When I was five years old, I went to kindergarten in the morning and came home at lunchtime. I remember playing with toys, coloring a worksheet of apples, and whispering my numbers to my teacher because I was too shy to talk. Low key, lots of playtime. But over the past twenty to thirty years, kindergarten has changed. It's hard core!
I have a different approach for Isaac compared to the public system. He is always on the move, and he probably would have constantly pulled a stick/moved his color card/etc this year, or else came home and exploded with pent-up frustration. I think it's a bit much to expect a five year old to sit quietly several hours a day- another major score for homeschooling, because obviously I don't have to make him sit at a desk that long.
There's not a set schedule yet for Isaac. I've been gauging it based on how the day seems to be flowing. There are a few constants we hit no matter what, including math and reading. We spend about twenty minutes a day on reading lessons using the DISTAR method. I love this philosophy in teaching my children how to read. After 100 lessons and twenty minutes a day, the child can read at a solid second grade level. Madeline was reading at three years old, and Brooke at four years old. Isaac wasn't quite ready to read that early on, but is doing great now. We're on lesson 26. We tried teaching him about six months ago, but he was getting frustrated and it wasn't clicking, so we put away the book until now. If he hadn't been ready at this time, I would have still put the book away and tried again in another few months. There's so much pressure to have a five year old reading- but I think that a child will read when they are ready, and to push them too early just causes frustration. (I have the same approach to potty training, actually. Both Isaac and Lydia weren't potty trained until three years old, but it took less than four days once the time came. You have to decide to just not care about other people's opinions if you take this approach. Ha!)
Here's the story he read today from Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann. The book incorporates reading comprehension into the lessons, which I love. There's a picture for each lesson that you keep covered up until after the child reads the story and understands what he just read without picture clues.
Jack keeps us company.
We also spend about fifteen to twenty minutes a day on his math book. We're using Singapore's Earlybird Kindergarten Mathematics Textbook and activity book. I like that the activity book has lots of cutting, coloring, and gluing- all the stuff that helps make kindergarten fun!
We started Chapter 2 in Weaver this week, and one of the concepts I'm introducing to Isaac is change. Some things can be changed and then return to the original form, and some things can't.
First demo: water and ice.
Frozen- but what happens when it melts?
He was excited that the girls wanted to see his experiment results. Too cute.
Second demo: brand new crayons, before and after coloring. He traced the new crayons, and will color with them every day for two weeks. He'll then trace each crayon again and compare the different tracings.
Third demo: pencil before and after sharpening. (FYI- the shavings don't become a pencil again.)
I gotta empty this thing more often. Gross.
Isaac sleeps past 7am and gets more playtime during the day compared to public school, while still learning just as much (if not more) material. I can give him one-on-one instruction and immediately correct mistakes. I find out what areas he thrives in, gently pushing him as far as he can go. I know that there's lots of criticism for homeschooling, just as there is lots of criticism for public schooling. Each has its own benefits and pitfalls. Weighing in all factors, I know we are doing what's best for our own family. I'm only two weeks in, but can say that Isaac will have many great memories of kindergarten. I don't feel like he's missing out on anything, and am beyond grateful I get to spend each day with him. I am so honored to be his teacher!
His rock collection from tonight. Love that boy.
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