Thanks for the replies. I looked at this, but am not sure how this differs from something like OPGTR, which my son hated (which is why we moved to PP). Would you mind telling me how this differs from OPGTR? I don't want to overlook a great resource, but also don't want to duplicate something that hasn't worked for us. Thanks!

Thank you. This was really helpful. I was thinking of starting Dance Mat Typing next year. Your post makes me think that's probably going to be a good plan. Thank you again.

My DS will be 5 in two weeks, and is about 3/4 through MM1. I currently scribe everything in MM for him, so as not to slow him down. We've almost finished HWT K and he also writes spelling words in AAS1 (we are about 1/2 way). How much scribing did you do for math for your accelerated learner at this age and what was your progression like? Thanks so much.

We are about half-way through the intermediate books. I imagine that we will finish the advanced books by the end of the summer, and I am thinking about next year. If you used Progressive Phonics, what did you do next? Was your child able to start short Scholatic-type readers or did you use another reading program after? He's also reading the Bob books, but those jump ahead rather quickly and don't seem to have as logical a progression to them. But, assume that we will have completed all the Bob books as well. Since this is the first child I've taught to read, I'm just not sure what to expect in terms of how fast his reading will take off and where to go from here. Thanks so much for any input on how to proceed.

I never said any such thing and frankly, find the above characterization similarly inaccurate and, well, not nice. While I do believe that all living things are more than "just tissue," I also believe that my particular religious or spiritual views should have no bearing on public policy vis a vis abortion. I'm going to bow out now because I feel that my views are being misconstrued by people, and I am not entirely sure why. I have no agenda here, and have tried to be forthcoming about my views and experiences, having had the privilege of an enriching experience while working at PP. But, perhaps, I am not communicating as effectively as is required on this difficult topic. Mom of a teething baby/sleep deprivation = not conducive to difficult conversations, methinks.

No. Murder is a legal term that has a specific legal definition. I never used such a term and I'm sorry that you cannot understand that distinction.

Tom's definition was not the one I was using: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infanticide Again, I apologize if you perceived that I was being uncivil. I have no desire to change the law, nor to judge.

I apologize if you felt I was being uncivil. That was certainly not my intent, nor was my use of the term meant to be a value judgment. It's a terrible decision to have to make, and I fully appreciate that.

To my knowledge, I'm the only person who has actually worked at PP on this thread, and I specifically said that "abortion is infanticide." Anyone who has ever been pregnant, and saw/heard a heartbeat at 5w on ultrasound would have a tough time arguing "it's just tissue" (especially given that abortions aren't even generally conducted until at least 6w). But, to quibble with the "dark and horrific" characterization or deny the historical accuracy of what women suffered, this I cannot understand.

"I also think that the "back-alley abortion" argument used by pro-choicers is also an emotional scare tactic." This cannot be said enough.

I cannot say whether the pictures are effective persuasion or not. But, I can say that I was pretty staunchly pro-choice before I actually witnessed abortions and aborted fetal cells first-hand. It was pretty clear to me that abortion is infanticide and not something I wanted to be cavalier about supporting politically. Today, I would basically counsel any woman to be proactive about avoiding unwanted pregnancy and, thus, abortion. I'm still politically pro-choice, tepidly, but in the safe, legal, and rare camp.

Going back to this topic of fearful teens, because I believe it's an important conversation to have as parents, we asked for a phone number from all patients in order to communicate the results of pap smears. We told the women explicitly that we would use a code name (e.g. Hazel called) in case someone else answered the phone. This was back in the day when people still shared phones. Even though we explained all this re how confidentiality would be maintained, many young girls gave us fake numbers. I only knew they were fake because I had to call many of them with abnormal pap results. I don't want to think of how many of them ended up with cancer because they were too afraid to leave a number.

Every woman realizes that abortion is not her only option, and certainly PP counsels its patients about all options. What I honestly found more disheartening was the number of young girls who had abortions because they were too afraid to tell their parents that they were pregnant. These girls were generally Caucasian and came from conservative, religious families. In contrast, Latino young women from Catholic families seldom had abortions because they believed that they would receive greater familial support.

For perspective, our clinic performed abortions once per month. The overwhelming majority of patients are seen for routine gynecological care. There was also only one female physician who performed abortions in all of Southern California (during my tenure). I was told this was also normal.

I was an intern at PP in college. Yes, it is normal and yes, our country has a problem.

I had Jed for con law and can confirm that this is decidedly so. Controversy has served them well. I expect they will keep chugging along with it until the strategy is no longer lucrative for them.

Typing mobile...not sure how to edit. To answer your question about what would be different. To date, I haven't cared too much what he learned in school because they were immersion environments. So, he was just there for the language, socialization, and hands on activities like art (that are not my strong suit). With baby #2, we can no longer afford to keep my son in expensive private schools, so it would be public school in English. He's already had some behavioral issues because of boredom and I imagine an English speaking PS K program like I've described will only make matters worse.

What I meant was 2.5 years ahead of the school district curriculum. Their website shows what each child should learn for each subject on a monthly basis. He would need to be accelerated to mid-2nd grade before he would learn anything new, which is unlikely to happen. In the past, he has gone to a French immersion preschool 3 days per week, a Spanish immersion preschool 2 days per week, and Hebrew school one day per week. I was casually afterschooling him to his interests, but didn't start formally doing so until this year, primarily with HS curricula designed for 1st graders. He currently attends a Spanish immersion preschool in Mexico 5 days per week and my husband took a year off to spend with the baby and I. Next year, we will likely be back in the States with my husband at work. I had planned to put him in PS, but I just can't imagine sticking him in class where they are learning letter sounds or what numbers to 10 mean. In contrast, he's currently finishing up MM1, AAS1, and the intermediate books in Progressive Phonics. He will likely be halfway through MM2 and AAS2, and finishing the advanced readers in Progressive Phonics by the summer. It seems cruel to put him in PS just for the free babysitting, but starting HSing with a 12 month old by my side seems daunting.

20-25%

I'm seriously considering FT homeschooling in the fall. I looked at the PS curriculum for our district, and my son, who will be starting K in the fall, would be 2.5 years ahead the day that he begins school. Gifted testing doesn't even happen in our district until 2nd grade, with differentiation beginning in 3rd. I can't imagine that would make for a very enriching academic environment for him. The issue is that I just had my second child 5 months ago and am still adjusting to being a mother to more than one child. The baby will be a year old when my oldest begins K and we will be living on our sailboat, so a smallish space. To date, I have been afterschooling my oldest, and was hoping to send him to PS for his K year to give PS a chance and allow me to spend one-on-one time with the baby. But, after looking at the course of study at the PS, I feel like I would be doing my oldest a huge disservice if I sent him to school. So, my question... if you HS with very young ones in tow, how do you manage it logistically? Do you just school when the baby naps? If not, how do you entertain a one year old while teaching an intense 5 year old? I can't imagine my oldest will be schooling independently for quite some time. It just seems so overwhelming whenever I think about what our days would be like. What about extracurriculars? My oldest is involved in soccer, music, tennis, and foreign languages, and I was hoping to take the baby to swim lessons. Do you shuttle all your kids around to all the activities? I know many of you have large families, and accomplish what seems to me to be herculean feats of homeschooling/juggling. Would you mind sharing your tips of the trade with a newbie? How do you manage to school with the littles?

Yes! Please pin!

I would not do more. My son will be 5 next month and we're doing almost the same things, just MM1, SOTW1, Etc. I give him lots of breaks. We focus and then I tell him to go take a break. He'll watch TV, play Legos, Minecraft, Angry Birds. We're currently reading Alice in Wonderland, which is not easy, and despite the fact that he's bouncing all over the place, he can explain to me what's happening. My advice is lots of movement, lots of free play, short bursts of intensity.

Another vote for Progressive Phonics. My almost 5 yr old just started the intermediate books. So far, so good.

Linguistmama, This post is very timely for us. We currently live in Mexico, and my 5 year-old son attends a Spanish immersion elementary school. We are thinking of transitioning to full-time homeschooling and having a native Spanish speaker tutor him for an hour per day. My son has been in an immersion environment for the last 2.5 years, but neither my husband nor I are native speakers of Spanish. Do you think this curriculum would work for a 5 year old working with a native speaker in our circumstances? Thanks for your thoughts.

No garlic listed? Blasphemy to this Italian.