I plan to aftershool reading for my 2nd grader and kindergartener. I have been working with both of them over the summer. My second grader homeschooled most of last year for 1st. The school assigns homework so we have to prioritize that, but we didn't finish the curriculum we were using last year, so I might try using that on days when homework is light or over the weekend. She has to do a reading log every night so it's the perfect opportunity to read books from the curriculum we didn't finish and I can incorporate some of the lesson material, like words study and comprehension questions. I will be quizzing her on sight words a couple nights a week. She will also have 20 new words each week as part of her word study so I will be having her practice those each day by doing say, spell, say and writing them (in various ways, like on a white board, flash cards, typing, etc). The school issues it's own math homework so we will do that using the teachers manual (luckily which is free online) and youtube videos to help with the 'strageties' they teach. I will have her do the splash math app for quick easy review if no homework for math is sent home. For my kindergartener, The school sends home a homework packet each week so we will do that and go over the sight words that have been taught with flash cards. I am also going to continue to work through the Memoria Press kindergarten reading program, which is just a workbook that teaches new letters and words and then has them reading passages from the work book and easy readers. If its too much we will just read through the early readers we have in order, discussing the new sounds and sight words each time. My goal is to spend 15-20 minute or reading instruction and read aloud each night. I will also be trying to use the Enrichment guides from Memoria Press since we didn't finish those either. This includes a read aloud, science and social studies topics, poetry, art and music appreciation. I have a 3rd grader as well who will only be required to do the homework sent from school and 30 minutes of indepenent reading each night. Edited because original was far to wordy :)

Wow 3.5 is early! None of my kids have been ready at that age but I know some kids are more eager. When my son was 4 I taught him the letter sounds using progressive phonics alphabetti series (we used the older version) and it got him reading cvc words. I was pretty impressed but he did eventually tire of the program and we moved onto Logic of English Foundations A which I feel is really great for young learners because of the multisensory approach and no sight words right away. I use this as a preschool program and so far have had great luck mainly because it builds the phoenimic awareness skills. I also feel it really helps having the child write the letters and eventually the words they are learning (letter tiles/magnets can be used or writing in salt/paint/etc). One activity from that book that might work with your little one is segmenting an action word (like r-u-n) or animal and then having the say the word and act it out. Also you can use a picture book and ask them to find the d-o-g or something that starts with the letter 'd'. After they are good at that, have them start segementing words for you to guess, maybe from around the room. Lots of ways to adapt those activities, but they are active ways to build phonenemic awareness, which helps with blending I think. I think the key is finding ways to make it fun. I wouldn't necessarily ditch the Teach your Child to Read book but I would supplement with some other fun things. Also there are some great websites out there, if your child is into them to help master those sounds and blending... teach your monster to read and starfall are the one I think of first that are free and several that you can pay for (abcmouse, homer, readingeggs, education.com...). I liked the readers from Reading the Alphabet because they gently introduce sight words and vocabulary... it is very picture dependant though which many lead to some whole language learning. I'm not really a stickler about that because I figure if I'm using a phonics program they will learn it eventually.

To be fair we didn't really give homeschooling an 'all in' chance, but we did get so far as to order curriculum and started teaching our son the read when he was 5. I had planned to homeschool him and my other children, but I could already see that our relationship was getting more tense. My husband and I decided to enroll him in the public school because in our area they aren't too bad. He had a great year and by the end of 1st was reading above grade level (without much extra help from me outside of school).... Then my second daughter started struggling in 1st grade and we decided to pull her 1/2 way through to give her more 1:1 with the basics. It's been the worst months I've had in a long time. We even started taking her to therapy for behavior (she likely has ADHD) and my daughter is making progress (but she is not where she should be grade level wise), but it's like pulling teeth and she is so distracted. I feel like the social isolation is starting to get to her too.. We got somewhat involved in a homeschool group but I just wasn't able to see how 1x a week at a big park was going to be enough and we can't really afford a bunch of paid activities right now, not to mention the time needed to do the school work and then the social activites I feel it really ends up being more than they spend in school.... so next year she is going back to school, and my 2 other kids who are school age are going as well. We are going to have a rough year ahead because she will be playing catch up and has difficultly concentrating and focusing but I still feel like it's the best thing we can do for now. I really have a lot of concerns about having my kids in public school for the long haul and I have a habit of reading too many blogs about how wonderful homeschooling can be and all the positives involved but for our family it just doesn't seem possible for many reasons, so of them being financial contrainsts, attitudes and motivation and just me not being able to commit myself to doing as many outside activities (I'm an introvert and homebody). It's hard admitting that you can't do something but I am still really invested in their education and I think I will be a much better mom and supporter when I take the pressure of homeschooling (even just thinking and researching it) off my plate.

I've been using the K for my 1st grader. I downloaded it before she updated and when it was free so my version might be different from what is sold now. It is advanced but she is also behind. The spelling is a little confusing because their are words in the front and words incorporated in the lessons. It also has word lists at the beginning for sight words. I do love the phonics lessons, readers and little extras incorporated like the art pictures. My daughter enjoys the worksheets. We are doing the lessons on my ipad because my daughter likes that. We download it into adobe and can use the drawing tool to write on the pages. We do print the readers. I am going to be trying out the K and 1st from memoria press but I wouldn't hesitate to incorporate some of the artwork and reading lessons from the Good and Beautiful into our day if we want/need to.

I have been trying to figure out what history to do with my K/1st grader.. We are new to homeschooling (pulled my DD out of public in Oct) so I haven't tried much but some curriculums that I have come across that might fit what you are looking for are Truthquest and Beautiful feet books... both have american history for K-3.

I am a very new homeschooler... I just pulled my daughter out of 1st grade this week because she likely has ADHD and can't focus in class and I have a son in public 2nd. The thing I have learned by having my kids in public kindergarten and first grade is how much modeling kids need and the importance of repetition... a little bit everyday goes a long way. Here are some suggestions.... Write his name on the white board everyday and say each letter. Make several copies of his name in bubble or dashed letter (or laminate 1 sheet) and let him start tracing the letters over and over. Then give him some lined paper with his name at the top to start practicing writing on lines. For reading, model sounding out a lot! I loved progressive phonics for this because its the same words over and over. If you want, introduce 2-4 sight words a week (I've seen some great printables over at 1+1+1=1 and This Reading Mama). Make flash cards and review them every week... lay the words on the ground and have him jump to each word as he says them. I totally agree with PP that the current public school writing expectations are developmentally inappropriate!! How can kids write a story if they can't spell? Now copy work is great... you can make up the sentence or even try having your DS help you. Just remember modeling and repetition.. It might seem like your DS isn't learning much at first but they hear and see everything you do and it will click soon if you stick with it!

Thanks a bunch! It does seem to have a similar look!

I was more concerned that it might be too many problems if I somehow tried to combine the two since I'm thinking of buying the program along with the memoria press package. If it's not our thing I can shelve it or resell it on ebay. My oldest (2nd grade this year) is very strong in math.

Yeah I'm pretty sure it is the knock off which I don't really care since I only even intended to use it as a supplement. I liked that it had problems similar to what my kids did in public school. Should I be concerned about the way concepts are taught in the book though? Or just be aware that it's not the original Singapore books.

No next year is my first official year homeschooling, though I have been thinking about it for awhile... my oldest is ready for second grade and was in public school for kindergarten and 1st and my second child is ready for 1st grade and was in kindergarten at the public school.

Does anyone have any experience with First Start Reading from Memoria press? How does it compare to a program like All about Reading or Logic of English? I am considering using Memoria Press for our children next year and the phonics they use in Kindergarten is First Start Reading along with a guide called Classical Phonics, Primary Phonics readers and a few others but I don't hear much about this curriculum... I'm looking for a curriculum for my soon to be 6 year old daughter who knows basic letter sounds but has not started any spelling or advanced phonics yet. She knows some sight words so she can read very simple books but it's slow... she also has little interest in learning to read... she is an active/distracted type of child.

I'm considering going with Memoria Press for our curriculum next year... and they suggest using Rod and Staff for math. I purchased Math Mammoth a couple years ago from the homeschool buyers coop so I already have it (have to print it though) and I also have a Singapore workbook (the common core aligned version from Costco) that I was going to try to add it (because I have it) but then Memoria Press suggests Rod and Staff and that has me scratching my head. They discount their program if you buy the entire year bundled so I was tempted to go that route and use the Rod and Staff and maybe Math Mammoth as a secondary (I have the light blue and dark blue series so I can print by grade level or topic) but then I have 'heard' that Rod and Staff has a lot of problems so I'm not sure if that would just be overkill? Anyways, thoughts on each of these programs? I would be using if for 1st and 2nd grade this upcoming year...

What does your daughter use for the keyboard and voice lessons at home? I want to expose my kids to my music education but I can't afford lessons right now.

Thanks so much for giving all this detail. I'm leaning towards this option since it seem insanely cheap and easy.

Okay thanks for sharing... I found a brother printer I like and the refillable kit that goes along with it and I'm excited... seems very affordable. You said you are only spending $10 a year on ink? That totally blows my mind so I'm just wondering how much printing you actually do? I'm assuming quite a bit but just wanted to make sure I'm getting my money's worth before I splurge on another printer. I have a few curriculum that I want to print out that are about 200-300 pages each and I want to use some free printable preschool curriculum for one of my children so I'm expecting to print a lot this year.