Help Get me started :)

[Guest Mom2Natalya]

Hello :)

 

I have a five year old (just turned five Monday) and I will be homeschooling her starting this year (officially). I am trying to get started and am a little overwhelmed. She is definitely advanced- when we have worked together on workbooks and projects over the last year, she is always working on a first or second grade level in many areas. . .

 

I am a little clueless though. . . need a little hand holding. lol. I just printed out the paperwork/forms to submit to the state we are in (TN) to register with the LEA here, and that's about all I've done (gasp!)

 

Thanks all!!

Brandy

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

Good luck! I'm not sure how to tell you where to start, but let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

Oh, I can recommend a good book on learning styles, though. It helps when I am picking out curriculum for my girls. It's called Discover Your Child's Learning Style. My daughter prefers to figure things out on her own and is visual/auditory (when listening to shows or herself read, but not me!), so it has helped tremendously when it comes time to find new materials for her. She is 6, and does most of her work on her own, other than our science and history lessons, where I also work with her sister.

 

So, I guess my best piece of advice is to study her learning style and then work with it. :D

 

(Oh! The Cathy Duffy curriculum book has a nice chart that shows which programs are good for which learning style, too!)

[Dmmetler]

The good news is, for a K'er in TN, you've already passed the one big snare-and that's that a child cannot be placed in any grade over K in TN without having first completed K unless they transfer from a state where K is not mandatory. So get that paperwork showing that she's in K this year, and that way you have it-but work at whatever level you want, and if you need to grade skip later, do so then.

 

I'd suggest looking at the TN standards, and breathing a sigh of relief. As long as your child is at least on grade level by 3rd grade, you're fine with the state, so if your child is advanced, that means you can do almost anything you want. You don't have to keep a portfolio or anything like that.

 

On curriculum, there's a lot out there. I had picked curriculum in all areas, but so far, the only one that I've done "by the book" has been math. Everything else has ended up more free-form and floating than I'd anticipated. I'm not sure if that's because we started in the summer, at DD's suggestion, or if that's just part of hsing a 5 yr old. I do suggest getting Cathy Duffy's book (our local library has it) and using it as a guideline for what KIND of curriculum is a good fit, and working from there, since that was a big help to me.

 

Good luck!

[TracyP]

Welcome!:001_smile:

Another book recommendation would of course be The Well Trained Mind if you haven't read it yet. I have found Donna Young's site helpful when it comes to planning. Looking at her subject list helps me feel like I'm not "forgetting" something. You may also want to think about your own teaching philosophy. TWTM, and Cathy Duffy are good for that and maybe google Charlotte Mason too. I wouldn't recommend a "boxed" curricula with an advanced kid as they will probably not fit very well into one grade level. Good luck!

[Tracy]

We just finished K with my advanced 5yo. There is some information on my blog about what we used, what we abandoned using, and what we changed as we progressed through the year.