Teeniebeenie, I just wanted to say I think you are wonderful for consistently finding and taking the time to post links for free resources!

Ridiculous. And as part of living in a society, we all invest and pay for things we may never use! It is part of being a citizen. I am a US Army veteran, considered 100% disabled. In our state, this provides for a complete tax exemption. I do not have children in public school, most likely never will. After a conversation with our local tax office when she happened to mention that one side effect of all the veterans returning and granted this wonderful benefit (that some veterans really need and deserve) is that schools are really suffering for it. We actually CHOOSE to pay our school tax because we can and believe that education benefits the entire society.

I was just thinking this yesterday. You are absolutely right. I do daily 'school' with my dd3.5, if for no other reason that she loves it and craves the routine. And whilst she is working well ahead of what is considered kindy work? There is a distinct difference. My neighbor JUST started officially homeschooling her 5-year-old for kindy, and is enrolled in CC. It really struck me how much more pressure is on her when I spoke with her after just the first week. She also has an infant. Yes, we do try to have our school at the same time, at the table. But if my kiddo just isn't feeling it, (or I am not!) we can drop it and do whatever, for however long. They no longer have that luxury. Not to mention the official/unofficial records that need to be kept. That being said, it is really discouraged around here to try to join coops or other HS groups prior to officially having school-age kids. My kiddo has a Dec bday, so isn't even scheduled to start kindy for nearly 2.5 more years. In an area where preschool and pre-K are almost always the norm? It is LONELY:) Having a support group to chat with, kids for my dd to play with, and trips and activities as well? Would be extremely helpful as we are dealing with it now, not in 2 more years...

This is one of my concerns. Inhave a math-crazy dd3.5. Besides the regular math, I read her stories of scientists and mathematicians who make mistakes, fail repeatedly, and continue to work on it. Math is always treated as if she is not making mistakes, we need to find some more challenging problems. Also, we always end our mathwork on a stumper question. I know it sounds awful for a 3 year old, but if she doesn't figure it out, I don't show her how to do it that day. I let her think about it and she will be begging for another go the next day:). And still I worry, so we definitely do more on an expansion level than on a linear path. She has gone through RSA, RSB, Then into Singapore. We are now working through 2B. But we mix in all sorts of things to pique her interest, approach math through different angles (ha!) and generally make sure she stays challenged. So much of the earlier math she picked up just from playing games and our math lab, and the only thing keeping her from going faster was her writing as I insist she at least demonstrate that she can work the problems independently. We go through LOF together, but she will often take them to her reading tent, along with 'Penrosie' HER mathcat books.' We dip into CWP, IP, apps. She loves BA, although this will take her longer...she knows much of the conceptual information in there but they challenge her in a fantastic way. We read at least 1-2 living math books or chapters at bedtime reading, which introduces her to things she wouldn't have seen for awhile. She is also learning Japanese Soroban as a challenge. I don't know where she will go with it, but as long as she loves it, we will definitely keep it up. And yet, to the op, I have found that the more we visit other avenues for math, the 'easier' any one math program gets as she has learned at least bits and pieces of material not yet introduced in that program. This, in turn, tends to increase the speed at which she can do it. The great news is that I know there is an infinite number of possibilities for math work and education in any area she expresses an interest in. For life!

For lots of fun kids books, popular picture books, leveled readers both fiction and non-fiction I love the Wegivebooks site! If you haven't come across it, you read the book (100% free although you must set up an account). This is an fantastic site, and the bonus is that everytime you read one of the books they donate a copy of that book to a charity! www.wegivebooks.org

Adorable! And thanks for the ideas. I was wondering how we were going to mummify much of anything, as I cannot imagine even having meat in the house:) And, like Julie Smith said, my daughter (who's nickname by choice is chicken!) would be permanently traumatised if I even tried!

Thanks everyone for your responses, and apologies for getting back so late- we had a bit of a family emergency and time and Internet access have been sporadic. I really appreciate all the constructive answers and ideas from everyone as I was quite fearful of the 'just let her be a child' response. I absolutely agree that she needs plenty- read vast majority- of her time to play, both structured and unstructured. And this is absolutely the case. She just seems to incorporate much of her 'learning' into that play:) And whilst I know it probably sounds as though she spends a great deal of time working on 'academic' things, she actually has gotten to this point primarily through games and play. Mostly board games and apps. Addition and subtraction reinforcement with GiggleFacts math games, multiplication/simple division with the Multiplication.com stories, read-alouds, etc. However, she DOES thrive on structure. I would say that she probably spends anywhere between 45 min to an hour at the table for 'school', but all I require is getting there and 10-15 minutes of math and a bit of writing. This is followed by whatever she wants to work on, or she knows to tell me she has had enough. For math, I generally give her a little lesson if it is needed, and she insists I 'go away' (meaning a few feet away where I can't see the page!) as she works 4-5 problems, before she gleefully calls me back to check her work. Rinse, repeat, until she (or I) tire of the game for the day. Right now she is REALLY into memory work and wants a new poem or similar constantly, so I do give these to her as well. Reading is separate, but is buddy reading and read- alouds at quiet time, whilst bed time is reserved for lighter reading and she usually wants 1-2 non-fiction books as well. I am heartened to know that many of you have young kids doing seat work as well, and it seems as though most have a similar idea of allowing them to work as they like with very little true requirement!

We have done many of the things I see mentioned, and I love the ideas! Some things we have either done or plan to do that I didn't see mentioned above: 1) university band practices in a huge field near us. A lot of fun to watch, especially since the flag/dance team usually practices as well. Most unis and even HS practice outside and are open to public. 2) the Post office has behind the scene tours, open to homeschoolers an groups as well. We have to schedule in advance and have a minimum of five kids. 3) The Salvation Army hosts special holiday dinners and ask for community helpers. Last year we collected food and spent Thanksgiving morning helping out. My daughter is very young, but this and subsequent talks have had a large effect...for example, she realizes that there are people who are not as fortunate for many, many reasons...and has a tiny frame of reference. 4) nature scavenger hunts- put together by a couple of moms. We put together a booklet of local plants, trees, animals, etc. and let the kids search and identify them. This was a HUgE hit and now my kid loves to tell people the names of trees, plants, flowers, and the like. 5) a dairy farm, followed by a trip to a bottling plant. 6) we are lucky enough to live near a huge self-sustaining community. They have a farm, animals for food and by-products, a forge, a carpentry shop that uses no nails, a pottery shop and kiln, sheep and wool dying, yarn making, cheese making, and sooo much more. They are open to the public daily and offer classes in all the areas. 7) the science labs at our local university (where dad works) have profs and grad students that love to share their work with kids! 8) the Bank- after a trip through the drive-thru one day I asked about a tour. We set up a trip, and My kiddo opened her own ACcount, got to see the inside and outside of an ATM, saw the door of the huge vault, made a deposit with a teller, and generally had a great time. Not to mention a lollipop. 9) the local private airport- some of those older pilots will talk to the kid as long as they want, and we were able to see the engine and sit in the pilots seat of a little crop-duster. We will definitely go back! 10)our power plant has a school group field trip available for older kids, but we have not been. 11) tour of the recycling plant- this is our next big plan as my dd is really set on being an oceanographer. On a recent trip to SeaWorld the guide talked to her about the importance of conservation, and specifically trash and recycling. She has become our house recycling cop:) 12) this meant a trip to the local dump to see what happens to trash and things people no longer want. I HIGHLY reccomend this as now when she asks for some plastic piece of junk it is a very simple matter to ask her if she REALLY needs it or will it end up in the dump next week when she tires of it or it breaks. This made a big impression on the whole family. 13) A compost/worm farm 14) just had a trip to the botanical gardens where they have a junior naturalist program and could earn a badge. 15) fire station training- we were lucky enough to be next to the training site where firefighters can practice one day when they were training. These buildings are often right in the city in an adjacent lot to the station. Obviously you can't get too close, but it turns out people often come out to watch. 16) we have a large free-range egg farm that we have visited. 17) candle making/glass blowing studio 18) tractor/fa store where you can walk through and look at all the tractors 19) paint store- my kid loved all the colors and really enjoyed watching the colors being mixed. We had a mini-lesson on where the dyes and pigments can come from as well. 20) I realize that this one wont be for everyone but we often visit a variety of temples/ worship areas for many religions and cultures. The focus is on the fact that whilst they often have different beliefs, respect and understanding are very important, and that we all have much in common. She also has a chance to meet and play with people that she would not normally encounter, and often encounters different accents, languages, even food. Just a few ideas...

I have a very young dd3.5 who is reading very well. We have 'buddy read' (she reads aloud all odd-numbered pages whilst I do the evens) Charlotte's Web, Mr. Popper's Penguins, and recently, The Tale of Despereaux this summer. Because she was very interested in writing and how to spell, we spent the last six months going through the first level of AAS. What has really worked for us is a combination of things: 1) because she learned to read very quickly with minimal phonic instruction, we spent quite a bit of time making sure she had memorized all the phonograms. She loved this, and we did it separate from spelling time to keep it in VERY short blocks of time. 2 We do use the tiles, but she frequently gets frustrated with the 'fiddliness' and gets bored. So we use an app called Word Wizard. This kept her attention MUCH more. 3) we do quite a bit of review of the rules, and although she seems to be more of a natural speller I have not really taken her into level 2 as I want to make sure she has fully internalized all of level 1. So much of level 1 can be done outside of 'school' and in a very fun manner. Counting syllables on a drum, silly rhymes for rules. Her favorite is pulling a sad face and saying "No -ng for poor little e."

Play the card game 'go to the dump' ala Right Start card games...if you don't have the RS card games set, no worries...you can use just about any regular card set, or iEven better, a kids Go Fish set. Instead of making pairs of cards, you make 'tens'. So if you have a seven, you need to ask for a three to make the 'ten'. If you have a two, you will need to pair it with an eight to make a 'ten'. This game was perfect for Singapore number bonds. We did RS A most of the way through, moved to RS B, and transitioned seemlessly to Singapore. I made sure to stress commutative property of addition in the game, which aligns nicely with number bonds... There are versions of this game all over the Internet, but RS has a YouTube video that makes it extremely simple on its own channel:

Hhhmmm, something about their method of searching the site. It gave me an error message when I tried to copy the link only to the earth science DVDs. Lets try this one, but you will have to scroll down a bit to the 'earth science' lists: http://www.libraryvideo.com/productmarketing/guides.asp

Schlessinger Media, which most libraries carry, have a great set of DVDs. They are ridiculously expensive to buy, but are pretty easy to find at even medium-sized libraries. Here is a list of the ones I found to incorporate into our earth schttp://www.smavideo.com/store/titledetail.cfm?MerchID=28375ience this year:

Okay, so I have been reading about how many of you spend with you Kinder kiddo's for sit-down work... And I can totally relate to those of you that differentiate between seat work and all the hands on science, read-alouds, art projects, and field trips. And lets face it, for Kindy age mom's errands totally count:)) Here is my question. I have a very young dd, and she is working well in advance of what most people would consider Kindy level. In some areas, more like 2nd and 3rd grade, or higher in reading. I know that many of you have kiddos working ahead. So do you consider them Kindy for seat-work requirements? How do you address this? And I think this actually affects many homeschool children who simply absorb their environment. Kids are sponges who will work to whatever levels we expect of them, especially in multi-age families. Do you base your requirements of them on ability, experience, age, or a combination of factors? Love to hear what more experienced HS moms think....

Some of them are slightly more advanced than a true Kindy level, but we love the books in a series called THE TRUE BOOKS. They have community ones, government, landforms, basic maps, and anything you can imagine. They have a series for animals as well: Here is the amazon link to sohttp://www.amazon.com/Declaration-Independence-True-Books/dp/0531147800/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376338043&sr=1-3&keywords=True+booksme of the government ones: Here is another examples on maps and geography. It is irritatingly difficult to pull up longer lists of them, but I know they exist because our libraries carry SO many of them. There are individual ones on parts of the US, other countries, cultures, one for every holiday imagine able, landforms, you name it. http://www.amazon.com/Types-Maps-True-Books-Information/dp/0531262383/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376338171&sr=1-7&keywords=True+books+on+maps The other series we loved before we got to The True Books are the Rookie Readers...they have a science series, maps and geography series, holidays, cultures around the world, even biographies of famous scientists, presidents, people in history, and many more. They are much closer to a Kindy level, and come graded as levels. Here is a list of some of the geography books: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=rookie+read+about+geography&sprefix=Rookie+re%2Cstripbooks%2C198&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Arookie+read+about+geography We incorporate at least one culture, one science, and one more of her choice in our daily reading and both of these sets are pretty great:) I know it isn't a complete list, but it really is a complete package to meet all requirements.

I am not sure if I completely short-changed my dd3.5 with her name or if it was unintentionally genius. She was desperate to learn to write her name...but her parents saddled her with a total of 4 long names, with as many as 10 letters (1st name) and no fewer than six in all the others:) And I think there are only 3 letters in the alphabet not in her name! By the time she mastered her name, she had mastered her letters...

Just about anything by NZ author Lynley Dodd: Hairy Maclary, Rumpus at the Vet, Slinky Malinky, etc.... Just about anything by Julia Donaldson: Room on the Broom, The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo's Child, The Tale of a Whale ..

I have a 3.5 year old who was desperate to write 'her' letters, and even more so, her numbers at that age. She now writes very well, albeit more slowly, and we are doing AAS because she learned to read primarily intuiting phonics on her own. One thing that she absolutely loved was the TV Teacher handwriting videos with Miss Marnie...you can do them in little 5 minute chapters by letter, and they are so much fun. They teach a lot more than just the proper way to form a letter, and have fun tracing fun sheets as well. We eventually moved on to ZB but were able to skip to 1st grade very rapidly. You can see clips of the videos on their website.

I recently went looking for great resources for memory work, and there have been a couple of recent threads... The two best I have found are the FREE resource put together by Hannah Wilson and the Living Memory book by Andrew Campbell. The first is short and sweet...and a great free resource.. But the Living Memory book is simply amazing! I absolutely love it. http://www.lulu.com/shop/hannah-wilson/grammar-stage-memorization/ebook/product-631808.html http://www.lulu.com/shop/andrew-a-campbell/living-memory/ebook/product-17520206.html

Fantastic Mr. fox would be good, although my dd was totally traumatized as the fox attempts to steal food from wealthy and nasty farmers--who attempt to kill him:) granted, dd is 3.5, but just a warning! Obvious, is Charlotte's Web... We just read a book called Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright about a little girl called Garnet, age 10, on a farm, set in the 1930's.We actually had to read it twice because my dd loved it so much. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings- this was one of my favorites as a child. Gary Paulsen has a lesser-known book called Harris and Me that is very cute- a young city boy (I think he is about 10?) is sent to live on a farm for the summer, and spends time with his cousin Harris...warning, they get up to all sorts of trouble, and Harris is a serious daredevil. If you like the Little House series, what about Sarah Plain and Tall, Caleb's Story, and others by Patricia MacLachlan. They are farm-oriented/western frontier. Much more sensitive, but Where the Red Fern Grows, or Old Yeller are both in the same genre if your kiddo can handle that type of book. What about the Kate Seredy classics like The Good Master? Older, and I think Hungarian farmers? And slightly different, bit for a young boy that loves farming books, the Sugar Creek Gang series are not to be missed! Same time of wholesome adventure, and are so much fun!

Yes, thanks! That is great!

I have been looking for this very thing! I am using other curricula and just want a nice collection of fun supplement pages I can pull out as we go. Definitely all-in-one because I never seem to find the time to weed through the myriad free resources- and get annoyed when I do find something, only to realize I have to jump through hoops in order to download it:( The closest I have come is this Giant Book of Science from School Zone Publishing. I just ordered it (it looks like a new product), but am really looking for something a bit more extensive. http://www.schoolzone.com/workbooks/giant-science-workbook Hoping others have some great ideas!

On a trampoline, bouncer, or swing!

Absolutely! http://www.code.org/learn/codecademy This site also has a list of other learning to program sites and resources, for a variety of uses. Scratch, and the soon to be Scratch Jr. from MIT Are other great options. They do have games, but lots of other things. http://scratch.mit.edu/

My dd loves Octonauts as well as she has decided she wants to be a princess oceanographer:) Most of the series is available on YouTube. The Octonauts even have their own channel.

We love these as well! There are several different sets with up to 100 stories in each collection. The best part is that they can be played with subtitles (the original story line) and some even have a Spanish or French play option that is amazing for supplementation to learning Spanish for us!