When I planned to homeschool my son this year I really didn't think much about my daughter. I had already signed her up for a preschool that meets three mornings a week. She has an October birthday and just turned 4. This is her first year of preschool and she would have another year of preschool because she doesn't meet the cutoff date in our state (August 1). She has shown a great interest in doing school and gets upset if I don't work with her on the days she's off from preschool. Fortunately, I did order a few ETC books that she's been working on with much help. Some things she likes to do but she refuses other things like writing letters. I found an old Hooked on Phonics kindergarten book lying around the house, so I've done a few of those with her but it's really too hard. I'm going to try to find the Pre-K version, but I think she might be ready to start learning to read. She looks at books, pretends to be reading them and acts like she's sounding out letters. I have no idea how to teach reading. My older sons all taught themselves, except my second grader who learned in public school. One taught himself and was reading at a middle school level when he was still in preschool! Do you have any favorite books or curriculum to use with a young 4 year old? I don't know where to start. I'll also take any other recommendations for pre-K/K curriculum because I think I'm going to have to make sure I have work for her to do next year.
I taught myself to read when I was her age, too. For my dd, I started her off with the primers to Explode the Code. If she doesn't like to write letters, she may like the primers. They begin with learning to control your pencil strokes by following a wavy maze without touching the outside lines. Then they practice one consonant at a time. They are inexpensive, so if you found that she didn't care for them yet you wouldn't be out much. ETC builds slowly, in my opinion, so it might be perfect for a younger learner. My dd was a little older and ended up flying through the rest of the books. We ended up not even completing book three before she just took off on her own.
the early kumon workbooks, for mazes, cutting and pasting, fun things like that they are good do on your own type of work, to help get ready for letters and such. starfall.com is free online, they have books and things you can print out too. donpotter.com has the free blue back speller which is a reading lessons. progressivephonics.com ( that might not be 100% correct) is free as well Honestly my kids learned their letters from the fridge phonics by leapfrog it about drove me insane but they loved it. I use 100 easy lessons my dd is 4 and we will finish up at the end of this month. She is doing well, she doesn't always like it but that is fine she will live through it. : ) Other then that grab the workbooks from the store and let her have at it. I did that with my dd and she worked until she hit hard spots and I would help her then. In a pre k math book she did over half of it in one sitting, then we had to work for several months for her to get the rest of it. I have also just found this website and I love it for printouts of worksheets http://www.tlsbooks.com/firstgrademathworksheets.htm
I very much like the Beginners Series and the ABC Readiness Series from Rod&Staff. The Beginners series for preschool is for ages 3-4, and ABC Readiness is K for 4-5-6. See samples at www.rodandstaffbooks.com. They're very inexpensive. Generally, you take a book at a time and do two or three or so pages out of it. There's tracing, cutting, pasting, coloring, sorting, matching, prewriting skills, writing skills, letters, numbers.... all the preschool/K skills you could want, really. In the ABC set, the B is Bible Stories to Read and Bible Stories to Color, which I did with dgs as a "separate subject" while doing the other books a page or two a day. He loved it, and he's not a "worksheet guy".
I honestly wouldn't worry about doing anything that she doesn't want to do at that age. She will learn to read, but it doesn't have to start now. IMO, you could lighten your load by just giving her things as long as she enjoys them and let her decide when she has done enough. There is another school of thought that formal academics should be started at age 8 or 10. The Moores (you can google them) and others believe that kids aren't ready to "formally" study until those ages. They also say that kids will catch up to their peers because when they are ready they will learn easier. She may want to "study" and that can be fun, but I wouldn't make it like school and I wouldn't do anything she doesn't seem to want to do. That is just something else to think about.
BEst thing you can do to teach her to read is to read TO her. How old is your son? Can she sit in with his lessons? Whatever work sheets you have for him, have a copy for her IF SHE WANTS TO DO IT. On her "off" days, pick a "Letter of the Day". Do an art project (ie: a giant M on colored paper and glue macaroni on it. Sort, count, and graph a package of M&M's. Give her a bunch of pictures (use clip art) of words that start with M, and have her make an "M Book". Read a book about monkeys.
Thanks everybody. I have been working through the Explode the Code primers with her and we do read to her. My son is 8 so his work is too hard for her. I know some people say not to start formal academics until children are older, but she WANTS to do workbooks and "have school" like her big brother. I don't want to overdo it, but as long as she's willing I let her do something.
Yes, it's too hard, but you'd be surprised! I had Rachael doing phonics worksheets with her best friend, and Faythe was only two, not at all ready for reading, and I would have her sit and color the page with the girls. At first, she would be happy scribbling on them...all she really wanted was to be included. But then I noticed that she figured out the girls weren't coloring all the pictures. So she'd wait to see what the girls colored, and then scribbled on those pictures, too. And when Phillip was three, I'd have him listen in to the older girls' science. Sometimes I would give him coloring pages to do while they had their lesson, or he'd be in the room doing LEGOS or something. So we go to plant flowers, my dad goes to put "plant food" on the flowers, and Phillip says, "Oh, no, Grandpa! Plants make their own food from the sun!" Wanna guess what we'd been studying in science?
I so agree on including the little one when you can or just having them in the same room. My dd who is 4 hasn't had any kind of addition practice at all. Yet she knows a ton of the facts, just because she hears them when her brother works on them. She was coloring one day and was whispering the answers before ds said them. It totally shocked me. If we are reading in history or bible or something like that I like to have a coloring page that deals with it for her to color on. She has learned so much. The reason she is reading where she is now, is because she wants to. She saw her brother learn and now she wants to do it too. I say use that fire and "want to" while they have it. Even busy work type worksheets or work is good for that. Something creative and learning.
Oh, please don't get me wrong. If she has fun and it is NOT a burden to her, by all means let her do school. I would just caution anyone from going full-force into "what do we need to do now?" with a little one. Just let it be what it is and not worry about progressing or anything.
