Intro and ?'s

[moonpie]

Hi,

My name is Patti and we are in the mindboggling stages are curriculum searching for dd who will be 5yo. in April. She is bugging to do school. We have the store workbooks and stuff we print from the computer, but she wants "real school"! She is a visual learner, can write her letters and numbers, knows short vowel sounds and can sound out basic three letter words, and can do basic add/sub math problems. She is always asking ?'s about how stuff works...good ?'s too!

We could use some experienced advice even though I know all children and home enviroments are different. I have tried Five In A Row and Handwriting w/o Tears with not much success. Not enough direction? I have the perfectionist personality and accomplish nothing because I research and never make a decision.

Our requirements:
1. Christian worldview material
2. Either CM, Classical, or Principle Approach
3. Will be using 1828 Webster Dictionary
4. Not tied down to a school
5. Do not mind mix and match
6. I need a planned out curriculum due to my personality and two little ones under feet.

My Dh finally jumped on board in the curriculum search after hearing Susan Bauer on the radio.

Thanks in advance for the advice and suggestions,
Patti

[Mrs Mungo]

Welcome to the boards!

Just to start off - have you read The Well Trained Mind? There are lots of good curricula suggestions in the book, to include some mentions whether particular programs are Christian or secular. The Rainbow Resource Center catalog is another good place to start looking, their catalog looks like a phone book and includes descriptions of most of the curricula. The company is run by Christian homeschoolers and it is usually noted whether a curriculum is Christian or secular.

Just based on your requirements you might look into Sonlight or Tapestry of Grace. There aren't many boxed curriculums that fit all of your requirements.

Hope this helps!

[OhElizabeth]

Couple thoughts about things we did at that age... For us, in K5 a christian worldview meant reading missionary stories. You could do a Bible curriculum. What we do is have dh do the primary Bible reading and teaching in the evenings, while I try to do singing of hymns, scripture memory, catechism, etc. with her, the things he doesn't like to do. In that way we're complementary. Also, as soon as she could read, I got her an NIrV Adventurers Bible for her to read for herself. It's written on a 3rd grade reading level and sounds like it would fit your dd well. Even if you don't normally read the NIV, which we don't, the NIrV (meant for kids) is such a help. And it's hardbound, making it very durable. The pictures in the version we got are not objectionable or overly cartoonish to us, just in case that's an issue for you. One story Bible my dd particularly enjoyed at that age is the Read N' Grow Picture Bible published by Zondervan. From the cover, you wouldn't think it has the conservative, realistic pictures that it has. It is WONDERFUL!!! Each two page spread has a number of cells with realistic illustrations and one sentence continuations of the story underneath. My dh would point to the picture and read each sentence. It's very thorough in its coverage, making a good transition to Vos or another story Bible when they get bigger.

We did a lot of read alouds at that age. I kept the books in a dishpan and just pulled the thing out. I used SL Kcore books and some of the PreK core, just without the schedule. So I'd have one of those going, a missionary story, anything else I wanted to read her, and "Little Pilgrim's Progress" by Helen Taylor, which is WONDERFUL to read aloud at that age. It was just a pile we worked through, reading a chapter of each book daily. When a book was finished, I pulled out the next one. If you want to do SL, you could do that too obviously. The missionary stories they publish are adorable and not to miss.

I would ask her what she means by real school. Does she like to color, cut and paste? My dd never liked to color or do any of that, so many of the typical K5 things you would do fell flat. With a dc who likes these things, I like the reproducible books you get at the teacher's supply. There are dot-to-dots, mazes, cut and paste where they also color, coloring books for basic K5 info (my name, address, birthday, phone, etc.). I think Kumon makes some adorable books in this vein that Timberdoodle carries. They weren't around when I got started but look nice.

So to do school, you have to find out what it means to her. She may have some conception that she should be doing the pledge every morning or needs to dress up, call you m'aam, who knows! Some girls have seen desks and want one, think that's very important.

BTW, I save all my goodies till the start of my official school year and give them to her with a big shibang, take pictures, etc. You might like to do something like that. Right after 4th of July is a good time. :) In the mean time you could filter her things here and there to keep her occupied and happy. Then give her the big haul for your official first day. Don't make the mistake of losing the moment to wait for some supposed time. If she wants stuff now, give her something now!

Does she like worksheets and projects? She might be ready for VP's First Favorites guides. She might like you to start reading her history with SOTW or CHOW. My dd liked the D'Aulaire books at that age and still adores history. You could do Galloping the Globe, where you study countries. If she's self-motivated, you can get her started and then let her do some of the things herself, coloring or crafting or whatever. My dd likes to take scraps of fabric and sew little garments for her animals, etc. It's hard when they're that age, because they can't do as much for themselves. It really varies though, so I'm just tossing things out. We did a country study in K5 and it was fun.

Enjoy your time. K5 is a great age!!! :)

[Sue G in PA]

If she knows her letters, can write them and is already sounding out words, you could skip their K program (which teaches letters, numbers, early reading skills, etc.) and go directly into the 1st grade program. I love MFW. Christian world-view, a combination of classical and CM methods, easy-to-use and implement teacher manual/curriculum. You get Bible, reading/phonics, some everyday math activities, science, etc. all in one package. You would love it! www.mfwbooks.com

You do need to add (if you feel it is necessary) your own math and language arts programs. I wouldn't do grammar with a 5yo until she is reading WELL. Then, I would suggest First Language Lessons (FLL) as it is done mostly orally and has copywork/dictation/picture study all included. For math, there are many curriculums to choose from. I would suggest Saxon 1. Welcome and have fun! K/1st is a fun year!

[Calming Tea]

I echo a lot of what Oh Elizabeth said.

We really like Hooked on Phonics for reading. My older son is finishing up K using this (though we did not start with it) and my dd will start at the end of next year on it. You can find the cassette tape version right now on homeschool classifieds.

You can add any handwriting you want to that, if she already writes you can try a Reason for Handwriting K.

For books, I recommend following some of sonlight's ideas and maybe even purchasing Core C. This can cover science, social studies, and more.

For math, we are loving Horizons, but your dd must know and recognize numbers and be able to write them very well before starting Horizons K. If not, you can try Kumon numbers first, then move into Horizons later.

I love to just have books on hand to read, and we did several units of FIAR which we loved but I couldn't take the planning and effort for prolonged periods of time either. I also didn't like reading SL books with an IG... I prefer to read books when I am in the mood for them.

FOr Bible, I recommend the Jesus Storybook Bible, and Sing the Word from A to Z. These have been our favorite for Bible and Bible memory.

If your dd just really loves, loves cut and paste and school-y books for the summer you can get her Rod and Staff preschool. We are enjoying these considerably. I really can't say enough about them. Then in the fall move her into a more academic program. This way you don't miss your moment of opportunity. They have adorable little stories, cut and paste, counting, writing, thinking skills, pre-reading exercises and much more. They are also very inexpensive. If I were you I'd stroll over to Rainbow Resource and get these to start now and through the summer, while you research and then decide on the rest over the summer. It's too hard to make the decision quickly and in the meantime these are very inexpensive, fun, and educational! I recommend buying the individual books and skipping the coloring book and Bible story book unless your dd really loves to color. Then you'll only spend about 15.00.

:o)

[moonpie]

Thank you for all your ideas! We looked at TOG, and will eventually use that. I feel God leading us there. I feel it is a little much for now though. We were debating between, MWF, HOD, Living Books cirriculum, and Rod and Staff. Any opinions on HOD or Living Books Curriculum? For math we are leaning towards RightStart and SWR for phonics.

Looking forward to learning more.

God bless,
Patti

[OhElizabeth]

Patti, you don't need TOG now. Don't make the mistake I did and go overboard trying to do history at this age!! The things I suggested to you (SOTW, CHOW, D'Aulaire books) are very good for this age. A geography study is good. I'd suggest waiting on a formal study of american history till her reading takes off, just my personal opinion. Once she can read the COFA series (Childhood of Famous Americans) easily, THEN start american. At that point you could do it yourself using Child's Story of America, the kid versions of the Peter Marshall books, or MFW Adventures.

If you do geography and a country study, be sure to get the geography songs from Audio Memory!

Yes, RS and SWR are awesome. They're what I used at that age and only this year did we transition from RS to BJU. Many people who like RS and SWR also like VP history, so that would be one to check into. You could do geography in K5, a survey of american in 1st, then start VP OTAE in 2nd. Save TOG for your next go-round, that's my personal suggestion. It's just overkill for this age, honest. TOG is like VP on steroids. Or put another way, VP is the streamlined version of TOG. Your dd will be too young to appreciate the commentary and things in TOG, but the same structure, using books, etc. is in VP. Check it out!

At this age they have spartan little sense of time, so it's perfectly fine to read broadly and let it all congeal. You can read ancients, american, fiction, etc. and just let it jumble together in their brains. It was in 2nd grade that all of a sudden my dd's lightbulb came on with chronology. Suddenly she became intensely interested in the timelines in the backs of our older, oop COFA's, liked using the VP cards to see how events related, started talking about connections she was seeing, etc. Until then, all her experiences were just building a pool of knowledge. That's why you don't have to sweat organized history till 2nd grade in my opinion. Just build a pool of knowledge.

Something else I did with my dd at that age that I think was extremely beneficial (and which also happens to be encouraged in WTM, hehe) is buying her quality books on tape. She would listen to Uncle Remus, Charlotte's Web, Narnia, etc. by the hour. I read her only quality literature that I liked (Peter Pan, Dr. Doolittle, lots of the Lang's Fairy Tales--books and books of these). It builds their vocabulary so they recognize the words they are learning to read. It improves their sentence structure and speech, resulting in better writing. There's a lot that comes from the good lit you input now!

Please don't stress yourself thinking you need formal studies. If she's more advanced than the average bear and craves formal history, get her some age-appropriate read alouds. Don't stress about getting a perfect program meant for kids 2-3 years older or plunk out a lot of money trying to do something formal (which is what I did at the stage you're at). Pick some age appropriate things to read aloud to her to give her exposure to a broad variety of things (science, history, fairy tales). Do some fun things with her. It's enough.