Great thread. The kiddo in the OP sounds a lot like my 6.5 yr. old DD. Very much so! Keeping my eye on this thread for more great ideas... :)

I think I will not be using FLL with my kiddos... however, I am currently in the market for some good audio cds for car rides. I'm thinking the FLL cd may fit the bill. Anyone use it without the book? Did you see any retention of the grammar facts? How did it flow for you as entertainment (as far as being a collection of unrelated works on one disc)?

6 yr old is getting: scratch art paper, My Little Pony toys, magnetic paper dolls, plush My Little Pony. I know she's getting from others: mini sewing machine, dvds, stuffed unicorn, Brave dvd/Merida doll 4 yr old is getting: pirate ship toy (Jake & the neverland pirates), plush MLP, dvds. I know she's getting from others: League of Incredible Vegetables figures/dvd Both girls are getting to share: Castle Logix, Camelot Jr. and a few other logic games

As far as readers go, I was never a fan of the BOB books. I ended up getting this: http://www.amazon.com/BEGINNING-READING-Eastern-Mennonite-Publications/dp/B000LBW3F8 which my daughter really likes. It starts very simple and it's definitely a true phonics reader. Obviously, there is Christian content (simplified Bible stories and mention of God). After this, I hope to be able to move on to Arnold Lobel, James Marshall and the like... **My daughter struggled to pick up on reading CVC words for the longest time and the book I linked above was a God-send. It starts off so gently (similar to the BOB books) but with -- IMO -- better stories.

Great idea -- I think DD would like that! One thing we do is dictation after every few lessons (we currently don't do any *other* dictation). But after DD has read the sentences, I let her pick her favorite. Then I close the book and read it out to her. She writes it and illustrates it.

I asked this same exact question on a previous thread and got an answer from the woman who made the dvds. (Not feeling like figuring out how to search with the new format, though, so you're on your own to find it. :p)

I can't get a picture to load either. I've tried multiple times. Nothing happens.

I have a friend who is homeschooling (or roadschooling) 3 kids in an RV. They've been on the road for 14 months now! I don't see how they do it but hats off to them! I just like my *stuff* (books! art supplies! blocks!) too much. :D

Awesome! That's a great deal! I will be getting the whole set! (We already have the Kinder. dvd, so I'll be able to pass that one along to a friend.)

I spent all my time pinning Christmas crafts on Pinterest.....

Gah! I just ordered The Humpties.... AND I have Grammar Tales/Parts-of-Speech Tales in my Amazon cart! I think we'll have Grammar covered next year! :p :D

I would think that if you returned the program, you would not legally be allowed to sell the items you printed from it. ETA: I am sympathetic to your situation. I've lost more money than I care to admit through curriculum that did not "work out." :)

So glad to see this thread. I had put together lots of short, individual verses that I wanted my girls to learn... but have recently been meditating on the value of learning longer passages. Now to get up the courage to dive right in! :D

Which books exactly are you asking about? All the ones listed above? The I Can Read series would not be what I'd use to teach reading. They -- IMO -- are not phonics based, nor are they for brand-new readers. As far as Alpha-phonics and BOB books, they'd probably be fine to use together. 4.5 is quite young, yet. You may just want to start off with some fun letter games (matching beginning sounds, etc). There are many sites online that offer them as pdfs to print. You said you looked at CLE's LTR but think it's too advanced. What about CLE's Kindergarten program (CLE Kindergarten II)? It gently and systematically introduces letters and sounds (also includes some math skills and other skills like cutting/pasting/etc). By the end of the books, the child should be reading short 3-letter words (CVC words). The price is very reasonable, also.

We are about the same place with my daughter (turned 6 in June). She has gotten a wee bit better about blending (after doing most of R&S Phonics Unit 1 workbook), but we haven't intro'd long vowels at all....

I'm using Singapore with my 1st grader (and love it) but I bought the Right Start math games kit and there are parts of it that I can tell are definitely *different* approaches to math than I'm used to. I was tempted to purchase the entire curric. but after having a look through the games... I was glad I didn't.

I've always purchased from: http://www.milestonebooks.com/list/Rod_and_Staff_Curriculum/#fwd=www.rodandstaffbooks.com

Last post: Roll-a-Turkey game http://www.lemonsqueezyhome.com/2010/11/homemade-butter-and-roll-turkey.html ETA: I lied. Here's more: http://kindergartenfever.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-printables.html

And some more we're doing (LOL, can you tell I'm gathering my files for next week? :D:D) : Thanksgiving predictable reader: http://littlekinderwarriors.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-fun-freebies.html My Turkey Family: http://www.miss-kindergarten.com/2011/11/my-turkey-family.html Graphic organizers with a turkey theme: http://whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com/2011/11/turkey-downloads-and-something-extra.html (haha, more may be coming...)

We'll also be reading Turkey Trouble (Wendi Silvano) and then decorating/disguising some turkeys-in-hiding. :D

We've cleaned out the library of Thanksgiving storybooks. :p (You snooze, you lose...) We'll do a few coloring sheets: http://www.mediafire.com/view/?40bc30sk5jjdpmn http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/2010/11/free-thanksgiving-printables-for-kids.html And this is cute: http://preschoolalphabet.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-is-just-around-corner-i.html And now I'll be forced to make those oreo turkeys.... oh darn. :D

I love this one, too.

:iagree: In fact, I take great pride in the fact that people are always complimenting my DD's clothes and I can say "Thanks, I got it for a quarter!" :D :D

There are some good rhyming games here: http://www.fcrr.org/curriculum/pdf/GK-1/PA_Final_Part1.pdf

This is a very sweet book also, lots of little poems/prayers (definitely Christian in content): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394827058/ref=s9_cartx_gw_d0_g14_ir01?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-7&pf_rd_r=0FDEMPTFEBA89923RM6D&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938451&pf_rd_i=507846