Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Homeschooling kindergarten - did you do it?

Am I posting this question in the right area?

Disclaimer: I'm petrified of home schooling, but I want to make informed decisions for DD 24 mos.

I understand you can start home schooling at any age, so I'm wondering if anyone here started kindergarten a few years early. If so, how did you decide? Any regrets? If not, would you have done so in retrospect?

We live in a small town with limited preschool/daycare options.

I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts on this topic.

Hi seablue!

We didn't homeschool early; but by the time we started homeschooling kindergarten when Harpo was 5, we weren't doing kindergarten stuff. I don't think one is allowed formally to register children as homeschoolers here before they are 5 (and not particularly sure I'd want to, in any case), but there's nothing stopping you from teaching them things. I don't know what the registration regulations are where you are--checking out the relevant legislation might be a good place to start?

I'd been thinking about homeschooling for a while, but Frenchie wasn't sure if he liked the idea, so we agreed to try it for kindergarten, since kindergarten is not mandatory in our province, and nothing would be lost by having an experimental year. (We had never used daycare or preschool.) I dutifully looked over the provincial learning outcome objectives for kindergarten, and noted that children were to learn to count to ten and recognise upper-case letters and various other things; at this point, Harpo had been reading for three years, so I decided just to do our own thing (homeschoolers here are only required to register their children, and agree to provide them with an appropriate course of study; parents have a great deal of freedom, for which I am truly grateful).

I didn't use much in the way of curriculum that year, but we did lots of field trips, he spent a lot of time with the atlas and the encyclopedia, he read tons of books, and we did quite a bit of math, one way and another (played with the Don Cohen books, read the TY Crowell Young Math books, The Number Devil, played with pattern blocks, pentominoes, tangrams and geoboards, lots of logic puzzles, etc. etc.), did lots of nature walks with field guides, art projects, music listening, and so on. He had a well-developed obsession with totem poles that year, so we did a sort of unit study of West Coast First Nations that was the primary focus of our year.

Groucho is in kindergarten this year; we are having a somewhat more formal K year for him (at his request) than we did with Harpo. He's doing Miquon math, working on the Royal Fireworks Aesop workbooks, and doing Latin and French with Harpo. Apart from that, he spends a lot of time doing physical stuff, and making up plots for his endless cycle of operettas! Not sure where he is on the gifted scale of things--Harpo seemed reasonably clearcut to me, but I can't figure out Groucho yet--he has a photographic memory, an enormous vocabulary and an extremely ready wit, but he's just now starting to read, and he's not as pattern-obsessed as Harpo, though his arithmetic skills are pretty good.

I don't suppose I've answered any of your questions! I guess for us, I'm glad things have worked out this way--homeschooling is not a perfect option, but for our family it works well--the kids get to see their dad, which would be difficult otherwise (he works shifts), they're enjoying what they're learning (a lot of stuff!), and they seem pretty happy. What the future will bring, who knows, but for right now, this is pretty good. Hope you find something similarly right for you and your family, whatever that may be!

peace
minnie

I started teaching my DS ay 2 when it became clear that if I didn't put some sort of structure into his day I was going to become suicidal.

I got a preK, K curriculum complete with activities and worksheets. Most of the stuff he already knew and we flew through it. Every so often we would hit on something that he didn't know and we'd slow down for a bit. Following the book helped me with my fears that I would miss something critical. Now I understand that there isn't anything critical at that age. We went on this way for about six months and to be honest, it was exhausting. My DS was very demanding, kind of a learning machine and I quite frankly couldn't keep up!

We discovered www.time4learning.com completely by accident and it saved us both. It is a completely interactive on-line curriculum that covers preK through 8th grade. The really nice thing about it is that the child can work in a different grade level for each subject. 2nd grade LA, 4 grade math etc. The parent can access reports by subject or date so it's easy to keep tabs on what is being covered. Each grade has a lesson plan that gives the curriculum for the entire year. You can pick and choose lessons or let the program follow it's scheduled line of progress. It allowed my son to quench his thirst without my involvement 24/7. He worked on the system for about six months, then I applied for early admission to K. The school district denied my request and he worked on the program for another year along with field trips, art etc. This year when he went to K, he tested into 5th grade in all subjects.

Your child's temperment is going to define how quickly or slowly you go. In our case, my son demanded more constantly. My advice to you would be to start slow and see where it takes you. If you find yourself unable to keep up or just want some sort of guidance in direction, I would highly recommend time4learning. They offer a free two week trial so you can see how your child likes it.

We just took it as it came until he hit school age. I had lots of books and puzzles and toys around, just like most people here.

I did try to have above grade level stuff on hand, but as it turned out, not as far above grade level as I probably should have had. (I thought he was MG. Doh! My whole frame of GT reference was skewed, I'm afraid. I didn't realize that until he was tested.) I also probably should have done more with math with him. But DS is an introvert, so if he didn't push, I didn't follow. I do wish I'd been a bit more aware earlier.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda, right? He seems to be turning out okay, so I'm not kicking myself as hard as I once was!

But anyway, I wouldn't worry about doing anything formal unless you are like BWBShari and have no choice in the matter. Follow your child's lead and have lots of above-age level materials on hand for if/when you need them.

And then hang on! It's a wild ride!

We needed some structure to our days, just because it's how we work best (not because I think all 2 year olds do!) so as of his 2nd birthday, DS and I had a theme of the week. It wasn't fancy, but it kept us in library books for a year or so. By the time he was 3 a week wasn't long enough for a topic and we started sticking with one for a month or three (LOL) and got a little more involved with each one. That summer the theme was rockets... and my dad got involved, which meant we basically played with toy rockets ALL SUMMER. Lots of fun though!

We also got some workbooks... He was 2 1/2 when my MIL sent a little "activity book" for him to play with, and he was hooked... so I figured I'd get some real workbooks from real curriculum publishers in hopes that they would last longer. They didn't. But he enjoyed them all and I started realizing that we were going to be just a wee bit out of the Normal Box...

Our first curriculum purchases were the Explode the Code (phonics) Primers, Singapore Earlybird Math, Building Thinking Skills Primary level, and Handwriting Without Tears. They were all good. And I read aloud to him for as long as my voice would hold out. He would have had me read every waking minute had it been up to him!

The only thing I would caution is that little ones can be fickle. Sometimes he was into something and sometimes he wasn't. At 2, 3 and 4 it didn't bother me at all, and I think letting him have that space to control all that kept it fun. I'm much more particular now (he's nine), and there haven't been any ill effects from letting things go back then, or from ramping them up since. Which is to say, don't worry about it. Keep it fun and interesting and let it go if it's frustrating either one of you.

I learned to let go of grade levels a long time ago. But yes, three of my kids were learning at home when they were the typical kindergarten age. We did about an hour a day of sit down work and the rest of the day was for free reading, backyard exploration, socializing, sports, etc.

It's hard to let go of the idea that they need to follow a particular course, but once you get started, I'm sure you'll love the freedom that homeschooling provides.

Oh my gosh. I want to print out this thread of responses and post it on my wall for reassurance, ideas, and confirmation.

My mother is visiting right now, which has given me an enormous break from the 100% one-on-one that my dd needs.

Minnie, I have to think hard about why I feel so petrified about hs'ing, and I think it's because I don't feel prepared. When I was in school I learned way differently than subjects were taught, so I spent the majority of my energy learning to conform to the ways of thinking that were presented to me on the syllabus. I learned to not raise my hand to ask questions in class because my questions were so far out there the teacher would have to go on a big tangent while the other kids kicked their feet, doodled and stared out the window. KWIM? So I think of you as a professor with a clue and energy to develop a varied and dynamic curriculum. I think of myself as a uniquely-brained misfit who is smart but not equipped to teach in a way that meets someone's learning style.

I'm sure I need to get over it, though, and forge ahead.

Yesterday I bought the Leapfrog book thing with beginning reading and writing curriculum (for $39 at Tuesday Morning). DD opened the example book and said, "Oh. There's an octopus, right there. And there's a sea horse, right there." I wondered if I had taught her those words.

She dabbled in the page turning but mostly wanted to use the pen as a magic wand that could produce book noises where ever she touched it. As long as she doesn't shred the pages, I feel we can just let her go with this and use her magic wand as she sees fit.

I LOVE the idea of a subject of the week or month. Of course I love it because it is exactly how my mind works. I am a total-immersion, self-directed learner. Give me the topic "rockets" and I will learn everything about it, including historical context. Maybe I'll try this with DD this week...

Shari, I feel exactly as you did - I'm too pooped to invent things and need some tried and true structure to fall back on. I'll definitely check out the site posted!

Again, many thanks to everyone - please do tell me more things if you think of them. Mostly I need to get over my fears of being too "out there" or otherwise inadequate with my teaching style.

Currently we employ the Free Range Play method. LOL

Remember that you've been teaching your child--whether you knew it or not!--since birth (or even before!). You are qualified and you can do a good job...because you HAVE been doing a good job her whole life!

Oh, I don't know if I had so much of a clue! You think about who you are and what you know, and more or less where you want your students to wind up, and then you just do the best you can. I found when I was teaching that I much preferred being the "guide at the side" kind of teacher, rather than the "guru at the podium" kind--and luckily, in our department, I normally had small enough classes that that was the kind of teacher I could try to be. When you're homeschooling, the teacher-student ratio is extremely favourable!!

This might sound a little odd, but I also found when I was teaching that I taught better when there were students in the class who really appealed to me--the way they thought or expressed themselves, their senses of humour or their consideration for other students in the class--really liking some of them helped me do a better job with all of them, if you see what I mean. In homeschooling, I find I like my students really quite a bit!

Tangents are good--the shortest distance between two points may be a straight line, but it's not necessarily the most interesting trip! I think your ability to think in nonconformist ways will likely wind up being a very great strength in parenting your uniquely interesting and wonderful child, whether or not you homeschool.

I'm sure you'll find your way toward something that works well for your family, whatever that may be; I have great faith in uniquely-brained misfits (also known as creative intelligent innovators)!

minnie

I know I keep mentioning this (I should get paid : ))but it really is a great site for getting started with HSing little ones - and it is completely free! It is called "brightly beaming resources" - it is fantastic. It will give you a great place to start - then you can make up your own tangents...or follow where your child takes you.

http://www.letteroftheweek.com/