MFW k for 3 almost 4yr old

[vansolkema1996]

I have just purchased MFW K for my 3 yr old DD. I had planned on waiting until Sept to start it ( she will be 4 in April) but she already knows her phonic sounds she is learning to count to 100. She writes her name and many other letters. ( I haven't even been wroking with her as much as i should be. I am trying with my 12 yr old DD to school year round this year and have thought about just starting my 3 Yr old now. I just don't want her to get to board with it if we start it in Sept. but on the other hand I don't want to start her on something more than just playing around to early either.

 

This is only my second year of homeschooling so I need so sug. from all of you pro's :)

Thanks,

Holly

[Haiku]

My dd also started writing and sounding out words when she was three. That did not mean that she was ready for "school," even something gentle. She was playing, and I let her play. There's no reason to put a three-year-old in kindergarten.

 

Tara

[littlebug42]

At 3.5, my eldest daughter was begging me daily to teach her to read so I saw no reason not to start. We started Hooked on Phonics and rather than preschool materials, I bought K ones and just worked through them more slowly. However, we totally worked through everything at her pace. We sat in our "reading chair" and read stories and did HOP together. Some days she wanted to do a lot of phonics and other days none. There was no structure and no pressure to it for either of us.

[HappyGrace]

And I had very advanced dc, so I kind of understand the dilemma. My suggestion would be this if she is WANTING to read, in the fall you could get "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 EZ Lessons" and do that with her-it starts right at the letter sounds. Many people have taught their 4yr olds to read with this book-it's great. Just go slowly and also play lots of rhyming games on the side-we used to do this in the car and it's good for reading readiness (Start with rhyming with her and having her repeat-hot, tot, got-then move up to I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with hot, etc.) Any kind of word games like this are great to get them thinking. Also get the Leapfrog DVDs like Letter Factory, Word Factory, etc. Then on the side do something like Before Five in A Row-where you read and discuss books together. And a good story Bible. Lots of manipulatives and games for gentle math introduction. If she likes to write and seems to want more of it, just write some simple words for her to copy, starting with simple phonetically regular words like "cat."

 

You can keep it really light and basic at this age, but still keep them moving forward. Again, I would only do this if she seems to be wanting it, and only a very tiny amount of time at each sitting, and very casual.