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Need help getting started! 5-3/4 year old in Sept
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I am starting to plan the next school year for my 5.5-year-old (I also have a 3.5-year-old and a 1-year old). I have tried, tried, and tried to find a boxed curric. that would be a great fit for us but I am just really not sure if that is ever going to work! I am mainly intimidated by the planning required when not using a boxed curric. Don’t have a lot of free time, if you know what I mean! Just as a side note though, if I had to buy something right now I think I would go with Heart of Dakota’s Little Hearts for this coming year. However, I have some concerns – which only stem from not putting things together myself. So hoping to give SCM a good try here…
I have a feeling that I will need to do a mix of the 5-year plan and 1st grade (SCM). My 5.5 year old’s official K year will start this September (2013), when he is about 5-3/4 years. The 5-year plan for SCM looks nice but he really needs some history and science. He is READY for that! My question though is… do you think he is old enough to start Apologia’s elementary series and which one would you start with? I was definitely thinking that I would get the junior notebook along with it, not the regular notebook. Also, I am wondering if he is old enough to start the 1st grade history that SCM suggests.
I guess I really just need help finding the right balance between the 5-year plan and 1st grade (and help with planning of course). For reading we are probably going to use Sonlight’s LA K, we did some of it this past year. For writing we already have A Reason for Handwriting K and for math we already have Horizons K. I’d like to use these things up since we have them. I would like to try Right Start Math after we finish Horizons K. So I wonder which level of Right Start Math I would start with in Sept. 2014 when he is 6-3/4 years old… Level B or C?
I have a feeling I am going to be asking a lot of questions on this board 🙂 I need to just put our curric. together myself though! Thanks in advance for the help!!
For a K, I would suggest outdoor secrets. That is light enough for science for Kindy. http://simplycharlottemason.com/store/the-outdoor-secrets-companion/
I’ve never used Right Start. If you’re going to use Apologia Elem., Dr. Wile told me that Astronomy was the best book to start w/younger kids…least Latin-based words. And it’s shorter than some of the others. We’ve always use Apologia for science. However, I now regret not just using fun, living books…something like SCM suggests, combined w/nature study for the younger years. I felt like I needed a textbook to feel ‘covered.’ But I now realize that doing that took joy out of our science because I’ve been terrible about nature study, and I think other books would have been more engaging at that age. Just my .02, now having a Jr. Higher doing Apologia General (and we will keep w/Apologia through H.S. !)
Oh, and I totally understand wanting a boxed curriculum starting out. I used SL because I felt like I had to have something planned. However, it moved so fast and had so many activities I always felt behind and it was stressful. I so wished I had known about SCM. Honestly, for K I’d either not worry about history or check out some of the choices in the 1st -3rd section of SCM’s free curriculum guide. Or just go to the library and find fun, living books. The SCM history/geo/Bible guides are wonderful to have those subjects planned out…but don’t know if I’d get it for K. Blessings as you begin!! Gina
I love RightStart! You would probably want to start with Level B – it is a Grade 1 level. Level C is quite challenging. RightStart does have a placement test online…. but unless he is doing 4 digit addition, and is VERY comfortable with placevalue – Level C would likely be too hard.
We love Apologia science! I would recommend to begin with the swimming creatures one. That was the first one we did and the one we had the most fun with! We did it when my son was in 2nd grade and my daughter was 4 years old. Both of them were able to get a lot out of it. Over the course of the book you make clay models of some of the creatures and add them to your ocean box. They loved that! At the end of the year they each had a box full of ocean creatures (and a completed notebook). You can go to the beach and aquarium as field trips. Also, there are web links for the whole series, but we thought listening to the whales was one of the coolest! I am looking forward to doing it again in a couple years with my third.
My ds was 5 1/2 when we started a K year last fall. Here is what we have done ( have a 3yo tagging along):
Math: RightStart Level A. We both love RS. The manipulatives and games are so much fun for him.
Bible: Bible Study Guide for all Ages
Science: Nature Study and Outdoor Secrets
Reading: I have Delighful Reading but my ds is not ready to read yet.
Handwriting: Delightful Handwriting
We read picture books, we have been reading Charlotte’s Web (a chapter a day) to start narration, art, cooking, learning to clean bathrooms, etc. My boys love lots of outside play and lesson take us about 1 hour a day at the most. We will be start Ambleside year 1 when he is 7 (Dec) and will start history at that time.
For planning I have SCM Planning your CM Eductation and it is a wonderful resource. It takes you from the big picture (all 12 years) down to daily plans. The ladies on this forum have a wealth of information, so ask away:)
We are finishing up kindy this year. Definitely don’t feel like you need to use a boxed curriculum! We have had a great year and I wouldn’t change it. We had Ray’s Arithmetic for math (just did it orally) but mostly we’ve played games. He’s been working on addition and subtraction and loving it! This week we are going to play subtraction bingo and he can’t wait. We followed a bunch of suggestions from HUFI kindergarten….we did a LOTW with writing the letter large on one side of the paper and drawing something starting with that letter on the back. He also does some basic copywork. We are doing a country of the week starting with the same letter. Then he can do a word of copywork for the country, and also an animal of the week that he does copywork and draws. My DS loves history as well, and we have just read a bunch of library books, especially biographies. I have pulled books from the SCM lists but we haven’t followed a curriculum, just his interests.
As for science, you can do living books from the library, or you can do Outdoor Secrets like PP mentioned. You could also do a Burgess book (bird or animal) or the Among the People series by Pierson. These are all light, nature based ideas. And of course don’t forget nature study!
We had better success with Apologia when we had some older DC, so I’d probably wait a year or two on it. We haven’t used the SCM science books yet (I’m planning on doing a couple next year), but I think they’d be a better fit for K…or just stick to some science read-alouds. My K’er joins in with Aplogia, but she doesn’t get as much from it as my older DC. She also skips the notebooking. This study also looks great for K as well: http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/2012/02/among-farmyard-people-lesson-plans.html
You may have already looked here, but this is a great place to get more ideas for K: http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/eyguide/ –The Little House books are listed for read-alouds and would count as history too. You could add in some fun activities like making butter or visiting a pioneer museum. If they aren’t ready for chapter books, my DC enjoyed the My First Little House Books series.
If you want to schedule your own, the Planning Your CM Education e-book is very helpful. I spend a hour each evening after my DC are asleep, and my plans are finished in a week or so (for 4 DC)!
Agreeing with the others. Look at some of the living science books in the SL catalog for pre k and k that can include your younger child and go on nature walks. How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World. Dover’s Berenstain Bears Big Book of Science and Nature. SCM Outdooor Secrets is good for youngers too. Raise a caterpillar to a butterfly. Grow a garden. We like Apologia but it is a better fit for a bit older.
RS level B is probably a good start for him.
I have 2 young adult home ed grads and will have a 5.5yr old K and a 4.5 r old JrK next year. On of the things I learned from my big kids is that I have a long time to teach the things I want to teach them and without a solid foundation and love of learning and diligent habits the rest is incredibly difficult. If I get in a hurry to get it all done right away it usually ends up backfiring and they don’t learn and we are all miserable. The real prize is in the joyful journey, not the diploma and knowledge database. With that in mind academically we have had a very mellow JrK year for my daughter this year, and next year will also be mellow. My plan so far is….
*Habit Training*
*Keeping our home neat
* Attention
* Diligence
* Social Skills (both my kids face some challenges in this area)
Lots of time outdoors! My JrK fella likes to dig in the dirt and make tracks for his cars and my K girly likes to observe bugs and collect rocks in our small yard. I plan to indulge those interests as much as possible, as I have been doing this year. We will fly kites, ride bikes, garden, play at the park and beach and enjoy as much activity and adventure as we can handle. We will also collect (catch and release) bugs or order online at various times praying mantis eggs and/or lady bug eggs. We did butterflies this year and it was a huge hit!
Math U See Primer (if your son does their placement test he may well be ready for Alpha- their first grade equivelant book). http://www.mathusee.com/ I love MUS for the short lessons, the video instruction and freedom to move as fast or slow as fits for my child. I also plan on doing Life of Fred- Apples http://lifeoffredmath.com/lof-apples.php as a math supplement and lots of games.
Delightful Reading- My girly is on the verge of taking off with reading right now so I am not sure where we will be by September. However I plan to use Delightful Reading where ever we end up.
We did Handwriting Without Tears this year as both my little ones as they both have some small motor challenges.We will do Delightful Handwriting this coming year for my K girly, and see how it goes for my JrK son.
Scripture Memory- We memorize about one passage of scripture per month. We started this last December and I have been pleasantly surprised at how well it has gone. We just read over the scripture each day out loud together and in a couple weeks to a month we all have it memorized. We do it at bedtime so we don’t forget. We use the Scripture Memory System from SCM. http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/
Bible- I havent settled on a Bible to use for next school year yet. I will pick one and we will read it from cover to cover over the school year.
Literature- I plan on starting the Little House on the Prarie series, and most likely one or two of the Winnie The Pooh books as well as many wonderful picture books depending on how well they are able to sit and listen to longer or shorter stories. http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/eyguide/eyreadalouds/
We will not formally do history or science. I know we could, and my kids would like it by my main focus is on the habits and spiritual and social growth we want to see.
We are within easy driving distance of two major metro areas with many fabulous museums and have passes to a famous zoo and children’s museum. We frequent these places and I believe that it enough for any K or JrK child. If we didn’t have such wonderful resources so close I might consider doing a little something, but for little ones I thing hands on concrete is by far the best choice.
For informal science/nature study I plan to spend a lot of time reading some wonderful books I found on Amazon for free on my kindle- http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Thornton%20W.%20%28Thornton%20Waldo%29%20Burgess&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank Anything I have found from Thornton Burgess has been a huge hit with my kids. They are just starting to get used to listeing to longer chapter type books and these are perfect. After reading a chapter we end up looking up video of the animals we read about or otherwise making connections with what we read.
I do play classical music in the afternoons at quiet time, but for now we are not doing composer study. We will see famous painting in the course of our reading or visiting of museums, but no formal artisit study yet either.
Our pencil and paper time will probably be less than 45 minutes per day. We will probably spend at least an additional hour with read alouds, broken up in to various segents throughout the day. Right now we read before quiet time, before bedtime, and may add a third session immediately after our morning school lessons.
I am also praying about a way to invest our time serving others. With my older kids in the past we worked at a food pantry, visited regularly at a nursing home, and were foster parents. My kids were an intregal part of those ministries and I am seeking the opportunity that fits for my little kids at this time. I consider this one of the most important parts of their education as it is where the rubber meets the road in life.
So not sure if thatis what you were looking for, but it is an alternative to moving ahead with more formal academics.
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