Curricula for a worksheet-despising kid?

[Wabi Sabi]

Ds6 has pretty much zero tolerance for worksheets and other busywork. He attended one semester of public school for kindergarten and he would come home in tears because he hated doing the worksheets.

 

He doesn't even like "fun" workbooks (ie: Kumon) at home. Systematic phonics style readers brings him to tears as well. HWT was a total flop because it was too workbook-y for him.

 

He will, however, spend lots of time writing on blank sheets of paper on his own. He loves to draw, write his own stories and make books, create things, do hands-on projects, copy maps, color very intricate coloring pages (Dover books are right up his alley!), and play with math manipulatives.

 

I haven't decided on everything yet, but for now I'm leaning towards Miquon plus some RightStart games for math, Nebel's BSFU for science and Draw Write Now books to practice his handwriting. There will also be lots of hands-on projects and activities to do with history so that shouldn't be an issue. Have no idea yet how to approach grammar, spelling or other subjects.

 

Does anyone else have a child with an absolute disdain for anything that resembles a worksheet and if so, what have you found that works well for them? Any particular programs or methods? What has worked (or not worked at all!) for you?

[meet me in paris]

Sounds like Oak Meadow would be a great fit for you.

 

http://oakmeadow.com/

 

We have also used Sonlight for years... not a worksheet to be found anywhere in there (except in the Science). But as for overall fit for what you describe, I'd take a serious look at Oak Meadow.

[Critterfixer]

Stay away from Spelling Workout.:001_smile: That would be a workbook nightmare for him. There are some spelling programs that combine phonics and spelling and use letter tiles; AAS, I'm thinking?

I would probably focus a great deal on oral narrations for the vast majority of his study and you might want to look into a good program for cartography. Then he could draw his maps for his history. For science you also would want to limit worksheets to a minimum. I would have a list of questions that he needs to answer and again, have him narrate them orally.

For grammar and writing, FLL and WWE, both Bauer books have a lot of oral work, no worksheets. There is copywork to practice handwriting. Some of this he could do on paper, but I would also look into a good, heavy, old-fashioned chalkboard. It has been my experience that children love to show off,:001_smile:, and the chalkboard is a great way to show off his copywork, no hint of a worksheet.

 

Math, I don't know. Saxon is heavy on worksheets. I would probably go with a program that uses a lot of hands-on figuring, and limit his problems on paper until he detoxes from Kindergarten.

 

And lots, and lots and lots of stories! Have him draw pictures to go with his narrations on some of these, (not all) and if he is proud of his work, as he should be, you could have him write part of his narration or a story for his artwork.

[Kirch]

He sounds so creative--lapbooking or even notebooking might be a good fit. Instead of filling out worksheets, with notebooking the child (on his own or with help, depending on age) makes a notebook page about what he's learned, complete with narration or listed info, drawings, pictures, diagrams, whatever is appropriate. Lapbooking is similar, except the child makes small books of various shapes and glues them in a manila folder that has been re-folded to open like shutters. Both formats are great for science, literature, and history, and they can even be used for grammar and other "skill" areas if you're creative. Here are some links if you're interested:

 

Lapbooks that we've made (we've made more, but these are the only ones I've got complete pics of on my blog):

Farm lapbooks

 

Snake lapbook

 

Katy No-Pocket lapbook

 

Lots of notebooking and lapbooking information here

 

 

As far as grammar and spelling--First Language Lessons is mostly done orally for the first year or year and a half at least. All About Spelling is excellent, and although there is some written work, it's not worksheets.

[Snowfall]

If Miquon doesn't work out, take a look at the entire Rightstart level B program. It has only a few worksheets here and there. :)

 

Phonics Road has spelling, writing, and grammar worked into one. There aren't any typical worksheets, but there are some sheets that do have to be filled out, so they would probably seem like worksheets to him, but there really aren't many of them. You do about 5 spelling words per day, just writing them on the lined paper in the student notebook. The worksheet-like pages are only for writing certain words to show different spelling rules and things like that. In level 1 I think there are maybe 20 of them for the entire year, and many of them don't get filled out all in one day - just a word here and there.

[Ellie]

Smart kid.:D

 

He might be a unit-study kid. You can easily invent your own, but you could try something published like KONOS or the Weaver.

 

Or maybe a Charlotte Mason kid, as in Ambleside Online.

[ElizabethB]

Pick a good phonics program like PP or OPG and do it from the white board.

 

I'm doing Webster's Speller with my son, he reads and spells words from the white board. It ends at a 12th grade reading level, he won't get there for at least a year. Here is his progress so far, you can see how it works:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208407

 

You could also play my phonics concentration game and the games in Mona McNee's Cat Phonics, scroll to near the end for her games.

 

You can do a bit of grammar with Mad Libs and this series of books, most libraries have them, my son learned what a verb was when he was 3 by jumping around the room being a verb:

 

http://www.amazon.com/You-Were-Verb-Word-Fun/dp/1404819819/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301019079&sr=8-1

 

MCT is a good choice for 2nd or 3rd grade Language Arts that is fun and not workbooky.

 

FLL could be good for 1st/2nd grade grammar, although you may have to modify the script a bit. It's been a few years since I used it, we've been doing MCT for 2 years now, so I don't remember exactly. I know we didn't do written work and I did it in a fairly fun manner. I know I modified the script a bit, but I don't remember exactly what I changed.

[Aurelia]

Ariel was a worksheet-hater, but she's gotten better over time. I still don't choose things that use a lot of workbooks.

 

My recommendations:

Math - Right Start or Professor B. Miquon has a "lab sheet" they do pretty much every day, so it might not be best for the worksheet-phobic. Math Mammoth was a raging disaster. It's all worksheets. Also avoid CLE and Rod & Staff. Many worksheets = many tears here.

 

Science: BFSU is good. GEMS and even Sonlight are also fine. Nature study is also really good, as he can fill in his own (unlined) nature notebook.

 

Handwriting: We tried the DWN books and Ariel hated them, but to each their own. Your son might love it. You can always get one book and try. Handwriting Without Tears was a good fit because it required only a few repetitions of each letter, but it had to be her best effort.

 

Grammar: FLL is probably the best bet. Is he reading independently? If not, I wouldn't use a grammar program with him. We skipped it for Ariel's 1st grade work because it's really a finite amount of knowledge and I don't think it's vital to learn at the age of 6 or 7.

 

If you need a reading program, I'd suggest something like Read, Write, Type or Dancing Bears (a workbook, but with very, very little writing, mostly done by the parent)

 

Spelling: AAS is probably the best choice. It has no worksheets, and if you do the lessons on the whiteboard, it doesn't even use paper. It took too long for my taste, but it works beautifully for people with more time than I have.

 

Overall, Oak Meadow might be a good choice. It's really gentle and the kids are encouraged not to use lined paper. We're trying it out this year. FIAR might also be a good fit. You choose the activities that will best fit your child. You could also try AO or SL, since neither have lots of worksheets, but you have to really love reading aloud.

[ElizabethB]

For handwriting, I tried 3 or 4 worksheet programs, all were failures.

 

Then, I switched to the white board, much better! I do one letter at a time until they can make the letters well, then work on joins and 2 and 3 letter words, then longer words. When they can write anything well on the white board, they get to try paper.

 

I use this book, it has both manuscript and cursive, and when you need to switch to paper, you can make your own sheets from the ZB website for free.

 

http://shop.zaner-bloser.com/p-905-self-instruction-in-handwriting.aspx

 

(It says it is for older students, but I used it with my son this year in K and it was fine! I just use the manual for a reference and teach from the whiteboard.)

[Osaubi]

I have a child that doesn't like to write for any reason. The most I can ever get out of him is 1 or 2 sentences every couple of days. He also hates writing and hands on projects.

 

I modify what ever we use. For math we use RightStart. He will do some of those worksheets. I also use Timez Attack and Math Blaster as a supplement.

 

We used FLL 1 and 2 orally. He didn't write down anything for that book. We are now on FLL 3 and it comes with a workbook. Instead of writing the words to diagram the sentences I have him underline different parts of the sentence in colored pencils. He then has to mark with the same color where it goes in the diagram.

 

The one exception for writing is WWE. He does have to write with that program. I found he likes the workbook pages better than regular paper. I think it has to do with the art work on some of the pages.

 

We just started All About Spelling and I am not sure how I will modify it yet.

 

I have used magnet tiles, plastic tiles, playdough, and chalkboard in his earlier years to various degrees of sucess.

 

If we did encounter a worksheet he would tell me the answers and I would write it down. Sometimes I would have him spell it out while I wrote it.

[NanceXToo]

Sounds like Oak Meadow would be a great fit for you.

 

http://oakmeadow.com/

 

We have also used Sonlight for years... not a worksheet to be found anywhere in there (except in the Science). But as for overall fit for what you describe, I'd take a serious look at Oak Meadow.

 

That's what I was going to say. I am a HUGE Oak Meadow fan. Love, love, love Oak Meadow.

 

This is what a typical week of Oak Meadow Kindergarten is like, with pics:

 

http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/125979.html

 

 

 

This is my review of Oak Meadow with more info about the curriculum, philosophy, etc:

 

http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/124071.html

 

 

Oak Meadow is more gentle/slower paced/less academic in the earliest years. More hands on and Waldorf-inspired (not true Waldorf though). It does become more writing-intensive and more at age level in later years, yet it STILL manages to do that without being textbookish or comprised of worksheets or tests or any of that stuff... it's great. I love it. (Did I say that already?) lol.

 

(I did OM4 with my daughter last year, we're more than halfway done with OM5 this year, and I'm looking forward to moving on to OM6 with her next year, as well as moving up through all the grades with my younger son who is 5).

[FO4UR]

Ds6 has pretty much zero tolerance for worksheets and other busywork. He attended one semester of public school for kindergarten and he would come home in tears because he hated doing the worksheets.

 

He doesn't even like "fun" workbooks (ie: Kumon) at home. Systematic phonics style readers brings him to tears as well. HWT was a total flop because it was too workbook-y for him.

 

He will, however, spend lots of time writing on blank sheets of paper on his own. He loves to draw, write his own stories and make books, create things, do hands-on projects, copy maps, color very intricate coloring pages (Dover books are right up his alley!), and play with math manipulatives.

 

I haven't decided on everything yet, but for now I'm leaning towards Miquon plus some RightStart games for math, Nebel's BSFU for science and Draw Write Now books to practice his handwriting. There will also be lots of hands-on projects and activities to do with history so that shouldn't be an issue. Have no idea yet how to approach grammar, spelling or other subjects.

 

Does anyone else have a child with an absolute disdain for anything that resembles a worksheet and if so, what have you found that works well for them? Any particular programs or methods? What has worked (or not worked at all!) for you?

 

 

Miquon is a great choice! :001_smile:

 

And :iagree: with Elizabeth about getting a phonics primer and using the whiteboard.

 

Also, you can scribe for him...essentially doing the worksheet orally...using it as a guide for you rather than independent work for him.

 

For handwriting/copywork, choose words and sentences (as he's ready) from books he loves. For some reason, it's less painful to write this way. Start with having him copy one letter...then 3 letters...then a word...then a phrase...then a sentence...slow and steady wins the race.

[woolybear]

Have you considered a Charlotte Mason approach? There are quite a few online free curriculums you could print out and get your own books. I think http:http://www.tanglewoodeducation.com looks nice for that age.

 

Also, not free but very nice: http://www.livingbookscurriculum.com can give you the idea of a CM education.