Ooh, I do have a Roku! How did I not see it when I was choosing channels to add? Thanks so much, Runningmom, I'll take a look!

It looks like ETC is working on new versions, and they'd like input and suggestions on what might be changed, so have opened up a survey. (I WANTED to like ETC so much, I believe in the way it teaches, but after a few weeks we hated it and found it in many cases to be just downright unusable. I don't know if some of the issues we had are fixable, but some of the issues, like outdated or uninterpretable pictures, definitely is.) The survey is here, for anyone interested in providing feedback! https://surveymonkey.com/s/YMW5TZF

While recovering from surgery, and doing some Googling, I came across a video taped by a homeschooling family that showed their morning. This in turn led me to still more videos, and I've spent almost the entire day now watching them. I only "officially" started hs'ing this year, and I find this peek behind the curtain at other families' routines to be fascinating! (Especially heartening to see someone else's kids goofing off mid-lesson. :) ) If you haven't sampled the vids on YouTube yet, I recommend it! Have any of you posted videos of your own day? If so, please share! Has anyone else discovered any homeschooling video gems?

What age would you say the games book is for? I'd always thought it was for kids using LOE Essentials, so age 7 and up, but now I'm wondering if it might be fun for my DD who also has never done any formal reading programs. Are they just useful for teaching phonograms (most of which she already knows) or for application of the phonograms in words? (She often will sound out the letters in the phonograms she sees less frequently, even if she knows their sound in isolation, so that's really the area she needs more work on.)

My DD adored all the Pixie Tricks series, read through the first book almost without stopping (which is SO rare for her) and since my library didn't have the rest I bought them immediately. :) I think they're out of print, but I bought them used in perfect condition for cheap, and she loved them all. So much fun! http://www.amazon.com/Sprites-Secret-Pixie-Tricks-1/dp/0439172187

We did Progressive Phonics at that level, I pulled the stories up on the laptop and just scrolled down to the text below the image so it was all she could see. (The pictures are cute/funny, so they definitely would have been distracting.) When she'd finished reading I'd scroll up to the picture so she could look at it and talk about it and the story, to make the whole thing more fun.

For A, we rarely went over 20 minutes. In the first half lessons were usually only 10-15...And when they started getting a bit longer I started breaking the lessons in two, which they recommend for younger kids anyway. Most 3-4 yo's aren't going to sit still for much longer than that, and my philosophy for both math and reading is to quit while they're still having fun, before they start getting antsy. Leave them wanting more. :)

I think most people begin RA after their kids have already learned basic math through another method, since RS A is meant for K and most preschoolers entering K already count at least to 20, and know how to figure out basic addition. So I don't think there's really much conflict. I only know MR from the sample pages I've seen, and I don't see anything there that confuse a child starting RA...If you did them simultaneously (or started with RA), you could use the alabacus to do the computation, but really you could easily use other manipulatives first and then move on to RA. We do RA plus Miquon, and there's never been any confusion. (Till recently we did RS 4-5 times a week, and Miquon only once or twice, rarely on the same day.) Before starting RS A my DD was doing K level basic math at the level of the MR books I've looked at (B I think?) and so understood "classic" math, but her understanding definitely deepened through RS A, and even more with RS B.

We're using this, for additional practice along with HWT...The cute little descriptions help make it easier to remember how to form the letters, and it's been helping with neatness. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002R5ARMW/ref=pd_luc_rh_sim_01_02_t_lh?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(And I know the answer from everyone will be that yes, there's no reason to push formal lessons on a 5yo. Which is exactly what I say to myself every day, because life itself, everything about it, is a series of lessons. It's just easier to say than to absorb...)

Ooh, following. I posted just the other day about a similar issue.

Dug around and found the trailer for those who are interested. :)

I'm not in a major city either, but can you please post here once the movie is released onto DVD or available on Netflix/Amazon? What a wonderful project. Congratulations!

I bought a mini chalkboard from RR for under $4, and use regular chalk broken in half. We also use lined 8x11 whiteboards for practice. They sell beautiful wooden letter parts (forget what they call them) but when DD was first learning to form letters we used the pieces included in this book...Much cheaper! http://www.amazon.com/How-Build-Sara-Midda/dp/1579653782/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411926082&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+build+an+a

Just seeing this thread, and I don't have any suggestions but I'm reading along with great interest and awe at your idea and your dedication, Hunter. And I wanted to add that when you do compile these resources, even if they're free I hope you'll add a Donate button to the site, so that all your hard work can be rewarded by those who find it useful and are financially able. I strongly believe in giving back, and know many others will too. (Even if you didn't feel comfortable taking money yourself--although I certainly feel you'd deserve it--I'm sure you could find so many amazing ways to use it to support education, or whatever other causes you feel strongly about.)

Was just thinking about your DD recently, and wondering how things are going. Do you have any updates? Whatever path you've chosen to take, I hope she's settling in, and things are much better than you'd feared.

Sorry, auditory processing disorder. She does ask people to repeat things quite often, and with her issues in dance class I was worried they might be in part because she couldn't hear the teacher over the background music. I'm weeding through the book now, and have done a little at home testing, which she's passed with flying colors, so now I'm trying to figure out whether a mild APD is the issue or whether it's just that she gets lost in her own thoughts and doesn't pay attention. And thank you, I do think that getting an evaluation is important, whatever it showed or didn't show, I think it would be a relief either way, because without an eval I'd always be wondering. Whatever the issue is I don't think it's severe (I was just now looking up OT groups in the area, and the questions they ask don't seem to apply.) But that doesn't mean there's nothing there, and I'm sure there are things I'm not seeing from the tunnel vision of being her mother.

Putting some John Holt on hold at the library now, thank you Ellie! And oh my goodness, thank you SO, SO much, OhElizabeth. So much to think about, I'll have to read all your comments again and absorb them to see where they might apply. FWIW I was on the LC board recently for concerns I had about AP issues, and am now reading a book suggested by someone there to try to discern whether that might be an issue. I did mention there that we had a concern a couple of years ago about dyspraxia, because she's always been very uncoordinated (something that became even more apparent watching her try to dance.) She was in EI between 14 and 18 months for DT and PT, and was a late walker and talker (19 months for both.) We had an appointment with a neurodevelopmental pediatrician when she was 3 (8 month waiting list) but pulled her out when she finally learned how to jump, to be honest in part because it would have cost thousands not covered by insurance. I'll look into gymnastics, I know there's a Gymboree and My Gym, but both are over 45 minutes away so it may be a stretch. I'd want to put her in the preschool classes, because she's just not at a K level physically, and it sounds like it would make sense to look for an OT and PT evaluation. (I don't think she has ADHD, because she has a very long attention span, until recently was able to read and do other academics for long periods of time, and can sit literally for hours when I read to her. But maybe there are more flavors of ADHD than I'm aware of?) Her fine motor skills seemed to develop so early, she was stringing beads before 2, for example, and first wrote her name before 3, so I never considered that might be an issue. But she's always hated coloring, and is only now starting to draw a bit. Maybe there's a visual/tracking issue? I said she reads fluently, but does have a hard time with longer words unless I cover up pieces with my finger, so maybe that's part of the problem? I'll have to look into that a bit more. Your last comment on structure is interesting, because I've been trying to figure out how to structure our days so they don't just disappear--which is what seems to be happening lately. You mentioned the differences in your children, and while I feel like my DD is perfectly happy without structure, I also feel like it would be beneficial for her (and for me as well.) I'd always planned to begin to set up more of a schedule this year as I saw how things progressed and found our rhythm, but it's much easier to set up a schedule when we have a set of curricula to follow, not so much when I'm winging it most of the time. Again I've been kind of at a loss with this and feeling like the days are just passing without notice. So much to think about, and I'm going to share these comments with my husband as well, since he tends to think the only issues she might have are behavioral.

Another thing that worries me, by the way, is her tendency to give up when things get frustrating or difficult. She doesn't have much self control and explodes so easily, has very little patience. Even teaching her to button her coat or start a zipper led to many explosions, and we never got past 24 piece puzzles because she'd get overwhelmed and start crying. I mentioned handwriting has been a bit of an issue, and that's the reason why. If she can't draw a perfect letter she ends up throwing the pen. This is all interrelated, this personality trait and her refusal to continue with schooling, and I know I need to find a way to help her past it if she's ever going to move forward (and...be able to succeed in life, melodramatic as that sounds.) We've done breathing techniques, I reinforce every day that the only way to learn is by making mistakes and persevering, etc. But none of it seems to stick. Like I said above, she's a tough nut.

Thank you all so much for the ideas, and for helping me start to feel a little more at peace with this. I LOVE the idea of unschooling, actually follow several unschooling blogs because the philosophy makes sense to me (at least for the younger years), but the most important ingredient for a successful unschooling experience is the children's curiosity and drive and obsession with various topics, and my daughter rarely if ever shows that. She'll listen to me reading various NF topics, but rarely asks questions about them and doesn't show any interest in wanting to go deeper. :( I've tried educational games, but she really doesn't show much interest in games at all. She'll play one round, but then get bored and not want to play again. (You don't want to know how much money I've spent on games and puzzles trying to catch her interest. She has much more fun playing with stones/seed pods/nature toobs/other loose parts. Put a rock and a beautiful wooden logic puzzle in front of my daughter, and she will choose the rock.) We've written several stories together (mostly her narrating and me writing, although she'll write the title and first sentence, that's about the extent of her stamina.) But I love the idea of jointly writing a story with her as the hero! I think she'd love that, we'll definitely try that this week! She does play with kids at the playground, but those interactions are pretty limited. She was in dance (but we're stopping that because she didn't enjoy it and never followed the teacher's instructions) and we do swimming weekly, but we're in a very rural area, and other than that there aren't many opportunities around here. (She's not very athletic, and has no interest in sports.) I've considered looking into Scouts, maybe even becoming a troop leader, I know that might be a good place to meet other kids. I'm making her sound like a very boring person with few interests. Really she's extremely creative with a huge personality, but it's true that her interests really do seem to be extremely limited. I'd love to find ways to expand them, so I expose her to as much as possible, but as I said above, nothing has really seemed to stick. (And she never went through that period of continuously asking questions that most kids seem to go through, still doesn't ask me much.) She's a tough nut to crack.

My DD was always very self-motivated, taught herself to read and do basic math early, and was always pushing me to teach her more. I thought hs'ing would be perfect for her, that I'd be able to more or less follow her lead, schooling when she asked for it, and filling the rest of our days with play, read-alouds and outdoor time. But within the past few months, she gradually seems to have lost that drive she had earlier, and now steadfastly refuses whenever I suggest any kind of schooling. I've been trying to figure out what's going on, and I think it might be that she was feeling challenged for the first time, getting frustrated at what wasn't coming easily, and what was play for her was starting to feel like work. I've never pressured her into learning before and I don't want to start now...She's so young, I hate the idea of forcing anything onto her that she doesn't find fun, so I'm fine with stalling at this point. Other than handwriting she's on a 1st grade level so we won't be behind, and there's obviously so much that can be learned through play, nature study, field trips, cooking, the read alouds we still spend hours on, etc. But not knowing how long this impasse is going to go on, I do have a couple of concerns: 1. Will she lose many of the basic skills she's developed over the past couple of years? For example, if she doesn't read for several months, is she going to lose fluency? And we're midway through RS B...Will I need to reteach much of what she's learned? 2. Is this setting a bad precedent for the future? She knew this was her official K year, I made a big deal of it, so is this teaching her that school is something she can get out of if she's not in the mood? Should I be insisting on at least a half hour or so of formal learning to ingrain the mindset of school as a part of life? I have to say I'm disappointed, I did a ton of research (and spent a ton of money) and had all kinds of plans for this year, curricula that seemed like they'd be so much fun for her, and she has no interest in any of them at this point. She also has no interest in any of her toys, or in crafts. Really if she had her druthers she'd spend 90% of her time on imaginative play, which is fine but she pretty much demands I be a part of it, and I think a year of hours a day pretending to be a prince/dog/dinosaur is going to kill me. She's also gotten hooked on the iPad, which I try to limit to a half hour a day. (We don't do TV.) Given the chance she'd spend all day doing mindless games. I say I try to limit her, but because she insists on involving me in all her play, I'm so incredibly tempted to let her do more just so I can have room to breathe. Is there a way I can make learning enjoyable again? Find a way to somehow sneak it into the imaginative play? Or should we just go on doing what we've been doing and let her lead for the next few months, till we have to start getting serious about schooling? It's been so hard letting go of the idealistic view I had of hs'ing my motivated daughter, I just feel kind of at a loss right now.

If I were to buy Raspberry Pi or Arduino, are they standalone? Or should I buy components to go with them? (I see Raspberry Pi will need a power cord and SD card, but other than that is there anything else that would facilitate their use?) Thank you!!

So many unique and wonderful suggestions, most of which I've never heard of! Thank you all so much, I knew asking here would be a good idea. I'm going to have some fun Googling and deciding!!!

My EG (especially in math) nephew will be turning 13 in Oct, and I'm at a loss, I'm worried that every gift recommendation I've been able to find for adolescent boys would leave him bored or rolling his eyes. Can any of you recommend something fun that your gifted children enjoyed at that age? Thanks so much!

We were having similar (albeit milder) issues, so I asked for suggestions of "cozy read-alouds" last spring and got some wonderful suggestions. Hope this will help! http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/515555-cozy-read-alouds/?hl=%2Bcozy&do=findComment&comment=5717356