How worried should I be?

[meggie]

I will try to make sense out of all my jumbled thoughts. I am a big worrier and am finding myself overwhelmed.

 

What we are doing now (well, technically we're taking a break for Christmas) is reading lessons with OPG and writing lessons. I don't know how, but he's surpassed where we are in the lessons. I'm still going through each lesson as a practice/review/make sure he at least hears the rules so that he doesn't miss anything. In the WTM they said that when the child is most of the way through, to go ahead and start them on 1st grade. We will be done by next fall (I'm having a baby in February and am assuming that we'll be taking another school break then too). And next fall is technically when he'd be starting kindergarten if he were going to PS. So should I start him on more 1st grade work or just do kindergarten again? If we were to do "kindergarten" I don't know what we'd do, I think he'd be so bored.

 

So the plan is in January 2011, to start Galloping the Globe for geography, to give him an idea of what the world looks like. I don't know how long we'll do this for, but I could always make it stretch into next fall if I need to. I plan on starting SOTW after we're done with that.

 

Also in Jan (he's getting these things for Christmas, which is why we're starting then) he'll be starting MathUSee Primer. I have no idea how long this will take, since he already knows about 1/3 of the stuff they have listed on their table of contents. But I'm going to go through all the lessons just to make sure we don't miss anything or have any gaps. I'm not concerned with having him done with the Primer by the time school starts in the fall, we'll just move on to Alpha when he's done.

 

In the fall, I'm planning on starting him with First Language Lessons, Writing with Ease and Modern Press Spelling. I'm hoping that we'll be getting around to history and science, but I'm not really worried about it, since we'll already be a year ahead and we can just do it the next year if we have to. In my perfect world, we'd also be doing French, art, and music, but those will be added in baby steps through the years.

 

Does this sound ok? Too much, not enough? I'm thinking if I start slowly now and gradually build up, then by fall he won't have a hard time getting every thing done. I'm also ok with tweaking things to make it work better for him, to have as little seat work as possible. I feel like I've done enough research to find out curriculum that works well with the majority of people, but am really worried that it won't work for him. I think they'll be ok, the sample lessons I've looked at are things I feel confident he can handle, but I guess I'll just never know until we try it. I'm just worried because we don't have very much money and I would really hate to have to toss curriculum aside and spend more money on something else. Is there much to worry about choosing a wrong curriculum when he's so young?

[Cindyz]

How old is he?

[meggie]

He's 5.

[Ann.without.an.e]

I will try to make sense out of all my jumbled thoughts. I am a big worrier and am finding myself overwhelmed.

 

What we are doing now (well, technically we're taking a break for Christmas) is reading lessons with OPG and writing lessons. I don't know how, but he's surpassed where we are in the lessons. I'm still going through each lesson as a practice/review/make sure he at least hears the rules so that he doesn't miss anything. In the WTM they said that when the child is most of the way through, to go ahead and start them on 1st grade. We will be done by next fall (I'm having a baby in February and am assuming that we'll be taking another school break then too). And next fall is technically when he'd be starting kindergarten if he were going to PS. So should I start him on more 1st grade work or just do kindergarten again? If we were to do "kindergarten" I don't know what we'd do, I think he'd be so bored.

 

So the plan is in January 2011, to start Galloping the Globe for geography, to give him an idea of what the world looks like. I don't know how long we'll do this for, but I could always make it stretch into next fall if I need to. I plan on starting SOTW after we're done with that.

 

Also in Jan (he's getting these things for Christmas, which is why we're starting then) he'll be starting MathUSee Primer. I have no idea how long this will take, since he already knows about 1/3 of the stuff they have listed on their table of contents. But I'm going to go through all the lessons just to make sure we don't miss anything or have any gaps. I'm not concerned with having him done with the Primer by the time school starts in the fall, we'll just move on to Alpha when he's done.

 

In the fall, I'm planning on starting him with First Language Lessons, Writing with Ease and Modern Press Spelling. I'm hoping that we'll be getting around to history and science, but I'm not really worried about it, since we'll already be a year ahead and we can just do it the next year if we have to. In my perfect world, we'd also be doing French, art, and music, but those will be added in baby steps through the years.

 

Does this sound ok? Too much, not enough? I'm thinking if I start slowly now and gradually build up, then by fall he won't have a hard time getting every thing done. I'm also ok with tweaking things to make it work better for him, to have as little seat work as possible. I feel like I've done enough research to find out curriculum that works well with the majority of people, but am really worried that it won't work for him. I think they'll be ok, the sample lessons I've looked at are things I feel confident he can handle, but I guess I'll just never know until we try it. I'm just worried because we don't have very much money and I would really hate to have to toss curriculum aside and spend more money on something else. Is there much to worry about choosing a wrong curriculum when he's so young?

 

 

 

I think that you are being wise to approach it slowly. I encourage you to let him be your guide. If he gets frustrated, slow down or take a break. He is little and you don't want him to start stressing over school. Trying to keep it fun, light, and challenging all at the same time can be difficult.

 

I stress over curriculum. I think it is the most difficult part of HS'ing. Most things can work if you wait until the child is ready. Rarely does something just not work at all. You may need to tweak, yes, but if money is tight I doubt you will need to completely toss anything. Just remember, the grass is always greener on the other side...it totally applies to homeschooling. I will be fine with what we are using until a friend stops by to show me her super cool, new find :glare:. Then I will start to question myself...is this best? should I switch too? I think that every mom is tempted to do this. I was switching so often at first, I finally had to make a rule...unless I absolutely hate it and can't use it another day...I try my very best not to switch.

 

Just remember to have fun. Before you know it, they are too little to enjoy the fun stuff ;)

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

My oldest is only 4, so I don't have any experienced advice to give, but I can sympathize with your panic/concerns. My ds has been figuring out things way before I was prepared or expecting to have to teach him. It's great that you have a plan. There is a reason that you made those choices. Have faith in yourself and the resilience of children!

[Susan in KY]

I wouldn't start on grade one were I you. I would get FIAR and enjoy myself and just having fun learning new things. Contrary to your plans with WWE, FLL and whatnot, I think you have more time now, before the baby, to just do messy things and have fun discovering. When you need him to be in one spot because you need to nurse, THEN start the other stuff, as you planned, next fall. Until then, FUN FUN FUN! Get messy, go out, do nature walks, loads of science and history books. Try on some Charlotte Mason, have a great time. Really. He'll remember having that fun until he's grown. Take lots of pics, too. :)

[Cindyz]

If he's 5 and doing well and enjoying what you are doing, I would go ahead with first grade. Some will disagree I'm sure, but it's what we did with good success so far. We started 1st grade material when my son was 5.5. We started slow. He loved it (still does) and thought it was very fun. We started in small bits and eventually his tolerance and skills grew beyond what I ever thought he could do at that age. It's because we both enjoyed it so much!!

 

Since he's officially in Kindergarten but doing 1st grade work, we are taking 2 years to do SOTW so we can really get into it and enjoy it (he LOVES it!). We are taking about a year and a half to do WWE. We are on schedule with FLL 1 and will finish it this year (K) and will start FLL2 in first grade. He has finished Singapore 1A (first grade) and started 1B and most of it is too easy for him, but we are still going through it because there are times when he gets stuck and I want to make sure his base is broad and strong.

 

We also do Phonics Road 1 in conjunction with OPG and I think it's the perfect compliment. My son picks up on things so fast and he LOVES PR and people really go crazy when they see his writing and spelling (he writes in cursive). They are simply amazed.

 

I feel like if your son is ready for the work and enjoys it and you enjoy it, go for it. :D Although I say work, for my guy it really is fun and most of the first grade curriculum is very fun and interesting with a lot of great built in activities.

 

Btw, we do a lot of other things too like Elemental Science biology and R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey and Outdoor Hour and piano lessons, artistic pursuits and lots and lots of reading (Ambleside, Sonlight and HOD literature selections). Plus we do a school program outside of our home 2 mornings per week, and swimming and gym class 1 afternoon per week.

 

We are just about to finish up Beginning Geography and will then start Galloping the Globe (we plan to spend 2 or 3 years doing GTG before moving on to something else). I felt like this beginning geography book with a couple good children's atlases and a fun lift the flap atlas were the perfect intro to geography. He loves geography and has started to draw his own maps and knows all the continents and oceans and landforms and many countries and interesting geographical facts. It's incredible. Now that he has the basics down, I feel it's a good time to start Galloping the Globe. Btw, if you don't have it already, be warned that Galloping the Globe does take quite of bit of planning and preparation from you. It's definitely NOT open and go. It's basically just a list of resources that you can draw from.

 

I also use homeschool tracker to create lesson plans. It's really easy to reschedule when you don't hit something that day or do more than one lesson per day. It also makes it easy to see if you are ahead or behind with your plans. It also helps me to keep track of how much time we are spending and even though it LOOKS like we are doing a lot, it's really only a couple of FUN hours per day and the rest of the time we are playing outside (even in the rain), making fun projects, learning to bake, playing with Star Wars toys, legos, etc etc etc. :D

 

Have fun! :D

Edited December 20, 2010 by Cindyz

[emilia]

We are on break right now too. I understand your panic. I have days when I feel we are great everything is on track and other days when I feel I am a total failure and will regret ever decision I have ever made...

 

My DD is 5 and would be eligible to begin kindy in the fall...In the meantime she isn't half way through OPG. But she LOVES math. I use rightstart. so it's a ton of games very few worksheets she is breezing through it.

 

I also use Building Foundations in Scientific Understanding. We go pretty slowly. We get all the read a-louds from the library and do the experiments. She really seems to enjoy this. I am using the book Games for Writing with her. She does some of the first grade games but the book was written 10 years ago so...I figure it's fine. I hope to help her build the strength in her hands before putting her through the rigors of WWE. In my state I don't have to report sustained progress in learning until she is 8. So I am trying to pace myself. ;)

 

I also use the Foundation Year Teacher Guide from Living Books Curriculum. I love the pace and the depth of the Nature Study, Geography. I feel like we are covering a ton of stuff but it's complete age appropriate and she never complains about Picture Studys. There is a whole section on Music and Movement that I often neglect because her father and I are both accomplished guitarists and she takes dance once a week. So I could do more that isn't as academic as TWTM but I can see the importance of both music and movement at this age.

 

Good luck and hang in there. Take this week to kick back and reveal in your progress this far. Before you know it the baby will be here and who knows what you will challenged with at that point.

[Farrar]

If he's enjoying it and doing well, go ahead with first grade material. Why would you repeat material he's already comfortable with? But you don't have to call it "first grade" - if it makes you feel more comfortable, then call it kindergarten. I don't personally feel like what you call it matters that much, but there are many people who would advise you to call it "kindergarten" but do work that is generally considered first grade (or second or whatever) if he's ready for it. That way if he hits a stumbling block and goes slow later (some kids grow and learn in fits and starts), there's no sense of failure for having been "held back" or anything like that.

[MissKNG]

I would really hate to have to toss curriculum aside and spend more money on something else. ?

 

Don't forget there's a very active "For Sale" board on this forum that you can always post stuff you want to sell.

 

Also, there are a lot of people on this board with younger kiddos working ahead of ps "grade level". That's the beauty of home schooling...you aren't stuck in a box.

 

Personally, I don't think your plans sound "too much". My big girl is a very aggressive learner and I couldn't imagine trying to hold her back just because her age doesn't match up with what level she is working at. So I don't think you should be worried at all!

[skueppers]

And next fall is technically when he'd be starting kindergarten if he were going to PS. So should I start him on more 1st grade work or just do kindergarten again? If we were to do "kindergarten" I don't know what we'd do, I think he'd be so bored.

 

Well, you certainly wouldn't want to do the same type of work you've already done again, but that doesn't necessarily mean moving on to "first grade" is the best solution, either.

 

My situation this school year was similar with my Kindergarten-age daughter, and I opted to do "kindergarten" with her. That doesn't mean I don't meet her where she is from a skills point of view -- of course we're not doing math or reading that's too easy for her -- but we're also not forging ahead with certain more typical first-grade topics.

 

The main stuff we're doing this year is:

 

Math -- We're using the Math Mammoth Blue series books. She's completed addition 1, more than half of subtraction 1, and 3/4 of place value 1. This is "first grade math" by most definitions.

 

English -- We're focusing mainly on reading. No formal curriculum, just reading actual books. I also have her write something at least once a week, but we're not following a formal method. No grammar or spelling beyond what comes up in the context of our other work. We also don't do penmanship in English, because we do it in German (below) and it would be overkill to do it twice.

 

Geography -- We're studying various countries around the world. I have no particular agenda about which countries we'll study -- I ask her what she'd like to learn about next. She's also doing memory work on the locations and flags of different countries, and is starting to learn the US states.

 

Science -- We do a ton of stuff for science. We learn about the animals and habitats in the countries we're studying in Geography. We're studying rocks, doing early lego robotics, learning about electricity, watching nature videos, reading about animals, etc. She loves science.

 

Music -- She's taking relaxed piano lessons with dad, and we also listen to Classics for Kids and related music.

 

Art -- We do various art projects, visit art exhibits, and practice drawing.

 

German -- We spend more time on this than anything else. She takes a Saturday morning German class, does a reading workbook with me (roughly equivalent to something like Explode the Code), listens to German read-alouds, watches German TV, and is starting to read German books.

 

So we're doing a lot of school and learning a lot, but calling it "Kindergarten" allows me to avoid worrying about what specific objectives we ought to be meeting.

 

My suggestion would be to figure out what you think is most important for him to be learning at this age, taking his interests into account. Focus on that, and call it Kindergarten. He won't be bored if you're learning about things that interest him!

[KathyBC]

If he's enjoying it and doing well, go ahead with first grade material. Why would you repeat material he's already comfortable with? But you don't have to call it "first grade" - if it makes you feel more comfortable, then call it kindergarten. I don't personally feel like what you call it matters that much, but there are many people who would advise you to call it "kindergarten" but do work that is generally considered first grade (or second or whatever) if he's ready for it. That way if he hits a stumbling block and goes slow later (some kids grow and learn in fits and starts), there's no sense of failure for having been "held back" or anything like that.

 

Yes, I would just tell anyone you need to that he is in whatever grade matches his age. But just keep moving ahead with material at his pace. It sounds like you have a really well thought-out plan and have researched your choices. :thumbup1:

[2squared]

I wouldn't start on grade one were I you. I would get FIAR and enjoy myself and just having fun learning new things. Contrary to your plans with WWE, FLL and whatnot, I think you have more time now, before the baby, to just do messy things and have fun discovering. When you need him to be in one spot because you need to nurse, THEN start the other stuff, as you planned, next fall. Until then, FUN FUN FUN! Get messy, go out, do nature walks, loads of science and history books. Try on some Charlotte Mason, have a great time. Really. He'll remember having that fun until he's grown. Take lots of pics, too. :)

 

:iagree: Our best times homeschooling were our FIAR days. My kids remember so much from those lessons. We built wonderful relationships and had so much fun. Every time I bring out a FIAR book they get a special look on their faces and they cuddle right in to listen. FIAR will be coming back to our house!

[trying my best]

OMG! i have THE EXACT the same son as you!! I am also thinking about sending him to K next fall and he is doing 1st grade with me. He turned 5 in Sept and finished K level reading within 2 months and now in the middle of 1st grade for reading and math.

 

 

I am thinking if K doesn't challenge him enough then I might just wake him up an hour earlier and do home school work with him on HIS level :)

 

So understanding he might have little challenge in real K i still promote him to 1st grade at home because it will just be waste of time on my part and his part to repeat K.

 

I would love to get in touch with you more because we have similar situation :) Do you have yahoo IM for me to add you?

[thowell]

I would encourage you to do what YOU feel is best for your son. The only opinion I will offer is that now that dd7 is ending 2nd grade I sometimes wish I had slowed down more and spent more time doing the fun and snuggley time with her. They have so many academic years ahead of them and the young years go by so fast. She is very bright and keeps up with her older sisters well but I feel like we missed out on alot of the fun and relaxed times. Good luck in whatever decision you make!

[Storm Bay]

Have you asked on the AL forum here? I'd simply keep working at his pace, even if you take a break after the baby is born, although you may not. Some things can be read alouds together when your baby is sleeping, etc. My ds learned to read sitting in my lap, so for him it was very enjoyable because it was snuggle time, too. What I wouldn't do is repeat K unless it's obvious that your ds has forgotten things. As for history and science, if you don't get around it formally with the baby, you can always do science by reading trade books together, by taking nature walks together, by doing a group class, etc. However, if you don't get to it until he's 7 or 8, that's okay, too. Not everyone on the forums does three cycles through world history; some of us do one or two, depending on when we start homeschooling, when we finish, or other reasons.

[FO4UR]

No need to worry! Enjoy this year...give yourself lots of grace while adjusting to the new baby!:001_smile:

 

Your ds is doing great!!!:hurray:

 

I understand the $ worries & the stress that puts on curric choices. Start one new thing at a time. Even if you need to purchase it all at once, start the new math curric (let it settle for a month), then start the next thing and let it settle for a month, etc...slow and steady wins the race.

 

I have an advanced 5yo too and she does reading, handwriting and math in addition to tons of reading aloud. I let her advance at her own pace and she's ahead in everything, but I still call her a "Kindergartener." Also, I only require about 15min per lesson for her (b/c she is still a 5yo), even though she might be capable (and might choose) of longer lessons. Her attitude about lessons is more important than the actual lesson at this point. I often ask, "Would you like to do one more or save the next for tomorrow?"

[meggie]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful advice. Glad to know I won't be messing him up for life :tongue_smilie:. We'll just go slow and steady and get our hours in and I won't worry about falling behind on things.

[meggie]

 

I would love to get in touch with you more because we have similar situation :) Do you have yahoo IM for me to add you?

 

 

Lol, I haven't done IMing in several years, but go ahead and send me a private message.:001_smile:

[meggie]

Have you asked on the AL forum here?

 

Never really thought about it, I guess. I mean, to me, he seems like a genius, but I'd just assumed every parent secretly thought that about their child. I will check that forum out more often though, to gauge where he is.

[Storm Bay]

Never really thought about it, I guess. I mean, to me, he seems like a genius, but I'd just assumed every parent secretly thought that about their child. I will check that forum out more often though, to gauge where he is.

 

The AL forum isn't a genius forum ;). It's for anyone who has a dc who is ahead in one or more subjects, which yours is. Yes, there are parents of gifted dc who post there frequently, but they aren't the only ones who go there.