:iagree: There are a lot of read alouds from cores P4/5-B that are great for both of your girls. You might lose your K'er if you go much higher than that.

:iagree:

We use McCall-Harby and McCall-Crabbs for reading comprehension. I also ask them the. Questions from their reading, but the MCall series are where more instruction takes place. Starting in McCall-Crabbs, they are graded so that helps me know where they are. Ds6 is about a quarter of the way through McCall-Harby and ds8 is about to start McCall-Crabbs Book B. The boys love the little 3 minute tests.

We've had to institute a lights out time. Ds8 will (and has) read until 1am if we leave the lights on. His roommate ds6 is also starting to stay up too late reading for being such an early riser. My responsibility is to get them to bed early enough to read for at least an hour before lights out. If ds6 is asleep, I'll leave the light on later for ds8 since he's a late riser.

I like the crossover grip for young ones like your ds, but I let my boys choose between that, the pencil grip, or the stetro. Ds6 is a lefty (as are dh and myself) and had no problem using any of those grips.

They are my favorite store brand and the one I use the most (90% of the time). Other than that, I only use Pampers. I don't usually notice smells, but I hate plasticky diapers or ones that leak. Thankfully, those do neither IME. JSYK: Huggies and White Cloud are the two brands I refuse to buy anymore.

Married 12 1/2 years here and I'm definitely more proud. Dh was pretty great when I met him, but he's become so much more over the years. I love that he can balance fun and humor with the seriousness of supporting and raising 4 boys. He's also grown in his faith which I admire very much. In the midst of all that, he finds ways to support me. I'm so thankful to have a dh like him!

I was the opposite. I was much more strict with ds2 with grip and letter formation. Remediating #1 was such a pain! Thankfully, #3 is light years ahead of where his brothers were at that age without any help from me.

Same here. Sports are also by age here so that isn't an issue. Our church had to write a policy about hs'ers being placed in classes by grade per the district cutoff. They aren't super strict about it (ds8's best hs'd friend misses the school cut off by two weeks but she is ahead academically so is placed in the same grade he is), but we were having problems with a couple of hs'ers putting their dc in youth group several years early. It wasn't about academics but maturity.

If you aren't adding either IP or CWP, start with that. I think CWP is a crucial component to SM, but I know others prefer the variety in IP. Of course, ds8 was beyond BA (so sad) when it came out so it wasn't an option for us. We added IP instead.

My dc have been 1-3 grades ahead depending on the subject but I still call them by the grade they would be by age. My 1st grader is 6.5. Ds4 will turn 5 right before starting K next year.

:bigear: I'm interested in what you ladies think when it starts arriving in e mail.

I need to make a sign for the school room in my eyesight. Ds6 is doing math right now. He finished the first page in 10 mins and is now trying to convince ds4 to let him borrow the "Awesome" stamp. :lol: I do understand what you mean :D

I agree with the PP. It is important to me and I would correct it. Now that I start my dc with cursive in Kindy, it isn't as much of an issue. The flowing nature of the letters seem to lend themselves to correct formation.

I've used both Lollipop Logic and Critical Thinking K-3 and prefer Lollipop Logic. CT got too boring for us.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Amy :grouphug:.

I think you answered your question right here. I often have to remind myself, "where's the fire?". So what if my 1st grader takes 30 minutes to complete a math page. He isn't complaining and he doesn't hate math. I will continue to gently remind him to stay on task, but if it's taking him a long time due to his prettying the page...I'll count it as art too :D. I think if she were crying and complaining or you were pushing her to do more and more work, there would be a different answer. As ds6 gets older, we'll work more on work ethic and buckling down, but some daydreaming in 1st and 2nd is okay, right?

We don't have consistent times here. We've started as early as 8 and as late as 10. Lately, we've been able to start between 8 & 8:30 and I love that so I'm hoping to make it more of a habit.

I don't know the answer but I've have one boy wasn't close at the beginning of K, one boy who was generally good at the beginning of K, and one boy who has had a correct grip since he was 2.5yo. I think there is a wide range of normal and your ds sounds fine. With my oldest, I bought 4 different kinds of grips and let him choose which one he liked. It worked liked a charm and he only needed it for about 3 months. Ds6 only used a grip while he was learning letter formation and Ds4 will not need a grip at all.

Perfect for a 4yo. My guy just turned 4 this month and is almost finished with A. I'm not a huge fan of most preschool workbooks, but these are good. He can't get enough cutting and pasting. I used them with my oldest but had forgotten about them since ds6 didn't care for such things when he was 4.

Why not? :D We fall into the needing to slow kids down/just plain love math camps. Ds6 needs a bit more practice but he's still sailing through SM. I guess he's why they make intensive practice.

:iagree: I use and love both but DEL is more Kindy appropriate.

We do Bible, reading (we use SWR so it is reading through spelling), handwriting, math, and a liberal dose of reading aloud in K. My 2nd K'er tagged along in other subjects last year (science and Latin), but none of them were mandatory for him.

My ds likes to use crayons or colored pencils and switch colors for each number. He also likes to make the numbers looks interesting. He is my artsy boy so I shouldn't be surprised. It does drive me crazy when I have to tell him to do each and every problem. "Mr. C, can you please do the next problem now? I mean right now, like this minute." He is also very sweet and obedient, just VERY distractable. Thankfully, he's been great this week and getting a ton done in record time. I almost didn't know what to do with him yesterday when he finished school so early. It seemed like we were missing something. :D

That could make quite a difference. Ds8 doesn't daydream or dawdle. Now ds6 can take anywhere from 5-45 minutes to do 1 easy page of Singapore PM1A. His dawdling kills me, but I just let him sit there with several gentle reminders to get back on task. Sometimes I just cut him off after an hour because I'm annoyed and ready to get on with the day, not because he's burned out. Thankfully, he's getting better week-by-week.