AimeeM Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Nico will be 4 in May. We are going to do kindergarten with him this fall. Before anyone asks, yes he very much wants to do "school"- we aren't forcing it. He has big plans that include sitting at the table with his older sister, buying a "dog backpack", and a million other things, lol! We are working on writing - slowly. His fine motor skills haven't yet caught up to his brain :p We are working on forming a couple letters a week at the white board right now. I really need help deciding on curriculum for him next year; we began homeschooling his older sister later in her school years, so this is my first go 'round with kindergarten. Nico is a "neat" child who does NOT enjoy getting messy (read: he doesn't care for forming letters in sand, paint, or shaving cream). He doesn't care for much in the way of crafts. He spends his days playing on Reading Eggs, Starfall, and building, building, building with his block sets (archiquest is his new obsession). I mention this only because I assume it will matter in terms of curriculum, lol. Thus far, he has mastered the following: Recognizing and naming letters (we are currently working on a couple lower case letters that he's having a problem with) He's on map 3 on Reading eggs and working on hard consonant sounds (last I checked) - we only just started this, though, and he used (with success) Starfall for quite a while (until it started boring him). Recognizing and naming correctly numbers through 15 Counting to 20 Counting BACK from 10 Understands the basic concepts of adding and subtracting and can work those concepts with manipulatives (and chocolate! lol) Recognizes and names all shapes Recognizes and names all colors With the exception of calendar work, most of the kindergarten curriculum I've looked at for math appears to concentrate on the things he already knows (and mastered over a year ago) until halfway through the curriculum, before we would get to anything he DOESN'T know. Are there any math options I haven't explored for kindergarten? Thus far I've looked at the following: Horizons, Saxon, and McRuffy. We are using (loosely) Singapore Essentials K, but generally it's just to help with the fine motor skills (drawing lines to match *this*, color *that*, etc) and to reinforce things like over, under, more, less, etc (which he knows, but I like having the workbook format to get him used to such things). Any suggestions for kinder math curriculum that doesn't have me shelling out big bucks for a program we'll only be able to use half of? (ETA: I should mention that I'm not a fan of Singapore and do not want to use it again next year for him) Phonics... I'm looking at AAR 1. It doesn't appear to require much in the way of writing. We're slowly going through Memoria Press' Letters books, but largely just utilizing our whiteboard (which he loves working on!). I like that it seems very interactive. I've also looked at MP's phonics program, but I'm worried about using it with a wiggly little boy :p Writing... As I said, we're using MP's Letters' books, but I'm not sure it's doing much for him. They require him to write so small that he simply gets frustrated. Is there another option that doesn't require "mess" (like tracing in shaving cream"), but doesn't constrict him to tiny spaces? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 I'd look at Miquon and MEP Reception. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted March 6, 2013 Author Share Posted March 6, 2013 I'd look at Miquon and MEP Reception. Miquon looks nifty... but confusing. By confusing I mean, what do I buy for it? Lol. I see diaries, annotations, orange book, blue book, rods... So, my question - what do I buy? Lol. It looks great for a boy who loves to use his hands! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 (edited) Miquon looks nifty... but confusing. By confusing I mean, what do I buy for it? Lol. I see diaries, annotations, orange book, blue book, rods... So, my question - what do I buy? Lol. It looks great for a boy who loves to use his hands! I'd get c-rods, read the First Grade Diary, get the Lab Annotations, and probably orange and red books. And read old threads, LOL. With the c-rods, you might also watch the Education Unboxed videos and print this free little activity book just to play around a bit. Edited January 12, 2016 by wapiti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Have you considered MUS? The lessons are short, and it is very hands-on. It would also be easy for you to scribe for him until he gets comfortable writing, and even then the spaces are huge enough for the average preschooler to write in. I have only used Alpha and Beta, but if I would have started my son on math earlier I would have used Primer for him. As far as fine motor skills, instead of focusing on the act of handwriting when my son was four I focused on strengthening my son's pencil grip. I bought a variety of tweezers and small items (pom-poms, small plastic bugs, etc.) and let my son play around with them every day - he had to hold the tweezers/tongs with a correct pencil grip and sort the items. I didn't worry about handwriting until he was 5 1/2. The products I bought were from this store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellesmere Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 I always hear good things about MEP, too. Agreeing with what was just posted about Miquon, if that looks interesting to you. If you just get the orange book, it won't make sense. I also like Education Unboxed. Here is a page with some ideas and links to free math resources. (It is written by the Math Mammoth author with her K recommendations.) For writing -- not sure if this is helpful or if you have set plans for handwriting but I am using free pencil control worksheets from this website that someone linked on the boards recently. There are sheets for letter formation, but I don't know if the spacing would be too small for him, too. I have a child younger than yours but very, very eager to "learn my letters" so I am starting with just the pencil control set (keeps that one busy while I am working with my oldest and I can easily reprint when we run out) and will move to the letter formation ones when older and more ready. My older one used Getty-Dubay A for handwriting at age four, also, but again, that was by request and not really trying to do penmanship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 Thanks ladies! Miquon orange, red, c-rods, annotations, and the first grade diary are in my cart. They look great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a27mom Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I will be in a similar situation. My almost 4 y/o will be doing k by default. However in our case I have her older sister in k this year. So she is following along with her on a lot of things. Most of the suggestions have been good. I would definitely take this opportunity to do a lot of hands on manipulative activities. (We don't like messy either). Also I highly recommend lego! Great for hand strengthening, and math manipulatives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmarango Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I would also consider Rightstart math....almost no writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I used Miquon. Not exclusively or in its entirety. We also use Singapore. but it's very exploratory/discovery oriented. I do think it's good for hands-on kids. Brownie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Phonics... I'm looking at AAR 1. It doesn't appear to require much in the way of writing. We're slowly going through Memoria Press' Letters books, but largely just utilizing our whiteboard (which he loves working on!). I like that it seems very interactive. I've also looked at MP's phonics program, but I'm worried about using it with a wiggly little boy :p Writing... As I said, we're using MP's Letters' books, but I'm not sure it's doing much for him. They require him to write so small that he simply gets frustrated. Is there another option that doesn't require "mess" (like tracing in shaving cream"), but doesn't constrict him to tiny spaces? I think you'll enjoy Miquon! I used it with my dd4, and it was brilliant. To reduce the amount of writing for her, I only asked her to show me the answers with the rods or with little cards I had made up with numbers on them. AAR seems to have good reviews. I adapted AAS to use as a phonics program with my younger one, and I imagine that using AAR from the get-go would just be that much easier. The AAR readers are excellent! I found that my daughter didn't mind it when I made letters out of plasticine and had her trace them with her finger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 Is Miquon a stand alone program or would we need to combine it with something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Is Miquon a stand alone program or would we need to combine it with something? Miquon is designed to be stand-alone. It will take your student far, and the First Grade diary illustrates how you can extend lessons and create your own worksheets. I'm a compulsive math curriculum junkie, and so I combined Miquon with Singapore, as the two complement one another well. Others combine Miquon beautifully with MEP. And of course, there are those who combine all three: Miquon / Singapore / MEP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 Miquon is designed to be stand-alone. It will take your student far, and the First Grade diary illustrates how you can extend lessons and create your own worksheets. I'm a compulsive math curriculum junkie, and so I combined Miquon with Singapore, as the two complement one another well. Others combine Miquon beautifully with MEP. And of course, there are those who combine all three: Miquon / Singapore / MEP. Lol! I ask because we aren't Singapore (or MEP) fans - I know, I know... the shame :p. If I combined it with anything, I would probably try to combine with Math Mammoth, but I'd rather not *yet* combine if it isn't necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Lol! I ask because we aren't Singapore (or MEP) fans - I know, I know... the shame :p. If I combined it with anything, I would probably try to combine with Math Mammoth, but I'd rather not *yet* combine if it isn't necessary. No need to combine at all, especially for a 4yo who isn't thrilled about writing yet. There is a lot in Miquon to keep a mathy kid happily busy for quite a while! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 My blog review of a the LeapFrog Scribble and Write. It's not actually a curriculum, but it's non-consumable, not messy, and great for younger kids. I also second Right Start Math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Does the child just prefer not to get messy or does he have an actual aversion? If the latter maybe you could work on that while doing the handwriting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted March 8, 2013 Author Share Posted March 8, 2013 Does the child just prefer not to get messy or does he have an actual aversion? If the latter maybe you could work on that while doing the handwriting. He'll get messy so long as he doesn't notice (like on his face). If he so much as gets a drop of peanut butter on his hands, though, where he can see and feel it, he follows me around asking me to "clean him up". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 My youngest is a bit like that. He got a scribble and write for Christmas but it is faulty and I didn't keep the receipt because they are supposed to be 'quality' toys. The shop was sympathetic and I think I can get round the no receipt thing if I go to the bank very soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.