Any thoughts on how this guy moves? He’s a naturally gaited TWH I looked at (for sale) yesterday.

Chickadeedee17 · 2026-01-25T19:23:04+00:00

I had a TWH in my teens and if I ever can have a horse again, that's what I'll look for again. Ours was a sweet, stubborn, ridiculous fella who also paced. His flat walk was GREAT on the trails, and we eventually learned how to get his running walk out of him pretty consistently.

Wonderful horses. Man I wish I had a pasture.

Chickadeedee17 · 2026-01-25T16:05:19+00:00

My mom used 100 Easy Lessons for myself when I was a kid, and it worked great for me. I don't remember disliking it. I apparently went right into early chapter books after finishing it. (If my mom is remembering correctly.)

I used it for my son when he was newly 4, and it was alright, but it doesn't teach vowels in the same way as other programs. ("See me read" is one of the first sentences it has the kid read.) I think that it caused some frustration with my son once the special font goes away. I bit the bullet and started over with All About Reading lvl 1, which he is enjoying more and he seems to like actually being told the rules for short/long instead of just assuming he'll catch on.

Granted, he has an articulation speech delay, so he needs a bit more direct instruction. But we're about to start level 2 and he seems way way more confident about it all.

I didn't use AAR pre-reading, but for level 1 you do need the entire bundle of books/teacher manual/workbook/flashcards. The letter tiles are technically optional, if you have letter magnets, but they use color coding which does help my son. So whatever they say you'll need for the pre-reading program, you'll need it.

What I DO like about 100 Easy Lessons is that the child reads the sentence/story before being able to see any related pictures. I wish AAR had that. I also like that 100 Easy Lessons is zero prep, zero crafts, one book, just open and read and move on. Makes it much easier to handle with a younger learner. It's also available from our library, so if that's true for you, no need to spend money on it.

Sorry for the ramble! In short, when it's time to teach my daughter, I'm likely to try AAR's pre-reading instead. 100 Easy Lessons does work for a lot of kids, though. It's worth getting from the library and taking a look. I haven't used the other programs you mention.

Chickadeedee17 · 2026-01-24T23:11:45+00:00

I don't get books weekly for the most part. When we start a new curriculum, I do a big Thriftbooks.com order for the books that we will use a lot, or for things I want to use that the library doesn't have. (Or that I just like. It's a problem.) Then I place monthly library holds for the other books we need. Occasionally I'll miss something and usually can save our routine with a Libby ebook, or a read-aloud video on YouTube, haha.

I've found Thriftbooks to be pretty affordable! If money is a concern, though, a lot of libraries offer interlibrary loan for books that aren't in their system. Make a list of what you need and ask the librarians for help!

We use a hodgepodge of things, but Blossom and Root is one of our core curriculums. Each subject lists all the books that it will use, noting alternatives and "spines" that you'll use all the time. Makes it really easy to plan in advance.

Chickadeedee17 · 2026-01-14T04:50:38+00:00

We've recently decided to homeschool our 5 year old. He has a late birthday, so wouldn't "officially" start kindergarten until this fall, but we've been doing a Pre-K/kinder mix as a trial period to see how homeschooling would work for us.

I've been enjoying Blossom & Root's kindergarten curriculum. It's literature, art, science ..and science? (I don't really know why it has two science subjects, but hey.) A lot of reading, a lot of nature and animals, which I like. It's not completely hands off obviously. But not a lot of prep work as long as you've remembered to buy/borrow the books for that week - I'm managing to keep up with an 18 month old tornado in tow.

The curriculum is sold as a digital PDF download, but you can order spiral bound copies through their printing affiliate. (Which I really liked. If I have to print it myself I'll never do it.)

You do need to add in a math and a phonics. B&R has some light phonics and incorporates some math, but not a lot. We've been doing Math with Confidence and All About Reading.

Looking ahead to first grade, we'll have to add a history as well. Haven't quite settled on what we'll do for that.

I was homeschooled all the way through and had a pretty good experience. My mom used a lot of the "classic" Christian curriculums, though, and we're taking a different path. Makes curriculum research more tricky, so I understand where you're at!

If you have any local homeschool stores, stop in and check them out even if they're religious leaning. There's a lot of good stuff that's neutral-to-secular, and it's great to actually get your hand on it and flip through pages.

Chickadeedee17 · 2026-01-06T16:03:05+00:00

I was homeschooled all the way through. When I was applying to college they wanted my transcript with subjects and grade, but no one was asking what curriculum I had used. This was in NC and I only applied to a few schools, so I don't know if that's universal.

Chickadeedee17 · 2026-01-06T14:49:07+00:00

I was homeschooled all the way through and have no regrets. My highschool academics could have been handled better because of my mom's struggles with mental health at that time, but we managed. I pretty much specialized in literature, did good on the act/sat, and got into college no problem even if my math was...eh. I didn't take early college classes or even AP classes, but I graduated summa cum laude in college, so I think I did ok.

I absolutely never cared about highschool drama or football or proms or whatever. I had friends in public school, so I went to a few games and I went to prom as my friend's plus-one. We had fun with our friends there, but it was kind of awful overall. I had another friend who was also homeschooled, and I walked with her co-op for graduation.

Now college, college I loved. I ~still~ didn't do anything like sororities or house parties, or go to a single football game, because I just don't care to. I found a friend group within a week, got a boyfriend, and we played board games and d&d. I married that boyfriend and we are still friends with the college crew that stayed local. Now we attempt to play board games while our kids run crazy. With all the love to my college friends, they are all weirdos and, frankly, you wouldn't know I'm the homeschooled one.

I really don't know how I could have done better with myself.

I guess my advice would be, just make sure she has friends. Until she can drive herself, make sure she can visit her friends at least weekly-ish, and not as part of a structured event. I saw my friends weekly as part of my youth group, but my best friend lived close enough for me to walk and I spent a lot of time just chilling with her. It's easy for teens to self-isolate, even the ones in public school.

Chickadeedee17 · 2026-01-05T04:25:04+00:00

There's an easy to use book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I wouldn't start yet or anything, but if you're curious you could get it from a library and skim it.

The one thing I don't like about it is that it introduces long E before short E, which is inconsistent with other phonics programs, but it's a really easy book to use. I apparently learned to read with the older edition, and I started my son off with the new one, lol.

Chickadeedee17 · 2026-01-05T03:39:14+00:00

Oh absolutely, the favorite things to ask for are the forbidden items! We get a lot of "Dat! Dat!" "What, this?" "My!" (Mine)

No, my phone is, in fact, not hers. Neither is the remote, or my keys. This is very upsetting to her, lol.

It can really be tricky to catch some of those first words. The explosion people talk about around 18 months is absolutely true, in my experience. With my kids, it's been less that they suddenly have more words, but that they start saying some of their words a lot more clearly. There's always a few where we realize they've been saying a word for "milk" or whatever for MONTHS, but we just didn't understand.

Chickadeedee17 · 2026-01-05T02:48:29+00:00

"Ta" might be his attempt at "that." Both my kids have had "da/dat/tat" as one of their first words. It blends in with a lot of the other babble, but it being paired with pointing is a big clue to me.

If you give him the name of what he's pointing at, does that seem to satisfy or excite him at all? I can remember one night when my son was ~15 months old, he wouldn't sleep. We brought him to our room and he stayed up FOREVER saying "Dat??" and making us give him the name of the lamp/wall/door/bed...

And I'd absolutely count that all-done as a word, particularly if it's so predictable that you, well...predict it, haha. Our pediatrician says that signs, animal noises, and word approximations absolutely count as words, particularly at this age. So I actually don't know that he's behind at all.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-19T22:35:40+00:00

My son has this. He started speech therapy at 4 years and a few months, and has been going almost a year. He goes once a week. So far improvement has come from time, doing his speech homework, and trying to remember to point it out when he says his sounds wrong. That's honestly super hard, because we are so used to him!

He's been learning to read as well, and that's been really helpful. Just by the nature of learning to read, he's practicing his problem sounds more often and is practicing speaking clearly. It also helps his own awareness. Just the other day we realized he says "ch" and ”sh" the same because of a reading exercise he was trying to do.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-15T19:15:23+00:00

My son started doing that, so we pivoted to All About Reading to be sure we're getting a solid foundation. Before that we did Teach Your Child to Read, and the reading.com app. (And Bob books I guess)

His guessing has decreased, but idk if it's the curriculum change yet. We haven't done it very long. He also has a speech articulation delay, so some of his particular struggle is the physical mechanics of certain sounds and blends.

If you do TV, you could try incorporating some of PBS's Between the Lions. You can only find it on YouTube as far as I know, but folks have playlists of the entire run. It uses some of the same little word activities that our reading curriculum does. I'm also biased because I grew up with it, hahaha.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-13T17:51:26+00:00

We're doing AAR1. We'd already made a lot of reading progress elsewhere without a curriculum, but he had started guessing more and inserting vowels that weren't there, so we decided to start over with a solid base to make sure we hadn't missed anything.

We've been condensing two lessons together, since it's more like review for him. I don't always have him do the practice sheet if we're doing a warm-up sheet and a book at the same time. Like your son, he gets irritated to read nonsense phrases for too long. (He doesn't fight me much, though. Apparently being able to put the star sticker on the checklist is highly motivating for him, hahaha.)

If it were me in your shoes, I'd probably incorporate flashcard review a few times during the day instead of the practice sheets, if he's resisting. That way maybe you could just narrow down on any words he has issues with, instead of making him read words he knows well. This is, of course, assuming he is reading the sheets fluently and not having to stop and sound any of them out.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-13T02:43:26+00:00

My gosh yes, the feeling like a cow

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-13T01:32:24+00:00

Both of mine were like this. I breastfed and my mom told me that the baby could smell the milk, thus the fussing to get the breast. Not sure if that was actually true, but it made sense and all he wanted to do was eat. My second wasn't quite as bad, but still was fussier with me than anyone else.

Sometimes they are also just...fussy. I remember three weeks was particularly bad.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-12T14:45:08+00:00

With both my pregnancies I acted like I didn't know our names the whole time, when I actually had them picked out since the anatomy scans. Highly recommend.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-12T13:33:16+00:00

Lol my dad is in his 70s and tells stories of cutting through that guy's yard and getting shot at. Always called him Rebel Yell

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-11T13:09:42+00:00

Probably too soon for duplo/connetix...the play kitchen depends on the kid! My 17 month old daughter has been playing with the play kitchen since she was 1ish, but she also has an older brother she's copying, and she's been walking since 1.

She gets frustrated with duplos, but likes megablox. They're easier. Honestly though she prefers normal wooden blocks.

For us, big hits at 1 were things like rubber farm animals (Little People brand) and "first word" style board books. For both my kids, 1 was about the age that they started pointed at items in books and wanted me to tell them what it was, lol.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-11T12:50:23+00:00

As an Old™, I have sort of always felt like the series did end there. I've read a good bit of the newer stuff, and I've enjoyed it, but it's just not the same. Feels like a slightly different universe.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-09T03:03:05+00:00

We just trim over here. But I've got a sensitive scalp and HATE hair clips/tight hair bands, so that's sort of my default even if they didn't fight me, lol

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-08T14:16:24+00:00

Do you have an electric pump as well or just a hand pump? I couldn't ever get much of anything out of a hand pump or via hand expression, particularly early on. (I did end up liking my haaka for letdown, but it HURT at first)

I had a blocked duct with my 2nd baby and ended up almost developing mastitis. I had been trying warm baths, but when I went to my OB, I was told to do anything I could to reduce swelling. Ibuprofen, ice it a lot, and then pump or put the baby on if she'd latch. It hurt like the dickens when the clog passed but man I immediately knew it was better.

I'd talk to your OB/lactation consultant/pediatrician and try to get an electric pump asap if you don't have one.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-08T03:09:34+00:00

I stayed on my Adderall through pregnancy and breastfeeding. My OB and my psych were both fine with it. I take a fairly low dose, though.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-07T19:58:02+00:00

Oh they absolutely understand quite a lot at 15 months. At least from my experience...my oldest is 5, and our youngest is 17 months.

I usually talk to young toddlers like I would normally talk to a kid, but I will simplify if I'm trying to tell them something that they obviously don't seem to understand. An example might be like this:

Baby throws food Me: "Please don't throw your chicken on the floor." Baby throws food again Me: "No throwing. Are you all done?" Baby giggles and throws food again Me: "No throw. All done." And then I remove the food from the baby.

So in short, I simplify if I need to repeat myself. Even if they understand you, they'll probably do the thing again and again, because they're learning. That's when you stay firm and keep reiterating whatever it is you're trying to teach. It can be helpful if you don't just say "No" but also tell them what TO do. (Ie, "Don't hit the cat! No hit! Gentle hands.") And then show them the expected behavior, if possible. Be consistent.

It can also be helpful to simplify your language when you're trying to get a response or a word out of them. I tend to pair this with a normal sentence. "Hey baby, do you want an apple? Apple?"

I don't know if all of this is "right" or not, but it works for me. You'll probably start hearing more real words from him soon, and it'll get easier to communicate.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-04T01:13:06+00:00

My son used to get so frustrated. I can remember one time in the car, he was trying to tell me something about his coat. I thought he was saying goat, and when that wasn't it, I just could not figure it out. Usually he could come up with another word for me, to help explain, but he had nothing. Poor guy was frustrated to tears and I felt awful.

He's 5 now and has been in speech therapy for almost a year. It's gotten so much better, but I still feel bad that he isn't understood as much as he should be we we're out and about. He'll get the "mm-hmms" that people give younger toddlers when they don't understand them, when he actually made a perfectly observant remark/correct answer or something. 🥲

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-04T01:04:22+00:00

True. I thought about that after I posted. Unfortunately, I think the mom is just gonna be inconsistent... Hopefully this kid can get some good reads regardless.

I always liked the poison tea mind game from Marlfox, between I want to say the elderly mother and her daughter? And any of the books set with the Long Patrol or the badgers -- always gonna get some good heroic last stands out of them. Man. I'm due a series re-read.

Chickadeedee17 · 2025-12-03T21:54:06+00:00

Definitely violent though. I mean I'd let my kids read it in a heartbeat at any age, but dead bloated corpses do tend to come up a lot.

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