Hmm help

[Nickster]

I am a dad of 2 boys 5 and 3. We want to homeschool and have been planning it for sometime. I want to use the classical model and read the well trained mind a couple of years ago. My 5 year old has been reading since before he turned 4 and can read the little house and the niv with help with names of course quite well. We would nota send him to kindergarten if he was going to school next year because he doesn't turn 6 till late July so we don't know whether or not to get him started on a curriculum or not. Since he reads so well, the k curricula ive seen seems to be beneath his level so those are our problems. We don't know when to start and where to start by level. He can't write yet and He doesn't want to sit and learn how yet. We don't know whether to make him do it next fall if he doesn't want to or wait.

 

I am a hs eng teacher, and my wife did not attend college and really needs me to take the lead on the planning. That is her main concern. She is comfortable implementing the plan but not formulating it.

 

We have a good problem in that nick reads so well but don't know what to do with reading instruction now.

 

Any comments will be appreciated ladies.

[chepyl]

If he is reluctant to write, wait. Just read aloud. Make a list of history and science topics or get What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know to use as a guide. Get books he can read and that you can read to him on each topic. Get a globe and learn the continents.

 

Do puzzles, teach him Yatzee and let him add his own score. There are so many educational games that will teach him basic math.

 

Color, especially with colored pencils. Keep a book with letter practice out, but don't make him do It. When he wants to start writing, give him the book.

[tuzor]

Sounds like you will just work with him where he is. It is not uncommon for kids to move ahead in certain areas faster than others. Continue his reading I would not rush to start school with him. Just because he is reading does not mean he is comprehending all that he reads. Plus he is a boy who probably has a short attention span. I would focus on the basics the 3 R's at his level.

There are lots of workbooks that help him with motorskills drawing lines, circles etc. You can also try Kumon workbooks. You can also have him draw letters etc in rice. I would also find math books not workbooks but books that give you ideas for math activities.

 

Some people like to get those What your child should know when books, as a guide to structure their learning. You could focus less on reading instruction right now and focus more on other skills to allow those other areas to catch up. Just read to him and get lots of books from the library that are on his current level.

[GingerPoppy]

You don't want to turn him off writing. Personally, I'd start teaching him letter formation, but I wouldn't do it anywhere near pencil and paper. Instead, let him "write", just learning to properly form one letter at a time, on these surfaces:

- coloured salt on a tray using finger to write

- fingerpaint (either on shiny paper, or on a tray that can be smeared over and over, and then rinsed clean at the end)

- with a stick in sand outside

- in the snow with a plastic squeeze bottle filled with coloured water

- in shaving foam or whipped cream on a tray

- with a bath crayon right on the tub at bath time

- in the air, moving his whole arm in large movements

- on your back, so you can guess what letter he formed

- on a white board with a marker

 

Keep it fun. :) I recommend using a handwriting program for you to refer to so you can ensure he is doing the strokes correctly (like top to bottom, left to right, etc.) Correct letter formation goes a long way toward reducing frustration later in his writing. Inefficient letters slow down writing and make the task more unpleasant, which can lead to dislike of the subject in general.

[Lucy the Valiant]

The main goal of most kindergarten programs seems to be (A) reading (B) some counting, and © acclimation to a general school setting.

 

If your kiddo is already reading, and you're not particularly interested in acclimating to a general school setting, you have LOTS of free time to have lots of fun!

 

I'm a hs English teacher, too (well, in my former life I was), and one thing I love about SWB's approach is the division of "writing" into 2 different disciplines: the ability to compose and the ability to actually scribe. In your shoes, I'd encourage discussion-narration-summarization conversations with your son that begin the important skill of composition, and leave the handwriting stuff for way later.

 

Get some Cuisenaire rods and pre-K / K book, and start building mathematical concepts through games.

 

Read classic books - together and apart - and discuss them. Adam Andrews (a Christian, if that is an issue) has some excellent analytical questions to really pull the meat out of a classic children's book. His course is worth the time and money, probably especially so for your wife (it's really empowering for a "non-trained" teacher to teach literary analysis).

 

Do fun projects and days of exploring and discovery! The early reading can make things VERY fun! :) Congrats on kicking off your journey!

[ssavings]

My reaction would be that one of the benefits of homeschooling is the ability to mix and match grade levels and curricula to find the best fit for each child.

 

That being said, I'd still start him on a basic phonics in kindy. Even if its below his reading level, it'd be important to me to make sure he really knows all the phonics rules. But I certainly would not try to slow down his reading.

 

And, my 4 year old DS generally does "handwriting" on an aquadoodle. Its not ideal, but...

[Guest Julie A]

Hello. I am the mother of said boys in thread starter. I am thrilled that my husband found this site & forum, and posted our questions/concerns. Please note that I am new at this, both homeschooling and forum posting, so bear with me. :)

First off, thank you all very much for your replies! It is helpful to be brought back down to earth every now and then. You see, as my husband and I have been exploring the world of homeschooling and speaking with parents who have, or are currently doing so, we have often heard to take our time with it. Considering our boys are only 3 & 5 and have a healthy taste for books and being read to, the advice to just load them up with books, including ones that explore their interest has been common.

 

As far as the writing goes, I have had moderate concern that I was letting my 5 yr old "fall behind" where he should be for his age or where other children his age are. I certainly was unsure if I should force the issue or just let it develop over time. He definitely has an interest in workbooks (I have purchased generic ones from places like Sams Club). However, he usually passes over the pages with line and circle work or letter tracing for the ones that have matching activities or other.

 

He does have an interest in math and numbers so we do work on that in everyday type activities. I look forward to trying many of the other interesting activities suggested here! Thanks again!

[ssavings]

Welcome!

[boscopup]

Welcome! I agree that what you want to work on with him is "pre-writing" activities - writing in sand, salt, shaving cream, etc. Teach letter formation that way. He's at an age where doing those activities would be a good idea now. Give those activities a few months or so, and maybe next year start actual writing. Are you planning to call him "K" next fall? The label doesn't have to equal the level of work he's at. ;) Obviously, reading is already in place, so yay! It will be much easier for you. :D So get him working with his hands - Playdoh, little Legos, using tweezers to pick up small objects, things like that. Those things will help develop his writing muscles. You may also hop over to the Accelerated Learner board to see how common it is for a child to be way ahead in some subjects but still have trouble physically writing. My child is there too - reads anything I put in front of him, works above grade level in math, has excellent ideas to write about, but the physical act of writing is still a chore at 7 years old. I keep output expectations in line with his age, and I give him higher level input because that's what he needs. I label him "2nd grade" due to age, regardless of the fact that only 2 of our subjects have the "2" label on them.

 

I just can't stress enough how important those pre-writing activities are. I wish I'd known to do those with my oldest when he was younger. My younger two have better fine motor skills already, but I still have my young 5 year old do a salt box and such. He'll be "K" next year, and I have just barely started to have him put pencil on paper to form letters - again, he has better fine motor skills than my oldest. He's been "writing" on the white board for a while (copied a sentence several months ago... my oldest could barely do that at 6!). White board writing is easier than pencil and paper writing, btw. So I'm kind of going the route of salt->white board (without lines)->paper (with lines). You could even throw in more steps in there, like doing lines on the white board then paper without lines then paper with lines.

 

Handwriting Without Tears K book would be a good idea, and if he really struggles with fine motor, you might want to do the extras in the TM (like building letters and such). I just used the workbook with my oldest at age 6.5, which was fine for him, but he'd also already done the pre-writing activities in his K class at school... they loved those days when they got to do shaving cream on their desks! :D

[Mrs Twain]

I have a daughter who will will start K in the fall and reads very well. She sounds a lot like your son. Her writing ability is also far below her reading ability, similar to your son. My issue has been finding appropriate materials for her for K. Many of the K level programs are far too easy because she knows how to read well, but the upper level programs are too difficult because she can't write.

 

At present for pre-K, I bought her many workbooks (pre-K and K level). I have her sit at her desk for a few minutes per day and do at least one worksheet where she is practicing writing letters and numbers. I think having her sit at the desk and doing a little academic work and coloring is a good skill to learn in order to get ready for school, even if it is only ten or fifteen minutes per day. I think the other suggestions about pre-writing activities are also good if you would rather start with that. However, I would caution you about putting off the writing for too long. My oldest child was a boy who didn't want to write. I felt that he got behind in the writing somewhat because he didn't want to write and I didn't tell him he needed to learn. You may want to start having your son writing before Kindergarten, just a little bit every day so that he will be ready for K in the fall.

 

In particular, I feel that it is important to help build the hand muscles for writing for young kids. I have my kids use crayons or pencils/colored pencils when they write on paper or color (rather than markers) most of the time. I like using white boards and markers sometimes, but I don't like using them too much because they don't help to strengthen the hands.

 

Once your son learns to write letters and numbers on paper, he will be able to take off in school, likely working above grade level in many subjects. Writing and spelling come quickly to a child who can read well and knows how to form letters on paper. Math also comes quickly to a child who can read directions and problems, as long as he can write the basic numbers 1-10.

 

Here is what I am planning for reading/phonics/spelling with my daughter for K if you are interested. I will have her read challenging books aloud to me for about 15 minutes per day. I then ask reading comprehension questions to test her comprehension. I do spelling not only to learn to spell but to reinforce phonics. I also add in a reading comprehension book (I like the Evan-Moor Skill Sharpeners Reading--I will start with 1st grade level for my daugher in K).

 

For writing in K, I plan to use a handwriting program as well as copywork. For copywork, I like the Draw Write Now books (I checked them out from the library). The child learns how to draw a picture, and there are a few sentences to copy about the picture. I get/print out handwriting paper with the top half blank for the drawing and the bottom half with lines for the writing. I am also looking at buying copywork books from Memoria Press.

 

Those are just some ideas if it helps you at all since I think you and I are in a similar place looking for K materials. Welcome to homeschooling! You are already doing a great job.

[StartingOver]

I am a dad of 2 boys 5 and 3. We want to homeschool and have been planning it for sometime. I want to use the classical model and read the well trained mind a couple of years ago. My 5 year old has been reading since before he turned 4 and can read the little house and the niv with help with names of course quite well. We would nota send him to kindergarten if he was going to school next year because he doesn't turn 6 till late July so we don't know whether or not to get him started on a curriculum or not. Since he reads so well, the k curricula ive seen seems to be beneath his level so those are our problems. We don't know when to start and where to start by level. He can't write yet and He doesn't want to sit and learn how yet. We don't know whether to make him do it next fall if he doesn't want to or wait.

 

I am a hs eng teacher, and my wife did not attend college and really needs me to take the lead on the planning. That is her main concern. She is comfortable implementing the plan but not formulating it.

 

We have a good problem in that nick reads so well but don't know what to do with reading instruction now.

 

Any comments will be appreciated ladies.

 

I have a 5.8 year old son who is the same. He is writing a bit. I have not let it hold him back. We do Sonlight, Singapore, Story of the World, Explode the Code, First Language Lessons, Writing With Ease, All About Spelling, etc. I do a lot of writing for him. He has gotten better in the last 6 months he will now do ETC and WWE by himself.

 

I blogged about this a while back....

 

http://homeschoolingintexas.blogspot.com/2011/11/scribing-for-child.html

 

I wouldn't push him if he isn't ready. Be sure to back off if need be, but if he is interested there is no reason why you can't move on with other subjects. Some little guys are completely capable and more than willing, mine is like a sponge. :lol::lol:

 

As for reading I would keep tons of books around, discuss the books, get him to tell the story back to you. Ask for more details, and just keep reading.

[Colleen in NS]

I am a hs eng teacher, and my wife did not attend college and really needs me to take the lead on the planning. That is her main concern. She is comfortable implementing the plan but not formulating it.

 

You've gotten a lot of great advice about the other issues. I just want to comment on this. There are many of us here who did not go to college, and we are using the Well-Trained Mind book as a guide for homeschooling - planning and implementing. It is written for college-educated people *as well as* non-college educated. It is very user-friendly. I just say that in case your wife might want to read it and see that someone like her *can* do some of the planning. As one with just a high school diploma, I have learned SO MUCH about educating kids, by having read that book and implementing the ideas; and by participating on these forums. It can be done, if she wants to try! :D

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Welcome to the boards, Julie and Nick! :001_smile:

[Colleen in NS]

Hello. I am the mother of said boys in thread starter.

 

Welcome to the boards, Julie and Nick! :001_smile:

 

Good heavens, I didn't even notice that!!! Julie, sorry about that - I didn't mean to overlook you in my last message! :D Welcome to both of you!

[lewelma]

My 2 boys did lots of dot to dots and mazes to strengthen their little hands. Also, I scribed his math for him until he was 6.5. He moved through the material much faster, and it allowed him to study math at the speed of his numeracy skill rather than his writing skill.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Mama Anna]

I haven't read the thread closely - forgive me if these points have been addressed already. My dd8 is an accelerated reader and it's been fun! There are two things that I'd pass on from our experience:

 

Someone here long ago said that for accelerated kids, you let them take in (as in "read") material at their skill level and ask for output (as in "writing") at their age level. For us, this means that dd8 has done a lot of dictation in her school life. She began SOTW 1 (not necessarily the best thing, but I just couldn't wait!) at age 5 - I did all the writing. WTM suggests it, and it worked well for us. What I'm trying to say is that your son won't have to be writing smoothly and happily by age six in order to do school. There's no reason to worry.

 

The other thing is appropriate reading material. This might be a lot easier for you than it was for us because dd8 is very emotionally sensitive and books that are on her reading level (She's on Johnny Tremain right now, for example) haven't always been things that she can handle. Things are beginning to even out now as she's maturing. But as a 5 or 6 year old who could pick up Voyage of the Dawn Treader and read it independently, and for whom the chapter on the Dark Island would have given dreadful nightmares, life was challenging!

 

Welcome to our world, and have fun!!

 

Mama Anna

Edited February 3, 2012 by Mama Anna

[Ellesmere]

Handwriting Without Tears K book would be a good idea, and if he really struggles with fine motor, you might want to do the extras in the TM (like building letters and such). I just used the workbook with my oldest at age 6.5, which was fine for him, but he'd also already done the pre-writing activities in his K class at school... they loved those days when they got to do shaving cream on their desks! :D

:iagree:

OPs, I think HWOT might be a nice option. Our local public school uses it and I know there are a lot here that use it, too.

 

Here is a free booklet about Cuisenaire rods (also used in our ps) if you decide to look at them.

[Nickster]

Thanks for aloof the good advice. One of you said about the reading material being too much for sensitive child. Nick read the lion the witch and the wardrobe to us and really liked it but had some bad dreams. Some of the scenes in milo and Otis are too intense for him.

 

What are your opinions on starting as just turned six year old or waiting another year for the start of the schooling?

[happycc]

Handwriting with Tears....get the wood pieces, the chalkboard, chalk, sponges and the teachers guide. Have him start building the letters with the wood pieces.

Then start writing letters with chalk and he can trace with wet sponge.

 

Eventually he will want to write letters with chalk.

A whiteboard is fun too.

 

 

coloring books, mazes, dot to dot, fun too. LEGO kits, blocks, can he cut with scissors? use glue? Playdough and shaving cream. Make statues out of tinfoil. Fingerpainting, puzzles with knobs. All are good for helping writing skills and muscle strength.

 

Meanwhile take narrations. Have him read something in a book and have him tell it back to you in his own words. you can write down his answers and he can illustrate it.

 

Next-All About Spelling once he can write all his letters comfortably

Start with Level one.

Edited February 4, 2012 by happycc

[Mrs Twain]

Thanks for aloof the good advice. One of you said about the reading material being too much for sensitive child. Nick read the lion the witch and the wardrobe to us and really liked it but had some bad dreams. Some of the scenes in milo and Otis are too intense for him.

 

What are your opinions on starting as just turned six year old or waiting another year for the start of the schooling?

 

In our school district, you would have to send a six year old child to kindergarten. Some people hold back kids if they just turned five before K starts. If your child will be six in the fall, I would certainly start kindergarten. Is that your question?

 

By the way regarding book choices, I have started using Elson Readers for my five year old's reading time. They are nice, old-fashioned stories, and I think you could find enough challenge in reading level. I haven't come across anything scary yet (though I don't have anything over level three). I just ordered McGuffy Readers, too, and I am considering Treadwell Readers. You may be interested in looking at something like that.

[Lucy the Valiant]

We had some issues with "too intense" material for early readers, too.

 

There are all different philosophies on this, but what we did was heavily screen and then actively seek out books that present solid themes in a less-scary way (things like Beezus and Henry, Little House on the Prairie, Ralph Mouse, Popper's Penguins, Dr. Dolittle, Pippi Longstocking). And *LOTS* of non-fiction - it's mostly very interesting without being scary at all.

 

That is one issue that has definitely evened out with time, and hasn't been an issue for my younger kiddo at all (because his reading skills are more on track with the early reader books, for example).

[Colleen in NS]

What are your opinions on starting as just turned six year old or waiting another year for the start of the schooling?

 

If your child will be six in the fall, I would certainly start kindergarten.

 

:iagree: My daughter is an October baby, who missed the Sept. 30 deadline for K registration. I tried for a couple of years to put her "ahead," but in her official grade 1 year, she was not ready for a grade 2 grammar text. So now she's 11 and doing mostly grade 5 things and thriving. I "gained" an extra year with her, in my mind, because of her birth month. :D

 

And if you start K in the fall, know that you don't have to do a full-out "program" every day. However, you could try, since he seems to be bright, doing grade 1 work in some areas (math, grammar, writing, etc.) and see how it goes. You can always drop back if necessary.

[Guest Julie A]

Wow! Thanks for the kind welcomes and again for the outpouring of advice! We are certainly getting a lot of excellent ideas! Funny too, I caught myself having many moments of, "oh yeah, why didn't I think of that". It's funny to me that I never thought of doing the writing for my son. I recently passed over some math worksheets I thought he would enjoy because of this.

 

Many of you mentioned activities that would build hand strength. I found that to be very interesting too. He has been playing with Legos, remote control cars, play dough, etc more frequently than he did when we first tried out his writing skills. He is also VERY particular which I am sure was a large part of his frustration then. He does enjoy coloring/drawing with crayons and colored pencils and completes entire dot to dot books in a single sitting. :)

 

I am looking forward to exploring with the advice we have received and diving into other posts for more homeschooling advice and info!

[WishboneDawn]

You've gotten a lot of great advice about the other issues. I just want to comment on this. There are many of us here who did not go to college, and we are using the Well-Trained Mind book as a guide for homeschooling - planning and implementing. It is written for college-educated people *as well as* non-college educated. It is very user-friendly. I just say that in case your wife might want to read it and see that someone like her *can* do some of the planning. As one with just a high school diploma, I have learned SO MUCH about educating kids, by having read that book and implementing the ideas; and by participating on these forums. It can be done, if she wants to try! :D

 

:iagree: The other thing is that sometimes you can do the planning but then get into the homeschooling and find out that in pratice you need a completely different approach. Especially since homeschooling is often less about teaching then parenting.

[Nickster]

Is there a key to decipher the abbreviations?

[lewelma]

ETA: Letter stamps!.... If he complained about writing, we'd just get the stamps out again for awhile.

 

We used number stickers for math for a while. DS was between 5 and 6.5 at the time.

 

Ruth in NZ

Edited February 5, 2012 by lewelma

[Kalmia]

In Susan Wise Bauer's Writing with Ease 1: You read a passage to the child and he narrates back the main idea to you and you write it down while he watches. You can do this in any subject or for books he has read on his own. Just ask him to tell you one or two things about the book and you write it down (scribe). When he has learned to write his letters he can begin copywork (even copying his own oral narration), but for now oral narrations are the beginning of writing especially for kids who are engaged in higher level reading early.

[Mrs Twain]

Is there a key to decipher the abbreviations?

 

There is an "abreviation sticky" at the top of the first page of the K-8 forum. I can usually find what I am looking for if I search in that tread.

[mcconnellboys]

If you feel he still needs some phonics based work, you might do some of that with him. Otherwise, I think I'd wait until first grade to do spelling and grammar work with him. I'd just let him enjoy reading, both fiction and non-fiction.

 

I might add in some Kumon or other workbooks that cover topics of cutting, pasting, and exercises that are prepatory to writing (tracing, etc.). If he doesn't like doing any of that, then I might try more hands-on work, such as tracing with whipped cream or shaving cream; tracing out shapes in rice, etc. I might also try some Montessori type tricks of letting him do polishing in the prescribed way (they teach them to make counter-clockwise motions, for example, as they will when they make the loops for a's and d's, etc.) You can find info on Montessori exercises online now, I believe....

 

I would probably also explore geography and science with him. I'd use living books and map puzzles and games for geography. I'd probably use Mudpies to Magnets for science. I would also begin exploration of math topics with him (perhaps time, money, number recognition, calendar time, etc.)

[Kathleen in LV]

He definitely has an interest in workbooks (I have purchased generic ones from places like Sams Club). However, he usually passes over the pages with line and circle work or letter tracing for the ones that have matching activities or other.

 

My son (now 5) was into workborks last year. But, like your son, he didn't enjoy the tracing as much as the "games" in the workbooks. So I would just add more instructions to the games to encourage a little more practice writing. (For example, if you had a matching activity where you drew a line to match things, I would also ask him to also draw circles in matching colors around the matching things.)

 

My son now is really enjoying this book: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Maps-Geography-Grades/dp/0769685595/ref=pd_sim_b_1

 

I know it says for grades 3 to 6, but the beginning activities aren't really that hard, especially if your son can read well enough to follow the instructions. It's has a lot of "games" where you learn to read simple maps (floor plans, pretend city maps, etc.) and, for example, draw a path by following the instructions. My son thinks it's a lot of fun, and will do several pages in a sitting.

 

We also play a lot of math card games with regular decks of cards. Here are some examples:

http://practicalpages.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/maths-games-with-a-pack-of-cards/

And as your son is learning different math skills, you can just make up similar games to match those skills.

 

Have fun!

[Nickster]

Hey thanks.

 

So it sounds like many people would suggest to put off the formal phonics curriculum until 1st grade. If he were going to school, he would enter K this year, so we probably are going to go with a less formalized approach this year. My wife is very interested in scribing for him. He loves to learn about all kinds of stuff, and I think seeing his own words on paper might motivate him to want to be able to do it himself. I think his biggest issue is that he is not talented in making letters (my own writing is, was, and will always be ugly), and is kind of a perfectionist, so it frusrates him.

 

Julie taught him how to read out of the book called How to Read in 100 Easy Lessons when he was 3. Since then, we haven't had any formal lessons, but I am certainly a believer in phonics. What kind of phonics programs are out their. My wife really liked the 100 easy lessons book because of the scritping. Are their scripted phonics curricula out there?

 

We are still trying to decode the abbreviations on this sight. I haven't gotten a chance to navigate through all 5 pages. DD seems to be daughter and DS son, but what does the first D stand for?

Edited February 7, 2012 by Nick Antey

[Chelli]

Dd = dear daughter

Ds = dear son

Dh= dear husband

 

and in your case, Nick....

 

Dw = dear wife :001_smile:

 

So glad you guys are here. I recommend the Hive to all new homeschooling parents!

[Wheres Toto]

My son is 6 1/2 and I still do quite a bit of the writing for him, in everything except our handwriting program. I do give him some word searches, dot-to-dots and mazes to do. He really enjoys them and they help build up the strength in his hand and work on proper grip. He has a late August birthday, went to Early Intervention for speech delays and they told us not to send him back for K until he was 6. Since he was already reading, loved doing math and was ahead on most things other than writing, social and impulse control we decided to just keep him home so we could work with him where he was at.

 

Since he was so interested in learning math and reading I picked programs that weren't too hard for me do the writing for him. He does Explode the Code for phonics work. He likes to do the circling and x'ing activities, I don't make him do the spelling (writing out the words) activities. These are pretty silly so he thinks they are funny and enjoys them. We started at Book 1 and just moved through it fast.

 

We use Math Mammoth for math. It makes it easy to mix up topics. My son was fascinated with clocks and money fairly young and MM allowed us to move ahead in those topics, while taking it slower in the Addition/Subtraction and Place Value stuff. I do 99% of the writing for math.

 

We use Handwriting without Tears. He is working in the 1st grade book but very slowly. He had already done the K book when he was in Early Intervention. I do the Pre-K book with my 4 1/2 year old and it is a fun introduction to writing. The activities like the Capital Letter Pieces and doing Mat Man are a lot of fun and help introduce the proper way to form letters. We use a small Magna Doodle instead of the slate.

 

All About Spelling is a great phonics based spelling program that can be done without much writing. My son loves using the letter tiles and it's helping to reinforce the rules he learns in ETC.

 

Best of luck on homeschooling. Starting early can take a lot of the pressure off.

[Tanikit]

My daughter (4.5 years) is also due to start K next year but like your DS is also advanced in reading and has only just started to write a little. They said somewhere that writing should only commence when the child starts drawing pictures that show some detail (people with good face detail for example) but I found that the two seem to be linked in more ways as my DD started both almost simultaneously - I introduced writing to her and within a week she was drawing in detail.

 

I also started her writing by teaching the numbers first as there are fewer of them to learn and 0,1, 7 and 10 and very easy and she likes Math. Because she is so young I only teach her to write two or three short words a day and she prefers to write a single word than loads of the same letter (perhaps because of the early reading) I have also started her writing in a book with no lines so am only teaching letter formation - when she has that down I will introduce lines - and yes the writing looks all wiggly and messy, but she is learning the letter formation and I will fix the rest later when we start with lines. I am also doing most of the writing for her and doing many activities that do not require any writing at all. And while she is using pencil and paper I still do a lot of pre writing activities with her as mentioned by many posters above.

 

I have not put my DD on any set K curriculum - her reading and phonics is fine, we are using Singapore for Math and have just started some MEP as a change and writing I am teaching myself though I hear that HWOT is a good one to use. And besides that I am just using living books to teach science, geography, history etc and doing hands on activities whenever possible. If you are reading lots to your son then you are doing this already too. I would perhaps just look at something for kindergarten Math.

[Tigger]

In our school district, having turned 5 in July, he'd be in K this year....our district cuts off enrollment for children who turn 5 on or after August 1, they have to wait until the next year.

 

If it were me, I'd consider him K now as he'll enter each grade in the future as:

 

6 - 1st, 7 - 2nd, 8 - 3rd, and so on, finishing High School at 17, and entering college at 18 (if he continues along and doesn't graduate earlier). If you designate him K for the next school year, he'll be entering college turning 19. Not saying there is anything wrong with that, just bringing it to your attention so you can decide now which is likely better in the future.

 

Since he's reading, I'd start AAS level 1 for spelling and to teach/reinforce the phonics rules and spelling. It's tactile, fun and you can pace is slowly this year and start level 2 next year. The levels aren't by grade.

 

I'd also being maybe Handwriting Without Tears to teach letter formation and have some writing practice each day (works out to about 10-15 minutes for lesson and the page they write).

 

Next year you can start Writing with Ease for listening, narration and copywork, when he's more comfortable writing and better able to do more writing.

 

Do you have a math program? At this age, starting the basics is a good idea.

 

So far as science, history, geography, and other content subjects - you can wait until next year to start and pick things that are grade appropriate and skill appropriate. For History, Story of the World is great for grades 1-4, geography is taught within that, but many include additional mapping skills and deeper geography.

 

Science is going to be the hardest to pick - if your son is a science-lover, finding a meaty curriculum at his level, without the output requirements of an older student is no easy task! If he is ahead and able to do the reading, maybe something like Singapore Science 3/4 My Pals are here might work well? First grade can also be a solid year of life science too instead of across disciplines. Or you can create unit studies on things he's interested in and follow lots of rabbit trails along the way!!