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Kindergarden for a 4 yr old or not?


TwoToSchool
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Originally I intended to homeschool just my oldest 2 kids this school year. However, after doing a trial run this summer and seeing that things really aren't as tough as I thought they'd be, I'm wondering if I shouldn't move forward with my 4 yr old as well. My 4yr old will turn 5 at the end of Sept. (so well past our state's cutoff for kindy this year) He knows his letters and most of the letter sounds, can sound out sight words, numbers up to around 20 (as far as counting, writing and identifying) all colors, shapes, how to identify patterns etc. These things were mostly taught during the last 2-3 months:) I'm just debating actually buying a kindy curriculum for him. He seems to be getting very bored on starfall and is getting sick of doing the same old printed letter worksheets every day. If I do use a kindy curriculum (I'm thinking of specifically math and phonics since he will sit in on science and history with older sibs) will it be teaching most of what he already has learned and I'll just be wasting my $$?Are there any great math and phonics programs that you can rec.? THanks!

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My DD is in about the same spot. She's going to turn 5 at the end of August and we will be using mostly K materials this year.

 

I don't feel any pressure to label her or to move her to 1st next year if she's not ready, so we'll just see how it goes this year.

 

My older 3 are 21 months apart from each other and my 8yo DS (3rd) is definitely way out ahead with the younger two, 6yo DS and 4yo DD, closer together in ability, so it makes sense to me that 6yo DS would be in 1st and 4yo DD right after him in K.

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Wow. You'll get a thousand different answers to that question! LOL

You can do kindy with a 4yr old. I did with my girls :>)

 

Right now I'm using Christian Light 100 level for kindergarden Reading and Math. My 4yr old likes it so I'm not going to rock the boat. My daughter won't be 5 until August 8th here ,and she's a bit on the advanced side so that's what we're doing. I'm just working through it at her pace. If she wants to go through it quickly I let her. If not I slow it down and let her work at her pace. I don't know of many 4yr olds working on 1st grade level work where I come from so I just let her guide my way. I also used Brillkids to teacher her to read. I'm not sure what level she really reads at the moment. But I plan on getting her the Learn To Read series and let her show me. For now she loves reading Dr. Suess books.

 

With my oldest I did Kindergarden with her at the age of 4, and I used 100 EZ lessons for reading with her and Bob Jones math ( that was a good program for her)

 

My 2nd daughter I used Saxon K and Rod and Staff Preschool ( which is a kindy program) with her. That was when she was attending preschool outside of the home too. She did it because she wanted to. She learned to read with 100 EZ lessons.

 

My 3rd daughter did K12 for Kindergarden. It was a good fit for her at the time. We used it through a cyberschool. She learned to really read with the 100 EZ lessons though.

 

So as you can see there are so many programs out there. Your not wasting your money if its a program that works for your child. I think I did better having something to guide me along.

Edited by TracyR
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I think you will get a lot of mixed responses her :tongue_smilie:

 

I say if they are ready and they enjoy it then I see no harm. My little guy is 4.5 and won't turn 5 until February. However He has blown through 3 kindy math programs ( in my attempt to satisfy him yet slow him down) he did SM EM K, MIF K and MUS alpha. We have now started with SM 1A. he can count to 100, read pretty well and is very logical like a lil vulcan. When he had is evaluation (he is an aspie) he scored as a first grader so we are going forward with K this year. The teachers and SN therapists at our school district are very positive about his be able to handle kindy this year! Some kids are ready and chomping at the bit at 4 and others are not quite ready until later on. Though f you feel your LO is ready then go for it and don't let any naysayers hold you back :D Now if you hit a wall on anything just slow way down or even take a break for a bit until they move past it and then start forward again.

 

just my 2 cents though

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I'm doing math and phonics with my 4.5 year old. We do it on a "when he wants to" basis. He will not be labeled K this year, nor will I worry about what, if anything, we get done this year. As far as the state is concerned, he'll be K the fall of 2012.

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I think it depends on how you define "Kindergarten".

 

Many on this board keep it very light, lots of read-alouds and field trips. That kind of kindergarten I would do with a 4 y.o. In my area kindergarten is the new first grade, with sit down writing and a push to read early, and that kind of kindergarten I would not do with a 4 y.o.

 

Both of my boys have just been so busy, they were not ready to sit or write at 4. But with a younger sibling, I can see them wanting to be included so I would plan something, probably really hands-on and not particularly academic for them to keep them occupied.

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What's your state's requirements? In mine, K is mandatory, so if you did K, but didn't register as homeschooled for K, and your DC had to go to ps the next year, they would HAVE to be in K, no matter how capable they were of 1st grade level work and no matter whether they were K age or not. This happened to a child in my DD's K class when she was in ps-the parent had done K at home, but hadn't registered her for K, and then had to put the girl in school as part of a custody agreement. She ended up as the oldest child in K, and a year ahead of most of the kids.

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Of course you should work with him if you think he's ready. But you don't need to think of it as "doing kindergarten."

 

Many parents of pre-school-aged dc help their dc with reading and arithmetic and whatnot, even if the dc will be going to school. So why would you even need to ask? :001_smile:

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My DS4 also missed the K cut-off in our state by about 3 weeks. I'd've been crazy to not do something with him - he's so ready! We've actually been doing stuff for quite some time, and at this point are doing a mix of mid/late K and early 1st level work with him, and he's thriving on it. Well, he was, until we took a break to fix up the water damage from a "little incident" we had with water being left on for 12 hours while we were out.

 

I think there's a couple of advantages to starting early:

 

*No guilt if you decide later to back it off some. After all, they're "ahead" and it's not a big deal.

 

*Gives those bright little brains something to chew on.

 

*Tons of stuff can be presented in a games/short lesson sort of format, particularly in phonics and math.

 

Here, I didn't see a whole lot of difference between K & pre-K. As he got older, I naturally expected more from him. But not tons. We didn't - still don't - spend tons of time on school. It'll gradually ramp up as he gets older. Doing "school" with a young Ker doesn't have to mean that there's no time left for legos and bike rides!

 

We use a Happy Phonics/OPGTR combo that works really well for us. He plays games; I use OPGTR to decide what's next. Neither is terribly expensive.

 

I use Math Expressions. Love it. Lots of hands-on, manipulatives easily adapted to a flannel board. Didn't buy the workbook, and only missed it once or twice. If we decided to do the worksheets (and we skipped lots), then they were easily written up on blank paper.

 

We didn't do the Mudpies to Magnets thing very well early on. I know the activities say they're great for 2 & 3 year olds, but they didn't work for us till closer to 4, which was when we were doing more K stuff.

 

Nature Study is awesome. We didn't do notebooks; just went outside in the yard, worked in the garden, or went to the park and looked for "cool stuff." And it's been wonderful.

 

We also did read-alouds, and a very little bit of scripture memorization.

 

Good luck!

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I start K when they're four just so they're not so bored. We're really relaxed at four. I don't make them do school, only if they want to. It becomes mandatory at five, but it's still really light.

 

I use:

 

Handwriting without Tears (K, 1st, 2nd, then copywork.)

Essential Math A & B

Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading & Bob books, then McGuffey readers

And if you want to use Phonics Road, go ahead and start memorizing the phonograms.

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Originally I intended to homeschool just my oldest 2 kids this school year. However, after doing a trial run this summer and seeing that things really aren't as tough as I thought they'd be, I'm wondering if I shouldn't move forward with my 4 yr old as well. My 4yr old will turn 5 at the end of Sept. (so well past our state's cutoff for kindy this year) He knows his letters and most of the letter sounds, can sound out sight words, numbers up to around 20 (as far as counting, writing and identifying) all colors, shapes, how to identify patterns etc. These things were mostly taught during the last 2-3 months:) I'm just debating actually buying a kindy curriculum for him. He seems to be getting very bored on starfall and is getting sick of doing the same old printed letter worksheets every day. If I do use a kindy curriculum (I'm thinking of specifically math and phonics since he will sit in on science and history with older sibs) will it be teaching most of what he already has learned and I'll just be wasting my $$?Are there any great math and phonics programs that you can rec.? THanks!

 

We did K at 4.5yo with my oldest. She was totally ready for it, but I went a little overboard on the curricula. I had her doing too much paperwork. If I were to do it over again, I would do FIAR, oral phonics/reading, with only games for math. I would do lots of pre-writing exercises--chalkboard, saltboxes, sidewalk chalk, dry-erase, play-doh, etc., making a fun time of it.

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This is a whole other line of thought, but I really enjoyed having my youngest in a pre-school when she was 4 while I homeschooled her older sister. For us it was a great age for her to get some separation experience from mom and it kept her busy so I could really focus on schooling my oldest.

 

I'm really glad I did that, because even homeschooling her in K last year I thought at the beginning was very taxing, just because of all the cutting, crayons, pasting, painting, play dough, etc. I can't imagine if she had been even *younger* trying to school the older one around that mess. By the end of the year she was reading and doing more 1st grade work but still there was some mess.. I think that 4-5 yr old age often they just LOVE (and benefit from) a lot of hands-on projects all day long no matter how academically "advanced" they are. Mine took off like a pistol reading, but that didn't matter. Yes, she COULD read 2nd and 3rd grade material, but she still wanted picture books because emotionally she was 5. Same with all the projects. IMO schooling age 6+ is WAY easier than schooling under 6, just because of the logistics of set up, clean up, assistance they request, etc.

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I had the same question earlier this year. My ds - (5 in October) has been sitting with his older brother (7) as he and I have done school. I plan on having a few more things for my almost 5yo to do this year. However, I don't think he's ready for a K curriculum yet.

 

I say that you know your child best. I would encourage him to do what you feel he can do - but don't push it. It is only Kindergarten. It will be much easier if he doesn't get burned out being made to do school if he isn't ready... but if he is showing interest - go for it! :001_smile:

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We started K with oldest a month before she turned five. She was completely ready and the year went wonderfully. She's doing great in 1st grade now.

 

With the twins, we are doing Pre-K this year. They will be just over 5.5 when we begin Kindergarten. The "extra" time will be nice for me. Two at a time, ack! :001_huh:

 

If your son is ready and you are ready, why not begin gently?

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I was in the exact same boat last year with a daughter turning 5 at the end of October. I agonized about it for a long time, then finally decided to start kindergarten and monitor the situation closely. I figured I could always re-evaluate things one year later. If necessary, I could repeat kindergarten; if she was doing well, we'd go on to first grade.

 

So I think you should make your decision for *right now* without worrying too much about how old your son will be when he goes to college. ;) There will be lots of time to assess the situation a year from now . . . the solution to your dilemma will probably become evident at that time, one way or another.

 

I do have experience with this with my second daughter. Long story short is that she is a November baby. I enrolled her in Pre-K when she was 3 months short of her 5th birthday, and the school insisted that she get switched into kindergarten. Extensive testing at the end of the year (by two different schools) also recommended that she be kept "ahead", so we did. We just graduated her, and she is headed off to college in three weeks. She has done very well, and she is sad only that we did not let her go off to college last year. :)

 

You are likely to hear lots of predictions of gloom and doom from people opposed to any kind of grade advancement. But with a September birthday, I just can't think it is *that* big a deal either way, kwim? In some parts of the country, the cutoff is more like December 1 or 31st. The majority of school districts use August 31st as the cutoff.

 

And the bottom line is . . . why don't you try it and see what happens? He will either thrive, and it will be obvious that you made the right decision, or he will struggle, and you can just back off, take it slow, and then truly start kindergarten next fall.

 

Good luck!

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*I* started Kindergarten at age 4 (October birthday) due to a December 1st cut off. I see no reason why you can't or why there's such fuss about starting an almost 5 year old with Kindergarten materials. Perhaps because I'm used to a later cut off date, almost 5 year olds starting K is normal to me?!?!

 

I called this past year Kindergarten for my big girl who just turned 5 in May.

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Guest Rn4jchrist

My 4y/o sounds alot like yours, although he will be 5 in October, I don't think he is ready, he can do all the things you stated, even READ(most shocking to me) yet he still stutters a bit when trying to get a sentence out, due to over excitement, can't hold a pencil well, won't try to color --only scribble, he just doesn't seem ready to me, although I'd like to buy K curriculum, I think I'd be wasting my time.. Although I've been told I should anyway regardless of my insecurities lol

 

You know your child, do what you feel will suit him best ;-)

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My youngest will be 5 on September 13th and we will be starting Kindergarten for him this year. It will be pretty light. We will be doing FIAR, learning to read, and math, with hands on things thrown in here and there. I won't be expecting a lot out of him but I do think he's ready. Worst case scenario, it's longer than a year to do kindergarten, but I doubt that will be necessary.

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