I love Sonlight P4/5, me and my 4.5 year old are more than halfway through it now. I, personally, wanted something a little meatier than 3/4 but now I'm ALSO going back and trying to add those books to our collection because they just seem to good to miss. Super literature based! And easy. I like the BFIAR manual and think it's charming but it just didn't work for me and my son.

Oh no I forgot to DVR!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE this family so inspirational! (For matters in general, I'm not about to go stock up on an extra dozen kids) I loved uninted Bates of America too. I'll have to TEVO it, you said it was on demand? Was that Time Warner Cable on demand? I have that. ETA: Now tevo-ed. Cool beans :)

Following! I am considering workboxes. Usually I get my act together late at night and set up ALL the activities / school things to do on our Dining Table, cause that's the only flat baby proof space, but then we blow through it all in quick succession in the morning. Workboxes could be the answer, I'll watch your question here :)

Oooh Chicka Chicka Boom Boom has been a BIG hit here too. My son learned the names of all the letters from reading "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" a lot at age 2-ish. ETA: We did sounds later, at age 3 when he wanted to "do school," we didn't use a book for that just classic preschool "letter of the week" type stuff.

Uhg those chopper blades are dangerous, they shouldn't be hovering them over people, no matter their age, find a nice abandoned field. A friend brought his over to show us (also had a go-pro) and tore up some of our shrub with a semi crash landing. I was like, "OMG are you serious there are branches flying everywhere and you flying this in close proximity to my kids?????" eeeexcerpt I didn't say that I'm pretty non confrontational.

Lol we go through like 3 cans of black beans and 3 of chickpeas a week. 4yo likes the bk beans best when cheese is melted in, he'll eat "cheesy beans" either plain of preferably with tortilla chips. He only likes chickpeas in falafel or chickpea of the sea though, so I guess only mashed. Hmm I ate almost a can day when preggers with him :)

My son as well took foreeeeeeeeeeeeever between learning letter sounds (age 3) and putting them together. We finished ETC primers last year and he just Was. Not. Ready. to go any further so I backed off for the summer and just last month (age 4.5) he started reading CVCs now we are on a roll. I guess that's not helpful for a little one adamant about school huh. Maybe you could just do letters a couple times a week and then give her "skills" workbooks (kumon, developing early learning, etc other fun ones) the rest of the time?

I like Cathy Duffy's alright, but there are SO many ways to categorize em,! I read her book at the library but here's a good summer her types http://homecrusadersedu.com/styles.html

Me? Probably not. Also our library has fine forgiveness Wednesdays, as you can imagine that's a HUGE blessing, I still try to get them back or renew them but still it's nice not to have to ever pay fines.

^^^ yes and ^^^ yes :D My goal for kids and book is to create enthusiastic lifelong readers. Tidiness is nice but secondary, I personally would NEVER take away reading or book privileges for failure to tidy. And the main point to remember is that each Momma does what she thinks is best and works best for her house and family.

Hey MarthMarm! I'm a little confused as to what age group you're asking about, toddler or pre-k but I have a 1 and 4 year old so I'll tell you about both :) The four year old probably owns about 150 books. We go to the library at least once sometimes twice a week, either our own or a neighbouring towns (they're all connected we use the same card state wide). When he was 2 or 3 I only let him take out one book lest chaos and fines ensue. Now I let him take out only two Ninja books (his twaddle of choice) usually one picture book and one ninjago chapter book he can take out a few other books too, and I sometimes request specific children's books, so I'm more relaxed about the total. We try to keep a "library stack" somewhere in the house so they don't get absorbed in our regular books which are stored on his dresser in his room, on rain gutter bookshelves in his closet turned book nook, on our big bookshelf in the family room and then on various surfaces all about the house. I don't so much rotate books as sneak out the ones that I think are twaddle or that his interest has cooled in and I don't love either. We donate a lot of books this way. The one year old probably has about 20 board books, maybe less. I think repetition is more important than variety for him. I also keep a mother goose book at the table and I'll read to him in his high chair while he eats and to his brother too in between my bites or if I finish first. I don't see the need for him to take out library books but he sometimes likes to empty the board book shelf while we are there. His books are on a low shelf in the family room, one board book at his high chair so he doesn't grab mine during meals and a couple small ones in his toy bin. I second that antibacterial wipes are the way to go, baby wipes in a pinch or if you worry about super germs. I am addicted to buying used books, at the library at other sales and for 1 cent with $3.99 shipping on half, amazon or ebay if it's a particular title I want. You should read The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, I bet your eager momma mind will just soak up all the knowlegy goodness, it's just such a good read! The library can usually get a copy. Happy reading!

Wow thank you all these are such great ideas! I pinned them all and will continue to sort through them :D I think we'll make a simple advent wreath, we'll see if nightly bed time Bible time is the best or just weekly. I am going to have to look into Jesse trees. Someone's blog mentioned the lion storyteller christmas book, little OT from wreaths and stuff but we love their bedtime storybook and I think the Christmas one would be sweet to read a story a day during the month on december. Mrs.Mommy I think (I pinned tons from your website thank you for all the ideas, I'm halfway through your radio show!) WhiteHawk, I just LOVE everything about that idea of yours and how you do it! Our kids nativity scene is already out, DS4 begged begged begged me to take it out this summer so I finally relented, he plays with it quite a bit. BarnWife where did you find that 24 days Christmas story? I think midweek services will have to wait for other years although Im sure they're lovely. The church we're at now doesn't have doors on the pews and with the 1 year old now walking and RUNNING everywhere I'm personally not getting too much out of Sundays what to speak of more. There's no sound hook up in the nursery unfortunately. I'll see if my state's library has any of those Waldorf books about holidays, I do love the Waldorf way of doing things. I already requested Jothan's journey from the library to check it out but we'll see, my oldest is only 4.5 so I usually shy away from Bible times fiction so as not to confuse him you know? All the other books people linked look good too! Thank you ladies SO MUCH I'm certainly blessed to have such a wide online community of Christian mommas.

BTW the irony of me denouncing Sana Clause while dressed up as a reindeer in my profile picture is not lost to me, lol!

Will you share your advent traditions with me? We never did anything for it growing up, though there was the advent wreath in church. I'd like to something with my family for advent, but spiritual like, all these "advent" countdowns I see online are just calenders stuffed with candy. Or "Countdowns to Santa" lol no thank you. Do you do an advent wreath at home is there anything else you do for the special season please share with me, links and pictures too if you like my family is a blank canvas Looking forward to the birth of the Savior! <3 Oh we're protestant (Methodist/congregational) if it matters. Thanks in advance, homeschoolers always do the coolest stuff! ;)

We're looking at My Father's World K for next year, it comes with some cool looking hands on stuff and a schedule. You could look into that. I requested their paper brochure 'cause I prefer that to just looking at a web page of items. http://www.mfwbooks.com/products/M50/20/0/0/1 http://www.mfwbooks.com/products/M50/20/0/0/1#details Hope you find something good!

I love sonlight P4/5, we're halfway through it, but it's not exclusively animal centric, although a lot of the characters, ARE animals. I think 1+1+1 has some animal units with book suggestions, doesn't she? Scheduling! I *try* to stick at least somewhat to the schedule and only read what's on there for the week or reread (we do LOTS of that) passages we have already covered. For me it's because I don't want DS4 to go through this 36 week program that I paid big $$ for in just a month or two!! Having said that we blew through Uncle Wiggly, he loves it so much and wouldn't accept less than 2 stories a week so we're about to start a sequel. And we gobbled up Bernstein's bears nature book but happily it holds up to rereading.

I've never had an Epi but I've had all "natural" med free births (our 2nd was an HVAC, baby died - Hospitals for life yo!) and also had Spinals for C-i sections. They didn't get botched at all! I was not groggy, baby wasn't groggy, we breastfed just minutes after birth etc. I would say go for it if you feel the inclination, it could dissipate that feeling of dread for the pushing and help you relax and be present :)

At ages 2 and 3 we did TONS of Play At Home Mom activities, the have a blog. Lots of sensory stuff as well as art. Books almost goes without saying right? ;) and some good puzzles. numbered stacking cups. We started kumon workbooks ans Sonlight read alouds at age older 3.

Yah, following!

When my son was at that age and ability I would typically open a printable "pack" from these sites and then just print out the which one is different, match the picture, counting etc, no need to print out the whole pack or the alphabet pages. http://www.3dinosaurs.com/printables/printablepacks.php http://royalbaloo.com/printables/ http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/PreschoolPacks.html http://ateachingmommy.com/preschool-printables/ hope this helps!

Hey Reverie! We're in pre-k right now too! :) I always assumed I would go 100% Waldorf homeschool all the way, my sister's been in Waldorf private and charter schools are her whole life so I did live in a Waldorf home for a few years before I got married and moved out. I Waldorf is beautiful, lovely and effective but I always felt as if I was only in the shallows of understanding the deep river that is waldorf philosophy and practice. Charlotte Mason has proven much more accessible and understandable for me, so I'm doing that, literature based + occasional waldorf inspired elements. I really enjoy the BFIAR manual, it's very sweet, the 2nd half has lots of thoughtful ideas for play learning fun. I would say it's worth the investment if you could find a used copy. (But you WILL do fine without it if you choose!) I also assumed I would make my own curriculum from scratch, nope again! There is no doubt for me that I could, and could do it well, but in my mind's eye I see me on the computer researching and compiling endlessly, taking away from time with the little ones. That's just me, I'm sure tons of people have time/energy to do it all, but I don't! I really enjoy our boxed curriculum (Sonlight) it's really open and go and it's relaxed literature approach keeps me in check from pushing too much academics (I secretly fear I'm a bit of a pusher!). I don't give Common Core a thought. You are obviously very thoughtful and dedicated to 4yo's education, you are going to rock this!

I've noticed that everyone starts real early homeschooling their 1st born, I guess we can't contain our enthusiasm any longer! And often more experienced moms tend not to worry about school so much at such a tender age. I don't think either is wrong, I'm sure no one is behind and everyone is appreciated by their kiddos! <3

Oh yeah, we take a whole year to go at things too, it helps me RELAX you know :)

We love Sonlight, we breeze through it, so it's good time wise but yeah $$$. Worth it,but still! I haven't tried the others :) Lots of currics have free 1 or 2 week samples on their sites, you could test drive them that way maybe? I'm sure you'll find something good for you 5yo, he's lucky to have a nice homeschooling Auntie!

Thanks ladies! We did the 1st two lessons this week, they did go by much quicker IRL than I had thought looking at the page. It's weird to say but I LOVE the scripting! It's a nice safety net for me on math which of course is the subject I have the most anxiety about (which is hilarious because I'm pretty sure I'm competent at K level math!) and I think it'll help keep the instruction balanced on my own I occasionally belabor a point, lol. Good so far, we'll keep on gently, thanks for your input!