I think he’s doing great. You could choose to pull back to the smaller quantity of work if you want to progress through book one faster, or not. I think it’s up to you. My 7.5 year old is in book 2 and here’s a sample of her work to compare if that helps. I don’t write her narrations for her any more.

My oldest did public K but we afterschooled some and I really want to homeschool first grade. I have a bunch of stuff, we’ll see what sticks! Language Arts: AAR 3, AAS 3, SUS B, WWE 1, GD italics B, MCT Island, EIW 1, BW Quiver, free reading Math: CLE 1, MM blue series, maybe MEP reception History/Science: SOTW plus books, bop around WP World Around Me, WP Animals, ES Physics Art, music, etc TBD but probably 2d art making while listening to music World languages: Thinking about Mimic Method for Spanish She needs to move so afternoons building forts, obstacle courses, digging a hole in the yard and so on..

I'd like to start doing history regularly (2-3x week) next year when my oldest reaches age 6, but I'm not really into boxed curriculum or following a schedule with multiple resources chopped into small portions. At the same time, I like some structure because I'm a whole to parts kind of person. I read a blog entry from a classical unschooler who teaches her kids a basic chronology of history and then lets them read according to interest, and I like that idea although I'm not going an unschooling route. So I was thinking of taking a bookcase and devoting one shelf to each of the four typical time periods. I would read aloud from all four volumes of Story of the World relatively quickly at the beginning of the year. From there my daughter would look on the shelves for whatever bit of history she feels like learning about. I would read aloud from the stuff she can't read yet. I would keep a timeline and have her do narrations into a binder with tabs for Ancients, etc. We could do a project or activity as inspired. I would let her bounce from time period to time period, but it would always be pulling from (bookcase) and adding to (narration binder) the structure in the chronology. So instead of doing one time period per year, we would use the four years or so of the grammar stage to work through the shelves. And when my three year old is old enough, she can start making her own selections or working with her sister. What do you think the pitfalls of this approach would be? I don't have a ton of books for history specifically but I was thinking I could pick up a skeleton library and then just add books according to our interests, plus get things from the library.

Last month I got 5 yards of cheesecloth and a mini chip thing that goes inside of a camera memory card. I need to email them!

I would get him the workbook he wants. I would also get some living math read alouds (since you already enjoy read alouds) and manipulatives to go along the concepts in those books, to keep encouraging the practice of figuring things out on his own.

My middle DD is 3.5, can read the first few blue Bob books, and I've started on AAR 1 with her this month. I'm just going very, very slowly with it, one activity from one lesson at a time. However, I don't expect her to pick up books from our shelves and read from cover to cover easily for a while. She just spends lots of time looking through them for fun. I'm also planning to start phonological awareness activities (basically verbal word games) I picked up on Teachers Pay Teachers, because she's not super auditory and I want to give her a lot more practice with that.

To be sure at this age my kids get a lot of mileage out of playing in the backyard, listening to books they've picked out at the library, scribbling on copy paper, and playing pretend! They really like to do things together and I'm excited that homeschooling will let them do that for a long time. Part of my thinking is spurred by the fact I'm expecting my third (and last!) child in September, and I've been looking at some nice blogs from large homeschooling families, where things are color coded and mom uses multiple levels of the same program throughout. While that kind of structure really appeals to me, I have a sneaking suspicion I would be happier playing it by ear for my younger daughter. I don't think she'll start a formal reading program anywhere near the same age as her sister, and of course that's okay. Now that I'm getting closer to the elementary years, I'm really trying to figure out my preferences!

I always assumed that I would pass down curricula from child to child when I started homeschooling, but I'm noticing how different my daughters are already at 3 and 4. My older daughter is very practical, likes direct instruction, and is interested in academic stuff, and my younger daughter is very observant and expressive, and is not interested in academics at all. I would love to do formal language arts and math with my older daughter for K, but let my younger daughter percolate for a while and then do Oak Meadow Kindergarten. Has anyone had luck trying quite different approaches even with kids close together? I really like being able to use my judgement for each child - it's part of why I want to homeschool - but I don't want to be unreasonable either.

I do correct her a lot. And we are laying down the rails kinds of parents, we don't allow them to run or touch things in indoor public spaces, for example, although that's a normal thing for them to want to do. She sometimes responds to my reminders with meltdowns or tantrums. She would melt down every single day at preschool pick up because she didn't want to leave. It's just always some behavior when I bring her somewhere, and if she tantrums when I correct her we leave immediately. I sort of feel like I'm running out of places I'm willing to bring her.

You posted while I was typing, and I think you're right. I took her out of the Montessori school because I felt like it was uncaring of them not to set boundaries for her. She is super independent so I thought it would be a good fit. I've always wanted to homeschool but she's not that interested in me. She catches on quickly so I felt like some early instruction would make her happy. It's a little scary to just go totally off the grid.

That's true. Before ballet last week she danced for a lady we don't know in the dressing room and cheerfully asked, "Do you like me?" and then at the end of class she sat and stared at a different mom for several minutes instead of putting on her shoes (while I called her name trying and failing to get her attention). At open gym she tries to tell the other children what to do. She constantly tells people we barely know long stories and then invites them to our house. I'm really direct and clear about boundaries but it's just not getting through. When she was in Montessori school she wouldn't touch most of the work and instead tried to get the other kids to roughhouse and play pretend, and wanted to chat with the teacher, wouldn't keep her shoes on, ate up all of their snack servings.. She's very articulate but sort of gruff and people don't seem to like her which is hard to watch. I'm an introvert and very picky so I don't have a crew of kids she can just run off with. The stuff I can realistically get her to is very structured and expects kids to be with it. So I'm really tempted to just chuck it for a few years, but maybe she needs the practice.

My almost four year old does interesting things like beg her ballet teacher for snack several times (after eating a snack before class) when I take her to extracurricular things. I don't see other kids doing the things she does, so I wonder if she's just not ready to be part of classes yet. But she likes music and movement, and she likes being with other kids, so I also worry about taking it away from her. I'm just burning up a lot of patience dealing with the odd things she keeps doing in public! I can't tell if we need to just play or if there's something wrong.

Thanks for the recommendations! I didn't realize that's an option; might be a nice way to dip a toe in the water! My younger daughter is very talkative but has no concept of letter sounds yet, so I think the AAR pre level would be worth it. My kids are 20 months apart and want to do everything together, and anything that builds on that is productive for us. I should have mentioned that! We rewrite the words onto a piece of copy paper in large letters for her. And I had my husband try to teach her the lesson too, since she's really into Daddy and he's been teaching second grade for 10 years - I thought it might just be me. But she cries for him as well and says she can't do it. And yet we read the word "trail" on a sign today, and she was very happy to listen to herself combine "tr" into one sound from "t..r.." over and over again. Is this Webster's? http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/webstersyllabary.html

My daughter will be four in June. She learned letter sounds around two and started blending around 3.5. She can read the first few Bob books and loves rhymes and learning songs. We had been trying OPGTR the last few months but she panics and cries so we've stopped. I really think she's an auditory learner and she's confused and overwhelmed about where to look on the page. Instead of teaching her to read right now I think she would enjoy saying and spelling words. She found the word "mailbox" the other day and wanted to spell it using letter cards. I am not a natural or phonetic speller (almost certain I learned to read by sight) so I'd like to pick up the first level of a spelling curriculum just so I know where I'm going. Any ideas? Also, I think she might like AAR pre reading because it seems like it's done orally - and my younger daughter who is two could play along.

I agree with this and other similar statements. My oldest is almost three and my thinking about how to "be" in this toddler-to-preschool stage has changed a lot in the last six months. I had thought that early reading, writing and math was most important to me, but after six months of having my toddler in a toddler group at a Montessori school which is very focused on early academic skill achievement, my priorities have changed. I want to feed her emotional health, imagination, and understanding of the real world in this stage instead! Lists of skills are a nice tool, but the real challenge is knowing your deeper convictions and then living them as you respond to your child.