I think this does have a lot to do with it. He is very intimidated by a whole paragraph on a page.

We use McRuffy color math k. I also do some education unboxed with c-rods a couple times a week. Both my son and I really enjoy both. However, my son really dislikes the lessons in McRuffy where he has to copy the pictures by making them out of pattern blocks. He fights me every time we come to a lesson like that and he has told me he doesn't like to do it. I don't really get WHY, but he just has decided he doesn't like that activity. I am tempted to just skip that part of the lesson when we come to it, but since math is my insecure subject to teach, I want to make sure there isn't some important thing that he should be getting from this. Also, he doesn't seem to have a hard time doing it once I get him going, he just doesn't want to do it. Thanks!

Sorry still figuring out the iPad. Double posts this.

My son Loves the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. They are the first "real" books (meaning not Bob books or Nora Gaydos readers) he has been able to read without a big struggle. I am excited because he seems to enjoy rwading much more when he reads this type of book. Anyone have a good suggestion for books at this same level? We have pretty much cycled through all the Mo Willems books at our library at this point :001_smile: Thanks!

My 2year old has recently stopped napping daily as well. She will sit for a long time with her Magnadoodle. She calls it her IPAD. She makes up stories and talks to herself while she draws little doodles on it ans "writes" stories. It has been my best thrift store find. She will also play a long time with her my little ponies. My 5 year old will flip though a picture book for a good long while. His train set also works well for quiet time. Honestly I think it is more about building the habit in them than what toys you give them. I started with 15 minutes. Now I can get about an hour out of them...long enough to get a workout in :001_smile:

Thanks! That was very helpful in narrowing down my search :001_smile:

I just have my son narrate to me when we get back. I write it down and he makes a picture to go with it. We talk about things a lot as we walk along.

We do a math journal. I have gotten a lot of ideas from here. I use it to review some things, to get my son to think about things in a different way. To do problem solving, critical thinking type things. I usually do it a couple of times a week. I also do it to get him to write out his answer. He really fights me on handwritting practice, but he LOVES math, so he usually does it without complaint when he is writing in his math journal :001_smile:

We do a lot too, and I totally understand how hard it seems to fit in time to take care of yourself. My son does soccer, gymnastics, and homeschool coop group. We just recently dropped martial arts because he was required to attend 2 days a week and it was right in the middle of my 2 year old's nap time--drove me NUTS for 2 months before I called it quits. Some things I have done to make it work: I pushed dh to coach soccer this season so that we could decide on the time and date of the practice :D this made it a lot easier to fit into our schedule. We made practice on Friday afternoons, when dh is off work anyway so we don't ever schedule anything then. For gymnastics, my son is in the same class as 2 other kids from his homeschool coop and me and the other moms trade off taking all 3 kids to the class, so I only have to take him 1-2 times a month. I figured we didn't all need to be sitting there trying to entertain our little ones at 5pm when we could be home cooking dinner, right? Oh ya, and I also HATE cooking dinner. I use the crock pot A LOT and prep everything while the kids are eating breakfast. That way, even if I am cooking in the evening, all the veggis are chopped, etc, so all I have to do is throw it together. I never cook anything that takes more than about 20 minutes to put together in the evening. I really only clean on the weekend when dh is home and we aren't doing school. I do little things during the week, like sweep the kitchen and do enough laundry that we all have clean underwear, but that is it. All the major cleaning happens while dh takes the kids out to the park or something on the weekend. Lastly, I have trained my kids to give me an hour to work out at home a couple of days a week. They play, and for the most part it works out. They have learned that when I am doing my 45 minutes of pilates they need to entertain themselves. The tricky part for me is getting a shower in afterwards...but worst case scenario I am stinky the rest of the day and jet for the bathroom as soon as dh walks in the door :001_smile: Good luck, I know it is so hard. I would give anything for a someone to come in and clean my house once a week, or cook me a bunch of dinners and put them in the freezer for me...but alas I am yet to win the lottery...so here we are.

Thanks! My son has only ever played that fruit slice game at the Verizon store while waiting for me to talk to the sales rep, but he LOVES it, so I am excited to check out the Reading Eggs sight word app. Also, I am always looking for anything to make handwriting practice more fun because he really doesn't like to do anything handwriting related. Looking forward to checking these things out. :001_smile:

I just got a free IPAD to use for the year :hurray: I am wondering what your favorite apps are for kindergarten age. Thanks!

I have been using this too and her projects have been a lot of fun.

That's me too...sometimes I am so glad to have people over just because it makes me do a good cleaning of the house. :001_smile:

My son is 5 and he NEVER sits still. I have just chosen to embrace this and even encourage it. If I incorporate moving into the lesson it seems that it actually helps him to focus longer. For example, for math I have him jump on his bed (a matress on the floor) and skip count for each jump. I also have a big number line I made for the floor and to figure out 3+3 he would stand on 3 and try to jump 3 more spaces. For reading I let him run around the house after every few pages he reads to me. It has really helped a lot to just embrace it. There are of course some things that he just has to sit still for. I try to sandwitch those inbetween movement, and I still don't make him sit in his chair as long as he is standing at his desk and focusing.

I haven't used the ones that you mentioned. We did try OPGTR and ETC which both bored us to tears (literally). We are now using Sing, Spell, Read, and Write and we LOVE it. It is pricey, but I feel worth it. There is a workbook that gooes with it. The readers are really cute, my son actually laughs out loud while reading some of them. There are games and songs that my son LOVES. Also, I like that it builds in strategies and practice to help fluency. It builds in a nice way that has allowed my son to learn a set of words, really learn them, to the point that he isn't sounding out every word, then read the book for that section with those words in it. At this point he is able to read and comprehend without frustration, so reading is fun for him. We love it.

Smelly markers are magic at my house. DS likes to pretend to "go to the store and look at a menu" (he looks at the chart on the back of the box that tells you what each marker smalls like) then he "orders a flavor". He will practice writting letters all day this way.

My son started doing the same thing right around 4 years old and I got him HWOT. He was not AT ALL into the workbook, but loved all the other components, especially the wet, dry, try thing with the chalk board. So, we just did it that way last year, and this year, in his K year, we are doing the work book along with the other stuff. Most days he does it willingly. When he doesn't want to, I resort to bribery with a chocolate chip.:001_smile:

Yes. Any day dh works is a school day for us. Sometimes he has a weird schedule, and any day he is off it is impossible to get any school stuff done because "fun papi" is home. He is such a distraction.:)

I was looking at that just last night. Glad to know you like it.

Thank you! I knew it was here somewhere :)

Is there anywhere online to print geoboard activity cards for kindergarten level? I have googled and come up empty. I thought someone mentioned it on here once before, but I can't remember where now that I want it...of course. Thanks!

We are doing: Sing, Spell, Read, Write level 1 McRuffy Color Math K HWOT Evan Moore Begining Geography Magic School Bus science kits, books, and videos Artistic Pursuits

Ok, thank goodness its not just me thinking this. I love the idea, but I was starting to get a little freaked out. I would be completely shocked if my son's notebook pages looked like this by the end of this school year.

:iagree:

My nearly 5 year old has recently gotten REALLY difficult to deal with, but when I think about the issues I have with him at home, then think about my experience teaching in public school, I cannot imagine how much worse it could be in school. I think I would be in the proncipal's office every day and I don't think he would be getting the help he needs to deal with some of the issues he is having, or at least not as consistenly as I give him at home. That is what keeps me going. That and trying to remind myself that everyday isn't going to be a great day, and thats ok. Good luck, I know it is tough, especially with a new baby around.