I know you said no "crafty" items, but my kindergartner (boy, if it matters) has recently become really interested in doing projects with Perler beads. I don't know if you know what they are, but they are little plastic beads that you arrange on a pegboard in a design, then melt with an iron when finished. He loves them. You can find patterns for nearly anything. He started with fairly simple designs, that would take upwards of 30 minutes or more, and now he has a bigger pegboard and has been working for a few hours on one design, If you don't have a space that you can leave it set up, or you have siblings who might mess up the design, it is best to stick to smaller designs that can be completed in one setting. Just let them work at it, building up those fine motor skills and chart reading skills, then when finished you would iron it and they would have a piece of art that isn't messy that they made themselves! My son is working on making small ones for his cousins for Christmas and the larger one is for one set of his grandparents. He loves that he is able to make something for the people that he cares about, and it holds his attention so well! You can find them in any crafting store or online at amazon.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I went ahead and bought the kindle version of BFSU to peruse more. It sure does seem to be a favorite. The more my husband and I talked, the more he seemed to want something that was more inclusive of different threads of science. We both agree that if the desire at this point is to introduce the subject and let a natural curiosity develop, it might be hard if we limit it to one area, ie:physical or life, a year. I wish some of these other programs offered a "general" science option that could be covered in several years. I might look more into the Elemental Science, but I worry that after the introduction, we are going to be right back where we started... looking for something that has different threads incorporated at a time. Hmmm... we will see! Thanks so much for all of your input. Here's to hoping BFSU clicks!

That sounds wonderful Yucabird. Also, if there happen to be any others who would like to exchange Stanleys, we are excited to do so! We look forward to hearing from you Yucabird!

I am not sure if we are reading "originals" or not, but my kiddo has enjoyed all the books that come in the box set, and the I can Read Flat Stanley books. Those might be a little too kiddie for you though, but they are full color books with a much shorter story. We like the artwork, but I think it is the "new artwork. All the books that we have are the same style of Staney. We are also going to be mailing our Flat Stanley around the world this year. Let me know if you would like to exchange Flat Stanleys!

Paradox- Is there a curriculum that you would reccomend starting in 1st? If there is a great curriculum that starts with life science in 1st, I wouldn't want to cover it in K, then still be behind the scope and sequence for a great curriculum. (I guess I kinda like a long range plan. Why do I feel like that is going to blow up in my face someday?)

BuildingUp- With Sonlight, are there actual lesson plans? I don't know that my husband would be willing to teach with just books. I have sonlight p 4/5 and the science is pretty light. Just a few books to read. Is that indicative of the later cores as well?

We will be starting school at the end of this month, and I am still struggling with our science choice. I will have a kindergartner, and I am well aware that in k, he probably doesn't need science. However, my husband really wants to be involved, though he is incredibly busy himself with school and work, and wants to teach our son science. They have always just talked about science, and explore things together naturally during everyday life, but he would like some sort of formal "school" work, because our son is so excited to start "school" and my dh would like to be part of that. Whew. Ok. So now the problems. 1. It must be evolution friendly. I am personally on the fence about evolution, but my husband is not. I suppose he believes in "theistic evolution" or something? Who knows. Point is, no Apologia will be allowed. 2. It must be easy to implement, as my husband won't have a lot of time for prep work. If it is gathering supplies, I can do that. 3. Which leads to number 3. It can not just be "interest-driven". While not opposed to this kind of learning, my son seems to be. He wants to know what is next. To have worksheets. We can go off on tangents, but I don't think we could just go willy nilly. 4. I can't decide if we should really split science up the way that most curriculums do: Life, Earth, Chemistry etc. It seems to me that there should be a more cohesive way of doing it. My son is naturally curious about a lot of earth science and physics, not so much about life science. He of course needs life science, but if we start with that, will he lose some of the wonder of science that he feels?Is there something that would allow him to experience all of it a little at a time as it relates to one another? Is that even possible? Curriculum I have looked at but not decided for or against: RSO, BFSU, Mr Q Science, NOEO, Magic School Bus science Of these, only BFSU seems to integrate the subjects, but I have read that it is not easy to implement, which might kick it to the curb for this season of our life. any help?

Now I have to figure out who they are....

If you have amazon prime, you can watch these free on their instant video. We just found them yesterday and my son LOVES them!

I know that phonics instruction is important, and would not suggest just sight word training, but how important is it to teach ONLY phonics first, such as Phonics Pathways or OPGR. The reason I ask is because when my little man was born his grandparents bought us a huge set for phonics and I always figured we would use that, but now that I look at it, I see that it introduces some sight words in every reader. The program is centered around these readers and a workbook and dvd game with some phonics games. It looks like it would be a lot of fun, but fun does not trump good solid reading base. As an example, the first book covers the /a/ sound, the phonogram -ad and the sight words a,I, me, no, see, the, yes. It continues like that, introducing a new sound and phonogram and several sight words. The workbook provides lots of practice for the phoncs portion. The benefit is that he feel like he is reading real books because he can read these simple books, the downside is that I am afraid I am just going to confuse him if we continue with these. We have only done 3 of the readers, so not very far in. Should I continue? Should I suck it up and order one of the other phonics programs? I could still use the games from the program I already have because they are all phonics related. Will they learn the words that are introduced as sight words phonetically in the other programs? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks in advance!

Okay, so I am trying to get a feel for how sonlight works. I am looking only at the "core", so that includes read alouds and history/geography and then the Language Arts. In the early cores (meaning cores Cores a-c), do the read alouds go along with the History at all? I know that in the later cores they are pretty strongly tied, but I can't seem to see a correlation between Curious George and World cultures in core A? Also, I have seen a lot of posts that seem to not like Sonlight's Language Arts, which is included in their core now. What is it that is bad? This is our first year, and we are trying to get our footing! Thanks so much!

Thanks for the blog Smiles. I couldn't find a matchup with Sonlight, but her blog is amazing!

Any help from the evening crowd?

*following*

Hi guys. I am planning on doing a combination of sonlight and FIAR next year, and I know that I have seen a list of the two matched up, but I can't seem to find it again. Does anybody have a copy that I could use? I would appreciate it so much! Thanks!

Listening in too!

We will be using sonlight this year too. I definitely want him to have a love for literature and learning. So, it seems at this age, just to follow his lead when it comes to science, and not start formal science, aka: RSO or BFSU? We will be doing Miquon and Rightstart and then moving into Singapore after Rightstart or that at least is my plan. Many people seemed to think that Singapore 1 was a little scattered, and recommended starting with rightstart.

I know I'm not Aimee, but I am excited to see other WTM moms from the area! Hi ladies!

I know this is an OLD thread, but I didn't see any newer ones about a stem focus, so, I'm going to see if any of you lovely people will help me. I am starting out with my little fella, 5.5, and starting kindergarten. We have always been focused on science and math as a family, but when I started researching our homeschool curriculum, I got a little distracted by the pretty shiny boxed curriculum that all seem to focus on history. My husband and I agree that we want a very well rounded education, just because we love math and science and the boys seem to now does not mean that we may not have a humanities profession in our future. And we agree that history is important, but maybe not to the extent that some of the curriculums place it. So, here is my question. What should homeschool look like for K? We will focus on reading and writing and math and science, with history and geography as added extras. Should science be formal at this point? Such as RSO, which is what I have been leaning towards? Or just reading books? i would also like to say, that this thread has been wonderful for me. To hear that there are other people who have a different focus is like balm to my confused newbie soul.

Hi Aimee! I don't know if you are still looking for contacts, but we will be starting our homeschooling journey this fall. I have 5 and 2 year old boys. Welcome back to the area!

Thanks for the Trelease book. I will have to check it out.

That's a great idea for a journal page. Thank you! We will also be adding in HWT, Rightstart OR singapore math, and working through a scholastic phonics reading program we were given when he was younger. We will probably do some light geography with it as well, just because he is really interested in it right now. Of course he is interested in everything right now. I have to remind myself that P4/5 includes science already, but we will probably add in some Magic school bus, just because it is fun! So, you are right, it may take us a lot longer to get through it than I think.

Thank you guys so much! I am currently pouring over the elemental history. It looks like it might be a great fit for first if we decide to not stick with sonlight. So many choices! I am seriously so glad that I found this board! You guys rock!

Well, we made a choice! And actually ordered materials so hopefully I won't change my mind now! We are going to start with p4/5, and loosely follow the schedule, while allowing ourselves to read more quickly if we so desire. Since we will school year round, we will start p4/5 in the summer and move on to core A sometime next year, once he is reading more fluently. I won't "rush" through p4/5, but after looking at the sample, I do feel like we will go a little faster, and maybe finish it up earlier, allowing us to still start Core A during his K year, just farther in. How did we decide, you ask? I finally laid all of it our for my husband, let him choose what to do, and listened. I know both options are good ones, so whichever he chose would be fine, and I wouldn't have to think and ponder so much. So much easier. Thank you all for your help!

I have heard several times to go with P4/5 for kindergarten instead of core A, which is what sonlight recommends when I go through their curriculum chooser thingy. My question is WHY? Is it about providing a gentle approach to kindergarten? Would core A be over their head and/or too challenging? I want my children to lovvvvve learning, and my oldest turned 5 in January, so he will be a little over 5.5 when we start. He is currently going to preschool and is currently learning to read. We do some simple workbooks, not because I am pushing him, but because he wants to start homeschooling NOW! We actually may start in the summer because he is sooo excited and we plan on probably schooling year round anyway. He loves chapter books, but he still enjoys a good picture book too. So, please tell me, what is the benefit of starting with P4/5? Or should we go straight to Core A? I finally understand that it is just about the content areas for sonlight, that skills will be done on his level with other curriculum choices. (I should add that we will do only the History/literature part of the core, not the math or science) I think I just like the history schedule of cultures in K, starting world history in 1st.