What age do you start with a curriculum?

[hsmom]

I mean do you start your children at the K age or earlier? Also once you do start them what are your goals for them? Like reading by the age of 5 or something?

I have a 3 1/2 yr old and he likes to do school. So, I put together a curriculum for him. Do you think that is too young to start? I don't want to burn him out or anything, but he does want to do school like his big brother.

[Mrs. H.]

I start teaching my dc to read at about age 4 1/2. We use a gentle phonics primer, and work about 15 min. every day. We also play with counters and talk about numbers, but nothing formal.

 

I begin with a math and handwriting program in 1st grade, and lots of reading aloud, both by the child and me. I start a formal grammar program in 3rd grade, along with Latin. Usually by then a child can write well enough to complete the exercises without lots of help.

 

That being said, my children like to "do school" with their older brothers and sister at a young age, so it's not uncommon to find a 2 or 3 yr. old at our kitchen table coloring, cutting, pasting, or filling in a cheap workbook just for fun. They also sit in on all our read-aloud times, listen to classical music, and chant Latin conjugations. :001_smile:

 

I think the real issue is not to expect much out of a young child, not to prevent them from being a part of things.

[8filltheheart]

I am on the better late than early side. My personal beliefs are that cognitive skills are developed more through imaginative play than through "academic" skills. So, we don't do any schoolish work until K.

[nutmeg]

We used Five in a Row products for preschool/kindergarten, but didn't do anything particularly schoolish until starting with WTM in 1st grade.

[Ali in OR]

And then at age 5 I start getting systematic for reading, handwriting, and math. That's not to say that we don't start anything until 5--we do. We started our home schooling adventure when my older child turned 5 and my youngest was just tagging along at age 2/3. My youngest could come and go as she pleased and she chose what she wanted to do. I never had "assignments" that she had to complete. However, in the last year and a half she did complete all of the Singapore EB books. She did several Kumon books (mazes, cutting). She had one of those big preschool workbooks from Costco that she liked to do. She colored a lot. At age 4 we started Phonics Pathways, but only when she wanted to do it, so that a year later we're only on page 44. She started RFH K last year and it was obviously too early so we quit. She picked it up again this school year and will finish it this week. She has sat with us on the sofa for every read-aloud and science book, and she does SOTW coloring pages, but beyond that, nothing is expected of her.

 

She just turned 5 in December, so now I am starting to be more systematic. Where we just did phonics when she felt like it before, we are now doing it daily. Same with math and handwriting. And she still sits through most everything that her sister does.

[Susie in MS]

I started Hannah Grace at 2, but only loosely. Little Hands to Heaven is wonderful and very gentle!! My dd is ALWAYS wanting to be read to, to write, to listen to music, to do simple crafts. All of which is provided by LHTH!! I tied to do the online freebees, but I found it daunting to find the right web page for the letter and activity I wanted for Hannah. I could spend up to a hour just looking for stuff for one day!! LHTH is layed out, fun, simple, and won't fry your lo's head. :party:

 

I used to be with those that say not to use anything at this age. But when they want to learn I find that it is best to go with it. If you deny them when they are sponges they may dry up waiting for the *proper* age to start.

[OneRoomHomeSchool]

I begin my 4.5 yr olds on Abeka K4, JUST the ABC123 workbook. Then, yes we begin a 'curriculum' at age 5.5

(just phonics, math and handwriting - afternoon read alouds)

[Plaid Dad]

We did a "K-4" program with our dd. It was very simple: penmanship practice, Singapore Early Bird math, and lots of read alouds. (She was already reading or we would have included phonics.) While I don't think it's strictly necessary to do lessons with a child under 5, I also don't believe in holding back a child who is interested. I would just stay flexible and keep it light.

[Sue G in PA]

My ds6 didn't do any formal school until this year (1st grade) but we did read a bunch and he taught himself to read. Ds5 (Ker) is doing MFW (well, he WILL be doing it once this baby comes and I've had a chance to regroup!). My 2yo loves to "tag along" with us while we do school but she doesn't do any formal work. Cutting, pasting, coloring, etc. Dd11 reads to her every night and we read to her during the day when we get a chance. It depends on the child. My Ker wasn't ready for ANY formal school until just recently.

[Jennifer in NH]

My ds whomis now 5 started doing Singapore math at the age of 4. The workbooks weren't much money and he wanted to do school with his older sister. I never pushed it, and some days he wanted to and other days he didn't. Same thing with phonics instruction..he sat in on all of dd's lessons so he picked stuff up. I never forced him though to do school. not until 1st grade. He makes sure he is in the room for all science history and read alouds! He disappears when handwriting is started!:001_smile:

[Narrow Gate Academy]

Before 4, my kids have read aloud time and work on learning the basic colors, shapes, letters, numbers, and counting. For preK, the only formal curriculum we use is PP for phonics. We continue with informal math (mostly counting, skip counting, calendars, and some number recognition). For my current youngest (at least for 2 more months) we have several Kumon books that he can choose to work on whenever he likes. We'll also continue a read aloud time. I'm actually going to try to line up some themes for next year with book lists just to add in some variety. At 5, for K we continue PP for phonics, add Singapore 1A and Miquon Orange for math, and start some basic handwriting. Then 1st grade is more formal schooling. It's really only 5-10 formal curriculum for preK, and maybe 30 minutes for K not counting the reading aloud time.

[MelissaMinNC]

leftover from when dd was ps age. When ds3 wants to "do school" we can get one of those out, or sometimes he just sits at the table and colors or does something else. He never wants to do any one thing for more than a few minutes, so when he's had enough he just gets down and goes to play. No serious curriculum, no burn out ;) , and somehow (through osmosis, I'm pretty sure), he's learning his numbers and letters. He knows his colors and shapes, and he enjoys practicing his coloring and cutting skills. It's all good.

 

I did get a curriculum for K, but that was more because I was new to homeschooling (officially) and wanted something that would tell me what to do when. DD started K before she turned 5 because her birthday is in October and she really wanted to learn to read - otherwise we'd have waited a year, and may do so with ds - whatever he's ready for. I did not have a set in stone goal like, "learn to read by age 5" or anything like that. I just figured we'd go through the curriculum, and at the end of the year or the start of the following year, we'd determine what she was ready to do next.

 

You know your child best, so if you feel the curriculum is something that he will enjoy, then I see no harm in it. But I'd keep expectations really low, and let it be his choice to participate or not at this point - I would definitely not make "doing school" mandatory at his age. Watch him for signs of distress and if you see any, just put the school stuff away until he's ready for it again.

 

:)

Melissa

[Ellie]

A "curriculum" is not a stack of books; a curriculum is the course of study offered by an institution of education. The minute you begin to think that your dc might need to know how to read and what might be content of that instruction, you have curriculum. When you start thinking that your dc should know some ancient history and you begin to think what that might look like, you have curriculum.

 

Workbooks and textbooks and whatnot are not curriculum. They are instructional materials.

 

So if you're asking at what age you might begin using a workbook or an Official Program of some kind, that will depend on what your curriculum is. I'm thinking that you have a curriculum right now. Whether your dc are old enough to introduce structured instructional materials is up to you. Dr. Moore would say not until the dc are 8 or 9 or even older.

[8filltheheart]

.

 

Workbooks and textbooks and whatnot are not curriculum. They are instructional materials.

.

 

That is not technically correct. Curriculum simply means course of study. So, if you are teaching math....you are using a math curriculum--whatever the source of the teaching is coming from.

 

So workbooks and textbooks are curricula. They are the source of the educational content.

 

There is a distinction between "boxed-curriculum" and the general term curriculum. Usually "boxed" refers to receiving all instructional materials from a single source. Most people are "eclectic," meaning they pull together different curricular sources for different topics.

[...................]

Here's my story. I had a 3.5 year old that wanted to do school too so I started him right off with phonics pathways, and singapore earlybird. He was smart enough for all of it.

 

But then when things began to pick up in difficulty, he really got upset and rebelled against the lessons. So I stopped and started again at 4.5 and again doing a full fledged phonics K program was difficult, and though he learned very well, it was not necessary to push him at that age. His motor skills were behind his reading skills and it also caused me a lot of work and headache to figure out when to remediate his handwriting, etc.

 

This time around I have another intelligent child who is reading on her own at age 4. No way will I jump into a full fledged phonics program again. Trying to actually follow a structured curriculum was what hurt me with my oldest. If I had been content to get a few nice workbooks from Walmart it would have been fine. Then i would have started him this year with a full phonics/reading program for K and he would have done much better.

 

As it is, I started him on Greek this year and his Greek letters have no letter reversals and he learns them in one day and remembers them forever with the aid of daily flashcards.

 

However he is forever reversing English letters and last year when I was teaching him K at 4-going on 5, he would often forget how to write things and need lots of review.

 

I'm convinced the difference that I see here between Greek and English is that he was just not ready at 4, to learn all of that. yes, he may have *picked up* a huge amount on his own, but not being pressured would have saved me time and I think he would have had less problems with letter reversal (and this guess of mine is actually backed up by research on dysgraphia too)

 

What I would do, is the following:

 

B4FIAR I did this with second child and we LOVED it

 

Walmart workbooks- specifically School Zone, which are back in the toy aisle of every walmart. Now they come with great CD ROms for playing the game of what they're learning. They are much better than I thought and my kids love them!

 

What I would not do is plan out any planned course of study, such as this on this day and that on that day. This is a sure way to end up pushing your child.

 

One last thing that we really loved!!!

 

Sonlight Core B- though SL recommends it for ages 4 and 5 for us it was a hit ages 3-4. My kids loved the stories and there were a few that we didn't like morally but most of them were great!! It'll keep you busy for a long, long time.

 

Also, a craft cabinet- personal access to lots of stuff to make personal messes with. I love this and my kids have truly enjoyed their craft cabinet. (No glitter!!)

 

That is what I am doing with my second child and what I would do with another kid if I had one.

 

One last thing- closer to four I do recommend the DEL series. They're fun too, expensive but you know your child will be learning and they won't be pushed.

 

Hope this helps!!

[Closeacademy]

I am on the better late than early side. My personal beliefs are that cognitive skills are developed more through imaginative play than through "academic" skills. So, we don't do any schoolish work until K.

 

I have to agree with Mom of 7. But I did have a 3 year old who wanted to do school like her older sister so I came up with some fun stuff for her.

 

I supplied her with:

 

math manipulatives such as counting animals, tanagrams, pattern blocks, buttons and cups.

 

coloring pages that went with our SOTW stories for her to color while I read to her older sister.

 

I did work with her on:

 

counting(counting things as we went through real life)

phonics (talking about sounds and letters as we went through life)

 

I read to her books like those by Alan Baker with the alphabet and counting and shapes and such.

 

Once she was 4:

 

I got her the Rod and Staff preschool books not the ABC series but the preschool one and we did a lot of matching up and coloring. I also invested in Everything for Early Learning Preschool workbook at Walmart. It is mainly shapes, colors, counting to 10, the alphabet and stuff like that. We also made Mr. 1 and the Letter A type of coloring pages and crafts from DTLK teach. But we had fun with it.

 

I also like some of the Kumon cutting and pasting books for this age. But just the first few.

 

Good luck and hope you have a wonderful homeschool journey.:)

[hsmom]

Good advice. I will chalk up the "curriculum" idea and give fun educational things to do.

[Bee]

I started my oldest dd when she was 3&1/2.I started my youngest with a very little bit at age 5-kindergarten math,learning the names of the letters and their sounds, and taking nature walks.She just wasn't interested in doing anything "schoolish" until she turned 6.

[TracyR]

I've done both . I've not used one and I've used one . If your son is really itching to 'do school ' . Out of all of the stuff I have used with my girls I really like the gentle Rod and Staff preschool series . They have a set called the Beginner's Activity Series , with 4 books called : About Three , Bigger Steps , Color , Count and Cut , and Doing my Best . Then after that they have the Preschool Series which is really their Kindergarten curriculum and its gentle yet very effective .

 

As for reading each child is different . If he recognizes his alphabet and knows all his sounds then it could be a sign to begin to teach reading . But not always . My favorite is 100 EZ lessons . At first I thought it was a strange program . But in the end it was an extremely easy to teach and effective program to teach young children . If he isn't recognizing letters and sounds then I find that the Leap Pad DVD's are AWESOME . Two weeks of watching it and my girls knew their letters and sounds. They came out when my 2nd daughter was about 4 and she is my best reader and I have let my 3rd daughter watch them and she is 4.5 now . She recognized and knew her letters and sounds at the age of 3 .

 

I guess it all depends what your expectations are . What YOU think he is capable of at this age . But I do believe that the gentle approach is the best way to do it with a 3yr old .

[Rosie_0801]

I think it's best to give him what he asks for. Unlike lollies, small kids aren't going to take more formal education than they need. As long as he knows that you don't mind if he plays with his blocks instead, let him do school!

:)

Rosie