Since she has special needs, that is kind of the marker...where her peers are in relation to her. Fine motor skills, etc. Just comes naturally after all those therapy appts. I was reading where others on the board were setting goals for the year, that is where I got that from! So we don't need any goals? We haven't had any goals up to now, just been working ahead. I thought that was something we would need for official homeschooling? No the school district does not require it. So I guess we can continue on the way we have been doing. Learning as we go!
Is anyone else's child like this? She complains that we don't do enough homeschooling. She wants to homeschool every hour of the day. She loves learning and doesn't understand we have to stop sometime and do other things !
The greatest thing about homeschooling is that there are no rules. You do what fits you, your child, your family... it is completely up to you! Don't be afraid to try new things, and don't be afraid to say this isn't working and make a complete switch in the middle of it all. We just spent 4 weeks with a new curriculum. I liked that it was all layed out for me, but I realized it was very slow. After the 2nd week my son started acting up.. he was bored! He said mom, I really liked school how we did it last year. So we stopped right there.. mid week of week 3, this week we did some of it, just to make sure it wasn't what fit, it didn't. So now I am spending this weekend working out a curriculum for him. He likes to work independantly, as in I give him a workbook and say something like "Today you are going to learn division with a remainder, here is your book, do pages 125-128." He likes to figure things out on his own, that is just the way he is. The moral of the story is.. just do what fits your situation the best, and don't feel you have to do anything except meet your state's requirements.
Ok...I don't have this experience. lol. However, you can implement learning into just about anything you do. Include her in cooking, shopping, and so on. When you are driving have her draw a map of the area to keep her busy in the car. When cooking you can have her measure ingredients or read the recipe. Give her a 1/2 cup scoop and have her give her 3 cups or whatever...and so on. With shopping, she can write the list and find the items in the store. She can even compare prices and try to add up what you have in the cart already. Learning never has to stop. We just take for granted the skills we use everyday in our everyday chores. Pretend she is your little trainee..lol...teach her as much as you can. Sounds like you will have quite an amazing and exhausting (lol) adventure.
test her with assessment tests that are with curriculums, some have down loadable ones, then you can see what level she is at and know where to go from there. Or make your own assessment test ? We kept on progressing with our dd even though she started school at early age and was reading fluently by the same age as yours. We keep on going at HER pace not the 'system's' pace.
Oh didn't mean to sound negative about setting goals at all. LOL (I should include a warning at the end of all my messages in the morning letting you all know whether or not I've had my required two cups of coffee!) In any case, I often find if you aim for nothing you hit it every time. Meaning that if you have absolutely no goals--you may want to rethink that. But I often find with new hsers especially they become a slave to their goals. The point of goals, IMO is for them to work for you. I think goals are great. . .but should be reevaluated frequently especially as you're starting out. I journal about a paragraph a day on each of my kids that are school aged. You might find that reading 25 books per year was too easy for her. Or that finishing 1st grade math was too hard. . .when that happens don't stress. . .just rework it. And yes, learning as you go is absolutely fine! ;-)
What would be the point of homeschooling if you just made her do first grade work even though she's above that? I have one that is ahead. She went to ps K till mid year last year and we pulled her because she was bored and the school wasn't doing anything. We work at her level and I challenge her beyond that.
For many, homeschooling is a lifestyle. If she wants to learn beyond the books then turn every opportunity into a learning experience. You do not need books and paper to do this! Going to the store, making out a budget, taking a walk, and hand sewing, can all be learning and educational. I may be wrong, sorry if I am, but I thought I read that she was reading. Have her read during the day or write her own stories even if the words aren't correct. Does she journal? Have her make out her own math sheets, as long as she knows how. Ems would do this. She would come out with a stack of papers with math problems on them and she wanted me to solve them. Patty
If she's reading well beyond her grade level have her find something she wants to learn about and do her own research. I'm doing this with dd- 1st grade. We're studying the ocean right now and she wanted to learn about sea turtles. So I have HER doing all the research, making notes. She knows how to use an encyclopedia and dictionary. So far she has species of seaturtle and right she's researching one of those species. So there is a LOT she can do.
You know Patty, it's dawned on me as of late, that since she is reading so well now, there's not reason she CAN'T do something like that. And she is having so much fun with it. I went online and found printables and pictures of all different species of turtles, and she's going through the 20 some books we got from the library on sea turtles. She's learned how to use the index to find the species she's looking for. It really has been an amazing project for her and we've just started. What was supposed to be just a week or 2 week project will probably end up going on for a good month or more because we're going to be going into oceanography as well and we have the Virginia Institute of Marine Science just 2 minutes from our house. I knew we were onto something when she was reading the encyclopedia on the way home from the library lol.
That is what I have always done--incorporate learning into every day activities. We always have long drives to therapy so I had to come up with something to entertain her. BUT she wants to get out the workbooks and books and DO them all at one time. I am thinking we will be on 5th grade curriculum in her 1st official yr homeschooling if she keeps this up. So I tell her only a limited amount of time. She gets so mad at me. I was the same way as a child. I loved books and learning. I tell her just reading a book is educational but she wants the workbooks and school work.
I guess you will have to get a ton of $1 store workbooks...mazes...crossword puzzles and stuff. Try a workbook on logic...I just got one for my kids about math and logic. They love that stuff. Give her some of those workbooks on geography and exploring other cultures. Give her things to expand what she already knows. She maybe moving quickly but you may want to make sure she has a real understanding of things. Give her art projects to do also.
She is a big talker. It isn't hard to figure out when she knows something/has learned something. Grandma gets calls about XYZ and my daughter keeps going and going ... telling everyone about everything that she has learned. We have been getting lots of nature books lately. The facts she knows about animals....it is surprising how she can read and know so much so quickly! I think her memory is fantastic. I wish her handwriting was better, then I could assign reports! That would keep her busy.
I have heard other parents say their child doesn't like worksheets. I can print out 20 worksheets and she wants to do them all at one time. Maybe once we get into more challenging areas, it will be different. The only struggle I see right now is handwriting and she refuses to practice it.
Mazes & optical illusion type things occupy mine for ages ~ but she's into art & music. You could try assigning memorization stuff ~ bible passages, poetry, creeds. Ideas I tried with my non~writer: copying her favourite recipes into her own cook book; shopping lists; headings; coloured pencils, gell pens, textas for writing with (this really helped as oppossed to a boring lead pencil but I got white out too for the inevitable mistakes.)
It isn't uncommon for homeschooled children to be advanced in their studies. Especially in the early years. At this age they are eager to learn. Their brains are little sponges that thirst for knowledge. Also, the one-on-one attention works wonders! Eventually you will both find a level ground. Many homeschoolers are not in a specific grade. I have to list a grade for the state but our material is all over the board. The first year, Ems flew through her studies so I supplimented almost 3/4 of the school year. She is still ahead in many areas but we now know how to work around it. As you go through the years you will be able to adjust and change things as you see fit. HSLDA has some great statistics regarding how many years ahead homeschool children are then public school children. It is very impressive. Not because being ahead makes them better but because it validates that homeschooling works. Patty
That is so true read this http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/trivium.html In the early years memorization comes easily. And I agree with Patty, it's not uncommon AT ALL for homeschooled children to be ahead of their ps or even private school peers. And the one on one attention, I'll second that too. Think about it. In a classroom there are 20 plus kids, at home it's just you and your child and endless possibilities. My mom, whom I'd don't agree with often, said a homeschooled child SHOULD be ahead depending on any special needs because they have so much one on one time with the parent and being taught. She's a 2nd grade teacher and isn't surprised in the least at what dd is doing, she expects it lol.
I wholeheartedly agree with Teachermom- download some assessments to see where she really is. When I wanted this, I just googled 'First grade math assessment', First Grade reading assessment'. It's true that some homeschool curriculum companies have free ones online. Saxon does and I believe Horizons does, too. Assessments will take away the guess work and allow you to begin with exactly what she needs.
