We have applied for several charter schools for their young 5’s program (just in case we have not moved by the time school starts). R. will be 5 in mid-July and school will start in early September. young 5’s was recommended to us by a teacher friend who has taught early ed through high school. She says that, with very few exceptions, boys are better to start later rather than earlier. However, I also had a former teacher friend tell me that R. should not go into young 5’s but should go straight to kindergarten because he is very intelligent and will get bored in young 5’s and might end up being a problem child.

In talking to other moms, they all said sending their kids with summer/early fall b-days to young 5’s was the best decision they made.

What is your opinion about kindergarten vs. young 5’s for a child with a July b-day? R. is very bright (and believe me I am not tooting my own horn. There are days I wish he was not so smart. ) and he is very socially adjusted. But, he is still a boy, and a very active boy at that. He does not do well with change (which is why we are really hoping to sell our house and be in a new one before summer starts so he has the summer to adjust to a new home before school starts). I just really think young 5’s would be a good adjustment into school where he will be learning, but it will be geared more towards his need for activity and play. But, I would love your opinion as a former teacher.

What has been your experience, especially if you have a boy with a summer birthday?  How would you counsel this mom?

Here is a free resource for today only!  Homeschool Freebie of the Day is offering an entire American Revolution lapbook with notebooking pages.  I’ve just briefly peeked through it, but it looks like there are lots of helpful resources and ideas.

It will be a number of years before Caroline is ready for this, but I continue to add good materials to my files in anticipation of using them eventually.

Enjoy! 

Photo credit

Sometimes you see a book at the bookstore and you know you have to buy it.  That is how I felt with One Red Apple.

I had never heard of the book, but saw it while browsing at the bookstore.  It is gorgeous.  The story about the seasons of an apple tree is well done through simple text. The illustrations are just wonderful.  It has the most beautiful rich colors and the style is both vibrant and cozy all at the same time.

It is a great shame that Amazon doesn’t have interior shots of the book because the cover only partially portrays what is inside this beautiful book.

I sound like I’m gushing, don’t I?

Well, I paid full price off the shelf for a hard cover children’s book. I don’t do that very often.  This one is well worth it.

Highly recommended!

There are three free MP3 downloads today if you are interested. One is a 1950 radio adaptation of The Long Winter (Little House), perhaps my favorite Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Another is The Blizzard of 1888. And the third is Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. Lots of good listening for a winter day!

I haven’t had time to listen to them myself yet, but have downloaded them and look forward to it.  I enjoyed some really good Thanksgiving and Christmas ones over the holidays. I like to just sit and close my eyes while listening. Much better for the imagination!

Enjoy!

Caroline received this DVD for Christmas from my parents and it is all the rage right now.

It’s long (74 minutes) so we only let her watch it once a day, but I think she would watch it a couple of times a day if we would let her. 

The narrator is Sebastian Cabot and it had been years and years since I had heard his voice. (Did anyone else watch Family Affair when they were growing up?  I remember seeing it on reruns.)

Anyway, highly recommended.  I love the way it goes from the book to the movie. Very cute video that has made Caroline laugh out loud many times. 

I wanted to share this resource even though Christmas is upon us because the information is helpful beyond Christmas as well.

This is a link to a PDF of a Holiday Helper packet for Christmas put together by Living Books Curriculum.  They offer a variety of materials and curriculum related to the Charlotte Mason method.

They offer these free Holiday Helper packets to those on their mailing list.  I’ve received a number of them since joining their mailing list and every one is nicely done. I asked Shelia if I could share this link and she was happy to have me do so.

Living Books Curriculum also has a free Get Acquainted Sample Packet on their left sidebar if you want to learn more about their curriculum and join their mailing list.

Enjoy! 

Homeschool Freebie of the Day has two free ebooks today.

The first, Family Holiday Memories, features many simple and easy to implement ideas for making the season special.

The second, Christmas Candy Recipes, has 40 recipes for different holiday treats.

Check them out for some good ideas! 

We’re using this book this year and enjoying it quite a bit.

It is a cute board book with a padded cover with a short little reading, an activity idea, a verse and a prayer.  The illustrations are colorful and cute.  The language is simple and it covers many different aspects of Christmas in an easy to understand way.  Most of the activities are simple little ideas so they are easy to implement.

The first activity in the book is to make a paper chain to count down the days until Christmas. Each day we cut off a piece of the chain and then read the book.

I’m also using this as a way to get us in the habit of doing a little devotional each day with Caroline.  After we finish this Christmas book, we’ll start on this one:

It is a child’s version of My Utmost for His Highest, one of my favorite devotionals. I’m looking forward to getting started with this as well.