We are new to homeschooling....actually new to any type of schooling. Our son is 4 so we have done some preschool stuff with him but nothing really formal. I'm wondering if you guys recommend going with a boxed set to start our journey or do you think it's better to jump in right away with choosing individual subject curricula? BTW, I have noticed our son gets overwhelmed if he sees an entire workbook or pile of stuff that he has to do. I have lots of stuff that I keep in a central location. But I prepare ahead of time by tearing out individual pages and place them on separate trays. To his eyes, this looks like less work so he's ok with it. So I will need something that I can separate in this way. Thanks!
We don't do aything formal. Learning takes place 24/7 when they are that age. SImply slowing down and taking about things and explaining them and exploring does WONDERS! The only thing we really did was File folder games (www.FileFolderfun.com). If he was curios about something we would look it up on the internet. Example: We saw an ant hill outside and Beau wanted to know what it looked like on the inside, so we looked it up on YouTube! There are so many educational things on there for kids! We are using Charlotte Mason this coming year for First grade, and it is pretty laid back with not alot of book work and crazy workbooks (and it's really cost effective). Don't burden him down with stacks of papers and books already! This will happen soon enough in middle and high school. Let him enjoy being a kid!!!! If you feel like he NEEDS something structured, or a set time for "Schooling" then for 30 minutes each day sit down and read a book, asking questions about it, then do a file folder games, sing some songs, and go outside and talk abotu 1 nature thing (clouds, grass, sun, water). Get him thinking, and questioning, and use the internet to look further into it.
For preschool you might want to look at something like funshine express. You really only need a month or two of their set and it can be stretched out since it is expensive. If you are looking at doing kindergarten you probably just want to do some work sheets, easy readers/learn to read books and just get books out of the library to read aloud. Some libraries even have subject kits or literacy kits that have activities included in them. For k I would keep it very low key and just an hour or two of worksheets max.
I'm also pretty new to HS also, so take what I say with a grain of salt , but I would say just let him direct what you are teaching him right now. He's so young that now is the time to let learning be fun and an adventure rather then sitting at the table doing book work. But thats just my humble oppinion
I agree to take it slow. If you are looking into the future- Kindergarten say- go with individualized curriculum. Boxed (and depends what you mean by boxed- all in one I assume) ends up being harder for some folks- as their kids do not fit in one perfect mold in all areas- reading, writing, math, etc. It is easier to choose curriculum that will fit their needs and skills. But for now I would just read lots of books, go with his interests, encourage activities to build fine motor skills (draw with chalk and crayon instead of markers, work with beads, sewing kits for his age, etc.) and point out print and numbers all around you- stores, in the house, etc. Let him get messy with paint and playdough too! =)
In general, I usually suggest to any new homeschooling parent with young or older children to start out using materials that fit your teaching style. You can later incorporate material suited to the child's learning style. That being said, when my kids were that age, we only purchased materials for math and reading. We used Math-U-See and Explode the Code series for reading. All other subjects were covered through play and reading. We made lots of library trips and had a lot of science and history literature on the book shelves at home, too. We covered more science than I can remember just by helping the kids find the answers to their questions. I am so glad we did it in such a relaxed way. It eased the kids and me into more formal schooling at a natural pace.
I LOVE Ambleside Online for those ages - and they have yahoogroups which rock with things others have prepared (bookmarks with reading schedules and even full day to day schedules!) Then I just do printable pages (or tear out a workbook page). I'm going to be working with our 5 year old this summer and actually starting now with Explore the Code (the first books)
What I suggest is exactly what's been said -- just be cool until about first grade when learning to read and do math will become more important. In the meantime, talktalktalk and readreadread and playplayplay. If you MUST have workbooks/worksheets, a good place to start is with a set of preschool workbooks from Rod & Staff called Beginner's Activity Series, which is 4 little workbooks you can go through like a page or so a day. There are coloring, cutting, pasting, tracing, visual discrimination, matching, counting, all the preschool stuff. The whole set is about $8. After The Beginner's set, you can move into the ABC Readiness Series, which has books that are more kindergarten-y, with names that start with consecutive letters of the alphabet, through I, currently. The first set (ABCDEF, with two for B - Bible stories to read, and Bible stories to color) is about $20. I think the last 3 are about $3 each, but I don't have a current catalog in front of me. If you want more, you can look up Kumon workbooks for preschool and kindy, too. And there are absolute TONS of preschool and kindy worksheets free on the internet. For computer, you can try www.starfall.com which teaches reading in very fun animations. Even in first and second grades, I prefer to stick to Bible, reading, LA, and math, and do science and social studies by little units I put together myself from library books, coloring sheets from the internet and coloring books, maybe a few easy puzzle pages that fit.
Although everybody's already said it, I'll reiterate: take it slow and go easy in Kindergarten. At schools they don't sit and grill the kids, and at home you should do the same. Let him learn through playing. Do a little sit-down work but not loads and loads. When you first start, it can feel a little daunting and you often feel like you've been pushed off the edge of a cliff, dangling in mid-air with no point of reference to hang on to. Boxed curricula make people feel more confident, but aren't necessarily the best thing for all children. Making your own curriculum or combining curricula is much scarier, but probably works best for more children. If you want a good curriculum to match yourself against (to make sure you're covering everything), ambleside online is quite good and free: http://www.amblesideonline.org/curriculum.shtml For a great and very thorough list of skills and knowledge kids should have at kindergarten age, try http://www.mudhutmama.com/preschool-homeschool-plan-for-a-free-diy-curriculum-age-3-to-4/ (I hope she doesn't mind that I post a link to her site here!) If you can cover the skills listed, and if you use a general curriculum to compare yourself against for comfort, you'll be fine. Worry about boxed sets for grade 1 maybe when things get more serious. While he's 4, let him play, sing songs, draw pictures, learn to read, spend time outside, and just have fun. He'll learn everything he needs to this way.
