What kind of curriculum/method?

[Piper2]

I'm talking to my SIL about her plans to homeschool my nieces. Her oldest turns 4yo today and can already...well, I'll just paste here what she told me:

L isn't even old enough for kindergarten so I don't have to make any formal decisions yet. However, I'm thinking about going ahead and purchasing the K or either 1st curriculum and just using it for two years if she isn't ready for all of it yet. I figured it would be cheaper to buy the usable workbooks again than an entire curriculum. She has been spelling 3 and some 4 letter words for a long time and can write all her letters. She can even write several words, but she uses the magna doodle for it. We do have to work on learning to write correctly on paper. She can read some of the scholastic version of the Bob books by herself.

She isn't good at workbooks though. There is too much on one page for her to focus on one box. We laughed so hard one day. We started taping pieces of paper over the parts that we weren't working on at the moment. She wanted to incorporate the entire page. She can count to 100 and can do single digit subtraction and multiplication. We do need to go back to the beginning on math and do the basics though..start over. She doesn't have concepts or rules, just can do the additon and subtraction in her head.

L is very spirited, even more so than Kevin, from what I hear (we haven't seen my bro and SIL in nearly 3yrs and haven't even seen their 2yo yet :blush), so she probably would benefit from a more hands-on approach. My SIL said she has been looking at Alpha Omega (still likes the workbooks herself), but they are pretty expensive and they are on a very limited budget. They're also looking around at some 2-mornings-a-week programs at some of the churches around there to possibly put L in so she can "have other children around and learn to obey other adults and follow rules." (Yeah, BTDT....it's not all it's cracked up to be. ;)). But she still really wants to homeschool -- she's just not sure if she can handle a very spirited preschool/kindergartener and a toddler at the same time.

Any advice I could pass along to her? She doesn't mind my asking you ladies, BTW.

[SandKsmama]

Well, I'm going to be attempting to homeschool a *very* spirited 4 year old, and I have a 20 month old also! (plus an 8 year old too:-) Just for fun!) Here's what I am pretty sure I'm going to be doing with the 4 year old:

My Father's World K - I'm going to do this at 1/2 the speed they recommend. I think it's got a good mix of structure(which my spirited guy needs) and hands on fun (which he also needs).
I'll *probably* also be doing Math U See Primer with him, b/c I'm going to be doing MUS with the older dd and I think he'll want to join in. He LOVES math and the blocks etc are right up his alley.

I am *hoping* that I'll do some of this while my now 20 month old will be taking a nap. I also plan on having some "stations" for her to keep herself busy with...maybe a rice/beans tub, or a sand/water table, legos, Loving family dollhouse, stuff like that.

hth! i know how she feels! I am really scared that having the baby there is going to make it *really* hard to homeschool the other 2! (especially my spirited wonder boy!)
Amanda

[Chris3jam]

OH, just color me jealous! :mrgreen I would SO love to have the chance to "school" a child like that! It would flat break my heart to send a child like that to a school! It would just plain stifle that intellect and creativity! You know, if she can swing it, a modified/personalized Montessori type of set-up could help, especially with the spirit-ness. Lots of hands-on, creative, experimental, delightful stuff! It would also depend upon HER (your SIL) personality, also. Does she need to be ultra-organized? Does she feel she NEEDS to follow a strict curriculum? Things like that. . . . has she read anything by Charlotte Mason? Anything by John Holt?

[Piper2]

Does she need to be ultra-organized? Does she feel she NEEDS to follow a strict curriculum? Things like that. . . . has she read anything by Charlotte Mason? Anything by John Holt?

Hmmm...I don't know exactly how much research she's done or what she's read. I did send her the Ambleside link, but she hasn't said anything about it. And I also don't know how organized she is (my brother is like me..."organized" is hardly in his vocabulary ;)). I do know that because her dad is a pastor, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if my brother wound up becoming one sometime (he's already done some preaching lately), whatever curriculum they chose would need to be Bible-based.

And I forgot about "My Father's World"...I'll add that to my list of things to tell her to check into. :)

[Mama Calidad]

They're also looking around at some 2-mornings-a-week programs at some of the churches around there to possibly put L in so she can "have other children around and learn to obey other adults and follow rules." (Yeah, BTDT....it's not all it's cracked up to be. ;)).
I understand this on a level. DD has benefited a lot from tae kwon do. I'm like a huge tae kwon do fan at this point, because of the changes that I'm seeing in DD after a little over a month. She's not so scared to separate from us, she's learning to wait quietly for her turn, she's learning to listen better, she's becoming more confident and all the while she thinks she's just having a great time. I think that it was a definate plus that her teacher has a great deal of self-control, because I know that she was very trying there in the beginning!

Anyway, what about something like that? Tae kwon do, karate, ballet, gymnastics, community sports programs like soccer or baseball? For us, it was a perfect compromise.

[Piper2]

Well, from what I've been told (again, I haven't seen them in a few years), L drives her Sunday School teachers CRAZY! :crazy :shifty So as much as they want her to benefit from more structured, group things, I'm sure they're probably a bit hesitant to "subject" her to other people (I definitely know the feeling! ;)).

But I'll ask her what's available around there. There should be a good bit, since they're in a rapidly growing area (I'm told I won't even recognize the town whenever I finally do go visit again). And if I'm not mistaken, there's a YMCA right down the road that should have something, too.

:ty

[Micah]

I did send her the Ambleside link, but she hasn't said anything about it.

I use Ambleside too, and can I just give my opinion on sending the link to someone 'before' they understand CM? I think it would be totally overwhelming!
And probably make not one iota of sense...in fact AO was the first taste I had of CM years ago and it turned me off...when looking at it you think um yeah right. ;)

So how about a CM methodology book instead and then if she feels a tug about it say remember ambleside, take another look now that you undstand a bit more 'what you do with it' :)

Just my .02

[Piper2]

That makes sense, Micah -- :ty

[AprilBr]

Not sure how much of a limited budget they are on but I have used www.handsonhomeschooling.com (http://www.handsonhomeschooling.com), I would be using that now but we are on a very tight budget, but I loved it before. It has everything laid out for you. For the 4yr old curriculum it is $100.00 and that is the entire year (Sept-May). Right now though we are doing units. Rachel picks what she wants to study and we go from there...lots of books from the library.

[Sandy]

I think AO would be a HUGE mistake for this type of child. Lifepacs are workbooky...sit in a chair and fill out a page. That's not a good match for a spirited child. Besides which, I feel AO has huge gaps in their information. My daughter used it for science at a private school one year...there were tons of questions about information not covered. The only AO thing I've ever liked was SOS Spanish.

JMHO...

[ChristineG]

Just wanted to clarify that Sandy is talking about AO, meaning Alpha Omega (right, Sandy?). We have also discussed Ambleside Online in this thread which is also often referred to as AO.

[Piper2]

I think AO would be a HUGE mistake for this type of child. Lifepacs are workbooky...sit in a chair and fill out a page. That's not a good match for a spirited child.

Not to argue with you (AO wouldn't be my first recommendation for a spirited child, either), but Kevin is spirited, and he LOVES workbooks. :) I don't know if he gets much out of them, but he loves doing them, so I'm still going to supplement with some from time to time, even though we're switching to a unit study based curriculum next year.

So, if the individual child likes and does well with workbooks, even if he/she is spirited, I'd say go for it if you find some that teach everything you want them to. But like I said, it wouldn't be my first inclination to recommend them for a spirited child, and from what my SIL has told me, they seem to be a bit overwhelming for her daughter, so she'd probably be better off trying a different approach.

[grandmama]

I would highly recommend 5 in a Row.....it seems like such a shame to take a spirited 4 year old and begin workbooks! YUK!

Here is the website...lots of places sell their materials. And you can use the library extensively for the books.

http://www.fiveinarow.com/

When I took my then 5 year old through this wonderful material, we had a wonderful time. The principle is that you read the same book to the child every day for 5 days in a row, each day emphasizing something different. For example, we read Madeline and one day we made a watercolor Eiffel tower, another day we baked French bread, yet another day we looked at the French flag and talked about flags of other nations etc. When we read Ping we read in the biology book about ducks, we ate Chinese food, we talked about the population of China that lives along the Yangzee (sp>)River, etc. When we read Bludberries for Sal, we baked with blueberries, studied about mammals, looked on the map to see where Maine was and we learned how blueberries grow. Every day was different, my son loved the variety of projects and never once complained about school.

[Micah]

I did send her the Ambleside link

*quote*Just wanted to clarify that Sandy is talking about AO, meaning Alpha Omega (right, Sandy?)*quote*

Just for clarity on my part I was speaking of AmbleSide in my previous post! ;)

[Micah]

I would highly recommend 5 in a Row.....


I give FIAR the thumbs up as well! It's my second choice curriculum after AO (ambleside) :)

[Booklover]

Another FIAR vote here. I will be doing that with my active K'er (and his sister) in the fall.

[Sandy]

Yes, I was talking about Alpha Omega...sorry for the confusion! Even if you like workbooks, I wouldn't use Alpha Omega...too many gaps in information!

Five in a Row would be a great thing to do...I'm actually working on that with my spirited ds. Course he latched on to "Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear" and we're on about 500 in a row... :lol