Happy 6th Birthday to my Purple Butterfly Princess!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
A Few of My Favorite Things #5: Home Schooling
Well, while I fully intended to honor the requests I had to answer #4 first, I have not yet been able to do so. In the meantime, I received a message asking me about home schooling and how I do it. So I thought that I'd get started on my list of Favorite Things by posting my answer here. I do hope to get started on answering the family size question soon, though!
I read and researched about home schooling for years before I had school-aged children so that by the time I really got going, I had a pretty good idea how I wanted to do it. Of course, I didn't picture having two babies and a toddler at the same time, but God provides the way.
I personally don't push preschool very hard. My thinking is that they'll learn eventually, but my goal is for it to be fun. So I surround my children with learning opportunities: books, games, puzzles, play-doh, art supplies, educational DVD's (one of my favorites is Meet the Sight Words - my two-year-old already recognizes a lot of the words just from watching it), and lots of time to play and explore their world. My kids like workbooks too, so I get inexpensive ones from Walmart or Lakeshore Learning store just for fun. I really don't set goals at the preschool age. Just keep it light and fun.
I have noticed that my son, who is four and a half, is taking a lot longer to get interested in reading than my girls did. My oldest, who is seven, was bugging me to teach her to read starting at age 3. I started using The Reading Lesson with her when she was Kindergarten age, and she took off. She absorbed reading pretty much effortlessly. I am getting an opportunity to work a little harder with my 2nd. I started using The Reading Lesson with her this year. (She will be six this Saturday and, age-wise, is finishing Kindergarten). She is much more easily discouraged than my oldest, so I haven't pushed it very hard. We've gotten through a few (I think 6 or 7) of the 20 lessons in the course. But I don't make her do more than she can do without getting too frustrated, so we're going really slow. We read 1-2 pages a day, 2-3 days a week. I have read that reading "clicks" with some kids earlier (like age 3 or 4) and others not until later (even 8 or 9). But as adults, they all do equally well. The main thing is not to make them hate school and learning. My 4-year-old son has shown nearly no interest in reading, though he does recognize the alphabet and know his numbers. So I just read to him and let him participate in school as much as he is interested. He loves to be read to, so I know that it will come eventually.
I am sharing all this in hopes that you will see your children in some of what I am saying and be able to apply it to your own kids.
Probably the most helpful piece of advice that I received is that there is no one right way to teach your children. There is no perfect curriculum, schedule, or teacher. (Ha! Good thing, because I'm not it!) So just try what interests you and your children, and adjust as you go along. It's OK to start out with one curriculum and change to something else if it isn't working for you.
By the way, The Reading Lesson is something I found online. I like it because it's inexpensive to use over and over (paid for it once, downloaded it, and can print out as many times as needed). I also like that it's simple and doesn't overload the kids with a lot of rules and complication. Just teaches them to read basic words as a foundation to build upon. I didn't get any of the extras; just the basic e-book. It worked well for my oldest and seems to be working fine for my 2nd as well.
I barely scratched the surface of your questions, but my time is up for now. I will try to get back and add more soon. Please let me know if what I've shared so far is helpful.
I read and researched about home schooling for years before I had school-aged children so that by the time I really got going, I had a pretty good idea how I wanted to do it. Of course, I didn't picture having two babies and a toddler at the same time, but God provides the way.
I personally don't push preschool very hard. My thinking is that they'll learn eventually, but my goal is for it to be fun. So I surround my children with learning opportunities: books, games, puzzles, play-doh, art supplies, educational DVD's (one of my favorites is Meet the Sight Words - my two-year-old already recognizes a lot of the words just from watching it), and lots of time to play and explore their world. My kids like workbooks too, so I get inexpensive ones from Walmart or Lakeshore Learning store just for fun. I really don't set goals at the preschool age. Just keep it light and fun.
I have noticed that my son, who is four and a half, is taking a lot longer to get interested in reading than my girls did. My oldest, who is seven, was bugging me to teach her to read starting at age 3. I started using The Reading Lesson with her when she was Kindergarten age, and she took off. She absorbed reading pretty much effortlessly. I am getting an opportunity to work a little harder with my 2nd. I started using The Reading Lesson with her this year. (She will be six this Saturday and, age-wise, is finishing Kindergarten). She is much more easily discouraged than my oldest, so I haven't pushed it very hard. We've gotten through a few (I think 6 or 7) of the 20 lessons in the course. But I don't make her do more than she can do without getting too frustrated, so we're going really slow. We read 1-2 pages a day, 2-3 days a week. I have read that reading "clicks" with some kids earlier (like age 3 or 4) and others not until later (even 8 or 9). But as adults, they all do equally well. The main thing is not to make them hate school and learning. My 4-year-old son has shown nearly no interest in reading, though he does recognize the alphabet and know his numbers. So I just read to him and let him participate in school as much as he is interested. He loves to be read to, so I know that it will come eventually.
I am sharing all this in hopes that you will see your children in some of what I am saying and be able to apply it to your own kids.
Probably the most helpful piece of advice that I received is that there is no one right way to teach your children. There is no perfect curriculum, schedule, or teacher. (Ha! Good thing, because I'm not it!) So just try what interests you and your children, and adjust as you go along. It's OK to start out with one curriculum and change to something else if it isn't working for you.
By the way, The Reading Lesson is something I found online. I like it because it's inexpensive to use over and over (paid for it once, downloaded it, and can print out as many times as needed). I also like that it's simple and doesn't overload the kids with a lot of rules and complication. Just teaches them to read basic words as a foundation to build upon. I didn't get any of the extras; just the basic e-book. It worked well for my oldest and seems to be working fine for my 2nd as well.
I barely scratched the surface of your questions, but my time is up for now. I will try to get back and add more soon. Please let me know if what I've shared so far is helpful.
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