If you're afterschooling kindergarten...

[Mélie]

What are you doing and how much time are you spending? How's it going so far?

 

My younger son is starting public kindergarten in January, and I'm just trying to get an idea of what to expect. He'll be going half-days, alternating months of mornings and afternoons.

 

Thanks,

[kiwik]

With half days it should be easier, I find it hard to fit round full days so a lot of it is oral while we are doing something else. Alternating mornings and afternoons seems a bit like "a worst of both worlds" situation for working parents though.

[Uff Da!]

nm

[Frechesmaedl]

Until the holiday break, dd was in KG from 7:30 until 2 pm. KG in Germany is almost wholly non-academic, i.e. just play. We got in maybe 1 hour of afterschooling (not including snack breaks). We did the following:

 

English - Funnix 2 - 1 lesson twice a week and Handwriting without Tears twice a week

Math - random worksheets from the internet, Miquon, pages from and old math textbook I found online, do dot-to-to sheets, counting to 50 in German and English on a number line.

German - do 2 pages in a 1st grade workbook

 

Before we go to bed, depending on how tired she is, I have her read either a German or English story to me and then I do a read aloud from the Sonlight KG curriculum. She would often balk, but then got so much into the rhythm that if Mommy was tired, she would ask me to do HWT or Funnix with her :laugh:

[MistyMountain]

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[Mélie]

With half days it should be easier, I find it hard to fit round full days so a lot of it is oral while we are doing something else. Alternating mornings and afternoons seems a bit like "a worst of both worlds" situation for working parents though.

It does seem like it would be terrible for working parents, but apparently it's always been this way and is the same at every school in the area. I don't really get it, but it shouldn't matter too much for us. We're going to keep our "field trips" and any big projects to the weekends so dh can join in.

 

I think we're going to keep going with what we've been doing in math, FLL and AAS 2-3 days per week, reading every day in French and English, and reading SOTW at night when we're not too tired. The only things we'll really be dropping are science and handwriting, which makes me feel like I'm trying to do a bit too much. He's not an eager student, but he doesn't hate anything we're using now. School is only two or three hours per day (three hour mornings vs. two hour afternoons), which includes recess, PE, music, trips to the school library, crafts, etc.

[sapphire]

My daughter goes to a public school and then after care, so basically gone for the whole day. Here are the things we are working on:

 

FLL1 - we are on lesson 93, so almost done

Spelling Power - completed Level B and working on Level C

Saxon Math 2 - is going slow on Lesson 32

WWE1 - is going really slow, not much done probably on Week 5

 

Also, she goes swimming, ice-skating and art class.

I'm hoping to do some Geography and Critical Thinking if we manage to finish the above during summer break.

We work 3 days a week probably an hour and half or so. She also has homework from school which she has to complete once a week.

[mathnerd]

My DS goes to public school K half a day. He goes to a homework intensive school so he has to spend 20 minutes each day completing his homework.

For afterscholing, I spend 45 minutes with him everyday (we are very slow and get distracted, so actually it is a lot less time) and we work on:

Math - Miquon, Singapore math (all their books), Life of Fred curriculum. Dreambox math, EPGY math for online math programs. Twice a week for 30 minutes.

Language: FLL1, Songschool latin, reading SOTW to him and tons of other reading material - both readalouds as well as parents reading to him. Reading eggs and ETC Online for computer work.

Science: BFSU once a week (random topics that I like)

Geography: one continent at a time (depending on interest)

Piano: practice 5 days a week.

Lego building and robotics: with his dad twice a week depending on interest.

He also goes to Korean martial arts, swimming, piano and chess classes.

I have not yet tackled handwriting and critical thinking due to lack of time. I would also love to reenroll him in art classes because he is so bad at it, again no time in our schedule.

So far it is stressful to me as a working parent to do all these things, but the teacher passed on some appreciative comments which keeps me in a good frame of mind.

I will introduce computer programming and more math curriculum next year. But, this is all I am doing for the K year.

[Mélie]

It's great to see that you're both getting so much done!

 

Ds started school yesterday, and it looks like his only homework is going to be reading and preparing for weekly mini-presentations. No worksheets! I already love this teacher. :)

[SMRB]

DS is in full-day K and aftercare. When he was in Pre-K we managed Miquon, Singapore, or AAR1 at the breakfast table every day. Now he has to leave for school at 7:15 and has homework when I get home from work, so our afterschooling can realistically only happen on the weekends or during our car rides now. We play rhyming, math, and other games in the car together, and then manage one math or reading lesson on the weekends. It's a big drop from last year and disappointing, but I'm hoping that we can do more during the summer.