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Kindergarten, as well as a variety of ages.


Elisabet1
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I am worried about next year...very worried. I have never home schooled kinder, but always had visions of what I would do. BUT..on that note..I have never home schooled high school too, and I will be in that direction too! And then I will have other children! I am feeling a big worried and and stressed. I will have a new baby, a 4 yr old, 6 yr old, 11 yr old, and 14 yr old. I would rather send him to kinder, but we just do not have the money. 

 

Any advice?

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I don't really do anything for kindergarten other than work on reading skills. If my K'er wants to do math I have used Singapore's Essentials workbooks, but I don't think formal math is really necessary in kindergarten.

 

Otherwise, read lots of picture books and play.

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 I would rather send him to kinder, but we just do not have the money. 

 

Any advice?

 

Public school K should be free.

 

But really, K is mainly daycare and some teaching to read. It's not that big a difference to having the kid at home as you already have this year.

 

ETA: Keep in mind that elsewhere in the world, formal academics do not start until age 6 or 7, and by age 10 there is no measurable difference to students who started at age 5. So, cut yourself some slack for the year with the newborn.

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I am worried about next year...very worried. I have never home schooled kinder, but always had visions of what I would do. BUT..on that note..I have never home schooled high school too, and I will be in that direction too! And then I will have other children! I am feeling a big worried and and stressed. I will have a new baby, a 4 yr old, 6 yr old, 11 yr old, and 14 yr old. I would rather send him to kinder, but we just do not have the money. 

 

Any advice?

 

There is no such thing as "kindergarten." There are only children who are 5ish.

 

And there's really no such thing as "high school," either. There are only children who are 14ish, who will, before long, be adults and are preparing for what comes next. :-)

 

With a little person who is 5ish, all you're going to do is age-appropriate work with basic phonics (or more than basic, depending), and some simple penmanship, and very basic arithmetic. Most everything else is things you would teach a little 5yo person anyway--colors and shapes and life skills. And there will be the things that spill over from the older children as far as history and science and whatnot.

 

A little person who is 5ish will learn the most by being home with his age-integrated family. :-)

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6yo here (need to update siggy), is "doing" science and history with older, with some LG Tapestry read alouds--when the library has them in. I've also done the "Let's Read and Find Out" science series, which is fun, and then reading whatever lovely books that she might enjoy hearing--Heidi, Narnia series, items from great books list. And, that's when I force myself to make time to sit down and read with her.

 

We do Phonics Road for reading and spelling, as much as she wants to do each day, and then 15 minutes of handwriting with as much supervision as I can give her at the moment (some handwriting time blurs over into the spelling also). She is doing MM1 for math, 2 pages/day, which mostly requires me to do it with her, but she will do a problem or two on her own if I need to look or step away for someone else. I consider her a very "old" K-er with a fall birthday, and she is able to handle the math concepts easily (what she gets vocabulary-wise from Heidi, e.g., I have no idea :lol:).

 

She also joins big sis on Scripture and other memory work.

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My Ker spends a 1/2 hour with me. We do a handwriting page, we do a bit of reading skills or counting skills, maybe we talk about his full name or the days of thew eek, but honestly I also spend a good chunk of time just reading silly children's poems while we sticks stickers in his train book :)

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My Ker does a bit of reading, math on T/Th (she picks a Miquon page), and handwriting on MWF. We do a FIAR lesson when I can get to it (which means we do about a book a month and then stretch it out...).

 

I'm not too worried about what she's not doing at this point. There's plenty of time to do more as she ages.

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Reading: The Reading Lesson + library card (You can use Ultimate Phonics list + Sight Words) to reinforce TRL.

Math: Bottle caps for counters + library card (for living math books, books on Numbers, and books on early math such as Marshmallow Math)

Handwriting: WRTRs clock letters (which you may be able to get from the library and photo copy the handwriting pages for reference)

Basic knowledge: Library books for stories, nursery rhymes, colors, seasons, etc. Use a calendar each day to find the date.

Sciene + History: Library books

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* Read aloud (use audio books + coloring books to delegate some of the load)

* Alphabet books/phonics a couple times a week when you can fit it in

* Outdoor play

 

We also do "circle time" memory work and singing as a family (though my oldest is only 11, we also have 5 kids).

 

I pull out math when the 5yo wants to do it, but don't push it. I don't push anything except manners on a 5yo. :) Laying those foundations for how he interacts with everyone and how he handles it when something doesn't go his way will pay off when they get to lesson age. Habits!

 

A younger child in the family is going to pick up a lot just by being around. Can your other middle children also practice their reading skills by reading him a picture book a day? 

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I was very worried about juggling big ones and little ones at the same time. When My youngest three are K age, my oldest will be/is 12, 14, 17, with one more in the middle. Having them all at different levels sounded so exhausting. I dreaded having to navigate middle and high school for the first time while simultaneously starting over, and over, and over. 

 

This year I gave myself a break. My 5yo doesn't need intensive academics. He plays phonics games, we do a little math, we read stories, and he plays a lot. The three year old entertains himself beautifully. I worried a lot of over nothing. 

 

It will be fine. I promise. 

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