Thanks so much everyone! It's so helpful to hear what everyone else is doing and what's worked or not. I'm looking forward to changing things up.

Any experience with it? I can't make up my mind if I should get the curriculum guide and coloring books or not. The sample looks great and I thought the K Enrichment guide had great questions and made the books a lot better. The Jr. K sample looks great and has fun stuff I could do with my DD more intentionally. I'd love to hear any experience on it and at what age you used it. Thanks!

It didn't work here. For DS it was too easy and repetitive. I think there are much better learning apps for less.

There are some books that are hard to find, like My Blue Boat, which my library doesn't have and it's about $18 on Amazon and not being sold used for less. I was hoping there would be a list somewhere of good alternate titles but I can't find anything. Has anyone seen anything like that? Otherwise I'd just be guessing at something similar. Thanks!

I wanted to do more fun suff this summer but I'm not sure how much DS can stop doing at 6 without losing skills. He's about 1/4 of the way through AAR4 so I'm planning to keep that going but maybe less days a week. We've been doing AAS2 slowly and a large part of his writing comes from doing the dictation for that. Given that he doesn't do all that much writing and I don't want him forgetting what he's learned should we keep that up too but maybe just do it a little less per week? What about ETC? He's starting book 5 and so far these books are more of a writing exercise than a challenge for him. He's finally caught up closer to what he's learned in AAR so they've been getting more interesting to him but overall he only enjoys the silly questions and the fill in the blank sentences. Is this something that could be dropped until the fall? Or does that risk forgetting stuff? He's been doing MIF and I paused that to finally dust off Miquon which had been ignored. I am not good at juggling so I thought he would go through Miquon until he caught up closer to where he was in MIF but it looks like they are very different. Miquon is going to have fractions and multiplication coming up so I don't know if he should go back to MIF. Since he is young and just learning these things how much math should I keep up over the summer? I know he's ahead of where he would be if he was going to school so I'm not worried about doing more if that makes sense but of course I don't want him to lose skills. I'm trying to figure out how to schedule things now and what summer could look like. He really wants to do more science and history. I also want to do more art and music studies which get neglected during the year to hopefully do a better job of keeping it up next year. He's in a virtual charter school for the funds so it will be nice to have a summer break from feeling like we have to report on a checklist of subjects but he's young and I don't know how to balance keeping up newly acquired skills.

Have you looked at the Enrichment Guides? You don't have to do everything MP uses. For K we just added the K Enrichment Guide to AAR/AAS and our math to round things out. It was a great fit. You could always use some of their recommendations for your older child but don't feel like you gave to do it all at once. Try something out and see if it works.

I've seen it recommended so much that I finally tried using it with DS. It doesn't work at all on our iPad mini because apparently it's too old but I also had problems using it on my iPad Air from 2014. Is that too old? Does anyone play it on an iPad? DS was having fun with it but it kept crashing or the sound would go out.

At 2.5 I have them start on the first Kumon books like cutting, pasting and coloring. I get sticker books. Around 3 they start Core Knowledge Preschool Activity Books. Check out Timberdoodle.com for lots of ideas on fun things to add. We read a ton. Simple art stuff. Check out WeeFolkArt.com for some fun ideas, I'm considering it but haven't used it yet. Simple science stuff like mixing food dye in water and changing the colors. There are a bunch of science type kits like Clifford. I never managed to use Before Five in a Row with my oldest but I'm going to try to actually use it with my youngest. Basically add on and do stuff with the books we read. I try to follow their interests. My oldest loved to sit and read but my youngest doesn't like to sit still for too long. Have fun!

Interesting! Have you used it?

Thanks Holly! That makes sense. Which pens did you order?

Thanks! Anyone else want to chime in? I still can't make up my mind about it. I wish there was another option because FIAR is the only curriculum I've been indecisive about. There are so many posts where people talk about what great memories they have of it that I want to give it a try but I'm just not sure.

Had do I know when it's solid? He writes pretty well most of the time. Mostly I'm focusing now on having him work on spacing and sizing. Sometimes there is too much space between letters or not enough and they are smooched together. Or the letters in a word are different sizes. Occasionally he will write a b or d when he means to use the other one. He can forget how to write a capital letter. Would that be the kind of stuff that a transitional book would help with before moving into cursive? Or should he be more solid before that point? I'm still not sure why MP seems to recommend starting so much earlier than the cursive books suggest. Is it beneficial to start earlier?

If it helps All About Reading has a free app that pronounces all the letter sounds and phonograms which I find really helpful since I can never keep them straight.

You could also have her take the AAR placement tests if you wanted to check for any trouble spots to work on.

I keep considering FIAR but haven't ever decided to buy it. I enjoyed doing MP K Enrichment with DS this year and thought FIAR might be fun to do this summer before beginning MP Enrichment for 1st in the fall. I like the idea of cooking with DS as we do the stories but I can't make up my mind about the cookbook. From the sample on the casserole it's not all that appealing, but maybe that's a bad example? Other reviews mention a lot of processed ingredients which doesn't appeal to me. I enjoy cooking and baking from scratch and would prefer to do that. Other reviews said the recipes were a stretch to fit the books. Plus it's expensive. But other reviewers said it was great but they didn't offer specifics. If it's good it's worth it to me and I'd do it again with DD so it would even out to me on costs. Can anyone give me anymore specifics on it? I've never done lap books with DS so I don't know that I'd go to very much trouble to look stuff up or add on to the books. Is there anything else I should consider? Anything else have a cooking component too?

I was looking at MP's First Grade curriculum and they recommend starting cursive. I went through old posts on the one they recommend, NAC, and most people felt it was too expensive and that there are better options so I went looking at other options. It seems most manufacturer's recommend it around 2nd grade. Is it better to wait? Or start one of the transitional books in 1st? A lot of the cursive threads also recommend using a fountain pen. Is that recommended when starting cursive or even earlier when still printing? DS has only been writing with one of those larger type pencils and it hadn't accord to me to change it. Should I switch him to a more regular pencil or pen? Or when he's older? Thanks!

Kumon is excellent so is the Core Knowledge Preschool activity book.

I saw this thread yesterday but wasn't sure I had anything new to offer. Then yesterday DD was playing happily during DS school time and I was reminded of your thread. Have you heard of the Fisher Price Smart Toy Bear? I'll find a link for it. DD loves it. It's very interactive and imaginative. Yesterday she was scooping ice cream with it, playing in a cave and freeze dancing. She always has new jokes from it and science facts ("did you know bees are important? Some people don't like bees but without them we wouldn't have flowers or fruit." So cute!). It is pricy but it's a toy your K'er would like to, at least mine does. I like that she's having fun but using her imagination and learning too. http://smile.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-DNV31-Smart-Toy-Bear/dp/B013UIQB9W/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1462382082&sr=1-1&keywords=smart+toy+bear

What about MP Enrichment? It's basically a list of different things for the week. It's definitely not a pretty book though! All black and white. There's a book of the week with reading comprehension questions, an art to look at, a music to play and a poem to read. Some weeks have a theme and recommend extra science books or other books to read. It's great for me to have a list to work from and add to if there is something interesting. You could adapt it to do an art project related to the art. What about a fun science? DD loves tagging along with DS projects. What about a few in a box? Like Clifford or Magic School Bus? I'm astounded at how much DD picks up when I'm explaining something to DS but not expecting her to retain it.

No problem, I know how overwhelming it can all be! AAS they definitely recommend starting at 1 and you can just move quickly at first until you hit a new concept which might take more tme and slow it down. AAR they recommend based on the placement test. They have amazing customer service too if you wanted to call and ask for advice or post your question on their forum. If she's going to do AAR2 than you could definitely do AAS at the same time, they don't recommend starting AAS until after AAR1. Both programs are really easy to modify for the child so you can move fast or slow in either as needed. Have you checked out their samples? They are pretty long and would give you a great idea what to expect.

Thank you so much everyone who was kind enough to offer helpful advice! It is much appreciated! Mathmarm I don't understand why you want to criticize and take apart my post. I was very clear that it is not intuitive to me so it has been neglected on a shelf. It's great that you are mathy and you get Miquon but why the need to attack me because I don't? I was attempting to ask for help in utilizing Miquon but you are just trying to make me feel bad that I don't get it. This board has been an amazing resource for me and I have been so grateful for the wonderful advice I have received here and I try to give back by posting when I can offer something. I have no idea what you're getting out of your attack but it's certainly not meant to help me.

Are you thinking of using AAR and AAS? If so have you looked at the placement test for AAR? It might give you the best idea where she would be with it. AAS is recommended to start with the first one and it would probably go pretty quickly.

Thanks Kristin and Angel Mama, you make me feel better about not getting it! I had read that Miquon is discovery based so I should clarify that it made me wonder if I can just leave it to DS to figure out, or if there should be more guidance from the parent? I don't have the Diary, would that help? Like I'm looking at an upcoming page of uppercase and lowercase letters, would that just be treated like different symbols as far as counting goes? Mathmarm have you used Miquon with your child yet? I have to say your comment really offended me. I have READ the section he is currently working on. I have skimmed through later sections to get a better feel for it. Obviously I wouldn't be asking this question if I wasn't willing to help my son learn math. My concern is that it's not intuitive to me so I actually wanted advice to help me use it correctly. If it's something that I cannot teach him properly than I will not try to use it along with MIF. I am fully aware that I should be with my 6 year old to teach him.

Miquon Orange and the Annotations have been sitting on a shelf since the fall unused. I finally took it out yesterday for DS. He enjoyed playing with it but the first sheet was too easy which was probably good since I could figure out what was going on. In skimming through the books there isn't much explanation and it's definitely not intuitive to me. Plus I can never keep straight what colors are what numbers unless I match them up. I know it's very highly recommended which is why I wanted to give it a try. How much involvement is needed from the parent? Can I just give it to him to figure out? Will it matter that I don't get it?

We are coming to the end of MP K Enrichment. I have books I have neglected with CDs to carry on a music component over the summer but nothing for art. It's been fun to have the art cards to look at and talk about. Some we have definitely liked more than others but I think it's been a good introduction for DS. There are so many art type studies when I went looking. Anything to recommend? I'd like more cards to put up so I'm not sure if that limits it to one artist at a time, like should I put Degas and focus on him for a month and then do like Rembrandt? Or is there something with more variety?