I have been reading the home school boards again. They all say don’t teach young children. You will regret it. Where do we draw the line? Should I use programs meant for older children? Some are easy to adapt, I know. But every time I read reviews I think maybe they are right. Maybe this literature( or history or science) is too advanced. Will my child get more meaning, make more connections if we wait until she is older?
Our flash program covers many of these topics and we do read aloud. Our reading of course is for older kids. Is there really any greater understanding in a child at age 6 or 8? That is the age reccomended by most homeschoolers to begin formal instruction. My dd is 4y5m. I have adapted things for her before, tailored to how she learns. Right now I am loving some of the reading lists on all subjects. We read some children’s classics now. Will I really regret pushing forward with an established curriculum? Will we plateau and not reach new skills for awhile? All children do this, even EL kids.
There was a topic on here recently about how much to expect at 4or 5. We are shifting away from child-led instruction at this point. I think it is a good thing. We are establishing daily habits in how we learn and work.
I am rambling, sorry. Has anyone else thought this through?
Oh yes we all have many times!
So firstly yes an 8 year old does get a deeper understanding of a topic than a 4 or a 6 year old does. However that is no reason not to teach it earlier. People remember new things best by building apron previous knowledge. So teach your kids whatever you want to. You can always increase the level of teaching and thus their understanding through revisiting it a few years later. Your revisit will be much briefer than it would have been had you kids never heard of it before.
I have 3 kids and often find myself teaching my 4,6 year olds whatever my 8 year old wanted to learn about. ( today it was Lithuanian culture comparing Christianity and paganism!) the younger kids learnt lots, my older two understood WHY not just WHAT.
I am constantly adjusting programs, even for my older two who attend school. The adjusting for ability never stops regardless of the amount of EL you do or don’t do. That is something all teachers do every day.
I do think it’s important not to skip too many things that the average age kid learns. For example my son does grade 1 math easily but I realized recently he knows the words to very few nursery rhymes ( although he can sing them and play them on piano in solfege he doesn’t know the words lol ) I also taught my girls their 3D shapes before they knew their alphabet which totally confused their preschool teachers! :biggrin:
My kids are now ( all three) learning world history and geography at a advanced level, as well lots of advanced art, this doesn’t bother me at all as it is barely covered in their school curriculum anyway. You can pick and choose what you want to teach them early.
In the end I think it’s all the other people in the world holding our kids back. If they CAN learn it easily and they enjoy it then I think it’s probably more wrong NOT to teach them.
As far as literature goes I use my child as a measure - if she is too young for the book I am reading then she will get bored or not listen well and not interact. If she is enjoying it then I read it. We are reading Pippi Longstocking right now and she is nearly 5 years old. There is a lot she is missing in the story and a lot she doesn’t truely comprehend but she finds it humourous and it is still instilling a love of reading and books. There is nothing to stop me reading it again when she is older and will get deeper meaning from it.
I have never regretted teaching my child something at a young age. Most boards you read presume that you teach these children using very formal methods - that they have to sit at a desk and keep still and pay attention. That doesn’t work with most young children anyway and if you force that then yes you probably will regret it, but if you play educational dvds, listen to books on audio in the car, talk about what is happening when out in the garden (even if it means discussing photosynthesis or some other topic usually for older children) then they will learn and enjoy it.
Especially as far as content subjects go (history, geography, science etc) school itself keeps revisiting topics - you can read the same book again, you MUST revisit the topics preferably in more depth at an older age because experience does determine what they get from it. But just because they aren’t experienced now, doesn’t mean they will get nothing from it.
Yes, all children do plateau - you watch children as babies seem to bound forward on milestones and then slow down, but I think plateauing is misunderstood - draw it on a graph - if you bound forward fast and then plateau before you climb you should still be ahead of those that start later UNLESS the plateaus last longer than the other childrens and why should they - its too individualistic to draw conclusions. I think school itself causes many of the plateauing problems read about because the child gets bored and doesn’t concentrate because nothing is new for ages and then when they do reach new work they have got into such a habit of switching off that they don’t realise and miss the new work.
I do have expectations of my nearly 5 year old - she must do some work and some of it is seated work, but I try to keep the amount of time suited to a nearly 5 year old rather than the actual work she is doing. Emotionally she is also still a nearly 5 year old and I take that into account too.
Some topics should be left til later - discussing adult topics (rape or abortion for example) with a 4 year old just because she is capable of hearing it is not wise because the understanding is not there and it could scare them. Expecting a child to watch a very adult movie is also not fair on the child. If however these topics do come up in everyday life then they should be explained in a manner that the child can deal with - but the topics should not be sort out or covered just because they can be - there needs to be proper everyday context.
What helped me was to realize that even playing is learning. We love the curricula from www.hubbardscupboard.org that has age related activites and not just paper and reading etc but fun stuff like writing in pudding. Hands-on fun like matching socks things that the children naturally want to do like dressing themselves. More or less we encourage practical skills and life skills more I guess like montesorri, pouring, sifting, matching, sorting type things nothing heavy like school but just practical everyday movements and learning. I love to see my children removing the sticker from the sticker paper that is an accomplishment to a homeschooling mom, brushing teeth, brushing hair, dressing with different types of fasteners, fun stuff like hopping on one leg, skipping, things that developmentally they should be doing. Playing is also fun dressing teddy or undressing teddy. Rolling, pushing, pulling cars on the floor. Those things if you want to consider ‘teaching’ them we consider them just playing and being a kid. However, we intereact with the children, getting in the floor with them, instructing slightly and reinforcing proper handling of toys, clothing, etc. We as ‘teaching’ set back and let the children explore different objects in the home and allow the child to feel like they are apart of the home instead of just in the home. we have a shelf just for snacks for them, their toys, their clothing, their school toys, and their daily hands-on workboxes. I think confessions of a homeschooler and Tot school have great ideas about that as well. With all of the children over 100 that have came through our doors including my own three I have learned that everychild is different and we can’t go on statistics to homeschool. I have 4 and 5 year olds that enjoy learning so much that it is hard for me to keep up. And I have 2 year olds that are the same then I have some who really just wanna play with their toys and that is okay. No matter where you are and what your child is doing they are learning, even with just playing they are learning. I know children who have never had a formal instruction of like school at 4 years old and are beginning to read, they just taught themself because they were eager to learn. From cereal boxes, road signs, and sadly but from TV titles. If your child is active and loves to learn why not enjoy the learning time now. One reason that some may dislike the idea is because when enrolled in public school they may be more advanced then the majority of the class so therefore the child may get bored and then behavior issues rise then later on like in 2nd grade the child falls behind due to the fact of being in that behavior routine. Well my experience anyway. so that is why we made the choice to home educate for as long as we can and are permitted. Home education can be done even if the child is enrolled in public school for as parents and or guardian we teach and or instruct the children every minute we are with them either by our words, actions, and or attitudes. oh and just a hint who is writing the home school boards that you are reading? homeschoolers or ? Homeschooling isn’t for everyone and or every child either. Some children may need the social interaction and or routine of a school setting some may not do well, depends. But we never deny the right for a child to learn if the child is interested in learning why not, you never know who they could grow up to become.
and I do agree that certain topics and subjects need to be left for later when the child is more mature and or age appropriate. Staying with the proper guidelines for each age level is important. there are many guidelines to follow for each age and remember not every child has the attention span as others as well.
here is a PRESCHOOL Guideline that we use.
Preschool Skills
Language Skills:
Communicate and converse well.
Know how to speak in sentences.
Listen well and follow simple directions.
Repeat simple directions in sequence.
Understand letters and alphabet.
Follow along with stories and books.
Take part in daily reading activities.
Remember, retell, and discuss stories.
Know and repeat nursery rhymes.
Print letters and numbers.
Know meaning of common words.
Understand directions, such as up and down, over and under, in and out.
Social Study Skills:
Understand family and relation to family.
Know community places and simple directions.
Know difference between city and country.
Know domestic, farm, and zoo animals.
Know types of transportation, such as cars, buses, trains, planes.
understands about cultures and people
Math and Science Skills:
Know colors and shapes.
Match colors and shapes.
Understand numbers, their purpose, and count to 10.
Copy numbers and letters.
Understand more and less, empty and full.
Understand alike and different.
Understand sizes, such as big and little, tall and short.
Enjoy simple experiments.
Enjoy hands-on games and projects.
Enjoy asking questions, exploring, and learning.
Health and Life Skills:
Know full name and parents’ names.
Know full address and phone number.
Know age and birthday.
Print first name.
Dress self, button buttons, zip zippers.
Care for belongings and toys.
Care of self and personal hygiene.
Run, jump, hop, march.
Color, paste, cut with safety scissors.
Hold crayon, pencil, paintbrush well.
Build blocks, put together simple puzzles.
Play with clay, put together construction sets.
Play with friends and siblings well.
Use appropriate social skills, manners, and respect
Knows about strangers versus monsters
Knows about Fire safety
Knows about Tornado and or storm safety
Knows how to dial 911
Knows safety boundaries outside
Knows about germs, dental care, hand washing, blood
Puts away items if asked, knows where items belong
Knows about home safety, not to open the door, not to unlock door, not to go out with an adult
Knows where to exit, and or find help in case of emergency or lost
Vehicle safety in and out of the vehicle