Home Schooling My 4 Year Old.

Hi A. - I'm home schooling preschool, and in the process of deciding what to do for k. Right now were using a the Big Preschool book from target 19.00. I let her pick the pages she wants and I put the date at the top. Some days she wants to do school all day, and other not as much. (I also make slings, and used to do in home day care)
:) A. H

I have 6 children and Home Schooled 4/6. It is very simple when they are that young. Remember they soak up anything you do or say. Make a learning experience out of everything. I used Bob Jones & Alpha & Omega curriculum. Just relax with them and let them have fun. These materials have everything you will need. I even used making dinner fun with them and teaching them at the same time. Good luck.

I have two girls 6 1/2 and almost 5. This is my third year homeschooling and love it! I use My Father's World curriculum for the bulk of it. Their website is www.mfwbooks.com and their Kindergarten program is excellent, I did it with each of my girls at 4, my younger one is in the middle of it. To teach them to read, Sing, Spell, Read, and Write is fun and gives them a strong foundation for reading. When they complete Kindergarten and first grade level, they can read basically anything. My 6 yo is reading chapter books that are 3rd - 4th grade level. My homeschool philosophy is to teach my kids to love learning, so they will continue to learn their whole lives.

I am a mom of adult children (27, 25 and 22 years old) and we homeschooled (back in the Dark Ages:) for 11 years during the elementary and middle school years. The one piece of "advice" that I consistently give to parents of preschoolers who are interested in homeschooling is to "take it easy"! Much of what you are already doing in the home environment is "homeschooling" when you stop and think about it. Learning often occurs better when it is done in a natural environment. If you think you may be into homeschooling for the "long haul" - take it easy during these early years to avoid burnout. Little is much when it comes to early learning.

what products have you tried for home schooling? I am a second grade teacher....maybe I can give you some suggestions?

We used Abeka for our daughter and it was fabulous. If you are going to home school you just need to make sure your daughters have your undivided attention. Also, if you find that you are not meant to home school, then stop. I've seen so many moms who home school, who shouldnt, and their children pay for it. But if you find that you love it...than use that excitement to make it exciting for your children. If they are excited than they will learn more. Good luck.

I think that is a terrific idea. I home school my 17 year old. I know there is a huge age difference, but I do plan pulling my 10, 7, 6 year old out of school to be homeschooled after they complete the 5th grade. If my finances were better now, I would definitley do it NOW. I love it.

I used to run a licensed home day care as well. Zion Academy has great homeschool material and record keeping. Their wed address is www.zionacademy.com.

Blessings to you and your adventure, you won't regret it.
Sonya

I started homeschooling my daughters preschool this past fall(07)h and at the beginning she didn't even know how to spell her name or even recognize letters. I use the A Beka Book program (also used in the Christian school my son goes to) and the program is wonderful. Right now she is doing awesome. She can write her whole name, knows all the letters, numbers, etc!!!!! You can get the whole K4 program but really all you need is the Writing K4 manuscript(printing letters and blending), ABC 123 K4(numbers and blending pages), and the Readiness skills K4(cutting, tracing, gluing, dot-to-dots, etc). If you kinda know how to do lesson plans you can do them yourself and save a huge bundle and just get those 3 books. But all the other books are great too. Have fun!!!!!

There are so many different things you could do that it's overwhelming sometimes. When my oldest was 4, he wanted to go to school because all his friends were in school. I bought all this curriculum and ended up sending it all back. I tried, but just decided that playing games and reading to him was the best use of our time at that age. Just so you know, he graduated last year from home school and will be attending college next year on a full-ride academic scholarship to study something in computers. That's just to let you know not to worry too terribly much about a structured curriculum right now. Your child's not doomed to academic failure if you read and play right now.

I just read your response. We used that for a while with my girls and they loved it.

Hi!

Please tell me you live near Ann Arbor! : ) I am also homeschooling my 4 year old and could use all the help I can get. I have two resourse to share. One is Oak Meadow home school curriculum. I actually prefer the kindergarten curriculum to the preschool one. Also there is a book called Homeschooling: The Early Years by Linda Dobson, Prima Press 1999 that is quite good. Best of luck to you.

A.

A wonderful resource to get answers to all the typical home schooling questions is HSLDA.org. This is a short cut to their home schooling questions page: http://www.youcanhomeschool.org/starthere/default.asp?bhcp=1 If you copy and paste this link into your browser it should take you directly to this very helpful page. You may request free information from this site as well.

I personally found A Beka Book curriculum, the same that many Christian private schools use, to be far superior in quality and content than many others out there that I tried. They have 4-year old kindergarten and 5-year old kindergarten curriculum.

Are upi familiar with the Homeschool Building in Wyoming, MI? It has getting started seminars and you can contact your nearest support group through their website www.homeschoolbuilding.org. There are lots of good material out there so talking to people about what they use is a good step, but an even better one is exploring what style teaching will be best for your family. Good luck!

Hi A.. I also have a 4 year old daughter that I homeschool. We're pretty flexible about it now cause I think 4 is so young to be doing "formal" school. But we have lots of fun learning.

First off, here is a website that gives all the grade levels and what they should be learning. http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?curriculum

Usually I pick a topic of the week (farm animals, a season, colors, transportation, feelings, etc) and mold our learning around that topic. She pretty much knows all her letters and their sounds now, but I was also picking a letter of the week. We go to the library on Mondays to get books on our topic. I also find crafts, activities and hands on stuff to help her learn. Sometimes I get a short educational video as well. Field trips are great ways to learn also (we went to the Fire Station when learning about fire safety).

There are many helpful websites out there (at this point I don't see a need to spend lots of money on books and worksheets). Here are some of my favorites:

http://www.preschoolexpress.com/ (my favorite)
http://www.preschoolbystormie.com/themes.htm
http://www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/index.htm
http://www.abcteach.com/
http://www.starfall.com/ (excellent! my daughter loves playing the games on here which teach!)

Hope this all helps. Just have fun...at this age they learn so much just because they are inquisitive.

Have fun and let your daughter's curiosity lead the way, foster her wonder and focus on what she is doing right. Follow her lead and don't worry about "getting stuff done". I think it's about keeping our children connected to how they naturally learn.

I have homeschooled my three children. They decided to go to high school, one as a junior, one as a freshman and I have one still at home for another year. They are all doing really well.

My advise is to spend the early years focusing on helping you child learn how they learn. Explore everything, concentrate on listening and learning with them, get dirty, color outside the lines, play outside, bake together, really limit tv and computer time, and take time to wonder. It's also a great time to introduce another language (no writing or reading until 9 or older), and learn a musical instrument. Discover.

I really liked the books titled "your four year old", "your five year old", etc. The books helped me have a better idea of what's going on for them.

No matter what you do, if you create it with your child and do it with love, she'll blossom.

Enjoy!