Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Kindergarden homeschool curriculum?

So DH informed me last night that there was a 50% chance we were going to be transferred to the NY/CT area in a few months. I know it's not a sure-thing and there is even a possibility that we stay here for a while and allow him to commute, but I couldn't help but to start worrying about school. We have missed the cut-off for applications & DD is very happy in her current Montessori school.
To help myself calm down a bit I googled homeschool curriculums. Based on the questionnaires, a K curriculum seems to fit DD (while about 1/2 she would already know, I feel like the other 1/2 (mainly writing) will take her twice as long so it should work out).
IF we do move, I will homeschool based on the fact that it's so last-minute and we would not be able to get her into a Montessori school.
From the 10min or so I have spent googling this, Calvert seems like a good option. Does anyone have experience with this curriculum? Any others to suggest? Any suggestions about homeschooling a 3yr old with a K curriculum? (We would mainly do it to curb her need for more info, to keep her busy, and to keep our open days on a schedule.)
Any advice is welcome! Thank you.

Calvert we have some experience with. My DD was six and seven then, though-- so a bit older than your little one.

One thing that I'd offer as an observation about this (or any other PACKAGED curriculum) for a HG+ child...

while the curriculum may have a very nice focus on literacy, this is simply NOT well-aligned to the needs of a young HG+ student. The literature/reading is simply far too little, and with a child who is already reading and has good numeracy, it's torturous. Why? Because of all that writing. There's no payout for putting up with all. of. that. writing.

The math is very shallow, IMO.

It's not a bad curriculum, by any means. The problem is that it is bundled and hard to subject accelerate within, meaning that a child who is ready to read and do math at 2nd grade, but has age-appropriate kindergarten writing skills (or, as is likely in your 3yo, more like preK skills)... winds up feeling a lot like Goldilocks. NOTHING about it fits, but a lot of it "almost" does-- on both sides. The writing is too hard (out of level) and the rest is still too easy and wayyyyyyy... toooo... slowwwwww.


We found that this was true with every "bundled" prepackaged/all-inclusive curriculum that we tried. The reason is that there ISN'T a homeschool curriculum intended for the particularly common patterns of asynchrony found in HG+ learners at young ages.


My personal recommendations for this age are Montessori at home (there are books that detail how to replicate some of the Montessori methods as a homeschooler) and Charlotte Mason (without the rigid elements and with more math/writing as seems appropriate for your child and family).

That means going a bit piecemeal and eclectic, it's true-- but it is about the only way to get an appropriate fit at these earlier grades. HG+ preschoolers and primary students are often way out of synch with the abilities of age-mates.

Great advice and my initial reaction (I have actually considered homeschooling even before the prospect of the move came up) was to do Montessori at home. I guess I just like the concept of a specific "plan" and an organized day. I suppose I could do that with Montessori but I think it would take a LOT more work & preparation. Thanks for the feedback. I wish that a really solid mix-and-match lesson plan program did exist.

Yes, what HK said. I'm currently trying to afterschool my preschool aged DS at home (he will be in K next year), at his fervent request, and it is freaking impossible, because he has the reading skills of a third or fourth grader, math abilities somewhere in the 2nd grade range (except he's never been taught money and time, and they spend a LOT of time on that in the early grades), but his writing and spelling skills are early/mid K, and he has the life knowledge of his true age.

I am unwillingly considering that I may need to homeschool him next year, in which case I think we will do:

--some handwriting/writing practice on grade level (Maybe Handwriting Without Tears, since it seems well-liked)
--reading chapter books and science books broadly
--fill in the circle reading comp, without writing, at his reading level (this is not easy to find and a lot of it is bad)
--some of the science experiment kits available
--some math workbooks, but this is going to be hard and I will need to cherrypick)
--logic puzzles, Sudoku, mazes, find the missing X books (he loves Life Picture Puzzle books), lots of high-level board games, ThinkFun logic games, card games
--geography work because he loves it

One thing we just started doing is beginner book reports. I copy a sentence from a book we read. Then he copies it in his own handwriting. This is to practice his handwriting and also at the same to study what a good sentence really looks like written by someone who is a very good writer. Then he tells me what the story was about and I write down what he said on the same piece of paper. That technique came from The Well Trained Mind. Another thing we just started doing is using The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History. I read the two-page spread to him. He picks out the important sentences. I write them down. He draws an illustration on the paper. We put it in a 3-ring binder called the history notebook. The purpose is to get a vague idea of historical stories, events, charachters, plots, and places. They'll go over all of World History again some other year.
He also has a three-ring binder for Science. I've had him write lists of our science equiptment in a chart, label parts of a flower, draw plants from my garden. For math try sumdog!

That's what I'm doing with my 5yr. old. When he was 3 he did reading eggs and Singapore early bird and Kumon Alphabet games. Now my little girl's doing those.

I agree that you should rather go eclectic. My 6 year old and my 4 year old both have skills on different grade levels and so we work on whatever level they are at for each subject. We do loads of lifeskills at this younger age and although we do stuff around each subject, right now we mostly pick one or two things and have that as our main focus for a while until we all want to move on. It could be swimming, or learning to ride a bike or learning to type or use powerpoint. Recently it was the Chinese New Year, baking and working with money and now for Aiden Cursive / joined up writing. It's more fun like that at the younger years and they actually get through a lot of work without anyone realising.

We have workbooks and other fun games for teaching some curriculae type things, but we mostly do it as described above. It's working better than anything else right now for us.

The other thing to remember is that no decision has to be forever. You can always switch, change the mix etc. I love that about home schooling.

also remember about buying a ready-made grade-level curriculum that you are more likely to need at least 2 per year if you are only sticking to their stuff and guidelines. Your child will more than likely fly right through that and then it becomes a rather expensive thing too.