5yo K - too much/not enough?

[**mom2one**]

Hello,

This is our first official year of hsing. DD will be 5 in November and would be in K if I sent her to ps. So, here is what I am planning for this year:

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
RightStart Math Level A (She loves math and is pretty good at it)
Handwriting without tears
Stories & Art projects that we choose together
The rest will be just life!

What do you think - does it sound like enough for her age? Too much?
I need opinions!

TIA

[frugalmama]

sounds good to me - I would add in some science though but my DD is a science-lover.

[mediumcrunch]

that is fine. living history story books (If you Lived When....) and some nature walks would easily round that out. no need for formal history or science at all.
add and drop projects/work as needed.
k (in my home) is about reading and math readiness and being a little kid, exploring the world and playing.

[**mom2one**]

Thanks for the replies! I just ordered the RightStart and am going to order the HWOT this afternoon. I was thinking of getting her a subscription to that HIGH Five Magazine - a younger version of HIGHLights magazine - that might give us some science stuff.

I agree - I don't want to burden her down already with tons of "school" I want her to be able to play and explore still.

[karemore]

Click is a great magazine for this age too, we like it better than High Five. It's from the publishers of Cricket. http://www.clickmagkids.com/

[kittywitty]

Sounds perfect.

My 5 yo will be 6 in October and we use OPGTR for phonics, RightStart Math B, HWOT, and tons of fairy tales. She also does stuff with the big kids-science, history, etc. at her own level.

[LuxPerpetua]

It looks fine to me if not a little too much (but granted, we're Waldorf-inspired so we don't do ANY academics until 1st).

DD starts our kindy next Fall and I'm planning on using Little Acorn Learning along with other seasonal books and festivals we already do, Click magazine, and Your Big Backyard magazine. We do lots of things just through life too so I think it will be great. We'll also have memberships to museums and the zoo, go ice skating, do tons of nature walks, plant our garden, dig in dirt, paint and color a lot, bake a lot, etc.

[AutumnSunshine]

I will just echo what others said. Also, take it easy on Right Start if you seem to hit a wall with level A and again if you continue on with Level B (that one the "wall" tends to come around Lesson 70-something). I have found that at least once or twice in Levels A and B the kids can come to a point where the mental math can throw them off or they're just not ready for it yet and it really, REALLY helps to take a break for a few weeks and just play the card games that they are already good at. Then try again and they should have had time for the information to "marinate" in their brains a little bit and then they suddenly "get it" again.

Other than that, yeah, just take it easy. It's only KG. We spent less than an hour on "work" during the KG year. Have fun!

[CrazyCatLady]

I mostly unschooled for K, so to me that definitely looks like plenty of work lol. I did have the Learn at Home books for grade K and 1st. They are full of ideas and curriculum (all subjects) and are cheap. So it might be nice to have around for ideas if you feel like you're lacking somewhere.

Our year went: play groups/dates with other home schoolers, classes, lots of stories, art, field trips, outdoor time, Spanish and ASL (me teaching), and her occupational therapy. No real "school" but she learned tons and we were always more than busy.

[ebethmom]

That looks good to me! My dd just started 1st grade, and she basically dabbled with Kindergarten. We didn't do school work every day. She did a lot of Reading Eggs online, and her math workbooks when she wanted to. Violin practice was our main daily activity.

We've been with our school routine for two weeks now, and I've found that she really likes the structure. She knows what subjects are expected daily, and she seems to be enjoying them.

[onyxravnos]

looks awesome keep in mind that a 5yr old may not be really ready for reading / writing yet so go with he flow if you need to back off. For K we are doing a lot of the writing orally or via art for this reason. keep science on the 'whole' level as in nature walks, trees, flowers etc (rather then breaking it down into bits and pieces of things)