My DS just turned 4 and is reading at a early reader level. He will be attending K4 at a Catholic school next year. They don’t really seem to push academics much, which is fine. I don't think they even touch on letter sound until K5. I think the school is the right place for his emotional and spiritual growth. The school goes thought grade 8 and has a good academic reputation. But, I need to keep my DS stimulated; he can already read books with us like “Are You My Motherâ€.
My DH and I both work long hours both due to our profession and owning our own business. I never pictured myself homeschooling, but my DS needs more stimulation than I think his school will provide in the next two years. He loves to read. But, our time to work with him is limited. So, we need programs or activities where each of lessons are not too long time-wise or in which the lessons are more child driven like a computer website where I can be nearby do other things and assist him as needed.
I am at a loss of where to go next with him.
And, I never thought I would be homeschooling him. But, here I am. LOL.
My DS is very inquisitive and up until now we have had a pretty laid back approach to his learning. We started each reading to him every night, when he was around 6-9 months old. He had mastered letter recognition, counting and number recognition, all directed by his own interest by age three. At age 3, he had memorized all his daycare friend’s names and could “read†them to us. He would also go around saying things like R is for Robert, J is for Joey, P is for Parker, M is for Mommy. His pronunciation lagged behind his peers, which is in part I believe due to chronic ear infections from 6-12 months old. So, I thought exposing him to phonics would help with his pronunciation and also thought that he was ready for a new challenge. We bought him some Leap Frog DVDs. After one week of watching the first one he knew all his letter sounds. A week or two later he was trying to sound out words. We also bought him some Meet the Sight Word videos, he mastered all those quickly too! His pronunciation has improved, as we had hoped. He likes figuring out how to spell some simple words, like cat, cow, duck. He likes when we quiz him and he quizzes us. I really think he thinks he will trip us up. It is pretty funny.
So, that is where we are now. We read with him every night. Sometimes he wants to try to read most of the books, sometimes he is tired and we just read to him. I feel that we need to help fill in the holes for him. He really enjoys reading. He is a very visual learner, just like me. I want him to have a firm grasp on phonics and not just sight reading.
The other concern we have with him is his manual dexterity. I believe he lags behind some of his peers in this regard. We have started working with him on the Kumon cutting, tracing and coloring books. And, I just bought him some Crayon Rocks, hoping to improve his grip and strength for writing instruments. I have thought about buying Handwriting without Tears. His daycare’s K4 uses the program, but he will not be going there next year. It looks like a pretty good program.
As, you can see I am thoroughly confused and never pictured myself homeschooling my son, but I can’t deny him the chance to keep learning. What programs would be good for him? What books would be appropriate?