I'd love your opinions on 2 things...

[Guest Nicole in SC]

Hi everyone! I've been a bit of a 'lurker' for over a year now, and I finally decided to join.

 

I'd love your advice on two different things.

 

#1) My son, who will be 5 in May, is halfway through with K. We estimate that we'll finish up around the beginning of August. While he actually catches on to new concepts very quickly and seems to retain that vast majority of what he has learned, I have a lot of issues with him becoming overwhelmed and with what I can only describe as his confidence levels.

 

This is most apparent when it comes to Phonics. If he sees a page filled with words - even if he is only being asked to read one or two of them - he immediately breaks into a panic and insists that he 'can't do it', 'doesn't know how', 'doesn't remember' and/or that he 'can never do it' and he 'gives up'. Now, *I* know that he CAN do it, because most of the time he's read the words dozens of times correctly and without issue.

 

He also does this with Handwriting, but he truly detests writing. I think part of this is a motor skill thing, and also partly due to him just being male. ;-) I don't press Handwriting too hard right now. He's not quite 5... I know that there is plenty of time to nitpick with that down the road. He's ABLE to write all of his letters and numbers - it's just not very neatly.

 

So... what can I do to A) calm the anxiety and B) show him that he CAN do it?!

 

 

'Thing' #2) Since we're 1/2 way trough with K, I'm starting to plan out his 1st grade curric. I like to have a game plan. ;-)

 

Here's the issues I need to be able to satisfy with my curric.:

 

* NOT handwriting heavy. Able to do a lot orally. Workbooks are ok, but I don't want to be totally dependent on them.

 

* NOT lots of experiments and crafts. While they are enjoyable, they often end up being a gigantic distraction for us and we end up getting completely sidetracked from what we're trying to accomplish. Also, I'm not 'crafty' AT ALL, so they're hard for me to plan and organize.

 

*NOT 'memorize this fact and take a test'. Those bore us to tears.

 

We like stories and fun trivia and interesting tidbits, but not lists and lists of fact memorization.

 

 

Ok, so here's what I'm planning for 1st:

 

SOTW 1

MUS Beta

A Reason for Handwriting 1

continuing with Phonics Pathways

Apologia Astronomy

 

What should I add, subtract, substitute? I thought about FLL, WWE, etc., but I don't know if they would be too much coupled with A RfH and PP. Should I completely swap them out? Alternate? Leave it alone?

 

Also, the Apologia science *looks* fascinating, but I know that it has a LOT of facts. Do you think that something more 'story-ish' like Christian Kids Explore Science would be better? Are there other things out there that could work better?

 

Thanks everyone! I truly appreciate your input. :D

 

:bigear::lurk5:

[Brenda in FL]

Your son is young and I would go slow even if he is bright. You're essentially accelerating him a year above his age peers. His tendency to become overwhelmed and his handwriting reluctance is maturity/age related.

 

I would hold off on SOTW (until he's 6) and Apologia Astronomy (until 8 maybe).

 

I love the Let's Read and Find Out Science series. They are great for this age and always include a great demonstration/activity. You could plan a whole year of science study using these books.

 

Handwriting, reading(phonics), math and you reading books to him can round out the year. Save WWE until he's 6. Many people do use FLL with 5 year olds (I don't think its necessary).

 

Enjoy these early years!!

[kristinannie]

I think Apologia Astronomy would be fine. We used it this year for K and my son loved it. That said, it is a lot of information so I would only do it if your son is really interested in space! It is fun though, especially the volcano experiment!

 

My son is the same way with reading a few words on a page filled with words. That is why I stopped using OPGTTR. I will sometimes write a sentence or the words on a whiteboard or with letter tiles. Also you can write the words on index cards and have him read them that way.

 

I will do some of the writing for my son so he doesn't have to, especially in Explode the Code. He just tells me what to write. I will also sometimes write for him in math or do things orally.

 

Everything else looks good!

[Tanikit]

My DD (4.5 years old) was reading young but also had a struggle with too much print on a page or with print that was too small. I have been using a series of readers with her that start with large font and gradually get smaller but she moved through this too fast for her to get the benefit from it and still balked when the words became too many on a page. The only way I found to solve this was to get a piece of blank paper and cover up all the lines except the one she was reading so that she couldn't see and get distracted by the rest. Recently I found a book with much smaller print but very few words per page and she was quite happy reading that so the print size issue has disappeared now.

 

I plan on leaving FLL and WWE and any form of writing til my DD is able to write sentences by herself - at the moment she can only cope with writing about 4 words before I can see she is tiring. You could always stick to narration for now. I am not sure what I will do for Grade 1, but for now my DD is coping well with (and requesting) Usborne books for science and history, but every child is different.

 

Is he reading yet or doing mostly phonics without readers? I would certainly try to add in some books for him to read during grade 1 - if you use early readers then usually there is not too much print per page and also reading books can help the phonics as they see the point in what they are doing.

[taffnus]

Have you looked at All About Spelling (AAS)? It's a great phonics/spelling program. I started both of my girls at 5 on AAS1. It's hands-on, easy to implement and helps with confidence building (because it's not difficult - especially for kids who are learning to read easily already). I'd recommend it for spelling/decoding/phonics work. Phonics Pathways is good (we started out with it) but AAS is more fun, hands-on and multi-sensory. I'm glad we went that route.

 

My older dd (now 8) started reading well at 4 (on her own) and now reads extremely well but has never liked big challenges in reading. Although I knew she could read full pages, she had to take her time to build up endurance and confidence. I'd say not to push him - he's very young. Let him go at his pace and then introduce him to more difficult pieces slowly. He'll get there. :001_smile:

 

I definitely agree to wait on WWE for another year if you want to use the ready-made workbook. You can introduce simple narrations based on what you're reading at the time. I must say though, that I REALLY prefer PAL Writing (IEW) to WWE and you could start that with him anytime (probably at level 2). It includes basic narration and copywork yet begins some fun "writing" projects, sentence building. I wish I had that for dd #1 - I used WWE 1 and 2 then had to stop it. DD2 is doing PAL Writing and DD1 backtracked because I was so impressed. She quickly went through level 2 and is working through level 3 now (All 3 levels are included in the one manual - level 1 is basic alphabet instruction). Of course, many, many people here LOVE WWE. It just didn't work for us. Regardless, 5 is young, IMO, to begin the WWE workbook.

Edited March 6, 2012 by taffnus

[besroma]

Have you looked at Sonlight Science IGs? My kids love them, and a lot of the books are in our library. The younger ones answer the activity questions orally.

[acurtis75]

If he is a reluctant writer you might check out Handwriting without Tears. It really helped my daughter with her frustration level in handwriting. She still didn't write very neatly but it reduced her frustration. Her writing neatness didn't improve until we started cursive.

 

FLL is a very gentle introduction to grammar and is almost all oral. I would start it after he is reading fairly well on his own. The frustration with multiple words on the page is normal. Use a ruler or sheet of paper to cover up everything but the word you want him to read and just keep encouraging him. Based on what you've shared so far it seems like he is doing fine and it's just a matter of time before he's reading.

 

There is much disagreement on the subject of when to start SOTW but I started very early and it's been great for us. DD loved the stories, coloring pages and library books that go with each lesson. I think SOTW has helped to give her a love for the study of history.

 

Apologia Astronomy probably wouldn't be a problem as far as the details but it is kind of wordy. If your son doesn't like to listen to you read for extended periods it might not be the right curriculum. We started with Astronomy and ended up switching to Anatomy and dd loves them both but we have trouble fitting them in to our schedule. Science is most often what gets skipped around here. If you go with Apologia I highly recommend the notebooks.

[edeemarie]

:iagree:You might want to also look into PAL for reading and writing (and it includes AAS!). They have a lot of fun games that will make reading enjoyable, and the handwriting is covered with stories for each letter, which makes it fun too! But if you decide to stick with what you have, I used Alpha-Phonics for my oldest 2 and they both went through a phase where they didn't think they could read. They both eventually hit a point where there was a breakthrough and they started reading everything! So regardless of what curriculum you choose, he will get there:) As far as the science, I have not used Apologia, but I did look at a friend's books. She used it with her children and loved it, but I honestly couldn't even see my ds8 doing this. I might suggest maybe just some living science books like Usborne or the One Small Square series. My kids have really enjoyed those.

[rwjx2khsmj]

My daughter hated Phonics Pathways because of the layout of the pages. We switched to Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and she did great. I used a half sheet of paper to cover any part of the page that wasn't being read by her or wasn't part of that lesson. It didn't take her too long to recognize the difference between her font and mine. That lessened her anxiety as well.

 

When we started grammar (age 5) my dd7 was only writing for fun. The old version of First Language Lessons 1&2 was perfect for her. I haven't looked at the newer version but what I liked was that it could be done orally. It included memory work and narration practice with the grammar too. While it went slowly, dd7 didn't feel bored felt smart and successful.

[petepie2]

Your son is young and I would go slow even if he is bright. You're essentially accelerating him a year above his age peers. His tendency to become overwhelmed and his handwriting reluctance is maturity/age related.

 

I would hold off on SOTW (until he's 6) and Apologia Astronomy (until 8 maybe).

 

I love the Let's Read and Find Out Science series. They are great for this age and always include a great demonstration/activity. You could plan a whole year of science study using these books.

 

Handwriting, reading(phonics), math and you reading books to him can round out the year. Save WWE until he's 6. Many people do use FLL with 5 year olds (I don't think its necessary).

 

Enjoy these early years!!

 

:iagree:

[boscopup]

Your son is young and I would go slow even if he is bright. You're essentially accelerating him a year above his age peers. His tendency to become overwhelmed and his handwriting reluctance is maturity/age related.

 

:iagree:

 

Here's the thing... 4 year olds often aren't ready to work hard. Learning to read and write is hard work. So if you're getting reluctance like this, it's probably too much too soon. That does NOT mean he's not mentally capable of the level, but that he's not emotionally mature enough to handle the work. That will come. My oldest was like that at 4. He had known his letter sounds since he was 2.5. He had been able to chunk words into their sounds since he was 3 or 3.5 (thank you Starfall.com), but while he could see the word "cat" and sound out /c/-/a/-/t/, he couldn't figure out that that was /cat/. Anything I tried was met with resistance. If it looked like I was trying to teach him, he'd resist. He was NOT ready for formal school at all, despite being a very bright boy. Then one day at age 4.5, after I had completely stopped trying to do any teaching with him, he picked up a grade level 1.5 book and read it almost perfectly. That was the first book he'd ever read. He just completely skipped the sounding out stage and all that. So see, he was smart, but he wasn't ready for formal instruction in that subject, and he did better just teaching himself.

 

I have a 5 year old now that will be K next year. He's been doing K-level work for the last year. We do it on a when he asks basis, and when he gets reluctant, it means that it's too much too soon, we need to slow down, back up, or stop entirely. By watching for those cues (before there is a meltdown), we've moved forward greatly, despite him not being as eager-beaver precocious as his older brother. And while we'll be doing some 1st grade level things next year, it won't be "first grade" for him. We'll keep it simple at phonics, handwriting, and math - about 15 minutes of each. Anything else will be library books or sitting in with big brother. We are doing Apologia Astronomy now. Personally, I'd recommend holding off until your oldest is able to get more out of it. We're using it now with ages 7 and 5. It's wordy and sometimes takes a while to explain things that it mentions. For example, if it mentions a new word, it might be 3 sentences later when it actually defines that word. That's not easy for a 5 year old! ;) My 5 year old enjoys it, but my 7 year old actually truly understands it.

 

Don't worry about the handwriting stuff. He's 4. He's not expected to have neat handwriting, or really any handwriting. My goal is that my child be able to copy a short sentence (like 5 words that they can read) before they start their "first grade" year, by age. It's normal to have asynchronous development in young children. My oldest takes in input miles ahead of his output ability. He can read an adult-level book on World War II and understand it, yet he's not ready to write more than one original sentence at a time... still very much in copywork/dictation/narration stage. So I require output of a 2nd grader (which is what he is), but he gets input at a higher level.

 

Hope that helps! One trap I fell prey to when I started was that *I* wanted to learn a bunch of history and science things, and I had to realize that my son was only 6, and we had many years to homeschool and learn things, and I have 3 kids to homeschool, so I'll be going through the 4-year cycle probably 4 times. My son is accelerated (at his pace), but I still have to sit on my hands sometimes and wait for him to be ready for something that I'd love to do. :)

[EMS83]

We use Phonics Pathways, too! I use a dry erase board and let her erase the words/sentences she's read so she can see and feel the progress. Everything else sounds solid. Maybe just use the Apologia book almost like a read aloud and have him do coloring pages. I don't know how closely you want to follow TWTM, but she points out that history and science are secondary to reading, writing, and math. Reading, especially. I don't think the materials are too much or too little, either one. I think how the year goes will largely depend on how you use the materials you've got. And you can always change, go back, skip ahead, etc., if something isn't working for you guys. Good luck!

[FO4UR]

#1 - To calm the anxiety and build confidence, break it down in to bite-size pieces for him.

 

Don't show him a page full of text if it's intimidating for him. Put that PP lesson on a white board. Just.one.bit.at.a.time.

 

 

Give him books that are easy. Very easy. Read aloud well beyond his reading level, but only ask him to read easy books (at least until he's feeling confident about reading).

 

 

#2 - Grade level is inconsequential for HSing. It only matters for sports, co-op, etc... Put him with his age-mates. Most boys his age are going into Kindergarten, so that's what I'd tell him he is.

 

:iagree: with holding off on SOTW and Apologia. :iagree: with trying the "Let's Read and Find Out" series instead. This is where trips to the library come into play...my dc LOVE checking out armfuls of books, scattering them all over the living room floor and going on a read-aloud binge. :D I would not jump into FLL/WWE until handwriting is easier for him. Another year will be a great gift. You can do FLL orally, but you might want to dedicate that time to reading practice.

 

Handwriting

Reading

Math

...and exhaust all kindergarten book lists for read alouds!!! (amblesideonline.com , sonlight, memoria press, etc etc...)

 

 

fwiw - My youngest (boy) is turning 6 in June. I'm keeping him with his age-mates for outside stuff, but I'm going to do another year of kindergarten with him curric-wise. We school year-round and he'll be "caught-up" very shortly even so. It's worth it to have him in materials that fit his current skill level. He is just recently really ready to sit for 15min lessons.

[2_girls_mommy]

I haven't used any of those currics except SOTW (which is awesome!) so I can't comment on them.

 

I just wanted to say that I have one that also got freaked out and thought she couldn't do things in phonics at an early age.

 

One thing I did was make a box out of construction paper. I literally took a piece of construction paper and cut a small box out of it that formed a frame about the size of one word. It helped her to focus on the one word she was to be reading, instead of looking at the whole page full of letters and getting stressed about it. Worked for us. She is 7 now and is reading much better.

[Guest Nicole in SC]

Thank you ALL for your responses!

 

Let me address a few things first, and then I think I have a few more questions. ;-)

 

I'll look into the PAL Reading & Writing (thanks!). It looks interesting, although a lot more expensive than what we're using right now.

 

He's known letter sounds for about 2 years now, and he's been able to read short-vowel sound words for about a year (cat, bug, hit, jet, rot, etc.) Starfall.com was a huge help with that. Unfortunately, he's spent so much time on that site over the last 2 years that he's memorized every. single. thing. on that site.

 

He can read the entire 1st set of Bob Books - I just ordered the 2nd set. He does use these for independent reading. I generally send one with him for quiet time and he'll give me a synopsis of the story when he gets up. What are some other good readers? Many I've seen I've been really unimpressed with. Also, I'm totally against being dependent on sight words.

 

I DO seem to have better results when I cover the page or write words on the whiteboard, so I think that I'll continue with that.

 

We did Horizons Pre-K with him at 2.5 :blushing:, minus a LOT of the writing (side note: I will NEVER use that program again - up to 5-6 worksheets a day is WAAAAY too much work for even a 'real' pre-k aged child.) We took a year and a half to finish it. Obviously I was fine with that time frame as he was SO young when we started.

 

I've set the handwriting aside completely for the last 1-2 weeks, and that has helped with some of his reluctance. He's even been writing a bit for fun (Letters to his friends, cards for Daddy, 'lists', etc.) I'll just keep it on the back burner for a month or so and then see where it goes. I also think we'd been doing that too often (4 days/wk), so maybe we'll cut it back to 1 day/wk when I bring it back. Do you guys think that would work?

 

Also, Reading (Phonics) and Math are my biggest focus right now - and for next year, too. I think that they are by far the most important subjects to learn. Everything else builds on those. *If* I do history and science, it would most likely be a 2 days/wk thing just to have some exposure to the topics.

 

He really enjoys being read to - about any topic. We've read lots of middle-school level biographies and whatnot that he's LOVED. He'll do just about anything to have us read a Magic Tree House book to him as well. Our biggest problem is acquiring the books. The nearest library is about a 20 minute drive. It's TINY, and doesn't have a lot of books. It's also the only one in our county. The closest library that's worth anything is 45 minutes away, and if you live outside the county they make you pay a $50 membership every year AND only let you check out books for a week. That means I'd be burning a giant hole in my pocket to drive 1.5 hours 2x/wk just to have access to the good book selection. That's just not feasible. So, basically, I have the small selection at our library and whatever I can afford to buy. This being the case, I don't have the resources to rely solely on reading lists for history and science. That's why I'm looking at formal curriculums.

 

 

OK, so QUESTION TIME again:

 

So, what would you all say about us modifying the history to be solely listening to the lessons and answering a few questions orally (maybe 1-2x/wk?) so that I can make sure he's understanding what he's hearing. Throw in some coloring pages and crafts/activities when HE wants to do them? Or, do I just need to :chillpill: ? ;-)

 

If I put off the science for another year, what books would be your top recommendations to have around for casual reading? What about any video series? He loves 'Bill Nye the Science Guy' and 'How It's Made'. Are there any other good shows out there?

 

I'm not opposed to thinking outside the box here, it's just not my strongest attribute.

 

If I don't do any kind of formal curriculum, what am I supposed to tell the state? At the Kindergarten level they require those subjects to be taught and require an explanation of what and how you'll be teaching... I struggle with finding a compromise between what I'm required to do and what I'd like to do!

 

I'm so new at this... Thank you for reading my rambling and taking the time to respond. THANK YOU ALL!! :cheers2:

[Riverland]

If I put off the science for another year, what books would be your top recommendations to have around for casual reading? What about any video series? He loves 'Bill Nye the Science Guy' and 'How It's Made'. Are there any other good shows out there?

 

We really loved the Let's Read and Find Out About Science series that others have mentioned. Those are great casual reading. I got lots of them from Ebay. Look for postings that contain multiple books so the shipping costs doesn't overwhelm you. Pair that up with Bill Nye or Magic School Bus videos (youtube, maybe elsewhere on internet??) and that makes a great science education at this age.

[ubermomto5]

this may not be what you want to hear, but with one of my sons i put off almost any writing till he was almost 7. he knew his letters, and he even knew how to read, but it was so difficult for him to gain mastery over making words that we just ignored that part. and magically, he's 10 now and has no problems with writing at all.

[musicianmom]

How about BFSU for science?

[petepie2]

Thank you ALL for your responses!

 

 

If I don't do any kind of formal curriculum, what am I supposed to tell the state? At the Kindergarten level they require those subjects to be taught and require an explanation of what and how you'll be teaching... I struggle with finding a compromise between what I'm required to do and what I'd like to do!

 

I'm so new at this... Thank you for reading my rambling and taking the time to respond. THANK YOU ALL!! :cheers2:

 

I would suggest searching for threads (or starting a new one) asking about homeschool laws in South Carolina and how others have planned their kindergarten curriculum to adhere to them. Many have gone before you!

 

We used Sonlight's p4/5 when my children were 4 yrs old and we used Core A and Science A when they were in Kindergarten. The p4/5 core would also work fine for kindergarten, and it would cover social studies and science in a gentle way.

Edited March 6, 2012 by petepie2

[Homemama2]

I would hold off on SOTW (until he's 6) and Apologia Astronomy (until 8 maybe).

 

I love the Let's Read and Find Out Science series. They are great for this age and always include a great demonstration/activity. You could plan a whole year of science study using these books.

 

Handwriting, reading(phonics), math and you reading books to him can round out the year. Save WWE until he's 6. Many people do use FLL with 5 year olds (I don't think its necessary).

 

 

:iagree: We just did Apologia Astronomy this year with a 4th and 2nd grader. Could they have listened at 5? Yeah, but they wouldn't have remembered too much. LRFO books were a better fit for my kids at that age.

[ErinE]

I don't think you need to start the neo-classical rotation just yet. I purchased two Kingfisher encyclopedia's, one for science and one for history. My kids love looking through the books and my son enjoys reading the articles. In both books, there's a lot of information and you can adjust it your son's level and interest. If your son is anything like mine at that age, bugs, dinosaurs and space will be his biggest interest. Currclick has lots of cheap pdf curriculum for unit studies.

 

For history, I really wouldn't be too concerned. My kindy dd doesn't have a lot of interest in history right now beyond the queens. She's just now starting to participate in our geography and history study on a regular basis.

[EMS83]

Is your compulsory age really 5?? How much information do they require? Will they accept science as "earth science and astronomy taught through reading and hands-on activities" when what you REALLY do is read to him, stargaze, and make a drawing of the solar system? We are only required to turn in monthly attendance forms and report our home education decision by Sept. 1 after they turn 6. I'm soooo glad they don't get any more into our business than that. Oh and testing. But we don't have to report the results.

[Guest Nicole in SC]

Is your compulsory age really 5?? How much information do they require? Will they accept science as "earth science and astronomy taught through reading and hands-on activities" when what you REALLY do is read to him, stargaze, and make a drawing of the solar system? We are only required to turn in monthly attendance forms and report our home education decision by Sept. 1 after they turn 6. I'm soooo glad they don't get any more into our business than that. Oh and testing. But we don't have to report the results.

 

Yes - The year that they start K (or, as they put it, the year that they are 5 on or before Sept. 1 - which is this year for us) we have to start reporting to the state. I've *heard* (though not verified) that you can ask for a waiver from the state for Kindergarten and avoid the invasiveness for another year, but I'm not positive on that one yet.

 

Ok, Thanks again for all of your comments. I'm going to think on the advice you've all given me. I may just put the 'extra' stuff on the back burner for awhile and just do a little extra book shopping instead. :)