Handwriting Without Tears was great for both of my kids in Kindergarten (one lefty, one righty). I've been very happy with it. I know your older DD didn't like it, but maybe your younger ones will! Mine also like that there are little pictures they can color after. :)

:blink: Oh wait, that's right. Kids should be inside playing Wii. Not outside being creative. Silly me. (Thankful to live in the country, where all the rules are Mom-made!)

LOL, I am also a PR dropout making the same decision. We've been selecting our own spelling words and learning them ala PR. Maybe we need a PR dropouts Social group! :lol: I think we will continue casually through the list in WRTR, maybe also adding our own for fun (she had been choosing words from fairy poems). I'm interested in hearing what you all settle on. I'll be browsing some books tomorrow at the Hartford convention.

Bumping for the other few AL homeschoolers here :) It could be that I'm the very last one to know this, but maybe someone else hasn't heard either!

Thanks for your replies. There's so much variation :) Perhaps we'll make a goal of 20 words, but make sure they're words she actually needs to learn. That seems reasonable, doesn't it?

We have a room that is right off the kitchen. We use it depending on whether it's clean enough ;) Also, when I send the younger boys outside, I can see/hear them better if we do our work in the kitchen itself. I do keep our supplies and books in the schoolroom. Growing up homeschooled, my dad finished off a corner of our basement for a schoolroom. Sometimes we called it "the dungeon" :) They have a 100 year old house and you have to walk through the rest of the basement to get to the room, which has one small window up near the ceiling. It met our needs just fine, but by spring we'd get restless and bring all our work upstairs. By high school, we brought everything upstairs. I like having a place for my bookshelves, but I don't suppose I'd miss the room otherwise. Since I have it, I like it. DD likes to do crafts in there (which is partly why it's always messy!).

Approximately how many spelling words does your elementary student have? (Poll coming) We've been doing about 12/week for a couple months and it's been sooo much more peaceful :) This was during an intentional break, of sorts, so I need to decide how many to do when we start 3rd grade!

I received this from my cover school yesterday: "NEW COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW LOWERS AGE TO 6 This past legislative session resulted in a new law lowering the compulsory attendance age from 7 to 6. The law includes a provision to opt out of the law by writing a letter to your local board of education attendance office stating that you have chosen to opt-out and will enroll your child next school year after they turn 7. You do not have to give a reason nor do you have to ask permission. There is no 'approval' needed from the Board of Education for your decision." My K'er is already enrolled, but I thought some of you might need to know!

I've only just started looking for my curriculum. There are several things I haven't decided on yet. In the past I've always had it purchased by March or April, but this year I am going to the GHC Hartford convention in a couple weeks. I haven't made decisions yet because I want to see them first.

Perfect! Thank you! I'll look around for something like that. I really wasn't even sure what I needed to look for!

Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. I have a photo that we took last year and I can see flowers at many other graves. Some are planted and some are in pots, though I can't tell if there are any artificial flowers. I could call and make sure. Thanks for pointing that out.

I have some artificial flowers for my grandmother's grave, but they are meant to go in a vase (they have a vase-shaped styrofoam base). I have no idea about this. What is the norm? Where do I get one? Or can I just dig a little hole and put them directly into the ground? Would that not be good?? Thanks! :001_smile:

We quit about halfway through PR 2. It simply wasn't getting done and it was a drag every single day. So we took a break and never did go back. I won't be buying level 3. However, I DID feel that level 1 was very beneficial for my DD. Though we've have stopped using it, we still use the markings and rule tunes with our spelling words. I think it's worth using at least level 1 and plan to have DS use it (slowly) this coming year.

Thanks, these look very funny! I think my son will really like them. He needs to learn just a little bit more, then I'll get some of these from our library!

Yep, I used Notability and Dropbox. Turns out that DD does NOT like doing math on the iPad, but, hey, we tried.

Ooh, thank you! I had tried googling but hadn't been successful yet. DD and I used Phonics Road 1 and then half of 2. I felt like we were having the life sucked slowly out of us, though I love so much of PR. Finally we took a "break" which has lasted us through to this end of the year. I've been having DD pick a poem or page from a book (she likes to use Flower Fairy poems) and make her own list of 10-ish words to practice. It's been good for a break. We seem to have found a good groove. However, I also need to make sure that we're learning challenging words, too. Thanks to PR, we know all the teams and markings and rules. She can break a word down well. How are you thinking of using the list? I skimmed the blog post, but... it was long and I have a lot of work to do tonight. :tongue_smilie:

You can have a conversation with me!:) I am thinking of buying The Writing Road to Reading just for the Ayres list. Is the complete list online anywhere? Surely the Don Potter list can't be all of it... right? My son is freaking out because his hands are dirty (and he seems incapable of walking himself to the bathroom to wash them), so that's all from me for now. BUT I'm very interested in using the Ayres list for spelling.

I'll be in Hartford! I'm excited, especially about attending SWB's workshops! I wish I could offer you a spot at my parents' house!:D Sadly, though, we'll be packed to the gills with my brother visiting, too. Plus, you know, it's not my house! But it would be fun!

I have no idea, but I think it's a fantastic idea! My kids' bikes are constantly falling apart. We are lucky enough to live next door to their grandfather, who can fix anything. If we didn't, then I'd totally hire your son! Well, you know, if we lived closer;)

From what I saw this first year that I've ordered both, the test prep booklet has a lot more in it than the test itself. I wouldn't get too worried :)

Sounds perfect for K, imo :) Just pull some history/science books for his level on your current topic and you'll be good. I wouldn't try to do something completely different. Your plan is very similar to what we've done this year in K.

Only if you're looking for an excuse to buy one ;)

I think Lydia Rose is the prettiest of the voting choices. :) Lydia Schoen (wait, is it Schoen or Shoen?) sounds neat, I think. Though I wouldn't choose it for a first name, I think it's a perfectly acceptable and lovely middle name. But then that makes the name lopsided toward your DH's family! What were your grandmother's maiden/married names? There's a void of usable last names in my family, but maybe you are luckier. My BIL and SIL gave all their 5 children a family last name as their middle names, switching between his family and hers.

Congratulations!!! :D

She doesn't. She's always held her pencil right, thankfully. I should probably get one for my (right handed) son, though, instead of saying "Watch how you hold your pencil" fifteen times a day. :)