running in circles

[wildflower]

DD1 (4.5 y.o.) will be starting Kindergarten in September. We only began K4 in May when I found (an angel sent me:)) WTM, so we are working through the summer on her reading and copy work, although we have become more lax as the summer is finally reaching us through all of the rain!

I am here (playing hookie from church because I have the flu) in my quiet child-free backyard, listening to the birds & feeling completely overwhelmed that I am doing too much of the wrong things at once, with my trusty copy of WTM in front of me.

I just ordered Singapore K a&b a few moments ago. Feel good about that decision- took me weeks to decide.

DD's and I are reading Black Ships Before Troy (slowly, but DD1 LOVES IT) and the Little House Treasury right now- I loved the LH books as a kid! (I'll comment on the other thread about that!)

My question is about history- I wholeheartedly would like to view all of our subjects as a whole, that math science and literature will all blend together as an organic whole. Do I hold off on history until 1st grade? Should we be reading BSBT now? By reading LHitBW throw DD off when we start BSBT officially? or, am I looking way too much into this & just go-with-the-flow for now & read whatever we want & DD will adapt when we do 1st grade?

What do you all read for K5?

Oh, and DD1 at 4.5 years has decided that childrens books are not her cup of tea & will only choose American Girl books from the tween section of the library, but will read kids books at borders!

Much thanks in advance for what I know will be sound advice as always!

Robyn

Edited July 5, 2009 by wildflower

[Tohru]

I'm not really sure what to say. Black Ships is pretty advanced. I think my 12yo ds is reading it this year. At your dd's age, we read aloud books like Winnie-the-pooh, Beatrix Potter, and some other childhood classics.

 

In the early grades, relaxing and going with the flow seems to work best and prevent later burnout. We used Five in a Row for Kindergarten and are proponents for delayed math, so I don't have any real good advice other than go with whatever works for you.

[8filltheheart]

How about I share my personal crisis from the opposite end of the spectrum and see if it can help clarify your own?

 

We are about to start our 16th yr of homeschooling and have a baby on the way. I have been reminiscing on the days of teaching only little ones and flourishing in the excitement of new discoveries, the freedom to follow bunny trails, and days where lack of structure and routine were simply wonderful extensions of early childhood.

 

Instead, I feel like I have an anchor around my neck as I am planning schedules for 2 high schoolers and an 8th grader on top my little ones b/c our days are beyond full and my days are consumed with teaching my older kids. I have only taught high school for 5 consecutive yrs and the other day I stopped counting at 11....the number of yrs in row from this point forward where I will have at least 1 or 2 high school students. I honestly am sick of teaching high school NOW. I love teaching my little kids.

 

You have 13 yrs to prepare your child. It is a very long time. She only has a precious few yrs to be really little. All of those more mature books will still be there when she is older. There are hundreds of children's classics that are not picture books that will nurture a young mind's imagination without the mature themes of books like Black Ships.

 

Five in Row is a wonderful way to integrate all of your subjects (geography, lit, science, history). Perhaps if she has activities attached to the picture books they might appeal to her more. You could always experiment and try. Read a book like the "Story of Ping" and make salt dough map of China and the Yangtze River. Use popsicle sticks to build the shanty. Read books about ducks and go to the park and feed some. Make some homemade Chinese food. Read books about Chinese culture.

 

But most of all, have fun! Relish these days of only little ones b/c they will be gone before you know it and heavy academics will HAVE to take over. But, it most definitely doesn't need to be yet!!

Edited July 5, 2009 by 8FillTheHeart

[LadyAberlin]

Look at the Sonlight kinder lists. They have awesome read alouds.

[Tohru]

Oh momof7,

((hugs))

I feel your distress. It must be very hard. We are just now embarking on middle school and I'm already dreading high school.

 

Thankfully I have at least one LO. By the time this one graduates, my LO will be just starting and I can pull out FIAR again.

[2_girls_mommy]

I do not think reading things out of chronological order is going to confuse your children one bit. I would hold off on the official history rotation until 1st grade. In the meantime I would keep reading whatever he/she likes. My dds love Little House books too, and we have only done the ancients in history.

For K we read Magic Treehouse books aloud until dd could do it alone. We read tons of picture books on all things. I did some unit studies from homeschoolshare which are similar to five in a row units. Just tons of fun stuff. We would pick a topic and read lots on it, fiction and non fiction, readers for her and read alouds for me. Topics included things like zoo animals, apples & harvesttime, plants and seeds, whichever holiday was near, etc.

I cannot comment on Black Ships Before Troy, except to say that I picked it up at the library when it came up in SOTW vol. 1, and decided against it. DD read some easy readers on Troy instead. I myself glanced at it and decided it was too long, but did not actually read it.

[BillieBoy]

While I strongly agree with Momof7, I was a bit on the anxious side for my dd too. I had ordered all my 1st grade curriculum by the time she was 4 and it was the logical next step. We used History Odyssey Ancients level 1. There were so many fun suggestions on the reading list and so many really fun activities that we couldn't help ourselves. But we were slow and took a year and 1/2 year round to get through it.

 

My daughter's favorite book that I read to her at that age was Wind in the Willows...still is. I can remember her thinking that the language in it wasn't her cup of tea at first, too. :001_rolleyes: