happynurse
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Posts posted by happynurse
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My oldest will be a K'er in the fall. He's turning 5 this week. (both YAY and *sniff*)
This is my line-up so far...
Phonics/Reading: LoE Foundations B, moving into C. Abeka Readers, Bob books, etc. for fluency practice
Handwriting: Pentime 1
Math: Rightstart A, moving into B
Social Studies: Heritage Studies 1, MP K Enrichment, What Your Kindergartner Needs To Know
Science: MP K Enrichment, The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book, WYKNTK
Poetry/Read-Alouds: MP K Enrichment, Library Card
Bible: I have BSGFAA, but I'll probably just keep reading the Bible to them daily. We also go to BSF once a week.
We've sort of done Pre-K (RS A and LoE A/B) when we feel like it. I'm feeling a little more pressure with actual Kindergarten. Hoping he has a fun year.
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Thank you! That is hugely helpful!
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Are the books used in the MP K Enrichment program the same ones listed in their 'K Read Alouds' package? Or does the Enrichment program use more/different books than their listed Read Alouds?
Also I'd love to hear your experiences with the MP Enrichments. I ordered K (and the art cards) because it looks like it will help me incorporate things that otherwise I probably wouldn't make time for (poetry, art study, for example). Any tips on how you incorporated it during your homeschool day? I was thinking of using it in a morning-basket type set-up, but I'd love to hear your practical tips! (FWIW - our other programs are Rightstart A/B and Logic of English Foundations, both of which I already own).
My oldest starts K in the fall, so despite all my online research ( ;) ) I'm essentially a first-timer.
Thanks!!
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Hi, all. My son turns 5 next week, and we're starting K this fall. We've been doing Logic of English Foundations for PreK. We finished A and we've just begun B - (I suspect we'll be moving slower through B, but that's a whole 'nother topic ;) ). I am not fond of the font used in LoE and I much prefer the font (both manuscript and cursive) in Pentime. It's something I've always planned to use in the future. I'm just curious if Pentime 1 is appropriate for K? From what I can see on the samples, it appears to be, but the samples online are limited. Would appreciate your feedback. FYI - he loves to write/draw etc.
Also, I'm not ready to begin the history cycle, but would like to introduce some basic 'social studies' in K. I am looking at BJU Heritage Studies 1. Although my son's reading is coming along fairly well, I'd probably do most of it orally. I'm a nurse and DH is a firefighter, plus he's been in a little preschool for the past couple years, so we've exhausted 'community helpers' to death. Do you think BJU's HS 1 would work for a K'er?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on these programs for K. DS will be about 5.5 years old when we'd start. Thank you!
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Also, there is an app for the RS Abacus on the ipad, if that would possibly help with the 2-year-old factor. Or maybe buy him/her their own abacus? That's what I did when mine were small. One for the K'er, one for the 2 yo. :)
Great advice, Heather! Thank you. This is my first time homeschooling and my first time using RS. I love it in theory, but putting it into practice was a little harder. I am mathematically proficient, but really like the hand-holding. I am a pretty linear thinker, and sometimes out-of-the-box is tough for me. I think that is why I am attracted to programs like RS and Beast Academy, because I don't do too well with abstract concepts when it comes to math! I want my son to have more exposure to that than I had.
I'll take a look at Math Mammoth. I've seen it mentioned quite often here on the boards. Would you say MM1 is appropriate for a 5 year old? He's pretty sharp and didn't have any trouble with RS concepts. Thank you, again!
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My almost-5-year-old kiddo was doing fairly well with Rightstart A at the end of the summer...until September when I had a baby. At that point, we continued with phonics, but Rightstart has been on the back burner. I learned very quickly that RS did not work when my two year old was around, despite my best efforts. Throw in a new baby and, well, you get the idea.
Since I already own Rightstart A & B (2nd ed.), I'd like to continue to incorporate it in some way, but using an easier-to-implement math as our kindergarten spine (this will be for the fall when we're doing kindy). I'd appreciate any suggestions on how I might go about this and what curricula you'd suggest.
Thanks a bunch!
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I'm using LOE Foundations with my almost-5-year-old. We just finished A and will be moving on to B after the New Year. I have to say that it is definitely 'teacher intensive' as far as it being teacher-directed, but it is really quite open and go. There are several additional activities that require some household items that you can incorporate, but I have a two year old and a new baby, so I skip most of those. I just use the straight phonics instruction and we play some of the games when we have time. It takes us about 20 minutes to do a lesson, but of course my little guy is squirmy. :) If you read through the lesson the night before, it'd probably take you a total of 5 minutes, and you'd be prepared. Usually I don't even do that. I am sorry I can't comment on R & S, but we are planning on using R &S English, Spelling by Sound and Structure, and Pentime Cursive when the time comes. I think LOE Foundations is giving him a solid, gentle, and somewhat 'fun', start to Language Arts. Good luck!
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I bought BSGFAA beginner pages to use with my pre-K son this year. I was excited about it, but I'm not a fan of it either. We're having much better success reading from a children's Bibles. I also have some little cards for preschoolers with Bible verses on them. We use those for memory work. If you find something that you like, please share! Everything I saw was too simplistic, too expensive, or not age appropriate for a 4 year old. I should mention we also go to BSF once per week, so he learns a lot there, too.
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We're only halfway through Level A, so grain of salt here, but we're really loving Logic of English Foundations. The games are fun and my son is progressing really well with it!
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FWIW, my husband is a very successful engineer and he STILL doesn't have his math facts down. What he does have is a strong grasp of mathematical concepts. Much more useful for him in his job since he can use a calculator for the math facts.
I'm a registered nurse and I am exactly this way. I still struggle with automatic recollection of math facts....particularly multiplication. For me, once I was supposed to "have them down" in public school, they moved on and I never got them fully memorized.
That being said, I agree that you should continue to let her move forward in BA if that is working for her, while reinforcing her math facts. Wish that's how it would've been done for me. I, too, have a terrible memory unless it's something I'm very much interested in. Good luck!
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Is there a certain subject that is distressing him? Maybe there is something school-related that is causing him anxiety and, therefore, upsetting his stomach? Just a thought.
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I have a 4 1/2 year old that I am doing pre-k with this year. I also have an almost-2-year-old and a baby due in October. We are using Rightstart A and Logic of English Foundations A (we're loving both!)! We also have BSGFAA and Evan Moore Beginning Geography and The Homegrown Preschooler.
That being said, I had visions of setting up some sort of lovely school-like environment that saw us doing 'fun' schoolish stuff in a nice, fluid, organized manner throughout our day. My reality? We bust out LoE and RS A as soon as the toddler goes down for his nap, and after that my 4 year old is spent.
There is no way we can pull out all those moving parts with the little one awake. And as far as the activities from THGP? Yeah, being 7 months pregnant means I have NO energy for whipping up sensory dough and building a light table. Sigh. That said, in the mornings we read books, do play-dough, we have some various toys that I pull out, etc. We also play outside when this preggo girl can handle the 100+ degree heat. So I feel like I'm being so lazy, but I'm just. so. tired. :nopity:
I'm just curious what pre-k looks like in most homes. In mine, it certainly doesn't look like the fun, bright, entertaining environment of a traditional preschool, that's for sure. I worry that he's missing out on more fun things that they'd do in a regular pre-k classroom. Is what I'm doing 'enough'?
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Cheers for her enthusiasm!! My son loves writing too. I am trying to get him to slowly learn how to form letters properly, and he just wants to go full speed ahead!
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My ds is doing Pentime 3 this summer. He is slightly ahead in fine motor and wants to learn. He worked on Spencerian last summer, but over the school year I dropped the ball on practicing. For the most part, Pentime 3 is a good fit for him, but there are several pages where they are supposed to copy a poem or proverb and the spacing and sizing of the paper provided was insufficient. I just skipped those. It is maybe 5 pages in the whole book. The other issue you might have is that there are whole words and sentences at a typical 3rd grade reading level. If your ds is a beginning reader he won't get those. That's pretty much the entire book. Personally, I would choose something else or delay it until he can at least read at that level. If he is learning phonograms via loe, you could just write the phonograms yourself and have him copy those. There is also a handwriting book from barefoot ragamuffin you could check out. I think there is one that is written for a spell to read with a kindy kid.
That was what I was afraid of. He's nowhere near ready for that. Thanks for your input! I'll check out Barefoot Ragamuffin.
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So, I ordered Logic of English Foundations A (and B, FWIW). Thus far my son is flying through A at break-neck speed. I chose the manuscript option because I don't like their cursive font and I'll also have two more kiddos coming down the line, and *they* may not be ready for cursive at the beginning. My plan with my current 4 1/2 year old has been to teach the LoE handwriting in manuscript and when he's older move to Pentime cursive (the font that I much prefer).
That being said, my son LOVES handwriting, and wants to learn all the cursive letters in LoE (did I mention I hate their cursive font?) After we write the manuscript letter in the lesson, he insists on doing the cursive. He even gets the marker and whiteboard out and writes 'cursive' on his own (which is just a series of loops and twirls). He seems to really want to write the letters though.
Since I don't care for the LoE cursive font, I'm wondering if I can move on to Pentime cursive with him? I know it's designed for a child much older than him, and I'm not sure how it would pan out with a child his age, even though he loves writing, has strong fine motor skills and actually wants to do cursive. Would Pentime be too advanced?
Thoughts? Opinions? He doesn't even care about all the fun sensory writing stuff, he just wants to put the marker to the board and write letters. Thanks for your advice! -
I just purchased Bible Study Guide for All Ages, and I'll admit I haven't started it yet. I chose the beginner pages for my 4 1/2 year old. At first glance, I think it looks okay, but I'm not sure that it's exactly what I was going for. I didn't know that I wanted something more chronological, but after looking at how it starts with the story of Joseph and continues with that for several lessons, I'm not sure that I'm going to love the order. Also, the pages themselves seem kind of flimsy. They're also long horizontally, so kind of hard to store. I'm not hugely fond of the CD either. I think there are probably music CDs out there that are much higher quality and teach the same concepts/memory work. That's all I've got right now. I wish I could be more help. Once I actually start it (I'm going to stick it out...at least through what I've already purchased) I'll be more of a resource.
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I am planning on implementing a lot of the activities from Homegrown Preschooler this year for my 4 year old. I'm doing them along with Logic of English Foundations and Rightstart Math. I'll admit, my planning is a bit behind though! I've read through the book, and I love all the sensory activities (those are often easy to implement and so much fun for the kiddos). I'm looking forward to following this thread and seeing how others are implementing it in their homeschool!
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This is reassuring considering I'm preparing to order RS 2nd edition A and B this week. Thank you for sharing!
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My son will be 4 1/2 when we start some gentle pre-k this fall. He absolutely loves games so I have been specifically searching for a game-based curriculum that we can do together (same reason I've also chosen LoE Foundations). I had planned to begin RS A (2nd ed.) with him as a fun, game-based intro to math. I have hopes to continue on to RS B (2nd ed.) for kindergarten (or whenever we get through A).
After reading some other threads, RS A seems to be most often used in kindy, with RS B more on a first grader's level. Has anyone successfully used RS A with a pre-k'er or young k'er? He LOVES songs and games and I think that ultimately Rightstart will be an excellent fit for him.
I'd love to hear your experiences with the program. Thanks!
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A lot of times, when people talk about a child's learning style, they may mean "visual, auditory, or kinesthetic." However, there's a lot of evidence out there that finding ways to incorporate multiple learning styles helps with retention even more than focusing on your child's preferred mode. Ultimately, with a bright child who memorizes things fairly easily, it's probably not going to make a lot of difference. As you work with him though, these learning styles will come to light more. A lot of young children haven't expressed one particular preference yet either--so, nothing to beat yourself up over at all!
And then, there are other models--there's one that has 7 or so different styles. You might like Cynthia Tobias' book, The Way They Learn. Excellent resource.
Overall, I would encourage you that instead of thinking you need to figure all this out now, just become a student of your child. Note things that work well and things that don't, and allow yourself the freedom to learn as you go. Also, allow yourself the freedom to fail and make mistakes. You won't be the perfect homeschooler (no one is!), so that's not your goal. Choose excellent (not perfect) resources, and see how they work. If they bomb, examine the pros and cons of that curriculum as they relate to your family, and then try something else the next year. You'll likely hit on something good fairly soon, but don't be dismayed if it takes a year or two--that's normal and okay. Consider it teacher education--you are learning what works and what doesn't for your teaching style and your child's learning style.
FWIW, I think finding something that works well for your teaching style is AS important--and sometimes MORE important--than your child's learning style. If it's easy and intuitive for you to use with the way that you think, you'll be freed up to adapt things to your child's needs (adding in more hands-on, more visual or auditory, adding in more examples or more review, moving faster or slower, and so on). If it doesn't work well for you, it's probably not going to be a good fit for your family overall.
Most of all, have fun, and enjoy your little one!
Brilliant and encouraging advice. Thank you so much!
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My son is five, we just started kinder at home. I decided our goals for this first year are to learn how he learns best. I was stressing myself out trying to make a plan for this year that would last forever, until I finally realized that was a little ridiculous. So I picked a curriculum and decided we would try it, and supplement with other approaches, and just spend this year figuring things out. You can plan and plan (and plan) but until you just jump in and start trying things, you'll never have more than an idea.
Sent from my HTCD200LVW using Tapatalk
Oh my goodness this is me to a tee! Thank you for chilling me out. :-)
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THANK YOU all for your replies. I've been thinking about it because, in a perfect world, I'd like to 'start the way I hope to finish', without having to make tons of curriculum changes (especially for math) if I don't have to. It sounds like this isn't information that I *should* know by now. I was kind of beating myself up for not being able to figure it out. ;) When I hear people say, "You need to know your child's learning style", I start feeling bad because I am still trying to figure out what the heck that is.
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If anything, I'd say it might depend on the *why* your DS memorizes so easily as to what math program will be the best fit for DS. Is it part of his nature to analyze and try and figure out the "why" of things? Or is the memorizing coming as a by-produce because he's noticing "big picture" overall patterns to things? You might find that the reason "why" DS memorizes so easily and naturally might be a sign that DS is more analytical in math approach -- and less interested in hands-on and games of Right Start. Or, he may latch on to the abacus part of Right Start and love the discovery aspect of it… Or, any one of a dozen other reasons why, and Right Start may be perfect, or a complete bomb. DS is awfully young still, and no way of knowing -- and no point in worrying -- until you get there. ;)
Actually, your DS sounds very bright and interested and eager, and he'll probably do great with any number of math programs, so presentation style will likely not be a problem for you -- and much less will mastery vs. spiral likely be a problem! BEST of luck in your future math adventures and in your homeschooling journey! Warmest regards, Lori D.
Thank you! I really do need to figure out the 'why' of it all. Being new to this, it's not as easy at it sounds, is it?! He'll just get really into a topic (often introduced through a story, TV show or abcmouse.com or something, and then just take off with it. And even when he moves on to something else, he doesn't ever have much trouble remembering anything he's already learned. That's what led me to thinking he may be 'mastery' minded, and I feared spiral might bore him. Thus far he seems to be kind of Type-A and inquisitive as to how everything actually works (within a 4 year old maturity level, of course). Hmmm...I'm talking this out in my head as I type, can you tell?!? Ha! Thank you again for giving my brain some direction!
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I'm no expert, but my son has an amazing memory and memorized similar things at a young age and still to this day. I prefer spiral math, and he has done fine with it. I'd recommend what you are comfortable with it to start with and consider changing *if* you saw a problem.
Thank you for your reply. I think the reason I'm thinking so hard about it is because *I* wouldn't be successful with a mastery program, so I have a hard time imagining that it may work for my child! Silly, I know. Again, thank you!
Heritage Studies 1 and Pentime 1 for K?
in PreK and K
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Thank you for your response! I went ahead and ordered Pentime 1. We've been doing LoE Foundations and have used their handwriting (which is built-in) so he knows how to form all of the letters.He loves writing (and drawing, for that matter) and started writing the alphabet when he was just shy of 3. He really wants to learn cursive, so I've told him that if he gets through these manuscript books then we'll move on to cursive. I appreicate your input!!