I read the stories on here from other parents teaching their children who are the same ages as my dd, and go wow.. I can't imagine teaching that yet. Maybe I'm lazy LOL! My dd is 6, and honestly I give her far more info than the ps would at this age. I think the 'social studies' for 6yos is insulting to her. I think the Health stuff is geared for 3yos with parents who ignore them. She's learning the same things in Math that she would in ps, but I know we go through it much faster than they would. In reading, dd really struggles so we are going as slowly as we need to so she feels comfortable with every new step (phonics) with lots of words to practice on, and even though I know she could be REALLY reading by now if I had pushed her hard, I haven't because I want her to be ok (and no more tears... she's shed enough over this). No spelling words, since those brought her to tears as well. She does write, but only copywork (I was writing stories at her age but anything with words scares her) I'm so happy with her progress just in a short amount of time, but I'm constantly amazed at the 5yos on this board doing multiplication or reading chapter books, or writing. Meanwhile, at least part of every 'literature' period is me reading her a story and her coloring a picture while she listens. Ah well.
Every child is just different. My eight year old is on track pretty close to grade level on everything (he fights me all the way). My four year old demanded school, so I have him in Kindergarten. I'm not sure what math he's in, but I have him doing much easier than he's capable of because I'm TIRED. But, he insists on being a part of everything his brother is doing, so he's very advanced in every subject. I couldn't make my 8 year old learn any faster and I couldn't force my four year old to stop. I just have to roll with it. I'm sure you are doing great and as your daughter's Mom, I'm sure you'd be the first to know if it wasn't enough or if it was too much.
Yep... this. Moms know their kids best, and every kid is good at something. My entire family, both sides, are brainiacs. It's in our blood, so I'd be more surprised to birth a child who didn't come out with a book in hand than not. No one in our family is coordinated, though. We don't dance or do sports ... heck, we don't even play on a playground very well. Other kids (literally) run circles around my oldest son. Nothing wrong with that. I always felt like an outcast when I was a kid. I always chose to have a library day when other kids when on field trips. Don't tell yourself you're lazy or there's something wrong with you or your child. I know it's hard, but try not to compare yourself to other families. Having a child who eats school work for breakfast and asks for more an hour later definitely has it's challenges.
You're probably doing fine. I see some people who seem to be doing way more than I'm doing and others who are doing much less. Getting my son to concentrate on something for more than one minute is a struggle and yet, in public school, he was at the top of his class. I think learning to learn and learning to love learning is the key to success.
You know the "every kid is different" phrase is pretty applicable here. Parents are different too. Some parents are more into teaching than others. Some are more relaxed. There is no right way that works for everyone. I get told that I'm doing too much quite a bit, but people project on me their view of teaching or their kids. That is very understandable and I think we all do that. We do what fits for our family. We spend a long time in school and cover lots of subjects and go into depth that normally isn't covered at their age range, but we have very little time doing seat work.
Your kid will excell in some areas, and not in others. Comparing a child to others is a bad trap we all get into. And for every one you hear about doing Algebra in 2nd grade, there's another fifteen that DON'T. So just keep your kids where YOU think they should be, and don't worry about those that are "quicker" or "slower" than yours!
I'm with you Meghan. My youngest just turned 7 two weeks ago. I tend to be in the "better late than early" camp. I believe in filling life with learnable experiences. Since I have some really good friends who are more school at home, I've just had to learn to limit my conversations about school with them. When they ask how school is going, I say "good", and drop it. If not, I can come away feeling like a failure. I will say that if I did not have a child with a learning disability, I may have fallen into the school at home approach. DD12 has forced me to look at things through another perspective, and it affects all of my kids- for the better, I think!
I find that eventually what our children learn balances out in the end. We started cursive in K because Ems was ready, while others start later. Now that we are in our 8th year of homeschooling, Ems cursive is just about equal to those who started later. It just depends on what works for each family.
AGREED! you cannot compare your daughter with others!!! That is the beauty of homeschooling. GO AT HER PACE!!! It sounds like you're doing great!!!!
You're not lazy at all. You are raising and schooling your children at a level that is comfortable for you all. That is just being a good teacher/parent. My dd will turn 8 at the end of January and will be begining 3rd grade then. I think she is right where she should be, public school parents think she is going to fast and homeschool parents may think she is behind. I don't care. I think she is FINE! That is all that matters.
It is obvious to me that kids all learn differently. LOL my son is way ahead of the game and my daughter struggles. But in the end it won't make a lick of difference who learned what the fastest or better. All people are individuals and have different strengths and weaknesses. And no you aren't lazy just teaching to fit your own child.
Rule #1 is DON'T COMPARE! The great thing about homeschooling is you can make it fit you and yours and it's okay if it's different from everybody else! I get it though, we're pretty much unschoolers, but my son is doing science well above PS 'grade level' (honestly the 1st grade science performance standards for our state are things my son learned when he was 3 years old!) but he's in 1st grade well below PS 'grade level' because he still doesn't read (though he is showing interest now) and he doesn't like to write so we do a lot of stuff orally, for math we use manipulatives rather than worksheets most days.....but what we do is working for US, and that's what matters. If what you do works for your family then no need to feel bad at all. God made us each unique, so don't feel bad that you're not just like everyone or someone else
Here is another aspect to think of: We don't know what goes on in other people lives totally and there may be things that are lacking, but just not seen. I like to imagine a world where everyone had the opportunity to learn at their own pace. This has happened before and look at the wonderful things that came out of it. Einstein was not considered intelligent and didn't even speak until he was 4 (I think). Probably most people wrote him off. I guess I am just saying that whatever wonderful things are in store for your child, they are not determined by where she is at now. They also don't ever have to depend on how she compares to others.
Einstein was dyslexic and had a really hard time throughout his life struggling with that. Which makes his accomplishments so much more meaningful. If only all people had the opportunity to realize greatness isn't always book learned.
