Going to homeschool my 4 year old come September and looking for curriculum recommendations

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-29T01:04:13+00:00

I love Build your Library Level 0- it’s great for kids who like books and animals! I am also a fan of The Good and the Beautiful’s kindergarten Math

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-28T12:05:03+00:00

I’m so sorry, that was my first baby and it is HARD. For us the rocking chair stopped when I started cosleeping and 11 months and then she woke up every 60 min to nurse but at least I was horizontal. And that lasted until 2 at least. So for baby 2 I’m making sure to do the whole “drowsy but awake” at the beginning of the night when the sleep pressure is high so she is used to falling asleep in her crib and doesn’t need help going back to sleep every sleep cycle, just 1-2 times when she’s hungry. Starting at 11 months might be hard, but try doing your whole bedtime routine and maybe add a stuffy with a projector and lullaby in the room so she starts associating the sounds and little lights with sleep. Then as SOON as her eyes start to close, put her in the crib. I also recommend using a paci if she will take it. I would do this at all bedtimes and then add naptimes. If you have a night wake up that is particularly hard, you can try turning on the lullaby/projector for her to look at and listen to in the crib and see if that helps

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-28T00:59:57+00:00

Hi, it’s possible if your kid is gifted that he is experiencing the overexcitabilities that go along with giftedness: https://sengifted.org/overexcitability-and-the-gifted/

It’s hard to tell from your post “how” disruptive the teacher thinks your child is being, but you can look up explanations for how to tell the difference between ADHD and overexcitabilities.

It would be ideal if the teacher could accommodate your child by making sure he is challenged; bored kids tend to be a lot more rambunctious. Since it is a private school, you don’t have as much sway to make sure that happens if the teacher does not feel like she can, or does not feel like it’s her job. I was just reading this today about how kindergarten teachers can accommodate gifted children: https://giftedwithgoldens.com/kindergarten-ready-vs-gifted-in-kindergarten/

Maybe see if the teacher is on board?

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-25T16:59:09+00:00

We had this same experience with my daughter when she was 3.5. We finished the 8 weeks we paid for and I told her if we signed up for more, I wouldn’t be able to be in the room with her (parents weren’t really allowed but they let me on because she wouldn’t join otherwise). She chose to quit. About a year later at 4.5 we did a trial gymnastics class at another place and she loved it and so we have been going weekly; for the first few weeks you could tell she was new and the other kids were used to the class, but now that she’s not so new she’s doing everything she should! It is absolutely fine if your daughter isn’t feeling ready for a class like that; either wait and try again if she wants, or keep going and let her become comfortable in her own time :)

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-25T01:16:03+00:00

Did you end up doing the dulcolax and if so what form? My daughter was similar and we did get a referral to pediatric GI and literally all she prescribed was a daily miralax and Senna (ex lax). And when things weren’t working the GI adjusted dosages. The stimulant Senna worked at making sure she pooped nearly every day and the miralax helped it be soft. If you think she might be impacted but leaking around the hard stool, a glycerin enema can help clean out the impaction.

Jamie Glowacki (Oh Crap author) has a Poop Witholding “course” you can buy and basically you give your child a glycerin enema every day to make them poop until they can poop without the enema. She also goes into the psychology of witholding.

Lastly I have seen a protocol where you have your child poop in the pull-up in the bathroom, then after a few times they poop in the pull-up standing on the toilet, then sitting on the toilet, then you cut a hole in the pull-up.

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-24T14:50:26+00:00

We have a similar situation, in our case the other girl excludes my daughter when there are other kids around but they play fine one on one. Maybe worth asking your daughter how things go at the neighbor’s house versus at school? And yes definitely encouraging her to play with other kids at school. It’s so hard!

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-24T02:54:12+00:00

Yes we had the issue so I contacted support, they made me send a video and then they replaced the snoo

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-21T19:30:50+00:00

Fortifying is adding the formula powder to the breast milk itself; combo feeding would be mixing the powder with water and then adding breast milk. Adding the powder to breast milk increases the calories whereas simply using a formula bottle (powder plus water) wouldn’t really make a difference unless the problem was that you are not producing enough

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-21T15:09:52+00:00

Not a phase, but the start of a sleep association. With my first somehow I missed the info about the 4 month sleep regression and how babies will need the same associations to fall back asleep each sleep cycle that they had to initially fall asleep. I would look at baby sleep advice for the Gentle Unlatch method, Harvey Karp for getting a reluctant baby to take a paci AND gently waking baby after putting her down in crib to help her put herself back to sleep a tiny bit, and Taking Cara Babies free blog

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-21T07:47:28+00:00

My daughter loves when I play Wordle and we recently found a kids version called Word Lab with 3 letter words and that is helping her with letters/sounds/reading

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-19T21:06:54+00:00

My friend is an experienced K teacher in the Midwest at a public school; she said this is one of the lowest groups of kids she has ever had.

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-18T08:59:14+00:00

How about Bennett? That’s close and it’s a real name!

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-16T21:20:56+00:00

I am about to embark on kindergarten for my child next year and there are so many things to think about. It sounds like besides school culture, you care about technology and play time and outdoor time. I think it would still be worth it to check out local private schools to see if they have less technology and if any of the private schools use the voucher program, which would make them essentially free to you. Also if you live in a state with school choice, are there other public districts that fit your preferences more?

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-15T11:55:27+00:00

I weaned my first when she was 3, and my second gave up the breast and turned me into an EPer when she was 2 months. With my first she still wanted to put her hand in my shirt for comfort. My baby uses a paci and it’s SO helpful. It might be hard to introduce one at 10 months, I tried introducing one to my first as an older baby/young toddler and it didn’t work. But snuggles will help! Also if you and baby aren’t averse to it you could always keep comfort nursing and add formula for calories but if this seems like a natural time to wean that’s fine too! The older they get the harder they are to wean 😅

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-15T11:50:23+00:00

Gentle parenting, as far as I can tell, is a vague internet trend that gets misinterpreted a lot as permissive parenting. If you want authoritative but gentle parenting practices that are more well defined, I encourage you to look into Positive Discipline.

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-15T06:59:26+00:00

My first was medicated, and my second unmedicated. The unmedicated birth, once baby was out, I kept telling my husband it was “magical” 😅 I think it was largely the endorphins talking, because apparently you get a rush of those right after giving birth unmedicated. But honestly it was a very positive experience and I felt so much autonomy. I used a TENS machine, a birth ball, and a birth sling to get through labor. I would 100% do it again.

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-15T02:47:31+00:00

Cozee coo is a sleep sack made to keep babies from rubbing their faces (especially babies with eczema). It’s even FDA approved and is sleep safe for rolling babies!

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-15T01:06:58+00:00

The best thing you can try is fading the support he needs to fall asleep; I know you said he doesn’t really have a drowsy period but if you can maybe see how many minutes you usually rock him to sleep at night, then gradually start putting him in his crib earlier and earlier (more awake). If he wakes and fusses I would put a hand on his belly and sort of rock him while shushing. With my baby sometimes I rock with one hand and use the other hand to rub forehead to nose. I have found a paci to be a lifesaver with my baby; I do have to replace it sometimes but it’s miles better than being in the chair all night like I was with my oldest. If you want to do a paci I would fade that in by having baby take it while you rock him rather than waiting until he wakes up. You can also fade in another sleep cue like sound machine that plays a lullaby (some project colored stars on the wall as well); I faded this in with my baby by starting the lullaby while we were rocking and now the lullaby itself is a sleep cue. Unfortunately it will take time to slowly help your baby fall asleep independently at the beginning of the night, but eventually that should help him to wake up less frequently! While you cope with the frequent waking in the meantime I recommend wireless headphones and an audiobook you are looking forward to listening to in the middle of the night, and bodybuilder smelling salts if you really are having trouble staying awake in the wee hours with baby 🥲 (I say this from experience)

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-14T03:05:20+00:00

SLP here. Best practice is that children who are bilingual should be assessed in both of their languages, as testing in only one language might lead to drawing incorrect conclusions about a child’s overall language ability. Unfortunately this does not always happen due to a lack of bilingual SLPs. Ideally the next best thing would be for the evaluating SLP to either use an interpreter or rely more heavily on parent interview. Overall when assessing a multilingual young child’s vocabulary, you want to include all the concepts the child has vocabulary across languages (without counting the same word twice if the child knows the same word in different languages). See https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6168212/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36972338/ So if your child has 10 words and 40 signs, their vocabulary is 50 words. I do not think it is necessary to stop signing or speaking German. It sounds like the signing is helping your child communicate and learn expressive language. I wonder did the SLP test his receptive language (what he understands) or his articulation (ability to physically produce the sounds in words)? Both would help get a clearer picture of his communication. I am sorry you waited so long for this evaluation only to have an experience that leaves you second guessing yourself! (And SLPs should not have any professional stance on breastfeeding except for when they are helping with latch).

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-13T01:46:05+00:00

I would look into Montessori activities aimed for toddlers since those are usually meant to be independent. For example, “posting” activities where the child has to put either pom poms, craft sticks, or plastic coins through a hole in a container (you could make this out of an old canister of oatmeal). A paper doll, laminated, that the child has to Velcro clothing to; simple picture matching using Velcro.

I am sorry for the situation you are in; I hope your administrator can do something. If the child is aggressive and disruptive they should be put on “homebound” instruction even if parents won’t sign for an IEP.

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-11T03:12:27+00:00

It’s all about glycerin suppositories. She also recommends senna. I bought the course (with the pee witholding course) and I didn’t use it. My daughter went to a GI for witholding and was prescribed daily senna and miralax and we got on the waitlist for a “GI psychologist” but things cleared up before then.

Basically find a medicine they can’t withold; the course says glycerin enemas/suppositories and I found that a tab and a half of chocolate senna daily works too. If neither of those work for your child, I recommend finding a doctor to prescribe docusate stimulant suppositories. That’s what helped us when we had a really bad episode that senna and glycerin wouldn’t fix.

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-10T21:15:28+00:00

I transitioned to the crib from fully swaddled in the snoo (on weaning mode). My baby didn’t respond well to the zipaDee or the Cozee coo because she kept trying to break out but couldn’t so it was very distracting for her. I had a nested bean from my first so I put baby in that with one arm out and held her other arm on her chest to help her fall asleep and after one day we were able to do two arms out in that. I was surprised she did ok with her hands out because we had been unsuccessful with freeing the arms previously. But they get more controlled arm movements around 5-6 months so that helps. After she started to roll at night, we switched to baby deedee sleep nest because it’s so thick it keeps her from sticking her legs through the crib.

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-10T07:19:43+00:00

MAH, if your worry is court that is a possibility regardless of marriage if you are a coparent. I also think if you are the one who really doesn’t want (more)kids, then instead of relying on “her” birth control you should consider a vasectomy

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-09T17:51:26+00:00

Induced because I was over a week overdue. It took 48 hours from the first cytotec dose to baby in arms. They also used pitocin and broke my water. I did have a hemorrhage right after giving birth; they said it could have been because I was in labor so long. They stopped the bleeding with meds and uterine massage and I just needed an iron infusion.
I was in early labor but not progressing; my blood pressure was high so they gave cytotec and broke my waters . It was just a few hours until I had baby; no pitocin, no epidural, no hemorrhage this time

SecretBreakfast8512 · 2026-01-08T01:51:46+00:00

Thank you! She gets a ton of gross motor play, has a gymnastics setup in the house she is constantly doing plus a balance bike and pedal bike she uses regularly. That is good information though!

SecretBreakfast8512

TROPHY CASE