is he ready for Kindergarten?

Your son sounds exactly like mine was at that age. Here is what we did. I'll share what I think was good and what I regret... I found a set of inexpensive kindergarten lesson plans. I did not enroll with any curriculum provider or anything like that. And we basically took 2 years to do K. We had some times where we really charged ahead and did a lot of structured stuff and other times we would go weeks without sitting down with a school book. I tried to get books that were multi-leveled. So we went through some of the books a couple of times using them in different ways. I tried to play into his interests. I feel like my biggest mistake was with handwriting/learning to write. Looking back I pushed him WAY too much too fast. He would get frustrtaed I would get frustrated. I guess in my mind he was learning to read and do math - he should learn to write too. I really wish I had held off on the writing part and waited for him to be a little older.

For Kindergarten math I loved MCP Math level K. It does a lot of count the objects and circle the number type exercise. It gets into adding way in the back but I just skipped all that. Last week we finished Kindergarten officially. He is 5 1/2. But I will say this - some of his subjects were 1st garde level. For example in math - we had finished the level K so we moved onto level A(1st grade). We went through it slowly and we will actually stay in this same book for 1st grade but he learned a lot. I picked a finishing point I wanted to be the end of kindergarten for him.

I also LOVE our phonics program we are using - I just bought it this winter so we are not finished with it yet. I finished book one in the series and we will start book 2 in the 1st grade even though it is a K level program. This is why I like homeschooling - I tailor it to fit his abailities. We also made a reading list and hung it on the wall. I listed a bunch of stories and as we read them together we checked them off.

So back to your son - I would go ahead and start him on some kindergarten work and set mini-goals for yourself - not for him, for you. "I would like to introdue him to ___________ sometime over the next month." Write them down in a lesson planner and then jot notes as he does things so you can see if there are any patterns to what he enjoys, finds easy, dislikes, etc. There is no reason to hold him back or let his learning stagnate in a homeschooling situation as long as you know within yourself that you will put everything aside if he gets overwhelmed.

Just my 2 cents. This approach is what I plan to do with my 3 yo in the fall. He'll be 3 1/2 and he is already expressing interest in "doing school". The fact that you are even questioning whether you will push him too much shows you will be tuned into what he needs. Just have fun with it!
Kelly

MHO is that at 3 1/2, he should still be learning everything through play. (There might be an exception if he's a true genious, but then he'd probably be reading already and/or spouting math facts that make your jaw drop. ) He's obviously a bright child. I have one myself, and I understand the temptation to run with it. It's possible that he *could* sit down and start to learn to read and write and do formal math. But *should* he? I believe (have only heard, not seen for myself) that studies show that children who learn such things early are generally no more advanced than those who learn later at their own pace. The later learners catch up fairly quickly once they get going.

Another thing to think about: if you sit down and teach your son to read, you may miss out on the wonder of seeing him teach himself to read! My dd was showing most of the signs your ds is showing at 3 1/2. At 4 1/2, she began reading on her own. In the mean time, I answered her questions about words and letters, and she learned some stuff from educational tv shows and computer games. But I never sat down with the intention of teaching her to read. The process was very organic -- it all came from her. It was truely a wonderful process to behold, and I would hate to have missed it because *I* decided when she was ready to move to the next step, rather then letting *her* initiate each step, kwim?

We did start a formal math program when she was 4.25. Do I think I started too soon? Not necessarily -- I'm not an unschooler when it comes to math. But I'm glad I didn't start earlier, and I don't think it would have hurt to wait. While she could grasp most of the concepts, I could see where her young age limited her ability to fully understand some things. After a few months, she gave up math lessons in favor of all reading all the time. :LOL Besides the diversion of books, I think we had reached a place where she was hitting the upper level of her ability to comprehend. Only age and maturity would allow her to go further, so we took a break. In addition, it was hard for her to focus sometimes, even when she wanted to do the lessons. I would suggest stopping, and she would say "no", but then she couldn't/wouldn't pay attention to what we were doing. It got pretty frustrating sometimes. Again, it's a maturity thing. I plan to start up with the lessons again in the fall or later this summer. She knows some children going to Kindergarten and is eager to "do" some Kindergarten homeschooling. Since math is my only curriculum, I hope it does the trick for her! :LOL

So my advice is to sit back and watch him for a while. Just observe him and see if you still think he needs more than what he's already getting through play and interaction with you and dh. If he seems bored or is asking for specific instruction, then you can start the kindergarten materials. If he seems to be learning and growing and happy without them, then I'd hold off for a little while. Just my 2 pennies!

My dd is 3 also. I have the CORE curriculum book "What your Kindergartner needs to know" and a couple of times a week we will do an activity from the book that I feel she is ready for. I know her motor skills aren't up for writing yet, but her phonemic awareness is very good and I can tell she is on the brink of reading. We play lots of word games for that but we aren't doing anything formal. Even highly gifted children tend to be on the "normal" range whn it comes to writing b/c it is a fine motor skill.
Precocious writing ability is rare. I am not even worrying about writing yet. She gets opportunity to write, color, draw etc. That is enough for us for now. I expect to take about a year and a half with the kindergarten year, give or take.

I guess my point is, if you think he's ready, try a few more exercises off the web or somethg an see how it goes. If he isn't ready yet, he will be eventually.

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I agree with Joan. If you want to continue with unschooling, just follow his lead. Read to him a lot and he'll let you know when he's interested in decoding. Give him lots of crayons and paper and he'll let you know when he's able and interested to move to writing. We're not doing kindergarten at all, simply because I'm not really sure of what that means. I mean, when I think of K, I just think of a large group of kids in circle time doing the same type activities. I, personally, don't think of homeschooling having a start and stop, or having specific levels. But if you do want a specific K curric, I've heard great things about Five in a Row. At any rate, my advice would just be to follow his lead and give him lots of open space to do his own thing. Good luck!