Hi, I'm new here to the boards but have been lurking for the past few years.
I am a newish homeschooling mom to 3 (soon to be 4) children, ages 6, 4, 2. My 4yo is showing serious signs of being a bright kid and I'm not quite sure how to handle his education. I have no idea where to go to look up how to handle this so I was hoping some of you could point me in the right direction (books, advice, curriculum, etc.).
My 4 yo learned to read when he was 3ish. One day he surprised me and his older sister by reading her lesson for her (we had no idea he could read). He has since surpassed her in terms of language skills (and I'd say she's slightly advanced). My sister is a school teacher who administers reading tests and my 6 scored in the mid-to-late 2nd grade year reading level and my 4yo is definitnely ahead of her, so I'd say he's reading somewhere in the 3rd grade level. He can read any billboard, picture book, food label (had no problem reading "bubble explosion" the other day). He loves to read DK First Animal Encyclopedia for fun and also has a great time trying to sound out the names of countries on the map. He loves trying to spell words.
The other day in the van he told me he could add, subtract, and skip count by 2's, 5's, 10's. Sure enough, he did it. And this is with no teaching on my part. Not that he has memorized any math facts, but clearly the concepts are sinking in.
Today he started crying because I hadn't taught him any grammar, so I humored him by doing the first few lessons of FLL 1.
Like other boys his age (he's 4.5 actually) his fine motor skills are lacking and I haven't even tried to teach him how to write letters because of this.
I'm currently planning out his "K" school year which will start in August. What direction do I take with a child like this? Clealry he is ahead, and my original thought was relief that I didn't have to teach him anything (easy year for me :laugh: ). DH thinks it would be wise to take advantage of him being ahead and carry on at his pace. I think he has a point.
What sort of curriculum exists for a child like this? Emotionally, he is quite immature and very sensitive, so I'm not sure what to have him be reading. It can't be workbook based b/c he can't write, nor do I care to frustrate him since he's doing so well already. His gifting is definitely in language.
His #1 favorite thing to do in the world is play games with me so I'm thinking of putting him in RightStart Math B and taking it at his pace. I'll do some beginning handwriting too. He seems to have almost no interest in listening to me read chapter books out loud so I'm going to see if I can find some "boyish" ones for him to get him loving good literature. I'm also leaning toward buying Nancy Larson science 1 since his brain seems to absorb facts like crazy right now and the worksheets seem easily tweaked to suit his level of writing without slowing down his sister too much.
Any thoughts? Advice? Sorry this was so long!