How old were your

[arliemaria]

littles when you started "doing school"?

[Kate CA]

littles when you started "doing school"?

 

Five and a half. She wasn't really ready to read though, until six. We played games that were educational, but nothing formal until then.

[laundrycrisis]

5.75 for both of them.

[Pamela H in Texas]

That is a hard question. My daughter liked things like workbooks and such as a preschooler. And I had done some folder game type things with her even before she turned 3. At 4½, I decided I didn't want to be quite as schoolish as she was obviously learning plenty without me spending so much money (b/t 4 and 4½, she did two grade levels of a curriculum to ensure there were no "gaps."). We actually were extremely laid back except for maybe 4 or 5 months when she was seven until she was about 12.

 

With my son, we did school; but it too was very laid back, consistent, but relaxed... We picked up at 12 for him also.

Edited August 23, 2011 by 2J5M9K

[NanceXToo]

My son will start K two months before his 6th birthday. His "pre-k" years were very informal, and his K will not be overly academic.

[Ellie]

5ish.

 

Of course, we only did Official School Stuff two days a week; our other learning day activities were library every Wednesday and field trip every Thursday. She always went with us on those, because learning happens all the time, not just on Official School Days.

[coffeegal]

We start with 5-15 min. of phonics at 4. My main goal is the habit of school versus having the child reading at 5. :001_smile:

[bluemongoose]

My first was very young, but she required it! She was 2.5 yo. We started with phonics and Earlybird math.

 

My next one down is 4.5 right now, he is still not ready. I dont think we will do anything until next fall when he is 5.5 yo.

 

And my youngest is 2.5 right now. He is also not ready, but he seems like he will be ready at an earlier age than his brother. Time will tell.

 

I think the best time to start is when the child is ready. With DD that was earlier than most, with DSs it seems to be at a little later.

[ChristusG]

DD#1 has always enjoyed workbook type activities. When she was 3, I picked up some at Wal-Mart and we'd go through them orally. She enjoyed it. We began actual "preschool at home" beginning when she was 4 (actually nearly 4.5). It wasn't a formal, sit down each time, for a certain amount of time type things. We mostly learned letter sounds, did some math, learned our address, and other things like that. At nearly 5.5 we began kindergarten and it got a little more formal. Our most formal year was last year, her first grade year.

 

DD#2 has been listening in on DD#1's schooling since last year when she was 3. She sits at the table with us, I'll hand her worksheets sometimes, and she does them if she wants to.

 

Now that she's 4.5 and officially "preschool age", I'm having her sit with me at the table a little more, we're doing some preschool worksheets, Ready Set Go for the Code, etc. If she's not in the mood, I don't push it though.

[LittleIzumi]

The Sponge was 4 (she was getting into tons of mischief being bored, and when we did some schoolwork it occupied her brain so she was much, much happier) and The Drama was 3 (she DEMANDED it. At the top of her lungs. Regularly. She loves her "school" and asks to do her big sister's school, too). It's all very part-time at that age, of course, and fun for them.

[Farrar]

At 4, we introduced the idea of playing educational games and doing learning activities, including some little worksheets and the like, always optional.

 

At 5, school became non-optional, but we still did almost no curricula - just some handwriting, not even a formal math program. It was mostly reading books, playing learning games, doing projects, etc. It was just a set aside, non-optional time for doing that.

 

At 6, curricula and more like what one would think of as "school."

[Carrie12345]

3, 5, 6, and maybe a 4.5-5 this time around. No telling with the baby. I follow their leads.

[Mommy22alyns]

5 and 3. Before that, Rebecca had some HOP things and a workbook or two, but we weren't doing anything formal and I had no intent of homeschooling.

[Maus]

We started with Earlybird Kindergarten (Singapore) done orally at 3ish and reading (McOmber phonics readers) at 4ish. Nothing formal, just when each of them asked for it.

 

Oldest was about six when we first started anything formal on a daily basis. Second child, two years younger, immediately demanded taking part, so she was about four. I let the younger child opt out when she wasn't interested (which wasn't often, and she often asked for Starfall instead on those occassions). That's also about when we joined a co-op, too.

 

That said, we've always been readers, and I've read them both fiction and non-fiction from the very beginning (like, in utero). Bedtime reading usually lasts as long as my voice can take it.

[Caitilin]

Oops, misunderstood. Somewhere between 3 and 5. :)

[twoxcell]

I'm not sure what you mean by doing school, but if you mean sitting down and doing a learning activity then 3 for all. I do not require school until 5, but all of mine were begging to do school by 3.

[Soror]

ds was just turned 5 for pre-K activities. dd will be nearly 4.5 for pre-K activities.

[BarbecueMom]

We started last month setting aside 1-2 hours, 4x a week, as "school time", but it's really not. I plan out art in advance, so I have the materials on hand and ready, but other stuff (Get Ready for the Code, cheap workbooks/coloring books, pattern blocks, math games, etc.) is just done when we feel like it.

 

I have no idea when we'll start formally. We'll probably just keep adding stuff to DS3's day, whenever he's ready for it.

 

The kids are much happier when there's a block of time carved out for them to learn/play and my attention is focused completely on them, not on cleaning or laundry or paying bills... or the computer. :tongue_smilie:

[mom31257]

I think we did learning activities as young as 2, but we did more formal things by age 3.

[LaxMom]

My three homeschooled kiddos started organized K when they were 4. Before that, we played educational games, read a lot, and had lots of discussions.

(which sounds like once they started K, we stopped playing, reading and talking with them. :tongue_smilie: )

[happypamama]

About 3-4 for DD; she was really into workbooks for a while, more than I even wanted. I've always been much more of a laid-back, unschooly type with little kids, so I didn't do much "schooly" stuff with her back then. But I also had more time just to play and read with her too. :)

 

About 5 for DS1 -- last year, he started doing some writing and reading.

 

My 2, almost 3, year old son thinks he does school! He insists on having a workbasket of his own, like the big kids. I put crayons and paper, puzzles, and other early learning activities in there for him; he thinks he's doing schoolwork, but I would not consider it to be schoolish. I'll probably start him with writing and phonics at about 5 or so, depending on his level of interest.

[Shellydon]

4

[Embassy]

5.5 for my oldest. 4.5 for my second child - quite relaxed until age 5. I'm planning on starting at age 5 for my youngest.

[Sahamamama]

My oldest asked me to teach her to read when she was just over 2 years old. I told her, "When you're three, Sweetie." :D Every day after that she asked, "Am I three yet?" :lol: She was reading Frog and Toad by the time she was 4 years old. We started what we called Kindergarten when she was 5 years old, but her work levels were all over the place. We took a full year to do it, with plenty of play time and "off" time." Then we took a fairly long break before starting 1st Grade (6.5 years old) so we could move our start month away from Christmas and birthdays (too much at once). She's doing well, I have no regrets for beginning with her so young. That one was ready for it and shows no signs of burn out at all. In fact, we probably underwhelm her with our relaxed approach, but I felt she needed some holding back from too much focus on academics and books.

 

With my other two, they just wanted to "do school" like their big sister. :001_smile: Anything for attention! So when they were 3 years old we started with some Kumon mazes, puzzles, coloring, counting, sorting, alphabet games, storytelling, singing, pencil & scissor skills, and very basic phonics. They're doing Pre-K at home this year at 4.5 years old and they love it! Short lessons, cut-and-paste (popular), reading lessons, manuscript lessons, group math games, and plenty of read alouds.

 

I wanted to add, though, that in families where reading aloud and listening to audiobooks and music are normal, daily parts of the routine, it's hard to draw the line as to when learning & teaching begin. My girls have learned so much through read alouds, audiobooks, and music, and these have been in their lives since before birth. It's possible to build a full, rich environment for a young child without "doing school." HTH.

[jenangelcat]

Depends on what you mean by doing school. With dd1 she was playing around on Starfall at 18 months. We did 5 minutes a day of 100 Easy Lessons for about a month or so when she was 3.5. We didn't do anything else until last year when we did her first registered homeschool year. She was almost 5.

 

DD2 will be "doing school" in the fall at 3.5 but it's just a very basic BFIAR style thing I've written up. She wants to do school like her big sister so that's what we're doing. It's mainly play disguised as academics...lol.

[Rosie_0801]

Dd started "doing school" a few months before she turned three. That was very little more than jigsaw puzzles, jigsaw puzzles and more jigsaw puzzles.

 

We're working on her alphabet now, and playing a bit with the Nurtured by Love C-rod book, but I don't expect her to start doing anything I would call school (without the "") until next year. I'm going to try her with MEP Reception next school year, which starts at the end of January. I've no idea how she'll go and I have no idea whether her current enthusiasm for the alphabet will progress into learning to read.

 

So, I have a bunch of ideas, which may come to fruition next year in 5yo preschool, the year after in Prep or the year after that in grade one. Whatever happens, we'll find something to keep ourselves occupied. There are still more jigsaw puzzles in the toy library. :rolleyes:

 

Rosie

[sbgrace]

Formal academic stuff is what I consider school. We did some HWOT off and on starting at 5.5. The rest of school as I think of it started at 6.

[Melissa B]

all three girls - 5

son - 6

[Jen in PA]

Around when they turned 4.

[kalanamak]

The day after he turned 4. It it was 100% fun without a stick of pressure for the first 18 months except to learn to sit still for first 5 and then 15 minutes ("still" is relative :001_smile:).

[Parrothead]

Dd was 5 weeks shy of her 4th birthday when we started formal school for an hour a day.

[StartingOver]

All of my children started at different ages, we play it by ear around here. By order of age from oldest to youngest, they were 6, 6, 4, 4, 3. Each child is an individual. I do think that they tend to start earlier in my family when they have an older one doing "school".

[mytwomonkeys]

we start "school" when they would attend public K. for my daughter she was closer to 6. my son was 5 1/2.

[craftyerin]

All we are doing here is reading through the Sonlight P3/4 storybook list, playing lots of counting and sorting games, puzzles, and dabbling in some of Kumon's cutting, coloring, and folding workbooks for ages 2+. They LOVE their workbooks. I make sure to stop work before they lose interest and keep it fun. In January, when they're 3.5 and 4.5 (although they're closer than that developmentally, as my oldest is not super mature), I plan to start AAR pre-level and maybe HWOT pre-k (although we may hold out until next fall for that). I don't have any formal reading instruction or pencil to paper work planned until kinder.

[*Lulu*]

I start learning activities at age 3. I try not to do any written work before age 5/6, but once you have big people doing seat work the littles start to want in. :001_smile:

[chepyl]

I picked up a kindergarten basic skills workbook at Walmart when DS was 4.5. He loved it. He would do 20-30 pages at a time. Then he asked to learn how to read. We started kindergarten a month before he turned 5. He missed the cuttoff for public school.

 

This year, DD is 3.5 but wants to "do school" everyday. We are using the letter of the week and some basic skills books and flash cards. She likes to find the matching pics, or find what's different. There are lots of coloring pages. My goal is for her to know the alphabet and count to 20 by the end of the year. She will also know a lot of shapes and new animals.

[Pretty in Pink]

My eldest was just 4.5 when we started. It was too early. He wasn't ready. He was reading though and I was pregnant and had all of that energy and I was so excited to get started. It was...not good. At all.

 

My second and third children got their own workbooks when they expressed interest between the ages of 4 and 5. They used them when they wanted to but I never said, "Okay. It's time to do your lessons." My second child began real lessons around age 6. My third son is 5.5 and still playing around with is workbooks and such, but hasn't begun formal academics yet.