks in, although did a great job finishing the project. I also did not make spaghetti for a few months, too thought provoking, although helped him complete the project. But we've kept the worm bins in the basement as they make great garden compost! No smell, just be very careful not to get the soil too moist. Every week or two give them food. Every couple of months we shift over to new container, add more organic soil, and spread the compost. The container really does not smell at all. Our 4 year old daughter though is THRILLED with the worm farm. She loves to feed the worms and also pick them out and move over to new bin when we get the compost out (will do this for several hours!). She also goes to our public school preschool and they have a worm bin in the classroom -- the kids love feeding the worms there too. Again, no smell at all. Hope this helps. It is a lot of fun. But I much prefer it when they stay in the bins. :) Amy P.S. I saw the worm tower link that someone posted above. It looked great! Also on that same group they have a drawing for plans for an in-kitchen worm farm complete with cutting board.

This has all been helpful, but can someone tell me what is a BMX and where I might look for one? Do I just ask for/search for BMX bike? I am from the era before mountain bikes, and is this kind of like one? Or is this off road bike style? Not quite sure if I'd know one if I tripped over it. :) Amy

Hi, We'd like to find a good bike carrier that would fit 4 bikes (1 or 2 adult, 1 older child, and one small one with training wheels). We have a Mercury Milan sedan car. We'd like one that makes it very easy to put the bikes on and off. I'm not mechanically inclined, and don't think I could handle lifting onto roof! Anyone have suggestions? Also, we use our trunk a lot so I suppose these kinds of things have to come off and on, so you can use your trunk? Amy

Our son is 10 and measured 4'5" recently. I was wondering if anyone could give me an approximate size bike to look for? He had some balance issues and is a late learner, hasn't been on a bike for a few years. If someone also has a suggestion for a type of bike that would be easier to handle that would be great. (Cool looking would be great, but maybe not so heavy -- he has a small frame.) Thanks! Amy

Our co-op is getting a group together to do Stanford EPGY open enrollment -- if they get 8 people they can register as a school and get a discount. These are online programs (no textbook, all online) which apparently allow the students to go at their own pace, you pay for so many months (pretty inexpensive with discount) and then the child can progress through as much as they can. In particular we are looking at these programs for math. These are open beginning at K level. Our DS will be in 5th next year and loves math. Our DD is just going to be starting K. Of course, the thing is that the co-op announced this just after we bought our curriculum package (Calvert) for next year. :) So...I was wondering if anyone has experience with Stanford EPGY and could give some honest feedback, either positive or negative. Thanks! Amy

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This is a duplicate, am trying to delete. Thanks!