5LittleMonkeys Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Ds5 officially started K on Monday. I had purchased about 10 preK, K workbooks from the teacher store and the dollar store to keep his little hands and brain active in between his more formal phonics and math lessons. Once he starts school in the morning he wants to keep at it until lunch, taking little breaks on and off. I can't engage in one on one teaching for that amount of time hence the workbooks to give him something to do. I also have a large notebook filled with different file folder games that he has done and now is bored with them (these were supposed to last him for the whole year). I've realized that he has picked up a large amount of knowledge behind my back and so much of what I had planned for him is at to low a level. So, here it is Thursday of his first week and he has done all 10 workbooks. Dh suggested getting him some first grade workbooks but there is so much in them that hasn't been introduced. I don't want a cheap little workbook introducing a concept contrary to how I would introduce it and I wouldn't want him to go through the book doing any of it wrong. Right now he is doing two 15 minute sessions of phonics using PP and two 15 minute math sessions using MM1 (front and back of one page). He is also working on ETC but I have to limit him or he would blow through a whole book in a day (not necessarily doing all of the lessons correctly). I have tried to get him to sit in while we do read alouds or for some of the activities in TGTL POE but it doesn't hold his interest. There are little moments (5 minutes here and there) that I can direct him to a new activity (sorting, patterns, counting) but he seems to be getting really bored with that too. I would love to have more time to spend one on one with him but right now dd8 needs me for almost everything and I'm having to work one on one with dd12 in a lot of subjects too. I am working on getting them both more independent. Then of coarse there is the 2yo. I'm torn between telling him to go play and feeling that he needs more academic stimulus. If he stays at the table working then I feel he needs meaningful work and not just page after page of the same thing over and over again. Not to mention that at the pace he goes through seatwork I'm going to spend a fortune on workbooks. What else can I give him that will hold his attention but that doesn't require one on one from me in order for it to be beneficial? We have legos, playdough, pattern blocks and magnets, flashcards, puzzles and books, paints, clay, beads.... He seems to spend the most time on activities that are challenging to him though, which none of the above are anymore. I forgot to mention that my schooling budget is gone for this part of the year so it has to be super inexpensive or free. TIA for any suggestions or for links to past threads! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 No advice, but I feel your pain! My son has been taking one of his workbooks to his rest time every day and it is nearly done. I guess our days aren't going to be as full this next year as I had expected! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace'smom Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 How far along is he in reading? Can you get him easy books from the library? He could read his own books and draw a picture about what he read. If he's not far along enough in reading can you focus on that a bit more heavily until he gets to the point where he could read some books on his own? Also, when my DD was at a point where she wasn't quite ready for books but I knew she could read some things on her own, I made up stories I knew she could handle and had her draw pictures to illustrate them. Can he follow along with your eight year old for history and science? He could absorb some of that information even if it's advanced. Art is a wonderful thing to let him focus on at this age, and simple sciences. You could read him some "Let's Read and Find Out" books and have him come up with ideas to work on for school. I think there's a book on worms you could read him, and then he could go outside and hunt for worms to observe/draw... That sort of thing. Weather, flowers, etc. There's a good variety of basic science books at the library that would give him some opportunities for observation while you're doing something else, depending on how safe you feel your backyard is for a five year old alone. Also- Geography! Have him start identifying the equator, prime meridian, etc. and drawing the continent blobs on paper. That's very cheap and easy for him to do on his own after he gets the hang of it. If you could check out The Core from the library you could get information on how to start that. I think there is a free website explaining the blob technique, but I can't find it in my favorites so maybe someone else has a link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenninMN Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 The Learning Page has free themed workbooks you can print out. Membership is required, but it IS free to print as you go. Starfall has printable worksheets that go along with their phonics. You might want to check the free thread. Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Can you have one of the older girls work with him while you work with DD8? that way he will move into new material quickly, which it seems like he's ready for, without so much one on one time from you. Can you have him learn to knit or some kind of handwork? OM suggests that the children do fingerknitting in K, and you can find YouTube videos in how to do it for free. Perhaps some puzzles would be good. If the 50 or 100 piece ones are too easy he could try a 250 or 500 piece, or one of the globe puzzles that have a different piece for each country. There are also logic books, such as those from Tin Man or Prufrock Press. I ordered a workbook called The Never Bored Kid Book from Timberdoodle, which has varied activities. It might hold him for a couple of days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 If you're looking for something he can do independently while you're busy with the others, one thing I'd probably let him do is "play" on whatever the next reading level for him would be on Starfall.com and also on-line math fact games, which seem to be endless. It won't last you forever, but it might get you through a few more weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I second Starfall.com. Maybe he could start to learn typing? Dance Mat Typing is free. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ How about Copywork? How are his fine motor skills? What about painting with watercolors? (Good for fine motor.) (Teach him to do it all himself and clean up himself.) Audio books from the library? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eloquacious Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 If he likes workbooks, Fun Fonix has free, ETC-style workbooks for him to destroy as he wishes. You can print them cheaply. http://www.funfonix.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I love love love Librivox for recorded books. You can download to iTunes, an mp3 player, or even on CD if you wanted. Here are some good books to get you started: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Recordings_of_Books_on_the_Ambleside_List also http://librivox.org/my-fathers-dragon-by-ruth-stiles-gannett/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossFitMama Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 If you want to try some other workbooks, we've found the Teacher Created Resources that Learning Palace carries and the Building Thinking Skills workbooks to be very fun and engaging - they build without repeating too much. There's also zoodles online that gathers online games and then lets you as the parent tell it to push them in certain academic directions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I love the Brainquest workbooks for that! Also, Learning Horizons has a decent one as well. They are large and should last him a little bit! My ds did that when I bought him 2 maze books. They lasted 45 minutes :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelanieM Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I have two kids like this, so I have started using a filing system and stuffing it with printables from online. I typically spend a couple hours printing and sorting to file for a 12-week period. For my 6 yo I include copywork (using Startwrite), mazes (http://www.krazydad.com/mazes/index.php?fmt=EZ), word searches, math puzzles, dot-to-dots, and anything else I stumble across that looks interesting. I find lots of useful pages at http://www.worksheetworks.com/. He especially loves the math mazes, and it's a great way to practice addition and subtraction facts. I also find lapbooks to be an effective and productive consumer of time. http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ has some lovely free lapbooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 So many great ideas! I knew you all would have some. He isn't reading even cvc words yet but based on what we have done this week I don't think it will be long until he is. I've tried to get him to follow along with history and science at the table with us but he won't sit with us. I know he is listening though because today he was blurting out answers from the living room to our read along discussion questions. The older dc are already at capacity between their own schedules, chores and they each spend an hour watching the 2yo. I would have a mutiny on my hands if I tried to get them to work with him. We have used librivox and starfall in the past. He became bored with it but I think we will try to revisit it again. It's been about 4 or 5 months. Finger knitting sounds interesting, I'll check that out. So many great new websites to check out too. His fine motor skills are actually amazing for a 5yo boy. He taught himself to write all of his letters so yes, copywork would definitely be something he could do. What is that copywork book that has drawing with it...Draw Now...is that it? I never thought of doing a file system just for him. That would alleviate me having to stop every 15 minutes to find him something new to do. I could just over stuff each day couldn't I? He does love doing art but with everything we've had going on lately we've run out of supplies and I'd forgotten how much painting and sculpting with clay holds his attention. Thanks for reminding me of that! Oh gosh, now you all have gotten my brain working again. Something else that I think will work is that this weekend we are converting half of our garage into a play\craft area so he will be able to go out there away from the baby octopus we keep in the house. So many times he has wanted to do something and can't because of the potential frustration and mess that Ms. GrabsALot causes. Thank you all so much and feel free to keep giving me suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadsandLilysMom Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 If he likes to cut, color and paste my 5 year old loves lapbooks. I print the materials and let her work on them. I help as well, but she can do most of the items herself. She would work on them all day if I let her. She has learned a lot from making them and enjoys showing them to everyone. She also love the ThinkFun logic games. I started her with Rush Hour Jr and she finished all of the puzzles in two days. I bought Rush Hour and that has slowed her down a bit. We have 8 of the games that I rotate. Perplexus, Inchanimals and Shut the Box are also favorite independent games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 So many great ideas! I knew you all would have some. He isn't reading even cvc words yet but based on what we have done this week I don't think it will be long until he is. I've tried to get him to follow along with history and science at the table with us but he won't sit with us. I know he is listening though because today he was blurting out answers from the living room to our read along discussion questions. The older dc are already at capacity between their own schedules, chores and they each spend an hour watching the 2yo. I would have a mutiny on my hands if I tried to get them to work with him. We have used librivox and starfall in the past. He became bored with it but I think we will try to revisit it again. It's been about 4 or 5 months. Finger knitting sounds interesting, I'll check that out. So many great new websites to check out too. His fine motor skills are actually amazing for a 5yo boy. He taught himself to write all of his letters so yes, copywork would definitely be something he could do. What is that copywork book that has drawing with it...Draw Now...is that it? I never thought of doing a file system just for him. That would alleviate me having to stop every 15 minutes to find him something new to do. I could just over stuff each day couldn't I? He does love doing art but with everything we've had going on lately we've run out of supplies and I'd forgotten how much painting and sculpting with clay holds his attention. Thanks for reminding me of that! Oh gosh, now you all have gotten my brain working again. Something else that I think will work is that this weekend we are converting half of our garage into a play\craft area so he will be able to go out there away from the baby octopus we keep in the house. So many times he has wanted to do something and can't because of the potential frustration and mess that Ms. GrabsALot causes. Thank you all so much and feel free to keep giving me suggestions! Have you tried the more.starfall.com? It's $35 for a year but it has a ton of stuff--CVC word generator, addition/subtraction/place value games, color songs, nursery rhymes, Shakespearean quotes, and a ton more. Dd is addicted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Seconding many of these ideas. We also used to do dot to dots and number mazes at that age. You can find the number mazes here (just scroll down) - they have lots of other mazes, dot to dots, and other free printables too. One idea for stuff you like is to laminate it and give him a whiteboard marker to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 How about making and writing homemade books with your little guy? They are meaningful learning tools and free. http://teachingmybabytoread.blog.com/homemade-books/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 If you're looking for something he can do independently while you're busy with the others, one thing I'd probably let him do is "play" on whatever the next reading level for him would be on Starfall.com and also on-line math fact games, which seem to be endless. It won't last you forever, but it might get you through a few more weeks. Computer based learning would be my suggestion for those "in between" times too. There are lots of fun K-1st level math games at Toy Theatre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Poisson Rouge is also neat and open ended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhaddon Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Readingeggs.com. And maybe some harder games and puzzles. Does he enjoy word searches? How about coPywork maybe a typing game or jumpstart game. Make him run laps around the house Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 CD's and memory work- Classical Conversations, SOTW, MoH, IEW Poetry, books on tape, Jim Wiess, Wee Sing, Memory Work, Focus on the Family Radio Theater, etc. There is a homeschool company that offers a zillion things on CD- can't remember the name of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 ABCmouse.com is fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelanieM Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 His fine motor skills are actually amazing for a 5yo boy. He taught himself to write all of his letters so yes, copywork would definitely be something he could do. What is that copywork book that has drawing with it...Draw Now...is that it? Draw Write Now... We love these books!I never thought of doing a file system just for him. That would alleviate me having to stop every 15 minutes to find him something new to do. I could just over stuff each day couldn't I? Yes, that's what I do (but I file for the week) and it has been so much nicer to have it all there for them to work at their own pace rather than try to scramble a dozen times a day for more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Does he write? Can he do copy work? Very cheap! If art isn't challenging, how about having him start drawing from life? My son started with drawing seed pods. They interested him, and his "copying" drawing is far more sophisticated than his drawing-from-imagination. What about lots of great few-words or wordless books from the library, and ask him to tell you the story of the pictures, in as great detail as he can. Also very cheap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 What else can I give him that will hold his attention but that doesn't require one on one from me in order for it to be beneficial? 5 is when we started the Vox Music Masters and the Naxos recordings of Tale of Troy, etc. Hearing good stories in excellent English is a productive way to spend time for all, but especially children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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