A little background: I have two kids. DS6 is now in PS 1st grade and actually doing well after homeschooling until Dec of last year (I agonized and still do over PS). DD4 (almost 5) will go to K next year and we are homeschooling pre-K like I did with DS. I know any mom of many would smile and tell me they could have told me all kids are unique and their own person. And of course I know that. But sometimes it is so clear!! So I just started on lessons 1 and 2 of AAR1. Yesterday we were doing a little activity with ice cream cut outs. She was supposed to read the words, find the rhyming pair (tan-Jan) and make a two scoop ice cream cone. Well - while I started DS half way through RR1 - I know he would have made the ice creams with glue and that would have been it. No coloring or real relish. DD??!?!? She created an ice cream stand. Each set of scoops was its own flavor. It was colorful and took her longer than 30 minutes to finish all the different combinations. We did not "finish" what I had planned for us to do. We couldn't finish! She was too excited to go to her room and use her plastic ice cream food and plastic donuts and create an ice cream stand for her dolls. She had a great time. However, it was SO MUCH FUN for her, that the words were an annoyance she had to go through to make the ice creams. It became a super fun craft. We are certainly not "done" with lesson 2. And that is ok. I am not complaining. I am just remarking that kids are so different and adorable in their own ways. She is learning at her own pace and I just hope to make sure that academically she is like the kids who are going to fancy all day preschools around here. And now that I have one kid in PS I have a pretty good idea of what she is expected to know (use scissors, read some CVC words, write all letters, her name and numbers to 10). We are good :)

Just because in future someone might search for this and wonder... It turns out that I did not have the choice to enroll my child in Kinder. He was enrolled in 1st. I communicated my concerns with the teacher. It remains to be seen how he does. He may surprise me in a good way. Got to give him the chance to see if he flourishes in a school setting. He may. I feel like someone here mentioned something along the lines that parents relinquish autonomy over their kids education when they enroll in public school. It may sound harsh, but it is true. It is a weird feeling to not be in control of what my child is learning. I am worried, relieved, anxious... a lot of mixed emotions that don't really make sense. I hope to get a job within the next year or two (I still have DD4) and if PS doesn't work out, I feel I can always homeschool again or I may be able to afford a private school that may offer options. I am blessed to be able to envision options in the future and hope for the best. edit to add: I will try my best to help him. I saw samples on the walls. They were frightening (and beautiful and good for those first graders that write paragraphs) - I doubt my child can produce that right now. This will not be a race to the top, it will be a race to catch up.

I messaged you for more info :)

The official cut-off is September 1. Schools have some autonomy to decide if the admit kids to "TK" with summer birthdays. The local school and the charter I used had an optional TK cut-off (you could choose TK or K) with children born in July 1-Sept 1). My child missed the cutoff by a week. Other schools and I quote: Kindergarten age appropriate students are allowed to choose TK if their 5th birthday is between the last day of the school year -September 1st."

He is already overwhelmed and I am having other little non-academic issues due his anxiety that I do not want to outline here. I do realize my child can read fine, and his math is usually fine too. However, yesterday we were walking and he saw the 2 mile marker and he's like so we have two more miles to marker 5? (Facepalm) And while I made no big deal out of it, and explained the math problem I immediately thought - yeah, you can use a bit more basic review... So - no he would not be at the "top" in either context. I want him to try his best and I will try to help him achieve the best he can in either grade.

My child will be 6 years old all school year. I was asking about placing a 6 year old starting January in Kinder. He will still be 6 years old at the end of THIS school year. He will turn 7 this next summer. In other words - if I enroll him in K or first he will be 6 through the end of the school year not 7. He will turn 7 at the END OF JUNE. Next year he would do 1st grade (or second) - he will be 7 the whole school year.

Thank you for your response. He is only a week too old for the optional TK. So older - yes. But not by a lot. You are not the only person telling me to put him in first and let him catch up. I'm just a worrier and while I think it is fine to struggle (how can you overcome if you don't struggle?) - I wonder about the value to adding stress to an already stressful situation.

I am writing here while being very emotional. Our life circumstances have changed and since the start of the school year I knew my child would need to go to public school. I did not enroll him at the start of the year (even though I got all the paper work together) because we were going to have to move as well. I did not want to enroll him and then change schools half way through the year as we would not be able to stay within the school limits. We are moving this week. I used a homeschool-friendly charter where he had enrichment classes and I worked with him independently 3 days a week. I explained to the ES my child was going to be going to public school in January and I wanted to get him as ready as I could. I was assured that he was fine. He has a summer birthday, he is 6 and technically in first grade. Will be 7 during the summer break. Now that we know where we will be moving I did some digging and based on what I have been told, I believe my child will be labeled as behind in writing. It is the one area I did not stress last year. We increased the writing this past semester, did spelling... however, during the enrichment classes the teachers would write for him at times and I have a lot of pages not finished. I do not believe he will have the stamina to write as much as first graders need to write. He is otherwise on par as he reads well (Frog and Toad/Cat in the Hat) and his math is fine (I have never timed him for his work and this could be an issue too). And now here is my dilemma: I think he would be better off finishing the year in K: to get used to the school routine, to build his stamina with the writing and to get used to being graded and so on. Like I said - he would still be 6 at the end of the school year. But because he was in a charter in first grade, I am not sure it is legal or even possible to place him in K. Any advice will be appreciated. I am nervous about having him go to school (I have to, like I said above) and the last thing he needs after a move and a change in schooling pace, is to feel extra overwhelmed with a skill that will surely label him as needing extra help. He is a good natured kid, and smart enough. I am confident he can develop the writing skills fine by the end of the year if placed in K where I am pretty sure he can otherwise do the work. Any help?

Thanks - that's all the push I needed. That was what I was thinking. He starts Monday. I am a little sad, but surprisingly I do NOT feel GUILTY. lol

Yes, I've been thinking about it. School here started a month ago...

Due to unforseen circumstances my 6 year old will need to start public school in January. He is technically first grade this year. I guess I'm looking both for advice and reassurance. Is there something I should be extra concerned with? He reads fine for his age, he does math fine for his age. He's generally smart and good natured. I think he will be fine, but I do not "make" him write a whole lot. I was wondering if this is the area I should become more firm in... Any advise would be appreciated.

ok thank you! I'll have to figure something else out...

I was wondering if anyone actually uses Draw, Write, Now as a unit study? I have not actually seen these books, but it appears that it can be a unit study that integrates science, social studies and LA. I assume I will supplement with library books, narration and copy work - working toward eventually writing sentences on his own. I ordered the first two books for DS's 1st grade. I also ordered Maps Charts and Graphs level A just in case this isn't much of a social studies unit study... lol I'm not worried about science because he is enrolled to take science at the Learning Center and they will provide activities for home). So, anyone uses it this way? Note in case someone is wondering: I ordered other things too AAR3, AAS1, WWE and I already have FLL and Singapore... Every day - math/spelling/some writing. AAR3 as needed because he reads fairly well and as soon as I can I'm sending him to read independently daily. I plan on alternating WWE and FLL two days and unit studies the other two days. He has one day at Learning Center that includes PE.

We use Brainpop from our Charter too. Depending on the day I look up whatever topic I want to have the kids learn about and let them watch. Other times I let my son play with it. This is more common recently as I am ready for summer! Brainpop, like anything else can get boring for the kids. But used sparingly I think it can be a lifesaver - you know for that day mom has the flu or a sick baby. My son is almost 6 and for the first time I asked him to do an easy quiz on a video about geography. It was indeed an easy quiz, so next time We'll check out the other one. Two times Brainpop "saved the day" was during Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's day. On St Patrick we watched their video. On cinco de mayo the kids watched the video and I printed out their craft and the kids played with it. Just that took up almost an hour. The kids reviewed colors in Spanish while they colored and played with their birds for a while. I've used Discovery a few times. It's not as easy to navigate as Brainpop (for littles, if your kids are older maybe it's fine). What I've done is made a list of resources for Dinosaurs: they have lesson plan ideas, videos... I looked around and made a list on their website (or a folder) and one day we used them. I look there to supplement history too. Their videos are not as cute/fun/colorful as Brainpop but are very educational. As my kids get older I can see myself using it more. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just got the Kindle... I feel old. I'm glad my son't birthday is in a few weeks because it's going to take me sometime to figure out the Kindle thingy. Learning curves... limited time to play with it without my kids noticing... lol.

Thank you!! This is very helpful :) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was asking myself exactly this. DS is turning 6 and he loves audiobooks. AND just after his birthday we are embarking on a 15 hour plane/airport trip each way to the Caribbean this summer. It is interesting that you guys don't use the kids profiles. That means you can add the time limits and such just with a regular Kindle? Do you still use the Amazon Free time? We have prime. Does prime include enough good quality "app" games to download into the tablet? I've read that to add movies or shows to the tablet you have to buy them. We have a couple of kid movies digitally purchased on Amazon. I'd put those in to break the monotony of the 15 hours, but mostly I want to encourage reading and audiobook listening (which he does avidly already with library books and a boombox in his room). If we don't need to buy the $100 kid tablet bundle of features that would be fantastic. In particular because I am willing to buy him 4 or 5 books for immersion reading right before the trip.

The book Slow and Steady Get Me Ready has lots of activities. I used it on and off for a while. It has one activity with ideas for each week of a child's life from newborn through age 5. It's very sweet and you can incorporate the activities as you see fit in your routine.

Our Charter had my K son take an end of year iReady assessment for Reading and for Math. I'm always a bit confused if it's really a test? Are the kids being trained for state tests? I thought the amount of reading stamina required for the comprehension portion was not appropriate for his age. We stopped the test and started again the next day. Not that it matters, but I wanted to know if my child could answer not if he had enough stamina to read passage after passage. Can he read? Yes. Can he read 5 passages in a row? No. It was irritating.

From another thread a while back, I found the It's Perfectly Normal series. I got the "It's not the Stork" for my kids because they are 4 and 5. They like it and I plan on continuing with the same series using their age guidelines.

For those of you who use brainpop jr: So I had my DC watch the cinco de mayo video on brainpopjr earlier today. While they did that I printed out two copies of a craft sheet they provide to make some bird maracas. I don't have paper plates, but the kids have plastic maracas. They colored the wings, beak and eyes and we taped them to the maracas. My children have been playing with these maraca birds now for 30 minutes. I thought if any of you had brainpop jr and were trying to entertain your younger DC this may be an easy idea. lol

This past K year my son enjoyed the Usborne Time Traveler and the Usborne Greek Myths. He also likes the Magic Treehouse audiobooks from the library. Those books can have historical figures and when DS was interested, we got extra library books on the topic. Recently, we listened to the Infinity Ring, A mutiny in time. That book prompted questions such as how do we know history happened? Now, that last book is not for a new 5 year old. I got the book just to try something in the car that wouldn't bore me (I liked it well enough lol), and he ended up liking it too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here's a video review I found on youtube. She actually shows you the pages.

Thanks! I love podcasts and have listened to every single Savvy Homeschool Mom's podcast. I just started YMB. Will check out those other suggestions as well. Edit to add: There are podcasts on homeschool.com under the free stuff tab. They are older and a little annoying as they are recordings of conference calls. But I've found them fascinating as a newer homeschool mom. They even have an interview with SWB. I listen to these straight from the Safari browser on my phone.

I had not heard of those podcast and I've added them to my Stitcher list. Thank you Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk