I went ahead and spring for Jot it Down at the HSBC and had it printed today! Very exciting to read it. (Am I the only one who can't get behind digital copies of teacher's guides? Hate them) I am glad I bought it. Over the last two years I have really learned that our core curriculum need to be laid out for me. The project ideas are really excellent. My only complaint is that there are only activities for a year (I know we can repeat them, but still.) I'm hoping to get to the homeschool store this week to look at AAS and FLL.

I agree, when random people ask you, they are usually just looking to make conversation, or are curious. When homeschoolers ask, I think they are trying to get a handle on where you are in the journey. I've gotten monologues and monologues full of advice from a mom claiming to have been homeschooling 6 years! Only to find out she had a six year old. She wasn't talking about preschool curriculums...

I have felt so weird on this topic, because we always knew we would homeschool, but DD is just this year Kindy aged. Last year we did Singapore Earlybird and the primers to ETC, but really, a lot of parents teach those things without a curriculum - DD just learns better that way. We are in an area where plenty of stay-at-home moms provide enriched environments and/or classes for things like reading and art until their children go to public school in K. She is kindergarten aged, doing first grade work, but I still feel weird saying we homeschool. However, we have reached an age where all her compatriots are either in K or have been redshirted. We have reached an age where everyone is asking if she started Kindy this year and little old ladies ask her about school. So I have slowly been getting used to saying we homeschool. My friend who redshirted her son this year and will send him to K next year has no qualms about saying she is homeschooling her 3 and 5 year old. No one blinks at her so perhaps I overthought it - probably from being on this site. /rambling

I had to take American History recently and man, the things I did not know about Andrew Jackson! How is he on our money indeed.

I ended up cracking the HIG for the last 1/3 of 1a. I am good at math and reading the HIG it makes sense to me, but looking at the problems at the book - I would have told her to do them a totally different way. I'd look through a book and see if they teach it the same way you would have taught it, and get it only if needed.

Thanks for all the recs everyone. All right, I've been reading and reading. I am wondering if there's any reason I actually need the book to do a Brave Writer "style" curriculum. Of all the things to teach, writing comes most naturally for me. In my past life it was my line of work. I downloaded the sample of Jot it Down and it looks Great! But not really like anything I couldn't VERY easily put together myself. I am very hesitant to spend that money sight unseen. Hmmm.

I am doing a lot of reading on Brave Writer. I like the way it sounds, but MAN, do I wish I could walk into the homeschool book store and look at the books. Or find them used somewhere. :( I know I said I wanted open and go, but reading about the program I like it a lot. I love writing and coming up with ideas for writing isn't too ominous to me.) For the last year and a half DD and I have been writing stories together. She comes up with an idea and I get her to flesh out a plot, and then I have her dictate the story to me and I write it down while keeping her from wandering away from her plot. Her stories have gotten long and complex and now I am working on getting her to add in descriptors and dialogue. We also recently started using stickers (like of fairies, or monsters or anything alive) as our story characters and making the illustrations together. She thinks creative writing is the BEST THING EVER and begs to do it. She wants to read her stories all the time. She can write a few sentences for sure, especially if I were to let her do it with creative spelling. I just am not sure, if I were to try out one of the BW programs, which one would be best. I need to read a little more on her site tonight.

I know, it's like a whole different ball game. I just want to make sure I don't miss anything and also wasn't sure if certain programs followed ETC better than others. We have a local HS store, so I can go look through some of these things. We definitely need a spelling. I wasn't sure about grammar, how to transition into writing.... I've seen Brave Writer mentioned a lot. I'll have to go see what it's about.

Thanks, I will look at AAS and FLL.:)

Explode The Code has been really excellent for my DD, and she'll be done with the books this year. What comes next? (She'll be second grade at that time.) Because it seems like on a very basic first grade level the ETCs cover spelling/grammar/reading/handwriting and trying to find something to encompass all of that leaves me not knowing where to start. I really need an open and go curriculum. I could handle different curricula for different subjects, but not multiple ones for the same subject IYKWIM. We do a lot of reading/comprehension together and story building, so really it's the mechanics we need. Secular, reasonably inexpensive (or easy to find used, or just too awesome to pass up). Anyone have any favorites to pass along?

My husband too. Extremely hard worker, beloved friend, helps everyone, valued very much at his job. Amazing husband and father. Diagnosed with a brain tumor at 30 years old (3 days before the birth of our son) that, by all accounts, will cut his life VERY short. We might have him 5, 10 years, or less. My plea to God is 20, so he can see his kids grow up. So the karma comment is particularly sticking in my craw. Before this, he would have looked like one of those people. I might have too, depending on if you counted my abusive father.

They don't come off the end. The sides pop out. Like the drawer collapses in from the middle because there's no bracing of the vertical pieces, and they're flimsy and tall, so they flex. Sometimes it's even sitting all alone in a room and I come in and a drawer with nothing but ribbon in it has come off the tracks.

I'm in Texas. I avoid saying it around non-homeschoolers because I don't want to sound obnoxious, but every story I read, and every thing I hear, just makes me happier and happier that we plan to homeschool.

Agree with previous poster. If it's for long-term storage of lightweight things it's OK. But the drawers come off the rails at the touch of a feather and it's extremely annoying.

I already did Pinterest before pinterest. I used to right click and save pictures of things I liked/would like to do into folders. It cluttered up my computer and also there was no way to find my way back to where I found them. Our preschool co-op uses Pinterest extensively. I tell people I could never have homeschooled before the internet. So many people out there so much more creative than I am. But yeah, You pick something you're doing and then search on that. Pin things that inspire you or that you think would be practical for your life. I don't use it obsessively? But I love it when we are re-doing a room or I am looking for kid activities or homemade Christmas gifts. It has never made me want to stencil my pantry or make elaborate Bento lunches. :) Has anyone seen this? Warning, every pin has the F word on it. But it is a pinterest board making fun of pinterest.

Personally I don't really say I am a homeschooler yet. I tell people we intend to homeschool. However, I feel like a homeschooler finally this year. Where I live, Pre-K 4 is pretty much universal. Either you intend to keep your kids home or you have put them in *something.* We have started real curriculum that we do daily. I agree very strongly that a big part of wanting the homeschool label and seeking out groups is for the relationships. Every friend we had went off to school at 3. I wasn't expecting it so fast!!! We are strongly social people and really wanted/needed a group of friends, preferably ones that stood a chance of being around a while. We started our own (small) preschool co-op, which has been just so awesome. We do only want members who intend to homeschool past pre-K. That has been a problem in the past.

I feel weird calling myself a gym mom, because DD is 4, but I feel weird calling myself a homeschooler for the same reason, lol. DD is barely 4 and has just been pulled out of preschool gymnastics and moved into what I assume would be the pre-pre team. To be quite honest I kind of get why but kind of don't. Of course I think she's the bee's knees, but really she shows what I assume is moderate talent. She moved through the preschool levels much faster than they anticipate, but she's not super skilled. Though I browsed around on a gymnastics forum and it seems what they actually base that decision on at this level is an uncommon level of maturity (sit, listen, do what you're told), ability to understand and apply correction, showing up on time and in proper gym attire with hair up (more grading mom than anything!) and if they are strong or flexible, that is a plus. (She is ridiculous flexible.) The one thing the teachers kept mentioning to me before the move was how EAGER she was and that they didn't want to hold her back. But we had our first day of this new class two weeks ago. It is with her two favorite teachers at the gym (two teachers! for what is currently 5 girls!) and man is it INTENSE. I honestly questioned whether this was going to be a good fit for her - all the girls are 4, but she is 7 months younger than the next youngest. No goofing off, stand straight, do it over and over and over and over with the teacher on top of you correcting you constantly. Just intense. But when she came out and I asked her her favorite part, she said, "Everything." And she wants to add a second class. They were talking about maybe putting her in the 5 year old pre-pre team for the second class, but after sitting through the last week, I think no. I'll put her in rec for the second class, because holy cow. Sorry for the lengthy post! She's a hard working and determined kid who loves to master challenges (she usually names conditioning exercises as her favorite part of practice) and I want to really encourage and nurture those traits in her, but I don't want to put her in a situation to burn out if she loves it. I assume in a few years she'll pick a new activity she wants to try, but you never know, you know?

Everyone I know either homeschools for religious reasons, because their children aren't getting the accomodations they need in PS, bad schools in their area, or bullying, in that order. I'm the only person I know at this point homeschooling primarily because I think I can give her a really awesome education and am against what standardized tests have turned schools into.

It was a heat index of like 111 today. I think this week has been the hottest one so far.

If you (or anyone else) reads this, can you link me to Math Games? I've searched on Amazon and RR, but am finding a lot of stuff that I don't think is what you're talking about. I really am not that into the hands on math stuff more than the basics to teach a lesson, but Daddy LOOOOVES to do that stuff with her. And she is a mathy kid. She's obsessed with the fraction pizza I bought so maybe some hands on stuff would be good. Thank goodness I have a DH who's into that. What's interesting is that as I was reading the responses I was sooo against supplementing with anything - too afraid to screw anything up, get in over my head, I don't know how to mix currics, etc. But then she started having to learn to write the numbers in SM, and then we're also doing ETC, and it is SOOOO much handwriting. And I dug out a generic preschool math activity book I had and flipped through until I found something that was at her level (fractions.) She ATE IT UP. She loves the concept stuff. It was from "count on math" and came with a story and then a list of activities. Unfortunately, even though the book states it's for ages 3-7, only the last few units are the right level for her. We'll do measurement next. But if I can keep slowing down Singapore with kind of "theme units" from something else, I think it will really nurture along her love of math. I just don't know what to use after we finish "Count on Math." I am just not together enough to figure it out on my own.

We dress up in a special outfit and backpack and take pictures by the front door on our first day of co-op every year. :)

My mom is a guidance counselor in an elementary school. This school is in the suburbs, but has a pretty high "at risk" population. Her district does not have any kind of policy on this kind of thing for younger grades (they really just don't do it), but every year since she has been there, she has had to put together a presentation and go to the pre-K and K rooms. This presentation, EVERY year, has been the direct result of pre-k or k shenanigans in the bathrooms. Really disturbing things you would never think. I really feel for the kids in this situation, because you know they are learning it somewhere. The rest of the kids need the information that is being provided about never letting anyone touch you or make you touch them. I would bet a million internet dollars that the Chicago schools are making their decision based on similar incidents.

Oh hmm, she won't even be 5 yet when we finish....I guess we'll have to see where she is when we're done. I might try 1A and just shelve it for a little while if it's too far past her.

So, unfortunately, I did not read all the comments on here about Essentials vs. Earlybird before I invested the $$$ in it. However, I had looked through it and really liked what I saw, and I plan to use Singapore math unless at some point it doesn't work for us. We have started Earlybird and it's a great fit for DD and we're flying through it at this point (I am sure that will slow down later.) However, I keep hearing what a seamless transition it is from Essentials to the next level. From what is on the Singapore site, there are very few differences between EB and Essentials, so I am not sure what I should do when we finish EB. Should I do Essentials then or will it be too much review? Essentials B? Just look at 1A and see if I think she's ready? She loves doing math and I really want to keep it that way - not introduce new levels in a way that will frustrate her.

Thanks so much guys! There's enough here to keep us busy for a year!