Delaying Formal Education Instruction

[Momma4]

Obviously learning happens naturally everyday, but for those of you who have delayed formal educational instruction, like reading and writing, how quickly did you children learn to read and write once you started?

 

We have purposefully delayed formal education and my son is approaching 6yrs old, I'm now trying to decide whether to start now or wait until he's closer to 7 years old. He's definitely a wiggly worm (unless I'm reading aloud, then he can sit for hours just listening), so I don't want to pin him down for 'lessons' until I feel he'll be fully engaged and not thinking about climbing a tree!

 

 

 

 

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[Rosie_0801]

I wouldn't call 6 delaying formal education, since kids aren't school age until about then. I also postulate you might be waiting a decade before he stops thinking about climbing trees. :p 

 

Lessons do not have to be long and they do not have to be nothing but filling out worksheets. If you and the child's other parent wish to wait, you can, providing the state doesn't mind. The only caution I'd add, is if there are learning difficulties involved, you want to know about them asap because teaching kids with learning difficulties takes so much longer. 10 mins each of reading, writing and maths won't destroy any 6yo's life, but will set up a routine and they certainly have value.

[Momma4]

Thanks Rosie, great advice.

 

I probably should've said that here in the UK, children go to school at 4yrs old and they start doing phonics work very early on. For most people here, 6-7yrs old is delayed lol!

 

 

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[Rosie_0801]

http://stern.buffalostate.edu/CSMPProgram/ is a nice, gentle maths program. The lessons are short and sweet but add up. Start with the grade 1 level.

 

It's great he'll listen to read alouds. Does he like audiobooks too? We listen to a lot in the car.

[countrymum]

I am planning to use RightStart for math. Their lessons are short and very hands on. Version 1 of RightStart a is very gentle and you can probably find it used... just another idea. I can't speak about delaying as I did not. I wanted to get into a routine. We didn't do much for pre k thoughave just a bit of math and letter sounds.

[barnwife]

http://stern.buffalostate.edu/CSMPProgram/ is a nice, gentle maths program. The lessons are short and sweet but add up. Start with the grade 1 level.

 

It's great he'll listen to read alouds. Does he like audiobooks too? We listen to a lot in the car.

I mostly agree with everything Rosie has said here.

 

Our oldest just turned 6. We have only recently been more formal about any lessons at all. Currently, we use Progressive Phonics for reading/phonics. We use CSMP for math. I planned to use the grade 1 lessons. 

 

However, we are using CSMP K for a couple reasons. One is that our oldest is...reluctant to do any formal schoolwork. He absolutely could do the grade 1 things. However, he is much more cooperative since I switched to K. Second is that using the K level allows DD4 to tag along and understand pretty much everything. FWIW, DS6 much prefers it when DD4 joins him for lessons. That also makes him more cooperative. She isn't ready for grade 1 yet though.

 

So for us, using the K level now makes sense, is working, and results in much more cooperation. That being said, we are going through it much more rapidly than designed, I think.

 

As for OP, I clearly also fall in the "6 isn't really delaying education" camp. 

[ReadingMama1214]

I mostly agree with everything Rosie has said here.

 

Our oldest just turned 6. We have only recently been more formal about any lessons at all. Currently, we use Progressive Phonics for reading/phonics. We use CSMP for math. I planned to use the grade 1 lessons.

 

However, we are using CSMP K for a couple reasons. One is that our oldest is...reluctant to do any formal schoolwork. He absolutely could do the grade 1 things. However, he is much more cooperative since I switched to K. Second is that using the K level allows DD4 to tag along and understand pretty much everything. FWIW, DS6 much prefers it when DD4 joins him for lessons. That also makes him more cooperative. She isn't ready for grade 1 yet though.

 

So for us, using the K level now makes sense, is working, and results in much more cooperation. That being said, we are going through it much more rapidly than designed, I think.

 

As for OP, I clearly also fall in the "6 isn't really delaying education" camp.

Question, when you did CSMP did you buy all of the manipulatives they suggested? I was a little confused by what I needed to do the K program.

[AnnaM]

We started formal reading for all of my children around 7. Within the year they were reading at grade level and within 2 years they were several grade levels ahead. I don't know if this is typical, but three different children, 2 girls and 1 boy, and the results have all pretty much been the same. My son is only 8 now, but he is progressing at a rate that will definitely put him ahead by the end of the year.


My husband is British. We had planned to take a vacation with my SIL's family (they live in the UK) and when I chose the date they turned it down because my oldest niece would be starting pre-k. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why they were so adamant that she not miss a few day of pre-k and instead go during the busiest time of the year. 

[barnwife]

Question, when you did CSMP did you buy all of the manipulatives they suggested? I was a little confused by what I needed to do the K program.

 

Ha...nope. So far I've printed the K lessons (I print in black and white). If I need to see the color distinctions, I just pop on the computer for a minute. 

 

I think we've done about 25 lessons.

 

We've used c-rods, a geoboard, blocks, tangrams, our whiteboard, some string, and various odds and ends (the other day it was some keys, buttons, and little people for sorting).

 

This is all stuff I had before deciding on CSMP, so I haven't needed to buy anything. FWIW, at the K level, I'd probably just substitute something else or skip it.

[ReadingMama1214]

 

Ha...nope. So far I've printed the K lessons (I print in black and white). If I need to see the color distinctions, I just pop on the computer for a minute.

 

I think we've done about 25 lessons.

 

We've used c-rods, a geoboard, blocks, tangrams, our whiteboard, some string, and various odds and ends (the other day it was some keys, buttons, and little people for sorting).

 

This is all stuff I had before deciding on CSMP, so I haven't needed to buy anything. FWIW, at the K level, I'd probably just substitute something else or skip it.

Thanks. We have tanograms and I have c-rods on the way, but don't have geoboards. What could I substitute for those? We do have a white board haha. I'm trying to decide between CSMP and just using education unboxed

[Rosie_0801]

Question, when you did CSMP did you buy all of the manipulatives they suggested? I was a little confused by what I needed to do the K program.

 

We're finished up the grade 1 level tomorrow and I've found it useful to have c-rods, attribute blocks and a geoboard. Otherwise we use bits of lego or buttons or whatever. We have skipped all the calculator lessons. We also had tangrams in our stash already.

[....]

Obviously learning happens naturally everyday, but for those of you who have delayed formal educational instruction, like reading and writing, how quickly did you children learn to read and write once you started?

 

We have purposefully delayed formal education and my son is approaching 6yrs old, I'm now trying to decide whether to start now or wait until he's closer to 7 years old. He's definitely a wiggly worm (unless I'm reading aloud, then he can sit for hours just listening), so I don't want to pin him down for 'lessons' until I feel he'll be fully engaged and not thinking about climbing a tree!

 

 

I don't usually visit this subforum, but happened to see your post.

 

We didn't start formal schooling with one of our kids until she was 8.  She had horrible attention/focusing/behavioral issues when she was little.  She had signs of Asperger's or Autism that would completely go away and then come back (that is NOT Aspergers and we never could figure out what it was).  So, we tried formal schooling a bit and then just gave up.  I was just trying to get through the day with her.  I suspect she is mildly gifted (I've never had her tested).  Anyway, around 9-ish, all of that stopped.  She calmed down, was able to focus on stuff for more than 3.5 seconds and actually morphed into this really witty artistic tween.   :tongue_smilie:   

 

She's a 6th grader now and is on grade level in everything.  She was probably considered behind academically for about a year and a half (?).  I was nervous that if something happened to me and she had to go to public school - we would be in trouble...  

 

She actually knew a TON once we started working on formal schoolwork.  She already knew how to read and she sat and figured out multiplication and negative numbers all on her own (she's a weird kid -lol).  She had skip counting down from watching SchoolHouse Rock (so she basically knew her multiplication tables).  I had been reading books to her and stuff all along.  She had a big base of knowledge.  We did have to start from the beginning with spelling and writing.  Her writing is pretty good, but we're still working on spelling.  Her math is exactly on grade level.  She is trying to teach herself French (which is pretty impressive).

 

She loves to learn new things!

 

So, delaying school didn't hurt her.  She still has a very short attention span.  She still only works on school for about 2-3 hours each day, but everything is on grade level.

 

Not sure if any of that helped!    

[Momma4]

Wow - how beautiful! Very encouraging. Thank you for taking the time to reply xxxx

 

 

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[Janeway]

It seemed to happen around 7 or so.