Marie463 Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 So, almost one full year of official homeschooling is under our belt... And here's what I'm wondering... Do those of you with accelerated kiddos feel like you are just a tour guide of sorts? Friends will ask my ds5 if his mom is a good "teacher" and I have to laugh to myself that I've barely taught him anything yet! I basically just have to explain something once and he's got it. For example, let's take money....I showed him the coins, told him the amounts once and he got it. With hardly any other instruction, he just worked his way through a money workbook...for fun. At times, I have to admit that I feel like I should be doing more in the way of instruction and making things challenging for him, but I want to be cautious not to overwhelm him with too much at such a young age. I guess that I have no real question. Just need to talk (type) to some others that understand! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I know exactly what you mean. With a DD who was an early reader and prefers to read for herself, even supposedly "parent intensive" curricula tend to become quite independent. My role is mostly to sit near her and give her someone to talk to as she reads and explores. She still wants/needs me there, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaMa2005 Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I know exactly what you mean. With a DD who was an early reader and prefers to read for herself, even supposedly "parent intensive" curricula tend to become quite independent. My role is mostly to sit near her and give her someone to talk to as she reads and explores. She still wants/needs me there, though. :iagree: Even when I am trying to 'teach', I have so much 'help' from the expert on the other side of the table that it can be very frustrating for ME! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Once my kids are reading... I don't consider myself teaching much of anything. Facilitating, talking, but teaching? My older three have been quite content to read and do the workbooks. They are now all well past workbook stage (or we are changing curricula to a less-workbooky approach). I lead/teach more now than early elementary. My rising Ker is "behind" where all of my other children have been at this stage. But, to be fair, she's gotten a LOT less attention between the ages of 2-4 as my olders did. Mainly, because my oldest became a royal pain about doing his work, and I've had to ride him constantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RanchGirl Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 sometimes I teach, sometimes I facilitate, sometimes I learn along with them, and sometimes I just need to get out of the way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 I don't find myself having to teach much either. I would agree that it is more facilitation or maybe accountability. DD could do everything herself but she wouldn't if I wasn't near by to make sure she stays on task. I guess I'm teaching her to be disciplined/stay on task but pretty much everything else she teaches herself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 When my kids don't need me to teach at least a little bit, that is my clue that the material is not challenging enough for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 When my kids don't need me to teach at least a little bit, that is my clue that the material is not challenging enough for them. I agree with this and am finding a new frustration. I teach for a day and then we need to skip forward 2 weeks to find new material. I shouldn't complain but it is tiring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie463 Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 Yay -- we're not alone! Ok, let me try to glean some wisdom from those of you who accelerate your dc's work... Keeping in mind the issues of asynchronous development, how do you address concerns of what they can do versus what they should do? For example, ds can read the newspaper. This doesn't mean that he should be reading the paper at this young and tender age. In an academic realm, some children could handle 4th grade work at age 5, but should they? Not trying to create a big debate....these are just some of the issues that I'm struggling with....and I'm so grateful to have some others to listen to my ramblings! As someone said above....this is a good problem to have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaMa2005 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 For example, ds can read the newspaper. This doesn't mean that he should be reading the paper at this young and tender age. In an academic realm, some children could handle 4th grade work at age 5, but should they? DS is 5 and doing 5-6th grade work. He can handle the work, but only after I have examined the content myself. It is my responsibility to make sure that he doesn't venture into areas that are not suitable for his age even though he could handle it academically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Yay -- we're not alone! Ok, let me try to glean some wisdom from those of you who accelerate your dc's work... Keeping in mind the issues of asynchronous development, how do you address concerns of what they can do versus what they should do? For example, ds can read the newspaper. This doesn't mean that he should be reading the paper at this young and tender age. In an academic realm, some children could handle 4th grade work at age 5, but should they? Not trying to create a big debate....these are just some of the issues that I'm struggling with....and I'm so grateful to have some others to listen to my ramblings! As someone said above....this is a good problem to have! I do it by the amount of time spent. For example, when my son was in 1st grade, I thought a reasonable amount of time to spend at schoolwork was 2-3 hours. So he did challenging work for 2-3 hours. His writing ability--particularly the physical aspect of writing--is more typical for his age. So I have to modify higher level resources with this in mind. Sometimes I have him do things orally, or I have him dictate things, or I allow him to type. Once we get to high school level work, I will have to be sure that my output expectations of him are high school level expectations (with appropriate accommodations, such as keyboarding and extra time for tests due to age appropriate motor skills and processing speed) if I am going to give high school credit for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Do those of you with accelerated kiddos feel like you are just a tour guide of sorts? I teach most things we do for school. We tend to work together quite a bit. By that I mean history would involve reading books together, discussing things, doing projects together, etc. I find this method to work well with my boys. Discussion can be deeper and information in books can lead to further investigation if desired. For independent learning I am very much a facilitator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Keeping in mind the issues of asynchronous development, how do you address concerns of what they can do versus what they should do? For example, ds can read the newspaper. This doesn't mean that he should be reading the paper at this young and tender age. In an academic realm, some children could handle 4th grade work at age 5, but should they? I give them what they can do, but in an age appropriate way. For instance, I tend to choose content based books with lots of pictures for their age-appropriateness and lots of information to quench their need to know. We go deep and explore topics in depth, but do so in an age appropriate way. For instance, yesterday my boys learned about the reproductive system in science. Today they are watching a great DVD about a baby growing in the womb. I am editing out a few parts toward the end that show nudity. We looked in depth at human skin and did a project that is more along the lines of their age - made a model out of Rice Krispie Treats and candy. For reading I tend to choose classics that contain more appropriate content for younger readers. You get the idea. :001_smile::001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 So, almost one full year of official homeschooling is under our belt... And here's what I'm wondering... Do those of you with accelerated kiddos feel like you are just a tour guide of sorts? Friends will ask my ds5 if his mom is a good "teacher" and I have to laugh to myself that I've barely taught him anything yet! I basically just have to explain something once and he's got it. For example, let's take money....I showed him the coins, told him the amounts once and he got it. With hardly any other instruction, he just worked his way through a money workbook...for fun. At times, I have to admit that I feel like I should be doing more in the way of instruction and making things challenging for him, but I want to be cautious not to overwhelm him with too much at such a young age. I guess that I have no real question. Just need to talk (type) to some others that understand! Yes, I've been there. My eldest wanted to teach herself, and for the most part did from the ages of 8-15. She was in ps from K-2. She has recently returned to ps and is acing everything. She's decided that she needs teachers (not sure if she does for everything) and that she works better in the classroom than at home (that is true.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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