This was our first formal year of schooling and my son and I seem to get an inordinate amount of satisfaction from reaching the last page in a book. Who knows if that will continue in the future, but for now... Finished: Draw Write Now, book 1 Get Ready for the Code, book A Get Set for the Code, book B Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read, pre-k Who Am I? Image of God, preschool workbook Will finish by June: Go for the Code, book C Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read, kindergarten Saxon Math K Finished as much as we wanted: Science is Simple! I think everything was worth it, except for the science activity book. We skipped around a lot, grabbed things here and there that got our attention, then pretty much dropped the rest in favor of just exploring our backyard. I didn't see much point in most of the "experiments." It's pretty hard to get a four year old to really understand the concepts. He just wants to find caterpillars and dig for worms. And that's fine with me!

:iagree: We're just starting out and I don't feel the need to attend a convention when I can explore a product online and read reviews from people who already use the materials. Maybe when the kids are older...

He's ventured there before. Remember "Stuck on You?" That was pretty country.

This will probably help, by the way: http://scrabble-words.net/

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Saxon.

Maybe Homeschool Tracker? It's free. You can set it up to just fill in lessons from date A to date B with advancing lesson numbers. My "lesson planning" is pretty similar to yours at this point and that's what I use it for. It also has an attendance feature and a check off for completion.

We haven't been at this very long at all, but I'm pretty pleased with how my planning has gone. Months prior to the new year, I start looking over materials and resources that I'm planning on using. We've been moving towards year-round schooling based on the liturgical year, so I come up with an outline of what our schooling periods and breaks will be based on that calendar. Once that's in place, I come up with a rough draft of how much of each material will need to be completed during each school session. The month prior, I enter in the following month's lessons in Homeschool Tracker. This is when I incorporate events from our personal calendar (birthdays, minor holidays, known days that my husband will be off) and I also take a look at our community events calendar to see if anything is going that we would like to do. I don't go into any great detail with lesson planning; it's really just entering in what pages we should be doing and things like that. Our school week runs Sunday through Saturday. On Friday or Saturday of the week prior, I look over the lessons I have planned for the upcoming week to make sure I have all needed materials. I keep a blog of our homeschool in anticipation of the time when we'll need to keep a portfolio of work to meet our school board requirements. I'll usually write a blog post in advance that details what lessons are going to be completed and set that up to post automatically on Sunday mornings. Each morning, I bring up Homeschool Tracker to reference our lesson for the day and take a few minutes to make any copies or get needed materials out. After that, school happens when it happens. Like I said, we're very early on in our homeschool journey, so we average about an hour or so for sit-down school each day. That doesn't include read-alouds, or playing on Starfall, or things like that. My whole goal is to have a well-structured plan so that I can have flexibility within it. If I don't know what's coming up (at least in a general way) in the next week or month or session, it would be difficult for me to know when it's okay relax and ease up some or spend extra time on things my son is really enjoying.

If it does turn out to be autism, we're okay with it. We've dealt with far worse. I just want to make sure he gets an accurate diagnosis so he can receive the most appropriate treatment. I hope these new evals will put us on the right path.

I looked up the brand on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=fundanoodle&sprefix=fundanoo%2Caps%2C448 OP, how does the price compare?

:iagree:

Just an update. Our followup was a complete waste of time, to the point of our case manager turning my account of the DP's practices over to Tricare to determine whether she should receive any further referrals since she is operating outside of norms. We have new evals scheduled with pediatric ST and OT. We also have an initial screening eval scheduled through our school system.

We've been using HOP also and this is one of my concerns. My oldest will be doing HOP1 in kindergarten next year, and I decided to add in OPGTR to provide the actual rules of phonics. Since there are so few HOP lessons, I think it will actually become our supplement.

We've got an almost 5 year-old, a just turned 3 year-old, and a 1 1/2 year-old. The oldest is the only one who gets formal work. Our 3 y.o. is very content to keep himself entertained. It's also our littlest who turns into Destructor whenever things come out. Did I mention I'm due with another one in June? :) Thankfully, she still takes a two-hour nap every day, so I save the more intricate work for then. On the days when other things need to be done during her nap, I just wing it. She might be content to sit at the table with a spiral notebook and some crayons, imitating her big brother. If he's working on math with manipulatives, I may take out a set that's not being used and have her play along. If the assignment for the day is something that can be explained and then worked independently, I'll take that time to pull up Starfall for both of the little ones and go through colors, letters, and numbers with them. Mainly, I pray for patience. And then I try to take advantage of all the opportunities for practicing patience that God provides. :)

Thank you!

Our oldest turns 5 just before our planned start date for kindergarten. We're planning on using the following: Reading Skills -HOP First Grade, Levels 1 and 2 -OPGTR -BOB Books, sets 1-5 -Lots of reading from early reader/beginner books Writing Skills -Zaner Bloser handwriting, kindergarten and grade 1 Math -Saxon Math 1 Science -7 general science lapbook studies from In the Hands of a Child Religion -Who Am I? - Image of God, kindergarten -Supplemental activities from the Teach Me to Discover CD series from Catholic Artworks Art -Draw Write Now, book 2 -Discovering Great Artists -Ed Emberly's Picture Pie 2 Music -Classical Music for Dummies Philosophy -Elfie

Good point on the cost. I really would like to stay as close to the WTM recommendations as I can. I looked up samples of both online and they look pretty similar, so I think we'll stick with our original plan. Do you recommend getting the accompanying flash cards and alphabet board?

Thanks! :)

Our oldest will begin kindergarten in August. This year, he's finishing up HOP Kindergarten and the ETC primers. He can read beginner books like the first set of BOB books pretty easily. My plan for kindergarten is to work through OPGTR and HOP First Grade with plenty of easy reader books on the side, plus ZB handwriting K and 1. But, my eyes keep wandering to Saxon Phonics K-2. We're using Saxon Math already and he loves it, plus it's simple for me to implement. When he starts kindergarten, we'll have four under 5, including a newborn. Simplicity is very desirable! However, I'm not sure what all Saxon would replace during the grammar years. I was thinking we would proceed with the resources recommended in WTM, but if he enjoys Saxon as much as I think he would, I'll be wary of changing. Can anyone give some guidance? Thanks in advance!

If anything, I might explain the journey from Baptism to Confirmation and how it is an affirmation of the vows said on your behalf at infancy. Relate the faith formation that occurs prior to Confirmation and effect it had on you.

I budget $100/mth and purchase as needed. Anything left over at month's end carries forward to the next month. That category covers everything from crayons to curricula.

This looks lovely. My oldest is starting kindergarten in August, but I need to remember this for next year.

I have all of my lists finalized, but I put aside money each month in our homeschooling budget and spread out my purchases. It does feel good to have a final purchase list, though!

Thank you!

Do you use patterns for the dolls or just wing it? I'd love to get started on something similar.