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Tell me my kindergartner is fine. JAWM


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Strawberrymama, I'm sorry you feeling worried.  Homeschooling is just so hard because we as parents make all the education decisions and are too emotionally invested in the outcome. 

 

Here is the schedule I used for my boys

 

age 5:

10 minutes of mazes and dot to dots everyday to strengthen hand muscles, they got into letters by about 5 3/4

20 minutes a day of teaching them to read by snuggling up on the sofa with a little reader.  We skipped it if they were not keen that day.

 

age 6: add independent reading time and violin, and move to copy work

 

age 7: add formal math, and move to short compositions

 

I read a lot to them and we went on lots of field trips. But we just did not do much formal stuff when they were little.  It did not inhibit their future academic achievement in any way.

 

Ruth in NZ

 

 

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It sounds like you are doing just fine. Your post reminded me of a friend whose very independent ds would do exactly the opposite of what she wanted, so she had to be creative in how she homeschooled him. She would leave out books, games, and projects she wanted him to use, but never mentioned them. He would see things on the coffee table, get curious, and start investigating. Then HE would ask HER for help or more information, and she could direct him to what he needed. She said that method worked all the way into high school when he started taking community college classes and did just fine.

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IMO, if you're reading great things to him, interacting with him, then you're setting yourself up for a positive schooling experience when you start becoming more structured. I think you'd be perfectly fine doing what your doing for another three years.

 

I have a child who is, ahem, challenging. We purposefully and intentionally do less secured school. I pick my battles so that the school we do DO is positive and gets done. He listens to a lot of books. Thus far, this has ABSOLUTELY been a good choice. Despite rigorous and/ or " formal" academic study being a great fit for most of my children, it was not the best for him. This is a huge benefit to homeschooling!

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We did very similar to Alte Veste. Only mine are older than hers. And they have done very, very well. The extra time working with their hands, developing imagination, listening to read-alouds, etc., helped rather than harmed. I think it was more balanced than giving little ones drills or seatwork. And once we started 1st, we still had very short days of "formal" work. An enriched environment of books and tools for creative play goes a very long way. Two are college graduates, two are college students on scholarship, and two are still at home.

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OP - I'll jump in and say yes, absolutely fine!!!

 

A bit of a rant in general is how we, as a society, came to this idea that a kindergarten kid should be doing all kinds of "formal" education. It's mind boggling!!! And yes, I get the panic we feel because we are all so scared of somehow screwing up our kid.

 

Fwiw, We've always been a bit unschoolish and didn't start a lot of more formal work with dd11 until probably third grade (when she was showing signs of being truly ready). Before that we just let her read all the time (her passion), play, draw, do dance classes, etc. well this year she is part time taking classes at a local charter. Due to her level, she is mostly taking grade 7-8 classes (she is technically grade 6), and is thriving. Just had her first evaluation and mostly got exceeds expectations. So that proved to me that what we've done works. We still don't push too hard. I give her materials that support her learning style, and just let her go.

 

It's amazing what can happen when we trust our child and give them all the love and support we can :)

 

You're just fine, mama!!!

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