What to do with 4 year old

[toawh]

I have a four year old who reads extremely well. He reads books like Disney Lion King by himself for fun. He knows howto write his letters and cut with scissors. I'm not sure what to teach him next. Someone gave me Saxon K, which looks like something I'll be using. I just don't know what else to do with him. I don't want to start 1st grade as I don't want him to do so much pencil paper work quite yet. Are there any simple science or other subject curriculums that you'd recommend? Also I want to re-enforce his phonics to get him ready for spelling eventually, but all the programs I've found are doing phonics to teach reading. ??

[MorganClassicalPrep]

Have you looked at All About Spelling? It is actually a spelling program, but teaches phonics. I have no personal experience, since we are starting next week, but it has been recommended to me a number of times. It seems there is a wide range of ages/abilities using this program.

 

For science we are using Elemental Science. I wanted something that had it all laid out for me, and the new Intro To Science program looks great. It gives both 2 day and 5 day schedules, lists experiments, extra books, has the notebooking pages already there, etc.

 

Are you planning on starting a foreign language? There are a couple program out there that are completely oral. You could start one now, and really get a good foundation in it while you are waiting for 1st grade to start.

 

Unit studies would also be good for this age. What types of things is he especially interested in? Plan a couple of week/month units around his interests and really learn more about cars/construction/the ocean/specific animals/a period of history/etc.etc.

 

I hope I've given you at least one good idea!! :D

[give_me_a_latte]

I have Science Play on my shelf for a little later. It's full of fun science activities for this age. What about FIAR? That would give you plenty of fun activities for each week.

[Satori]

For that age, we did programs like Handwriting Without Tears, All-About-Spelling, and RightStart Math A. We did a reading program (Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading), but it doesn't sound like you're looking for one right now. We were on-off with Explode the Code during her Kindergarten year, but now she loves these workbooks again at age 5.

[toawh]

Have you looked at All About Spelling? It is actually a spelling program, but teaches phonics. I have no personal experience, since we are starting next week, but it has been recommended to me a number of times. It seems there is a wide range of ages/abilities using this program.

 

For science we are using Elemental Science. I wanted something that had it all laid out for me, and the new Intro To Science program looks great. It gives both 2 day and 5 day schedules, lists experiments, extra books, has the notebooking pages already there, etc.

 

Are you planning on starting a foreign language? There are a couple program out there that are completely oral. You could start one now, and really get a good foundation in it while you are waiting for 1st grade to start.

 

Unit studies would also be good for this age. What types of things is he especially interested in? Plan a couple of week/month units around his interests and really learn more about cars/construction/the ocean/specific animals/a period of history/etc.etc.

 

I hope I've given you at least one good idea!! :D

 

Well, my husband is French so he gets lots of that. We'll do spanish when he starts first grade. And he loves cars, trucks, motorcycles, and all that. We read tons of books on those topics, but is that like school?