Home education/schooling

[ShanandBoc]

Sounds great s4m4nth4, thats how life is meant to be x

 

[marley2580]

Sounds fantastic. That's what I want my house to be like in a few years

 

[marley2580]

Well I've decided it's time to start teaching Kaya to read. Anyone got any tips?

 

[Dopeyjopey]

Marley, my Mum taught me to read at a young age - I think she started by showing me letters and repeating the sounds a few times each morning when I woke up at about 18 months old. I had an alphabet border in my room so she used that. Then she started showing me the letters together and how they sound in words. She didn't really use much in the way of 'props' and read to me very often, running her finger along the words as she said them. I was reading basic words at 2.5 years old so she must have been doing something right, even though it sounds too simple!

I saw in the shop today that the BBC magazine has those letter-head people from CBeebies (no idea what they're called) free with it. It wasn't the cheapest at £3.50 but might be good for moving round to show how to make different sounds. I'd also recommend getting fridge magnets with letters and start spelling out familiar words.

 

[freckleonear]

I'm using the Funnix program with Aaron, I got it when they did a free giveaway in January but I understand they've since made it much cheaper to buy. It's based on the famous book “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons”. Only downside is that it's American, but so far I've been really impressed. I've also heard lots of good things about the book itself so that might be worth buying.

 

[freckleonear]

Oh and regarding tactile letters, magnetic ones are great and we also had great fun making salt dough letters. The Montessori approach to reading might be another approach to consider, it is based on phonics but uses lots of sensory materials. https://www.infomontessori.com/language/introduction.htm.

 

[OnErth&InHvn]

we homeschool!! Well DD1 (shes almost 5) and is doing Preschool/Kindergarten work, working ahead of normal pace. We are taking a break from "formal" HSing, but working on the basics and introduced a Sensory Box today.

I am actually suppose to to go a Home School Convention this weekend and im SO excited!!

Thehomeschoollounge is a GREAT site
HSLDA is great for the laws
We use Lessonpathways.com right now for curriculum (goes from pre-k to 5 or 6 i think?)
Starfall is GREAT for little ones (pre K)
Letter Of the Day is great too

 

[Tanikit]

Hi, only just found this. I'm homeschooling my 3.5 year old - we did Sonlight P3/4 last year with her and are now doing a more eclectic approach (more a financial decision due to me being on maternity leave - I was working part time last year)

We do some worksheets as DD likes them, but mostly its just following her lead. I have also taught a fair amount of reading since very early though only when she is interested - I did mostly sight words at first as when I started she was too young for phonics, but now she does basic phonics too and we are reading early readers - her concentration is quite short so it is usually only a few sentences on any day.

Look forward to getting to know everyone.

 

[marley2580]

Well I've tried a bit of phonics with Kaya, but she can't seem to put the sounds together into a word, so instead we're going with learning a word a day just on whole word sight. Working so far *touch wood*

 

[Tanikit]

I'd do a bit of both at her age - as for the phonics, don't expect her to do it - just sound the word out for her and then tell her what it says (does she know all the alphabet sounds yet?)If you do this for a good few months often they usually start telling you what the word is when you say the letter sounds. Sight words work well cause they hold more interest.

 

[marley2580]

I'm having a moment of doubt. I'm quite worried that my kids are not going to have the opportunity to make any real friends as they won't be mixing at school etc. I don't have any friends with kids and my sister's wee one is at nursery and a childminder the whole week. I take them to toddler groups but they don't really mix with the kids there (I realise they're a bit young but Kaya happily plays with kids she knows). Kaya goes to gymnastics etc but they don't really have the opportunity to play with each other.

My mum says I need to cultivate friends with kids, but I find it quite hard to make friends - I have a lot of acquaintances but hardly any friends.

What can I do to make sure my kids have the opportunity to make friends?

 

[freckleonear]

Can you make contact with any other home educating families in your area? We meet up with three other families once a week in the park for informal activities and play. Aaron has made friends with the children there much better than at any toddler groups or clubs, I think it's because they have plenty of time and space to do their own thing without much adult intervention. Perhaps you could try and arrange play dates with other families, I'm sure they would be glad for the chance to make new friends too.

 

[marley2580]

I'm really struggling to find anyone with younger kids that HE anywhere near me. There are some meetups in Dundee (15 miles away) but to get to them would mean 2 busses there and 2 back!

 

[Tacey]

Now the weather is improving, you'll be able to go to parks to play out. Your eldest is just the age when she'll be starting to actually play with others rather than just alongside them, so I bet you find that friendships start to be formed naturally. Children seem to be better at this than we are! Is there any chance you could take the next step with the acquaintances you've made who have children, and see if they'd like to go for coffee or suggest a picnic for a few of you? Nothing like food to kick start friendships!

 

[Tacey]

Also Marley, I noticed in another thread you mention that you were largely unschooled, but it's not the way you've chosen to go with your own children. Could I ask why that is? Do you think it would have been better for you if you had been home schooled in a different way? I've been getting quite worried recently about how Alice will feel about the decisions we've made in later life. I know it won't be perfect whatever we do, but I've never spoken to an unschooled adult before!

 

[marley2580]

Well, although I was largely unschooled I wasn't totally, as my mum taught me to read at only 2. I actually wish, sometimes, that she had made me sit down and learn certain things such as maths (I'm ok with basics but that's it) or the piano. I do mostly unschool, but I think there are times that a child needs told 'today we're going to learn...' or 'it's time the TV went off' (both of which my mum did do btw)

 

[Dopeyjopey]

Has anyone seen my baby can read being used? I saw an advert on it and i can't make up my mind as to what i think! Seems like a good idea, but is a child of albert's age ready to learn that or will it take away his learning something else?

 

[lynnikins]

my friend is using it with her son and hes doing wonders with it my boys got to watch it while we were staying with them im thinking about getting it for the boys

 

[Tacey]

I'm not a huge fan of it really. I think like you mentioned it might get in the way of what they are more developmentally ready for. It seems like a bit of a party piece to me rather than giving a real grounding in the basics of reading. It probably isn't going to scar your child for life, but I think there are better, more age appropriate things to be doing with them.

 

[marley2580]

I think one of the best ways to teach a child to read is to make it fun. Eg for the words we're teaching Kaya we're making up actions to go with them and then we flash the card and do the action. Seems to be working. Never let them get bored while doing it though and retire the words they know after a couple of days.