That's good to know. Thanks. I'm a total newbie. I had never even heard the phrase phonemic awareness before AAR and am still not 100% sure what it means. So for me, a planned out program made sense. I can see how Pinterest would be helpful for a lot of people though. I guess my point was that you don't know what you don't know and there is more to the program than just learning that B says buh.

Agreed. I'm doing the pre reading with my son who is 4.5. I started to skip it since he already knows his letters. But I'm glad I didn't. He is picking up on things I didn't realize he didn't know. For example, I hadn't been using the ABC poster where they are supposed to point to each letter as they sing the song. One day I did and he scanned the page for each letter not understanding that they were in order left to right.

We are brand new to homeschooling. We are trying to keep it simple at first. The plan is: All About Reading Happy Handwriting Singapore Math Essentials McRuffy Science Reading lots of books

He sounds like my MIL. She will only watch or read things she can learn from--news, religious programs, DIY shows, etc. She will also openly mock anyone who enjoys novels or sitcoms. Once she was at our house and it was time for my favorite show. I went to watch it in our bedroom because I knew she wouldn't like it. She insisted that I stay with her because she didn't want to run me out of my own living room. She then made fun of or called the show trash the whole time.

Thank you all so much. You have helped set my mind at ease regarding my choices. As for math, we have decided to go with Singapore Essential Math. My husband and I both really like the look of Miquon and hope to add it in later. But we are trying to keep it simple at first until we get our footing. Thanks again, and I'm sure I'll be back with a million questions as the time gets closer.

I've noticed most homeschool families have several kids. Are there any families on here with an only? Any advice for working with an extroverted only? Thanks!

Hi. My son is 4.5 and we are planning on homeschooling next year for kindergarten. I have spent a ton of time researching and am hoping you all can let me know if I am on the right track. About DS--Very bright, loves to build with Lego, Zoobs, etc., we call him our little engineer, in preschool 9 hours a week, seems to be a numbers person, can do basic addition and subtraction and we suspect he can read a little. About me--SAHM, no teaching experience, a word person, not super organized or crafty. About DH--numbers person, hopes to help as much as he can with schooling. My husband is looking for a new job so we have no idea what state we will live in in the fall. Right now, we are leaning toward just focusing on the 3Rs and science to begin with and maybe adding other stuff in as the year goes on (assuming this fills state requirements.) We are Christian so I want whatever we use to be faith based or neutral. We are doing AAR prereading. He also asked to learn to write so we just started Happy Handwriting. I'm planning to stick with those programs if they continue to go well. I'm leaning toward McRuffy science because it looks very hands on, and DS loves doing experiments. Also, I like that it is evolution/creation neutral. As for math, I have no idea. He is very math oriented so I want something that gives a very good foundation. He gets very annoyed when asked something he already knows so I don't want to too much repetition and review. DH is adamant about not doing 'common core' math, especially not a lot of focus on rounding and estimation or whatever you call 103-80 is 100-80+3. I starting doing math in my head that way years ago, long before I read about it, so it makes sense to me. It drives my husband nuts, however, and since he is the numbers person and DS is a lot like him, I will defer to him on this one. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. We will also read a lot of books and explore whatever random topics DS is interested in. Does this sound like a good plan? Is it enough? Too much? Thanks so much to anyone who read all of this.