Oooooh....I've never seen this curriculum before but I kind of love it! I might have to consider trading out English Lessons Through Literature for this! :)

I've been in Kindergarten planning mode recently too..here is what I have right now :). Bible Egermiers Bible Storybook (we'll be using this for oral narrations as well) Leading Little Ones to God Math Horizons Supplementing with games (Prime Climb, Prodigy, etc..) Language Arts Phonics - continuing on with OPGTTR Spelling - daily review words from OPGTTR Readers - Elson and Christian Liberty (pulling from for vocabulary and comprehension) Penmanship/Copywork - English Lessons Through Literature Grammar - English Lessons Through Literature Literature - English Lessons Through Literature, picture books, chapter books, lots of free reading, etc.. Nature/science/Art Nature walks Nature journal/table Seasonal art projects Books/Netflix documentaries/Etc... on an interest led basis Social Studies/Geography This one is still up in the air as I really don't think anything is necessary at the Kindergarten level however he does have a strong interest (at the moment) in maps and different places from around the world so we might do something very casual..a learning about how children live around the world kind of thing. Music Continuing on with piano lessons Misc. Chess Swim and Gym at our local Y board games puzzles logic games

Happy birthday! I'm sorry your mom forgot. My mom and I have a pretty easy going relationship so I'd probably call and just say , "Helllooooo...did you forget something?!", lol, but only because I KNOW that if she didn't call it was because she forgot or got distracted and that it was in no way purposeful.

So..just out of curiosity..why so many tests and why did you start so young? I'm in no way questioning your decision for so much testing as I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable answer..just wondering :). We're considering testing once ds turns 6..mostly just to see how he does and to have the information on hand in the case he's ever eligible for any programs, etc..

Ahhhh...thank you! I was heavily leaning towards, "Just Asking, Well Meaning", lol.

I see it quite a bit in post titles.. Thanks!

I guess I'm having a hard time understanding how an 8 year old who scores consistently at the 5th-8th grade level and even hits the 11th grade level in some areas wouldn't be quantified as PG?

We live in the Western New York area and my youngest currently attends our local UPK (Universal Pre Kindergarten). By the END of PreK (so, entering Kindergarten) they want them to know how to write the letters and their names (although as of January most of the names were still illegible on a card that came home that all the children had signed), to be able to recognize their letters (upper and lower), to know the sounds the letters make, number concepts to 10 (counting, simple adding), and a list of other age appropriate things..rhyming, shapes, colors, etc.. Perhaps things differ drastically around the country but here there certainly is no expectation of reading entering Kindergarten. My niece is currently in Kindergarten and my sister said that by the middle of the year they like to them to be reading simple books...but not at the beginningn.

We're pretty lax with cousin sleepovers..generally if my nephew and son (both 14) spend any time together on any given day where they have no school/activities the next day a sleepover almost always happens. Sometimes my nephew will just stow away in the back part of my car when I'm leaving his house and by the time I get home and find him I don't feel like driving him all the way back to his house so he just stays over. There have been entire weeks in the summer time where they just went back and forth sleeping over at each other's houses. They're actually having an up-all-night pizza, poker, and video game binge birthday sleepover tonight...super fun. Non-relative sleep overs are rarer occurrences and I need a little prep time for those, lol.

I'm going to be one of the few who says, "yay"! I took a balanced, blended approach with both of my whole language leaning kiddos and they both read beautifully well and have suffered zero consequences from sight words :).

I don't like salmon but my husband and son do. This is my go to recipe because it's easy and doesn't leave any fishy smell lingering in the air. They enjoy it..so I'm assuming it tastes good to folks who like salmon, lol. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes-menus/the-best-salmon-you-ve-ever-had-is-slow-baked-in-just-22-minutes-recipe-article

Sherlock Psych Downton Abbey Arrested Development Freaks and Geeks Game of Thrones Just realizing I have eclectic tastes in TV, lol.

I think your plan is perfect :).

Thank you! I've bookmarked this for future use :). Right now part of the fun is making the lines and music symbols on his own but I'm sure someday this will come in very useful!

Following..I'm non music mom of a four year old who started playing piano earlier this year and loves to "compose" songs..I think I might need to provide him with more than paper, markers, and a ruler someday in the future, lol.

For the 4 year old I say, "He's 4." For the 14 year old I say, "He's 14."

Hello :) Is there the way to filter out the thread titles from a forum of which I am not a follower of so that they aren't visible when I click "New Content"? Let's say, for example, I am not a follower of and have no interest in seeing the thread titles which are posted in the "Current Events" forum. I'm sure there must be a way to do this but I am just too unintelligent and unreasonable to figure it out. Thanks in advance! :)

Here's what we're currently doing with ds 4 (almost 5). Ds is naturally inclined towards a whole reading approach but I wanted to make sure we get a good phonics foundation in there too :). He can read just about anything but his comprehension is pretty solidly at about a 3rd grade level. Review/spelling/penmanship - I pull 5-10 review words from a previous "Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" and dictate them for him to write/spell on his own Phonics - one lesson from "Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" Vocabulary/Reading - I pull any unfamiliar vocabulary words from the current reader passage he's on (right now it's the Elson reader..sometimes it's Christian Liberty's Nature readers), we discuss the meanings of the vocabulary words and then he reads the passage aloud. Literature - He reads on and off by himself during the day..we always read about together before bedtime (I read a story, he reads a story)..I have a list of good picture books to choose from and I also read some from a chapter book as well :).

I have an almost 5 year old in the same place and I also second picture books :). We're going to give a short chapter book a try soon...possibly Nate the Great or a Magic Treehouse book. I found the "Mensa for Kids: reading list to be a good place to move to after graduating from the "I Can Read" type books :). http://www.mensaforkids.org/achieve/excellence-in-reading/excellence-in-reading-k-3-list/

Yup, basically the same here minus the tip 10% cogat...I don't think they even administer an iq test for our local "gifted magnet" or weekly pull out programs. The kids who get in here are the kids who the teachers like..who sit still and keep their folders organized and raise their hands often..who score well on tests (and whose parents insist they need to be in the program, lol). Not surprisingly the majority of students accepted into these programs are girls, lol.

Unfortunately once you edit a RAW image it can't be saved in RAW....psd...jpg....even a Tiff...but not RAW. Understandably, most photographers won't give out unedited RAW, straight out of the camera images and even if they would they would still need to be in jpg for most printers. 3600x2400 at 300dpi should be more than large enough to print a good quality 5x7. Here is a helpful chart for reference... http://devblog.befunky.com/resize-photos/

I'm crocheting some Pikmin and a Captain Olimar for my gamer nerd husband :).

Ahh, see where I live a "lottery school" is one where you apply and then names are literally drawn from a hat to see who gets in. Any updates on the application process with you dd?

If it needs to be explained then you'll never understand. ;)

I like them open..preferably paired with a cute flowy blouse underneath :). I am..well endowed..so for me to be able to button a cardigan and not have the button holes pulling apart over my chest I need to get one at least a size larger than what I wear which means it fits too big every where else.