What I've read is that preschool has been shown to be helpful for poor kids, but has little to no benifit to middle class or rich kids. What I read into that is that preschool is helpful for people who's parents might not be educated themselves, might be overworked just trying to make ends meet and have less time for their kids, and so can't offer them as much of a stimulating environment at home. Also, they may be under stress at home if their parents are under stress....or there isn't enough to eat (preschool gives snacks usually), etc. So preschool could be a safe place. For families with a stable home life though, with a parent who can stay home, preschool is wholly unnecessary, and yeah, could actually be worse.

Oh yes...especially in organization! Not that I'm even very organized now, but I understand a lot better how to plan. Plus, I don't get as frustrated and loose it. Granted, my kiddo is a better student now too than when he started out. He rarely cries over lessons or just falls into "I can't do this" moments where he just will not even try. But when he does I've better learned when to just back off and take a break and when to push him to finish. That was what was so hard starting out is not knowing that difference, and so I'd feel guilty whether I backed off or pushed him, and I tend to get angry when I'm feeling guilty and frustrated. I've learned better to watch my emotions and back off if I'm getting too frustrated too. There's always more time.

Story of the World, while not specifically a Christian resource, is Christian friendly. The Ancient Times volume has some of the Bible stories (Abraham, Joseph, Mosus and the Red Sea, Jesus' birth and death)...some non-Christians I know don't like the subtle ways that Christian and non-Christian stories are treated differently...the Bible stories are treated more as truth. But it's a subtle enough so that many secular homeschoolers I know use it without a problem, or with only slight tweaks. If you want something covers the creation story, that explicitly says "This is how God was working" and that specifically contrasts Christianity with other Ancient religions, etc. than Story of the World is not for you. I personally love it. My son just really responds well to the writing style, even though I have to supplement like crazy with pictures (because it only has a few black and white pictures...the Revised version has more and for the most part better pictures). I also supplement with Bible stories and I have a guide to how I supplemented for the Old Testament (still needing to write the new testament part out as we just finished it). http://imaginativehomeschool.blogspot.com/2017/06/story-of-world-bible-integration-old.html

We did a writing class at our co-op that mostly used "Don't Forget to Write" --it had some wonderful ideas. One I'm not sure was from that book or not that my son LOVED was an activity where kids pretended to go into outer space and visit another planet with an alien life form. On the teacher's phone she played eerie 1950s space music (like from an old movie or something) and had kids step one by one into the center of this hula hoop. There was a large black trash bag taped to it, and she would pull the hoop up so that it hid the child and she would wiggle it and say something like "You are now going through a wormhole, you are coming down to the planet, you are now on the planet" (while the music played). They she would ask them "What do you see..." (asking questions if necessary), and then go through the whole process to take them back to earth slowly lowering the hula hoop again. Then, I can't remember the writing assignment exactly. There was a paper they filled out about their alien, and then I think they wrote either to their alien or to NASA about their discovery. It was super fun.

First day of Christmas break. Presents to Wrap Food to Make No school for now!

Byte Sized Physics was something I looked into for my son who turned out not to homeschool in 6th...but we did start him on it and it was great. Easy experiments with household objects, but fun ones. Good writing. Liked it very much.

About corporal punishment...have you checked with the school to see if it's automatic? In schools I've been at that had corporal punishment, parents had to sign a waiver, and if they didn't, the kids didn't get spanked.

Thanks for sharing this! Another short book about ancient China with some graphic/comic book elements is the Tales of the Dead: China book. It takes place during the rule of Quin Shi Huangde--in the center of each page is informational passages about different aspects of life in Ancient China, but around the edges it has a graphic story (they have ones for Greece, Rome, and Egypt in addition to China). My 9 year old loves them: https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-China-Tales-Dead-Stewart/dp/0756620767/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513875593&sr=1-2&keywords=tales+of+the+dead+china

If you want something to just get you past addition/subraction, the Addition Facts that Stick and Subtraction Facts that Stick have been excellent for my kiddo. It has short lessons (spelled out so you know exactly what to say and do) followed by a week of games (or more if you need it). It really enforces the 5 split your child has trouble with. When I'm doing it, after a full week on one game we'll go back and play the others before moving on just to review. I know games are an issue with your youngest. If you feel like it's making her insecure I would do it in another room while your younger child watches a video or something, just so she she's not comparing herself to him. Maybe let her brother join only on the review once she's mastered it or come close to mastering it. Another thing that helped was jumping out answers during math drills...physical activity has been shown to help brain activity, so its more than just making it fun.

We play the Silly Sentences game, which goes a little further than mad libs as far as parts of speech because it has articles and prepositions and shows what order they go in. My son loves it...asks to play it for fun in his free time now (not even just in homeschool time). Wouldn't be too hard to actually make a version of this yourself.

I love the 6 word game....I think my son might actually like that! I will try it!

Thank you! I am wondering how to get my student started on regular writing and these are such good advice. One thing that has worked for us to get my son, who is very imaginative and likes pretend, to just write something without crying, was this.... I drew an alien on a dry erase boards we have that has a blank place for pictures at the top and lines for writing on the bottom. I told him that the Alien didn't talk, and couldn't hear...he could only communicate through writing. I had the alien ask him questions on a dry erase board next to his picture and my son wrote his answers on the line below.

I subbed for several years...I'm by no means an expert on classroom management, but a few things helped. Spend a little bit of time the first day introducing yourself and telling them about something about you to let them know you (that you like monkeys, that you lived in another country...anything to let them know who you are). I would even do this during a one day sub job and I noticed kids just treated me better. They care about you more if they know something about you. Initially, focus hard on classroom management. Review the rules the first day and remind them daily about procedures (like where homework is posted, where to turn in work, what you expect during attendance/morning work, etc). Be firm, not mean. Let them know clearly when things like talking is ok and when it's not. Make a seating chart...take attendance using it. When they are doing seat work walk the room. Kids behave better when the teacher is near them, and you can help kids more when you're walking around. Have non-verbal ways to correct kids. Most effective thing I did when kids were off task was just walk by their desk, try to make eye contact, and tap on their paper to let them know they needed to get back at it.

The museums themselves do seem to be smaller, but Balboa park itself is amazing just to walk around. If you like gardens, it's just beautiful, with gorgeous Spanish style architecture, reflecting pools, etc. (Like, if feels like you are dropped into a city in 17th century Spain). I think it's probably smart to save your money for LA museums, but if you're going to be in San Diego anyways I would just walk around and see the gorgeous park, which is absolutely free.

Lord of the Rings (maybe the Hobbit too...but based on his tastes I think that Lord of the Rings may be better...I liked it better than the hobbit, and it's three books, so a series). My sons love the Wings of Fire series. Spy School series...my older boys love this (and they like some of the other same books as your son does). Spaced (by same author as Spy School) Maybe Madaline Le'Engle Series (hope I'm spelling that right), that starts with A Wrinkle in Time. It starts slow but if he can get through that the rest is adventure filled. The Hunger Games (read the first one yourself at least before deciding). Yes, it's violent--but it is violent in a way that doesn't glorify violence, and it thoroughly explores the psychological ramifications of violence, both on victim and perpetrator. One of the deepest series of books I've read for kids in my lifetime. Very much adventure. If you've studied ancient rome at all has a lot of tie ins, even though it's sci-fi. I had picked it up to read myself when my son was 11. Would have waited a few more years to give it to my son (because of the violence), but he found it and was half way through it when I realized he had it, and we had such great discussions about that book. If you like Christian books, I suggest Frank Peretti. He does have a kids series I haven't tried yet, but his adult books are great. Does contain some violence (Prophet is pretty tame in that regard though). All of them are adventure.

A subscription to the Writers Write...it has great articles, and info on contests and stuff too.

I grew up in California (Wilmington, Long Beach, San Bernardino Mountains). My husband grew up in San Diego and I just moved here in August. We've done a few things, but not a lot yet. I agree about skipping Birch and going to tide pools. Real tide pools are cooler anyways. Or down to see the seals (which I haven't seen yet...dang. And I don't know how long they stay). Whale watching is fun but expensive (actually, never did it commercially. I grew up on a boat though so we went ourselves and that was so much fun. If you're going to Midway than the San Diego Air and Space Museum is a little redundant. They do have more on the development of flight, but it's actually very short...you can go through it in an hour (unlike the Midway which is really massive and takes more time to go through). Midway you can actually sit in some of the planes and go inside, put your hands on the controls, etc., and at the Air and Space Museum you cant. Midway has an audio walking tour which can take a lot of time if you listen to a lot of it. I think there's a version that's shorter. You can earn wings...there's a free booklet/pamphlet I've heard you can get and you answer things on the tour. We didn't do it but that's an option. The Air and Space Museum does have an astronaut/space exhibit right now which I haven't been to yet, but it costs extra. Of the museums I've been to there, Fleet and Natural History Museum was most impressive. The Natural History Musuem has a lot that's really specific to California, and San Diego. I'm not sure if it would overlap some with the LA Natural History Museum. In San Diego the Maritime Musuem (which includes real sailing ships) is something to consider. Unless you're coming from somewhere like Colorado, it would be a shame to come to California and not get to the mountains. There's some smaller mountains/hills in San Diego, but it's not the same as getting up into the high mountains and away from the city. There's two that would not be out of your way and both would give you similar experiences. Since you're going to Palm Desert, there's a tram in Palm Spring that takes you right into the mountains (just the tram itself is lots of fun...unless you're scared of heights). You could play in the snow if theres snow, and there's a lot of wildlife up there (we saw deer, squirrel). The other place on your way I'm really familiar with because I used to live there. Between the La Brea Tar Pits and Palm Desert you would go right past the San Bernardino mountains. I suggest the Twin Peaks National forest. It's small...you can easily find your way to a road in any direction. But it's still pretty. The fire access roads turn into great sledding trails in the winter, and are good for hiking trails in nicer weather (the only weather to avoid there is slush...where it's snowed but then warmed up). We just went up last weekend and explored evidence of where a fire went through (a while back...it's green now), and downed trees where we found an animal den (the animal wasn't there, but we could see evidence). Lots of science stuff. And there's a fire tower at the end of the main road where you can see all the way to the ocean sometimes, and all the way to the desert in the other direction, if it's a nice cloudless day (looking down on the clouds is an experience too if it isnt')--and the volunteers there will tell you all about it's history. If there's snow you'll need chains to get up the mountain (they won't allow you up without them). Rim of the World is the quickets way to Twin Peaks, if you are scared of heights go up 330...it's still got some vistas but you're not so out on the edge. The Queen Mary in Long Beach is another thing not too far off your route. It's an old cruise ship...something any Titanic fan would love to see. It's a museum, but also a hotel...though I don't know how expensive it is to stay there. It's been so long since I've gone though I can't tell you whether it would trump anything you already have on your itinerary.

For high school...and probably not in this order... Norton Anthology of Poetry Norton Anthology of Short Fiction Romeo and Juliet The Crucible Mark Twain and Huck Finn (counting this as a duo) Oliver Twist OR Jane Eyre (hard to choose...both great Victorian lit) To Kill a Mockingbird Fahrenheit 451 Animal Farm The Hunger Games Trilogy Screwtape Letters In This Sign

My child is that age, but really in 3rd grade (he repeated KG at home, and we just continued from there). He's a struggling learner. We do about 30 minutes of math a day. He doesn't do a lot of writing...I'm actually trying to figure out how to integrate more. Usually doesn't write much more than a sentence. Definitely not writing paragraphs. Sometimes dictates longer stories and such. It's sporatic. Real struggle to get him to write any. Science we were doing through a co-op once a week. Since we moved I haven't started science again but will probably do it in unit studies a few days a week until the study is done and then have a break in between.

The Help (It's about black maids in the 1950s or 60s...its real but has a lot of humor in it. People do do some bad things to other people in it, but the worst things are sort of in the background (not directly happening to the charactes). If you don't mind Christian books, All The Way Home by Anne Tatlock is amazing. This book spans from pre-WWII to the 1960s. The first half of the book is about the main character, and her friendship with a Japanese girl and her family...the second half of the book reunites those characters and deals with Jim Crow in the south. I love this book because characters in this book seem so real and relatable and yet so perfectly set in their time...it draws you into their worldview. My only criticism is that the two halves of the book seem like different books...equally well done but different in tone. Its not funny, but it's uplifting. (She has other historical books too...only have read a few. I would suggest not reading I'll Watch the Moon. Has a subplot of a character being molested, and another character who lost his whole family in WWII. Would be a bit much for her. But some of her other works might be good. Want to read all of them but only so much time).

First, since I get a Bible, I would choose the Jesus Story Book Bible for younger age, The Children's illustrated Bible for Later Elementary, and a regular New American Standard or NIV for middle school. Lets assume preschool starts when they are born and we get 3 books for each year of preschool. Yes, I'm stretching it here. Age 0 Oh David Brown Bear, Brown Bear A really tactile book...not sure which one Age 1 Going to Bed Book or Time for Bed Very Hungry Caterpillar A Mother Goose Book of Poetry Age 2 A Book of Fairy Tales Hippos Go Berserk Where the Wild Things Are Age 3 Winnie the Pooh Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm The Little Engine that Could Age 4 Stellaluna The Monster at the End of This Book A Quiet Night In Age 5/KG Trafalgar True A Collection of Dr. Suess Piggie and Elephant (We are In a Book) 1st Grade Piggie and Elephant - I'm a Frog Junie B. Jones (not sure which one) Treasures of the Snow (by Patricia St. John) 2nd Grade A Little Princess The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Little House on the Prairie 3rd Grade The Secret Garden On the Banks of Plumb Creek Charlotte's Web 4th Grade Shell Silverstein Where the Sidewalk Ends Charlie and the Chocholate Factory The Borrowers 5th Bambi and Bambi's Children (lets just say they came in a set) Ordinary Princess Island of the Blue Dolphins 6th Watership Down My Side of the Mountain Origami Yoda (at least the first one) 7th The Hobbit Holes Anne of Avonlea (yep...I'd skip Gables...I think this one is better) 8th A Wrinkle In Time Summer of My German Soldier Lord of the Rings Trilogy REASONS You can see I'm starting short in the early years and going longer...with a step back around Kindergarten to give them some fun books that they could actually start to read themselves. Also, the going to bed books start about the time stories at bed start. There's counting books in there because that is such a fun way to teach that. And I tried to balance funny stories with more serious stories, cause kids need both (assuming this is all the books they got...desert Island thing). I also wanted a balance of classic and modern stories. The Monster at the End of This Book at age 4 is really strategic too, because it builds word sense (all the great bubble letters help them make connections between words and what's said.). Some explanation on some of the less well known ones... A Quiet Night In This book kinda saved my sanity a little. My children loved it, the story was wonderful, but it was an encouragement to me as a parent too...as it has a lot in there for parents to enjoy. If I only had three books a year to read my kids, this one I wouldn't mind reading over and over and over. Trafalgar True A favorite as a child...really, I loved all of the Serindipity books. As an adult reading them some of them rang a little heavy handed with the moral, but my children didn't seem to notice and loved them too. They are longer so get children ready for longer paragraphs and more ornate writing but the pictures are so engaging it holds them. Trafalgar was I think one of the best, one I didn't mind reading over and over...with it's message of sharing and it's selfless character examples, and cute bunny like creatures and a beautiful dragon! Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm One of my favorite books ever. It very gently teaches kids the facts about nature...things like animals dying and eating other animals are dealt with frankly and matter of factly, but it still has a gentleness in the way it deals (gives a "this is part of life, and that's ok" sense). In the middle are humorous antic of the animals. It's a longer book (not long as in long paragraphs...there's a picture for nearly every line ) but can be broken into short parts and could be read in little bits for days. Treasures of the Snow (by Patricia St. John) One of my favorite Christian books. The writing in it is just beautiful. It's got external adventure but the real story takes place internally, in the changes that happen in the girl and the boy who are the main characters of this stories (and we get to see both of them as protaganist and antagonist as we look at both of them through each other's eyes). In this book the villain is not external...it's the sin that separates us from each other. Yet it's perfectly aimed at children...the story is so much through their eyes and love that. It portrays them well as children, but gives them the same respect as an adult in those roles...doesn't patronize the characters at all. I loved it as a child and my children loved it too. 1st grade might be too early for some children, but I read it in KG. I think I read it to my own children in 2nd or 3rd. Ordinary Princess An altered fairy tale that is just...beautiful (with beautiful illustrations too...though it's a chapter book). It's about a princess who is given the gift of being ordinary by a grumpy fairy godmother. She runs away as a teen (for a good and nobel reason), becomes a kitchen maid in another castle, and on the way falls in love (but it is a gently growing love, built on something real, not love at first sight). I love the messages in this book, and the story is completely charming. Origami Yoda My kids and I both loved this so much. They could read themselves by then, but kept reading me parts they thought were funny, and in the end they asked me to read it to them, just cause, even though they'd already read it. It was such a great book. Great messages. Sort of school centered, so don't know how it would go with homeschoolers (these were my two older kids in public school). Some of the messages have to deal with how to deal with the insanity that is middle school. So, I don't know if homeschoolers could relate as well. But the humor is so good, and the story behind the humor is good too. Reminds me of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever in style. If I could add just one more book.... Click Clack Moo I would add it at age 4. It's another one that is good for word recognition. Sweet, funny story and also teaches a little bit about the political process...and that the typewriter is mightier than the pitchfork.

I was so glad that I didn't have an all in one curriculum. One thing it allowed me to do was start each curriculum one by one (in other words, we didn't start all our curriculum at once, which gave me time to get used to the rhythm of each one).

I might not do too much for another reason. She needs time to freeplay and needs the boredom to do it. But, I don't think a little extra actually make the non-negotianable stuff less so. It treats work as something fun and increases intrinsic motivation. If you're worried about that I'd make it extra work that isn't usually part of school though, like maybe an iphone educational app (with a limit on how long she can play), or coloring pages related to what you are learning.

Sticker workbooks, connect the dots (teaches counting), copywork/letter tracing, online learning games and videos.

Thanks all. They had a good sale going yesterday, but it was still less for me to buy things piece meal (and not get some things like the math balance). Thanks everyone for the advice!