My mom says I didn't crawl. I think I'm okay. My fine motor skills were such as allowed me to become a competent violinist and pianist. On the other hand, my handwriting is atrocious and I can't operate a curling iron worth anything. So make of that what you will.

Thanks for the ideas for fine motor activities! I'll cut the S.S. teacher some slack, because she honestly may have forgotten dd's age, as there are several 4-year-olds in the class who will be in K next year. By the way, my husband and I both had poor handwriting grades in school. I learned to write early, and I think I may have developed bad habits by doing it before I was coordinated enough to do it well.

Please give me any thoughts you have on The Easy Spanish. I'm looking at the junior version. Is there something better? I'm trying to find something that's beyond colors, numbers, etc.

I'm just having dd read through one page a day in Phonics Pathways. My plan is to go back to it in the future when she's learned to write and use it all over again as a spelling curriculum.

My daughter is doing really well with reading. She pretty much only stumbles on words that are outside her vocabulary in the first place. She loves math - I was concerned about the transition from Primer to Alpha (Math-U-See) but it's been no big deal. She doesn't have much interest in learning to write. I've made a few attempts, and she's been cooperative, but it's so HARD! When it comes to handwriting, she is definitely not beyond her age. And here I am thinking, if she weren't performing as a first grader in the other two "Rs", handwriting wouldn't even be on my radar. So am I doing her a disservice if I just leave it alone till she's older and more coordinated? The strange thing is, writing her name is the one thing people seem to expect her to be able to do. In Sunday School, the teacher wanted them all to sign cards for the students who were absent that day. That was a "huh?" moment for me.

Carrie Underwood was in the process of getting a record contract with Capitol Records as early as 1996, only a change in the label's management caused the deal to be canceled (per Wikipedia). She had a lot of local performing experience and had beauty pageant experience as well. Jordin Sparks certainly had experience, she had sung as an opening act on Michael W. Smith's Christmas tour, as well as performing at pro-life rallies. Fantasia was part of a family singing group that had toured for years.

100 Easy Lessons worked well with my 3-year-old. She liked the goofy stories and pictures.

No, because if my girls went to school, I wouldn't see them between 8 and 3. Then we'd have to fit in any extra-curricular activities and errands, rush home and try to fit in homework and dinner before bed. And I would spend nearly as much time nagging them to get their homework done as I would spend getting them to do their schoolwork as a hs mom.

There's some sort of glycerin lotion that will heal it, but it stings like crazy. It also works as a preventive measure, though, so once you get it healed up, use the glycerin every day and the cracks won't happen again. For healing, slather Carmex all over the cracked places and rub it in before bed. That will do the trick in a couple of days. I'm doing that right now, actually. Once the cracks go away, I'll start using the glycerin.

No answer here, but I'm looking forward to reading what people have to say about this one also. Admittedly, we're just getting started with math, but we LOVE Math-U-See. I can't imagine ever switching!

*gulp* That is all.

What is the K Scholars Program? Is there a link to it?

At what age do you teach your kids how and when to dial 911? I had a bad spell a couple of days ago when I thought I was going to pass out (not sure what caused it). It got me thinking, what if I did pass out? Or what if I fell and injured myself badly? Here I am alone all day with 2 little ones.... My oldest could learn how to dial 911, but I'm not sure she would have the good judgment to remember not to do it inappropriately. In fact, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have that kind of judgment!

I call as soon as I get a positive test, and they schedule an appointment for me at 8 weeks. This time they had me come in for a blood test earlier than that to try and figure out exactly how far along I was so they'd know WHEN to schedule the 8-week appt.

colors and shapes -- we used Eric Carle's First Book of Colors and First Book of Shapes numbers and letters -- we used Brainy Baby DVDs and Tasha Tudor books (1 is One and A is for Annabelle) It worked, she learned it all before her 2nd birthday.

I let my daughter watch some Brainy Baby DVDs and the Your Baby Can Read series, mainly for babysitting purposes. It has definitely not affected her negatively that I can see. She has always loved books, and she's now 3 and reading pretty well. I borrowed Letter Factory from the library once and didn't like it because it was too cartoonish. We don't do computer games or technology toys. My husband is a computer expert but does NOT want the kids doing computer stuff early.

I don't think we would stick with Sonlight long-term, so the issue of appropriate subject matter shouldn't be a problem. I'm pretty sold on Ambleside Online for first grade and beyond. But I cannot follow Charlotte Mason for preschool, no way no how, so I'm trying to figure out what to do for the next two years.

Thank you for replying. It's good to know Sonlight worked for you in a similar situation. I'm still having a hard time deciding. I guess it comes down to whether I want an official structured Pre-K or not.

I'll add my recommendation for 100 Easy Lessons. My daughter loved it. We started right after her 3rd birthday. Now, she did burn out on it about 3/4 through, so we took a break for a couple of months and moved to easy readers from the library instead. By the time we went back to it, she was able to race through the rest of the book! We're doing Phonics Pathways now to sharpen up her ability to sound out words, and she likes that too. But she'd rather be reading her Beatrix Potter books!

Hi, I'm new here and trying to figure out what to do next year with my daughter who will be 4 in June. She already reads a lot. Would Sonlight Pre-K be a good or bad idea?