For those who homeschool their children...

[Serrin]

When my Annie was just knee high to a grasshopper, we started her in a pre-school. That was great for her social skills and that's about it. The rest she learned from me.

I spent a small fortune on flash cards of every kind imaginable. She was reading by the time she was 4, knew her alphabet backwards and forward, (literally) all of her colors and numbers.

I had delayed entering her in kindergarten for a year because of plans that we had for moving. Those plans were delayed repeatedly due to circumstances beyond our control and aren't germane to the topic at hand anyhow.

Long story short, since we wound up not moving for several years later than planned, I went ahead and enrolled Annie a year later than she would have normally been. When I expressed my concerns for her being a year older than the other children of her class, the staff at the elementary conducted a quick evaluation of her abilities. She entered the First grade at the head of her class, skipping over kindergarten altogether!

The point I'd like to make here is that the single most important thing you can do is show a genuine interest in your child's development. When you get excited by their accomplishments, they get excited too! You don't need the most expensive teaching aids, as I found out the hard way. You just need the desire to help your child expand his or her horizons. Just be sure to make it FUN!!

Today, our Annie will be starting college in the fall...oh, and she just turned 16 in June!

 

[Eggs4Sale]

I homeschool my 11, 5, and 2 year-olds.

The 5 year old has spent her 'preschool' years learning her colors, numbers, and abc's, though she is still not good at the alphabet.

I have seen our school districts' chart of what kids should know before entering kindergarten, and it listed a LOT of things I didn't expect, but then I learned they were the very same things they spend the whole year teaching. A bored 5-year-old doesn't like to go to school.

Preschool, in my opinion, is the time for the child to have fun being a child. Having cartoons or little kid shows on that teach numbers and the alphabet is great, but this time of your child's life is FLEETING, so dancing with your little one to the Wiggles means more to them than anything they will be doing in school.

 

[Bluemoon420]

My daughter went to preschool, but solely for the social interaction with other kids her age. She's an only child, and we felt it was important for to be around other kids her age. She loved being with the other kids.
Like someone else just said, the rest she learned from us. We helped her learn how to read, we taught her french, she loved to draw, and we taught her how to play the piano. We learned the hard way to always have sketch books around. She drew on anything once paper ran out LOL
She's a pretty accomplished musician now( First flute, and Piccolo), and an artist. She wants to attend RISD for college, and has been gathering her best pieces for her portfolio. We are proud of her.

When it came time for kindergarten, we had a choice. She could start that year or wait until next year because of her birthday. I'm glad we didn't wait a year. She would have been bored to tears had we done that.

Bluemoon

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
You have some good points, and I will certainly echo your opinion about bored children. Most classrooms do, however, teach to a variety of levels. Kids begin kindergarten all over the place as far as knowledge and educational achievements. Some enter already reading and others hardly know what a letter is, much less know them. IMO, a teacher who cannot or will not group and teach at different levels to fit each student's needs is poorly qualified.

However, I think that the attitude held by parents can make or break a child's interest in learning. Why is learning letters any less fun than learning a new wiggle song and dance? Who said that learning to count isn't just as fun as chasing a butterfly? There are a number of folks who've answered and shown that their children enjoy learning. "Let's look it up!" "when you get excited about their accomplishments, they get excited, too!"

Kids need balance--structured time, unstructured time; time to exercise their imaginations, time to deal with reality; time with adults, time with other children, time alone; time for art, for music, for math, for reading, for science, for social studies, for playing with language, etc. As parents, one of our responsibilities is to expose our kids to many opportunities, learning should be as much an adventure and exciting fun as playing catch or finger painting or building with blocks.

 

[LA~Poulet]

I homeschool, but I also know many moms who keep their kids home for preschool and send them to kindy and they do just fine without a curriculum at all.

Abeka has very in-depth programs for PreK-3 and preK-4 (3/4 is for years of age) but it is overkill and unnecessary in my opinion.

You'll want to work with your little one, they need to know basic shapes, colors, and if they are interested and you can teach them letters that would be great. PreK basically introduces them to the concepts, but it isn't necessary for them to have a curriculum to follow... just little educational books and printable worksheets (or ones you make) can be more than sufficient. One of my closest friends runs a local preschool that has a 3 & 4 y/o class, she uses Abeka, and I have subbed in with her when she was shorthanded. They basically talk about the weather, colors, read a book, and have a letter of the day and play a game with the letter's sound... every day. They work with learning their name and basic writing/coloring skills. No tests or really any pressure. Please be assured that you can do that, easily, and surpass what is 'taught' at preK very easily!

If you are sure that your child will be going into Kindergarten, I would also be sure to do playgroups/playdates, maybe go to library hours or mommy & me play times, and play with others at the park, so it isn't complete culture shock when they are thrust into a class of strange kids (some with great manners, some with not so great ones).

 

[Eggs4Sale]

Quote:
You have some good points, and I will certainly echo your opinion about bored children. Most classrooms do, however, teach to a variety of levels. Kids begin kindergarten all over the place as far as knowledge and educational achievements. Some enter already reading and others hardly know what a letter is, much less know them. IMO, a teacher who cannot or will not group and teach at different levels to fit each student's needs is poorly qualified.

However, I think that the attitude held by parents can make or break a child's interest in learning. Why is learning letters any less fun than learning a new wiggle song and dance? Who said that learning to count isn't just as fun as chasing a butterfly? There are a number of folks who've answered and shown that their children enjoy learning. "Let's look it up!" "when you get excited about their accomplishments, they get excited, too!"

Kids need balance--structured time, unstructured time; time to exercise their imaginations, time to deal with reality; time with adults, time with other children, time alone; time for art, for music, for math, for reading, for science, for social studies, for playing with language, etc. As parents, one of our responsibilities is to expose our kids to many opportunities, learning should be as much an adventure and exciting fun as playing catch or finger painting or building with blocks.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply an approach of teach, teach, teach vs. do nothing at all. I only brought up the Wiggles because that's what my kids were dancing to at that very moment. We have the "Do the Alphabet" Sesame Street video, and many others like it, but they just aren't as catchy as the Wiggles. But the kids watch them anyways. I guess I just meant that it's too easy to dismiss the fun, giggly stuff as a waste of time, or irrelevant to learning, when it is in fact the cornerstone to true learning, and more importantly, to child-parent bonding.

I've seen my son go from toddler to 11-year-old in a flash, and I wish I had spent more time dancing to the Wiggles with him. It is just gone so fast, and they should be enjoyed while we have them. I wish I hadn't stressed about achievements so early on, because I didn't enjoy his youth as much as I could have, and he probably didn't either.

 

[PattiXmas]

I don't home-school, my kids are in public schools, but I do have a question about home-schooled kids. There are a few families in our 4H Club that home-school their children. These families usually consist of 6 or more children, all under the age of 14. The one family has extremely smart, talented kids, but they are totally lacking any social skills and tend to be a bit standoffish. The other family has kids that are not too bright, the boys are a bit standoffish, the only girl seems starved for attention, yet again they all lack social skills, and it seems some days they lack respect for others.

The question I have is how do you teach your children social skills? Do you meet with other home-schooled children or do you arrange for your children to interact with the "general public"? It just seems that the home-schooled kids in our 4H Club, as well as a few other home-schooled kids I see, are all lacking in the social aspect and hold back to a certain extent or they just hang out with their siblings. Isn't this doing harm to the kids when it is time to go into the world to obtain a job, as they don't seem to have the same confidence and assertiveness that a child in the public (or private) schools have?

 

[rainplace]

Edited because Chirpy did a better job than me at saying what I wanted to say

 

[Chirpy]

Whether a child is home schooled, private schooled or public schooled... it is the parents responsibility to ensure that they are prepared to enter the world upon adulthood. That means teaching them to socially interact properly as well as knowing how to read, etc. Socially that means the parents need to spend the time necessary to make play dates, go on field trips, have their children in situations where they learn to interact with others. The cool thing with Home schooling is that parents get to chose who their children are interacting with.

As to the OPs question - I would let your preschooler be a child and enjoy playing for the next year - children spend years in school, let them be kids for a few years first... none of our children had a 'set' preschool curriculum. They learned just by being home with me and our other children. You can teach them to count by using dishes ("how many glasses are on the table?"), you can teach them math with blocks, teach them colors with towels or clothing. All of that costs nothing and the kids have fun learning... they don't even know they are learning!

Have fun for the next year!

 

[tnlorprazer]

I homeschool my children. I use the ambleside online program. The kids and I are loving it. We tried ABeka and it was just to much workbook type stuff for us. We are doing half days year around at their request. As far as a PreK or K program Mason didn't believe in starting kids this early and said that they learn just by doing everyday life. It does provide a booklist for you to read to your youngster but nothing formal. My 5 yr old is having a great time with these books.


Last year I did send them to the public school here and my oldest two had bully problems all year and the school faculty didn't do a thing about it. My middle daughter had multiple bruises were other kids pushed her into lockers and knocked her down etc, they cut her hair, they cut her coat, it just went on and on and it wasn't any better hardly for the oldest. The youngest was in PreK but already knew everything they were doing in the classroom and just basically learned how to manage herself in a classroom setting.