Need more challenging PK program

[dsmama]

Hello! I have a 4-year-old who already seems to know some preschool things, but at the same time I don't want to push her into K material too fast. Wondering what advice or additions I need to make?

 

I bought the Christian Liberty Preschool program, and I think it is great, but here's what happened the first day. First page instructions are to draw a line from a bear to a ball. Very cute. My daughter does this, and then while waiting for me to finish with my second grader, writes the following across the top of the page: "Name. Follow the birections." Yes, she copied all the letters, rather well except for the d/b mix, and is bored already. I think I will use some of the later parts of the program and save the rest for my next child.

 

We have Get Ready for the Code and the Reading Lesson, and I plan to use those. I also have Before Five in a Row and some of the books. Would these work to piece together a program for her? Or should I buy something else? What about math? She really wants to learn and works well independently.

 

Thanks for any thoughts!

[Closeacademy]

Rod and Staff preschool workbooks A-H are probably better and have more stuff in them. Samples here.

 

Hope this helps.:001_smile:

[blessedmom3]

Rod and Staff preschool workbooks A-H are probably better and have more stuff in them. Samples here.

 

Hope this helps.:001_smile:

 

 

Best ones .My 4yo just finished last book. I also like Christian Liberty Press but they are more expensive.

[FriedClams]

I'm pretty Waldorf-y/Montessori at that age. I would not buy a single workbook or curricula, I'd just include her in life more. Folding the laundry. Making dinner. Measuring. Sewing. Nature walks. Read more. Then read some more.

 

Personally, if I had a bright, ready-to-learn four year old I would start teaching her to read. Slowly. Simply. No pressure. 10 minutes a day. Alpha Phonics is great for that age - no pictures to distract, clear, phonetic. Once she reads it's so EASY to do school work.

 

But I would ditch the workbooks. ;)

[dsmama]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I will check out the R&S books, as my daughter *wants* to do school books like her sister. I also appreciate the suggestion to let her learn about life and reading. Hope I can find a balance.

[momee]

We were very pleased with MFW K program if you think she's ready for it.

 

We did Calvert's PreK and loved that. It's a bit pricey but they include supplies and a teacher's manual. I very much appreciated being told what to do at that point so I could fit in teaching this one while doing harder school with my others. Calvert allowed us to do lots of hands on and great stories without much work on my part. It was worth the money I felt.

 

If I were only doing preschool and had time to plan/gather supplies, etc. I would do something like letter of the week, early childhood activities, themeasaurus stuff but I didn't have time.

 

If you're really willing to spend big bucks, K12s K program is wonderful and very academically challenging, but again, very pricey!

[Chris in VA]

You might try Saxon K math. It has lots of really fun activities, and it's appropriate for preK.

[Jennay]

I did Calvert Pre-K with an advanced preschooler and I thought it was way too easy for him.

 

How about Developing the Early Learner Workbooks?

 

She's probably ready for Five in a Row, not just Before.

[kesmom]

I was also going to suggest the R+S workbooks, though I would skip books A and B if she is complaining about easy stuff. Book C is soooooo nice for introducing math concepts. We just loved it.

[mommy4ever]

oops meant as a new post

Edited August 31, 2010 by mommy4ever

[Holly]

My DS was only 4 at the beginning of school last year (he turned 5 in November). I couldn't decide whether to do K or not. I went ahead and purchased ETC primers and Singapore Essential Math with plans to use over 2 years. He flew through the pages and we moved on to the McGuffey primer and ETC 1. For our other subjects, he tagged along with DD. I let him decide his daily workload...if he wanted to stop for the day we did. Some days he did 4 pages of math, others he did one (or none).

 

This year, he's officially in K for record keeping purposes, but we're working on 1st materials.

[Holly]

We are at a point where, despite having no preschoolers of my own, I have 2..lol. Clear as mud?

 

I provide home daycare and have been asked if we could do preschool with the 3yo and a 2yo in care. I'm not sure what to do. I didn't do preschool with my own. But it would be nice for the kids to join in with us rather than be distracting from the homeschool.

 

Any suggestions?

 

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ --there are lots of free unit studies here (similar to BFIAR). Here's a link to the preK ones: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/level1.php

[nancyb]

I am using this letter of the week curriculum http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/02/letter-of-week.html I wouldn't say that it's advanced but you might find something you can use. Here is a handwriting worksheet maker that she might enjoy http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/ Here are some fun farm animal worksheets http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/worksheets/animals/farm/ Here are some nursery rhyme sequence cards http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/Foundation/nurseryrhymes/resources.htm

Here are some pattern block worksheets http://prekinders.com/pattern-blocks/ Can you tell I have a preK too? Hope that helps!

[LittleIzumi]

I picked up various workbooks and read-alouds for dd, plus a pocket microscope and a library card with no limit :lol:. Bill Nye, Schoolhouse Rock, and Signing Time as occasional "school" supplements went over well, too. Oh, and MUS Primer and AAS 1.

[Food4Thought]

My 4-yr old is similar to how you describe - she has been really begging to "do school" each morning with her brother. I'd really rather not push her too hard, but it's hard to say no!

 

If she wants to draw, I usually give her one of our white boards and let her draw. She's into writing things now, so I'll spell things for her. Another thing she enjoys is playing with our math manipulatives - the cuisinaire rods, tangrams, and geoboard specifically. She also spends a lot of time at the refrigerator with our foam letter magnets. So my suggestion is a lot of hands-on fun with whatever you have around the house. :)

 

When all else fails, I'll pull out a few worksheets from the Comprehensive Curriculum workbook for K. It was a gift, but I think they run about $10 at Costco. An advanced preschooler would skip half of it (the first part is all colors and shapes and directions), but there are some nice little puzzles in the alphabet and math/sequencing sections.

[dsmama]

Thanks, again, for all of the ideas! I think I'm going to start with R&S books C and D and see how it goes, plus we're also doing Classical Conversations starting next month. I may add in some K math later in the year -- McRuffy Color looks cool, and I'll check out the other recommendations as well. Thank you all!