My son is doing AR but without a minimum goal set (he's 5.5 in K). He just hit 50 points last quarter (they get cute little reward and incentives). He gets through the smaller (0.5) point books quickly -- up to 2-3/day at times, we just started the MTH series and it takes him about 1 week to read those (& still read about 1 regular 0.5 book per day). I think the min goal is 50 points for 1st grade level next year.

The program is fine, but be VERY careful of Pimsleur's misleading practices. I tried to cancel a month after my surprise billing, and it was not until I got my credit card company involved AND canceled my card that it was canceled, 3 months later :(

Looks interesting. I am wondering how much were the kits after the co-op discount? thanks! :)

my 3 year old got a firetruck lego that he was asking for all year, we built the original model for him (with him helping by finding the correct piece), he's having a ball dismantling and reconstructing it.

AAS :) it's 'my' Christmas present to myself this year :)

I am subbing. I have a kindergartener (5) & preschooler. For the kindergartener, we do a mix of promoting core subjects (reading/math) & extra STEM stuff (mostly child-led...i.e. we saw a video and read a book about manatee today). We have done life-cycles of different animals, read about different occupations, learn how a compass works, etc. I am interested in a simple, yet interesting science, geography and history book that could be used for afterschooling. Currently, I get our curriculum from the internet or library.

lol @ your last statement. sounds like getting the teacher on board may help. my stinky boys get a bath every night before bed, otherwise, I'll have food, sand, mud and god knows what else on the bedsheets. good luck in finding an option that may work.

Is there something your kids look forward to for school? or what are the consequences if they are tardy? (not your taking 0.50 cents out from the piggy bank, but the consequences from the school?). My DS5 loves walking to school (vs getting dropped off by car), so he gets himself up the moment the alarm rings (6.50am), gets dressed, goes to the bathroom and while he's doing that, I get breakfast ready and helping my 3 year old. While he eats, I'll be eating breakfast and prepping lunch. If we walk, we have to leave the house by 7.20am, any later, we'll have to drive to school. Also, depending on the personalities of your kids, have you thought of sticker charts, etc?

You obviously have another 6 months to decide :) and by then, I think your DS would know all his letter sounds & names. Speaking from the perspective of having a young K boy (end of July birthday, cut-off for us is Sept 1st), I decided to go ahead & put my son in regular K this year and he is simply thriving. He's among the top few kids academically in the class (probably 1-2 in reading, math and spelling) and despite some goofiness and squirming, is doing well socially as well. Since yours is a charter/homeschool situation, my only question for the school would be the difference in academic work for your son when picking Jr K vs K. My son is doing some mid-grade 1 level work concurrently (in addition to regular work) with another academically advanced child in his class.

DS1 is at 1.5 - 2.5 level and we do 1 book a day, 2 over the weekends.

I am subbing, but I have bigger problems. They use Bridges syllabus at my son's school...so I am working hard to keep him ahead in Singapore Math, to complement their spiral games math method.

just keep up with the reading! My DS1 was in speech therapy until age 3, and was speech delayed till about 3.5. He starting reading at 4.5 & is now among the top readers in his grade, speaking fluently and doing great. I was very worried about the speech delay kids being late readers, but that is definitely not true for my son. He's in the advanced program in his class now, and started doing spelling words this week (silent e & long e words).

trying to get some suggestions from other parents here. my son's K teacher asked me if we wanted more homework for him. he's among the top 2 in class (one of the pm kindergarten kids just transferred into his class & that boy is very advanced (reading at 3-4th grade level/doing multiplication, etc), and that boy's mum is asking for more homework. I told her no for now (as we are still trudging along with our reading/singapore math/etc), but might reconsider and see what she sends home with him (there are some days that I work 7-10 day stretches, 12 hour days in a row), and he might be able to do her homework instead. what does the bee hive think? *just to clarify, I am happy with where my kid is at right now. we strive to work harder, but my son really loves kindergarten and he enjoys our eclectic afterschooling style & he's very social, I do not think my kid is a genius, but am happy he is working (&thriving) ahead of the curve.* thanks in advanced!

My son's school uses the Reading Street program. It seems okay, but it is heavily supplemented by his teacher (she is very experienced & a great K teacher) with BOB books, and another phonic book series that I am not familiar with.

ok, looks like I'll be saving up for AAS as MY Christmas present! lol, I think I'm more excited about (in the past) new diapers/new kids clothes/new kids accessories/books & syllabus than the kids are :)