Hi all, a few months ago I was asked to work with my adopted nephew(6) and niece(3) during the summer holidays. I thought with the 6yr old it would just be refresher stuff just so he didn't forget anything during the holidays. Anyway, his end of year report revealed that he was below average in everything except maths in which he was average! I'd already planned a circle time and have all the calendar stuff printed and laminated, but now I've been trying to find other stuff for him to do too. When it comes to my niece, I had a shock yesterday. I'd made up flash cards for her for review, only it seems she doesn't know any of her shapes or colours, nor does she recognize any letters at all. On top of that, my brother who has been living in Thailand for about 13 years told us today that hopefully in about a month he and his two sons ages 11 and 5 will be coming over for a 6 month visit, with the potential to move back! He too has asked me to home school the boys while they are here as he doesn't really want to put the boys into a school here just for 6 months as what they would learn here is totally different to what they've been doing here, and the youngest doesn't adapt very well. I have no idea what to do for them, or what would be age appropriate, so any advice would be very welcome! I have already cut out the silhouette of a large tree and stuck it to the living room door. I have leaf shaped post-it notes and plan to have the kids write the name of the book and author on one and stick it on the tree, every time we read a book together in the holidays. That would be appropriate for all of them wouldn't it? Many thanks in advance for any help given, and sorry for the long first post!
Your niece is three years old. It's very normal for a child that age to not know letters. It's not even unusual for them not to know colors. Children that age DO NOT need structured "learning" time. They learn best through play. "We've got two blocks on this tower. Can you put the BLUE block on next? Now we have THREE blocks...." Or at the store. "Oh, look at all those RED tomatoes!!!" It just comes naturally to them through exposure! Work with the 6yo, and have copies for the younger one. when she wants to "do school" with the sibling, give her a page. If she scribbles all over it, that's fine. And if she's careful about doing it "right", that's even better! But she needs first to just be a kid. You need to find out about the laws for your particular state. Some states are very structures where you have to keep track of hours and attendance, send regular reports, etc., and others all you have to do is notify them that you are homeschooling. The tree would probably work well for all ages!
She's obviously not from the US, but learning about local home school law is a great place to start. I'm guessing Auntie is in the UK? Definitely agree with Jackie that 3 year olds don't need structured learning. Further....3 year olds are tricksters with evil senses of humor! When Elle was that age...she knew her letters, shapes and colors backward and forward....but once in a while....just to drive me crazy, she would play the "lets see what mom does if I don't know anything today" psychological torture experiment. She would decide she didn't know her colors, or shapes, or letters....after a while would also forget her name, where she lived....she'd rename the pets, reintroduce herself to the cousins. All the while giggling insanely over everyone's confused reactions. She also got a really big kick out of telling me there were large snakes in the basement (there weren't!)....because she knew I was scared to death of them. LOL. Rotten kid from day one!
Thanks for the replies and yes I'm in the UK. My adopted sister has been working with my niece on her colours for over a year now with bricks, "can you get me a RED brick please?" My sister is a little worried now as she's never got it right consistently and just seems to guess. In September she is starting nursery school, and is supposed to know shapes, colours and be able to recognise her own name. Personally, if I ever have children of my own, I've known for years that I want to homeschool. I think 3 is a little young to "have" to know certain things.
All kids learn at their own rate. My oldest taught herself to read at 3, but my friend's child wasn't read AT ALL until nine; by ten, though, she had more than "caught up" with the early readers and was reading through the Hobbit. I'm a firm believer that by pushing a child before they are "ready" does more damage than good! My background is in education, and I'm very disturbed by trends. (Which Crazy and I "fight" over all the time )
i agree with Jackie, that 3 is too young for formal education. If the 6yo is "behind" in everything but math, and the 3yo doesn't know the "requirements" of shapes, colors, name -- I'm not certain those things can be "caught up" in a couple months' time. Maybe your sister should plan to keep these youngsters home for their education so they can learn in their own time and way. Your national curriculum is online. You could look it up and follow it from the bottom up, and see where your brother's children fit in, what things they know and what they don't, and that will inform your choices for them. I know there's a good bit of lesson plans and "schemes of work" with some worksheets and such online too. Some parents on this side of the pond use your MEP for math. Surely there are other parents there you can find online for actual meet-ups where they can tell you what materials are available for you locally, especially for the 11yo. Welcome to the Spot, and I wish the very best for you and the children.
My child who is about to turn 5 yrs old is only just now getting his colors straight. I have found that high early aptitude is not really related to future success. My son who did not know his alphabet when he was almost 6, is in college now majoring in computer science. So your 3 yr old neice is doing great already! Children this age need more hands on, not so much flash cards.
It takes time at that age to pick these things up. Tailoring your activities so they pick up the skills that you think they lack is a great idea. As long as you're not sitting them down too many formal lessons. When my kids were having troubles, I would use field trips, online educational games (linked to a brand I used to play CDs of as a kid), kinesthetic or craft activities that taught the skills. The idea is to teach but in such a subtle way that it doesn't seem like a chore. I love the idea of the large tree on the doorway. How has that been working for you?
