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ExcitedMama

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Everything posted by ExcitedMama

  1. DS is 4 and his only electronic use is on our iPad if we take a long car trip, so it's pretty limited. It's loaded with educational stuff but nothing like what I see people using for their kids on the computer like Starfall and reading eggs. I just saw an ad that shocked me that you can buy a new laptop for $100. I'm seriously considering getting a laptop that would be kid only for those educational phonics games that unfortunately do not have an app so I can't get them on the iPad. What do you think, are the computer programs worth it? Thanks!
  2. DS is 4 and we are using AAR pre-level once a week. I didn't want to overwhelm him so I wanted to start slowly. It's his favorite and always asks if he can do the "yellow bag." He's getting close to half way through it now and I'm wondering if I should ramp it up more. Should I do it more times per week? Add in the OPGTR? If so how many times per week? I'd love to hear how other people have used it. Thanks!
  3. When I first started googling about homeschooling I found lots of blogs that mentioned using Playmobil toys along with homeschool topics, like Pharoh figures while studying Egypt. Now that DS is getting old enough for Playmobil toys I went to check them out on their website but I can't find any. I only found some civil war soldiers. Does anyone know if Playmobil will bring back toys that are no longer available? Or do I need to buy them before they are gone? Thanks so much!
  4. Do you know when the product will ship? I'm guessing when the first backers receive the product there will be more reviews about it. Thanks!
  5. https://www.play-i.com I just saw this today and I'm intrigued. Anyone hear about it? I love the idea of a toy teach this from such a young age that can get more complex as the child matures.
  6. I just saw this in the email from the HSBC: https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/clifford-series/?source=HSBC-2014-02-19&utm_source=Offer+Emails&utm_campaign=HSBC-2014-02-19&utm_medium=email I have heard of their magic school bus sets but thought DS might be too young for them but not sure if he is too old for Clifford sets? Any experience? Thanks!
  7. What about signing with the child? I have done asl with both kids and its a blast and we all enjoy it. Signing encourages speech so the child learns the words along with the sign. I absolutely recommend Signing Time if you want to look into it. My library had the videos to check out.
  8. DS is almost four years old and we are going through AAR pre-level. He loves it. There are coloring sheets for each uppercase letter and we are doing a new letter each week. DS loves just scribbling over the whole page to the point that you can't see the letter or the corresponding animal on the page. I'm torn on whether to let this go or to try and correct it. I don't want to interfere with his creativity of course. I do give him rules for doing school time, like if we are doing a Kumon cutting book he has to cut along their line but afterwards if he wants to cut the paper up he can so he understands that during school we have to follow the rules. Should I do the same with coloring? Scribbling just during his art time? The cutting is teaching him something specific and challenging him but I'm not sure if the same is true of following the directions and staying in the lines when coloring? He finished the little Kumon coloring books and I had him follow the directions again to stay in the lines because that was the point of the book of course. Also I'm very happy that he wants to color now and I don't want to mess that up. He went through a stage of not wanting to color but now will happily fill up a page.
  9. My oldest child is almost 4 and I have been thinking about starting a foreign language with him. I know starting young is best for learning the language and mastering the accent. I hated studying foreign languages and I have no affinity for them so I want him to do better. I studied Spanish in elementary school and French from junior high through college. I don't remember any Spanish except I've been told my attempt to speak French was ruined by a Spanish sound to the accent. I love how French sounds but didn't enjoy learning it until far too late when I actually went to France. Given that we live in California I was thinking that Spanish would have the most practical use and give DS the opportunity to use it which could help his interest in learning it. Should I start with Little Pim? Please help me figure how to start teaching him, especially given my inability to speak it!
  10. Thanks everyone! DD has refused to nap all day long. DH is shocked at how stubborn she is. DH has tried laying her on her tummy but it doesnt work. shes crawling and pulling up to standing all the time but still not helping her sleep. Is there any chance of this working tomorrow? Or should I call it quits and try again in a few weeks or month? Not sure if there is any developmental stage to try this again? I hate her being so tired so I just want to throw in the towel and hold her while she naps but DH thinks it will get better if we keep trying. Not a fun weekend! Any advice or experience on sticking it out or trying again another time?
  11. I have been called stubborn a few times but DD has me beat by a lot. DD is 8 months old and will not nap in her crib, car seat, stroller or Ergo. No matter how long she's been awake she will not sleep unless we are home and I nurse her to sleep and do not move for the duration of her nap, which is only about 30-45 min before she will wake up. She will not nurse to sleep in the car at all. I've tried Ferber and I have tried CIO and followed the Weisenbluth schedules exactly to no avail. She will just cry her little head off but won't sleep. At night I have to nurse and hold her for about two hours before she will successfully transfer to her crib. She wakes happy in her crib around 5:30 every morning and I try to bring her to my bed to nurse her back to sleep but she is up at that point. I know she is not getting enough sleep and I am worn out. I need her to sleep in her crib for nap times so I can spend time with DS but I don't know what to do. Anyone have a baby like this? How did you get them to sleep?! Thank you!!
  12. DD is 7 mos old and thanks to wonderful advice here we transitioned her from nighttime co-sleeping a couple of weeks ago by putting her down asleep. She takes about 1-2 hrs to nurse and be asleep enough to hand off to DH for the crib transfer. At first she cried in his arms and he had to try putting her down and picking her up and rocking her a few times before she transferred well but now it's a pretty quick hand off and she's still asleep when he puts her down. She wakes up with a wet diaper usually around 2 now and comes back to sleep with me until 6 when she's up to go potty. She then needs about a thirty minute nap again between 6:30 and 7. Her morning nap somewhere around 9:30, then another nap around 12:00, then late afternoon nap around 3 and bedtime around 6. Her naps are all about 45 min and with me holding her in my arms and nursing her. I need her to nap in her crib so I can spend quality time with DS. Unfortunately she is such a light sleeper that I can't be in the same room with DS because his playing wakes her up and if I try to read to him she wakes up. I nurse her to sleep in her room in the dark and we play in there too in hopes she will have good associations with her room. But if I put her down awake to play in her crib for a few minutes during the day while I try to put her laundry away she freaks out even though she can see me and I'm talking to her. She's ok if she's on the floor next to me. When DS was this age he wasn't nursing himself to sleep anymore he was looking at me and the room so I could work on transitioning him to the crib awake and we Ferbered him. DD nurses to sleep and keeps nursing for awhile in her sleep. Tried to hand her off to DH this weekend for naps like we do at bedtime but she woke right up in his arms and when he put her down she cried and just started rolling around in her crib wide awake and was so tired looking from not napping. How do I get her to nap in her crib? Ideally I'd love to put her down for her naps in her crib but hold her for her noon nap to cuddle her since DS is still napping at the same time but will that give her mixed messages and make it hard to get her to nap in her crib? Is it all or nothing? Id also love to get her down faster at night so I don't miss dinner with DH and DS and all of DS bath time and bedtime routine but I don't know what to do since she is nursing? She is so different from DS as a baby so I don't know is there an age that would work better? She absolutely will not nap in the car no matter how long she's been up and she's hit or miss with napping in her carrier so I can't make it work that way. Please give me you recommendations!
  13. My DS is 3 and a lego addict. He's mostly into building cars though so I'm wondering if this set would be good or not. http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/animals_set/1820 Anyone have it? How often does Lego come to HSBC? Thanks!
  14. Not sure how to word this but I'm in a funk and could use some advice. DD is almost 7 months old and exclusively breast fed but starting baby led weaning and co-sleeping and DS is 3. I can't seem to lose any of the baby weight and I hurt all over and just feel awful about how I look. The weight seemed to fall off after DS but not this time. I think I'm hurting because of the extra weight and nursing day and night. DD won't sleep in the car or the carrier so its impossible to get out of the house. We were going to sleep train her to sleep in her crib and it started off great for two nights and then she got sick so I want her with me. We are now at six weeks of everyone sick and thanks to weekly pediatrician visits I know it's new viruses every time since it started with the flu. I feel so awful that DD has been so sick, she needs breathing treatments 3x day and back to pediatrician tomorrow. She's now been sick and to the pediatrician more than DS ever has in three years. I feel awful that I'm not getting more time with DS. DH and the house are also neglected. DD will only sleep in my arms and she's only sleeping 30-45 min at a time. She wants to back to sleep within an hour of waking up. No one in real life gets it. They tell me to formula feed DD and let her cry it out in her crib and send DS to preschool. I have all these things I want to do with DS and no time to even shower most days. So many moms here have big families and lots of little ones and still homeschool older kids, how do you do it all?? Feel like I'm such a failure because things are so hard right now. Any advice on losing the baby weight? DS isn't in preschool so I have no idea why we have all been so sick this year when we usually aren't. Anything I can do to help keep us from getting DD sick? Can anything be done to get a baby to sleep in the car or a carrier? Any advice on getting through this?
  15. DS is 3 and loves books. He points out letters everywhere. I bought the OPGTR mostly so I could follow his lead but it seems too schoolish and serious for his age. But AAR Pre level looks fun. He doesn't understand rhymes which I saw in their samples so it seems like he would learn a lot. What age would be good to start it? I don't want him to be too young to follow the program or be too old for it. Any reviews of pre level? Thanks!
  16. I live in Monterey CA and to my knowledge there is no store with homeschool materials in my area. I'm near Santa Cruz and Silicon Valley too which might have something. I've seen posts mentioning teacher stores or homeschool stores can someone give me names to search for to find a place near me? Or a website that would have locations? Thanks so much!
  17. I ordered Book A and was surprised when I received it that it seems more like a workbook than phonics. I was intending to incorporate it into a letter of the week type thing with my 3 year old. Do I need the teacher's manual to get this? Also it starts with F and not B so should I teach the ABCs in the order of the books? Thank you!
  18. I'm very interested in homeschooling and want to start off on the right foot with preschool with DS who will be 3 in January. In WTM Slow and Steady Get me ready is suggested http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Steady-Get-Me-Ready/dp/8188353019/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356658431&sr=1-1&keywords=june+oberlander But the same author also wrote Fun Start: An Activity a Week http://www.amazon.com/Fun-Start-Activity-Maximize-Potential/dp/0007245653/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356658431&sr=1-4&keywords=june+oberlander Which seems like the same book but newer. Any recommendation on which one to get? Is Before Five in a Row recommended? I'd really appreciate any and all advice on where to start. I'm very new to this so I'm having trouble following the abbreviations here so full names would be very helpful. Thank you!
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