I'm trying to find some books for DD's birthday but unfortunately there are no book stores here so I've just been searching on Amazon. Nothing is really jumping out at me. She prefers board books over longer paper books, like she'll ask me to read the short board book versions of Ladybug Girl over and over but never asks for the long paper version. Her favorites are Ladybug Girl, Llama Llama, Usborne that's not my..., and Princess stories. Before going to Disney I bought some of the board book versions of the princess characters which she loves but I wish were more interesting. Any recommendations?

Rach to get it to work for me I downloaded their app and then under listen free downloaded the book. From their ut was available in the app even after I turned the iPad to airplane mode. Thanks Tracy!

I can't seem to find anything that seems to be great for DD's 3rd birthday. It seems so much harder to shop for girls! We have dress up clothes, puzzles, blocks, magnatiles, Rody, games, kitchen, play food, duplos, little people, dolls, etc. It seems like we already have so much of the toys out there that I'm not sure what to get. Any ideas?

What about Memoria Press First Start Reading? It's gentle and starts with simple blends.

Thanks so much! It really helps to have an idea on how long it will take per day so I can decide on what else to add in.

DS is almost finished with AAR1 so I was looking into ordering AAR2 and their website says to start AAS after finishing AAR1. I hadn't planned to start spelling so early but DS does seem to be a natural speller. We are also using FSR and he really enjoys their dictation practice where he has to write out the words on his own. My first priority for him has been learning to read so will AAS only help with that or would doing AAS and AAR2 be too much for a 5.5 yr old?

We started AAR1 very slowly around April. It was a had transition at first from AAR Pre-level. Once he caught on however it went really well. He doesn't have any word cards that he needs to learn and quickly learns the new words before moving onto the next lesson. He is begging to do more than one lesson a day now. He is now on lesson 30 and it looks like there is more reading and only a few lessons left so I think it will go quickly. He loves reading the sentences on the fluency sheets and only resists when it is a page full of words which we usually spread over a few days. How is the transition to AAR2? Did your child slow down with it? Do those lessons take longer per day than in 1?

Thanks I hadn't even considered that they might be dull! Tanaqui is there a pair that you would recommend?

I bought these for DS when I think he was like 4: http://smile.amazon.com/Fiskars-Inch-Left-handed-Pointed-tip-Scissors/dp/B0020MLI4S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437692724&sr=8-1&keywords=left+hand+scissors Today he was cutting and couldn't seem to cut as close as he wanted and I couldn't with his scissors when I tried either. I'm thinking he needs another sharper pair but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be another lefty version that's sharper. I've read different reviews that say you must buy a lefty pair and ones that say it doesn't matter. Any recommendations? Thanks!

Does anyone have IKEA kitchen cabinets? Are you happy with them? We are trying to decide what to do for our DIY kitchen remodel. DH found IKEA cabinets are the best price and apparently are meant for an easier install for a DIY but I don't know anything about them or anyone who has used thrm.

Have you heard of the 5:2 diet? I agree with the previous post that a complete "cleanse" is absolutely not healthy, not sustainable and will burn muscle which you don't want. The 5:2 diet is a restricted fast of 500 calories twice a week. For me total focus for 2 days a week is sustainable long term whereas really great clean eating for a week is not. Plus it's been shown to have real health benefits long term to the body. I've been struggling with injury and illness which has been hard so I really sympathize with you being hurt and in pain. Congrats on making such great changes! Don't let being down right now get to you. Look forward and you will be feeling better when you are healed.

Thank you bolt! I really like how you frame this and gives me a much better way of viewing his behavior. I never considered how much better it is that he is saying he is going to do something bad instead of actually doing it. I've been so bothered by the articulated threat that I never saw it from the way you describe it. Yes please give me a script to use!! I think coming at this from the way you are describing will really help. Just thinking of it your way really helps me not be so freaked out and worried about it. Which I know overall will really help the situation. Thanks Aimee! I am glad that it is hopefully an age and immaturity issue. I do know he can say the right things Iike apologize now but it is absolutely parroting and not heartfelt.

Thank you very much bolt! I'm really going to try to implement this. Do you have any advice on how to respond to negative statements? Like he will say I'm going to hurt you, or bite or punch. How would you respond to that?

Thank you so much for the feedback and ideas everyone!! I feel like I have tried everything without seeing anything that seems to help. I try telling him how happy I am to see him being generous and kind and working on positive reinforcement. When he acts unkindly, like pinching his sister or saying he is going to hurt her, I have tried talking to him immediately and about it later, time outs, sending him to his room because if he can't behave nicely he can't be with us, etc. Nothing seems to really work though. He's always more concerned about justifying his behavior than actually caring about what he did wrong. I've told him there is no excuse for hurting anyone and that I will not hear any excuse. I've told him to ask for help if he's getting upset by something and sometimes he's great about asking for help when DD is doing something that is bothering him. I don't think he's shown any signs of being on the autistic spectrum from my limited understanding. He's very sociable and outgoing and loves interacting with people. If anything he is a little too friendly and talkative and other kids seem to be more shy and standoffish when he sees them at his weekly karate class or AWANA. He's constantly trying to hold hands with girls and sits too close to them. He has understood from a young age what is going on in a story and how the characters were feeling. If anything he understood it too well, the monkeys getting hurt after jumping on the bed would make him cry when he was little (I want to say 18 mos or so?) and so would that poor wet pet in Dr. Seuss. He definitely understands emotions and could correctly describe them. I would say he's a pretty middle of the road child. He can be loud and rough and tumble but he can quietly look at books and play Legos for hours too. Thank you tsuga for sharing! I really appreciate it!! It is so hard to see this behavior and be worried about it! Thank you Kiara! That is a good description of DS. He gets hyper and starts acting badly. He is very different from DD. If we are at all stern with her she will cry and be upset but DS never seems to be bothered by us being sad, angry or disappointed with him. HomeAgain I would love to hear more about how you make this work. What do you have on the wall? How do you put this into action? Thanks! HeighHo can you give me some ideas for deep muscle work? Most of his activity is running around or climbing. He does do karate 1-2x week. I've been talking about the golden rule over and over but he's not getting it. At Karate they also emphasize treating people with respect. Yes you are absolutely right, the smile is about him winning. That drives me crazy more than anything else that he is smiling about something awful! I just do not understand it, how does making us upset make him happy? Thank you very much Bolt! You really articulated exactly what's going on! I really appreciate your advice! I will be trying to make that work. What would you do in the moment after he has done something wrong?

DS is 5.5 and driving us crazy. He is very smart so I feel like he should not be acting the way he is. He loves his sister but he can go from being very sweet with her to hurting her very quickly. From pinching her cheeks to pulling her arm. He will also do the same thing with DH where he will try to kick and punch him out of nowhere for no reason. He's less likely to do it with me but still will at times. Last week he was reading with me and read slap and hit me really hard to demonstrate the word when I asked him if he knew what it meant. It really hurt and he did not seem to care at all. He will randomly say something mean about hurting someone. When called on his behavior he will laugh or smile about it. Like DH is coming back from taking the kids to the store and DS hurt DD in the car by pulling her arm and DS starts smiling as he hears DH talking to me. I just don't get it. He knows it's wrong and he knows I'll be upset but he doesn't feel bad about it. Am I expecting too much? I feel like he should feel bad and ashamed about his behavior. I understand his impulse control isn't going to be great but I feel like if he hurts DD in the moment say because she has his toy that he should feel bad about it later, but he never does. He will apologize but it's usually with an excuse as to why he did it and without looking like he gets it or feels bad. I also don't understand how a pretty sheltered child gets these ideas. There is no outside interaction with kids or media where he would get the idea to talk about hurting someone. I've heard other parents talking about what a bad influence other kids are when their kids start K so is this really the age where kids act like this and I have just heard other parents blaming peers when it's an age thing? Not sure if that makes sense, I mean that it's not kids getting these ideas from other kids but just a normal age thing? The lack of empathy really freaks me out. DH remembers being such a perfect child who would never disobey his parents and is really bothered by DS acting like this. I was a far less perfect child but I would have been very upset if my parents were stern with me, but it doesn't faze DS. Are we doing something wrong? Can we get through to him? Is this normal?? I'm also really bothered that he can get like that during quality time together. As in playing with him one on one where he is the center of attention so it doesn't seem to me to be at all about getting attention since he has it.

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/041356 Is this the right one? I've seen RS games mentioned a lot as a great resource. I was surprised by the price but it does come with an abacus which we don't have. DS is currently working through Singapore Essentials B and almost done with Mathematical Reasoning Level A. I am planning on moving onto Miquon Orange and some sort of Singapore math level 1 next (not sure if MIF or some version of Singapore?). Are the games pretty straight forward? Is it worth the price? I am not mathy at all so I want to make sure that DS is getting a good foundation. I would definitely not be coming up with math games on my own. There is also a separate manual and work sheets it looks like for the abacus. I've never used an abacus, are these worth purchasing? Or is it enough to use it with the games?

No experience with that book but for FWIW DS did the HWT Pre-K book and is now on the K book and I'm not impressed with them. He did all of the Kumon letter and number books and mazes and I think they were more helpful than the actual HWT books. I think the Kumon books had more practice. He also did the ETC 1-3 primers which he really liked and I think was much better for his handwriting and letter practice than HWT was so I would really recommend those and the price is great.

DS is 5 and has completed the HWT pre-K book and the ETC primers. He's done all the Kumon letter and number books. He knows his letters and some basic spelling and for the most part at this point really needs to work on how to properly space words and sentences. For example for his name he still tends to write it more like NAm e than Name. He's working through HWT K and is bored since he knows his letters. I'm trying to remind him to focus on making the best letters he can since there are not that many to write. For the most part right now I'm focused on his reading and he's about halfway through AAR1 and about 1/4 through MP FSR, the latter being a great writing practice for him. I am not sure what to do when he finishes FSR. I will have him go back to ETC which I put on hold since it seemed like overkill with FSR but ETC doesn't have as much writing as FSR. FSR has been a great introduction to simple dictation and sentences. Should I move him into HWT 1? Would that be a better fit? Use something else?

Thank you! Happily it did arrive from my phone order from http://www.graceandtruthbooks.com. Thank you very much for the recommendation! DS is loving it and begging for extra chapters. DD is even sticking around for more of it than she usually dies when I read to DS.

DS started AAR1 right after turning 5 and he had completed pre-level. I was nervous because it does seem like a big jump from pre-level but he's doing great with it. We've only been doing it for about 8 weeks and he is about halfway through it now. It starts slowly and you can just do part of the lessons as needed depending on how fast your child is able to grasp it. DS really liked the whiteboard magnets at first and did not like the cards or fluency sheets so we started slowly with the magnets. Now he is zipping through the lessons and has mastered all the cards suddenly that had been in review. I think you should finish pre-level first since you have it and they don't know all of their letter sounds. For DS at the end of pre-level it was way too easy for him so we did about two or three lessons a day and finished it very quickly after starting off slowly with only one lesson per day so you could always move faster if they are doing well. Since AAR1 us a big jump it will probably help their confidence and willingness to do it if they have confidence in their abilities from pre-level and know their letter sounds.

If she likes spelling look at First Start Reading by Memoria Press. It's a very gentle beginning reading program that uses writing words and sentences to complement the phonics. DS loves spelling so he's enjoying it. He also loved the Explode The Code Books so you might want to look into them.

DS is 5 and is very much enjoying the First Start Reading Program so I am thinking about adding in some of the other K supplements. It's hard to understand much about them from the description online. Can anyone tell me more about: K Enrichment Guide: worthwhile? Copybook I: not sure what this is used for? Just a blank book? Is there any instructions on what to write or draw? Composition I: the sample just starts with letters so not sure when it gets to more writing. Is it a good start in copywork? K book of Crafts: are these based on books? Do they tie in to the other supplements?

Thank you so much everyone! Sarah, Big Picture looked perfect and I ended scouring the Internet in search of my own copy with CD. I finally found a store with a copy and hopefully it will be on its way. It feels strange not being able to find something nowadays and I had to order by phone so I don't even have an order confirmation which makes me nervous about getting it. Thanks Kareni I had no idea that Weiss had an Old Testament CD, at least that one was easy and on its way from Amazon. Now I just need to go look up those Rabbit stories and thanks for the tip that I can find them on Amazon.

DS is missing his AWANA classes since its summer break. He very sweetly requested a Bible story CD for his birthday or Christmas so I'd like to find him a good one but I'm having trouble. He already has the Wee Sing CD but he doesn't want songs. He has a few story CDs that he likes so he wants to listen to an actual story. Any recommendations? Thanks!

I did end up buying it along with the lesson plans. You could just start with the FSR Book A and use that. The lesson plans skip around in Core Phonics K and 1, a nature reader animal A-Z book and animal coloring book for the first 4 weeks. The Core Phonic pages reinforce whatever letter is being learned in the FSR book. It really does start off very gently. Coloring page and introducing a letter and its sounds. Very little blending at the beginning. For DS it's still too easy for him but he really likes it. He's doing AAR1 and about a third of the way through it now and it's really working great for him. He was always trying to copy words down so I thought he'd like to have something with more of a phonics based writing and he really likes that about FSR. He wants to write words and sentences. Previously he had finished and loved the ETC getting started books and I was going to move him on to ETC1 but I'm holding off on that since I was afraid it would be too much with the Core Phonics book which are in the lesson plans. There was a big thread before I started this thread about the cons of AAR which was when we had just started AAR1 and it freaked me out! I was worried I had made a wrong choice which was when I saw FSR and decided to look into it. Now I know AAR works great for DS but we are still happy with both, if anything I wish we had started FSR sooner since we haven't caught up with where he is now. It only takes him about 20 min. to do both AAR and FSR a day. I like that FSR is going to start teaching him grammar and other parts that we haven't seen in AAR. The next lesson in FSR when I looked ahead is going to talk about when to use a vs. an. The lesson plans have a lot of supplemental readers recommended too which I like since I won't have to worry about finding the right books for where he is at but I can't comment on them yet since we haven't reached that part yet. I think for the price it's been a great program so far. DS is not always interested in coloring but loves to color in FSR and the Core Phonics books so I think that's also great as far as his finer motor skill practice. He was even more resistant when he was younger so this would have been great when he was 4. Nothing we have done in the first 3 weeks of the lesson plans would have been too much for him at 4. He had done AAR pre-level at 4 and this would have been a great supplement to it or before starting AAR1. I had a hard time understanding the program since samples and reviews are hard to find so please let me know if you have any questions and I can try to answer them for you.