abh413 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how much or how little "school" to do. My DD (6 in October) will start K in the Fall and this will be our first formal homeschool adventure. I've currently been teaching as we go about life and when she asks to learn more. I'm sort of an academic unschooler so far. Ha! She loves to learn and picks things up pretty well. HER "SPECS"... She currently knows her letters (recognition, can write them & knows their sounds). She has begun to sound out simple words. She can count to 100+ and can do some simple math. She also knows some basics of money & time. Our extra curriculars will be... Dance (ballet/tap), gymnastics, Awana Sparks, soccer in the Fall (short season), cheer leading in the Winter (short season)... I have a very social butterfly. We live in a rural area so unless we do activities she only plays with her 3 yr old brother on a daily basis. I'm also considering a CC group. She visited 2 different ones & really loved it. She continued singing the songs long after her visit. I'm not excited about the expense though but I do feel the need to be connected to a community. I'm struggling with connecting to a group. So... If you're still reading... K curriculum... PHONICS... I'm thinking ETC 1 & OPGTR. MATH... I haven't decided yet. (We also do various crafts, cooking, sciency crafts as we go about life). **** What else is needed for a good foundation of learning? **** I'm open to any & all opinions. Thank you in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Do you have a local library? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 That completely depends on your philosophy. I believe in as much as they want at that age. We're doing CC at home next year. It will cost $235 for the materials. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 We just finished Peter's K year. We spent about 45 minutes (4 mornings a week) doing "together school" with both Peter and his preschool brother at the table. Then almost every afternoon Peter and I spent 20ish minutes working on math and phonics together. In the mornings: Explode the Code (Peter working in the numbered books and Elliot in the pre-reading books) = 5-10 minutes, 4 days a week Handwriting = 5 minutes, 4 days a week Poetry Memorization = 10 minutes, 2 days a week OR Vocabulary Cartoons = 5ish minutes, 2 days a week Science (reading and notebooking* a page spread from The Usborne Internet-Linked First Encyclopedia of Science) = 20ish minutes, once a week OR History (reading and notebooking* a page spread from The Usborne Internet-Linked Prehistoric World) = 20ish minutes, once a week OR Geography (Maps, Charts and Graphs) = 15 minutes, once a week OR Art (Deep Space Sparkle and other resources) = 15-30 minutes, once a week * After I read the science or history book, both boys would draw a picture of something that interested them and then narrate a caption that I would transcribe. I coached the boys to narrate complete sentences and used that as an opportunity to teach about grammar and sentence mechanics (capital letters, punctuation, parts of speech, etc). In the afternoons, Peter would spend 5-10 minutes doing a lesson from OPGTR and 10-15 minutes working on math. He had already finished Singapore Essentials when he started K, so we started the year with Singapore 1. Half way through the year, when he finished level 1, we decided to switch to Math Mammoth 2. Wendy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abh413 Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 Do you have a local library? Yes... We do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Yes... We do. I just had a long reply typed and poof. Anyways, this video probably explains it better. http://www.compassclassroom.com/carole-joy-seid/workshop_1_children_reading/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abh413 Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 I just had a long reply typed and poof. Anyways, this video probably explains it better. http://www.compassclassroom.com/carole-joy-seid/workshop_1_children_reading/ I hate it when that happens. I will check out the video. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 For reading, take a look at this blog post. I wish this were around when I was beginning with my first. http://joyfulshepherdess.blogspot.com/2013/03/all-my-charlotte-mason-reading-posts-in.html For math, I love Miquon! My basic rule-of-thumb for Kindy is: 15min reading lesson 15min handwriting 15min math 2 hours (spread throughout the day) reading aloud to her from the best children's literature you can find. ( www.amblesideonline.org Year 0) At least 2 hours every.single.day for playing outside unstructured. Let her dig, climb, chase bugs, pretend, etc... If she's having a good time, let her play as long as she wants. Play is vital. At this age, play is more important than any of the academics. Watch for the play to be inspired by the books you read aloud. Search for books that inspire elaborate play. When she's chasing rabbits with gardening tools, shouting "Come back, Thief!" you know that Beatrix Potter is a win. :lol: 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebbyribs Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 My 5yos (6 in August) did K this year. The first half of the year they did: Math: Singapore Essentials B Phonics: Bob Books, Nora Gaydos readers, AAR readers, Reading Eggs The second half of the year they did: Math: Singapore 1A Handwriting: Zaner-Bloser 1st grade handwriting Language Arts: The Wand They also have done some history (SOTW2) and science (Earth and Space) with their big sister. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abh413 Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 For reading, take a look at this blog post. I wish this were around when I was beginning with my first. http://joyfulshepherdess.blogspot.com/2013/03/all-my-charlotte-mason-reading-posts-in.html For math, I love Miquon! My basic rule-of-thumb for Kindy is: 15min reading lesson 15min handwriting 15min math 2 hours (spread throughout the day) reading aloud to her from the best children's literature you can find. ( www.amblesideonline.org Year 0) At least 2 hours every.single.day for playing outside unstructured. Let her dig, climb, chase bugs, pretend, etc... If she's having a good time, let her play as long as she wants. Play is vital. At this age, play is more important than any of the academics. Watch for the play to be inspired by the books you read aloud. Search for books that inspire elaborate play. When she's chasing rabbits with gardening tools, shouting "Come back, Thief!" you know that Beatrix Potter is a win. :lol: Oh my goodness... She LOVES to play outside! We have a large yard & a playground. She would be outside all day long if she could. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatherwith4 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Kindergarten at my house takes about 45 min/day. Additionally, we do read alouds. I have done MFW K with two of them. The first got a cobbled together version of Kindergarten. Either is good. :) I agree about having a ton of outside/creative play. I think that and reading aloud are really the most important things at that age. I'm sad that I only get to do Kindergarten one more time. :/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 My Kers (I will have my last Ker next yr. Can't believe it!) do about an hr. My rule of thumb is about 1 hr/grade level +/- an additional 30 mins or so. (So my 3rd grader this past yr was on task about 3 hrs and 30 mins/day). That it is a fairly accurate representation until middle school. Middle school is somewhere in the 6/7 hr range. High school is more like 7-9 hrs per day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 We did about half an hour at the table--phonics, math (some Singapore and some Miquon), and handwriting (HWOT), and about a minute each of memory work and geography. Then at other times, I read aloud. I did some science stuff with him from the BFSU K-2 book, because he likes science a lot. We did a lot of field trips and splashing in puddles, and an hour and a half a day of quiet time (play with toys or look at books, but stay in your room). It sounds like what you've been doing with her is working well, so don't feel that you need to buckle down and spend your whole mornings on seatwork just because she's reaching the age for it. Kids learn so much from just a thoughtful sprinkling of academics into every day. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Oh my goodness... She LOVES to play outside! We have a large yard & a playground. She would be outside all day long if she could. :thumbup1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 (edited) . Edited May 18 by SilverMoon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasMommy Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I have a K aged son starting with CC in the fall. The cost is rather steep, but it's LESS than any of the curriculums in a box that I've looked at. You could also consider tutoring at CC to offset the cost. (If it's not too late to do the training.) Also, after you get over the sticker shock of how much the CC community group costs, you only really need the $75 lesson manual and the $11 tin whistle. Google will fill in the blanks about a lot of the stuff that they are memorizing (like what each of the timeline pieces are, the history and science stuff etc.) The library is invaluable as a resource. You might also check Craigslist nearby to see what people are getting rid of. Used Curriculum Fairs are great places to pick up cheap curriculum. At the recommendation of a friend, I am using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. $25 on Amazon and usually available at the library. I'm thinking about using this for math. http://www.mathlessonsforalivingeducation.com/and it's FREE if you print it yourself. There are also science and art lessons. EngageNY.org has a bunch of free Math and Language Arts curriculum. It's created for NY educators to comply with Common Core. (So the Common Core thing spooks people, but I think it's "dumber" than most homeschool curriculums for the equivalent grade levels, just a thought. Also, from what you said, your daughter is already meeting standards that she has until the END of K to complete.) Since they are in Kindergarten (soon) I'd think that less is more and letting them explore the world and learn organically is more important than trying to force too much content too soon. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how much or how little "school" to do. My DD (6 in October) will start K in the Fall and this will be our first formal homeschool adventure. I've currently been teaching as we go about life and when she asks to learn more. I'm sort of an academic unschooler so far. Ha!She loves to learn and picks things up pretty well. HER "SPECS"... She currently knows her letters (recognition, can write them & knows their sounds). She has begun to sound out simple words. She can count to 100+ and can do some simple math. She also knows some basics of money & time.Our extra curriculars will be... Dance (ballet/tap), gymnastics, Awana Sparks, soccer in the Fall (short season), cheer leading in the Winter (short season)... I have a very social butterfly. We live in a rural area so unless we do activities she only plays with her 3 yr old brother on a daily basis.I'm also considering a CC group. She visited 2 different ones & really loved it. She continued singing the songs long after her visit. I'm not excited about the expense though but I do feel the need to be connected to a community. I'm struggling with connecting to a group.So... If you're still reading... K curriculum...PHONICS... I'm thinking ETC 1 & OPGTR.MATH... I haven't decided yet.(We also do various crafts, cooking, sciency crafts as we go about life).**** What else is needed for a good foundation of learning? ****I'm open to any & all opinions. Thank you in advance! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsWeasley Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I save content subjects for first grade. We do handwriting (HWOT), math (Righstart), and phonics work (Progressive Phonics) only. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea_lpz Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 A lot of people just do math and Lang for k as formal k and then just read good books, get outside, and teach kids basic chores. It's all up to you. We spent about 2 hours of school a day in k, with only about 45 minutes on "seat work"- about 15 minutes on math, and half hour on Lang arts. The rest about 15 minutes reading out loud, 15 minutes of Spanish, 15 minutes of Bible and about a half hour activity time that rotated between science, art & music, social studies, cooking, crafting, outside time, nature journaling, etc. It was a fun year and my k'er tagged along. This year with my k'er our schedule is roughly the same. We spend about 45 minutes in Lang and Math, and he joins his older sister on her core for what is appropriate, usually about an hour or so. Then I try to read to him for about 15 minutes a day, mostly picture books. If I were to give any advice it would be don't feel like you have to have your child doing some sort of organized activity most weekdays because you homeschool. I felt like I needed to do that my first year and it end up burning my children and myself out. I would start with only 2 weekly commitments and see how that goes. Time to just play is good, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abh413 Posted June 10, 2015 Author Share Posted June 10, 2015 If I were to give any advice it would be don't feel like you have to have your child doing some sort of organized activity most weekdays because you homeschool. I felt like I needed to do that my first year and it end up burning my children and myself out. I would start with only 2 weekly commitments and see how that goes. Time to just play is good, too. I completely understand. The extra curriculars are continued from what we have already been doing this past year. It sounds like a lot on paper but it doesn't feel that way when we are doing them. It gives my very energetic DD an outlet & it gives me a chance to be around other adults. So it's win-win on that front. As far as "school" goes, I'm pretty laid back because my daughter seems to learn by osmosis. :) But I don't want to be so laid back that I cause her to lose her love of learning. I will definitely need to find our balance. Thank you all for your responses! I love reading what worked for you & your family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 With my now 7 year old my plan was to teach him to read during K. Then he learned how to read very well before we started K officially. We ended up doing an hour or less of school per day plus reading. That included handwriting (Getty-Dubay), math (Singapore Essentials, SM 1a, and Miquon), and memory work. This fall when my 2nd starts K her schedule will be similar but I'm not having her do Essentials, she'll do Miquon and SM 1a. She isn't reading so she'll do OPGTR. Then she'll tag along in whatever she feels like with her 2nd grade brother. I suspect most days she'll be right next to him the whole time. She loves history and WWE and has sat in on those lessons and answered questions most of this past year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea_lpz Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I completely understand. The extra curriculars are continued from what we have already been doing this past year. It sounds like a lot on paper but it doesn't feel that way when we are doing them. It gives my very energetic DD an outlet & it gives me a chance to be around other adults. So it's win-win on that front. As far as "school" goes, I'm pretty laid back because my daughter seems to learn by osmosis. :) But I don't want to be so laid back that I cause her to lose her love of learning. I will definitely need to find our balance. Thank you all for your responses! I love reading what worked for you & your family. Don't feel discouraged please by that comment. We are beginning our 4th year of homeschool and I actually am just starting to realize how much I still don't know! lol! Some families thrive with lots of commitments. We seem to lie somewhere in between. One thing I thought of when you mentioned CC, I think joining some sort of homeschool community would be a good idea. My first year homeschooling we found community not in a homeschool group but by joining American Heritage Girls, which was primarily ran by homeschool moms. I think CC would be a good option to see if CC is a good fit and get feedback on homeschooling. You could easily pick math and phonics and fill in the rest with stuff from CC covered each week. I know a lot if great families who thrueve off CC. That said it's not necessary either. I think you could just as easily find a less structured homeschool group to get community. I personally feel CC is not for us. I lean more CM and so prefer a longer history cycle then CC 3 year. I find I can do memory work at home (ie, Bible versus, poems, etc). I can't justify the cost. I joined a homeschool group that offers a park day weekly and lots if field trip opportunities and a weekly mom's night out! That was good for us! We do academics at home. We like a park day or field trip weekly (one or the other). If you want more structure / guidance (and you mention CC so I assume you are Christian) then a more planner out curriculum for a year or so might be helpful. We did that our first three years to get a feel and I am now doing my own thing more. For k some favorite resources were.... My Father's World Kindergarten (all subjects included, but you may want a k level math program to supplement their math) Five in a Row (you'll need math and Lang) Wee Folk Art (similar to FIAR but more Wardolf, free online as seasonal studies via wee folk art website) These curriculums helped me gauge how much to schedule each day and what a school day looked like in lower elementary years (k-3). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystie Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Here's what I'm doing with my 5yo boy K/1 student: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2015/k-1-homeschool-plans He's my fourth 5-year-old, and all my other kids are on track after a light K/1, so I'm not uptight anymore. :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3curlytops Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 We did CC last year and will do it again this year. My daughter was 4 1/2 last year in August, knew her letters. CC was great for the sense of community, but I don't think she got much out of the actual memory work (I'm holding my breath to be proved wrong). You've visited right? So you see the board where they have all the week's memory work written out and the kids say it/ repeat it / sing it / whatever a bunch of times. That isn't really easy for a non-reader. If they don't hear the teacher speak clearly, or aren't fully paying attention (because that never happens right?) they can't look at the board for a visual clue on what to say b/c they can't read the board. I have read in multiple places though, and this is what we tried to do, to let the first year of CC just kind of wash over you, don't try too much extra at home at first and progress with it as you feel you want to. I don't plan on doing much this year except I got the timeline cards to play with. Until they can read, focus on reading and math. I'm doing a mountain of stuff for kindergarten, probably too much. We are 3/4 of the way through All about Reading 1, so I'll finish that and do 2. I just bought Sonlight Core A b/c we read a LOT. We are halfway through Math U See Primer, but she's not in love, so I bought horizons K to see if that will go over better (the girl loves a full color worksheet for some reason). We are doing science for fun, and I bought Bede's Story of Me because it looked fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Not very much. I think we spent about 30-40 minutes of seat work (handwriting 5-10, and math 20-30) and about 20 min of reading/phonics work, then the rest was good books read aloud, play, outside exploration. Etc. My goals for K are 1) learn to work a little bit longer than your immediate interest. 2) develop fine motor, tracking, and gross motor skills, 3) correlate your efforts to achievements, 4) develop good listening skills. Curriculum is a tool, but getting certain subjects done is not the point. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abba12 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 I never know how to answer these questions, as some people count everything from read alouds to activities, others only count time spent sitting at a table. Plus, we only school FOUR days a week, not five. Our eldest is doing PreK atm but our K day will probably look like this (though, we have a young Ker and different age cut-offs, she will turn 5 two weeks after school begins for the K year) 30 minutes on bible/memory/read aloud time. Our read alouds cover science/history/etc, as we don't do any of that formally, so is usually a couple of picture books (fiction or non fiction) or one story/chapter from something like enid bliton or milly molly mandy 15 mins reading lesson (100 easy lessons or I see sam readers) 15 minutes phonics lesson (explode the code) 15 minutes core math 15 minutes EITHER supplement math or logic 15 minutes of handwriting Also, 30 minutes on 'fun' school (motor skill things like mazes and cutting or stickers, or logic things like find-the-picture, riddles, and complete the picture, or craft activities, or educational toys like math manipulatives, C rods, pattern blocks, etc) while I am making lunch, which I count as school, but others may not. 30 minutes of educational TV while eating lunch (magic school bus, leapfrog, peg+cat etc) which others may or may not count And another 20 minutes of read aloud time in the evening with daddy on a longer book or series So, you could consider this an hour and a quarter of school, or 3 hours of school, depending what you 'count' We do the seatwork (math, handwriting and ETC) all in one go. I have a very get-it-done attitude towards school, and the children love it so much that they get antsy when I pause for a break, and then struggle to come back to it. I've discovered our peak schoolwork time is anywhere between 8 and 11, which happens to be what the peak time for my husband and i was growing up as well. If it doesn't happen by lunchtime, it isn't happening around here. Outside of this, they get an hour or two in the morning, and their entire afternoon until daddy comes home, of unstructured freeplay. Probably adds up to a good 5 or 6 hours of just playing each day, at least an hour, preferrably two. of which is outside. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strawberryjam Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Kindergarten is for play and reading out loud... and lots of extracurriculars as this is the age a lot of things start. As for actual school, I kept it to about 10 minutes 3x per week and for sit down workbook work and my daughter is plenty prepared for Grade 1. Go figure. The CLE Kindergarten workbooks are excellent and cover the basis in phonics, math and handwriting. We also used HWOT workbooks and "Get Set for the Code". Educational TV, nature walks, art projects. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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