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[ca06c]

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Edited January 30, 2019 by ca06c

[wendyroo]

7 minutes ago, ca06c said:

I'm currently homeschooling my third kindergartner.

How much time do you dedicate a day to your K-4 and K-5?
That is a complicated question.  It feels like my whole day is devoted to my K'er (and his siblings).  We live a learning lifestyle, so we are constantly reading, talking and thinking about math and books and science and history, etc.  In my mind, all the time I spend with the kids baking, playing with playdoh, teaching chores, going for walks, reading aloud, etc is all part of their education.

If, OTOH, you are asking how much time I spend with my K'er doing book work, then about 20-30 minutes a day.  When my kids are 4, that is closer to 10-15 minutes a day or 20-30 minutes several times a week.

Do you hit all major subjects each day or alternate?
My K'er does some sort of reading, handwriting and math each day.  Often at least one of those subjects is done informally: through a game, incorporated into a chore or pretend play, done orally while driving or shopping or going for walks, etc.

One more slightly off topic question, do you do audiobooks AND print of the same stories or keep them seperate. Meaning, if you're listening to, say, Peter Pan will you also keep a print copy to read it aloud?
My young kids enjoy listening to homemade audio books of me reading their favorite picture books.  While listening to those they do often look through the physical book while listening to the story.  Otherwise, I don't tend to switch back and forth between audio and physical book, but I see no reason you couldn't.

Wendy

 

[ca06c]

@wendyroo Definitely was referring to dedicated book work-type time allocation - thanks for your insight. Would you care to share some of the curriculum/resources, if any, you use in K4 and K5?

[HomeAgain]

4 hours ago, ca06c said:

How much time do you dedicate a day to your K-4 and K-5? Do you hit all major subjects each day or alternate? We're considering pulling our eldest from her Montessori school. Any recommendatons for resources within the classical sphere but with a slight Montessori bent (Right Start Math comes to mind) so it's not a complete shock to her system? She'll be 4 when we pull her and currently (at 3.5) has basic mathematical literacy (can do 1:1 up to 15, recognize number symbols up to 10, simple addition) and literacy skills (knows her letter sounds, can write a few). 

As an aside, has anyone here had experience with transitioning a child (around 1st grade) from Montessori to Classical education? 

One more slightly off topic question, do you do audiobooks AND print of the same stories or keep them seperate. Meaning, if you're listening to, say, Peter Pan will you also keep a print copy to read it aloud?

Thanks in advance! 

xposted

We dedicated all day.  🙂  But we didn't do school.  We did foundational skills:
-fine motor work
-gross motor work
-exposure to nursery rhymes, folk/fairy tales, and songs
-exposure to cultures
-an understanding of where he fit into the world (tower of me)
-rhythms of seasons and weeks and days

 

[sweet2ndchance]

One of the advantages of homeschool is the slower pace of life, especially when they are little. You don't have to do anything academic with a 4 year old unless they are asking for things and they can just be kids for little while longer than their peers. That's not to say that you should not do anything that might be considered academic, this is a wonderful time to read stories together just for fun, share poetry just to hear the rhythm and rhyme, take trips to the library, the museum, the pumpkin patch and anywhere else that tickles your child's fancy and just have fun. There are years and years ahead for putting your noses to the grind stone educationally, I would really just enjoy your preschooler and let learning happen instead of trying to force it.

Now all that said, my 5yo kindergartener this year spends about an hour to an hour and a half 4 - 5 days a week on academics. All of my kids spent about that in kindergarten on academics. I've done all different schedules over the years with my k'ers but what seems to work best for my current k'er is a kind of alternate schedule. One day we spend 30 - 45 mins total, in 15 minute increments, on phonics and then 15 - 20 mins on math and then we read stories and do projects as a part of our every day family time. Then the next day we spend 30 - 45 mins on math, in 15 minute increments and just 15 - 20 minutes on phonics. On the days we only spend 15 minutes or so on a subject, it's is mostly just review. I only introduce new concepts on days that we spend more time on that subject.

We do listen to audiobooks and read aloud together. Sometimes we follow along in the book, sometimes we don't. It really just depends on what we are reading and why. Sometimes all I can get from the library is the audiobook so obviously on those, we just have the audiobook and it works out just fine.

[wendyroo]

3 hours ago, ca06c said:

@wendyroo Definitely was referring to dedicated book work-type time allocation - thanks for your insight. Would you care to share some of the curriculum/resources, if any, you use in K4 and K5?

Sure.

For phonics I start with a firm foundation in phonemic awareness.  We play games to hear beginning and ending sounds, practice rhyming, orally "blend" compound words like hearing that sun + flower = sunflower.  Then we move on to blending sounds into words.  I casually introduce this through games and don't proceed to "real" curriculum until the child is easily able to blend simple CVC words.  At that point I start them on the Explode the Code series.

For handwriting, I use The Joy of Handwriting, but I think pretty much any program will work.  Once they are proficient at letter formation, we move on to simple copywork.  I make their copywork sheets so that I can make them in Spanish; that way they are learning vocabulary while they are practicing their writing.

For us, kindergarten math is never a simple progression.  We often start in Singapore Essentials B when the kiddo is 4, but when those concepts start to get too complex, we set that aside and start at the beginning of something else - maybe a Star Wars math book or the intro chapters of Math Mammoth 1 or even just a random kindergarten math workbook from the grocery store.  Again, when the kiddo starts getting frustrated or bogged down in the new resource we switch again, either back to Essentials or to something else entirely.  Sometimes we work through two books simultaneously, other times we set all books aside and spend time counting coins or building with pattern blocks.  Whatever we are doing, it is heavily supplemented with board games, "real life" math, living math books, and lots of discussion about math.

That is pretty much all the curriculum we use in preschool and kindergarten.  All the rest of the learning is done through life and work and play.

Wendy

 

[ca06c]

Thank you, all. This has been very helpful!