At what age did you start mandatory school?

[lea1]

Just curious about what age you started doing mandatory school time with your littles?

 

My two guys have late birthdays so they just miss the cut off to start K in the fall (if they were going to public school). Of course, since we are homeschooling, we can start when ever we want. We do lots of learning while playing but I have yet to make school time mandatory.

 

It is very tempting though because they are already reading cvc words/readers and are trying to write words and such.

 

I will have to double check but I believe in the WTM they recommend starting about now with 5 or 10 minutes a day and working up to 30, of mandatory learning-to-read time. I need to re-read that.

 

When do you start your littles?

Edited April 21, 2010 by Lea in OK

[Ellie]

I voted "after 6," but "mandatory" is much too strong a word for what we did. :)

[twoxcell]

I started requiring my ds around 4-4.5 to do work 3 days a week for like 15-20 min. Then we started K at five 4 days a week for a little longer. dd is 4.5 and I just started requiring her to sit and work with me 4-5 days a week. Before that it was optional, but she always chose to do it anyways.

[Crimson Wife]

My oldest started K4 at 3 yrs 10 mos and K5 at 4 yrs 10 mos. My 2nd will start K4 at 4 yrs 9 mos and K5 at 5 yrs 9 mos. I go by reading readiness.

[SkateLeft]

In our house, I've started later with each successive child. :)

 

My oldest, who has a late summer birthday, started K at 4. (She was already reading well and we used a private ISP.) She was legally grade skipped the following year when she started at her charter school. Nobody can tell she's a year young unless we mention it.

 

My younger dd started K at 5. She has a June birthday, so she turned 5 and started K that next fall.

 

My ds has an August birthday and started K right after turning 5, but I've gone back and forth on whether or not to retain him. In CA, where the cutoff is in December, he was solidly in the middle of his class. Here in MN, the cutoff is in Sept, and most kids with summer birthdays tend to start a year later, so many of his age-mates are 2nd graders this year.

 

My youngest ds has a January birthday and would just miss the CA cutoff. In MN, he's well past the cutoff, so he'll attend preschool again next year, and could start K the year after that, at almost 6.

 

My requirements for K have changed a lot too. I've relaxed a lot since my first time through. ;)

[bluemongoose]

DD started doing preK at just under 3yo by her choosing. I didn't consider it mandatory until she had her 5th birthday. She has a December birthday, so I figured I would start warming her up to the idea of being school age the fall before she turned 5. That January we made it more "official" She started calling herself a kindergartner and we told her she must do school a little bit every day. It really has not been a battle though, she loves school stuff. DS is 3 right now. He comes to school when he pleases! Some days he just wants to sit by us and play with math cubes, other days he wants to work in a preschool workbook. Sometimes he wants to practice reading words and doing math out of the Singapore Earlybird books. I encourage him to do school with us, but it is anything but mandatory at that age!

[sagira]

My ds was 5 when I started requiring regular schooling.

[abbeyej]

If we're talking about 10-15 minutes, then "before 4" for each of mine. The oldest was 5 and the youngest 6 before I *required* much more than that though.

[MissKNG]

Mandatory schooling starts when I have to report to the school district.

[jengjohnson]

The only thing I insist on once the child is ready (definitely by 4 in our house) is phonics 3-5 times a week. They seem to like doing handwriting and math so there's nothing forced there. I don't require them to participate in history or science until they're official first graders, but they're usually eager to join in before then. I have all girls, I'm sure teaching boys would be different.

[rdsmommy]

We started with Before Five In a Row, and Little Hands to Heaven at around 4, if you consider that formal. Most days ds was really excited to do it so it wasn't forced.

[Amber in AUS]

I voted 5 - 5.5 because that is when i started requiring DD to complete some formal schooling each day. Until that point it was optional. It is also the age that she would have started full time schooling if she were at PS.

[skueppers]

I started requiring 10-15 minutes of reading practice when my daughter was about 5.25. This was based on my assessment that she needed me to establish this structure to help her meet her own goals, not because I had some idea that this was the ideal age.

 

My actual plan was to wait for mandatory reporting this fall.

[Dinsfamily]

I voted 5-5.5 just because ds and I couldn't wait any longer to start our school year. Ideally for us, it would be between 5.5-6. For K, my requirements only amounted to about 1-1.5 hours/day.

[melmichigan]

We start K materials whenever they are ready. For the state, I go by our local PS requirements, and from that point we are on a more structured schedule.

[robsiew]

Well, we just started hsing last year (this is our 2nd year) so with my older 2 they just went to K when they were old enough. If my oldest ds had been hs'ed from the beginning I would have started him much earlier as he has a Nov. bday and missed the Sept. cutoff for PS. That was a LONG year with him!

 

My 6 y/o did a little last year for "pre K" year when he was 4-5. He is academically ahead, but maturity wise behind. I did require him to work with me a couple times a week for less than 1/2 hour. This year he's officially K so he worked with me consistently for 1/2 hour at the beginning of the year to now about 45 min. to an hour plus individual work.

 

My 4 y/o was chomping at the bit to do school. He has pretty much done K work this year. He sits with me for about 1/2 hour and does some individual work. I do require him only because he's close enough to school that I didn't want him to be in the habit of getting to choose whether or not he wanted to do school. I figured even if he only worked with me for 10 min. it was better than allowing him to beg out as I know that would have caused problems when he did have to start "formal school".

[Ellie]

We do lots of learning while playing but I have yet to make school time mandatory.

 

It is very tempting though because they are already reading cvc words/readers and are trying to write words and such.

But why would it have to be *mandatory*?:confused:

[ladydusk]

I marked before 4, but before people throw tomatoes at me, I'd like to explain.

 

My little one is one of those children who is going to be with me where I am, so when she started spouting off her brother & sister's memory work, I gave her her own (you should hear her "Ooey Gooey" and "Vulture," she's catching up with her brother on catechism too). She has her own 30 minute block in our school time where we sing preschool songs and read Winnie the Pooh or Peter Rabbit or other little kid books that her brother and sister had read to them a million times. She sits and colors a map and flag when the other two are coloring theirs. She "narrates" the science book and draws a picture (maybe a sentence, possibly even related to the book). Since she's there, I have her participate - and she loves it; if I leave her out, she gets sad and says she's big too. If she didn't want to do some of those things, I wouldn't force them, but she's going to have memory work and listen to our circle time stories, that we do as a family. She loves showing her work to Daddy, she loves doing recitation for Daddy, she loves saying she's a big girl. I like to have my kids close where I can have regular contact with them, so since she's there anyway, I don't see any reason to not include her and help her see learning as our family lifestyle rather than a specific time of day.

[mom31257]

I said before 4. I actually started both mine doing some preschool stuff at age 2. They were very interested so I figured why not do it. The lessons were not long, but they did have to finish.

 

At 2, I taught them colors, shapes, and capital letter recognition. I used manipulatives and workbooks from the grocery store and Michaels. They both enjoyed them. My dd really wanted to learn to write, so she learned her capital letters then.

 

When my ds was 3, I used HWT's Get Set for School program. I also used more workbooks with same/different, matching, etc. We played lots of board games and did quite a bit of work with numbers, too.

 

At 4 dd was in an A Beka K4 program part of the week and home part of the week. I used A Beka's K4 phonics and reading with ds when he was 4 and an early edition of BJU K math.

 

DD went to a private school K-2nd, but ds was full K at home. He did Horizons K Phonics, Horizons 1 Math, MOH 1 with sister, science was unit studies along with sister's topics, Postive Action bible, and lots of books.

 

Everybody has different opinions on it, but I felt like if mine started some school work early, they would know it is part of life. I do not have problems with them finishing work now. I think it is because they never had that option then. I'm not saying they are enthusiastic about every little thing, but they know it is expected and do it.

[KAR120C]

DS really enjoyed workbooks from a ridiculously young age, but they stayed on a shelf or in a bag until he asked for them. Sometimes I'd offer, but it was always up to him and he was done when he was done.

 

When he was three the rule was he could always quit but he had to be polite. That is, "I'd like to quit now" and not "This is dumb" and definitely not just wandering away. When he was four he had to finish whatever he was doing (the question, or whatever - not the page) and when he was five he had to finish the page (or section of the page - whatever made a good stopping place).

 

Just before his fifth birthday we started "kindergarten", at which point some of what he did each day was my idea and not his, and he still had to get to a good stopping place. It wasn't developmentally inappropriate, but it wasn't always exactly what he would have chosen himself. He still had (and even now still has!) most of his day available for his own interests.

[AudreyTN]

I didn't vote, because I can't put an age on it. When they're ready to read we do phonics and Math. After they are reading well, then I start requiring more involvement during other lessons, such as history and science.

[lea1]

But why would it have to be *mandatory*?:confused:

 

I believe at some point it will have to become mandatory, as they will not willing work on a lesson because it is more fun to play what they choose to play, when they choose to play it.

 

I have been teaching them (very slowly) to read but doing it through creative, fun, game-like activities. Even then, they would not want to do this every day or even every other day. It is actually quite amazing they have learned as much as they have learned in the small amount of time we have spent working on it. The Leapfrog DVD's and StarFall.com have helped also.

 

Thanks so much for all of the feedback. It is great to hear about everyone's experiences.

[Tree House Academy]

We started school the year he turned 5, so I chose 4.5-5. We started in July and his birthday is at the end of Sept.

[Ellie]

I believe at some point it will have to become mandatory, as they will not willing work on a lesson because it is more fun to play what they choose to play, when they choose to play it.

 

I have been teaching them (very slowly) to read but doing it through creative, fun, game-like activities. Even then, they would not want to do this every day or even every other day. It is actually quite amazing they have learned as much as they have learned in the small amount of time we have spent working on it. The Leapfrog DVD's and StarFall.com have helped also.

 

Thanks so much for all of the feedback. It is great to hear about everyone's experiences.

But at 5 or 6yo? You have to think of it as "mandatory" for a 5 or 6yo?

[SilverMoon]

In my house that's ready to start first grade. My boys have late birthdays so they both started when a PS would have let them start kindy. Academically they were both well into first grade levels by then. It's not like I had to make any of them though. My first graders were more than ready for "real" school work and jumped in with both feet.

 

I do a very low-key kindy with my kids, but it's been more mandatory on the part of the mom. Half the time they wouldn't let me wait until my first cup of coffee had set in. :tongue_smilie:

[plain jane]

My vote for mandatory counts as whatever year they would be in K in the PS system. For us that counts as anywhere between 4.5-5.5. I don't do formal work before then, but for K, I we do carry out a 4 day "school" week where I insist on phonics work, handwriting and math. I also throw in and require science and history at that age. Before that age, I do "school" work with them if they're interested but if they're not they've got free range to play all day long.

[lea1]

But at 5 or 6yo? You have to think of it as "mandatory" for a 5 or 6yo?

 

 

I believe the WTM suggests starting mandatory learning of phonics/pre-reading at around 4 or 4.5ish, starting at 5 to 10 minutes a day, increasing gradually to 30 minutes daily. She even says not to ask if they want to practice reading or if they want to learn to read because they will say no. She says to simply tell them it is time to practice our phonics or something like that.

 

It seems that it is pretty common to start some amount of mandatory schooling around 5 or 6 in the homeschooling environment.

 

The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that everyone can have different opinions and do it the way they believe is best. :001_smile:

[rose_king]

I didn't vote. I think it depends on the child. My son will be 5 on the 30th of August. We started "school" this past year. Sometimes he wants to. Sometimes not. We read everyday. He counts everything all day long.:D I have started OPGR with him. He has the Math-U-See primer, and we ordered Sonlight core P3/4. (Just started this. He loves the stories :)) Starting school was his idea. My oldest dd turned 5 five days before she started PS. She hated school from that day forward. I want to make sure my ds never goes through that. Both girls are now hsed. (Almost 3 yrs now.) I'm not sure if it is because he is the baby, or after the older kids you just aren't as strict anymore. There is 11 yrs. between my youngest and oldest child. I also think because he is a boy he is just wired differently. He's not as mature as the two girls seemed to be. We're just taking it slow and steady, and letting him lead the way. I want us to have fun with the whole learning process. ;)

[Amy Jo]

Mandatory schooling starts when I have to report to the school district.

 

:iagree:

[Carrie12345]

Mandatory schooling starts when I have to report to the school district.

 

Compulsory age here is 8, so that wouldn't work for my family philosophy. ;)

 

I voted 5-5.5, but we don't really go all out until closer to 6. And I still let my 1st grader slide on a few things, as long as she's happily reading good (lower case g!) books. But she is "required" to do certain work at certain times.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[Dinsfamily]

I may have a special case.... but here's my .02 for what it's worth.

 

My youngest ds has a September 1 birthday, ON the cutoff day for p.s. enrollment. Either way we went, he was always going to be either the very oldest or the very youngest in his class. I thought, "well, we homeschool anyway, what's it going to hurt?" and went ahead and started him in K work that fall he turned 5.

 

Fast forward five years, and I would do anything to turn back the clock and give him that extra year to mature. Being the youngest (and smallest) in activities has made ds more insecure and timid than I would have imagined. He's always having to RUN to catch up with his grade-mates, some of whom are almost a full calendar year older than he is. On top of that, he has also been diagnosed with dyslexia, which makes the grade level work he is doing even *harder* than it has to be. Of course, now he is at a level where 'holding him back' a year would have emotional / psychological consequences that I'm not going to even contemplate. He KNOWS that he struggles compared to what the other kids can do, he probably would anyway, but the extra year of maturity I think would make a huge difference.

 

Anyhoo, I was the typical know-it-all, gung-ho young homeschooler at the time, and no one could tell me anything. Several veteran Moms urged me not to rush into schooling but I didn't listen. Live and learn. Hopefully with no long term damage done :001_huh:

 

Best wishes to you as you make your decision.

 

Thank you for sharing this. My youngest has an August birthday and I'm wondering if he'll benefit from a later start. It won't affect academics at all since we'll just do what he's ready for when he's ready for it and we don't go by a traditional school calendar anyway. My oldest is very mature for his age, but my middle guy is not. I'm hoping it will be obvious for the youngest when we gets closer to schoolage.

[angela in ohio]

1.) I start a daily time of structured seat time when they are toddlers. It lasts just a few minutes, building up to about a half hour by the start of K. It is much easier to get them to sit and do their work if they have always had the habit, rather than one day changing their schedules dramatically because they are now 'school age.'

 

2.) I would not push boys a grade ahead. Many children get off to a great head start, but then need more time somewhere in 2nd-5th. I would call them the younger grade, but just keep doing whatever you are doing. Even in a ps classroom, there are children of many different ability levels in each grade.

[mom2boys030507]

I answered 5-5.5 but in reality both of my boys started at 4. They wanted to start learning so we started with the Explode the code primers. This was great for both of them. It gave them a great foundation of hearing sounds in words and learning how to write thier letters. By 4.5 they were ready to start HOP and by 5 they were almost done with HOP. For both of my boys once they wanted to learn to read there was no stopping them. As far as history I don't require anything until 1st grade. As this is the point my boys are showing me they are ready for more than reading and math and self directed science study. In many ways I follow their lead yet I have a clear set of goals I want reached before moving to requiring more work.

[s0nicfreak]

3. That's the age I started school. I was always the youngest, but I did just fine. I'm not required to start homeschooling until 7 here, but I think that is way too late; the younger you start teaching, the easier it is for someone to learn, imo.

[Ellie]

I believe the WTM suggests starting mandatory learning of phonics/pre-reading at around 4 or 4.5ish, starting at 5 to 10 minutes a day, increasing gradually to 30 minutes daily. She even says not to ask if they want to practice reading or if they want to learn to read because they will say no. She says to simply tell them it is time to practice our phonics or something like that.

 

It seems that it is pretty common to start some amount of mandatory schooling around 5 or 6 in the homeschooling environment.

 

The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that everyone can have different opinions and do it the way they believe is best. :001_smile:

I guess my problem is with your use of the word "mandatory." That sounds like some kind of law, like getting your car registration renewed so you don't get hauled off to jail.

 

The responsibility is on *me* to teach my children, not on *them* to do something because it is "mandatory." I'm not opposed to teaching young children to read; it just bugs me for it to be referred to as "mandatory."

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I voted 5.5-6. I am starting my boys on their 6th brithdays. My girls were ready and WANTED to start school. They LOVED it. My boys, well not so much:001_huh: So I am waiting until they are 6 because they turn 6 in K in ps. We do other stuff before, but not mandatory, every school day, this much to be done. That will start but I want to give my little guys the extra time to mature for that. K for my ds will begin October 1 :D

[ScoutTN]

We'll begin around 5 yo, but very laid back.

State law her is 6 yo for age that one must be in "school".

[Heather in WI]

State law here is 6 yo for age that one must be in "school".

 

We start 4K at 4 1/2, but I consider it all gravy until 6. That's when we must comply with state law for hours and subjects.

[siloam]

I voted "after 6," but "mandatory" is much too strong a word for what we did. :)

 

Yep that is about right.

 

I still don't worry about missed days with my 7yo, and I have weeks where there is so much going on that I have the girls work on everything they can do independently while I work on non-hs stuff. Those weeks ds does nothing, zip, zero. :D

 

Heather