Pre-Homeschool Fall (North America) / Spring on going CHAT - Page 7

[CCJWGM]

Originally Posted by OkiMom

beezar-is both your children doing the lapbook or only the oldest?

Only 5 y.o. DD who is really inbetween PK and K. I might stop calling her PK eventually since she has just blossomed magically since turning 5. I did give a few things for DS to cut out around the lines which he enjoys but DD assembled what he cut out and was the one who showed interest in the actual content. DS just ran around the room, cut a few things out, ran around the room, cut a few things out, and generally just did his own thing.

[AFWife]

I got a neck pillow from a friend and on the tag it has a sample of the fabric used...it's really soft. SO, I'm thinking of creating my own texture book for DS (I can't find a good one at the store!!!)

I have "soft" and that's about it...what else would you put on there? Rough, bumpy, smooth...and then my mind goes blank.

[OkiMom]

beezar- Thanks! Thats what I figured. DD1 loved the cutting, coloring and pasting when we did them last but had no interest in the content. They were a bunch of work for me and I really don't want to do them if she isn't going to be interested in whats inside. Maybe Ill find an easy one to do and try it again if I get the energy/drive to.
AFWife-
Here are a couple tutorials I have saved:
Easy sewn one using cloth found around the house
I love this one, its so pretty and functional
Heres one you can use different colors as well as textures

[Momma Aimee]

feeling fairly discouraged.

DS1 is 5 in 10 days.

2 of his age same peers (I mean BD in same month) are homeschooling kindy this year (birthday doesn't put any of them in kindy till next fall) and both have moved on to 1st grade math and reading.

I look at blog like this one: http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=714561 and Know, 1005% know my son -- even alone -- is too goophy and silly and jumpy to do any projects like that -- it would become sillyness and a huge mess .. http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=714578 here is another post, no way my son could sit and do controled activtly like that -- in normal clothing none the less -- and look at this post -- http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=714334 -- playdough and so all are all adult supervision here, and oput up high too.

I just get so discouraged.

I understand my son is slightly SN and behind in maturity and impuse control and so on -- but then i see youngesr kids doping stuff i could NEVER hope to see out of him, and i get so fustrated and discouraged.

sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Greenmama2]

Oh Aimee, I know plenty of 5 year old kids who would make a huge mess doing that! It looks like heaps of fun btw. Maybe I'll see if DD wants to try that today - outside

[meetoo]

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

feeling fairly discouraged.

DS1 is 5 in 10 days.

2 of his age same peers (I mean BD in same month) are homeschooling kindy this year (birthday doesn't put any of them in kindy till next fall) and both have moved on to 1st grade math and reading.

I look at blog like this one: http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=714561 and Know, 1005% know my son -- even alone -- is too goophy and silly and jumpy to do any projects like that -- it would become sillyness and a huge mess .. http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=714578 here is another post, no way my son could sit and do controled activtly like that -- in normal clothing none the less -- and look at this post -- http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=714334 -- playdough and so all are all adult supervision here, and oput up high too.

I just get so discouraged.

I understand my son is slightly SN and behind in maturity and impuse control and so on -- but then i see youngesr kids doping stuff i could NEVER hope to see out of him, and i get so fustrated and discouraged.

sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

First off s

Second ignore the kids doing first grade work! Really, try to put it out of your mind. This is not your child. End of. Keep the preschool standards in mind and try to keep him up to those. s

As far as the blog posts you linked why can't he do those things? What exactly do you mean by being silly? Is it a discipline problem? Painting with different objects can be loads of fun. Just give him one thing at a time so it isn't so over whelming. This is what I do for younger kids. For instance, I have car painting on my mind to do with MyMy soon. I plan on giving her a big sheet of paper, 2 cars and two different primary colors of paint. A plastic table cloth can come in really handy if you don't like messes. I like to start kids with only primary colors of paint and only 1-2 colors at a time. To many colors gets to confusing for smaller kids IME. By just using 1-2 colors they really get a feel for the paint and they can truly see what happens when they mix the two colors. It's also less of a mess.

For leaving art supplies out part of that is your families age. When my oldest was not quite five we did not have many (if any ) art supplies left out. Now that my oldest is 7.5 many of our art supplies are left out. Again, just start small. Leave out some crayons and paper. If they are super messy and the type to color all over walls start with those color wonder markers. Once they are used to that add some collage stuff and a glue stick. Can't do much damage with that stuff. Trust me. If they make a mess make sure they are in charge of cleaning it. That is sooo important. It's ok if they can't do it all themselves, but they must at least help!!!

[OkiMom]

My daughters wouldn't be able to do those without making a huge mess either.. I gave them form sponge brushes the other day and it took about 2 seconds for them to realize that they could fling the paint at each other. Mayham and laughter ensured.. It was a lot of fun but my poor bookcase! Ignore the blogs, get ideas from them but ignore them otherwise.. don't compare your child to theirs. Its counterproductive and not fair to your child or theirs. Also realize that they might not have taken the picture of the boy driving his now paint covered car all over the couch (yea, it would happen here, trust me my kids can make a mess faster than I could EVER pick one up I love my girls).

Oh all my art supplies are either up high or locked up. Including crayons and markers. Otherwise my book of Shakespeare would have yet more color to it (my oldest "decortated it" "Mommy, that book is boring to look at"). Seriously, I should take some pictures of a "normal day" here and it would make you feel a lot better. And now Im goign to have to go get the block and mickey/minnies out of the AC vent. I guess the girls decided to try "bungee block" jumping with their Minnies/mickeys, thanks DH for showing them the bungee jumping pictures. At least they didn't try to jump out the window (we live on the first floor but its still a good 5 foot drop to the ground and yea, Ive caught them climbing out the window before)

Oh yea, my 3 almost 4 year old's pictures don't have seperate colors to them. They start like that and then she decides to mix everything together and it ends up a huge black blob. Only time there is more than one color is when shes using crayons to color/draw a picture.

[LuxPerpetua]

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

feeling fairly discouraged.

DS1 is 5 in 10 days.

2 of his age same peers (I mean BD in same month) are homeschooling kindy this year (birthday doesn't put any of them in kindy till next fall) and both have moved on to 1st grade math and reading.

I look at blog like this one: http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=714561 and Know, 1005% know my son -- even alone -- is too goophy and silly and jumpy to do any projects like that -- it would become sillyness and a huge mess .. http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=714578 here is another post, no way my son could sit and do controled activtly like that -- in normal clothing none the less -- and look at this post -- http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=714334 -- playdough and so all are all adult supervision here, and oput up high too.

I just get so discouraged.

I understand my son is slightly SN and behind in maturity and impuse control and so on -- but then i see youngesr kids doping stuff i could NEVER hope to see out of him, and i get so fustrated and discouraged.

sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I just wanted to offer some too. No child is perfect. I go through periods where I read blogs and then I'll take a hiatus because they always make me feel like no matter how great we're doing, we're never doing good enough. We're Waldorf-inspired, and I can say definitively that Waldorf blogs irk the ever-loving heck out of me, and there are days in general when I get so sick of Steiner this and Steiner thought that and OMGoodness you're child used a black crayon and it's going to ruin her for life. Oh, the Waldorf guilt I carry around! It doesn't help that my dd's ONE friend has a VERY competitive mother. I just have to constantly repeat to myself that I am not in competition with them. It isn't healthy and it isn't what I want. And as long as I focus on JUST US, I realize that we're doing really well.

I don't have much chance to post these days but I do try and read when I can. I have a soon-to-be 5 yo (December b-day) and she's been so into drawing and writing lately, which, as I mentioned above, is problematic from a Waldorf perspective but we're going with it. Dd woke up today and just knew how to write the letter Z (one of a handful that has been giving her difficulty), so now I have about 20 little notes with Zs all on them. What's worrying me, though, is that drawing has been taking up so much of her time that she isn't playing pretend and such. I try SO hard to inspire imagination, have open-ended toys, include openings for fantasty and pretend play in our day etc., and my dd's favorite things are to make soap concoctions, bounce on our bed, and draw right now. It's so frustrating to see all these other kids dd's age and younger playing with dollhouses, dolls, stuffed animals, figurines, and making up elaborate storylines, and my dd just isn't right now. She will sometimes but usually only if I'm "helping" her. I really want to nurture her creativity and it worries me that she isn't pretending. She's never lived in the "dream world" that Waldorf eulogizes but I do wish she'd play with some of the toys she has. Do you think she eventually will? Does anyone have a 5 yo that doesn't do a lot of fantasy play? I don't remember playing pretend until I was around 8. I have no idea what I did for my first 8 years--probably bounce on the bed and draw, LOL.

Thursdays are our painting day, and one thing I wanted to share in case anyone is interested in doing wet-on-wet painting is that I just use Crayola tempera paint that I dilute with water in small glass jars (I use ones from her Gerber meat sticks). I think they work as well as Stockmar and are SO much cheaper. Then we just wet our paper and begin. Dd is finally at the stage where painting day does not result in gray/brown blobs and body art. Finally!

I also keep wondering what to do for kindy next year. I'm wondering if we should do something like Five in a Row or Little Acorn Learning or just keep doing what we're already doing. Has anyone used the programs above, and what did you think of them? Are they worth it?

[CCJWGM]

LuxPerpetua - hello fellow Waldorf guilt mama!

I have some months of Little Acorn learning. It is expensive IMO but wonderful. No academics in site and Waldorf, for me, is a good balance for my DD who loves non Waldorfy things. Are they worth it? I can't afford the $25/month so I only have a few months. If I had endless money I would buy them all.

For Waldorf I also like Earthschooling. She offers her whole curriculum by month so you can pick and choose what you need. Then you can use the Kindy stories but if your DD is doing letters you have access to 1st grade material. I love that she doesn't guilt you into "don't dare show a letter to your child before 7 or you will ruin them."

Regarding FIAR. I borrowed the B4FIAR book from the library and fell in love with it. My 5 yo DD is beyond B4FIAR though although DS is not. I currently am using Picture Book Activities by Kuffner and plan on using FIAR next year. As someone who believes deeply in no academics until age 7 I think FIAR, Peak With Books, etc are a GREAT middle of the road ground especially when combined with the Waldorf. I have found it to be a great balance here.

Momma Aimmee - I am still formulating a response. But have to cook dinner in the meantime. Until then - HUGS!!!! I started this thread with similar thoughts.

[meetoo]

LuxPerpetua
rewaldorf: I have come to realized that i don't like any philosophy that is rigid. There is no one right way that works for every child. All children are so different and that is ok! Different doesn't have to mean better/worse. I personally do not agree with Waldorf for religious and other reasons, so I wouldn't ever consider it, but I can say my dd1 would most likely have done ok with it. She loves nature and songs, had no real interest in academics until about 7,enjoys art and fairies, etc etc. However, it would be my sons worst nightmare. His idea of a good time outside involves skateboards and the BMX race track. His favorite toy is lego , he begged to learn to read at 4, and thrives on structure. He is like the anti waldorf There is nothing wrong with that though. The wrong thing would be to try to put him in a box he wants no part of.

My advice is take what you like from waldorf and throw out the rigid "only one right way to do things" nonsense. Distance yourself from the annoying competitive friend. 5 is a very normal age to become interested in letters. I say teach her how to write them with a black crayon.

Re the pretend play:
For one thing drawing is a very creative activity. I wouldn't be worried about a lack of creativity. I would bet her lack of pretend play has more to do with the fact that she is an only child. Kids build on each others play. My kids play a lot of elaborate games but it is almost always with other kids. Again I think it's an age thing. It seems younger children are content to play pretend games alone but as they start to get older the imaginary games really take off when other kids are involved. I know my friend with an only child is constantly telling me her dd won't play at home either. She plays just fine at my house with my two kids.

re the whole tone of this thread:
I know it's hard not to compare kids particularly with your oldest, but really, all kids develop differently. Everybody has their own strengths and weakness. I know I'm much more neurotic about my oldest. Poor kid. It is something I'm really trying to end though. My kids have tons of strong suits and wonderful traits. Every time I start to compare now I just try to mental picture all the wonderful things they do. Sure so and so kid is better at somethings, but who cares. My kids rock and I wouldn't trade/change them for anything.

[meetoo]

One more thing the K year.

My advice is to take the rest of this year and really figure out what you want for her education for the next few years.Forget about what everyone else thinks. What do you want to see her doing by say 3rd grade. I think that is the hardest part about homeschooling. Plus every method/curriculum claims to be the best/only way.

We used and enjoyed 5 in a row last year. We just had the manual (got them all given to us) and checked out the books from the library. Depending on your standards/objectives it may or may not be enough. We add math and LA for my first grader. I think that author states you need a phonics/math program to go with it. I think its very possible that your DD might even want the added stuff by next year. I never did find a phonics/la program i really liked but we really loved McRuffy math! It was very hands on and easy to teach. My school hating child enjoyed it.

[CCJWGM]

Lux Perpetua rekindled my love for Little Acorn Learning. I have essentially been trying to crazily recreate it (free, yes, but maddening). I decided just to eat the 25/month and regain my sanity. So once again my plans have changed. We will be doing LAL with one book from Picture Books Activity every week or every other week. Sounds good to me. Besides, I love the LAL book selections. That and the story and fingerplays makes it worth it. Thanks Lux Perpetua!!! I have Jan-May and just didn't start buying it when Sept. rolled around because money was so tight.

MommaAimmee - HUGS!!!! I have so much more to say but all I can get out is HUGS!!!!

[Momma Aimee]

thanks eveyone

No it is not disciple -- it is sensory, and self contol, and self regulation and immaturity. he is just behind, in a lot of vays (sleep patteren, PT, speech).

Thanks eveyone i feel better -- i just get discouraged -- he is smart, tested out as gifts for what that is worth -- but day to day it is so draining and i look at "others" with longing for the "ease" i see -- i guess i have to just assume that "the mess is just hidden" LOL

[LuxPerpetua]

Originally Posted by beezer75

Lux Perpetua rekindled my love for Little Acorn Learning. I have essentially been trying to crazily recreate it (free, yes, but maddening). I decided just to eat the 25/month and regain my sanity. So once again my plans have changed. We will be doing LAL with one book from Picture Books Activity every week or every other week. Sounds good to me. Besides, I love the LAL book selections. That and the story and fingerplays makes it worth it. Thanks Lux Perpetua!!! I have Jan-May and just didn't start buying it when Sept. rolled around because money was so tight.

MommaAimmee - HUGS!!!! I have so much more to say but all I can get out is HUGS!!!!

Ha ha! I've been doing the same thing--trying to recreate on my own. So much time and energy. I think next year for kindy I'm just going to pay the money each month and have more free time, too!

[meetoo]

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

t- i guess i have to just assume that "the mess is just hidden" LOL

I was looking around my house after I posted to this thread and I realized my standards are just lower. Right now I have a lamp shade that smiles at you every time you walk by, a living room chair covered in sharpey, and a pencil "mural" on my dinning room wall. There's more too, but you get the idea. I guess I just don't even notice that stuff any more.

[CCJWGM]

Off to the beach today for us!!!! The kidlets want to see the tide pools. We are packing our rain gear, lunch, and am prepping for a day of fun.

[Stacey B]

I got a total surprise today. I was getting some work done out of the house and came home to the house reorganized including a reorganization of the dinningroom/school room. DH is great!

I do have a question about workbooks, for those of you who seriously use them. DS loves to do them, but he blows through them which means that he moves between letters quickly not really retaining anything. We are pretty unschool-y around here so I' not going to do a program with him, how do you continue with the letters beyond just getting more variations of the same book?

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by Stacey B

I got a total surprise today. I was getting some work done out of the house and came home to the house reorganized including a reorganization of the dinningroom/school room. DH is great!

I do have a question about workbooks, for those of you who seriously use them. DS loves to do them, but he blows through them which means that he moves between letters quickly not really retaining anything. We are pretty unschool-y around here so I' not going to do a program with him, how do you continue with the letters beyond just getting more variations of the same book?

my son loves www.starfall.com. He plays it whenever he wants. (unless he's had too much screen time that day.) He is not required to watch it. He knows all his letter sounds now. The other night he sang the abc sounds song as he was falling asleep.

[Momma Aimee]

Originally Posted by Stacey B

I got a total surprise today. I was getting some work done out of the house and came home to the house reorganized including a reorganization of the dinningroom/school room. DH is great!

I do have a question about workbooks, for those of you who seriously use them. DS loves to do them, but he blows through them which means that he moves between letters quickly not really retaining anything. We are pretty unschool-y around here so I' not going to do a program with him, how do you continue with the letters beyond just getting more variations of the same book?

some of them can be copied -- most bought at teachers stores -- i copy them and then they can do the same page over and over and over and over -- or you can laminate them and use dry erase crayons / pens.

[OkiMom]

For workbooks I put them in page protectors then when teh girls want to "do a worksheet" they do it with a dry eraser or washable marker then I erase it when its done.