I use the lotion on the hands trick when it's bugging DD and me. Learned it from a girl in college.

I think kindergarten. There's a schedule in the back of the teacher's guide that's good. (I *think* you can download it for free.) We skipped the classroom type activities, but followed the ordering on the schedule, except for numbers. DD needed to know how to write those for math, so after she learned the Frog Jump Capitals (to get her used to the program), we jumped over and did the numbers, then jumped back to the rest of the capitals. We followed the two-days-per-letter schedule until DD had the hang of things and needed to speed up in order for her to adequately complete some of her other subjects. Retention is best when your DC practices each letters for two days as directed in the teacher's guide, I think, though. You wouldn't want to pick a random letter each day, though, as each letter builds on skills learned in the previous lessons.

Just curious. Why didn't you continue on with the Hooked on Phonics program? (We're finishing up the Kindergarten level right now.) Fluency takes time.

Why are you overwhelmed? We purchased HWOT Kindergarten for our 4.5-year-old and it worked out really well. (We're finishing up that last couple of pages this week) She was 4 years, 4 months or so when we started. We purchased the student workbook, the small slate for capitals, the large lined slate for lowercase, the sponges, the wood pieces (more for fun than anything), a pack of gray block paper and a pack of double-lined paper and the CD. I also purchased the teacher's guide, which I found really helpful. I bought my own high-quality pencils and chalk and cut them down to size. Don't get me wrong, DD still has a lot of practicing to do, but I'm very satisfied with the HWOT program. DD can write all of her letters and numbers and they are legible. :001_smile: PS - As far as what extras you buy, I think you really have to think about what your child likes. How much fun you want to incorporate. My DD loves music, so the CD was an excellent fit for us. She loves singing and dancing to the songs and they are wonderful for helping your child remember how to write the letters. The wood pieces were not really necessary for us, but DD enjoyed them. Personally, I like having the gray block and double-lined paper. Have we used tons of it? No, but it sure is nice when your child needs extra practice. It's also great for practicing name writing, address, phone number, etc. Also, it lasts across several grade levels. The teacher's guide was very helpful to me. I'm glad I didn't skip it. I'll probably get beat over the head, but I think HWOT works because all of the elements work together. Personally, I think people who skimp and only buy the student workbook are less satisfied with the results. Yeah, it's cheap, but it by itself is NOT the HWOT program. If you're not interested in Wet, Dry, Try, maybe look into Zaner-Bloser. It's really cute and colorful.

Well, I never got my Panda Express packet and I signed up for it before Christmas, I think (or right after). I was hoping to use the DVD. Ah, well. Just finished putting together everything for Monday. We will read Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin and Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year by Kate Waters. Then, we'll complete and color a little booklet that reinforces the highlights of the holiday. We'll finish up by making a paper lantern out of construction paper. Wish we had an Asian market close. Better yet, a little celebration somewhere where they have dancing dragons. I know DD would love that.

We were using a Harcourt first grade textbook (the Arctic Fox edition) as our spine. We made it about half way through before chucking it. We got to a couple of units/chapters where I was having a hard time putting together more in-depth lessons. Originally, I thought following such a text would be good...that I wouldn't miss anything and that I could use the textbook text when I couldn't find a Let's-Read-and-the-Out Science or other reader to fit the topic. I thought the simple text would be good, but it turns out that it's so simplistic that DD has a harder time retaining it. There's just not enough information and context. Then, there was the issue of, well, what do we do in three or four months when we were set to finish it...the second grade text starts all over again. :tongue_smilie: Not sure where I'm going with this other than I would just maybe follow the Well-Trained Mind's suggestions of unit studies. If/When you put your DC in public school, they will learn anything else with the next grade's textbook and then the one after that...

We too are white here. (Sorry, I know you wanted posts from families with non-white children). My DD is 4.5 years old. She has three cousins on my husband's side who are bi-racial and have light skin. On my side, DD has two newly adopted cousins who are darker skinned. She has not noticed that her three cousins on my husband's side have a different skin color. However, at Christmas, she referred to the newly adopted girl she was playing with on my side as "the girl with a different color skin". DD couldn't remember her name, as I believe it was the third time she had seen/visited with the child in the past year or so. I was a little surprised because DD has tons of dolls and toys of different race and ethnicity. She has never once referred to any of them as having dark or different colored skin. She will say the one with curly hair or blue bow or whatever. DH and I have been very careful not use skin color as a descriptor. I will not be teaching DD MLK studies until her brain has matured to the point that reading/learning about slavery and civil rights will not influence her mindset in a negative way. I do not wish for her to be asking her cousins about issues that they know little about. She absolutely adores the girls on both sides and I don't want to jeopardize those friendships. I have a hard enough time explaining slavery in the Bible.

I have not used these, but saw them in Christian Book's home-school catalog yesterday. http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=teach+them+spanish&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCG&nav_search=1&cms=1

Judging from the greasy looks of my cousins...normal. :tongue_smilie:

Anyone get their free Panda Express kit yet? Unless it's in my mailbox right now, I haven't. :glare: Cutting it a bit close, if they actually want people to use it.

I don't print to a printer, but create PDFs of receipts for companies that I've or others have had issues with. Barnes & Noble had some pretty significant issues over the holidays of pulling coupons, etc. after placing an order and charging your credit card whatever they felt like. And, it was always "too late" to cancel. Customer service got you no where. Their system is such that you do not get an invoice with your order confirmation via e-mail. I always make a PDF of my receipts for orders I place with them now. Otherwise, I keep the tab/window open until I receive an e-mail confirmation that includes an invoice, order number, etc. If I don't receive one, I create a PDF.

Keven Henkes and Mo Willems! DD loves them too, but there are several whom we adore. We love Karma Wilson and Anna Dewdney too for their rhyming.

My DD is 4.5 years old working mostly at the upper kindergarten/first grade level. Generally, we do our three core subjects daily (handwriting, reading and math) and then rotate a fourth subject. Rarely, I'll add art as a fifth subject, if a couple of other subjects were short and/or light. I add it, just because she likes art and I have a hard time fitting it in. Having said that, there are a lot of art-like projects within our other fourth subject subjects. Science - 2-5 times a week (depends what we're studying) History/Social Studies - 1 time a week Math - 5 times a week Phonics/Language Arts - 5 times a week (we work on a new sight word, review our word wall and also complete a phonics lesson daily) Geography - 0 times a week, unless it fits in with another lesson/subject Spelling - 0 times a week, but there are spelling elements within her sight word and phonics lessons Critical Thinking/Logic - 0 times a week Handwriting - 5 times a week Music/PE - 0, nothing formal at this time...she just plays in her non-school time Art - 2-3 times a month, but a lot of her other curriculum has art-like elements. This is art for the sake of art...activities revolve around the seasons/holidays. She also does a very quick Kumon cutting exercise every Tuesday and Thursday. This will fall off our schedule after she completes the book in a couple of weeks. We also have literature and Bible stories that we fit in wherever we can.

Uhm, hmm. Really? Yeah, no...wouldn't allow that to happen to my DD. And, we have a lot of dentistry in our future, as she had to have three permanent tooth buds removed by a doctor as a baby as part of an in-patient surgical tumor removal (rare disease). She will eventually end up with implants. Imagine yourself wrapped up in a sheet. How would you feel? That just seems like abuse to me. My mind is boggled really.

Really cute, but way too expensive. Would have to be about a $1 per sticker for me to invest. I'd rather put money toward a durable toy. Super cute, though. I enjoyed looking through them. :001_smile:

Yeah! DD will be so excited. Thanks, again. :D

Awesome...thanks! Any whales eating seals or animals mating...anything like that?

Ok, that's not a bad idea...not a bad idea at all. Maybe I could copy the workbook stories and then highlight her parts to be sure she gets the new words. Thanks for the advice! :001_smile:

Good one...thanks! We will actually touch upon dinosaurs within the next couple of months. She's never seen any Dinosaur Train, so I think this might be a good fit.

My DD loves this kind of thing, particularly anything dealing with the ocean, but I have to be careful with blood and gore, and reproduction (actual scenes of mating).

DD's just about finished with HOP Kindergarten. While she has done really well with it, she's not a fluent reader yet. I do see glimmers some days, but we're not there yet. I already have HOP: First Grade. While I don't think she would have a problem with the new blends, word endings, etc., the reading portion of the first grade program is quite lengthy by the end. Actually, even the beginning stories are a good bit longer. I just don't think she would have the stamina to sound out so much. I hate to hold her back because she really is doing well and I want to start blends, but I'm not sure what else to do. Thinking about reviewing with ETC and re-reading all the of little HOP books while we wait for that magic click. Anyone tread water after HOP: Kindergarten? If so, what did you do?

Is there a lot of writing with his phonics program or just a little? You could use letter stamps or stickers, if it's not too terribly much. Otherwise, he could use Scrabble tiles or magnetic letters on a cookie sheet or anything like that. We do most of our practicing on the chalkboards with HWT. Do you have a copy machine? You could copy each HWT lesson so you have as many sheets of practice as you need.

Hadn't heard of this one...thanks! Any others?

I think I'm going to take the plunge and order Netflix. Just the DVD service, though, as streaming doesn't work well for us. I would like to use some educational DVDs with our science and social studies curriculum. What DVDs for K-2 should I look for? I know these... Magic School Bus Sid the Science Kid Liberty Kids Others that have been suggested... Leapfrog Beakman's World Dinosaur Train Big Cat Diary (streaming)

Yes, I had to remember it all in high school. While I sometimes like memorizing things, I don't see a practical point in memorizing this. I won't have my DD memorize for the sake of memorizing. There are better things to work on.