do you advance your kids at their own rate or do you try to keep them with their peers? As in: y our 4th grader starts the 4th grade around the same time as his schooled peers. But he breezes right through the curriculum and is "done" with 4th grade in January. Do you promote him to 5th grade and teach him the 5th grade curriculum or give him a vacation until september so that he's at grade level with his peers. (perhaps teaching him something that isn't set aside in the curriculum that he's interested in) thanks! elissa
years I think that is up to you as the teacher. I haven't had that problem. My kids advance after 180 days of school just like public school does. If you have a super smart kid maybe they can. My kids are average Joes.
I would push him on. Some states are more concerned about the number of days than they are what is actually accomplished in them, and you could get in trouble if you quit mid-way, regardless of what he's done. Very few states would go for that, I think. Also, my personal opinion is that homeschooling allows a child to go as far as they are capable of going, rather than making them go the same pace as their peers. If we homeschool and then hold them back, we're defeating one of the purposes. Learning should never stop! When I say my children are 3rd and 5th grade, I mean they are at that age. They join other groups according to their "grade", such as book discussions at the library, or AWANAS. The fifth grader will be starting Algebra 1 sometime this summer, and the 3rd grader just finished the 2nd grade math book, so they both work where ever is best for them regardless of age.
I agree with Jackie! We just keep on plugging and I try not to tell ds what grade level BECAUSE when he was 5 he was doing 1st grade work and people ask him "what grade are you in and of course he replies 1st" So..then they look at his size, motor skills, etc... and think he's delayed. HA! So...we did K when he was 4, started 1st shortly after he turned 5 and now he is getting ready to start 2nd grade math but, we are still doing 1st grade reading because I have purposely slowed him down on it to let his motor skills catch up for the writing that is required. I do add in lot's of higher level activities and I *crank up* the first grade reading that he does. Just waiting on those motor skills because he reads on 5th grade level. So...for me to stop and wait.....hahahahahahahahaha. :lol: Enjoy it and if they are ahead let them be - at some point in time it will balance and it will be THEIR balance not one laid out by the school system.
Wow. Now there is an added stress that isn't necessary to heap upon yourself! The only people who need to herd children into score groups is an institution with too many children to keep track of :wink: . My kids are all over "the board", so to speak, with curriculum levels, but like someone else said, it will level out later....whatever "level out" might mean for them. Already my son says, "well, at least I know the Lord won't have me be an accountant! :lol: ". He dislikes math immensely....anyway, what an opportunity to let a child flourish in the areas he was created to flourish in! Left to ps and test scores, I'm sure my son would've been at the bottom of the barrel, even after the ps labeled him gifted, simply because he is stubborn and has tics that keep him from being able to test well. I refuse to shove him along to keep up with his ps counterparts in areas he needs me to be patient, just as I don't hold him back when he wants to read science books or play chess instead of write in his journal. That'll come later I'm told by countless moms with sons this age--8yo--who don't want to write much. Incedentally, my 5yo dd is just the opposite....she is "advanced" in math but not too far along with phonics. Oh well. We've got till college, right? :wink: Anyway, I'd try to relax about the ps standards....those were created for the institutions moreso than for the kids. In the very beginning I was encouraged to look at my children's goals differently--where are they going? NOW, what will it take for them to get there? Changes almost everything when you think of their educations that way.
My kids both finished most of their books in December and January. We moved them up to the next level in their work, but, we still consider them in 2nd and 5th. My 2nd grader is actually on 3rd to 5th grade work. My 5th grader ranges from 5th to high school. The only reason they are "in" 2nd and 5th is their age. They will probably be ahead of their peers when they graduate but that is ok with me. I have learned not to be concerned with the grade levels the ps world assigns to the kids.
We use a variety of books. I have a friend who is a T.A. at their old school. When the school was throwing away books, they told the staff they could have any they wanted. She got the 1-5th grade Language Arts books and Art and Health books for us. We also use Language Arts workbooks by Steck-Vaughn (Harcourt Achieve). Math is McGraw Hill, Biology is Christian Kids Explore Biology, Spanish is American Education publishing and Power-Gilde, for history and science we do unit studies. (My son is a science nut so he wanted to do Earth science and Biology this year.) We have been doing the history of America this year-we have been using library books for that. We use non-fiction, biography and even fiction books for this. (They compare what really happened to the fiction stories.) We also use cookbooks and arts and crafts books from the time period we are studying. I pull their spelling and vocabulary from what we are studying in history and science. For science we pick a subject and dive into library books and use Krampf experiments along with any we like from the books we get. We don't really do a reading comp class. Both kids are way ahead of their peers in that area. They love to read and have done it on their own since they were 4. I don't want to make them feel like reading is work. We read for the fun of it around here. They do like to do book reports and projects from their stories. I leave that up to them and they get creative with it. Oh, and a children's study Bible and several children's ministry books and websites for Bible. (I used to be a director of children's minitsty, and I still have some of my stuff.) I think that covers just about everything. LOL It sure looks like a lot when I list it out. The kids have always loved to learn. They thrive on books. They used to beg me to buy workbooks and educational books to "play" with when they went to ps. They love to watch the Dicovery Channel, Animal Planet, etc. They also do things on their own that I don't really count as hs. I hope that answers what you were looking for. Have a great week!
I just went back and read the old posts on this thread. You were looking for the books they finished. SORRY!! They were using a complete curriculum by McGraw Hill and several workbooks by them as well. (Under American Education Publishing.) They finished The Complete Book of Math, The Complete Book of Bible activities, The Complete Book of Science, etc. As I said before the kids love workbooks. They worked ahead of where they had to be and finished way ahead of schedule. Sorry about the last post. I should have read the thread before I posted.
that is great You answered in the way I wanted. I wondered what you were using. It sounds like a great year at your house. Thanks for sharing. I school about like you. I use what they are interested in. Ps books, hs books, workbooks, library, etc. Lorna
We also like to use games, videos, field trips, crafts and activities. I don't want them to get bored, so I give them a variety of things to teach whatever subject we are covering. It makes it a lot more fun for all of us.
