Thisis such a good suggestion for me, just the little bit of help I needed to hear tonight!

Thanks for the encouragement. I have installed Funnix, but we haven't looked at it yet. I will use the suggestions and just keep trucking along for now. I will look at Funnix tomorrow since I just downloaded it today. It's just frustrating at times!

DS will be 5 in 1 month.(exactly!) He has letter sounds down pat. I tried OPG a few months ago and shelved it for a while afeter we got past the initial sounds and into blending. He just didn't get it. I tried again over the last few days. Same exact same thing. He can look at the word cat and say "c a t" but he can't for the life of him put them together. When we try to say the sounds without stopping, he gets all confused and will throw out another word completely. I'm going to move to AAR in the spring when preschool is done. Do I just wait a ew months and try again? Or keep painstakingly sounding out AT words over and over? I am having problems understanding why it is so hard to go from "c a t" to "cat" for him!

Just chiming in to say that I'm another mom like April, trying to find the right thing and the right schedule. Carol, your plan is wonderful for me! I am going to work up our own version to use! Thanks!

Thank you, all. I'm pretty sure I will be using MUS, and will go with Primer. Thanks!

Mine is turning 5 next month and we are starting K in the spring when church pre-k is done. HWOT all the way. I'm not getting the entire program, but it's quite hands-on. 4 is pretty young to be writing anyway. If he's not into a pencil or crayon, maybe draw in shaving cream or paint. Spread out rice and trace through that. Use play doh. That's how we've managed to make it fun so far.

Does one teach place value more thoroughly than the other? Is telling time covered in one but not the other?

I have been kicking around the MFW K for a long time, and I switch back and forth about wanting to do it. Mine will be 5 in about a month and knows all letters/sounds and is working on letters. I m using a reading program, handwriting, and math, so ulimately MFW seemed not for us. But I am keeping an eye on it! I am considering it for 1st grade.

DS has 2 years of church preschool under his belt. He has a good grasp of more, less, numbers up to 20, and can do very simple addition and subtraction with counters. Should we start with primer still? Or skip to alpha?

I probably don't really count, since we are starting K this spring when pre-k is done. But in pulling together our plans, I have a 4 day school week planned with Fridays being our scheduled play day with friends and nature exploration/science day.

I've had bifocals since I was about 5 or 6. I started getting the progressives in high school. New glasses take a few days to get used to, but I don't even notice anything different now.

:confused: I was totally planning on buying AAR1 for DS to start. But it appears some people use AAS to teach reading instead. I'm a bit confused. Is there an advantage to doing it that way? Someone explain please? And, another reading question. I was under the impression that most sight words can actually be taught phonetically. So I wasn't planning on teaching sight words from the Dolch list. Thoughts?

W have the Rover app also, but we don't use it much. It's glitchy and lags for me.

I PM'd you.

Ug. I've never used one before. I'm not particularly good at that type of thing. I tried to figure it out on my own, I've tried finding help by google searching. Is there some sort of good "spreadsheets for idiots" tutorial online?

Yes, please! I'm a newbie and would really appreciate it!

Happens to us all the time. DH will make toast or something late at night and not put the fake butter away. I stick it in the fridge in the morning, it's fine.

Ha! DS2 was born in Pinellas Co too! We pretty much spent a week and a half trying to keep a 2 year old busy with a new baby. We walked some malls and went to the beach, but I really wasn't into hauling a brand spanking new baby out everywhere! Sounds like lots to do around that area, we really didn't explore it a lot. Last time we were there, we drove from northern IN to the Clearwater area, straight through, and it was about 18 hours. I'd almost rather shoot myself in the foot!:D

Ooohh, lots of fun ideas! I'm looking at state parks, we like to explore them here. And I had no idea about a PIRATE SHIP CRUISE! That is certainly something to explore with 2 little boys! The St Pete/Tampa/Clearwater area is looking like a nice option! (We just saw Dolphin Tale yesterday and DS loves Winter. He's quite concerned for her, but LOVES her!) Lots of stuff to look at!

We've just started to kick around the idea of making a Florida trip before spring break. We would drive, we live in IN, and the kids are 2 and 4. That, in itself, is recipe for crazy if you ask me, but NOOOOO, DH says it will be fun! We have been to Clearwater and enjoyed it and have some extended family there that we may possibly visit (ds's birthfamily). We are wanting to avoid Disney like the plague and not spend a ton of money. Ideas of places to go or things to do that won't break our vacation fund? If we plan a trip, I'm sure a trip to Clearwater will be in store, but we don't have to stay in the area.

Wow, lots of info and advise, thank you! As to which HWOT, not sure yet, but most likely K. DS has had 2 yrs of church based preschool and we do a lot of tracing and cutting. I have used some sample HWOT tears stuff with him and it worked well for him. He picked up quickly on the 2 letters I showed him. We have a state park pass and spent most nice weather Saturdays exploring a park and nature center. DS is really into nature and big cat animals. We re looking forward to gradually starting soon! Now to go back And re-read this thread, wonderful advice!

I love that idea! I don't actually have anything right now, I will probably wait until we get our tax refund. I really like the idea f starting gradually and building up to the whole thing!

I would love to save money and just pick up an IG and use the library, but it's a small town library with only about half of the listed books. I think going to the city and hitting up the bigger libraries all the time would stress me out. (and I have just to discover just why bat snot is crazy!)

Thank you!!! That is quite encouraging to me. I have stressed so much trying to find something that would work for his needs and mine. This is what sounds the best in my head, and it's the only K Program that I can come up with where I am not wanting to change something.

A quick background - I'm gearing up to start homeschooling. DS in is pre-k, ending this spring. He also will turn 5 this spring. I want to start school shortly after preschool ends. He's my oldest, so I am a total novice. However, I've spent HOURS researching and reading. I *think* I know what I like and what will work for him. (But it's all in theory, not in practice right now.) I seriously kicked around the idea of MFW K for a long time. Months. And as much as I like it, I don't think the K year is for us. Maybe later, I don't know. I've been flip flopping around changing my mind and debating about what to do. I've come up with something that I like, but it might be overkill. I want DS to have daily handwriting (HWOT), phonics (AAR1), and math (McRuffy most likely) instruction. I also want to have dedicated reading time together that will expose him to the world around him. (We don't now, it's pretty haphazard. BAD mommy. We do read, I just need a set time schedule to DO it.) So, I've come up with the following: HWOT, AAR1, Math, and Sonlight Pre-K core. I am thinking that the Sonlight wouldn't get done every day and we could just take that at our own pace. DS2 will be 3 this year, so he will like some of that also. So...am I setting us up for failure? I did consider just going off the book list of Sonlight and MFW, but our library is only so-so. They would only have about 1/2 of the books.