Delaney is currently doing kindergarten. We are only in one month. I basicly just got workbooks from the store and mixed in some games, flash cards, computer, etc. But Delaney seems to be flying through these workbooks. What I have set out to take an hour, she is completing in 20 min! And doing extra work from what I picked for the day on top of it. She is already doing addition and subtraction work. We began with the basic kinder math work and she ate it like candy! I started out doing worksheets with pictures for adding and subtraction but she no longer needs the pictures. She is telling me the answer before I even state the problem! We just started on the subtraction, thinking it would be a challenge , but she is already grasping the deal. I give her another week or so and she will be done with that. I went out and picked up some 1st grade workbooks that seemed to have some inbetween and hard work to mix in and challenge her. But the work I picked is easy too! But I am not sure if I pull the harder things, like adding double digits or fractions, she will grasp yet. I had thought to go to a local teachers center and see if I can find some hands on work just to jazz it up but she is really a sight/worksheet kid and I am not sure if I would be wasting my money. Her reading is not so fast in advancing but still ahead of the current district work. She is already reading. Sounding out unknown words and learning to use pictures, etc. The 1st grade level work I have might be too advanced here. Should I maybe go on a hunt for something more challenging but inbetween kinder and 1st or should I start kicking her up into 1st? She is only 5. I have been using the districts curriculum as a guide on where she/they are. But I think that might be 1/2 my issue. Maybe I need to put that away! LOL! I don't want to push her and have her miss out on things either. Or become over stressed. But at this rate I am going to be done these workbooks and sitting here with empty covers in no time! Maybe I should look for something altogether different? What do you think? Should I challenge her and push her up into 1st? Keep her where she is and let her just play like a kid when she is done? Give her more hands on things but at the same level? What would you do??
I would just give her the level of math she is ready for no matter what the grade level is. I might go with a curriculum rather than workbooks though. A curriculum would likely cover topics in more depth. With homeschooling you can go at your child's pace for individual subjects. So if she is ready for first grade math at age 5 you can do it. That doesn't mean that every thing she does needs to be first grade work. My boys are in 1st and 3rd grade. That doesn't mean they are doing all first or third grade work. It just means they are the age of 1st and 3rd graders.
Oh, how I wish I had that problem. I would just say - keep up with where she is and slow down if necessary if you find you went to fast or something. Another thing is--take the time that you have left for "school-time" and go for nature walks or do quirky science "experiments" or just read something out loud just for the heck of it or let he play with playdoh or whatever. They have (or they should) plenty of playtime at schools at this age, so enjoy and pray that she is always this eager. Pray for my son also, lol.
I second the recommendation to get a real curriculum rather than store-bought workbooks. I bet you'll find grade level curriculum more challenging. I also recommend ignoring labels. You can ask anyone on the planet what a 5 year old needs to know, and they'll all have a different answer. Unless you plan on schooling through your district at some point, the guidelines they use really won't matter for your situation. Don't worry about getting ahead. Even if you let her do anything she wants and she gets WAY ahead, you still don't have to worry about early graduation unless you want to. Call her the grade her age would be when needed, but otherwise, don't assign a grade at all. My philosophy is that all children need to be challenged so that they know how to work through challenges as an adult. For some kids, the challenge might be sitting still for 10 minutes, and for some, they may not be challenged until you make them work a grade or two ahead. If a child is constantly given work they already understand or can figure out effortlessly, they'll never learn HOW to learn and they'll never learn how to deal with problem solving. Work with her attention span. If her attention span is only 20 minutes, fine. Challenge her for 20 minutes and then stop. Do NOT frustrate her, and be sure to reward her often. If she stumbles on something, back off for a while. Never say anything that would even hint at, "The other 5 year olds are doing ____ so you should be, too." All babies get their first tooth and walk when their bodies are good and ready, so all 5 year olds should read and write and do math when their brains are good and ready. If she's ready, run with it. If she's not, work at her pace. Ignore the numbers. Teach the child.
I let my kids go at their own pace and I never "reward" efficiency with extra work. If they get their assignment done quickly, they may choose to do more or do something else. The fastest way to train a child to work slowly is by rewarding efficient work with more work. My son often chose to double up on math because he enjoyed it. He began to slow down once he reached algebra and geometry. He is now doing calculus in 10th grade. Everyone thinks he is a math genius (and he is very smart in math), but I would say it is more about efficiency and working at his own pace that got him to where he is now than pure genius. Just let her go at her own pace, but let her stop when she needs to. Don't force her, but don't slow her down either. "Ignore the numbers - teach the child." Great advice from 2littleboys! And remember to always have fun!
Wise, wise words! I say my son is in first grade, by age he would be in PS. He is at a beginning kindergarten level for reading and doing science well above his grade level. He's right on track for him. It's one of the main reasons we chose to homeschool. So unless you know it's highly likely you'll be sending her back to PS in the future, I wouldn't worry about teaching by state standards. If she doesn't get something and it's frustrating her, move on to something else and come back to it later. If she's grasping something really well and moving fast and is happy with moving fast, let her. I will say, most homeschool math curricula I've seen are below our state standards for grade level math, not sure why that is.....I bought my son a 3rd grade math curriculum for "1st grade", coming from PS K, though we use manipulatives way more than worksheets
So what curriculum would you all suggest? (math being the strongest) For those that mentioned pushing....believe me I don't push at all! She just flies through the work and asks for more. So, not knowing what to do, we continue on till she shows signs of getting antsy and then we move on to something else or take a play break. Some days she just enjoys running off and playing. But other days, she wakes and asks for her 'learning books' even before breakfast starts. And if I am busy cause it isn't learning time, she gets upset. Have to say, I love that she loves learning! LOL! Hope it continues. But I also want her to be a kid too. To run barefoot in the yard and just have fun. So I am not sure which direction to go.....go with her need to move on or slow her down. So I should basicly let her lead me then? If she wants to move on then I should look into more challenging work?
Maybe you can do some unit studies with her. Let her pick topics that she is interested in, go to the library to research, and enjoy learning together. My 5 yr old dd is currently studying animals. She picks an animal and we learn as much as we can about it and then go see it at the zoo (if they have it). Right now she is into bats because of Halloween, so soon we'll be heading to a local cave for a night bat tour. It has amazed me how much fun we are having learning this way.
Follow her lead. For some kids, school IS play. Fun time and school are the same thing. It was that way for me as a child, and it's (usually) that way for my oldest son. We started off the same way, although math is my son's weakest area (if there is such a thing ... he's 4 and mostly in 2nd grade). He was flying through everything I gave him, but then he started stumbling and getting frustrated ... not with the work itself, but with the curriculum type. We tried several different things before finding one he likes. Miquon! Love it! Let me tell you why I think it'll work for you, because there are several reasons. I recommend it to anyone, but specifically for your situation, I think it's a great fit. (1) There are 6 books which are meant to be 2 books per year for 3 years (1st thru 3rd grades), however, there are NO grade levels written on them. They're color coded. Rather than saying, "this is a 1st grade book", it's just "the orange book". (2) You can move at your own pace. It was written to be used 2 per year, but you can do just one or all six. Doesn't matter! (3) It a mastery system. Not sure if you know the difference between mastery and spiral, so I'll assume you don't. Spiral means the book touches on a little of this and that all the way through with constant review. Today's lesson might have a little adding, a little money, and a little time, all on the same page. Miquon does NOT do that. You'll to just adding or just multiplication or whatever. (4) The cool thing about the way these books are broken up in mastery sections is that you can skip an entire area or concentrate on an entire area. If she's really good with fractions, skip the fraction section in all the books. However, if she's really enjoying fractions and wants to dig deeper into them, you can go all the way through the fraction section of all 6 books so that she's on a 3rd (or higher) level for fractions but still hasn't touched on time or measuring yet. Here's what it looks like: http://www.fun-books.com/books/toc/miquon_math-TOC.htm (5) Everyone starts with the first book regardless of level because this is a totally different system. You'll catch on really quick, and although the first few pages are teaching you to count, don't blow them off. They're teaching you how to count THEIR WAY with THEIR RODS. It's fun. (6) These books progress much more quickly than you'd expect. She'll be doing multiplication almost immediately. They constantly teach higher level concepts, too. They don't call it pre-algebra, but some of what they introduce actually IS pre-algebra. You'll get into order of operations, solving for x, etc., but she won't realize that's what she's actually doing. If tested after the end of the 6th book using a standardized test, you can almost guarantee she'll come out higher than a 3rd grade level. Many who are strong in math skip right into pre-algebra rather than dragging out three years using 4-6 grade books. There are a lot of other great options out there, but I think Miquon will work for you, and as math goes, it's one of the cheaper options. I also suggest getting math "books" at the library. For example, one series my son absolutely adores is called "Sir Cumference". It's about geometry (circumference), but it's written as a series of tales about knights and dragons and such. The king is Sir Cumference, the tall queen is Lady Di of Ameter (diameter), the son, who is half her height is named Radius, there are two dragons from Lell who are called a "Pair of Lells" (parallel). They're great stories, and they really do teach area, circuference, angles, etc. to kids long before the math books usually do. That's just one series, too. There are lots of great math books out there. Look up Sir Cumference at Amazon, and then keep clicking thru their suggested books to find more like them.
