How long does it really take?

[MidnightHM]

I am starting Kindergarten with my oldest this year. :hurray: I also have a 3 year old and a 6 month old. We are going to be doing The Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading Level 1, Right Start A, Story of the World Volume 1, and Academy of Science for Kids Seeds. We plan on doing Phonics and Math daily, Science and History twice a week and Art on the fifth day.

 

I am a very type A, make a schedule, kind of person. I've given us 2 hours a day to work on school. I have absolutely no delusions that we are going to be able to sit down and finish it all with out the 3 year old and the 6 month old needing me at some point. Does 2 hours sound like a good amount of time to accomplish Math, Phonics, and either Science, History, or Art, including interruptions?

[Ohio12]

I was able to do K in 2-2.5 hours a day. We really liked doing 2 blocks of time. Right after breakfast we would do handwriting and math. Those take the most patience and energy, so they came first. Then we would use the rest of the morning for errands or a playdate or something fun. Then after lunch we would read. Phonics lesson with dd reading to me and then me reading to her. Then rest time for everyone (quiet room time).

 

I did not do science for K except books about animals and the zoo and fieldtrips. No formal curriculum. I did do SOTW I, but I kind of regret not waiting for first grade for that. SOTW I was ok for K, but SOTW II has been almost too much for a 2nd grader. You can always take your time with it though and go slowly. That is probably more info than you wanted, but I really liked breaking our day into two chunks like that. And if you do it the same every day, they get so used to the routine. signed, another type A

[MidnightHM]

I did not do science for K except books about animals and the zoo and fieldtrips. No formal curriculum. I did do SOTW I, but I kind of regret not waiting for first grade for that. SOTW I was ok for K, but SOTW II has been almost too much for a 2nd grader. You can always take your time with it though and go slowly.

 

Academy of Science for Kids has 12 little hands on kits in it and an little journal with a page for each kit. I saw it at a Homeschool Convention and it just looked like to much fun to pass up. As for SOTW we are planning on taking it VERY SLOW. Rabbit trails are our friend. :D

 

As for giving to much advice, boy do I need it. :tongue_smilie:

[Sara in WA]

Does 2 hours sound like a good amount of time to accomplish Math, Phonics, and either Science, History, or Art, including interruptions?

 

Keep these plans -- for first grade! There is absolutely no need to rush and do everything for K. SOTW is for 1st grade. Save it. You have many many years to do 2 hours of school/day; however, you don't have many years where you will have three young ones. I actually think 2 hours/day is too much for homeschooling K.

 

I suggest you simplify - teach your child how to read and write, play math games, listen to beautiful music, read a ton of books, and go on fun outings. The formal instruction part can be about 30-45 min. Simplify and you will find your days less frustrating and more joyful for everyone.

[angela in ohio]

Two hours sounds fine. It is a good idea to decide how much itme you want to spend with a kindergartener and then work backwards from there. Otherwise, you end up making a list, and before you know it, you have six hours of daily work scheduled.

 

I agree with PP that splitting it into two blocks is a good idea. We did math and phonics/writing early. Then we did the extras later on after a break.

[Garga]

SOTW is for 1st grade. You can do it, but you risk it being slightly ahead of your child and them disliking learning because it's too hard. Or they just don't get enough out of it and you've wasted it.

 

Also, I've heard that SOTW4 can be rough on some kids--lots of wars that a lot of people say is a bit intense. If you start SOTW1 now, you'll be hitting SOTW4 a year too early and maybe your child won't be ready for that.

 

You could do SOTW1 now, but let it stretch over a couple of years. (Very easy to do! These books have more chapters in them than is usually in a school year, so if you do just one chapter a week, you'll be behind if you take a normal summer vacation or other breaks.)

 

For K, I totally taught history from the library. I wrote down a bunch of famous people and then got biographies about them from the easy section of the library. I didn't worry too much about chronological order. I just picked really fun things to learn about. Knights, the Wright Brothers, etc. Just to spark the love. Then in 1st, we settled down w/ SOTW. The one non-chronological year didn't seem to harm them. They just enjoyed me reading the stories to them and then saying, "And that story was real!" (so they wouldn't confuse it with the tons of fiction I read to them.)

[Radish4ever]

We've been doing www.theheadoftheclass.com and www.starfall.com and The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading with my DD. I throw in a lot of other goodies, too - like a workbook about Time that we got at Dollar Tree and TONS of reading and going to the library a lot.

 

We're taking it easy!

[kalanamak]

Keep these plans -- for first grade! There is absolutely no need to rush and do everything for K. SOTW is for 1st grade. Save it. You have many many years to do 2 hours of school/day; however, you don't have many years where you will have three young ones. I actually think 2 hours/day is too much for homeschooling K.

 

 

:iagree:However, two hours a day outside in all but the worst weather sounds like a wonderful idea. In our mild climate, we tried for 4 hours a day outside. I was still doing 2 hours of read alouds/day at that age. But only 30 minutes of "school".