If you have a typical 5yo boy doing Kindergarten level work...

[plain jane]

Please tell me what you do with him each day.

 

My K'er doesn't care much for seat work. :rolleyes:

 

We do Saxon Phonics K, RS A, some Bible work, and I read aloud to him. ETA: forgot HWT K

 

That's it. Ugh. I need to do more, but what?

 

I'm thinking of adding in Evan Moor's Beginning Geography. He doesn't like coloring pages but may tolerate that once a week.

 

Painting a couple times per week? He doesn't enjoy this as it's too open ended for him and he's not interested in painting flowers/houses/trees like my girls were. He just paints random lines and calls it done in 3 min. :tongue_smilie: He's not interested in playdough either although he'll tolerate it for 1/2 hour or so once a week so I do encourage that.

 

I'd like to add in some drawing like I did with my olders. I had them do a drawing from a how to draw book and then dictate a few sentences about it (which I would write for them until they were old enough to write their own). This kiddo won't draw. :001_unsure: Getting him to do an oral sentence is a chore.

 

Obviously I need to work on some more skills with him.

 

Needing lots of ideas, please. :bigear:

Edited December 13, 2011 by plain jane

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Right now, my ds does three subjects a day, plus read-alouds. We do 1 lesson from MEP Reception (will finish in February or March and move to level 1), 2 pages from HWT pre-k (will start K in January), and some type of word building, simple reading, or reading/phonics game for 10-20 minutes. Not counting read-alouds, it probably takes us 30-40 minutes a day. I'd like to try to add more crafts and such in January. Still have to see if we'll have time in our already full days.

 

ETA: Would he like painting, play-doh, etc. better if you gave him an idea of what to make before he started? Maybe read from a story and have him paint a picture from the story or form some of the characters from play-doh. I don't think most Kindergarten students really need much seat work. Would he like to do mazes or puzzles? What about nature study or baking/cooking with you?

Edited December 13, 2011 by Lisa in the UP of MI

[....]

We basically unschool at that point - even 1st grade. We used MFW K with our third kid and that was perfect for her. My son couldn't handle anything structured at 5-7 yro.

 

If you google unschooling blogs, there are tons of blogs out there with some great ideas.

 

But...painting, tons of read-alouds, cooking, nature walks and just learning how to read is all we do at that age.

 

 

Edited to say: I have really late bloomers. We tried to send my son to ps when he was 5. They called me up to the school several times because he needed a nap (really embarrassing). I know some kids are capable of more at that age.

Edited December 13, 2011 by starrbuck12

[plain jane]

We basically unschool at that point - even 1st grade. We used MFW K with our third kid and that was perfect for her. My son couldn't handle anything structured at 5-7 yro.

 

If you google unschooling blogs, there are tons of blogs out there with some great ideas.

 

But...painting, tons of read-alouds, cooking, nature walks and just learning how to read is all we do at that age.

 

 

Edited to say: I have really late bloomers. We tried to send my son to ps when he was 5. They called me up to the school several times because he needed a nap (really embarrassing). I know some kids are capable of more at that age.

 

My K'er still naps. :blush: And he's an older K'er- almost 6. :001_huh:

 

Some of the things I took for granted that my olders could do intuitively (like use a given word in a sentence) he has great troubles with. :confused:

[Alice]

We do phonics with either a lesson (really a part of a lesson) from OPGTR or practice with a reader (like Bob Books or Nora Gaydos). About 15 minutes seems good right now. Longer and he gets tired and grumpy and we're not productive. He does a little handwriting with HWT. He does a little Math, usually either a game or a little bit in Singapore. Total of seat work kind of stuff would be 30-40 min.

 

I have a 3rd grader too so the kindergartner sits in for science and history sometimes with him. He doesn't have to but sometimes he wants to (if it's a good read aloud book or a hands-on activity).

 

We use Five in a Row for kindergarten which means we read some books related to the book of the week and do a little easy activity some days. Most of his day though is playing outside or with Legos or with his brother.

 

My husband is doing Artistic Pursuits with both boys but my kindergartener is particularly interested in art. My oldest would not have wanted to do art at that age (he doesn't want to do it now).

 

I like Five in a Row mostly because it helps me make sure I'm doing something intentional with him. It's not really necessary but as a middle child he often gets a little overlooked. I'm not the most fun Mom or someone who just naturally thinks of activities to do. I'm pretty happy with them doing their own thing and that's fine for a lot of the day. But FIAR helps me to structure my weeks and do some fun stuff with him as the focus.

Edited December 13, 2011 by Alice

[boscopup]

You're pretty much doing what I do with my 5 year old (while he's technically "K" next year per the state, we started "K"-sort-of a month before he turned 5, and he's not really advanced or obviously accelerated in any way - he is still learning to count and read like a typical K'er).

 

We use MFW K to get some unit study type books and activities in, though I'll admit we haven't done any of the activities for the leaf unit. Just the books. :tongue_smilie: We spend a few minutes on Singapore EM K book B, a few minutes on Webster's or I See Sam readers, and maybe a few minutes on HWT K. That's it. And of course, I answer his copious amount of questions... really, really, really difficult questions ("Why did God make us real?" :001_huh:). We also do a read-aloud of a chapter book with all the kids. I read aloud picture books just for my K'er.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

My K'er still naps. :blush: And he's an older K'er- almost 6. :001_huh:

 

Some of the things I took for granted that my olders could do intuitively (like use a given word in a sentence) he has great troubles with. :confused:

 

Kids mature at different rates. My oldest dd could read any picture book she picked up at ds's age (5.25yo) and ds is just beginning to be able to read and build simple words. He's the same one who taught himself to count by twos and to add and subtract simple numbers. My older three were talking in full sentences by almost 2yo whereas my current almost 2yo says just one word at a time and is still very much just in the word learning stage. Every child is different and needs to be treated as such.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I have a stereotypical 5 year old boy. :tongue_smilie: Does that count?

 

I don't actually think you do need to do more with him. My opinion only, of course. :) My one regret about DS8's and DD's K year is not getting them used to the requirement of setting some time aside daily, purposefully, to work. It doesn't have to be a long time, just something to form the habit. You've got that covered.

 

I do group work with all three in the morning and let him wander in and out as he pleases. Then in the afternoon, I do 1 hour (or so, roughly, give or take... :lol:) with each kid.

 

Here is what he does:

 

Together Time - This is all of us in the morning after breakfast and includes calendar, weather, conversational Spanish, singing, skip counting, poetry memorization (very short...lots of nursery rhymes for him), etc. He likes this a lot.

 

History - He sticks around for picture books, likes to listen to read-alouds for the most part, coloring is hit-or-miss. He has permission to leave quietly if uninterested, which I see as no biggie. He might build Legos or blocks nearby. He loves the projects and always does them with us, although he doesn't always last as long, you know?

 

Science - pretty much the same as history

 

Art - ditto history and science :lol:

 

In the afternoon, during his one-on-one time with me, he does Miquon/SM, reading, ZB handwriting, and a Lollipop Logic book (he wanted it to be like DD and DS8). We also might play some games, mostly RS. After I wrap up with him, we all do tea and poetry together.

 

He also practices piano daily (usually with me next to him). He'll sometimes do Rosetta Stone but I don't require it of him yet.

 

I would wait on narrations. CM says 6 and that's good enough for me. I do think what you're doing is enough.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Alte Veste Academy

[kristinannie]

My DS5 can sit still and concentrate on something for quite awhile if he is interested (i.e. science, art class, etc), but not so much for other subjects. This is a typical day for us:

 

 

9-10am seatwork:

10 minutes of McRuffy Color math (1-2 lessons)

10 min reading lesson

5-10 minutes of ZB handwriting

Play a phonics game from Stuggling reader (usually includes standing up or running around)

10-15 min Miquon

10 min religion

5-10 min ETC

 

Usually at some point in there I tell him to get around and run around the house (around our stairs through the kitchen, living room, foyer and school room) a certain number of times (12 seems to be the right number). I tell him to scream (as long as the baby isn't sleeping). This seems to get the wiggles out.

 

10-12 Playtime (usually outside for at least part of it)

 

12-1pm Unit study (this is where we do science, history, geography, crafts, read alouds, etc...just depending on the day). I have found it really helpful to start this while they are eating lunch. They really listening to anything I am reading aloud while eating. When they finish eating, I usually have a coloring page for them to do while I finish reading aloud. Also, they have little handheld toys they can play with that we call read aloud toys. If their hands are busy, they really listen better. We usually do something fun during this time as well (an experiment, craft, etc).

 

1-2:30 free time or art, crafts or music depending

 

2:30-4:30 quiet time

 

 

We usually read alouds as well before bed. We also often play games after dinner (usually math or phonics games with a little Candyland thrown in).

[MeganW]

 

Painting a couple times per week? He doesn't enjoy this as it's too open ended for him and he's not interested in painting flowers/houses/trees like my girls were. He just paints random lines and calls it done in 3 min. :tongue_smilie: He's not interested in playdough either although he'll tolerate it for 1/2 hour or so once a week so I do encourage that.

 

I'd like to add in some drawing like I did with my olders. I had them do a drawing from a how to draw book and then dictate a few sentences about it (which I would write for them until they were old enough to write their own). This kiddo won't draw. :001_unsure:

 

I read somewhere that in general, girls like to draw nouns, and boys like to draw verbs. That has definitely been the case in our house. My girls draw the scenery stuff like you mentioned, but my son always wants to draw "running", "sliding", etc. If you are giving suggestions for things to draw, try suggesting verbs. Or maybe try "draw your favorite thing to do". My kids would immediately respond "I don't know how", and I would then have to go through the process of deciding what it looked like and how that could be transfered to paper. If you get a newspaper, pull out the comics and look at how they show movement - that helped my son a lot.

[Alte Veste Academy]

Edited to say: I have really late bloomers. We tried to send my son to ps when he was 5. They called me up to the school several times because he needed a nap (really embarrassing). I know some kids are capable of more at that age.

 

Aw, don't ever be embarrassed about naps. Naps are awesome and completely underrated as kids age. I would kill for us all to still take a daily nap like we did when they were younger. Might make us a lot less crabby some days... :tongue_smilie:

[boscopup]

I read somewhere that in general, girls like to draw nouns, and boys like to draw verbs.

 

I've never heard of that, but it makes sense! My boys draw light saber fights, battle ships shooting each other, things like that. No pretty nature scenes here, unless they involve sharks and jellyfish. :tongue_smilie:

[freesia]

Relax, really, relax. The one K student I had elaborate plans (projects not seat work) with remembers NOTHING that we did.

 

My formula now:

Read alouds in different genre--fiction, non-fiction (Gail Gibbons type stuff), maybe some history picture books, fairy tales from around the world.

 

Some type of systematic reading program. I tend to use Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and add in Explode the Code as fine motor develops (my kids have particularly weak fine motor skills in K.)

 

Lots of outside time

 

Casually cover adding, subtracting, one to one correspondence, names of shapes, etc. at whatever level said child is at (my kids tend to be advanced in Math but since they are poor in fine motor can't handle texts at this point.)

 

Handwriting Without Tears

 

Lots of playing, art materials, Legos, puzzles, games, outside time, sports with the family

 

Using this relatively "unschooling" approach in K has worked great. They do fine/advanced at first grade work.

 

In fact, I remember when I was learning to be a teacher, I was told of a story about a study in Germany. One K class did projects/play/read aloud. The other did seat work. At the end of first grade, the playing Ks were ahead by the seatwork ones. There is a reason that traditionally most cultures start seat work at 6/7.

 

HTH,

[krismoose]

When ds was in K, he did 5-10 min of phonics, 5-10 min of math, 5 min of handwriting, Listened to read-alouds (which included history or science as well) for about 30 min, one 10-15 min hands-on activity of science, art, etc, and practiced a Bible verse while doing something active. The rest of the time he played. He learned to read fluently and started writing. He still remembers the Bible verses :). Trying to get him to draw was painful for both of us, but now he's starting to draw things on his own. I think you're doing great!

[Mrs. A]

We are not doing much more than you mentioned in your op. We do Bible memory in the mornings at breakfast, along with learning Spell to Write and Read phonograms, then during dd2's naptime we do 10-15 minutes math (MUS) and 10-15 minutes writing (Cursive First). Once a week or so we do some geography and drawing (we use Drawing with Children and love it! It teaches how to draw by imitation, not just coming up with stuff from your own head).

 

The rest of the time is spent playing and reading together. Whilein the car we listen to different Classical Kids CDs (the current fav is Beethoven Lives Upstairs) and occasionally we will get a library book or two about a famous artist.

 

Eta: we also do Spanish once a week - a 20 minute video and Arabic, but I don't stress if we don't get to them. Sometimes they get put on hold for quite awhile before we get back to them. :)

Edited December 13, 2011 by Mrs. A

[FairProspects]

I'd like to add in some drawing like I did with my olders. I had them do a drawing from a how to draw book and then dictate a few sentences about it (which I would write for them until they were old enough to write their own). This kiddo won't draw. :001_unsure: Getting him to do an oral sentence is a chore.

 

Um, my 7 y.o. ds would not do that. Some boys are just not very verbal. Dictating multiple sentences? Yeah, right.

 

Does he not like to draw at all or just not what you give him? How is he doing with HWOT K? If he is doing fine with it, then maybe he just needs more choice in what he draws. Could you hand him the Draw Write Now book and ask him to pick something to draw (without the dictating)? If he is ready he could copy one of the sentences (Book 1 is pretty easy), if not maybe he could label 1 or 2 things in the picture?

 

If he won't draw at all and is having difficulty with HWOT, I would consider an OT evaluation for fine motor skills. Sometimes it is hard to make the distinction between a child who won't do a skill because they don't like it, versus a child who can't do said skill because they have a delay that needs some therapy and exercises. Good luck!

[lorrainejmc]

My 5yr old is doing OPGTR, HWT K, and will start MUS alpha after Christmas. We also do memory work (alphabetical order, letter names and sounds, counting, days of the week etc) and FIAR and other read alouds. We do art with FIAR.

[Willow Creek Academy]

I boy K-er isn't great with seatwork so we keep it to short lessons. 10-15 minutes per subject 4 days a week and no more than 1 hour and 15 minutes per day - and usually it's closer to 45 minutes. For those formal lessons, we do reading/phonics, math, handwriting, and memory work. We will add social studies and logic to that in January.

 

For geography, have you looked the Expedition Earth (from Confessions of a Homeschooler)? I downloaded it last week to start in January and it seems to be SO much fun! I think my 3 will love it (young Pre-K, K, and 1st).

 

We keep science super fun with nature study and literature is just a read when we can type of thing. Chapter Books are before bed and everything else falls into place - like reading to one in the bathtub, or just snuggling on the couch with a book, or using audio books in the car.

[SorrelZG]

When actually doing something ...

 

- Song School Latin songs

- something that can count as math

- learning to play the recorder

- copywork

- phonics

- read alouds from various genres

 

We have art supplies for use as desired and DS draws a lot on his own. I don't schedule anything for art yet (not for any particular reason besides my own lack of urgency).

[NanceXToo]

I don't really think you need to do more. It sounds like you'd like to do crafty kind of things with him but can't think of any he'd be interested in. My son isn't very into drawing/painting, etc either, but here are a few art kind of activities I've found that he HAS enjoyed, just for fun:

 

1. Put a few drops of different colored food coloring on a paper plate on a rainy day. Go outside in the rain holding the paper plate. Watch what happens to the drops of food coloring.

 

2. Paint with different color Kool Aid diluted just enough with water to make a water color kind of effect. It smells really nice and later you can do a scratch and sniff kind of thing and guess the flavors.

 

3. Do an "ice sculpture." Freeze a bowl of water overnight. In the morning, run some cold water over it to get it out (we put it in a aluminum tray or something I think) and to make it smooth. In a spray bottle, mix about 3/4 cup salt, some food coloring, and 1/4 cup warm water, set the nozzle on stream, and let him play around with spraying the ice. Spraying the liquid will form little caves and cracks and holes and designs etc and will make an "ice sculpture."

 

4. Building with beans. Soften a bunch of different beans in water overnight (lima beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, etc). Then give him all the beans with a bunch of toothpicks and just play around with making different structures.

 

5. Cover your kitchen table one morning entirely with a big piece of paper like from a huge roll, or with a bunch of pieces taped together if you don't have a big roll, and lay out a bunch of crayons, markers, stampers, etc, without comment. Just let him pick it up and do his thing if he wants to while you go about getting breakfast and such.

 

6. Wee Sing songs and fingerplays.

 

We haven't gotten to "fork weaving" yet but you could look it up and see if it's something your son is interested in. You could just let him play around with scissors, hole punchers and stuff like that if you want more fine motor practice. I really don't think you HAVE to push the artsy stuff or that you HAVE to do more structured stuff each day on top of what you're already doing, though, at his age. I'd just follow his interests, really, and keep it low key. One of my son's absolute favorite things is when I play board games with him.

[plain jane]

I don't really think you need to do more. It sounds like you'd like to do crafty kind of things with him but can't think of any he'd be interested in. My son isn't very into drawing/painting, etc either, but here are a few art kind of activities I've found that he HAS enjoyed, just for fun:

 

No, not crafty things necessarily. Just K level stuff that will build up skills for grade 1. It really doesn't have to be crafts, but most things end up being sort of crafty, I guess. Stuff like scissor work, etc.

 

This is the first time for me that I've been in the middle of K and not seen any indication that this child will be ready for gr1 work. By mid K both my olders were writing basic sentences and drawing basic pictures. This one? Drawing a really good circle is a chore. :tongue_smilie: It's not awful, and I just shouldn't compare them :chillpill: I'm just wondering what else I should be doing to build up the skills that my older kids seemed to come by more naturally. :)

[Meriwether]

Ds5 does one Saxon 1 lesson each day (we skip Saxon K). He colors a picture during Bible. He does 3-5 lessons of Phonics Museum each day. We'll slow that down to two lessons a day as they get harder. He reads one page of Turbo Reader most days. I have tons of other stuff for him to do, but that is what actually gets done. He will occasionally do a file folder activity, puzzle, math game, etc, but I'm not very good about getting those out for him. He does listen to the older kids' science and history.

[NASDAQ]

That seems completely sufficient for K.

 

We do Saxon Phonics K from 10:30-12 (she does four lessons a day, which seems like a lot but it is working better this way), Kumon 20 min., and math 1 from 12:30-1:45 (2-3 lessons). My kindergartener seems really Done by the time we've done math, and I can't imagine stuffing any more in there. IYH we'll add HWT. If it ever comes. Oh, Canada Post.

 

If you're looking for a way to keep him busy, then play dough :D

[LMD]

Sounds pretty good to me. My K-er will do approx:

 

1 lesson of LLATL - 15-20mins

Often a lesson of Reading Eggs too - fun for him!

 

1 lesson of Miquon or Mep - 15-20 mins

 

He sits in for other stuff but this is his only real school work.

 

My DS hated hated hated to draw until we got his pencil grip sorted - I bought a cheap little rubber thing so he knew where to put his fingers. He's a perfectionist and hated not knowing how to do it right! He loves drawing/colouring now, but he's still a perfectionist, he'll go through rheems of 'not right' pictures before he's happy!

 

Other stuff he likes to do is:

Dot-to-dots

mazes (especially if I can print off some dinosaur/dragon/ben 10 etc. ones!)

meccano sets - DH especially recommends these, good for fine motor, problem solving etc.

puzzles

blocks - or c-rods!

Lots of outdoor stuff, do you have a garden he can dig in?

tangrams or shape matching puzzles like this:http://www.mywoodentoys.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=370

 

Now, all that sounds good and organised, but I should tell you he's watching TV right now - hey, we're on holidays atm! :D

[Tracy]

I am not quite there yet with my little guy, who is almost 4yo. But I am already preparing myself for a very different experience than the first time around with dd. My plan is to do SWR at a white board. If he is interested, we will do FIAR. I am not sure if we will do anything with math. He is already quite ahead in math, so I may just wait until 1st grade to do anything formal and just do math games with him. I am intrigued by what I have read about Miquon and might look into that.

[NanceXToo]

No, not crafty things necessarily. Just K level stuff that will build up skills for grade 1. It really doesn't have to be crafts, but most things end up being sort of crafty, I guess. Stuff like scissor work, etc.

 

This is the first time for me that I've been in the middle of K and not seen any indication that this child will be ready for gr1 work. By mid K both my olders were writing basic sentences and drawing basic pictures. This one? Drawing a really good circle is a chore. :tongue_smilie: It's not awful, and I just shouldn't compare them :chillpill: I'm just wondering what else I should be doing to build up the skills that my older kids seemed to come by more naturally. :)

 

Ok. I see what you're saying. But then again, I hate the idea of a child having to "be ready for grade 1 work." K used to be just, you know, fun. 1st used to be time enough for learning reading and writing skills. So if your son hasn't learned what's typically first grade skills in K, why stress over it? If he learns to write basic sentences in 1st grade/age 6 instead of K/age 5, that's okay, isn't it? I'd take his cues and don't feel like you have to push more and harder just because he isn't doing what the others did...he's still being a very normal 5 year old!

[hmschooling]

K is for inspiring a love of learning! They don't have to "be ready for grade 1"...grade 1 materials generally start at a very basal level and move up from there. I feel like they usually start with K level material at a faster pace for the most part.

 

I use the R&S ABC series books and the newer GHI series, Reading Eggs, sometimes The Reading Lesson, PBS kids online games, Pick and Draw for fun/fine motor, We Choose Virtues for character, and his all time favorite...Developing the Early Learner. I let him color and draw as much as his little heart desires, and he loves to play learning games online. He listens to big brother read aloud his daily emerging reader book for a short storytime. We occasionally do RightStart A. We don't do this all everyday...it's pretty much how ever he wants to...I'm in no rush. He is only 5! He can learn all his K stuff in a year for K...or in a matter of weeks or days in a year or two from from now. Right now, he's just soaking things up in real life for the most part.

[SorrelZG]

Ok. I see what you're saying. But then again, I hate the idea of a child having to "be ready for grade 1 work." K used to be just, you know, fun. 1st used to be time enough for learning reading and writing skills. So if your son hasn't learned what's typically first grade skills in K, why stress over it? If he learns to write basic sentences in 1st grade/age 6 instead of K/age 5, that's okay, isn't it? I'd take his cues and don't feel like you have to push more and harder just because he isn't doing what the others did...he's still being a very normal 5 year old!

 

:iagree:

[Snickerdoodle]

Spend more time on gross motor skills.

 

Spend more time outside.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I'm just wondering what else I should be doing to build up the skills that my older kids seemed to come by more naturally. :)

 

:grouphug: He is just a different kid and that's OK. I doubt your older children came by the skills more naturally. I imagine they just came earlier. To each his own pace. He's not behind. :)