I love the LOE dry erase! I have some from the dollar spot at target but I really like the large three lined line on the one side for kids who need a lot of space to practice strokes. Thanks for sharing.

I recommend going ahead and doing MEP reception with a mathy 4 year old. Even though it seems deceptively easy, I think it was a great introduction to a math curriculum for my boy/girl twins this year (we did the whole year in the fall semester of Kindergarten) and they could have handled it when they were 4 (maybe even 3.5). Pretty much all of the following suggestions are going to require $$ but are more independant: If you have an ipad: Osmo Dragonbox Numbers (also available on android?) Ipad/computer: Dreambox Just purchase: Inchimals Denise Gaskin's Let's Play Math book series

I'd recommend getting golf pencils. :) I bought a box of 48 to use this year with my boy/girl twins in blue and pink. I wish I could take credit for the idea but Handwriting without Tears actually gave me the idea. But I wanted them in two colors so I bought the box I linked above off amazon - we haven't even used half the box of 48 yet. I'd also recommend Write Start Colored Pencils from crayola and triangular crayons from crayola to help promote proper grip. This has worked pretty well for me with just a little bit of reminding my kids how to hold the pencil properly when we sit down to do handwriting. We haven't used any rubber grips or anything, though I'm sure that that would be useful for a child that needs more fine motor toning or has some sort of developmental issue with holding a pencil.

This has been a great resource for me this year -: http://curry.virginia.edu/go/wil/rimes_and_rhymes.htm We do a rhyme a week from their lesson plans and use the printables provided. The kids especially like acting out the nursery rhymes.

I concur with the it's hot, humid, likely will rain and be crowded opinion. We buy an annual pass and spend at least 30 days a year in Disney but I look at black out dates on my pass as saving me from myself...look at the silver annual pass and expect that if there is a blackout it will be hideously crowded. This might be tolerable if you don't have small children - I do right now and I wouldn't consider going during blackout dates. However, if you can go in January or early december I'd highly recommend that over June. Also, even spring break is better because it's crowded but not as hot. Still, early June isn't as bad as late June or July. With planning and midday breaks you can make it work. Bring sunscreen.

Edit: Changing plans ...this will be a work in progress... My plans for first grade age twins this coming year - if we continue to homeschool next year - still up in the air on that one... definitely homeschooling 1st grade History - Beautiful Feet Books - Early American Primary Liberty Kids Little Passports USA edition - decided against after looking at reviews more, it's intended for slightly older kids and at a state a month it wouldn't fit into my timetable as well as I would like. Instead looking at 8 for Each State from edsnapshots. Now planning a Florida state study only :lol: planning on using The Ultimate Guide to Florida Homeschooling and other resources TBD Character / Good Habits - Beautiful Feet Books - Teaching Character Primary Catholic PACE (Program for Achieving Character Education) Building Good Character: God Made Me to Be Part of a Family English/Phonics/Language Arts - All About Spelling Level 1, Level 2 (as well?) English Lessons Through Literature Level 1 Some Phonics, undecided... Finish First Start Reading (books D, E) and BOB Books sets 4, 5 and Roll and Read Phonics Games Mathematics - Osmo Singapore 1A/1B Addition Facts That Stick Subtraction Facts That Stick Dreambox Rightstart Math Games Kit Critical Thinking/Logic - First Grade Thinkables Package What If the Wolf Were an Octopus? Aesop's Fables: Books about Reading, Writing, and Thinking Can You Find Me? Religion- Tell Me About the Catholic Faith with Catholic Icing notebooking pages Enrichment - Memoria Press First Grade Enrichment Science - Lego Early Simple Machines Mystery Science Handwriting - Pentime Grade 1 Book 2 then Pentime Grade 2 Transition We're doing enough writing in other places that I don't think a handwriting book is necessary. New American Cursive 1 (Memoria Press) - maybe Will continue an outside art class / music class and some kind of physical activity like swimming, taekwondo, gymnastics depending on interests. Looking at running a fairy tale themed co-op one day a week.

I've been using Memoria Press's First Start Reading program (with BOB book sets in between each FSR workbook for a mental break) with my kindergarten age twins this year. Next year, I'd like to move to something different rather than continue using MP for phonics instruction... it just hasn't been as successful as I would like and so I've been thinking about something else. I've thought about moving them into AAR and AAS or doing ETC workbooks. Has anyone moved on from FSR to another program and where has that landed you? For example, if you moved on to AAR which level were you in? I'm wondering if after completing FSR they would be past the AAR levels entirely and be able to just go into AAS, for example. I have Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons but I didn't particularly care for it (from my point of view, I didn't actually try using it). Thanks for any advice.

I have it, but haven't used it much. I'm considering other character building programs since I've found it a bit hard to implement.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, kindergarten is required in my state, and I should be able to administer the test since I hold a teaching certificate. I'm just not sure I want to, since I have the option to do a portfolio review instead. But I'd kind of like to see an assessment done that could give me more information on how my kids are progressing.... Again, thanks for the first hand experiences shared. :)

Is anyone doing standardized testing of their kindergarten student? I'm considering doing one with my twins since it's one of the ways that my state allows me to turn in an end of year evaluation. I'd also like to get a sense of how I'm doing with them and what areas they are doing well or not so well in. But... I'm also leery of sitting down my 5 year olds to do a long fill in the bubble sort of test. I don't think it's developmentally appropriate for them to do so. I looked at the Iowa Assessments and there was over 100 questions for the kindergarten level. Does anyone have any experience giving this test to this age? Recommendations on another test that might not be so intensive or administered differently? XPOST on Pre-K/K

Is anyone doing standardized testing of their kindergarten student? I'm considering doing one with my twins since it's one of the ways that my state allows me to turn in an end of year evaluation. I'd also like to get a sense of how I'm doing with them and what areas they are doing well or not so well in. But... I'm also leery of sitting down my 5 year olds to do a long fill in the bubble sort of test. I don't think it's developmentally appropriate for them to do so. I looked at the Iowa Assessments and there was over 100 questions for the kindergarten level. Does anyone have any experience giving this test to this age? Recommendations on another test that might not be so intensive or administered differently? XPOST on K-8

We also did a intro to geography and cultures unit this year for Kindergarten. My typical day is: 15 minutes Morning Time (MP Kindergraten Reception for Music, Art, Poetry and Picture Book, Bible, MP Recitation, and Nursery Rhymes) 10-15 minutes Reading (First Start Reading from MP / BOB Books and activity sheet) 15 minutes Math (MEP Reception and now Singapore Earlybird Kindergarten B, CT Kindergarten Thinking Skills, OSMO and Dragonbox Numbers) 5-10 minutes handwriting. Then 2x a week we do the geography/cultures which includes 3-4 picture books a week, the Children Like Me book, a wall map and world map puzzle, and youtube playlists and usually a craft. This takes approx 30 minutes. And then at night we read aloud a chapter book at least 15 minutes before bed. So if you count that we're doing 1 hour 3x a week and then 2x a week we spend 1.5 hours. We pick up another half hour or so on Saturday if we get behind during the week in any of the lessons. So to me it sounds like you're spending a lot of time for a kindergarten student - I know my kids won't sit and do work for more than about 20-25 minutes at a time. Even on the days we do an hour it's in three chunks usually. But my twins are young Kindy students - it might be different if I had 6 year olds.

I'm using mystery science and scm's outdoor secrets this year along with whatever is recommended in my pre and post homeschool zoo packets each month. https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/outdoor-secrets/ We also did the guest hollow human anatomy curriculum last year and loved it.

Love - MP Kindergarten Enrichment - it's not perfect and I find myself dropping or substituting at times, but I probably wouldn't get all this loveliness into my twins lives without this to start from. IEW printing with letter stories - the kids find the letter illustrations funny and easy to remember. I find the teacher plans helpful. Catholic Heritage Curricula Who Am I? Religion - the teachers guide has some great ideas, the kids seem to be retaining it well. Mystery science - really fun format. MEP Reception - both kids named math as their favorite subject due to this fun colorful curriculum. I do have some doubts about how appropriate it is for them. I think I could have chosen something at a higher level. However, I have Singapore kindergarten B scheduled starting January. Dislike: MP first start reading - sadly, this curriculum is not connecting well with my kids. I like it, but my son loathes it and my daughter is ambivalent. She preferred bob books. There is more writing baked in than I expected. I've moved to doing more orally with my son but it took some hard days to come to that realization.

We just used guest hollow's Jr. Anatomy curriculum with my then 4 year olds. They loved it.

We did bob books set 1 before starting mp first start reading program. We used free printable worksheets to go with each book plus http://www.teachingwithbob.com . I think I could have skipped book a in fsr completely now that we have been working through it a few weeks... Honestly, my daughter prefers the bob books. So it might be an inexpensiveoption to pursue - you only need the bob books.

Schoology or CourseSites would be my recommendation. They are both free and fully featured - CourseSites is by blackboard.

I've been doing school Monday - Saturday. Sunday is the only day we really make an effort to take off. I work part time during the week (MWF right now for about 20 hours) so I have to do school with my kids before work on the days I work, and then we have more time the two week days I'm home plus we pick up some time on Saturday.

We have been doing bob books with free printables...but I gave first start reading ready to go when we officially start kindergarten this fall.

Congratulations on your conversion! In addition to above, http://materamabilis.org/ma/ is a free Catholic Charlotte mason inspired curriculum. Catholic heritage has some options. https://www.chcweb.com/catalog/ Personally, I use a little of everything. I've considered bookshark, which is secular, with additions from some of the above companies/programs. And I also like memoria press, which isn't Catholic but is working to release some Catholic errata a to help make certain supplements friendly to those of us in the Catholic Church.

I considered doing SOTW with my 5 year old twins this year but I decided instead to do geography with them so that when we start talking about history next year they'll have more of an understanding of where things happened (I hope). I also bought veritas press's history of me and history of us. They are _incredibly simple_. However, I like the history of me and I'll probably use it at some point this year, maybe in the spring, to introduce the idea of history. The history of me is really just that - a focus on history using a timeline of events in the life of your family. Towards the end it throws in a bit of world history incredibly simplified. But I like that it will introduce the idea of a timeline and history before we dive into a history curriculum like SOTW. (I didn't care for the history of us as much and I doubt I'll even use it)

Thank you for making this available. :)

I'm getting raddish cooking club for kids - they even offer a homeschool extension set of lesson plans with each kit. http://www.raddishkids.com

I can answer a few of your questions. I was offered a position with FLVS a few years ago but passed on it and did not actually work there, so I'm basing this off of what I've seen at the school I work at plus my interview experience (which was like a full day affair so pretty in depth). -I guess I would like to know if they test them to place them correctly? - no idea about placement testing -What is the work load like (I keep hearing "it's harder than it has to be". I mean, give it to me straight, because my DS just turned 13, is pretty accelerated academically but is immature emotionally, therefore his natural pace seems to be very slow and he is overwhelmed easily. If I know FLVS was extremely rigorous in pace and expected loads of work per week, more than he could do, I would not choose that option. I've talked with students at the school I work at about how their FLVS latin classes are. They have almost all responded that it was a lot easier than they expected it to be. I'm not sure about other classes - I would imagine it's like any other school and how rigorous or difficult the class is will be dependent on the teacher and subject. -Do they get a diploma in the end or GED? If you enroll full time with FLVS you can get a high school diploma. It's just like any other charter school - brick and mortar - that you would choose in that regard. You can also take classes part time, and if you do so you will not receive a diploma from FLVS and it would be like any other homeschooler in Florida... you would need to make your own transcript/diploma for him upon graduation. -Can they enroll and bring in credits from another school? (DD is almost finished with 9th grade thru American School and if this is a good fit for her, I would like her to count those credits). Unsure. -I see there are part time/full time choices. I figured I could start DS out with the part time High School program until Jan 2017 just to dip our toes into the program and if we don't like it, we can start high school in Jan with the program I had already planned to use in Jan. I've heard that they strongly pressure you to do full time over part time. However, it is ultimately your decision. See above about diplomas. -How involved are the teachers. Are there individual teachers per subject? How often are they in communication w/ them. Are they ever required to meet with them? Teachers MUST BE very involved. They are required to speak to your student every week. This was stressed in the interview process. -Are they required to do standardized testing? Since they are a state charter school I think they probably are required to administer the FCAT to full time students. -Are they required to log in and out at certain hours, or are they allowed flexibility to do the weeks' assignments as they wish, as long as they get it done? The classes I've seen have both flexible and inflexible deadlines. Like - these assignments have to be completed at whatever pace you wish by the end of the course, but this project is due halfway through on this date. That sort of thing. Students typically have a whiteboard session that they sign up for - so they're required to log in at certain times but they have some ability to choose that time. -Are there activities scheduled that brings the students together at any point? I don't know, but I would guess that group projects are certainly assigned that would require the students to do some sort of online communication. Not in person though. Are you on facebook? You'll probably get a better/more indepth response to these questions in a facebook group such as NorthEast Florida Homeschool Happenings (NEFHH).

I purchased http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1892083191?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00 and http://www.amazon.com/Counting-Number-Bonds-Learners-Volume/dp/1892083183/ref=pd_bxgy_14_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1CP90FDAEQWAWHP52RT0 I've got lots of good ideas for math based play to incorporate in from them. Maybe in addition to that you could pick up a workbook? Kumon has simple addition, simple subtraction or Grade 1 addition/subtraction as options.