What do you do about asynchronous development? esp among different subjects

[marimara]

I'm very new to this whole thing but as I'm reading, I'm learning a lot about asynchronous development, which I def. see in dd. She is far advanced in reading vs math, for example (she is asynchronous in more ways than this but this is my primary concern right now). She is reading 1st grade level but does not understand the concept of "one more" in math. I plan on hsing her, and we already have in fact.
So my question is, what is the proper way to handle asynchronous development? Do you assume they will catch up in their own time? Or do you work/focus on the slower areas? When would this become a problem?
I'm assuming she will catch up in her own time. I remember at 18 mths she begged me to teach her the letter sounds and she was stuck there for like a year. Then one day at 3 she started reading, and just took off. It just clicked. And it's growing exponentially every day. Every day she reads more and more difficult words, and faster and faster.

[moominmamma]

I've homeschooled all my kids and my approach has been simply not to worry about relative lags unless they become absolute lags. In other words, a 5-year-old reading novels but not comfortable with adding beyond ten is still at an age-appropriate level in math, so no worries. A 9-year-old at a high school level in all areas but who can't write in cursive yet is still at an age-appropriate level in hand-writing.

No one enjoys spending time focusing on things they're "bad" at, or pushing the envelope in an area that's not coming easily. It's a sure-fire way to wreck the love of learning in a young child. Kids love to do things that are easy to learn, that produce quick gratifying improvements. If you focus on the areas where your dd is passionate, she'll likely continue to be a highly motivated learner -- and those relatively weaker areas will likely get pulled along by her strengths. I say let those other things come along naturally, motivated by your child, unless they reach the point of being absolute lags.

Miranda

[Village Mama]

That is such a good way to put it Miranda... exactly what I needed to hear this morning!

[eepster]

Preschoolers are really bad at multi-tasking. They tend to focus on a single skill to the exclusion of others. Right now she's all about the reading, but in a couple of month it could be all about the math. Expect her to back slide on the reading a bit when she is focusing on the math.

[joensally]

I agree with PPs. The list below seems to imply that you should be working on this because it's a problem, and that's not what I intend. Kids do cycle in and out of interests and focus, and Miranda's bang on about relative versus absolute lags.

Have you seen this book? It's a nice overview for a new homeschooler:
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Home-...8110740&sr=1-1

If she likes reading, you can approach math (or number sense) that way. The Tang books are nice:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...ords=tang+math

Family math is kitchen table math and it's a nice way to play while building math sense:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...ds=family+math

Board, card and dice games are also great strategies.

I also like the Peggy Kaye books:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...games+for+math

Science and cooking are also full of math.

[kgianforti]

Originally Posted by moominmamma

If you focus on the areas where your dd is passionate, she'll likely continue to be a highly motivated learner -- and those relatively weaker areas will likely get pulled along by her strengths. I say let those other things come along naturally, motivated by your child, unless they reach the point of being absolute lags.

This is what I do. My big girl is highly motivated in the math and science department but not so much in the reading department. So I'm letting her kind of "do her own thing" using Starfall.com and the occasional Explode the Code page. Her writing is "on point" for her age and again, I am letting her self teach this as well. She'll ask me how to form letters and I show her but I don't have an actual curriculum or anything.

The flexibility of home schooling is out of sight!

And when it really comes down to it, for my big girl, her writing is the most "behind" and it's really not behind, it's age appropriate so there's really nothing to worry about. I think you'll find that in your situation too...nothing is really "behind", it's just age appropriate.

[ASusan]

Your DD is 4, and for age-appropriateness, she should know one-to-one correspondence for counting. And, for counting sets, the last number counted is the total in the set (cardinality). Many children's games, including those with dice or spinners & counters to move, hopscotch...teach these math strategies. Cognitively, all else builds on these.

[marimara]

Thanks guys! What I was thinking, just go with the flow. I don't push her. I know she's mostly age-appropriate in things, except social/emotional I think she's a tad under-developed, or it may be just that she's very sensitive. I was just wondering about home teaching and asynchrony but you all reinforced my instinct, just meet her where she's at and she'll catch up on her on schedule.