Hi! I'm new to this board and came here in search of help. I want to homechool our 4 year old, but am not sure how to "begin". I used to teach pre-K and truly believe that kids should learn from their environment, should learn holistically and not be forced or even directed to do a lot of paper-work and desk learning. However, I don't know how to incorporate "learning" into my son's day. When I taught pre-K (in my home), I had a big classroom set up where they could learn through their environment and I helped the kids learn from their peers. Do I need to set up a large classroom area? Does anyone have a classroom in their home they set up and take down when not in use? I'm not completely opposed to desk teaching, if the child seems ready. Our son really does enjoy sitting and coloring and writing. He likes structured school time, too the 3-4 times we've done it. :roll: This is where another part of my problem lies. I don't know how or when to schedule the school/curriculum time, if I were to have it at a structured time. Since we have to drive the older kids to school, we're not back until 8:30/9. I usually go to the gym after that- my son loves playing with the kids there while I exercize. So, do I come home and homeschool him at that point? What about laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, lunch and library and zoo days??? We have to leave to pick up his brother and sister at 2:15. He also needs a nap, but doesn't take one. Rest needs to be a part of his schedule. Can anyone please help me? You can give it to me straight. TIA!! Meredith
Hi, Meredith, me again! I may have covered this in the previous post, but here goes again! WHILE you're doing the "daily dozens" of housework, let him "help", and talk, talk, talk while you're doing that. Fixing lunch? Talk about the ingredients, where they come from, how they fit into a balanced meal, do "fractions" while cutting a sandwich in half, an apple in quarters/fourths, break a slice of banana into its natural thirds, and so on. Do adding and subtracting while setting the table - one for each of us makes how many? if the neighbor joins us for supper, then how many? if daddy will be late because of a business thing, take away one, now how many? and so on. If we have five books, but we only read three, how many to read tomorrow? etc. If you have six little cars, but grandma gives you two more, now how many? If you didn't put them away and three got stepped on and flattened, now how many? Sorting toys by color, type, size, etc., sorting laundry by color, who owns it, type (shirts, pants, towels, etc.), teaching fractions with folding towels, time and calendar by appointments, what time this favorite show comes on, when daddy gets home from work, what time to go get the older kids, which days the olders don't have school, etc. You can literally teach every waking minute, and save worksheet time for when you need a little time to yourself... We recently had our 4yo dgs come to live with us - we teach Other People's Kids from 815- 300. Our "nap time" is as soon as we get into he house after that. He needs one, but so do we! LOL Have fun!
Meredith, do what your gut tells you. Your background tells you how young children learn best. Go with what HE wants to learn. Teach THROUGH the cooking, laundry, etc. Example: Teach one-to-one correspondance while setting the table, teach sorting skills with the laundry, guess how much a bunch of bananas at the store will weigh.... I always had plenty of change on me, and if no one was behind me in line, I would have my son try to count out the correct change for the cashier. Or, if I didn't have enough, I would tell him that I should have 24 cents back; let's see if the cashier got it right.... Read, read, read, and read some more. You know as well as I that this is probably the number one way to insure success at school. Also, find a notebook with room for a picture at the top and lines below. Have him draw, and tell you about his picture and write his words down for him. You really don't need a lot of structure at his age. Don't worry! He'll be fine!!! As far as naps go, this is what I did. EVERYONE MUST GO DOWN!!! When my kids got to the place where they weren't sleeping all the time, they STILL had to go lie down for a half-hour. If, after a half-hour they were still awake, then they could look at books quietly for another half-hour (or listen to stories on tape/CD). If they were asleep, I would let them sleep for their "normal" nap. When the time arrived when they "never" fell asleep anymore, they would still have to go to their rooms for a half-hour of silent reading time. My children are 15, 13, and 10, and they STILL have a half-hour of Silent Reading each day. This is MY MOMMY TIME!!! When you are with your kids 24/7, YOU NEED A HALF-HOUR OF DOWN TIME!!! Do what relaxes YOU...no school, no housework, no meal planning. Read, talk on the phone, visit us here at the Spot, have a Quiet Time... whatever. Set the timer; if your kid keeps bugging you with "Has it gone off yet? How much time?, etc., you tell him the next time he yells down, you will set the timer for five more minutes AFTER it goes off. They soon learn that they don't disturb you unless they see flames coming through the roof! (Exception: My middle one came running down the stairs at five and a half, all excited, because she had just discovered that "I KNOW WHAT THOSE WORDS SAY!!!" I was VERY willing to allow THAT interruption, lol!!!)
I agree whole heartedly with Lindina and Jackie. As for a classroom setting, wherever is our classroom. Now that my son does sit down school work, it is usually done on the kitchen table or the sofa. I have always been a bit envious of those people who had a separate room to do school because they could decorate it so cool and have all of the mess in one room.
Relax and have fun. At this age I would only do "school" type work when he wants to. If you teach him when he is older there is plenty of time to worry later on (lol!).
Yep agree with the ladies, sounds like you are doing it. Don't stress out on it. That age they learn by watching and helping.. Talk with him when you are cooking if he is around and cleaning. Give him paper to do work with his brother while he is doing homework. That age is so much fun, they are little sponges....
This is how we go with my 4 year old. HE learns best in the morning. So after breakfast this is when we ussually sit at the kitchen table doing stuff. While i prepare breakfast i may ask him to finish his letters. Normally its upper case and lower case writing. But again this is 1 year after i started this. At the beginning he was writing lines and circles. So eather while i am cooking or after breakfast we start with Writing. It ussually takes him 20 mins to complete stuff. Then we jump around and do active stuff. Then its reading. I printed out books for his levels. And it comes with worksheets. I give him a choice eather kitchen table or couch. But the worksheets are always at the table. So that takes about 20-30 mins as well. Then active time or music time - we bang our musical instumets together lol - tamburine, maracas or just jump around too... galloping, skipping - he is learning to do those. Then its math time. We completed #5 andgoing on #6. This is what we do,... i have counting chips in my hand and ask him how many do you see. He says 5. NOw i mix them up and only show him some of the chips and i ask him how many do you see. He sees 3 and says THREE!. NOw i ask him "how many is my other hand that you dont see" and he says TWO. And that is until we cover all the posibilities that can give you 5 at the end including zero and five. NOw we are on 6th. NOrmally it takes 1 1/2 - 2 hours for school time. But again we have been doing this for a year now. That is the morning stuff. We also have afternoon - where its just coloring, mazes, connect the dots by number and cutting A year ago we started wiht just 50 mins each morning. - it was writing lines and circles, coloring, cutting and gluing. PS, I never push him and always stop if he doesnt want to do it. SOme days we just skip whole thing all together when i see he is overwelmed. But again, you have to know if he really not feeling doing stuff or he just wants to play lazy. There are times when he just wants to be lazy i always remember that somewhere in structured preschool they always do stuff like writing and reading. And being home doesnt mean he can be lazy and cut clack. So sometimes i do push him a bit when i know he can do it. You just have to be wise about it. I also want him to have a habit of responsibility when it comes to learning.
Welcome! I came from a prek/ preschool teaching back ground to homeschooling many years ago and when I started out I thought I had to have all the stuff we had too, but I used my coffee table as the school table got a couple kiddie chairs and hand playdoh, coloring pages, etc on hand in bins. This way I could set up a free play time when it was time for such things, eventually I relaxed and told ds to go play in his room for free play time.
Your schedule with other kids sounds exactly like mine. If I was you, I would drop off your other kids (have your other one all ready for his day) and then as soon as you get home from dropping them off, start schooling him. Kindergarten usually only takes a couple hours a day. Then you can go to the gym, do laundry, clean, etc. I like to make school a priority and I work the other stuff around that. It always gets done and my home is clean and very organized. Homeschooling isn't hard at all, it's very flexible and rewarding. Good luck and enjoy! Welcome to the group.
I agree with wht others have said. Remember he is only 4, still a "baby", so needs lots of hands-on/action time! He has soooo many years of schooling ahead of him, so don't push him if he's not ready! At that age they tend to gain a voctory with learning something, then move on to "conquer" something entirely different. So he may rush through the math stuff with ease, and you think he's going to be doing Algebra when he's 6! But suddenly he's into reading, or science type stuff, and acts like he doewn't understand the math anymore. He does, it's just their brains shift from thing to thing. So, allow for that process. At that age, you can focus on what he's interested in and help him learn, and he will NOT be missing out! In fact, at that age, the more you go with their interests, the more they tend to learn and retain, since that's what they're so interested in! Best wishes, you'll do fine! Sue May, We're on our 12th year of homeschooling, and have never had a classroom or set place for schoolwork. I know how you feel! Yet, I appreciate the fact that they've been able to have a variety of places to learn, and are fine learning on the floor, the couch a chair, at the table, standing at the kitchen counter.... We added a bookshelf where each child had a shelf and we had two shelves for reference books, paper, etc. I had a whole bookcase for my teacher books and things! That helped keep the mess to a minimum!
With my 4 year old I let him direct what he wants to do when it comes to doing his school work. I've set up the computer for him to use for starfall and he'll get on here when he wants to and use that site. Other than that when he's ready to do his school work he comes and tells me he wants to do book work and I stop what I'm doing to do it with him. I've found that if I let him choose when he's ready he's more responsive to doing some work and crafts. It works for us. But if you have a gut feeling go with it, you know what's best for your little one.
I agree with what other advice you've gotten. When my ds was 4, I tried to make him sit and do workbooks and practice writing his name and he hated every minute (he loved it when he was 2-3 but obviously it was just for a few minutes a day). He did love educational games, so we would spend a few minutes each day on sites like pbskids or with jumpstart preschool. Just fun things really. When we went to k part of the reason (and there were a million other reasons) that I pulled him out was that he was not progressing with the class. He was a typical 5yo boy, wanted to play and they were doing a lot of structured school. When I brought him home, I tried it too and he still hated every minute, so much so that he is still not where he should be on reading or writing! He's slowly getting there now finally though (3rd grade!). What I wish I would have done is do 90% less school work... done more of the play learning that the others had talked about and focuses on fun ways to help him learn how to read (like starfall.com, I wish I would have known about it his kindergarten year). Anyway, my point is not to try to do too much "school" for the 4 and 5 years because it might backfire on you. Have fun and enjoy those "fun" years, because there will be PLENTY of time for the sit down structured learning.
