age of beginning formal education

[haleyelianasmom]

I've been thinking about this and trying to gather up information. Anyone have any info to share?

We have been planning on homeschooling (more unschooling-ish style) for a while. my daughter will be 5 this August a full 6 days before the cut-off in Illinois, so technically she "should" be starting in Kindergarten in the fall. I feel that even if we ever did use some sort of formal education, this fall would not be the time to do so and we would asses based on our daughter's needs, not social norms. However, my mom is a Kindergarten teacher and keeps saying basically that kids NEED daily structure/schedules and to be around peers every day. I guess 5 is the magic number.

I guess my feelings are, even if you're going to go ahead and argue that kids need structure and formal education (which I may buy if we're talking a teenager who has a specific interest they wish to pursue or a specific goal in mind), I really see NO argument for starting her just before 5, especially when she's doing so well at home and really doesn't want to go to school (she's also anxious in large groups and holds back, another reason for me to feel she's better off at home).

So do any of you have any info on why it's actually better at least for younger kids to be at home and have unstructured play/exploration time? All i've found is articles about Finnish education.

[linclane]

I'm not sure this will answer your question ... for us it depends on the specific child. Ds1 needs structure. If he doesn't know what's happening next, he panics. He just turned 6 - but he's had a pretty regular routine for years (not formal education per se) because HE needs that. Ds2 (who is only 3) is a totally different child. We don't plan to have him stick to anything too structured until he needs it - although he just goes along with what we do with Ds1 at this point.

I would try not to listen to what other people think too much (easier said than done) and make the decision based on your DC.

Good luck!

[moominmamma]

I think that structure in the KG classroom is useful, because the kids have been taken away from all the comfortable security of home and family. Even if they're entirely used to school, there's the stress of that twice-daily environment shift and adopting new behavioural expectations. Plus there's the potential chaos of all those little people and all their needs. Structure and schedules would be very important in that environment!

At home there's no such need. Being at home brings healthy amounts of security and predictability just by its very nature. We've tended to have natural rhythms and routines in our family life which have worked well for us. Schedules and structure? Not so much. We adopted bits of structured formal learning as the children's needs dictated. So my ds was almost 10 before he did any formal math; he was already at an early 4th grade level and just through life-learning exposure, and within six months he was well ahead of his age-grade level. Yet with my younger dd, she was keen on a sequential structured approach to math quite early on. With her we started math at age 4. Different kids, different desires for structure, different timing, similar abilities. Other bits of academic structure trickled in and out of their routines at various ages and stages.

I say introduce structure when you see a need for it. I'm a fan of not fixing what ain't broke.

Miranda

[One_Girl]

I agree that the amount of structure a child needs really depends on the child. I think that your mom sees this issue only from the viewpoint of a school teacher. In public school kids and teachers often find that structure helps the classroom run smoothly so teachers can spend time working with students and getting to know each child as an individual while students work to learn the material they are supposed to be learning. At home it isn't necessary to have add structure when a child or parent doesn't need it because you are only balancing the needs of yourself and your children, not a whole class of kids. My dd likes to have structure at home, but she doesn't need as much structure as a whole class of children of any grade need. We are able to be a lot more flexible than a teacher in school can be.

[SundayCrepes]

The more I read, the more I believe in delayed education (although as unschoolers it's all relative.)

Here's a bunch of articles on the "educational," or lack thereof, needs of young children: http://www.besthomeschooling.org/gateway/inted16.html

This is one of the articles: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/7234578.stm
The description of this article is: A news article about research challenging the idea that an early start has long-term advantages. It also points out that Finnish pupils start formal education at seven and then enjoy 11-week summer holidays - and they end up with the highest educational standards in Europe!

[happy1nluv]

look thru this site:
http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by haleyelianasmom

So do any of you have any info on why it's actually better at least for younger kids to be at home and have unstructured play/exploration time? All i've found is articles about Finnish education.

Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore wrote two books full of research on it - Better Late Than Early, and School Can Wait ("a more scholarly version").

And here's a video about the Swedish approach:
Article with a video - Sweden - Early Years
Part of the series How Do They Do It In...?

Excerpt:
"Most Swedish children who leave pre-school at the age of six cannot read or write. Yet within three years of starting formal schooling at the age of seven, these children lead the literacy tables in Europe."

And there are a number of very persuasive articles in my collection of links for preschool and kindergarten.

The way I feel is that children are learning full time from the time they're born, but formal studies are not at all necessary for learning all the things that are pertinent to those early years. Lillian

[Momma Aimee]

i would just note that "daily structure" does not HAVE to = formal education.

We have a fairly structured day -- and we need it -- but we do not formal schooling (or little little little as we do some)

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

i would just note that "daily structure" does not HAVE to = formal education.

We have a fairly structured day -- and we need it -- but we do not formal schooling (or little little little as we do some)

Yes, I've known homeschoolers who merely structured their days around blocking out one afternoon for the support group park day, one time a week to go to the library, one day for free play activities with other families at home, mornings for gardening and other family activities, some afternoon time in general for math activities and games, reading, and other music practice - that kind of thing, but no structure in terms of laying out a curriculum plan that needed to be followed. - Lillian

[dannic]

I was chiming in to rec Better Late than Early, too. Good book.