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Are there any homeschooling parents (or 4yo and 5yos) on this forum?

2K views 49 replies 42 participants last post by  Liberty5_3000 
#1 ·
If so, please say a quick hello! Seems to be a lot of parents of older kids, so I was wondering if everyone is lurking... LOL!
 
#2 ·
I'm here. Back in the 80s and 90s, we home schooled our girls. Now we're home schooling our son for middle and high school. I don't usually post, only read. My days of beginning home schooling is so far behind me that none of the curriculum I used then are mentioned now--Ray's Arithmetic, McGuffey's Readers, Konos Unit Studies. And unlike when our girls were home schooling, we are now part of a charter school. In some ways being part of a larger community makes home schooling easier. And in other ways, there are more hoops I have to work around. Less than the public school but more than when we were independent and under the radar with the girls. Back then I only had the library, museums, and historical sites. Now there is also the internet, DVDs, and reenactments.
 
#3 ·
Hi! I am homeschooling two boys ages 6 and 4 (almost 5). My 6yo is technically kindergarten as far as school district standards, but we're doing K/1st curriculum. My 4yo attends preschool three 1/2 days per week which has given me some good space to get our first year of homeschooling going. So far, so good!
 
#5 ·
Oops. I totally skipped the 4 yos and 5 yos part. While I did home school the girls when they were 4 and 5, I didn't start home schooling Dylan until 6th grade.
 
#6 ·
My ds2 is 4, and I lurk (and sometimes post) here often. I generally don't post much in this forum about ds2 though, because I don't do any "formal homeschooling" activities with him. He's a third child though, so even though I do not ask him to do anything in particular in reality he does a ton and is exposed to way more than my first two were.

Next year, when he would be of kindergarten age, I will probably work some on reading and handwriting, but that's about it.
 
#7 ·
My daughter is 4, turning 5 next month. She'd be in kindergarten if she went to public school, although since she's a December baby we'd probably even have the option of waiting another year. No matter... she's doing mostly grade 1 level work now anyway LOL...

(When we do work at all, that is of course... she's mostly unschooled/Waldorfy for now)
 
#9 ·
Here! My DS is 5, almost 6 & my DD turns 3 soon. I pop in now & then as I work PT, too. We're pretty laid back. My son isn't much of a worksheet kinda kid, so the learning we do doesn't look much like "school."
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Sometimes there's a preschool thread around.
 
#10 ·
We're homeschooling DD, who is 5. We're using the k12 curriculum through a local district. We're through the district for cost reasons. We might do it without the supervision once finances allow it. It has been going pretty well, aside from a meltdown today after starting back up from Thanksgiving break.
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#11 ·
Yes! We are homeschooling our 5 and nearly-7yo girls. We are unschoolers and we don't use curricula, so while I am lurking on this forum all the time, I don't post as much as I would because so often the threads revolve around curricula and it all seems as foreign to me as the world of "schoolers". I am, however, all over the Unschooling forum. See you around!
 
#14 ·
Hi there,

I have twin 5 year olds. I look nearly every day and sometimes post. I see this as my practice year since the girls don't need to be officially enrolled until next Fall. We are all over the map from a curriculum standpoint: unschooly on days I feel like just following them, traditional schoolroom when I feel I need/want to expose them to something (often a moral or something related to an upcoming event), nature-based mentoring when I feel the need to be outdoors (lots of days), and lots of seasonal-based crafts/projects/cooking.

Looking forward to hearing more about your experience along the way!
 
#15 ·
Another lurker here! I have a strong lit-based leaning that seems compatible with my 4.5 yo DD so far, so we bring piles of library books home regularly on different topics that come up or just by great authors. Most days I try to work in a little reading and writing practice (bob books, HWT) b/c she's really motivated, and a math game and art activity for fun. Sometimes more, sometimes less, and then of course there's the stuff that's learning in everyday life or family fun. Anyway, so far it's a good rhythm for us.
 
#16 ·
My oldest will be five towards the end of this winter. I'm here, but we don't follow a curriculum. I'm not that into academics at this age. I just want to have fun with my kids!
 
#17 ·
I'm here too. We're not doing anything formal yet, but we'll register with our state in April. We'll be loosely following the Ambleside Online curriculum for the first year and we'll kick in with their year 1 once DD turns six.
 
#18 ·
I am homeschooling my 4.5 year old. We're doing Moving Beyond the Page's 5-7/k-1 level and he loves it. He's a bright little guy who needs LOTS of structure. I thought I would unschool but he had other plans.
 
#20 ·
Quote:
I thought I would unschool but he had other plans.
Hee! I like that quote. After disastrous attempts at rigorously schooling my older son, after learning about unschooling and other alternative philosophies as he got older, after years of healing from the damage I did to him in his early years, I too thought that I'd unschool my daughter. Then maybe, when she was around 7, if she wanted to, we might start some academics and likely follow a gently Waldorf approach.

Well, when she was two, she started asking for worksheets.
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We still *mostly* unschool, but when she wants to do academic stuff, we do. (I know that can also be considered 'unschooling' when it's following the child's lead.) And so she's doing grade 1-level math and reading and we do occasional lapbooks on various topics, which she loves. But we're still very Waldorf-influenced and do lots of storytime, circle time, fingerplays and songs, free play with playsilks, etc etc. We're VERY eclectic!!! And my 2 children are VERY different from each other!
 
#23 ·
Here too. I'm homeschooling my 5yo dd, she has a late bday and was eligible for Pre-k this year instead of Kindergarten. I'm fairly confident she's gifted and she is working on many different levels mostly under her own direction and motivation. I provide a wild mishmash of materials from HWOT, Miquon, etc. But my Main Plan is:

  • Read to her everyday (we're working our way through the Magic Tree House and Magic School Bus series)
  • She reads to me everyday from her book of choice
  • Independent Reading, usually related to the human body and health since she is obsessed with that.
  • Some copywork writing occasionally using quality literature
  • Math (Miquon or one of the public school texts I picked up at a thrift store)

However, she doesn't always follow my plan and some days are spent building cities and trains, playing at the beach or park, digging in the backyard, or drawing and painting.

She also enjoys storytime at our local library, nature hikes, playing with her friends, gymnastics class, science class for hsers, and riding her bike :)
 
#24 ·
I lurk...I've been a member here a long time but don't post much. I have a 4.5 yr old DD who just kinda goes with the flow. She really likes me to read aloud, we take a lot of walks together and she is full of questions right now. She occasionally likes to get out a workbook but I try to keep lots of stuff around for her to do. Her and my middle son who is 6 are kind of unschooling right now. My oldest is 9 and we are a little more rigorous with the schoolwork.
 
#25 ·
Yeah - I'm so glad I posted! I had second thoughts after posting my original message because I was worried maybe it really was all parents of older kids -- but here everyone is! :)

Maybe now that we've found each other we can share some resources we're using. My oldest is in preschool now so I'm not following a formal homeschool program right now. Just online worksheets and such. I use these alphabet worksheets for teaching alphabet letters and these kindergarten math worksheets. And mainly we're just focusing on math and reading so I guess those are my two go-to things. Can't wait to hear what everyone else uses!
 
#26 ·
Like I mentioned in my post, we don't use a curriculum or even worksheets. (Both girls love their "puzzle books" offered by Highlights magazine however. They are expensive but we enjoy them very, very much.) We do have an alphabet puzzle. Alphabet-oriented books can be fun (Dr. Seuss' ABC, Chicka Chicka..., and Ogres Ogres Ogres, but we get them because they are fun. Mainly we read a lot, about nearly everything.

Math at this age is mainly about counting, and I just can't stop them from counting. We also play a lot of board games together, some "educational", others not, but all are useful, either because of counting dice, money, or graphs (Battleship). Baking provides familiarity with measuring cups. I don't make a point of "teaching" her the measurements, but simply use the vocabulary. My 5yo especially loves her jigsaw puzzles and wooden "picture" blocks. Those are just the wooden shape blocks which they lay out on the yoga mats so they don't slip. Those are a great intuitive way to learn about shapes and their relationship to each other, even if you don't teach the names or the names simply don't "stick".

For science, well that's easy. We just explore. If they ask and I can answer, then I do, but exploring and wondering is the name of the game. I give them some tools to play with, binoculars, measuring tape, etc, and let them loose. And of course, more books-- hopefully in something of a story format, but they have enjoyed the "science" books as well, if they are done nicely and worth reading simply for their own sake. My 5yo loves her guide books. She'll pore over them for hours, telling herself little stories as she goes (though she doesn't want me to hear!) Last bath time my oldest (almost 7yo) discovered that a wet washcloth held tightly over a yogurt tub full of water will hold in the water. No one asked why. I'm still researching that myself. It's the wonder and the thrill of the discovery (on their very own!) that I value. Pure joy! And lots of giggles....
 
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