Pre-Homeschool Spring Chat - Page 3

[greenmamapagan]

ours are little and we have years to get this right before it matters.

So true

[AFWife]

What's the age group around here? my DS is about a year old...

[MissRubyandKen]

My youngest is my dd who is two. I've been lurking on this thread. Her siblings are 8 and 10 and homeschooled. I like getting ideas on how to include her and have her feel special by having her own activities to do with mommy too.

[Momma Aimee]

Originally Posted by AFWife

What's the age group around here? my DS is about a year old...

i have a 2 and 4 yo -- both ALL BOY boys. But with late BD's I don't have to deal with kindy till 2011 ....

[LuxPerpetua]

Originally Posted by SundayCrepes

Thanks for all the ideas.

The biggest logistical problems I have is a toddler who still puts EVERYTHING in her mouth so trying to include her in playdough, crayons, etc. is an exercise in futility. She wants to be part of the action. She competes for space on the learning tower. Plus, I'm lucky if she naps for an hour. Since I let my son watch a documentary when I'm putting her down, most of her naptime is him finishing watching the movie.

I guess the more focused questions would be:

1. Where do you get your ideas for activities? onyxravnos's idea of a curriculum could be the ticket. I have lots of activity books, but nothing I just open up and there's the answer. I did just order a science book and I'm hoping my son will open the pages and say, "Let's do this." We're on the unschooling spectrum, but to me having a curriculum of ideas we choose to use or not is just fine. They're just suggestions and we decide if we like them.

2. I'm trying to find the activation energy to make activities happen. In my prior post I used menu planning and housecleaning routines as examples. I grocery shop on Saturdays so I need a menu and a shopping list before then and then I actually load the kids up in the car and go (while my husband is bike riding.) It's just making it part of the routine, I just haven't found the magic answer that works for me for activities. Savoir Faire's suggestion to just pick a time is probably very good. I'm just on this hand wringing hamster wheel saying, "How do I do it? How do I do it?" Instead of just deciding to step off the hamster wheel and saying, "Just do it now."

I appreciate all your ideas. Especially since I know somewhere someone is going to say something in just the right way and I will have an epiphany.

We are Waldorf and unschooly so I read several blogs to get ideas (http://theparentingpassageway.com/, http://ourseasonsofjoy.com/, http://www.filthwizardry.com/) and also Ambleside online, year 0. We also utilize Seasons of Joy sporadically as well as a handful of other Waldorf idea books I have. I'm very anti-cut and paste, dot to dot, etc.--just my own little weird thing, not trying to down anyone else --so we tend to go for more "whole body" stuff, which is why Waldorf is a good fit for us.

[meetoo]

We are here! Trying to spend as much time as we can outside!! J boy is enjoying his LEGO sets. What else He has done a few crafts, played some games, and attended a nature class. He is spending more time doing our FIAR activities. We made marshmallow treat birds nest and dyed eggs. Ummmmm not sure what else.....

Re coming up with activites: I worked in preschool for years so I come up with a lot of ideas from that experience. I also look through books and blogs. My son is working on learning to read (his choice), but I really don't like curricula for the preschool years. He learns so much math from cooking, playing games, and building his lego kits. It is unreal what he picks up. Science the same thing. He learns so much just by asking questions and this method encourages him to be a thinker and an active participant in his education. For reading, I think the preschool basics are pretty much covered by reading both stories and poems, singing songs, and playing simple word games in the dr. office waiting room.


For moms who have said they are "uncrafty" just remember it is all about the PROCESS in the preschool years. So do tempera paints one day, water colors, crayons and markers, or collage materials the next. Just let your child be creative. Honestly, it probably does more for their brain development to be creative with art materials, then do to do some elaborate mom directed craft.

Re one year olds: I have one. I let her in on the action and she is happy for the most part. She is a fairly mellow kid though.

[AFWife]

Originally Posted by meetoo

Re one year olds: I have one. I let her in on the action and she is happy for the most part. She is a fairly mellow kid though.

My DS is VERY physical. He has a couple of board books but he won't ever sit and let me read more than a page. He'd rather pound on it and throw it around. He's like that with EVERYTHING. He loves to pound things together and make loud noise (We turned the word "Barbarian" into a verb for these actions. Like, "Franklin likes to "barbarian" the coffee table) He does love music though. Probably because I like it loud and with a strong beat.

[kgianforti]

Originally Posted by SundayCrepes

1. Where do you get your ideas for activities? onyxravnos's idea of a curriculum could be the ticket. I have lots of activity books, but nothing I just open up and there's the answer. I did just order a science book and I'm hoping my son will open the pages and say, "Let's do this." We're on the unschooling spectrum, but to me having a curriculum of ideas we choose to use or not is just fine. They're just suggestions and we decide if we like them.

We also started out with Carol's Affordable Curriculum. I liked how everything was scheduled for me and that it included everything needed for the crafts (minus scissors, crayons, glue). It was a nice intro to home schooling for me.

That's actually how I discovered my big girl thrived on not only "life" but also with curriculum. And that's what is great about home schooling - you do what works for YOUR kiddo! Some kids are more play-based with learning and some thrive in both play-based and curriculum.

[meetoo]

Originally Posted by AFWife

My DS is VERY physical. He has a couple of board books but he won't ever sit and let me read more than a page. He'd rather pound on it and throw it around. He's like that with EVERYTHING. He loves to pound things together and make loud noise (We turned the word "Barbarian" into a verb for these actions. Like, "Franklin likes to "barbarian" the coffee table) He does love music though. Probably because I like it loud and with a strong beat.

I think it is a different dynamic here. My 15 month old is the youngest of three. When my oldest was that age I was baby sitting a friends one year old too. We stuck to a pretty strict routine and it worked well. We did free play, mom directed play, songs and stories, outside time, and maybe a craft everyday. They learned tons

[onyxravnos]

Ages dsd is 6 but she goes to public school my ds's are 3 and almost 4 months. ds1 i've been pre preschooling since about 2 years and i totally dig it.

IDEAS: I use littleacronlearning.com as my spine which i totally love. then i have an insane amount of idea books for the preschool / kindy aged kid which i go through about once a week to fill it up then of course life takes up a lot of space.

BOY boys well sounds like you need lots of boy boy activities so outside time is a good one of course, perhaps playdough with lots of smashing like items , and nails and hammer? you can pre-nail the nails just a bit so they don't have to be held and then he can just hammer away!

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by kgianforti

We also started out with Carol's Affordable Curriculum.

Can someone describe this curriculum to me? It seems like a good starting place. Get the curriculum to get into the routine of doing a project daily. Once we've got the routine down, then I can broaden what our activities are.

When I looked at the website it didn't really say what their activities are. I'm guessing it's all paperwork with very few, if any, experiments or activities beyond filling in the papers. Is that correct? What are some examples of activities they do?

Thanks

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by AFWife

What's the age group around here? my DS is about a year old...

My son turned 4 in December. My daughter is 20 months.

My son LOVES the Cat in the Hat Learning Library. Here's the book on maps: http://www.amazon.com/Theres-Map-My-...531005&sr=1-10

In the book Thing 1 and Thing 2 draw a floorplan for their bedroom. I want to do that with my son except draw the floorplan of our house. I'll need to put the baby on my back so we can get outside measurements. She's such a runaway baby.

[kgianforti]

Originally Posted by SundayCrepes

Can someone describe this curriculum to me? It seems like a good starting place. Get the curriculum to get into the routine of doing a project daily. Once we've got the routine down, then I can broaden what our activities are.

When I looked at the website it didn't really say what their activities are. I'm guessing it's all paperwork with very few, if any, experiments or activities beyond filling in the papers. Is that correct? What are some examples of activities they do?

Thanks

It doesn't really have experiments. It's mainly craft activities with some worksheets. They also teach letters, numbers, shapes and colors. Crafts are cut, paste, coloring type stuff. Here are some examples I remember (we used the Son Shine package) - a paper plate lion - cut and paste a lion head on a paper plate and use yarn to make the mane. We made a few animals with a paper bag. Lots of time, you use paper to fill in an animal (like tear or cut the pieces for gluing - fine motor stuff). I think we made a mobile with straws. A collage with a paper plate and all sorts of little pieces. A bird and glued feathers on for a tail.

They include all materials needed for the crafts except the glue, crayons and scissors.

It says 2-5 years old for the age range. We used it at 2.5 - my dd didn't do any of the cutting back then.

[Momma Aimee]

yesterday i wen toour local teacher store -- ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

ANYONE in need of a starting place should jsut go hang for a while and flip though things. so so so so many books -- 15 to 22 in price for most of the big ones -- that have basically full plans in them .. story to reas, craft, sometimes a snack .....all put together for you. I saw several i wanted

really proud of self for spending only 24 bucks but it was so so so hard.

I love it you can stand there and flip though the book, you can compare 2 or 3 or 4 of the same kind ...

i don't do it often (I'd spend toooo mucvh and i already have so much we don't do anything with) but it is nice when i have someone for the boys to stop in for a few minutes ............it gives me ideas and confidence.

this fall we will do THE HUMAN BODY.

this summer is going to be all messy art and other outside stuff ... bug / worms / and all that stuff .........

anyone who needs a starting place -- head on over for an hour ro two (ALONE)

[zjande]

aimee, that's hilarious- I just went & drooled all over our local teacher supply store a couple days ago & was SOOo proud of myself because I only spent $24 as well!! I dunno though, maybe our store is even more expensive because the big preschool curriculum books seemed to all hover near $30. So expensive, but so fun to look at! (and then look up at the library later )

Since my 6th grader's doing a human anatomy study, my preschooler's been interested & learning as well.

Also aimee, our 4 yr old's were born in the same month (I can't recall if we've already talked about that- if so I apologize for being such a space brain). My ds's bday is 11/26/05. I've spent a huge amount of time trying to decide whether to start him in kindergarten this fall or next, as he'll be just after the cut off like your son. I think my son's ready, he's just beginning to read & grasp simple math & is interested in lots of learning, etc. But then I start to freak out because both of his younger brothers also have end of the yr birthdays- one in Oct & one in Dec. So then I wonder if I would start all of them early?? And THEN I just laugh at myself because I'm homeschooling, what "grade" they are in doesn't have to mean anything & I should just stop thinking about it!!

What I think I'll do though, is go ahead & start him at a kindergarten level this fall, & just see how it goes. If he's not ready to be a 1st grader in fall 2011, then we'll just be kindergartners again.

[Momma Aimee]

Originally Posted by zjande

aimee, that's hilarious- I just went & drooled all over our local teacher supply store a couple days ago & was SOOo proud of myself because I only spent $24 as well!! I dunno though, maybe our store is even more expensive because the big preschool curriculum books seemed to all hover near $30. So expensive, but so fun to look at! (and then look up at the library later )

Since my 6th grader's doing a human anatomy study, my preschooler's been interested & learning as well.

Also aimee, our 4 yr old's were born in the same month (I can't recall if we've already talked about that- if so I apologize for being such a space brain). My ds's bday is 11/26/05. I've spent a huge amount of time trying to decide whether to start him in kindergarten this fall or next, as he'll be just after the cut off like your son. I think my son's ready, he's just beginning to read & grasp simple math & is interested in lots of learning, etc. But then I start to freak out because both of his younger brothers also have end of the yr birthdays- one in Oct & one in Dec. So then I wonder if I would start all of them early?? And THEN I just laugh at myself because I'm homeschooling, what "grade" they are in doesn't have to mean anything & I should just stop thinking about it!!

What I think I'll do though, is go ahead & start him at a kindergarten level this fall, & just see how it goes. If he's not ready to be a 1st grader in fall 2011, then we'll just be kindergartners again.

for what little it is worth -- i would NOT start him offical, be that enroll him legally as HS or send him to school. I am sure he is ready acidemically ... but we have boys and we need to think long term. do you want him to always be the younest in his class or oldest? For boys in general i think that it is better for their maturity (attention, social skills, impuse control, emotional, etc) are better if they can be older, not younger. I RELISH the fact both our boys are last birthdays -- when they enter the schools -- later -- they will be the oldest, not youngest in class. Now my oldest has immaturity issues (physical due to pre-natal) so it is even more importnat for him. But I have a ton of newphews and i think for boys in general later is better than sooner.

I think you are right to do Kindy level work at home, and if he can't do it he can do kindy again in '11. but i would not offically enroll him and thus "pin yourself in".

We are doing an odd "prek 4/5 + kindy" thing from now untill end of 2011 school year -- then we will see where we stand. I am trying to pull back and let him be a child. His ablities are all over the place and frankly ther eis 1st grade stuff he could do -- understand and do verbally -- and PreK stuff (cut, paest, trace) he can't come close to.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

[rootzdawta]

Hi everyone!

Now that the weather is improving, we intend to be out much more going on hikes and field trips as well as just hanging out at the playground. Recently I realized the my first son likes a lot more structure than I've been giving him (which is great for me because I thrive on structure and having such a loose set up was going against my grain). I have a feeling my second son will like a lot more freedom but he's still quite young and I'm not "officially" teaching him.

Anyway, I try to get at least an hour of formal academics in daily (not in one big chunk usually). I have to get the work done around our activities (libraries, playgroups, etc) but as the boys get older, I'm sure some kind of consistent schedule will emerge.

We use Hooked on Phonics for Reading and I'm very pleased with his progress using it. For handwriting, we use Handwriting without Tears and it has been tremendous in eliminating a lot of his frustration and building his confidence and willingness to write. For science, I loosely use a first grade science text book. I'm looking for (inexpensive) art programs to take him to because I am not artistic and quite frankly, we don't have the space to do art projects so it just drives me crazy. Also the mess. I can't take the mess. I'd rather go somewhere and do art. He does a Kindermusik class but I also play the piano so I want to start showing him some basic stuff including reading music. Basically, all I've been doing is looking at my state's curriculum and this typical course of study. We're doing the Grade Level 1 mostly though and so I'm just trying to make sure that by the end of this year, we've touched on everything.

We just started a unit on rocks and we're going to be making our first lapbook. I'm excited and nervous though.

Good to read what everyone is doing.

[zjande]

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

for what little it is worth -- i would NOT start him offical, be that enroll him legally as HS or send him to school. I am sure he is ready acidemically ...
Just my thoughts on the matter.

Thanks for your thoughts Aimee! Just to clarify, I have no plans to ever send any of my kids to a government school. We plan to be homeschoolers forever (we've been at it exactly 10 yrs this very month! ) . Which is partially why I laugh at myself when overanalyzing all this! Our state doesn't require that I register as a homeschooler until the kids reach 7 yrs old in Sept. And I know plenty of homeschoolers who don't even "do" grades. They just do the school work at the level their kids are capable, without even naming it 1st (or whatever) grade.

Another little complication is that my dh is of the opinion that being the youngest in the class is ideal, so I've got of bit of pressure there as well.

So, we'll just see how everything progresses!

Time for spanish lesson with my 6th grader.....

[LuxPerpetua]

Originally Posted by SundayCrepes

Thanks for all the ideas.

The biggest logistical problems I have is a toddler who still puts EVERYTHING in her mouth so trying to include her in playdough, crayons, etc. is an exercise in futility. She wants to be part of the action. She competes for space on the learning tower. Plus, I'm lucky if she naps for an hour. Since I let my son watch a documentary when I'm putting her down, most of her naptime is him finishing watching the movie.

I guess the more focused questions would be:

1. Where do you get your ideas for activities? onyxravnos's idea of a curriculum could be the ticket. I have lots of activity books, but nothing I just open up and there's the answer. I did just order a science book and I'm hoping my son will open the pages and say, "Let's do this." We're on the unschooling spectrum, but to me having a curriculum of ideas we choose to use or not is just fine. They're just suggestions and we decide if we like them.

2. I'm trying to find the activation energy to make activities happen. In my prior post I used menu planning and housecleaning routines as examples. I grocery shop on Saturdays so I need a menu and a shopping list before then and then I actually load the kids up in the car and go (while my husband is bike riding.) It's just making it part of the routine, I just haven't found the magic answer that works for me for activities. Savoir Faire's suggestion to just pick a time is probably very good. I'm just on this hand wringing hamster wheel saying, "How do I do it? How do I do it?" Instead of just deciding to step off the hamster wheel and saying, "Just do it now."

I appreciate all your ideas. Especially since I know somewhere someone is going to say something in just the right way and I will have an epiphany.

I forgot one other website that I love: http://www.besthomeschooling.org/art..._ps_kdgtn.html

[LuxPerpetua]

So, what's everyone up to this week?

We're just getting over being sick from last week (and recovering from Holy Week! It's intense at our house!). The weather here has been gawww-jus (I'm from the south . . .) so we've been getting out as much as possible. We are starting on our Beatrix Potter collection (I'm really glad we started with Winnie the Pooh since BP tends to use some archaic language and turns of phrase--I think Pooh helped ease dd into the "British" way of speaking). Right now dd loves the Tale of Thomasina Tittlemouse because it has a buzzy bee named Babbity. We've had lots of bumble bees coming out this week so everytime we see one dd pretends it's Babbity. I love it! Dd keeps awe-ing me with her math logic--she told me the other day we have 14 fish because we have 2 sets of six and then 2 more. I've thought of trying to expand upon this but dd is 4 and is going through a "don't ever try to teach me anything" phase so I just leave her free to figure it out and she's doing pretty well at it. Her fine motor skills keep getting better and better--she drew some amazing pictures on our bathroom mirrors in honor of Holy Week. And she is such a climber and jumper--I cannot believe her abilities--and this week with the nice weather and being outside she is climbing and jumping to the fullest. I love that our reverence for nature is really taking root in dd. I love that she loves looking at bees and clover and talking about thistle and dandelions. This weekend we're going to try and plant our container garden. Other than peas, carrots, and flowers I don't know what else we're going to do. I also bought an amazing anthology of 20th century children's literature the other day for pittance and I LOVE IT! Oh, how I love it! We have another anthology of classic children's literature but it doesn't have all the pictures of the stories but this new one does. I'm so excited and dd is loving it. With us, that's about it. I may count dying another 2 dozen eggs as our "painting day" this week and I keep pondering if we should make yet another loaf of white chocolate cherry bread. It's so good but oh so bad.

Looking forward to hearing what's going on in your lives . . .