Debbie Hotchkiss's Page

"Hi, Susan! My oldest son (7) is the same way about change. (He cried when Dad got last-minute Lakers tickets and told him he got to go, even though he's a big fan. Just wasn't what he had thought would happen that night, and he was nervous…"

"Hi, Jade! I have 2 in K this year (one moving up to 1st next year, one repeating K) as well as a preschooler who has some special needs and an infant who likes to nurse forever. Here's what we've done this year: Up at 7. I try to be done…"

"I totally understand! It's easy to get sidetracked by "standards", and then I remember that a big reason we homeschool is the opportunity for individualized learning. (My husband's a public elementary-school teacher, too, and I…"

"Hi, Jan. We are using "Handwriting Without Tears" for my two kindergarteners...just finishing our books. We like them. They have very short exercises so the kids don't burn out. Emphasis is on doing a few letters perfectly instead of…"

"Phonics: We also used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. About 15 lessons in my boys, especially my oldest, started showing some resistance to the lessons and we needed to put incentives in place for him to finish (an M&M after…"

"Hi, Lisa. I went ahead and answered your question in the Early Childhood Group Discussion in case other people were wondering, too!"

"Copying from what I wrote below... This year my oldest two boys started using Math-U-See, Primer Level. It has worked well for both of them, even though they are very different in their learning styles. My goal for Kindergarten for them is just to…"

"I was interested in learning more about Math-U-See. From what I have seen, I believe it will work well for my young children. I really like the manipulatives. Just wandering if it also covered things like calanders, clocks, etc.? Thanks."

"Jennifer, I live in Tustin, too, on Mitchell Ave! We may have crossed paths, but if not, nice to meet you. And everyone, else. : )"

"Erin, both of my boys have September birthdays, and we tend towards the "better late than early" camp. But they both needed a bit more structure/content when they turned 5, so we decided to do two years of K for each of them. (My husband…"

"Hi, everyone! I'm new here--I have 3 boys (6, 5, & almost 3) and a baby girl (2 months). The oldest two boys are doing K, and the 5-yr-old will do a 2nd year of K next year. My 3-yr-old has special needs, so we are navigating different…"