I'm calling this year pre-k, but my boy's 4 as well. Spine: We're 11 weeks into Sonlight P4/5, we started that at the beginning of summer, it's so fun! Math: We're just about to begin RightStart math A (2nd ed) at a gentle pace Phonics: We completed the ETC primer series last year, but DS stalled out on the last few pages at figuring out the end sound of a word, so we are giving phonics a break and just keeping all the letter sounds fresh in his mind until he seems ready for the next developmental "leap" into sounding it out and such. Basically waiting for that c-aaa-ttt cat! breakthrough.No hurry! I own Happy Phonics but it's mostly dormant atm. I own ETC 1 for whenever he's ready. Science: is taken care of by Sonlight on the book side and life, the backyard and our daily nature walk on the practical side. Other: lots of random skills workbooks (think Kumon) I have plenty of educational manipulatives for patterning, writing letters in salt/sand/shaving cream trays stuff like that. I like the pinterest-y stuff to make school extra "fun." And I cannot stress this enough the biggest part if our early learning - READING ALOUD!!! I read tons of books to DS4, he loves it, it's my goal to keep it that way. Great thread idea Walking Iris, I love to see what others are doing, esp at the same age!

Thanks guys, that's very reassuring :) I had almost forgotten about the asian counting! DS4 counts reliable up to about 13-14 and then starts blending and confusing all the teen words, so maybe 6-10 and such will be perfect for him. He has 1-1 correspondence like a champ though, even if he flubs up the # names higher up sometimes. Hmm maybe I'll try it this week, we accidentally blew through our whole week on Sonlight school already, so the field is pretty open for a new type of "lesson" to be introduced. Thanks again ladies!

Have you done it? I own RS ! 2nd edition it's downstairs, so I'm not looking to to be sold/dissuaded on it, we laid some big bucks down and now we're committed! lol I am looking to see if anyone else has done it with their 4yo or otherwise very young child and how that looked for you. What pace did you go at? Are the lessons too much for one day and should be split or does it fly by faster in life than in the guide? How many days a week did you do it? etc. The right start math people say 4 is the perfect age to start, that it'll give them a good start in subitizing vs counting, but they would say that wouldn't they! Plus Ocean's already counting and I certainly don't want to make him feel like that's wrong rather just present the RS way as an additional way things could be done. Was already counting an issue for you, or a non issue? Anyways I was thinking we wouldn't start any math "lessons" until fall when then frost will drive us indoors more, but now I'm considering giving the first few lessons a whirl just to see what kind of pace they'd be at and see if DS4 can "handle" formal math. Everything else we do for school is very relaxed Sonlight books everyday, workbooks that are fun, random patterning occasionally paying with the abacus as "math." ^ That's a little disjointed, yes, but it mirrors the state of my mind where math is concerned

Workbook suggestion, *I haven't used these personally*, just flipped through them at the conventions, but you may want to look at Horizon's 3yo workbooks, your description below made me think they may be a good choice "She needs a smidge of easy sit still work to practice lengthening her concentration and focus. She is most likely dyslexic as we have it in one parent (and therefore pass it down at a rate of 50%) and shows signs of phonetic unawareness along with speech issues (unusual in a girl.) So, we're looking at essentially workbooks that are color by number, color the ABC, or something like that. " Sample pages http://media.glnsrv.com/pdf/products/sample_pages/sample_PRS001.pdf Product page https://www.aophomeschooling.com/horizons/preschool-for-three-s/prs001#productResources and of course the internet is full of "printables" that are similar and appropriate for your needs, but you don't have time for that! Lol at least I assume not. :) We used ETC primers and loved them but they may just cause frustration, letters on every page. We're also big fans of kumon skills books, the normal ones and the "Lets" ones aimed at a younger audience.

Okay also came back to link to this thread about people's different experiences piecing together a core, you should be able to see it. https://forums.sonlight.com/topic/331139-anyone-pieced-together-a-core/?hl=%2Bpiecing&do=findComment&comment=4579370

We're a couple months in to P4/5. You do not need all the books for the whole year, you could roughly split it into semesters 1 Berstain Bears nature, Uncle wiggly, , DEL consumable workbooks 1 and 2, things people do, the year at maple hill farm, what's under the sea, american tall tales CD 2 stories from Africa (available from SL only) new toes for tia, peter rabbit, brer rabbit, oh uncle wiggly still, why do tigers have stripes, Dr suess's ABC, 1st thousand words, a child's book of art, Milly molly mandy storybook, how to dig a hole to the other side of the world, what's smaller than a pygmy shrew, then and now, how do you life a lion, the gods must be angry (i didn't get that one), is a blue whale the biggest..., both Bible, children's book of virtue, mother goose (any comprehensive volume will do) eric carle's animals animals, lion bedtime book, stories from around the world Sorry for the lack of capitalization, just sat here with my IG open in front of me flipping through it. If you want to do the Library that could save you money, especially if they have a generous renewal policy! You will not likely see significant savings buying used unless you own a bunch of the books already. I didn't! Maybe saved $50 buying the books used online and still have to get a couple. There are lots of threads on the SL forum from people who tried, most do not end up saving (there are the thrifty through who spend the whole year carrying the catalog around to 10 cent used bookstores). I'm skipping The God's must be crazy because we have hare Krishna relatives and I don't want to really bring up idol/deity worship. Lots of people skip the Bible, I like it as a light daytime addition to our Bible bedtime stories. As stated above lots of people skip around, or read the books at once. I'm following the IG pretty closely so as not to finish all the books in a week, lol! We do lots of other reading too, but I don't consider that "adding on" to school, reading for pleasure is just our lifestyle. I have added on workbooks, ETC primers and some other fun kumon ones, and DS4 will be starting math (rightstart A) in the fall, we'll probably be almost done with p4/5 by then. And I add any random activity I feel inspired to do by pinterest, lol. Hope this helps, my last tip is to get your IG spiral bound at staples instead of buying the bulky 3 ringed binder from SL. It's so convenient!

Doing SL p4/5 this summer and into the ":school year" - that's our pre-k but yes I'm already kicking around kindy ideas - probably MFW kindergarten with lots of added lit. We're starting Right Start math A this fall and we'll go slow so we may still be doing it come next fall. Hoping Getty Dubay handwriting works for us I don't want to shell out the $$$ for HWOT.

I own it, I don't know how to use it. At all! We've just finished up the ETC primers, and I'm holding off on ETC 1 until fall, but it'd be nice to have some phonics reinforcement until then. Do you use this book? How?

I LOVE the Read Aloud Handbook! I checked it out from the library (4th edition) and it was so good I just had to go back and request the latest edition, which I'm reading now. Babies need books is GREAT too, I also want to own it, and Honey For a Child's Heart is next in my sights. I haven't heard of those last 3 so I'll have to look into your suggestions. Thanks!

Will do freeindeed! Honestly I didn't buy it all from Sonlight. As much as I want to support a homeschooling company the $$ just isn't there to pay for it all new. I bought the IG and a couple books from them, and then got the rest used for 1 cent with 3.99 shipping from sellers on half.com, ebay and amazon. The whole core cost me about $150. More expensive than the library but now we'll have these cool books for life, and assumedly Sunshine will be coming up homeschooling behind his brother one day.

Cool, more to grow on! Thank you! I've never read the little house books and I feel like that's kind of crazy! We just finished the 2nd in My Father's Dragon, a couple times! He's been asking for it again and again like the 1st, which I have on my kindle, so I think I need to actually OWN them all. Oh well, worthwhile investment! My mom got DS4 the OG Whinnie the Pooh books for his B-day, they're chapter-ish, and he's been lapping them up! I'm so sad I've lost my voice the past few days, it's killin me!

Awesome! We just ordered p4/5 for the Fall, so I'm jazzed to hear about people liking doing Sonlight. I also ordered a couple of the p3/4books 'cause they look so good (The Bible in that core is the same on we used with Ocean for years - love it!). Hope you have a great year!

Recommended in this thread "The Read Aloud HAndbook" and "Babies Need Books" both GREAT!! Checked them out from the library, they are both so good that I now feel I need to own them! Can't wait to read "Honey For a Child's Heart." May I specifically reccomend Carl Sam's and Jean Stoick series, rich vocabulary set to real life forest photography. Here's our fav http://smile.amazon.com/First-Snow-Woods-Photographic-Fantasy/dp/0977010864/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398171727&sr=8-1&keywords=first+snow+in+the+woods

We're at the beginning of our phonics journey, with DS having all the letter sounds down but c-v-c blending not fully manifested yet! We own Happy Phonics and have really enjoyed the few things we' have done from it. For example the "Reading House" game or tool is a fun way to practice cvc word families that's less tedious than what we otherwise do do. The games more advanced than we're at look fun as well. I like that's there's things to touch and move. lol sorry this isn't a more complete reveiw, but we're just not there yet! I can see this program being in my homeschool drawer for a couple years with special appearances on whatever phonics rule :)

This is of interest to me as well! My oldest DS, 4 next week, is younger than OP's but constantly asking to do experiments! I as well want a program that's boxed and prepped for me although I know there's great experiment books out there. I loooove the look of Sonlight science A but it's pricey. I'm also considering just sporadically ordering science kits, though that made add up to a lot of $$ by the time all is said and done. So, if there's any more to come I am following!

I can see merit with both, I'm sure there isn't a wrong way to enjoy books with you kids! I choose to go one chapter a day to build up his patience, and also help him streeeeeetch his brain by having to recall what we read days and days ago. It was our 1st attempt at chapter booking and we all really enjoyed it. He asked me to read it again last week and we sat happily for a 5 chapter chunk. (actually I think I'm the one who had to get up and change the baby, or cook, or pee or something, lol). That's us, you seem awesome, I'm sure you'll do what's best for your girl! <3

More EXCELLENT recommendations! It's funny, Coco,that you should mention saving some for him to read himself, that's actually what I was thinking about Narnia, it's probably a great read aloud but I remember getting the entire boxed set as a kid and just eating my way through it, LOVED them. Also if he's older maybe he'll "get" some of the allegory on his own without me ever saying a thing. I just checked out Pippi Longstocking, but I'm think I'll hold off on it for a couple years, there's fighting, references to a deceased mother and my DS id SUPER sensitive about that kind of thing. I think we'll hop onto Elmer and the Dragon next too!. :) Probably plan on doing a chapter book ever couple or few weeks, it's pictures books from sun up to sun down atm and I'm thinking chapter books will be a nice slice of variety.

Okay what an awesome pinterest board, so many great ideas! We will SO be doing that resurrection garden as well! ... if we can keep it warm enough in here! (Mass spring = low 30's lol)

I'm going to print this out, because there is more than enough here to keep us going awhile! He really liked the chapter a day experience, so I'm eager to start another. Thank you so much for you input!

Tombcakes maybe (you know with oreo stone rolled away from the half a donut tomb) and crazy amounts of egg hiding. :)

Do you have any good recommendations for FIRST read aloud chapter books? I never would have thought to read chapter books to my almost four year old, but then I read about it in a book (either WTM or a Charlotte Mason tome, I can't recall which) and saw My Father's Dragon touted on another thread. We just finished reading that one, a chapter a day, and DS loved it! Looking for similarly awesome recommendations. Wondering if he's be old enough for Roverandom by Tolkien? I'll have to go back and re-read it to see (I pre-read everything) Thank you! <3

I know the feeling! We have the Usborne Ted and Friends phonics reader collection and my son has memorized the whole book! Soooo we won't be using that as a sounds it out reader. Also your daughter sounds a lot like my oldest, outsmarting me at every turn! I hide/rotate books all the time, sounds like she has more than enough literature to satisfy! Hopefully your new library has inter library loans, then you can use it like a free amazon :thumbup1:

I could hug you right now!

Our 1st were Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel (which also has Katy and the big Snow and Maybell the Cable Car) and Ted and Friends from Usborne (you have to read the book a few times 1st to really get into that one). My son was 2 when we 1st got these for the car.

omgosh you guys clearly figured it out, come back and tell us how!