Kindy Thread?

[poetic license]

Any parents of accelerated/gifted/whatever-you-care-to-call-it Kindergarteners care to chat? Homeschoolers, afterschoolers, part-time homeschoolers, whoever :)

 

DS is in a private KG for half a day. It's a very non-academically oriented KG, which I love. I want him to enjoy painting and crafts while he can.

 

In the afternoon we do the stuff to feed his interests. Interest-led science reading, jumping around various math curr, reading books, audiobooks, and some narrations here and there. I'm trying to focus on creating a daily rhythm (a la Waldorf) and to get the kids involved in caring for the home and creating a clean, welcoming home environment (also Waldorf inspired).

Edited September 12, 2011 by poetic license
made it gender neutral

[momma2three]

I think I belong in this thread :) We are thinking about moving back to DH's home country next year, and there DD would be one year behind in school. I don't want to add her being academically behind to the trauma of an international move, so my plan is to afterschool her this year in all the regular kindergarten subjects.

 

She goes to a really lovely little Montessori preschool in the mornings, and so my plan is to do "activities" in the afternoon while her brother and sister nap. She always gets so bored during that period. We've been doing our activities for about 3 weeks now, and so far so good. Tomorrow is her first day of school, so we'll see how it goes! We've been whipping through stuff, but I assume we'll really slow down once school starts.

[Grover]

My DS is this age, I think. He'll be 5 in November and would start school here then, but we've decided not to as he's too far ahead for it to work. He currently attends a play-only preschool two mornings a week but that will finish when he turns five and he'll be home full time He's a fairly driven little guy so I tend to just leave interesting things where he'll find them and I'll find him curled up with a 3/4 finished work book somewhere. Aside from that we're mostly pursuing a 'learning about life' kind of approach and reading interesting books.

[Greenmama2]

That's us too. The school year starts late Jan/early Feb here so my 5.3 year old is halfway through homeschool "K". We are having fun following her interests which involves A LOT of science.

[poetic license]

I just changed the OP to be more gender-neutral. I had said "moms" but changed it to "parents." :)

 

Sometimes I feel like we got cheated out of the whole Kindy experience because DS just zoomed ahead in things. Then again, I suppose we were doing some of those kindy-type prereading activities and literature projects without realizing it when he was 3-4. I just feel sort of lost when I contrast where he is with what KG is "supposed" to be.

 

I'm not sure if I'm making any sense, but I just feel like this whole acceleration/giftedness thing sort of snuck up on me without me realizing, so I'm still reeling. :001_huh: I feel like there's no curriculum that actually fits us because of the asynchrony issues. The exception is BFSU, we haven't started but I'm really enjoying reading it for now and getting inspiration for doing a relaxed science that stresses foundational principles rather than disjointed details. And no busywork!

[Runningmom80]

My DS is doing "k" this year.

 

 

I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants right now. We are trying to just figure out where exactly DS is in various subjects.

[Grover]

Sometimes I feel like we got cheated out of the whole Kindy experience because DS just zoomed ahead in things.

 

oh gosh yes. DS was beyond K (year 1 here) before we even fully realised he could read, never mind the rest. I really do feel sometimes like we (and he) are missing something.

[Runningmom80]

oh gosh yes. DS was beyond K (year 1 here) before we even fully realised he could read, never mind the rest. I really do feel sometimes like we (and he) are missing something.

 

 

 

Yes, I think this is typical for gifted, especially highly gifted kids. DS academically could have finished k by 3. I'm just shifting my thinking, instead of thinking about what we zoomed through, I'm thinking about how much more we will get to explore!

[nitascool]

My dd4 is doing Kindy this year. I was hoping for one more year of her just playing and having fun but she pretty much insisted on "real" school this year. Being #4 she gets bored just playing by herself. She's not my 1st accelerated child so it's not as much of a surprise for us that she's ready for more faster and sooner.

[LittleIzumi]

Hmm. I've got a kindy age doing 1st/2nd, and a preschool age doing K. Which one should I talk about here? :lol:

[momma aimee]

ME:lurk5:

[Acorn]

My son is in public 1/2 day K. I worried about sending him because academically he is ahead of many peers, and he has a fall b-day making him one of the oldest in the class. He is enjoying the experience; so for now, I will afterschool to keep him challenged and engaged. His class is station based and he is getting personalized attention in some of the small groups. Seems to be good for now, I want to be optimistic for future grades.

[Greenmama2]

Hmm. I've got a kindy age doing 1st/2nd, and a preschool age doing K. Which one should I talk about here? :lol:

Both. I for one would like to read about them both :001_smile:

[Grover]

Hmm. I've got a kindy age doing 1st/2nd, and a preschool age doing K. Which one should I talk about here? :lol:

 

lol... I'd say both too.

 

I'm not sure where my guy falls in your system - he's 5 in November so would he even be 'K' yet? I popped in here cos he would start public school here on his birthday so I figure we belong. I'm still trying to figure out just where he is grade wise for his work though... so maybe I don't belong ;) ah well.. you seem like a nice bunch so I'll stay :)

 

Maybe we can all hold each others' hands when it gets too scary.

[nov05mama]

Sometimes I feel like we got cheated out of the whole Kindy experience because DS just zoomed ahead in things. Then again, I suppose we were doing some of those kindy-type prereading activities and literature projects without realizing it when he was 3-4. I just feel sort of lost when I contrast where he is with what KG is "supposed" to be.

 

You just described my feelings to a T and I feel VERY alone in the world sometimes when it comes to our situation...it's hard to find people who "get" it.

[EthiopianFood]

Well, I guess us, although I can never figure out what defines "kindergarten" level. I've looked at different lists, but they're all different! Dd is 3.5, and can read books graded at second grade, but doesn't have the maturity to read that much text willingly, and I'm not sure how much she can put the story together when the sentences are more complex like that if she is focusing on decoding. I'm not really sure what constitutes K math though. She is interested in addition and subtraction, but she can't just do a problem by herself or anything. I know she understands the concepts at least.

[LittleIzumi]

lol... I'd say both too.

 

I'm not sure where my guy falls in your system - he's 5 in November so would he even be 'K' yet? I popped in here cos he would start public school here on his birthday so I figure we belong. I'm still trying to figure out just where he is grade wise for his work though... so maybe I don't belong ;) ah well.. you seem like a nice bunch so I'll stay :)

 

Maybe we can all hold each others' hands when it gets too scary.

 

That never stops :lol:. I've got K-4th materials going here with the "kindy" kids and it changes all the time.

 

 

So, as this is a K thread--What Are You All Using?? :lurk5: (Like you haven't posted that a zillion times already, lol.)

[nov05mama]

So, as this is a K thread--What Are You All Using??

 

It's in my sig as well, but the main items are...

Explode the Code 3

AAS 1 (almost finished, not sure if we are moving to 2)

Winning with Writing 1

Singapore Math 2A

Logic Safari 2

My Pals are Here 3A

RSO Life

Maps, Charts, Graphs C

 

I am really calling this year First Grade though...he will be 6 in November, so within the correct age range, but our cut-off is in September, so by the public school standard, he would just be starting K.

[poetic license]

That never stops :lol:. I've got K-4th materials going here with the "kindy" kids and it changes all the time.

 

 

So, as this is a K thread--What Are You All Using?? :lurk5: (Like you haven't posted that a zillion times already, lol.)

 

Add me as another who'd like to hear about both of yours!!

 

We're using--

 

Miquon Orange/Red

SM 1A with IP/CWP

Right Start B (not yet, but will get to it)

 

Handwriting Without Tears

 

 

I have on the shelf, but have not gotten to--

BFSU (w/RSO as tie ins, but I'm a little disappointed in the $ I spent on RSO because it seems like my DS knows a lot of the material, and I don't like the busywork)

Write Source KG

 

We just started gymnastics and I am so grateful for the homeschool multi-age class at the gym! Finally DS is learning "real" gymnastics on the big gym equipment. I have to say I'm pretty jealous, I wish I could be the one doing it.

 

Other random stuff--we just hung up our US and world maps and DS loves just looking at the maps, figuring our where stuff is, and doing informal "geo quizzes" with me.

[Greenmama2]

What do we use? We have lots available but we are pretty unschooly so I'll just post what currently chooses:

Reading Eggs (she enjoyed this much more last year but she is on map 11 of 12 and wants to finish it)

SM 1B we are finishing this up and have 2A waiting but I'm conflicted about this. It's boring her yet as with RE I don't think she'd be happy if we just moved on without getting to the end.

Miquon Orange this is funny, she uses this for fact practice - pretty much opposite to how it's designed. But she hates manipulatives so that might be why. It's also nearly finished and I need to order red.

Mathletics she finished first grade of this within a month of getting it ( just before her birthday in May) but since it's international I was able to switch her to a different syllabus with broader content. She's done with that too and I need to move her to second.

BFSU honestly I don't get to this as much as I should - she loves it. I am disappointed with the slow approach to chemistry though.

A lot more goes on in our days but that covers the formal curric we use right now.

[LittleIzumi]

Here is my plan for this school year for my two (although we keep going over the summer):

 

For The Sponge, who is K age (tried a little over a week of charter school for K this year--not happening):

-ETC 3 (burning through now that she had VT and can read), will probably finish 4 & 5.

-AAS I & II

-Reading aloud & being read to, of course

-A simple US geography/info/US presidents course

-Cursive based on HWoT

-MCT Island is coming, not sure when I'll start that

-Building Thinking Skills book 1

-Finish BFSU I, burn through RSO Life, begin RSO Chemistry. LOTS of related non-fic for our reading.

-Math is a hot mess, lol. Her skills are all over the place there. We're in Singapore 1A IP, 1B, and going through the Beast Academy sample. After some extra practice on one particular area, she'll finish 1B and start 2A/2B. Lots of fact practice in the form of games and 1A workbook done quickly. I bought some Miquon but have no clue how to actually implement it, lol, and I need to flip through my MEP to see if it would help.

-She has a full day of fine arts at a special homeschool charter school once a week.

-Casual ASL & Spanish

 

The Sponge, who is almost 4 and in K:

-ETC 1, will get to 2 this year

-AAS I

-Handwriting based on HWoT

-Analogies for Beginners, then Lollipop Logic II

-Riding along on the BFSU/RSO science and the non-fic.

-Stuck at place value in Singapore K Essentials B, will switch to MEP Reception/Year 1 for a while, and then will either go back and finish B or start right into 1A.

-Play preschool 2x/week

-Gymnastics

-Casual ASL & Spanish

[go_go_gadget]

My DD will be five in October and by CA standards at the moment* she can be in Kindergarten this year, so she's registered as K with our charter school. She's actually about halfway through first, though, by their standards (just starting first by my standards). Our current curriculum is in my sig, and also here; the materials we used for Kindergarten are here.

 

*CA is rolling back the cut-off to September 1st, which will be the cut-off by next year, I think. So she just made it!

[EthiopianFood]

I've been using OPGTR as a sort of spine, but we use Dick and Jane (we're on second semester of what would have been first grade back then), Nora Gaydos, and parts of other books for practice. We're almost done with SM Essentials A, but we never get around to doing it. :confused: I'm casually trying to do some science with Let's Read and Find Out books, etc. whenever we get around to it. We just came out of a months-long ancient Egypt phase after going to the King Tut exhibit, where we read whatever books I could find that were at her level. I really want to find some other exhibit to attend, because I see how they can ignite a passion!! We also do chores. Very important. :lol: We have been doing casual ASL for a long time as well. I want to add another language, but I'm really struggling to decide which one.

 

I was very gung ho when she was younger about doing EVERYTHING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!! Now that she's old enough to do more, I'm seeing the wisdom in waiting a little bit for some things, because the level of understanding will be so much deeper then. I like the idea of gradually adding subjects over the next couple years, because I don't think suddenly adding six subjects in first grade or whatever is a good/fun idea (for ME!). :tongue_smilie: I'm really

[Grover]

We're currently having a struggle at the moment with what we do with the boy, complicated by the fact that even though part timing isn't officially possible here, a local school I contacted a month or more back rang today to say they're willing to consider trying to make something work. I'm still debating whether we should try this path at all.

 

At the moment he's doing:

Miquon - yellow is nearly finished. This has been largely independent. I'm debating moving onto SM or something else. He also likes to play Kahn Academy and has spent time on Aleks and Dreambox.

AAS - level 2 atm, nearly finished, no new learning so far, but good reinforcement. I think we'll keep doing it because he finds it fun and it's good practice.

FLL - we finished 1 and I'm not sure about 2. Might have a break.

WWE - 1 finished, not sure if we'll continue. PLL just arrived so I'll look at that.

Science and History is all self selected / self directed with a few 'strewn' items to pique interest sometimes. I make sure he has books and materials whe he shows an interest. He recently discovered the 'Horrible History' books and the science ones too and they've sparked a few new interests which we've followed. We have SOTW and he's read it, we may work back through it this year a little more 'properly'. I'm debating RS4K at the moment. Maybe.

Writing - he likes to write and chooses to often so I'm sneaking in a little of the writing process and 6 traits ideas as he goes. Sometimes I suggest a new genre (because there's only so many "The Rubbish Eating Monster" stories I can stand).

Reading - he reads whatever I offer and whatever he finds so I try to leave some good ones around. He's practicing reading aloud and sight reading from a series of phonics readers, so that I can be sure he's got tricky words sorted (he's come out with a few odd pronunciations from reading words in his books before he's heard them,, like "deevil" :lol:). I've been giving him reading comprhension tasks from a few sources, just stuff I already have around - he likes those.

Logic Countdown for 'work' and Logic Safari 1 for play. Lots of problem solving / puzzle / thinking / oh no I can't do it the first time and I don't win every time games.

Art - we've been dabbling with a few random things (mostly trying to free up some risk taking) and I have Artistic Pursuits ready to go.

He's got an account with Head of the Class which I've customised with a few subjects across grades K - 4 - nothing challenging yet, although he likes the Spanish which is new.

He's learning french, gymnastics and piano outside the home and taking an advanced degree in sister baiting :glare:

 

So.. you might have guessed we're somewhat despairing of finding a good fit for this lad... but we'll keep trying things out. He's desperate to learn Latin so I'm researching that at the moment.

[chepyl]

My son turns 6 in 2 weeks. He would be in K by OK standards. He is currently in 2nd-3rd grade curriculum.

 

I just changed the OP to be more gender-neutral. I had said "moms" but changed it to "parents." :)

 

Sometimes I feel like we got cheated out of the whole Kindy experience because DS just zoomed ahead in things. Then again, I suppose we were doing some of those kindy-type prereading activities and literature projects without realizing it when he was 3-4. I just feel sort of lost when I contrast where he is with what KG is "supposed" to be.

 

I'm not sure if I'm making any sense, but I just feel like this whole acceleration/giftedness thing sort of snuck up on me without me realizing, so I'm still reeling. :001_huh: I feel like there's no curriculum that actually fits us because of the asynchrony issues. The exception is BFSU, we haven't started but I'm really enjoying reading it for now and getting inspiration for doing a relaxed science that stresses foundational principles rather than disjointed details. And no busywork!

 

I pieced my curriculum together last year and this year. I picked what fit his abilities best. I finally just settled on second grade work, we were in a mixture of first and second. We call him a first grader so he can be with his friends at church and dance/theatre class.

[Roadrunner]

I am in the same situation. I don't think my son is gifted, but he has a good head on his shoulders. He will be five in a month and goes to PS K (CA has a late deadline, so we qualified). He is an absolute baby, but zoomed through OPGTR and finished it in 5 months (the plan was to stretch it out for 2 years). Now we don't know what to do. The school books that come home are plain dumb. He needs content similar to Frog and Toad, but those books are too easy and he read them already. Books written at his level aren't interesting to him (did I say he is a baby:001_smile:?). Same with math. We bought SM Essentials hoping to supplement his public K. He went through them in 2 months over the summer and is now plowing through SM1 (I am doing my best to slow it down, since he is still 4 technically and I don't think it's all that appropriate). His writing skills are that of a 4-5 year old. He seems to like school because he gets to play there. I have made a decision to just let him be until he is at least 5.5 years old. Hoping to stretch SM 1A for another 6 months if he lets me.

I had a same situation with my older kid (he is in 1st grade PS), but he was 5.5 years old when he started K, so we just did first grade work at home. He reads at about 4-5 grade level and enjoys content written for that age group, so he is less of a problem. He is also enjoying MCT. He is about a year ahead in math, but I plan to put him into grade 3 Beast math when he starts third grade (even though he will be done with SM 3 grade by then). I don't think he is gifted either, but things just come easy to him, so we give him enough to keep growing.

[La Condessa]

I'm so jealous. . .

 

I guess I'll just have to wait another couple of years for my turn.

[poetic license]

I am in the same situation. I don't think my son is gifted, but he has a good head on his shoulders. He will be five in a month and goes to PS K (CA has a late deadline, so we qualified). He is an absolute baby, but zoomed through OPGTR and finished it in 5 months (the plan was to stretch it out for 2 years). Now we don't know what to do. The school books that come home are plain dumb. He needs content similar to Frog and Toad, but those books are too easy and he read them already. Books written at his level aren't interesting to him (did I say he is a baby:001_smile:?). Same with math. We bought SM Essentials hoping to supplement his public K. He went through them in 2 months over the summer and is now plowing through SM1 (I am doing my best to slow it down, since he is still 4 technically and I don't think it's all that appropriate). His writing skills are that of a 4-5 year old. He seems to like school because he gets to play there. I have made a decision to just let him be until he is at least 5.5 years old. Hoping to stretch SM 1A for another 6 months if he lets me.

I had a same situation with my older kid (he is in 1st grade PS), but he was 5.5 years old when he started K, so we just did first grade work at home. He reads at about 4-5 grade level and enjoys content written for that age group, so he is less of a problem. He is also enjoying MCT. He is about a year ahead in math, but I plan to put him into grade 3 Beast math when he starts third grade (even though he will be done with SM 3 grade by then). I don't think he is gifted either, but things just come easy to him, so we give him enough to keep growing.

 

 

For reading, when my son was into Frog and Toad he also liked the following series--Poppleton, Henry and Mudge, Dodsworth In (Paris, New York, and London). There's also some vintage readers out there with classic stories like the gingerbread man, etc.

[Roadrunner]

For reading, when my son was into Frog and Toad he also liked the following series--Poppleton, Henry and Mudge, Dodsworth In (Paris, New York, and London). There's also some vintage readers out there with classic stories like the gingerbread man, etc.

 

Thanks!!!

[poetic license]

Ok I'm having some issues here and so bear with me if this sounds disjointed--

 

I've heard that with advanced kids the important issue is challenge. They should be stretched a little bit--not too much, but enough that they learn to think and not coast through schooling.

 

At what point do you start this? Even now at K age? And then how do you balance that with their overexcitabilities?

 

I purposely *don't* do as much structured academics with DS because of the overexcitabilities/perfectionism issues. My list of curricula might seem long, but really we dabble in it here and there and slowly work our way through, sometimes only hitting the books a few X in a week. The rest is games/hands on/etc. But even there, the perfectionism and OEs just create these overdramatic situations.

 

Today, for instance, I thought that we'd just do a cutting/pasting activity for fractions and then play around with some teddy counters to figure out half of them, 1/4 of them, etc. At his request, since he asked for "math" and I figure that this type of thing is more developmentally appropriate than doing a worksheet. Went fine until I pulled out the teddy bears and he was grouping them to count. He counted them as 17 instead of 18, and when I ever-so-gently tried to help him see how many they were, boom! Tantrum. He couldn't handle the fact that he was wrong, making a mistake, and someone had to correct him.

 

And this was not even in a "challenging" situation.

 

I don't know that me just saying "no" to *any* math would solve the problem either. He does this type of thing with other stuff too. And it's not like we do tons of seatwork, he also flips out like that when he loses at checkers, for instance.

 

Ok I don't know if I'm making any sense here so if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears...

[Greenmama2]

I'm not much help but I just wanted to say that we have the same kinds of issues and that is precisely why I hang out on boards like these. Reading about how other parents and children approach issues of perfectionism helps me so much. I must say that music study (piano and violin) is really helping DD with this, but it's a SLOW process. She commented the other day that reading (not her advanced area) is just like piano in that the more you do it the easier it becomes *Hallelujah*

[Roadrunner]

Both my kids get really upset when I point out mistakes. I am thinking it's a maturity issue and will go away in time. I hope! I would love to hear how others deal with it. I have yet to find a magic solution.

[Grover]

Both my kids get really upset when I point out mistakes. I am thinking it's a maturity issue and will go away in time. I hope! I would love to hear how others deal with it. I have yet to find a magic solution.

 

DS responded better to things like "I'm feeling a bit crazy, let's count them again from the other end" so he can discover his own mistake. When we find that one is missing we do a big pretend hunt for it before concluding it's gone off to a picnic and getting another one. We spent a lot of time when he was little (18 months or so) doing things "MAD" (deliberately wrong) to help him move beyond the paralysis brought on by his perfectionism. So we'd make puzzles 'MAD" by putting all the pieces in the wrong place, for example.

 

We also love the Magic School Bus because you have to make mistakes to learn according to Ms Frizzle. Sometimes I ask DS if he's made a mistake today and he'll stop and thin and then say, "yes, I learned to..."

 

It's an ongoing process - said boy is sulking in his room at the moment becaue I beat him at make'n'break. He'll come back and we'll discuss how to be a good winner and a good loser and how great it's going to feel the first time he beats me at it, and hopefully we'll be one step closer to him driving me less mad :lol:

[Nart]

My DD will be five in October and by CA standards at the moment* she can be in Kindergarten this year, so she's registered as K with our charter school. She's actually about halfway through first, though, by their standards (just starting first by my standards).

*CA is rolling back the cut-off to September 1st, which will be the cut-off by next year, I think. So she just made it!

 

California is rolling back the cut-off age one month per year over the next three years, so the cut-off won't be Sept. 1 until 2014.

2012-2013 school year a child has to turn 5 by Nov. 1 to enter K

2013-2014 school year a child has to turn 5 by Oct. 1

2014-2015 school year a child has to turn 5 by Sept 1

Schools are supposed to offer a transitional program for fall birthdays and there is supposed to be a process to test into k if your fall birthday child missed the cut-off. So if you live in California and your child was born in Nov. 2007, he or she will not be eligible for regular kindergarten next year.

[EthiopianFood]

He needs content similar to Frog and Toad, but those books are too easy and he read them already. Books written at his level aren't interesting to him (did I say he is a baby:001_smile:?).

 

Ugh, we have a similar problem here. Ideally, I want 10 or so page books with maybe one or two sentences on each page... with second, third, etc. grade level words. I have been told to look at board books, but I just wish I didn't have to put so much effort into finding books. I would love a series, so we can stick with one thing for awhile.

 

Same with math. We bought SM Essentials hoping to supplement his public K. He went through them in 2 months over the summer and is now plowing through SM1 (I am doing my best to slow it down, since he is still 4 technically and I don't think it's all that appropriate).

 

How so? I haven't heard this critique before. :bigear:

[Amie]

I have refrained from posting on any of the K'er threads on the other board, but I guess I'll speak up here. My "early bloomer" ds will be 5 the end of October, so he wouldn't begin K in our state until next year. But yeah, he's beyond K in many ways. He has been an interesting child since birth and keeps me scratching my head almost every day. I haven't put him in my siggy yet for a number of reasons...thinking I might once he is actually 5. Maybe I will actually begin posting a bit more here now. So glad to see many of you who are in the same boat or have btdt. It is hard for me to participate when I'm afraid others will think I'm crazy or just being braggy. I mean like, so much for those adorable, giant calendars you get to use for pre-K "circle time"--my son got obsessed with one of my old calendars at age 2-3 and basically taught himself all the days of the week, months of the year, and then began visualizing a timeline after asking what year everyone we knew was born. He did the same thing with learning to tell time. And that's just the beginning. I'm not sure what he will leave for me to teach him in his "official-by-the-state" K year.

(And it's not a brag. I feel like I'm just along for the ride...and the ride gets scary sometimes...)

Edited September 15, 2011 by Amie

[EthiopianFood]

I have refrained from posting on any of the K'er threads on the other board, but I guess I'll speak up here. My "early bloomer" ds will be 5 the end of October, so he wouldn't begin K in our state until next year. But yeah, he's beyond K in many ways. He has been an interesting child since birth and keeps me scratching my head almost every day. I haven't put him in my siggy yet for a number of reasons...thinking I might once he is actually 5. Maybe I will actually begin posting a bit more here now. So glad to see many of you who are in the same boat or have btdt. It is hard for me to participate when I'm afraid others will think I'm crazy or just being braggy. I mean like, so much for those adorable, giant calendars you get to use for pre-K "circle time"--my son got obsessed with one of my old calendars at age 2-3 and basically taught himself all the days of the week, months of the year, and then began visualizing a timeline after asking what year everyone we knew was born. He did the same thing with learning to tell time. And that's just the beginning. I'm not sure what he will leave for me to teach him in his "official-by-the-state" K year.

(And it's not a brag. I feel like I'm just along for the ride...and the ride gets scary sometimes...)

 

My child isn't advanced like yours, but like others here, I just don't mention dd's age when I ask a question. If age is relevant, I say she is a kindergartener, because that is the closest thing I can figure she KIND OF is, and leave it at that. I have to smile when you say you wonder what you will be teaching in "actual" kindergarten. In our state, she wouldn't begin K for two more years. I just can't even begin to guess what we will be doing. :lol: I don't know if you are kind of a control freak like I am, but wow, this experience is really teaching me to just let it go, and that it's okay to make a plan as we go along. :D

[Grover]

I have refrained from posting on any of the K'er threads on the other board, but I guess I'll speak up here. My "early bloomer" ds will be 5 the end of October, so he wouldn't begin K in our state until next year. But yeah, he's beyond K in many ways. He has been an interesting child since birth and keeps me scratching my head almost every day. I haven't put him in my siggy yet for a number of reasons...thinking I might once he is actually 5. Maybe I will actually begin posting a bit more here now. So glad to see many of you who are in the same boat or have btdt. It is hard for me to participate when I'm afraid others will think I'm crazy or just being braggy. I mean like, so much for those adorable, giant calendars you get to use for pre-K "circle time"--my son got obsessed with one of my old calendars at age 2-3 and basically taught himself all the days of the week, months of the year, and then began visualizing a timeline after asking what year everyone we knew was born. He did the same thing with learning to tell time. And that's just the beginning. I'm not sure what he will leave for me to teach him in his "official-by-the-state" K year.

(And it's not a brag. I feel like I'm just along for the ride...and the ride gets scary sometimes...)

 

:grouphug: It's nice to find others isn't it. Sometimes I feel very alone. It's ok to celebrate that your child has TT'd (so long as it's not too early:lol:) but it's just not safe to celebrate our wee monkeys many places. Nor even to mention them.

[Carpe]

In our state, she wouldn't begin K for two more years. I just can't even begin to guess what we will be doing. :lol:

 

Count us into the years-to-kindergarten group. But that doesn't stop us. Actually I started formal lessons as a measure of self defense because my kid destroys things when he's bored.

[boscopup]

I've heard that with advanced kids the important issue is challenge. They should be stretched a little bit--not too much, but enough that they learn to think and not coast through schooling.

 

At what point do you start this? Even now at K age? And then how do you balance that with their overexcitabilities?

 

My oldest doesn't really have the OEs, but he does have the perfectionism. I didn't really start making things more challenging until 1st grade, and it was a gradual stretch. Now in 2nd grade, I'm starting to make him think about a challenging problem more before I help him (and "helping him" often equals reading the problem out loud, and then it comes to him :tongue_smilie:). I still keep the challenge gentle though. I'll do more challenge if we're working together (like when doing PCM), but if it's something he's working on his own, I keep it gently challenging. While he seems big to me, I know he's really still little. ;)

 

He counted them as 17 instead of 18, and when I ever-so-gently tried to help him see how many they were, boom! Tantrum. He couldn't handle the fact that he was wrong, making a mistake, and someone had to correct him.

In a situation like that, I'll say "Are you sure? Count that again." and then I make sure we LAUGH together when we figure out the mistake. I also point out my own mistakes throughout the day and we laugh about those too. This has helped a lot. I think maturity has also helped. I can point out a mistake now at age 7 without any issue. I couldn't do that at 4. :)

 

I will also say that when I got resistance in teaching my son at a young age, I knew he wasn't ready for formal academics at all. He could read and do math at a higher level, but he wasn't ready for the formal type of learning. That's ok! He unschooled himself pretty well, I think. :) He did go off for a boring K year at school, and in first grade I pulled him out to homeschool. At that point, teaching him was pretty easy. Really, he was teachable from age 5. At 4, he was NOT. It had to all be on his own terms - completely unschooled.

 

My middle son is different. He likes the direct instruction at age 4. I don't know if he'll turn out gifted or not. Hard to tell with him, as he sometimes seems behind other kids his age, and then he'll have a few little areas where he's ahead. I'm just waiting until he grows past his speech delay some more. He's in book B of Singapore EM K, doing fine with that. He also has no trouble doing ETC1 (including the writing), though we haven't done it much lately. We have used Webster's Speller for phonics/reading. He's at that painful sounding out everything stage. He can read a Bob book, sounding out each word, then go back and read the sentence without sounding out. Same thing next page (even though he just read some of those same words). I think some of it is habit, and some of it is fear of being wrong, so he sounds it out even though he knows the word. I know he did that with "cat" one day. He said "cat" immediately, then when I went to turn the page, he complained that he hadn't sounded out the sentence yet! :lol: This child DOES have some OEs, and I suspect a touch of OCD. He's also very wiggly, yet he likes seatwork. He's a strange one.

 

I'm planning to get MFW K for him to start soon. He announced the other day that he wants to start Kindergarten when he turns 5 (Nov. 1). MFW K will be light and easy, and I think he'll enjoy it. He's not that accelerated right now, so it should be a perfect fit. If his reading takes off, we can just use the phonics in there for spelling practice (he spells very well already). We'll keep Singapore as our math, with C-rods added in. He does well with the C-rods. I'm not really worried about academics with him now though. I just want some fun activities just for him, since he's the middle child and could use that "mom time". Oldest got to do "party time" K at school. I'm so NOT a fun mom. MFW K looks like it has activities I'll actually do, without me having to come up with them on my own. And we can get plenty of extra fun books to read together as well.

[LittleIzumi]

Count us into the years-to-kindergarten group. But that doesn't stop us. Actually I started formal lessons as a measure of self defense because my kid destroys things when he's bored.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

I'm planning to get MFW K for him to start soon. He announced the other day that he wants to start Kindergarten when he turns 5 (Nov. 1). MFW K will be light and easy, and I think he'll enjoy it. He's not that accelerated right now, so it should be a perfect fit. If his reading takes off, we can just use the phonics in there for spelling practice (he spells very well already). We'll keep Singapore as our math, with C-rods added in. He does well with the C-rods. I'm not really worried about academics with him now though. I just want some fun activities just for him, since he's the middle child and could use that "mom time". Oldest got to do "party time" K at school. I'm so NOT a fun mom. MFW K looks like it has activities I'll actually do, without me having to come up with them on my own. And we can get plenty of extra fun books to read together as well.

 

We did MFW K for The Drama (3/K) for a while. She liked it quite well, but finished it in 15 min for each "day" and would often do multiple "days" at once. Once I brought The Sponge home from PS, The Drama wanted to do the same kind of school as her sister. I tried doing the MFW stuff as her portion of phonics, etc, but once I brought out the ETC 1, the MFW K seemed ridiculously easy, lol. I am still keeping an eye on the manual for ideas on the topics we do (crafts that match our subjects, as they have good ideas for easy crafts. I am not a craft person), but we stopped it at week 9, I think.

[YourFidgetyFriend]

My dd is in K at traditional K age (she turned 5 at the end of March). Since she is in school, we don't do any traditional lesson work. I do have her read 30 mins a day to herself and we are working through Zaccaro as a math supplement, logic puzzles, and French outside of school.

 

She is far ahead of K work, but has an excellent teacher who is really trying to meet her needs (the school system, on the other hand, is working against us). Luckily she goes to a good school that spends the last half of the day doing fun supplementary activities like violin, art, computer, music, etc. That means an entire half of the day is done doing things that she isn't years ahead in.

[Roadrunner]

California is rolling back the cut-off age one month per year over the next three years, so the cut-off won't be Sept. 1 until 2014.

2012-2013 school year a child has to turn 5 by Nov. 1 to enter K

2013-2014 school year a child has to turn 5 by Oct. 1

2014-2015 school year a child has to turn 5 by Sept 1

Schools are supposed to offer a transitional program for fall birthdays and there is supposed to be a process to test into k if your fall birthday child missed the cut-off. So if you live in California and your child was born in Nov. 2007, he or she will not be eligible for regular kindergarten next year.

 

He is already in K. I know about rolling it back.

[Roadrunner]

How so? I haven't heard this critique before. :bigear:

 

What I mean by appropriate is SM, I believe, requires a certain level of maturity. My little one gets all the answers, but I am not sure how deeply he understands the concepts. I would rather wait another 6 months for him to mature a bit. I think he will get more out of the program. When I talk to him, I can't figure out if he memorized the mechanics or truly understands what he is doing. I think for a more mature child his age, the 1st grade could work. Unfortunately he wants to do what his older brother is doing, which means sitting with his math book and screaming every time I want to take it away from him.

[Amie]

Thanks for all the kind words. And now I'll...

 

:lurk5:

[LittleIzumi]

What I mean by appropriate is SM, I believe, requires a certain level of maturity. My little one gets all the answers, but I am not sure how deeply he understands the concepts. I would rather wait another 6 months for him to mature a bit. I think he will get more out of the program. When I talk to him, I can't figure out if he memorized the mechanics or truly understands what he is doing. I think for a more mature child his age, the 1st grade could work. Unfortunately he wants to do what his older brother is doing, which means sitting with his math book and screaming every time I want to take it away from him.

:iagree: The Drama *could* keep going in Singapore, but I'm switching her to MEP for a while to let her understanding grow and let her mature a little first, so that she understands it better.

[boscopup]

We did MFW K for The Drama (3/K) for a while. She liked it quite well, but finished it in 15 min for each "day" and would often do multiple "days" at once. Once I brought The Sponge home from PS, The Drama wanted to do the same kind of school as her sister. I tried doing the MFW stuff as her portion of phonics, etc, but once I brought out the ETC 1, the MFW K seemed ridiculously easy, lol. I am still keeping an eye on the manual for ideas on the topics we do (crafts that match our subjects, as they have good ideas for easy crafts. I am not a craft person), but we stopped it at week 9, I think.

 

Yeah, I'm going in fully aware that the phonics portion would be easy. I think he could use it though - just a slow, every day thing. We haven't been doing anything every day, so he's kind of stuck in that sounding-out stage. I'm not worried about the phonics challenging him at all. He probably would take off at some point, and that's fine. I'm mainly wanting to do the Bible theme/crafts/lit stuff with him. I'm soooooo not crafty, but if the manual says to do xyz today, I'm more likely to do it. :D I'm also not looking to fill an hour or anything. I just want some dedicated time for the middle child in a light, fun way. I think MFW K will meet that need. And he can still do ETC1 alongside it. ;) I was already going to edit the phonics a bit anyway, as they have them doing blends like "ba", then "bat". If DS2 sees "ba", he'll say /bay/, since he's done Webster's Speller. So we'd just skip that part and go straight to "bat".

 

I may also throw in some FIAR if I ever get a copy of that. Or maybe just do a lapbook from Homeschoolshare. Lots of options! I just want something planned out, saying "Do this craft today!", with easy to do crafts. Otherwise, we just won't do any crafts at all, and we're left with boring old phonics and math. We've been doing phonics and math. We need a little fun K-stuff without as much emphasis on academics. :)

[Runningmom80]

What I mean by appropriate is SM, I believe, requires a certain level of maturity. My little one gets all the answers, but I am not sure how deeply he understands the concepts. I would rather wait another 6 months for him to mature a bit. I think he will get more out of the program. When I talk to him, I can't figure out if he memorized the mechanics or truly understands what he is doing. I think for a more mature child his age, the 1st grade could work. Unfortunately he wants to do what his older brother is doing, which means sitting with his math book and screaming every time I want to take it away from him.

 

Would you mind elaborating in this? We are only on unit 2, I feel like it's all memorization, so I'm wondering if my DS isn't "getting it?" it's the intro of number bonds 1-10, and it says not to move on until the student has a firm handle on the memorization, but it's not sticking. :confused: he would much rather learn 1+2=3, but then I wonder if that's too abstract?

 

 

Eta: he knows the bonds of numbers 1-5, but only because he has memorized the math sentences. He knows about half of 6-10, but again, only because he knows "5+4=9," not because he is figuring out the part of the whole.

Edited September 15, 2011 by Runningmom80

[Roadrunner]

Would you mind elaborating in this? We are only on unit 2, I feel like it's all memorization, so I'm wondering if my DS isn't "getting it?" it's the intro of number bonds 1-10, and it says not to move on until the student has a firm handle on the memorization, but it's not sticking. :confused: he would much rather learn 1+2=3, but then I wonder if that's too abstract?

 

 

Eta: he knows the bonds of numbers 1-5, but only because he has memorized the math sentences. He knows about half of 6-10, but again, only because he knows "5+4=9," not because he is figuring out the part of the whole.

 

I think it's an ability to understand how to apply a concept. For example, he can easily add 6 and a 3, or subtract 3 from a 9 (he can also add and subtract up to 20). However, when SM asks him to look at the picture and write 2 addition and 2 subtraction equations, he isn't sure what is being asked of him. That's in my mind a maturity issue. I think the marvel of SM program is IP and CWP books, and both of those books ask kids to think. I like to assign a workbook chapter followed by the same chapter in IP. My older son is doing SM this way and gaining a marvelous understanding of math. CWP we run during the summer. I want to delay going further in SM with my soon to be 5 year old until is he mature enough to think about the problem and tackle IP books, not just give me an answer when I say 9 + 6. I hope this makes sense. Try assigning word problems where it isn't clear if you need to add or subtract and see if he clearly grasps how to use the mechanics he learned. I think that's a good indication of understanding the concepts.

[Runningmom80]

I think it's an ability to understand how to apply a concept. For example, he can easily add 6 and a 3, or subtract 3 from a 9 (he can also add and subtract up to 20). However, when SM asks him to look at the picture and write 2 addition and 2 subtraction equations, he isn't sure what is being asked of him. That's in my mind a maturity issue. I think the marvel of SM program is IP and CWP books, and both of those books ask kids to think. I like to assign a workbook chapter followed by the same chapter in IP. My older son is doing SM this way and gaining a marvelous understanding of math. CWP we run during the summer. I want to delay going further in SM with my soon to be 5 year old until is he mature enough to think about the problem and tackle IP books, not just give me an answer when I say 9 + 6. I hope this makes sense. Try assigning word problems where it isn't clear if you need to add or subtract and see if he clearly grasps how to use the mechanics he learned. I think that's a good indication of understanding the concepts.

 

 

That makes total sense! I think that's where the disconnect is. He's great at word problems, but the number bonds just annoy him. For example, he did this with all of them. :lol::lol::lol:

 

 

He doesn't want to do bonds, he wants the sentences. So will I totally mess it up for him if I don't harp on the bonds? He's the kind of kids that likes drilling the facts, so I think I can help him learn with flash cards. I also know that the number bond is a big part of the primary singapore. (at least that's what the HIG says.) I'm almost wondering if we need to switch curricula? Are all maths like this?