So I took brown paper lunch sacks, fringed some construction paper, and we glued them on. They also had a variety of other decorations. Thank you for sharing your pinata idea! We tried to make a paper mache one, but it wasn't dry in time for our fiesta. I made a quick paper bag one and they decorat...

Thank you for sharing! We're a week away from "flying" to Mexico. You gave me lots of good ideas! Have fun in Canada!

I'm Casey. We have 4 children and have been homeschooling since the beginning using MFW. I'm so glad we found this curriculum right off the bat! We'll be using ECC this year for my son in 3rd grade, and MFW 1st for my 1st grade daughter. She'll be doing almost everything with her brother in ECC, so ...

Cutting out the letter in a magazine and gluing them on a paper.
Put lower case letters on one side of the room, upper case on the other and run back and forth to match them

Those are the only two I could think of that weren't already listed.

We just finished Adventures with a Kindergartner. We pretty much did everything the same as gratitude. I'm glad I had the student sheets for her. One extra thing I bought that wasn't necessary, was an extra placemat map. We really only needed one.

I also like to start a couple weeks early. It's so nice to not have to worry about taking a day off every now and then, whether it be sickness or fun!

I agree with baileymom. I had a 4 year old girl when my son did 1st. She was able to do the science with 1st, and she listened to the bible stories and any other books we read. I bought her the Rod and Staff, A-I series so she would have some workbooks to do while her brother was working. I really l...

Thank you Dawn for your tips. I love the idea of putting on hats and scarves or sun glasses when you "fly" to another country! I also will be teaching ECC and 1st next year, although mine will be in 3rd grade. It's still nice to hear how others combined the two programs. I'm really excited about thi...

Last weekend my son spent a couple hours making a balloon powered Lego car. It was fun. You could turn it into a family competition!

For the sweet potato pie recipe in week 22 (Alabama), I made it dairy free and it was awesome! I just used equal amounts of almond milk in place of the evaporated milk, and used Earth Balance Vegan spread instead of the butter. Everything else was the same. It was great. And if you need a simple pie...

I did not realize that this was a work book. Should we have one for each kid? If it's black and white, I don't mind making copies if that's okay. I'll be doing ECC next year with a 3rd grader and a 1st grader tag along that wants to do everything with her brother!

I think it depends on your younger daughter's attitude towards school time. We did K when my ds was 5 and dd was 3. My daughter wanted to sit at the table with us the entire time, she actually thought she was in K too. She did all the worksheets with us, but she didn't do all the writing. I let her ...

My daughter, about to turn 5, and I just started MFW K. She already knows all her alphabets and their sounds, and I'm finding this highly motivated child suddenly unmotivated at the start of this curriculum. I'm sure once we get to the letter units she'll love it, but any suggestions for making the...

I had a baby 1 1/2 years ago, when I was teaching K and also had a 3 year old. I took 3 full weeks off, and then it seemed the kids were so restless, they needed to get back to a routine. The 4th week, we only did 2 days spread out over the whole week. The 5th week we seemed to be back on track. Of ...

I just wanted to second the Rod and Staff ABC series. They are real school for preschoolers, but they are very gentle. I had a 4 year old this year while teaching 1st. She did the Rod and Staff books while her brother was doing his phonics workbook/sheets/reader or math. Sometimes it got tricky jugg...

I just did this with my son yesterday! I gave him the 1A test. I read all the questions to him and sat with him, but did not help him or explain anything at all. I just kept telling him to write what he thinks the best answer is and we'll move on to the next one. He got a 74%. There was one question...

Box day is so fun! I found that the best way to keep the student sheets was to just keep them in one manilla folder on my shelf, in order. Then I just pulled the next one out when we needed it. I also laminated the reading chart, but not the bible books list, my kids filled in the bubbles as we read...

I think his summary sounds great! My son has already figured out that the shorter the summary, the less writing he has to do. He gets mad at me when I make him write two sentences instead of one!

I had the same situation this year with my two. My daughter sat in on K and thought she was a kindergartner when she was 3. For this year, I bought her the Rod and Staff A through I series. She loves having her own workbooks, and there is even a bible story book with a coloring book. While her broth...

I did not read all the responses, so forgive me if this is repeated. My daughter is also allergic to dairy. We talked about the difference between cow's milk, soy milk, and almond milk. I found a video on youtube on how they make soy milk, which was neat. You'll have to just search, I didn't save th...

Maybe you could tell him up front that if he follows the directions and makes the horse (or whatever is next) correctly, then he can make a crazy silly one afterwards how ever he wants. Just an idea. I hope you have a better day today!
Casey

I am beginning to plan and budget next years school curriculum choices. I am planning to use MFW1st for my dd, who will be 6 when we start and have ds, then 4, join in on fun stuff. What are some read alouds you enjoyed for MFW 1st? I have considered the Little Jewel book series from Rod and Staff ...

I'm doing First with a very bright and eager girl, she'll be 7 in March, an only (living) child and thus my first to teach to read. She has been progressing in reading but struggles with blending everything together and guessing. I've posted about her reading issues a few times in the past, and I'v...

South Dakota We went to Laura Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, South Dakota on a trip this past summer. The kids had a great time. Lot's of living history, crafts, horse and buggy ride, school house, etc. There are also a lot of other Laura places to visit in the town, but we didn't have time to see an...

I think you could try FiberOne cereal, that is kind of stick like. Just the plain kind. Or you could use pretzel sticks!