First Post - Deciding on what to AS

[markwardt]

Hello all! Been lurking here for a few months while me made the decision between HS and PS for my ds (currently age 4, going into K next fall). We decided for his personality, temperament, and learning styles that PS would be best for him. We have a great PS around the corner that is out of district for us, but we're hoping to get him in there.

The question I have is how do you decide what to AS? Especially at such a young age when they spend all day in school already (8-2:30) and have homework. Is it too much to add more on top of it in K? Should I wait for 1st grade?

The other thing is I would love your opinion on what you consider to be your top 5 (or 6 or whatever) things that you want to make sure your child is getting. Reading? Phonics? Latin? Math? Art? What is the most important to you - the seasoned vets at this!

Just dipping my toes in the water and trying to organize my thoughts about all this before we start next year.

[Barb F. PA in AZ]

At this age, I would focus on the basics. If he is talented in Math, find him some supplemental stuff that challenges him and that he looks forward to doing. If he struggles in Math, find ways to reteach and enrich. Teach him to read. Read to him. That would be all. He is very little and Kindergarten is so long and often tedious. If you are excited about teaching him more than a little reading and or math afterschool (no more than 20-40 min total), then I would say just go ahead and homeschool him. It's not really fair to homeschool a whole day after he's spent hours in school. Play is really the most important thing he will do at this age, and unfortunately that is sorely lacking in most schools.

Here's a really cool article about the development of executive function through dramatic play that you may have missed: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27tools-t.html

Have fun and welcome!

Barb

[5ray2006]

Welcome! :)

Well, I'm not a seasoned vet, but here is my $.02 . I have to agree with the other poster about focusing on the basics, mainly phonics/reading, math, and handwriting. Anything else you add is just gravy. I have a ds in Kinder this year and we are mainly working on the basics. I do plan to add in some basic geography and read through Apologia Zoology 2 after the Christmas break. My main focus is teaching him how to read and write legibly. We do a lot of puzzles and thinking skills workbooks as well as working through BJU K5 math. I only do this 3-4 days per week. I do make sure I read aloud often to them.

I must say I've never heard of Kinder's getting homework. I have yet to see any work from my ds school teacher and he's been in school for 6 weeks! :confused: I know he is learning some b/c we talk about his day and he is always singing new songs he's learned in class. Overall, I'm not impressed with ps K. and my dc will probably be coming home to homeschool full time in January.

My advice, learn as much as possible about the school you're interested in; found out what curriculum the school uses; does the math utilize a spiral or mastery approach? How does the school teach reading? phonics, whole language, or a combo. of both; found out about the resources available for gifted and talented students. Will they allow your child to do work from home just in case the classwork is too easy? I would decide on what subjects to do afterschool depending on the school's strengths/weaknesses.

Here is a list of some things that could possibly work well for afterschooling or before schooling:

Singapore Math
Hooked on Phonics
Explode the Code
Story of the World
First Language Lessons
Book lists from Sonlight
Usborne science books

Sorry, I can't help you with Latin or art suggestions. We just don't have the time to get to those subjects. My children do have art/music lessons at school 1-2 times per week.

HTH, Trina

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I work with my Ker and 1st grader after school for about 45 minutes, but I let them relax and play for an hour and a half before we begin.

I'm working on phonics with the little one and First Language Lessons with the older one. They love doing this and view it as fun, so it's great. Ker also likes to do simple math worksheets, and is coming along in addition problems. I plan on starting Math U See with him over the summer. I have first grader memorizing math facts. I might use Math U See with him, too this summer. Not sure yet. Since they do Invented Spelling at school, I make older ds rewrite any words he spelled incorrectly on assignments he brings home from school.

We are listening to Story of the World in the car, so it doesn't cut into the afterschool work time, too much. I did get them a History Pocket project book to supplement this, so they work on it when the other stuff doesn't take too long.

After baths and evening chores, we read for 45 mins. I've been trying to include books in this that also correspond to what we are learning on SOTW. We've read books about Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt and now we are reading a book called The Adventures of Odysseus.

I plan to start Logic and Latin sometime in the future, but not sure exactly when. I'll probably start both during a summer, so that they have a handle on it before adding it to their regular homework.

It is a lot to expect of them, but so far, they seem to be able to handle the challenge and are enjoying the process. I hope this enthusiasm lasts for a while!

Good luck with your decisions.

[PenKase]

From personal experience with my two dd's, it was imperative to me that I be the one to teach them to read. I wanted both my girls to have a solid phonics foundation before Kindergarten. My 4th grader is at the top of her class for both language arts and math and I honestly believe it's because of the afterschooling we have always done. My K'er this year is well ahead in language arts and reading as well and also due to the fact that we've been working together since she was 4. She has a December birthday so is one of the oldest in her class and the kid was just ready to soak up everything I seemed to be throwing at her.

One of the main things to remember is that your reading to him on a daily basis remains a top priority. If he seems ready for lessons, I say go for it!!!! The only caveat is that they be engaging and fun, fun, fun!!!!! When my dd5 was that young we did absolutely no seat work...no worksheets. The primary fundamental was getting her to read. We began with HeadSprout.com which is entirely done online and did work wonders for both my dd's. Altough it was a great program and did a great job of keeping her engaged, I still felt she needed more phonics instruction and decided to progress onto Phonics Pathways along with Explode the Code (once she turned 5). That did the trick and her reading has taken off by leaps and bounds. Once that was established, we moved onto math....we began with the Singapore Early Bird series and then transitioned to RightStart math Level A. She only has about 10 lessons to go with Level A before the begins Level B. Our lessons still remain short although she does more seat work now than she used to but we still keep our afterschooling fun and engaging so that it's not so much like school.

HTH

[Sara R]

For K:

(1) Phonics. If the school says they use a "balanced approach" to reading instruction, that means they mostly use whole language with some phonics instruction tacked on. They still teach them to look at the picture to guess the word, etc. Teach them phonics, because once they learn to guess words at school, it's a hard habit to break.
(2) Writing. Teach them to form the letters properly. This is hard to teach at school, because the teacher can't watch each child form the letters separately. The habits they establish now are really hard to break later.
(3) Math. Find out what curriculum the school uses. If it's Everyday Math or Investigations (TERC), it's crucial that you use a math curriculum at home, and that the student primarily learns math from you. Keep them ahead of what they are teaching at school, so you teach the concept first, and they are well on their way to mastery before the school teaches it. If they use a more traditional curriculum, this isn't as important. There are threads on this board about TERC and Everyday Math; for more information, look there.

Those are crucial. Everything else can wait, or can be just a fun part of living at your house. We get history by listening to Story of the World on road trips. I think grammar can safely wait until about 3rd grade if you aren't homeschooling.

[ktmo]

We are in a similar situation. I plan on focusing on reading and math. Right now, we are working through Explode the Code and Earlybird B Singapore Math. We are waiting to get the 3RsPlus books.

[Cadam]

I choose the thing that was most important to me. For a young child, phonics would be first on my priority list, and then learning basic math facts. Some schools do great at the basics but have no history or science. If that was the case then we would do those subjects at home.

My dd is finishing the last few lessons of OPG, then I will do Singapore math with her because she loves math and isn't being challenged. After Christmas we will start Latin and save the rest of the math for Summer.

[lgm]

The question I have is how do you decide what to AS? Especially at such a young age when they spend all day in school already (8-2:30) and have homework. Is it too much to add more on top of it in K? Should I wait for 1st grade?.

I decide by looking at the curriculum, the teachers' strength and weaknesses, and my wishes. K homework is usually silly and takes less than five minutes. You will likely be the one providing the intellectual stimulation to your child, unless your school groups by ability. The child will be happy to use his brain and/or to get out and move, depending on the quality of the assigned teachers. No, don't wait for first grade. The school won't mention it, but they start sorting kids at the K prescreen, then by the reading and math achievement in spring of K. All classrooms are not equal.

The other thing is I would love your opinion on what you consider to be your top 5 (or 6 or whatever) things that you want to make sure your child is getting. Reading? Phonics? Latin? Math? Art? What is the most important to you - the seasoned vets at this! .

1. Activity - must have physical activity; get out and play kickball, ride bikes, swim, skate etc & keep the sandbox open until the sand is frozen or covered with snow.

2. Play - need hour or more at a stretch opportunity to play if K is academic and filled with students whose attention span rivals a gnat's.

3. Math - math is given short shrift. Use a different curriculum at home or make your own. Play a lot of store and tangrams & learn to read the clock. Play board and card games.

4. Science - science is pretty much ignored. Kids nature activity books and the cub scout handbooks have a lot of ideas here, be sure and include science books in your selection to bring home from the library. Keep visiting your local science and nature centers. Keep a pet or have a bird feeder.

5. Knowledge & Heritage - pick quality read alouds from all over the children's section of the library. Converse often and involve your child in all family activities.

Most important to me is math, but that is b/c this district doesn't do math daily. Reading didn't make my list, b/c the district does a fairly good job & most kids crack the code. I would add that after K, spelling needs to be done at home...the rules are just not taught as part of LA anymore. Spelling Workout is just fine.

Another important thing is fine motor skills and the ability to develop the mind's eye to see in 3-D. Keep doing those craft activities...Highlights for Kids and the games to make on their website are just right for the budget.

[mich311e]

Hello all! Been lurking here for a few months while me made the decision between HS and PS for my ds (currently age 4, going into K next fall)..............
Just dipping my toes in the water and trying to organize my thoughts about all this before we start next year.

I'm currently afterschooling my 5 year old who is in public kindergarten. As another poster said - I wanted to be the one to teach my child to read and I did. I know he can read at an early first grade level and we will continue working on it. We currently do Hooked on Phonics but I'm looking into trying a different program.

We are about 6 weeks into kindergarten and they haven't touched on letter sounds yet. Some of the kids in the class do read but I don't know how many. The class also does a word wall and covers 100 "high frequency words" that are expected to be known by the end of kindergarten (my child can read all of them already). So I'm glad we have a phonics base. I guess with the combination of phonics at home and whatever they learn at school we have "balanced literacy."

Reading aloud - a lot - is really the most important thing you can do. We read at least 30 minutes a night. Take books with you everywhere. Go to the library.

For math the school does Saxon math. At home we supplement with Singapore Essential Math Kindergarten.

So far phonics and math are all I supplement with.

My child does receive homework from school. There is also an option to take home "enrichment work" and I opted out after the first week. The packet and the homework took us about 5 hours the first week. The enrichment packet was fine - just too much (14 pages of writing the letter A, 5 pages of numeral writing, a few pages of math concepts, etc). I spoke with my child's teacher and she said it was fine if I pick what we do for enrichment. We have Brain Quest, Kumon and Hooked on Phonics workbooks to work on.

We limit what my child watches on TV, mostly watching PBS and educational shows. He actually learns a great deal from Electric Company and videos like Popular Mechanics for Kids. We also have Muzzy for Spanish and he's learned the days of the week, big and small, and some greetings in Spanish through there.

We also visit museums and cultural events.

We afterschool a.k.a. "do homework" for about 20 minutes 4 nights a week and do phonics 3-4 nights a week. So far no complaints.

In the future I intend to implement some more handwriting practice (HWOT). Next year we will add SOTW read alouds and spelling practice.

Good luck!