Hi--I'm new in this forum, and wondering if I can get some feedback.
My son is 4.5. I guess we've already started homeschooling him (and we intend to continue). We do a little bit of Destination Math and Reading a few times a week, he spends a great deal of time drawing and coloring, and we read to him every day. We also have a big world map with animal stickers and national flags that we use with him. Outside the home, he takes an art class, creative movement, soccer, gymnastics, and will soon be starting a course at the local botanical gardens (each of these is once a week). We take to the botanical gardens and zoo very often.
The thing is, he doesn't really have any friends that he plays with on a regular basis. He sees his cousins (ages 8 and almost two) every so often and plays with them. He also sees my friend's son, but not very frequently, as they live far away. We tried out a local homeschooling playgroup, but he wasn't yet ready for the same activities those kids enjoyed. He does see and interact with other children in all of his outside activities, especially the art class, which is two hours long and gives the kids a lot of freedom to chat with each other and be creative together. He seems fine and happy to my husband and me, but I keep wondering if we're short-changing him in some way. It doesn't help that my mother (whom he sees several times per week) is applying pressure about putting him in preschool so he can "socialize with other children his age."
DH and I just feel that pre-school would put him on the "school track," kwim? He would go there and get used to the institutional structure, and when it was time for graduation, all the other kids would go off to school...and he wouldn't. I just don't see how this would be beneficial, but whenever my mother brings it up, I really start doubting what we're doing and worrying about DS's long-term development.
There are a couple of nice-sounding homeschool playgroups that I know about from the online groups I'm in, but they take place an hour or more away, and our immediate area isn't exactly a homeschooling mecca. DH and I have asked DS's class instructors about how he gets along with the other kids, and by all accounts, he gets along great cooperates, and has fun. I guess I'm worried that we're not giving him enough opportunity to just "be a kid" without supervised activities. His birthday parties have lots of adults and only a couple of kids--but he loves his grown-up friends.
Has anyone else had a similar experience--i.e., your child has few (or no) "hanging out" friends at this age? If so, how did things turn out? I'm planning to try setting up a homeschoolers' art class at the place we take him--thinking we might all meet some friends (adults and kids) that way. In the meantime, though, are we doing him a serious disservice?
My son is 4.5. I guess we've already started homeschooling him (and we intend to continue). We do a little bit of Destination Math and Reading a few times a week, he spends a great deal of time drawing and coloring, and we read to him every day. We also have a big world map with animal stickers and national flags that we use with him. Outside the home, he takes an art class, creative movement, soccer, gymnastics, and will soon be starting a course at the local botanical gardens (each of these is once a week). We take to the botanical gardens and zoo very often.
The thing is, he doesn't really have any friends that he plays with on a regular basis. He sees his cousins (ages 8 and almost two) every so often and plays with them. He also sees my friend's son, but not very frequently, as they live far away. We tried out a local homeschooling playgroup, but he wasn't yet ready for the same activities those kids enjoyed. He does see and interact with other children in all of his outside activities, especially the art class, which is two hours long and gives the kids a lot of freedom to chat with each other and be creative together. He seems fine and happy to my husband and me, but I keep wondering if we're short-changing him in some way. It doesn't help that my mother (whom he sees several times per week) is applying pressure about putting him in preschool so he can "socialize with other children his age."
DH and I just feel that pre-school would put him on the "school track," kwim? He would go there and get used to the institutional structure, and when it was time for graduation, all the other kids would go off to school...and he wouldn't. I just don't see how this would be beneficial, but whenever my mother brings it up, I really start doubting what we're doing and worrying about DS's long-term development.
There are a couple of nice-sounding homeschool playgroups that I know about from the online groups I'm in, but they take place an hour or more away, and our immediate area isn't exactly a homeschooling mecca. DH and I have asked DS's class instructors about how he gets along with the other kids, and by all accounts, he gets along great cooperates, and has fun. I guess I'm worried that we're not giving him enough opportunity to just "be a kid" without supervised activities. His birthday parties have lots of adults and only a couple of kids--but he loves his grown-up friends.
Has anyone else had a similar experience--i.e., your child has few (or no) "hanging out" friends at this age? If so, how did things turn out? I'm planning to try setting up a homeschoolers' art class at the place we take him--thinking we might all meet some friends (adults and kids) that way. In the meantime, though, are we doing him a serious disservice?
