If your toddler is already on a 1st grade level or beyond, what are you planning to do for their elementary education years and beyond?
We had always planned to homeschool. I was labeled “gifted” in school. I was bored out of my mind. I couldn’t do that to anyone else.
We plan on doing a wide curriculum of several languages, rich in history, music and art study, and literature. The basics will be on whatever level she needs no matter what grade they are leveled. My dd is 4.5. We are only doing Kindergarten math. Other subjects are more advanced because of her reading.
This probable doesn’t help you if you aren’t already considering homeschool. If I had to send her to school I would look for a bilingual/language immersion school or maybe Montessori.
I don’t really need help deciding what to do with my kids just yet, I’m a mom to be, still, lol…sigh
However I am curious what parents are planning to do or even what they are doing as their kids reach a more traditional school age, especially if there child is significantly advanced beyond the typical preschool-grade 1 scope.
I was homeschooled and I plan to homeschool, whether I do EL or not. I would really love to do a rich EL program and continue that trend until they are older and can make wiser, more informed choices about their own educations.
If I have to send my kids to a brick and mortar school than I would prefer some “non-traditional” or “non-mainstream” education for them such as Montessori for the 0-6 years and then an international, multilingual school.
My daughter is turning 5 years old in September - she is probably reading at a 4th grade level, though still prefers to read with me rather than independently as her concentration span for reading is still short. She is due to start grade R/0 (kindergarten) next year January and what level she will be at by then is anyone’s guess. We have decided to homeschool her.
Part of this is also because my sister’s child did go to kindergarten this year - she went to a French school in the hope that learning French would allow her to learn something new at school, but it did not help as the school was partly bilingual and she was so far ahead academically that she learnt to adjust and figure things out even if she did not understand the French instructions (she would then read them in English or just know what to do based on the pictures and the fact that the work was very simple for her) She did learn some French though cannot cpeak it well - she does understand it. My sister has now pulled the child out of school and will begin homeschooling her with the intention of doing a heavily art/music curriculum, finishing up grade 1 in a short space of time and beginning grade 2 work much of which the child is already beyond also.
My own daughter is starting a spelling programme now to aid her writing, she is doing math at about a grade 1 level though I expect her to accelerate through a lot of it - I use multiple curricula to provide depth and slow things down so that she has time to learn the math facts during play. For most other subjects I just make sure we have a wide variety of library books on multiple topics/subjects and that we discuss things and link things to everyday life - we make the most of every opportunity for learning.
Depending on our situation next year I would like to teach a foreign language (she has picked up bits of a few now) but we plan to emigrate sometime so choosing one to do has been difficult. I spend most of my time looking at curricula for grade 4 and above and then adapting it down or finding age appropriate books that my daughter can read on those topics. We also spend a lot of time playing age appropriate games that match her skill set - so we play shop and practice using money, adding, subtracting etc and then get her to do it in a real shop when I go grocery shopping.
There are other things I am focussing on however - like how to treat your sister fairly and kindly, how to speak to people respectfully, how to ask politely for something, character building, social skills etc that are very important but in general cannot be learnt on an accelerated basis (however having my child home with me means that she actually is learning them faster and also because there is more time to address them immediately)
I have yet to think beyond elementary - I take each year (usually each month) as it comes and adjust - for example when starting a spelling programme with her I had planned to do it while working on writing in lines - it was too much for her so I have now split it into two things - one is just writing neatly in lines (copywork) and the spelling she can write on a line without having to stress about her handwriting as much. I am constantly tweaking how I teach and what I do with her and the same with the baby.
This thread is right up my ally. My 5-year-old is kindergarten age this fall, is reading on a 4th grade level. My husband asked me, “So what’s next for Peter?” I have taken that question to heart and I struggle a little with it. I’m a homeschool graduate and have always planned on homeschooling him, so the level of officialness with his age is exciting, but also a little intimidating because up to now we have always done “school” in a fun, joyful way, never as work, but always as a game. He has learned so much that way, and I want to keep it that way. But there are some skills that you have to work for, like writing, and while I want it to be fun for him, I think he’s old enough to have required tasks.
For writing in the creative sense, I have let him start his own blog. (private of course!) He is writing a story about an airplane on it right now, but I will also scan in his artwork and things like that to make a nice little record. At the end of the year, we’ll print it out and he’ll have a keep-sake book.
For penmanship, I finally decided to go with this program: http://teachmejoy.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2. We are going to start with cursive. Handwriting is something we’re starting from scratch this year.
For math, we’re doing math-u-see.
For science, aside from all the books we check out from the library, we’re having fun with this kit: http://www.amazon.com/Be-Amazing-Toys-Big-Science/dp/B0034N7OZO
We are focusing on American history this year with help from the internet and library books.
We are enrolling him in the local community children’s choir. Oddly enough, he’s very excited to stand in a line with the other kids on stage.
I’ve decided to really focus in on music this year for all of my kids. Before now, I have focused on reading because I knew that knowing how to read would open up so many doors for them in all the other learning areas. I’ve dabbled in music until now, but I’m going to really focus on it this year, maybe even to the neglect of other subjects because I know that having a solid foundation in music will likewise help with the other subjects. Besides, we read a lot of books from the library on a variety of subjects, so they are still learning in those areas. I know that learning a foreign language is important, but it’s an area that is really intimidating to me. I really struggled with my foreign language classes in college. However, music is like a foreign language in many ways, so maybe I get brownie points for that.
I can’t wait to see what other moms have to say about this, because I’m still in the research phase for answering this question myself. I’ve got a reading 5-year-old. Now what?!?
James is only 2.5 but we plan to homeschool. I won’t be teaching by grade I will be teaching subjects by levels at his own pace. I plan to school all year round. I will focus on his weaker subjects so that he is well rounded.
Currently he has just started Kindergarten Math, Pre-K critical thinking for gifted (which is way more challenging than K math). He will be starting First Grade Phonics. I am not sure where he is with other language arts. We focus on basic reading right now.
Science, social studies, etc are all just being absorbed as content from reading a lot.