:grouphug: I am so very sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your mom's wisdom.

We love the book Melvis and Elvis by Dennis Lee. He's a Canadian poet who writes lovely silly children's rhymes. The Notapotamus I thought I saw a potamus, Asleep upon a cotamus, But when I reached the spotamus, The potamus was notamus. It must have got monotamous, Just sleeping on that cotamus— So, feeling hot-to-trotamus, It took off like a shotamus! O naughty notapotamus, I liked your style alotamus. In story, song, and thoughtamus You’re gone, but not forgotamus.

Try using 1 centimetre graph paper for multi-digit addition and subtraction. She can write one digit per box. It keeps things really simple and clear. For math facts I would recommend Reflex Math (computer/iPad). If Miquon didn't work for her I would probably continue without a curriculum. Using something like Kitchen Table Math along with either Family Math or Games For Math (Peggy Kaye). I regret going with Singapore early for my ds. He hated it and it took almost a year of living math to get back his enjoyment of the subject. Keep math completely fun at those early ages. Let her see the beauty of math by exploring interesting topics and playing logic-based games.

ds swims with a shorty wetsuit (sleeves to elbows, legs to knees) at the pool, and a full-length one when swimming outside (our part of the ocean is frigid!). He is quite an advanced swimmer, and the shorty suit does not impede his movement at all. He also does diving while wearing the shorty suit. After swimming in the competition pool (cold) he needs to go in the hottub or shower before getting in the leisure pool. ds also wears a silicone cap, even with long hair.

Ds uses KWOT. He has completed levels 2 and 3 and is currently on level 4. He practices daily, and is becoming very good at typing. As a whole, the program has worked very well for us and we are very pleased with the results. HOWEVER, it is very buggy. They seem to make changes fairly often and break things as a result. Switching from the Mac to an iPad (with external keyboard) solved some of the issues, so ds just does the iPad now and doesn't try the Mac anymore. Although he has completed two levels, he was never shown a certificate or "yay, you finished" page. For level two, it just started randomly giving him old lessons to do again (this is apparently normal -- you can repeat random lessons until your subscription runs out). For level 3 it simply gave him a blank page. It was a big let-down as the completion of a course. It is annoying to pay money for a program that isn't consistent. I feel like I am paying to be a beta tester. But the content itself has worked very well for ds, so I keep paying.

is it artree kids? Unfortunately they are stopping doing new issues in August, but they will sell their back issues still.

Does anyone know if you can open/print the pages from an iPad? (the membership ones, not the samples) I am on the verge of purchasing the lifetime membership. It looks like the app was also available as a lifetime membership when it was released. Does anyone know if it is ever sold as a lifetime membership now? I am worried that if I buy the regular membership now, there will be a combined sale on the membership and the app when they have their anniversary in a few months.

For that age I would recommend the Usborne Lift-the-flap Picture Atlas.

ds and I just finished reading The Hobbit together. At the end he sighed deeply and said "WOW!" in such an awed voice. It is sad that there are people who never have that experience with books. They have truly missed something magical.

I have MANY favourites! Too many to choose just one. My ds loves poetry so we read poems together frequently. Something that I love (and may work for you) is that every year ds chooses a poem, copies it in his best handwriting, and surprises me with it as my birthday gift. He includes his name and the year on it. I laminate it and add it to my birthday poem book. I am hoping little ds will do the same when he is older. I treasure this collection of poems that will grow over time. I can always look back to see what his favourite was that year. It isn't too late for you to start this tradition in your family. With three dc your book will grow faster.

Are there real puppies? What do the puppies do? Here in Canada we don't even get the same commercials during the game. Fortunately I can watch them online. I didn't know I should also be on the lookout for puppies.

That book looks really interesting; thank you for posting it. In the "look inside" pages it talked about not using something numerical for the first lesson, to set the tone that math is not all numbers, and to level the playing field of the students. I think that is a great idea. I might start off with cryptography puzzles.

I'm starting a math circle! This isn't something I ever pictured doing, but I think ds and his friends will get a lot out of it. I also own a TON of math games and supplementary resources, so I think I can get this going without investing in a lot more resources (I'm sure I'll find a few new ones though!). My goal is for the kids to see math as a fun subject, to cover some topics that may not come up in a regular curriculum, and to encourage them to problem-solve together. This is aimed at approximately grade 3/4. Here's what I'm planning. Ds and 3 friends, meeting once per week for 1 to 1.5 hours. I plan to read a math picture book or excerpt from something longer (and mathy). We will work on a word problem or two together, solve a logic-based puzzle, and then play math games the rest of the time. Does anyone have any btdt advice for me? If your children were attending this, what are some things you would want or not want us to do? If you are part of a math circle, what resources have you found most useful or fun? What is your favourite math game for four people?

I just bought Exploring Nature With Children. It looks wonderful! Note that there is a coupon code in the blog review that LittlePinkMitten linked above.

desertflower, ENWC sounds excellent! Can you tell me if it is secular?

I recently found this list and I really love the selections: http://www.neh.gov/news/summertime-favorites They have a nonfiction list too: http://www.neh.gov/news/nonfiction-favorites

Congratulations!

Yay!! :party:

That is so awesome! The random mix of reality and fiction makes it just so wonderful. Do you get the show "Food Factory"? It's Canadian, but maybe there is an American equivalent. You get to see inside all the factories! My ds *loves* it! (I tend to never want to eat anything from the factories again when you see how dirty their machinery is.)

MCT, Beast Academy, Keyboarding Without Tears

This is my favourite FIAR blog. It should give you an idea of what you can do with it: http://www.delightfullearning.net/p/five-in-row.html This family does FIAR, reading and math for their whole curriculum for grade 1 (as far as I know). They do BFIAR for ages 2-5 and FIAR for 5+. I love reading their blog for ideas of how they implement each book. It is a great inspiration. We do many other things in addition to FIAR so we don't have time for all they do, but it is a good look at what is possible if you want to make the most of the curriculum (and add a few extra ideas too).

Games for Math, by Peggy Kaye, is an excellent book of math activities.

:grouphug: I am so very sorry for your loss. :grouphug:

I would ask if you can borrow her pencil since you don't have one. Keep the pencil. The next day ask to borrow her pencil since you forgot hers at home. Keep the pencil. Rinse and repeat. Eventually you should get yours back. p.s. I have a favourite purple pencil too :) No, people can not borrow it.

School is completely optional for my ds (newly 3). I don't even suggest it. However, he often comes to me and asks to "do school" like his brother. When he asks, we play with the following: - Scissors (his absolute favourite) - crayons, pencils, markers, paint, glue - wikki stix alphabet (fine motor skills) - salt in a tray (fun texture to play with, and he tries to trace letters in it) - lotion on a tray (like finger painting, but allergy friendly) - bambinoluk (visual perception, critical thinking) - AAS pre-reading (crafts and reading together) - play dough, lacing cards, magnatiles, blocks, Discovery Toys Busy Bugs (patterns) - playing with c-rods (stacking and sorting) - "science", which is pouring water between different containers in the sink - The Reading Lesson (5 minutes at a time, only if he is interested) - Leapfrog Letter Factory DVDs For Christmas I made him continent boxes. Each box has several picture books from or about a continent, Toob animal figurines, a satellite picture and map of the continent, pictures of relevant food, landmark cards, flags, and several items originating from that continent. He loves the boxes and we often spend time reading together from these books while he is playing with the animals and other items. I make food from different countries and we bring out the applicable continent box and find a food card that matches, or we take a picture of our meal and add it to the box. His brother does music theory lessons at home and little ds has started participating when he is interested. He also plays the glockenspiel. Ds8 does a weekly nature study outing for which little ds tags along. He learns about nature, listens to the book read during the trip, and if he wants he can colour while the big kids complete their nature journals (or he can run around and play). For Easter he is getting the Kumon books for Easy Mazes and First Book of Tracing. He is also getting the Usborne Very First Reading Pack set of books. In September we will start Picture Book Activities (similar to BFIAR).