60-day returns • free shipping on USA orders $129+
Emotionally ready?
- This topic has 8 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 5 months ago by
.
Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
- Posts
Hi. I am very new to CM and have only been homeschooling a year with my eldest(6.5 yr- Gabriella).My recently turned 5 yr old Isabella), although able to read, having just started 3 months ago ( and took to it very easily when we started using the Mcguffey Primer), she is often lately very resistent to doing her reading. I was wondering wether I should back off for a bit . The thing is I know she can do it and would be almost on par with Gabriella in a couple of months if we stick to it? Is it a discipline thing which I should push? I have two small boys ( 2yrs and 10 months old as well). I also don’t actualy have a timetable or set routine yet due to toddler/baby interruptions or different sleep times and tend to slot in things when there is a lull, often when the boys are sleeping.I have signed up for the organizer in the hopes to cut down on admin etc. We emigrated from South Africa to New Zealand almost 4 years ago( and have just moved cities again to Dunedin a few months ago) . So I am thinking perhaps having no family and only a few very new friends we should take it slower and maybe just do reading 3x a week? She seems very resitent to any overt “lessons”.I am also feeling a bit overwhelmed somedays at scheduling activities/houswork/dinners etc etc and it just feels liek there are always loose ends…. Any suggestions please? Thanks Deborah
In my humble tiny experience, pushing reading can just turn a child off of it. Keep reading to your children daily. Give them stories to THINK about. Help them build their relationship with books and the craving to decode the words more fluently follows. With some children it clicks from the get go. With other children it may take some time, more than you wish. But I found expossure to good stories and reading aloud helped model the process and dip their toes into the literary pool. It’s not a race… I always had to remind myself of that.
Maybe someone with experience in the Delightful Reading program can share their experience with you here.
Hi Deborah,
Reading over your post, it seems like this is a very stressful time for your family. If I have learned one thing over the past year, it is that regularity and predictability are KEY at this age (I have a 5.5 year old and a 7 month old, and we have also been experiencing a great deal of change.)
If I could make a suggestion, here it is. It sounds as though your daughter is in an absorbent period…but at this age, I don’t think you should push her beyond her delight/interest level. And I certainly wouldn’t worry about having her on a par with your older child. If it were me, I would make sure that my daily rhythm/schedule were well established, then continue with reading (brief…maybe 10-minute lessons) 3x weekly. You don’t want her to lose ground, but you don’t want to burn her out either. Play games, draw her in, work with her on key interest words and topics…I think you will be amazed!
And good luck on creating a rhythm and schedule that make everyone (including YOU) feel safe, secure, and well-tended-to!
Check out http://www.starfall.com She may enjoy reading lessons from there better than the reader. It is free and my kids enjoyed it. Also, are you able to get any early reading books that she is interested in? My dd took interest in the Biscuit series about a dog and they are for very early readers.
Hi, thank you all for your helpful advice. I think I will do as suggested and keep the reading to just 3 x a week UNLESS she particularly asks to. Unfortunately she often doesn’t want to read when I want to ( ie : the boys are sleeping or happily busy). I am not really in a stressful place despite the change.My real problem I guess is trying to establish a routine where we do certain things on certain days/times .BTW we have used starfall before – thanks for the reminder.The girls both love it . I think I orginally stopped it because I had read something about limiting computer time especially with young children. I mostly just try cover the 3 R’s plus french, bible study( well, bible stories/devotionals), poetry, a bit of art apppreciation. BUT I do these as and when I can thoughout the day and not at set times.I would prefer to get it all done in the morning but that doesn’t seem to work due to the wee boys needs.NZ weather is also not the best so we can’t be out everyday. The children also listen alot to very good literature on cds. We do our read-alouds after the boys are in bed for the night as well. The thing is I KNOW children function well on predictability and routine but the only way I am going to do this right now is to make them sit for example every day when the boys are asleep or occupied.I find it almost impossible get their atetntion when they have started playing.They make up the most fantastic scripts and plays and can go on for hours t seems a pity to interrupt. Having 4 small people is a bit of a balancing act and I am praying for wisdom. I am going to try get to grips with the organiser this weekend and set out What I Would Like to Accomplish This Week. I thought that if I had that, then I could just tick the things off throughout the day and that having that checklist would ultimately force a routine of sorts. Then have along view of it all and know that the children won’t be all small for long …?Does anyone else have a system whereby they have a checklist of what needs to be accomplished but no set times and does that work?Sorry I don’t know if I am explaining my issue very well(tired). I guess I am struggling with the gnawing suspicion that I am doing something wrong if I don’t have set routines but then not knowing what to do about it as well …
Hi, another thought.. has anyone tried Five in a row cirriculum?It seems that some Cmers have incorporated into their HS day. ..with great success?
Hi, Beetle. In regards to your question about checklist with no times, we do that. Have you looked at the SCM How to plan your CM education? We are using the “Time Box” approach this year and it has been great with our three young ones. I have a “checklist” of what I”d like to have done between breakfast and lunch and then between lunch and dinner. Each day is a little different since we don’t do every subject every day. Then we have some things we do at breakfast or lunch when little ones mouths are too full to interrupt. ; ) I put my list in a clear plastic binder cover and use a wet erase marker to put a dot by what we’ve finished. It’s easy to see where the holes are as we get to the end of the week, if I see, “Oh we didn’t have time for science that day” we can go back and do it on a diff. day, just as long as all the dots get filled in for the week. (and sometimes honestly they don’t, and that’s okay). Or for example, say we are going to a class at the nature center on monday morning, but we don’t usually do science until thursday afternoon. i will go ahead and check off that we did science on thursday afternoon even though we did it monday. as i’m writing this is sounds really confusing, but it really is simple. I look at my plan as a week at a time and try to accomplish all those things in one week, even if it doesn’t go according to the “original plan” of my daily breakdown. Hope that is helpful and not too confusing, feel free to ask a clarification question.
Oh, and as far as 5 in a row, I use that more of a good book list. We have read a lot of the books, but for some reason I didn’t really like doing the same book that many days in a row. I know a lot of people that love doing that, though.
My oldest DD struggled with reading at that age. I threw in some Dr. Seuss books (and other easy readers) to make it a little more fun (we’d also used McGuffey readers). I gave her a page limit (a McGuffey lesson, or about 2-4 Dr. Seuss pages depending on how long they were). When her pages were done, she was done. Some days she flew through the reading, other days she dawdled. She is now 10 and loves reading. Another thing–you didn’t mention your patience level listening to her read, but I had a hard time with this. I finally started getting out a knitting project to work on while she was reading. It really helped me stay patient with her s-l-o-w reading! Maybe you are more patient than me though and this isn’t a problem. 😉
As far as FIAR, I had great sucess with it when my oldest was that age. We were still able to use most of the CM methods along with FIAR…and I know there are several other CM homeschoolers who use it.
We also break up our schedule throughout the day. We have 3 school “sessions” each day. One for 3Rs, one for family studies, and one for projects. In between these times, we work on chores and they have a bit of free time. We do still struggle getting it all done. Some days we only do 1/2 day so I can catch up around the house.
Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
- The topic ‘Emotionally ready?’ is closed to new replies.