OK, here is the link:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/1kltcr785j7tgeh/Slideshow.exe?dl=0

I mentioned this is clunky, right?  So you make a text file with the numbers you want to show up as dots.  When you open "Slideshow" and then click Math, it will prompt you to open a text file.  Then it will show the dots and say how many its showing.  An image file needs to be in the same folder as you save slideshow.exe, and that image will be used for the dots.  Simple, like a dot, loads faster; just get one online.  If you put a ~ before a number in the text file, it will show the numeral.  An equation like "7+8=" will show the equation and its answer: seven dots, plus sign, eight dots, equal sign, fifteen dots.  You can also do "8=~8" or 8>7, I believe.  Let me know any questions!

I haven't used Little Math, so I don't know about how to get the most out of it.  But my husband made me a computer program that does the Doman math program. It isn't "Just Push Play" like LM, you have to enter what cards you want every week and add your own images if you want to change them, but it generates the cards. If you want I can drop box it and you can check it out.

Thanks, everyone, for assuring me that I don't need the books. Math is the one subject where I just have this fear of forgetting to teach something. But really, what if I do forget about vectors and my kids don't learn them from me? I'm sure when they need them they'll be able to learn them.

Thank you for your encouragement, Mandy. Thanks to you, I've gotten back into our physical excellence plan, which has been on hold for far too long. My five month old is crawling much better after one week, and my older two are loving log and forward rolls. I didn't realize how hard Doman crawling is! After 15 yards, my girls and I are tired! Anyway, it's been great, so thank you!

Some theorists believe one to one correspondence is impossible this young, but both my daughters learned it young. It helps to have a physical reason to practice: we have three dolls,  so how many bottles do we need? Let's get them and count. And so on.

I really like the idea of subitizing, or recognizing quantities without counting, but it's easiest for me to use the right start method and subitize up to five, then learn 6 as 5 and 1, etc. You can also just practice counting. Both are important, but I find subitizing easier at this age.

Once she can count or subitize, you can do almost any math you choose. My personal goal is to do some math every time I read to my kids. It takes creativity, but it works really well, since we read a lot.

OK, Pokerdad, you've either made me really jealous or inspired me to get with the program. If you remember, your Cub and my Sara were born within 6 weeks of each other, but your Cub is doing what my four year old is up to right now.  This last pregnancy hit me hard and we got really behind. But now I'm inspired to get to work again! I had thought that a whole presentation of reading bear was too long for my girls and only did five words a day. After reading your post, they each did a full presentation today with no problem. I'm excited! Thanks for the inspiration!

Oh,  guys,  I did not need another math curriculum!  I was set for math!  I have been avoiding this thread for that very reason. But then I was procrastinating my novel writing for National Novel Writing Month and finally read it,  followed the links, and WOW! I guess I do need another man program.  It didn't have me in tears,  but definitely in awe of how it all makes sense. It's my just stuff to memorize, I can actually understand how it works. Awesome! Thanks for sharing! (My budget does not thank you, but oh well.)

Now I'm wondering if I want the books. Has anyone seen them? Math is the one subject in which I'm still afraid of missing something important. I wonder if their books are good,  because I really like the five stands done simultaneously,  or if I should stick with some program that has a proven track record and just use the blocks to really understand the concepts.

Thanks so much for sharing! I have wondered how the course is; it's great to hear details. Also, if you don't mind me sidetracking this thread a bit, how are you planning to do Doman with 3? My oldest was just over 3.5 when my third was born in June and I'm really struggling. I'd love to talk to others in the same boat.

The way Doman says to do it is to go through all your Bits (pictures) one time; you're supposed to have 1000 of them.  You just say the name of each Bit.  So, for instance, if you had a set of Birds, you would take 10 bird cards and show them to your child, saying, "Robin, Blue Jay, Crow, Cardinal, etc" all the way through.  You do that 3 times a day for a week (5 days).  During the same week, you would be showing two other sets, say Great Inventors ("Thomas Edison, etc") and Paintings by Van Gogh ("Sunflowers, Starry Night, etc"), each set 3 times a day.  After five days, for any set that has more than 10 Bits, you take one picture out and put in a new one every day (remove Robin and put in Bald Eagle).  Once you've done all the Bits in a set, you retire the whole thing and start a new one.  (Replace Great Inventors with English Poets.)  Do this until you've done all 1000 Bits (or however many you have).

Once all Bits have been shown once, you start the real Programs of Intelligence.  You go back to the first Bits you showed, and use 5 at a time instead of 10 (because POI take longer to read than Bits) and read the first sentence on each of them ("The Robin has a red stomach. Blue Jays love to steal human food at parks.  Etc.")  Do this 3 times a day for five days, just like above, for 3 different sets.  Then start retiring one card a day and putting in a new one every day until the set is complete.  Then replace it with another set.

Cycle through all 1000 cards doing the first sentence on each.  Then do the second sentence, and so on.  He does say that as you do this more and more, your child's memory will improve and you will not need to show a card three times a day for five days; you'll go down to four days, then three, then maybe only twice a day.  But he says to do all 1000 each time before going on to the next level of information.

Very few people do Encyclopedic Knowledge exactly the way he recommends, though.  So feel free to adapt!

I've had the same problem with my three and a half year old.  Finally, about six weeks ago, I resorted to bribery.  It required hefty pay-outs, too, things I've never considered for any other behavior.  But it worked, and now she reads at least a book a day.

My justification for paying her to read is twofold:

1. It is hard work for her.  Even if she's paying attention, it takes up to 15 minutes of focusing on a book to get through the shortest books our library offers that she'll read (BOB books are instant rejects, unfortunately).  That's a lot for a 3 year old.  I don't feel that it's wrong to pay her for working hard; payment for work is a fact of life in our society and one she'll run into for the rest of her life.

2. Reading will eventually be self-rewarding, so I know I won't have to pay forever.  I'm willing to use treats for potty training for the same reason.  It's a behavior that's hard at first and needs some outside impetus to get it started, but it will become part of life once we get over that initial hump.  I pay for those things and fade out rewards later on.

So if you're willing to pay, it might help.  It might take some time to find a valuable enough payout; I finally got her reading by taking her to the Dollar Store and letting her pick out any one item she wanted, for every book.  (I don't have a problem with a dollar a book, but getting in the car every time and then letting her buy junk I would never allow in my house normally was not easy for me!)  We're working it down to a bowl of homemade ice cream (with milk from our backyard goats, frozen berries, vanilla, and a touch of honey) for each book - a payment I don't mind give at all!  So it is working.  And her reading skill is improving fast and she's much more willing to read.

Having a special time to read helps, too.  If I let her stay up longer than her little sister at nap time only if she's reading to me, she's more likely to read.

Another resource that worked for several months before I started paying were the "We Both Read" books.  My library has them, but here's a link to one on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lulus-Lost-Shoes-Both-Read/dp/1891327569/.  You can just search "We Both Read" on Amazon too.  Look at the "Look Inside" option; it has most of the story on the left-hand page, which the parent reads, and then a few words on the right, which the child reads.  That way my daughter got a compelling story read to her, but she had to participate too.  The level K ones are a little easy for some readers; they rhyme, and with the pictures it's usually easy to guess the words without reading at all.  But some are harder than others.  Level K-1 was about perfect for my daughter; Level 1 had as much reading for the child as the little first reader books, so I started working on her reading books herself.  Those I could get her to read without payment, so I'd definitely try them.

Good luck!  I hope you have success.  It's a frustrating place to be stuck.  I'm sure you'll get through it eventually. 

[Mindset]

PokerDad, thanks for explaining more about the book.  From the summary, I wondered if I would bother reading it, since I believe strongly that parents and families CAN have more influence on kids than peers.  That's certainly true in my own life.  But I can see how kids raised by parents who fit the statistics of 10 minutes or less quality time a day, no family dinner, etc, would be more influenced by peers than family.  So if that's where she's coming from, I can see her point.  My library doesn't have the book, but I can get it if I drive to the associated library system; maybe I'll make the effort.

 I like the idea of setting up a family culture that is strong enough to be a major influence.  I think that's where my parents went right.  There were four kids in our family with an introverted mom who made an effort to get us to some event outside the family once a week, but other than that, we played with each other.  We were expected to spend time together and missing a family activity to do something with friends was so much not even an option that I don't think the question ever was addressed out loud.  And most of our socializing outside school was through our church, which I'm guessing is going to fit the Triple Package criteria (I'm hold number 80 for that one at the library).  I'm lucky that my family has a very strong church identity and the doctrine of our church puts a strong emphasis on education and learning as well as on close-knit families.  That probably helped my family culture as a kid and will hopefully help my family now.  Although a real-life EL group would be amazing!

Probably my number one post-EL book is Mindset by Carol Dweck, but I don't know what other two I'd put on the list.  The ideas of the Robinson curriculum and self-teaching, but that's not really a book.  The Self-Propelled Advantage is good, but it's all wrapped up in my head with the information on the Robinson curriculum and I want both in one source.  I just don't have one.  Oh, well.  It's always nice to have an opening for new favorite books; I get to read more!

I'm not quite in the boat you're looking for; my oldest is three, and I've been entertaining the idea of homeschooling since before she was born, so the fact that the more she advances, the more likely it becomes isn't exactly "unexpected."  But I would say that you have a long time before school actually starts to figure out what will work best for your family.  You may be in a different financial position in a few years.  You may decide homeschooling is your only option and make it work, or you may decide that there is no way it will work for you and pick another option.

But right now, don't let worry about the future deprive you of teaching your daughter now.  Even if she ends up in public school and is very advanced, she'll adapt.  All kids get bored in school, whether they're ahead of the material or not.  School is boring a lot of the time!  You will find a way to make things work for her at whatever level she's at when she starts school.  Have fun teaching her now and see how you feel about her school options in a year, and then a year after that, and so on.  (This is how I converted my husband to the idea of homeschooling, in fact; at first he was against it, but every year as he saw how much our daughter learned from me he became more open to the idea.  It may work the other way for you; you may find the perfect charter school or public school with a gifted program or something for your family later on.)

It sounds like you are doing great things for your daughter!  My family also thought I was insane when I brought up homeschooling, but they're slowly coming around.  Hold on to your own belief that you're doing the right thing and let them come to grips with it in their own time.

Like Manda said, look up what the actual requirements are.  I think NY is one of the stricter states, so you might have some hoops to jump through.  (Here in UT, I just have to send a letter to the school saying we're homeschooling and that's it; they're not allowed to ask for any other details.  I bet you have to keep a record of subjects and hours studied, though.)  However, as far as I'm aware, there is no state that requires schooling before age 6.  I could be wrong, but I think you have a couple of years before you have to worry about official paperwork.

So use that time to decide what you want to do!  Like Manda said, there are tons of options.  One called The Robinson Curriculum got a lot of good responses on BK a while back; search for that thread if you're interested.  It's nice to have an idea of what resonates with you.  I firmly believe that most educational methods will work for someone who likes them enough, so pick what seems best for you, not for anyone else.

While you're doing your research, your four year old just needs a preschool curriculum.  Lucky you, this should be easy.  Most preschools teach recognition of letters, numbers, colors, and shapes; fine motor skills like coloring and tracing and maybe writing one's name, and how to get along with other kids.  I'm guessing your daughter knows most of that already.  So just keep on with what you're doing and tell everyone it's a homeschool preschool.  You will probably want to arrange some activities with other kids - playgroups, park days, free get-togethers - so that when other people bring up the whole "social skills" question, you have an easy answer.  My daughter actually attends a free neighborhood kindergarten co-op two days a week for two hours a time, for the social exposure.  Funny fact, the moms use several curriculum items I used when my daughter was about 18 months to teach the three and four year olds.  So she's not learning anything academic, but she gets to play with her friends for at least an hour of that time and that makes her happy.  You don't need anything that formal, but find some other moms who want to let their kids play together.

Social skills are a whole different post, but here's a nutshell: people mean two things by "socialization."  One is the basic skills to get along with people: start an innocuous conversation with peers, introduce yourself, do group work with strangers, follow directions from someone in authority, etc.  These are definitely teachable at home.  You might have to concentrate to make opportunities to practice some of them, but they're very doable.  The other is what Tamsyn (a forum member who was homeschooled and homeschools her kids) calls "school culture."  Going to public school gives people a cultural bond formed around school lunches, gym class, passing time, lockers, etc, that homeschoolers don't have.  Your kids will not suffer for missing out on this!  Any more than kids of a mom from, say, India suffer from eating curry instead of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  It's  just a cultural difference.  Lots of people who bring up "socialization" mean the second one, which tends to annoy homeschool parents who don't think it's important.

Like Manda says, I'm positive the church will work with you.  Talk to your priest and see what needs to be done.  She might have to go to special classes through the church for her sacraments, but that shouldn't be hard to arrange.

I was just asked to visit a group of homeschooling families as a sort of "guest lecturer" and explain how we use an abacus for math.  Frankly, I was asked because they don't know anyone who uses an abacus.  My experience is teaching the first third of RightStart Level A to my three year old, which doesn't amount to tons.  But I would like to give them a decent amount of information.  I have a soroban abacus and some documentation on how to use it that I can introduce, and I can explain the concept of the RightStart abacus and do addition and subtraction on it.  But I have no idea how, later in the program, it's used to teach multiplication and division.  Can anyone give me a brief overview that I can explain to them?

We've been on an EL break since October.  I've been sick, and EL (and keeping the house clean, and cooking anything not out of a box, and a lot of other important things) has gone right out the window.  I'm hoping to start back up after the holidays.

I don't have the same problem with "you're my mom, not my teacher," because my two aren't in school yet.  But I plan to just start with the things they love.  For my kids, that's Brillkids software; anything I let them see on the computer is a special treat.  Could you show some educational movies or YouTube clips?  Something that he really enjoys, even if it's not as great learning material as the activities you had planned?  That might help ease back into it.

My kids also love being read to, so we will restart our weekly library visits and I'll take the time to pick out some educational books every week.  For my kids, that's MathStart and Pebble science books; they'll let me read them over and over and talk about the concepts.  Again, they don't think of that as "learning," but I do.

Sometimes I'm OK with using food to get things going the right way.  (Potty training, for instance.)  When my 3 year old is particularly math-resistant, math becomes food-based.  How many raisins?  How many should each of us get to be fair?  If you can get two raisins every time you go to the jar, and I say you can go to the jar three times, how many raisins will you have?  Of course, this is all physically done, and then she eats the raisins.  That's very motivating!  I've even used food rewards for spelling word before and it's gotten her very excited about an activity that's not normally her favorite.

And, of course, keeping an EL mind ready in everyday activities.  Talking about precipitation when it snows, or evaporation when the snow melts, or math when cooking dinner.  Those are great ways to learn, although they're harder for me than pre-planned activities.