I am just starting doing a more kindergarten curriculum with dd. So far I do stuff during the baby's nap but once I add math to the mix I won't have enough time to do everything during the nap. I can do reading and stuff like that but a lot of stuff I need to really sit and work with dd on and it isn't stuff where my younger kids can be a part of too. Then when I go on to first grade and higher grades there is more expected and I have to add on other subjects and eventually the younger kids will be ready for school too. How do you balance it all and get things done? Some days I feel like I can do it and that she is learning so much more with me than she did at preschool and other days I feel overwhelmed and ready to throw in the towel on this homeschooling thing because there is no way I can give my kids a really good education. There is a really good homeschool network here but I don't know where we will live. I can't use the network yet because she misses the cut off for this state with a September birthday but since I don't know where we will end up and she seems ready for more and does like working on things I decided to start kindergarten.

I downloaded funnix reading and math during the free download things. My computer is being repaired and I don't know if they will have to erase the hard drive or not. I started funnix math but dd just wasn't into yet and still had some numbers to learn. It started out very simply. DD is now at a point where I think she is ready to start some math. I am probably going to get a math curriculum but I am also thinking of doing funnix and then just get something to supplement that. Has any one here done funnix math? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the program. Looking back I don't like how the reading progam really streched the words out and emphased the sounds seperately but not blending together without pauses because it held dd back and I didn't realize that until the computer broke and I switched to 100 easy lessons which she is doing much better with. How do you know if it is the program that isn't working or if the kid just isn't ready yet. I do like how funnix starts at the begining and slowly builds and the lessons plans are layed out but I was wondering how it worked for other people. So has anyone used it?

It is funny I wasn't going to read this but I accidently clicked on it and I can relate a little bit. My dd is 5 and she is a perfectionist too. She won't do something until she is very good at it. She did that with walking talking, letters colors and any skill. She won't do something until she is confident even if she is capable of doing something. She doesn't just try. I worry a lot because she is my first and I don't hav an example of another child of mine was was like that and came out fine to look back on. I am still deciding whether or not I can homeschool or not and worried how this aspect of her personality will later impact what she learns or how she will be labeled if she goes to school. I am sorry you got slammend. I agree a 4 year old doesn't need to read sentences and probably isn't ready for more intense academics. She sounds very ahead of the game but I can totally see worrying about a child who is a perfectionist and is exhibiting that even at 4. I do look back on certain stages now that I have younger kids and realize that she was much younger than I thought but many aspects of her personality are still there as she grows and are still issues.

I did get the TM but I only glanced at it. I don't like how the work book is orginized with one letter at a time and no practice on that letter. I kind wish it was lesson plans rather than a bunch of advice and tips. I was having her do letter that are similar together like P, B and R. I will get a chalk board rather than the dry erase board and books. She is my oldest and this is the first time doing this and I am a little worried I am not doing it right.

Dd turned 5 in September and I am just starting to do kindergarten with her. I just got HWOT kindergarten and some dry erase stuff and added writing to what we are working on. She went to preschool but they only worked on tracng her name. She can copy letter but they are every which way. I done a few letters with her and she was doing ok and now can fnally write here name wthout reversing letters. I did the letters in her name E, F, P, B and R and she did ok but she isn't remembering what she dd last from day to day. I worked on N with her next and she just won't get it. she keeps curving like she making the P. I tell her not to curve and show her over and over what she supposed to do. I held he hand and showed her had her trace drew a dot. She can trace it but she can't write it. i am just starting wth her and fine motor skills are her weakness but I don't know what to do to help her. I always got and grades on wrting in school and nothing else so maybe ths is genetic. :tongue_smilie:I don't want to go back and get the preschool book because I want her to learn to write lower case letters too and she did good with the letters in her name.

I will be starting kidergarten soon with my Septmember born 5 year old. Right now I am doing Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and Bob books. I also just started meet the sight word videos. I will be most likely getting MCP K math and funnix math HWOT K I brought some science enclyopedias and an atlas book for kids and books on animals and the human body.

I am thinking of ordering MCP math for kindergarten. Is there a difference between the 1994 edition and the 2005 edition?

I'm leaning towards MCP but I am also considering CLE. I saw on another thread that was ok for kindergarten? I might print out some of the MEP stuff too. I am not Christian but that shouldn't be a big deal for a math curiculum right?

Right start is a little more than I wanted to spend but if it was a really good program I wouldn't want to rule it out because of that. I'm confused about miquon. It says that the red and orange book is for first grade. I don't see anything for kindergarten. Would the orange and red book be good for kindergarten.

I was considering signapore math. I was confused if getting workbook A and B was the whole curiculum or if you need the early bird stuff and more to go along with it. I might look more closely at MEP. I never heard of it but it looks interesting. It also seems like MCP might be a good one for her based on her personality. This is my dd too. She hates when she doesn't get something and really shuts down. She likes to feel confident in something before she does it. I heard a lot about the c-rods so I will probably get those and maybe an abacus.

I am new to this board and to homeschooling. I have 3 kids my oldest is 5 and I want to do a kindergarten curriculum with her. I was deciding whether I even wanted to homeschool and kind of just doing funnix reading and math with her but I really feel like we both need more structure. I am going to do funnix or 100 easy lessons for reading as well as sight word videos and bob books. For writing I am doing handwriting without tears. I am going to buy a lot of national geographic books for science. I am trying to decide what to do for math. I was doing funnix but computer with the program is being repaired. I am not sure it is the best fit for her. I think I will keep doing it but I think she needs an actual curriculum. She is 5 and struggled to learn her numbers but she now knows her numbers from 1-10, how to count to 20 and how to count objects. So she has basics down but not much math knowledge yet. I am ot sure how she will do with math and if it will come easy for her or if it will be challanging. I would like a curriculum that isn't too difficult but will provide a good foundation and go over concepts that she needs to know. I would like something that went over a lot rather then something that was barely a covers anything. We both do well with structure. I see people talking about different curriculum on here but I am so confused and never heard of any of these before. It also can't be an espensive curiculum if that is possible. I am very new to this and a little overwhelmed but also excited to see all that is out there and to have found this large community of people. I know I will be asking a lot of questions that have been asked a millions times but if I am doing this I want to provide a really good education.

Thank you everyone for your replies to this. Dd does have perfect vision and most likely will not have vision issues based on how she is presenting now but I never thought of having an issue with how her brain processes it or how the eyes work together. Since I wrote this she actually has made a lot of improvement. My computer that had funnix on it had some issues and is being repaired for the next 2-4 weeks since it was under warrenty. I found a copy of teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons and started that with her from lesson 13 instead of 25 since it was similar to funnix but had different words. She is doing a little better now and can figure out the words easier. I think the pauses in the computer program where making it harder to blend the word and the book has you not pause between sounds. She is also getting better with the first few bob books. She struggles every time we get to a new book but then after doing it a few times she gets better. She is souding out more words now and seems to be doing a lot better but sometimes she will add sounds that aren't there like she turn me into meet. She is sounding out every word still but she is becoming better at it. It doesn't quite sound like a sentence when she reads one but she can get the words pretty fast in the first 3 books and does't struggle reading the words as much now. She is still really working at it but I feel like she is making good progress and I feel better about where she is at now. I guess it is normal for some to kids to really work on sounding out words? How long does it take to get through that stage into actually being able to pick up a book and read it without working at every word.

I was doing funnix with dd but my computer is being repaired that had the program on it and it will be 2-4 weeks before I get it back. I don't know if the program will be saved or if they will need to fix the hard drive. I got funnix free during the free download event. It was going ok but dd was struggling a bit. I found a copy of 100 EZ lessons at a thrift store and I decided to try it since it will be a while before I get the program back. They are very similar but the words are different so I went back to when they just started with words and she seems to be doing a little better then when she was doing funnix. Has anyone done both? I'm trying to decide if I should go back to funnix or stick with 100 EZ lessons. Funnix goes farther and has more lessons but it seems like she is doing better with the book rather than the computer program version of it.

She is good with those skills. Once she learned her letters those skills came much easier. She seems to struggle more with seeing things in print then the concepts. She struggled through numbers too and only recently learned those but she was counting long before she knew her numbers.

My 5 year old dd really struggled with learning her letters. She went to preschool for 2 years and they did the letter of the week and she didn't pick up letters. I worked with her at home and she would learn one then promply forget. I tried starfall and that didn't work. She remembered what was coming up but not the letter or the sounds. She finally learned them when I got the meet the letters video and then she picked up letter sounds without much effort at all. I have been working with her on phonics. We are doing starfall, and funnix the computer program that is based on 100 easy lessons. She did good until we got to words and she is struggling. I just got Bob books hoping they would help her gain confidence but she is even struggling through those. She can sound out some words but it takes a lot of effort and some words she just can't do. When she does a word she will forget it even if it comes up as the next word. Sometimes she just throws guesses out there that don't sound like the word at all. She is sounding out words more but it takes effort. Some words she will be close but get the last sound wrong and end up with the wrong word. She is my oldest child and I am a worrier. I am not sure if I am worrying for nothing and she is still young or if it is a sign of a potential problem how she forgets something she just did. She seems to struggle more than other kids. She also was a little late with talking. She barely said a word before 2 and then had an explosion and caught up pretty fast. She writes a lot of her letters upside down still and is also struggling with writing. I had to help her do it from left to right. She is better with that now.