Should I wait?

[Tsutsie]

Hello All

 

I've started the homeschooling journey not to long ago. My son is 5.5 year old, and we are currently in week 7 of Sonlight Core K. He is doing really well, but sometimes, actually, a lot of the time, I wonder if he will not get so much more out of it if he was just a little older - say, 6.5.

 

I started "schooling" him because he seemed ready. He is reading the Readers 2 books fairly easily, and is halfway through Math-U-See Alpha, which is not challenging him all that much. He's handwriting is pretty good (I think, anyway) and he enjoys our Noeo Science books for the most part. (Wish I bought Science K, but to late now...)

 

Recently he started complaining a lot, saying that he does not want to learn anything, ever. Urgh! I'm wondering if he is just not ready for the kind/amount of work which I, and our school board, will expect of him as a young grade 1 student. As he is not 6 yet (January birthday), I have another year before I have to enrol him anywhere and I was thinking that maybe I should wait?

 

He can go to kindergarten, every day, for 2.5 hours. The problem with his is that he is VERY outgoing, and I know from previous experiences in preschool, that he will transform into the class clown and has been described as "disruptive to the whole class" and a "trouble maker". I know he will definitely be bored in kindergarten and I'm not sure if this will be the right decision/option for him?

 

I also think that he will get so much more out of Core K is he was just a little older. Especially from the read alouds and history. Some of the books he does get/like, but I think another year will make a big difference.

 

Anyway, I was hoping someone here has an opinion on my various options. It will be greatly appreciated!

Option 1: Keep going and hope that he will start enjoying school again. I have to add that the complaining has been in the first week of being back to school, and I'm sure it will get better with time and with our routine being set and firm again. (However, I was wondering about this last year allready..)

Option 2: Send him to Kindergarten for the 2.5 hours and do nothing in conjunction.

Option 3: Send him to Kindergarten, but in the afternoon, after he's had some time to play, continue with LA and Math (This will not take more than 45 minutes.)

Option 4: Keep homeschooling him on a Grade 1 level, but cut back on "extras" in order to keep the amount of time we work less. Say 2 hours at most? I'm not sure if we will be able to meet our aligned curriculum (Alberta, Canada) requirements. If we go "traditional" I'll get $750 per year less. I know that I'm upholding him to high standards, but it seems like they get so much done in school, fun things, like drama and technology class - how do they fit it all in? I don't want him to miss out.

 

I know all of this is a mouthful, but I have been AGONIZING with this for weeks now, and nobody seems to have an opinion or idea.

 

Again, your help or input will be greatly appreciated.

 

Yvette

[crl]

I really don't know what to advise you to do. I personally think that 2 hours of school work for K is too much. Yet it seems you are needing to meet some sort of requirements. What I can tell you is that my DD is a young 7 and is just now enjoying some of the stories from Core K. In the last few months we've been able to enjoy "A Grain of Rice", "My Father's Dragon", and "Dolphin Treasure". Before this, she was having a very hard time with too many books without pictures. It sounds like your son is a normal kid who doesn't want to sit and do school work for too long.

[angela in ohio]

Not on your list of options, but I would homeschool him as a K. He is way too young for the amount of work required in first grade. Many dc seem ready early, and may even be smart enough to do the work, but you will burn them out with the constant workload.

[Guest TheBugsMom]

I would pick a few books from the SL K your child might enjoy and save the rest. Next year redo the core and add in the books you missed along with redoing the books you did. I did this with dd and she enjoyed redoing the core.

 

Do you have to do school right now...as in it is mandatory where you live? If not I would take my cues from him. School on the days he is interested and drop it on the days he is. Read, read, read no matter what you decide. Also, don't do school straight through. Do it in 5 min segments with lots of play time between. Don't do everything at a desk...read to him while he swings or plays in the sand. Get creative with his lessons...write his phonics/spelling/word work with chalk or on a white board or in shaving cream.

 

He is young and if you can wait another year to enroll him as a 1st grader, then treat him like a Ker and do things at a much slower pace.

[robsiew]

Not on your list of options, but I would homeschool him as a K. He is way too young for the amount of work required in first grade. Many dc seem ready early, and may even be smart enough to do the work, but you will burn them out with the constant workload.

 

:iagree: Just out of curiosity, why is 5.5 considered 1st grade? Is that according to your province or just what you've chosen for him? I think you will find much success in doing K level work! Keep it fun!

 

I would caution against letting him choose whether to do school or not though. This could set a bad habit for the years to come. If you sense he's not "on" for school today, YOU make the decision to lighten things up. Maybe tell him all that school will be today is a story and some time at a park! Then you can honor him without giving up control of "when" you do school to him. Just my thoughts, take it for what it's worth.... (I have strongwilled children who would jump at the chance to control when they do school!)

Edited August 30, 2010 by robsiew

[mommy4ever]

Hello All

 

I've started the homeschooling journey not to long ago. My son is 5.5 year old, and we are currently in week 7 of Sonlight Core K. He is doing really well, but sometimes, actually, a lot of the time, I wonder if he will not get so much more out of it if he was just a little older - say, 6.5.

 

I started "schooling" him because he seemed ready. He is reading the Readers 2 books fairly easily, and is halfway through Math-U-See Alpha, which is not challenging him all that much. He's handwriting is pretty good (I think, anyway) and he enjoys our Noeo Science books for the most part. (Wish I bought Science K, but to late now...)

 

Recently he started complaining a lot, saying that he does not want to learn anything, ever. Urgh! I'm wondering if he is just not ready for the kind/amount of work which I, and our school board, will expect of him as a young grade 1 student. As he is not 6 yet (January birthday), I have another year before I have to enrol him anywhere and I was thinking that maybe I should wait?

 

He can go to kindergarten, every day, for 2.5 hours. The problem with his is that he is VERY outgoing, and I know from previous experiences in preschool, that he will transform into the class clown and has been described as "disruptive to the whole class" and a "trouble maker". I know he will definitely be bored in kindergarten and I'm not sure if this will be the right decision/option for him?

 

I also think that he will get so much more out of Core K is he was just a little older. Especially from the read alouds and history. Some of the books he does get/like, but I think another year will make a big difference.

 

Anyway, I was hoping someone here has an opinion on my various options. It will be greatly appreciated!

Option 1: Keep going and hope that he will start enjoying school again. I have to add that the complaining has been in the first week of being back to school, and I'm sure it will get better with time and with our routine being set and firm again. (However, I was wondering about this last year allready..)

Option 2: Send him to Kindergarten for the 2.5 hours and do nothing in conjunction.

Option 3: Send him to Kindergarten, but in the afternoon, after he's had some time to play, continue with LA and Math (This will not take more than 45 minutes.)

Option 4: Keep homeschooling him on a Grade 1 level, but cut back on "extras" in order to keep the amount of time we work less. Say 2 hours at most? I'm not sure if we will be able to meet our aligned curriculum (Alberta, Canada) requirements. If we go "traditional" I'll get $750 per year less. I know that I'm upholding him to high standards, but it seems like they get so much done in school, fun things, like drama and technology class - how do they fit it all in? I don't want him to miss out.

 

I know all of this is a mouthful, but I have been AGONIZING with this for weeks now, and nobody seems to have an opinion or idea.

 

Again, your help or input will be greatly appreciated.

 

Yvette

 

Your choice of education shouldn't be based on funding received. Everyone I've talked to has found the AB aligned program to burn out early elementary. There are ways to make it work with way less work that what you are doing, but that comes with experience. I started(in AB) last year, an emergency start with my dd6 and dd11. I had no funding. We chose to go traditional. We had a TON of fun. Depending on the school board(THEE, non-resident in Sherwood Park) has a lending library, so we were able to borrow curricula and explore it. We use the library and taught reading with OPGTR. Once we'd explored we chose what we are using. For DD6, now grade 2, we have spent about $380 so far and that includes registration in art classes and swimming lessons. My older girls are doing aligned through School of hope. And I am having a hard time trying to designate the funding. 1. I rent the materials, that is $280 for BOTH girls. Other than that I don't need any thing other than school supplies and lessons. If it were up to me, I'd do traditional with all of them, but dd13 wants to remain aligned and start her highschool credits next year. DD11 is just indecisive and decided on this.

 

Yes, it IS possible to spend $1400/year on the childrens education. And very easily. But is also very easy to do it for the $750 too. Aligned is very intensive for a child that age. He might do better doing traditional. I know for my 6yo, I wouldn't consider it. We are doing dd6 education the classical path and doing LOTS of things with it. She loves what we are doing. BUT What I am doing won't meet the AB criteria either. It will even out and we'll come out ahead in the long term, just not matching it year to year, she will have a well rounded education. I'm content with the $750 we have. It is more than enough with some conscious choices. We chose PDF to save on shipping, use the library extensively. Find used, or lending libraries, support groups in Edmonton and Calgary have libraries for their members.

 

As the kids get older, in talking to Harriette at THEE(Director), she said that you can do traditional in High school even and it is not that hard to cover everything required so the kids can successfully write the diploma exams, to facilitate University. It is a little planning and way less work for the kids to do it that way.

 

If Aligned is causing burnout, don't stay with it simply because of more funding. It's not worth it. I'm rethinking dd11 being in aligned, but we'll try the year and go from there, but I know the youngest will remain traditional. Traditional is free flow. You can stay 'aligned' your way, without a facilitator breathing down your neck to be on target all the time. Also choose your school board carefully. Some are not homeschool friendly, only do it because they must.

[mommy4ever]

:iagree: Just out of curiosity, why is 5.5 considered 1st grade? Is that according to your province or just what you've chosen for him? I think you will find much success in doing K level work! Keep it fun!

 

I would caution against letting him choose whether to do school or not though. This could set a bad habit for the years to come. If you sense he's not "on" for school today, YOU make the decision to lighten things up. Maybe tell him all that school will be today is a story and some time at a park! Then you can honor him without giving up control of "when" you do school to him. Just my thoughts, take it for what it's worth.... (I have strongwilled children who would jump at the chance to control when they do school!)

 

In AB if you are 6 before Mar 1 you are considered grade 1.

[SailorMom]

Personally - I think anything more than 30 minutes of actual "school" is more than enough for that age. I mean - coloring, cutting, pasting stuff - that can take longer - but in an actual K class - the actual school adds up to less than 30 minutes.

Most of it is:

Recess, art, story time, circle time, etc

So - what a HS'er can get done with 1 child in 30 minutes is already twice as much as a K teacher can get done with 20.

I think you're burning him out.

[missmoe]

Before making a decision, sit down and think about your goals for your son. Which choice would help you meet those goals?

 

At that age, I worked with my kids about 45 mins. a day. We enjoyed Sonlight K at that age. I didn't use the Sonlight La, but rather FLL which took us about 5 mins on most days. I personally believe that play is children's work when they are young. It's one of the reasons I homeschool. My children learn so much through play and need lots of time to do so.

 

Good luck with your decision.

[mystika1]

Not on your list of options, but I would homeschool him as a K. He is way too young for the amount of work required in first grade. Many dc seem ready early, and may even be smart enough to do the work, but you will burn them out with the constant workload.

:iagree:When a child feels burned out this young it is hard to reverse. Play some games and let him have some fun. If you really want to use the materials now then go super slow. Sonlight K is a lot of material. I tried to use it with my dd. It didn't work out. I ended up using the P4/5 instead which was much better. The book titles were more appropriate also. Maybe you could stretch out the weekly schedule into 2 or 3 weeks instead. Personally, I would wait until he is older. My daughter is now 7(8 in Feb.) and I think she she would be ready now for all of the titles in Sonlight K. There is no rush.

 

HTH,

 

Penny

[angela in ohio]

In AB if you are 6 before Mar 1 you are considered grade 1.

 

Then I would always do a conversion when using materials designed for the U.S. market, just as people adjust for the different age ranges with the Singapore grades.

 

The vast majority of U.S. schools have August or September cut-off dates. A few have dates as late as December, but few parentsfollow those. The grade levels aren't comparable.

[Tsutsie]

Thank you all for your reply. I think I will just try my best and relax about what he's doing, read good books and have fun. I'm going to try and see if I can get the Core P4/5 books somewhere and just go with that. I think his younger sister will also get something more out of it. (I'm feeling a little guilty about her just hanging around while I work so hard with him.)

 

I guess I just got scared and overwhelmed. This is our first year and I don't want to make a mess of it.

 

*phew*

[Hedgehogs4]

my dd has the ability of a first-grader and the attention span of a k-er. i can only work with her where she is and keep making steady progress slowly. she can read, understands place value, can count to 100, knows all the stuff a k-er should know, but she's just not ready to sit that long and tackle that work.