Suggestions for Homeschool Materials, please?

[Constantlyreforming]

Our daughter is completing kindergarten next week at a local small Christian school. While the effort was admirable, even though the class size was small, they still struggled to know what to do with her. We had her tested a few weeks ago. She is reading at 99% efficiency at a 5-6th grade level (and they stopped there), while having a 4th grade level "understanding". She is advanced in science and somewhat in math as well, although we do not know how much, as its hard to test for that at this age. She is wise beyond her little years and my wife and I look at each other and wonder how in the world such a brilliant little girl came from two who struggled a bit through school.

Any thoughts on this? My wife works 2.5 days out of the home while my MIL watches our daughter. We had PLANNED on teaching paige in a school setting for 2.5 days a week, and the other 2.5 days are for reading/study/homework while my MIL watches her.

Thoughts?

Here's our little smarty-pants.

 

[wraezor]

Beautiful little lady. And some impressive hair!

Homeschooling is beneficial for a few reasons. Not the least of which is its flexibility. Your situation sounds like it will require some flexibility in two ways. 1) The level that homeschooling demands to your child. 2) The weekly schedule that fits your situation.

Grade level: Nobody can tell you what curriculum would fit your daughter and family best at this point. There's research that can be done to find some likely matches such as HomeSchoolReviews.com -- Homeschool Curriculum Reviews The simple advice is to accelerate her pace through some grades until it matches her abilities. At one point I did 3 grades in two years. Once you and/or your wife are involved daily with her, understanding her strengths and gifts, you will know best how to further challenge her. It may be accelerating her in the fundamentals or maybe adding on other 'classical education' pursuits (music, language) or even technology, etc.

Weekly Schedule: If you have/want to maintain your current schedule and have your wife work half the time, teaching your daughter when she is home, it may be possible to make that time more 'intensive' and leave the rest of the time with the MIL to be more independent/self-directed aspects of her education.

Just some thoughts from a home-school grad who's homeschooling his own children.

 

[Bethel]

Is the Christian school allowing her to be there part time for 1st grade? Have you discussed with the school what will she be missing (i.e. days, times, and subjects)? I think the part-time scenario would be difficult to make sure that Paige is doing the work for grading purposes (not that she can't do the work, but that she would miss too much of it) and to meet the school's attendance policy. Personally, I think you would be better off having her attend school full-time or homeschool full-time.

As for homeschool materials, Paige is not going to be a 'boxed curriculum' student. You will probably need to find the best fit for her subject by subject.

 

[Miss Marple]

While she may be working several grade levels ahead academically, do remember she is still young too - without intending any offense, do let her be silly and be a child and keep things age appropriate. You are probably already doing that, but I just wanted to preface my comments with that.

Suggestions:

Start a foreign language. Get those linguistic skills to work. This can be fun and challenging. I use "The Learnables" and like it well. But there are many highly rated foreign language courses.

Get her through the entire "Spelling Power" curriculum. Once she completes it she should have mastery of basically every generally used English word.

I have not used Sonlight curriculum, but have often admired it and I think it is worth investigation for a heavily reading-based education.

Writing Strands if often recommended for creative writing work, and a verbally talented child can take that far.

I used Modern Curriculum Press math until 4th grade, then started with Saxon 54. Have her take the placement test online (free) - search for "Saxon placement test," I'm sure you'll find it. If her math skills are advanced like her reading skills, you can start her there appropriately.

Hope this helps -

 

[jwithnell]

We've been flexible with the education of all our kids who range in age from college graduate down to kindergarten. I wouldn't get too hung up on test results -- just move along with your child's capability and don't worry too much about the number on the cover of the book.

While Sonight probably best matches our educational philosophy (and it's what we're using now) don't align yourself too strongly with a particular publisher. We reevaluate our curriculum every year for the mix of kids we're teaching (right now, K +3rd). I tend to introduce formal math and grammar terms early and assume the kids will grow into them. That way things like variables, negative numbers, and formal grammar terms won't sound so scary when they come along in the normal scope and sequence, and sometimes the concepts take root early. (My kindergartener is fascinated by 0 and infinity, while my third grader loves negative numbers.)

Even if you don't have to, go ahead and write a letter to explain why you home school (or Christian school). Let this hold you on course. With all the difficulties of dealing with an autistic child, I was ready to drop kick both of them into the public schools for next year. My husband calmly reminded me that our primary objective is to rear Godly children, regardless of their ability to conjugate verbs. It reminded me of the letter I had to write to the schools to explain our intention to home school under Virginia's religious exemption laws. That brought my effort back into focus and made my choices for next year much clearer.

 

[Constantlyreforming]

SHe won't be going to both schools, it will only be homeschool. THank you for all the help and please keep the suggestions coming. Our goal is to raise a godly child who loves and lives Christ....first.

 

[TexanRose]

I have a child (age 7) who is also very advanced academically. I've attempted many times to develop a curriculum and lesson plan for him, but he learns so much and so fast on his own, generally outpacing all of my own plans for him, that I have (so far anyway) mostly left him to himself. I provide him with plenty of good books to read, especially non-fiction; a good set of encyclopedias; paper and pencils; limited access to khanacademy.org (which I highly recommend); and some good textbooks like the Apologia Young Explorers series (which I also highly recommend), and then I let him have at it. I keep a close eye on him and step in as needed to help him figure things out when he gets frustrated, to give him the Christian/creationist explanation when he is reading something that presents the humanist/evolutionist point of view, and to correct attitude problems. I think that this sort of self-directed education can work well for exceptionally bright and motivated children, for the first few years anyway (though I do think more structure at some point is important, too).

I would recommend doing some reading about the philosophy of education first, before jumping into curriculum selections. Two of my favorites:
The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer
The Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola

Useful websites:
The Well-Trained Mind Forums (aka Hive Mind) - Powered by vBulletin --there's a subforum for parents of gifted homeschoolers
Hoagies' Gifted Education Page --website about gifted education, lots of useful info
Khan Academy --lots of math and science instructional videos, very useful & interesting

Hope that helps!

 

[Bethel]

SHe won't be going to both schools, it will only be homeschool. THank you for all the help and please keep the suggestions coming. Our goal is to raise a godly child who loves and lives Christ....first.

Okay, I apologize if I offended you in any way; I must have misread your original post.

Veritas Press (Veritas Press - classical education curriculum for Christian schools and home schools) is a good resource for titles of advanced reading material. I have used the Omnibus series for literature, but I would not recommend it because of the editing work done by Douglas Wilson and later by Peter Leithart. On a more positive side, it has been a good tool to teach my sons discernment...

Tapestry of Grace (Tapestry of Grace: classical, Christian homeschool curriculum | Tapestry of Grace) is good literature based program that you would be able customize for your daughter and keep her challenged as well as combine many subjects with one program.

For advanced homeschool students proficient in math, I would highly recommend Singapore Math. This website will help you place her: Singapore Math

For elementary science I would recommend the Apologia Elementary Series: Apologia Elementary Science : Learn, Live, and Defend the Faith
I used the notebooking journal with this program, and it was very enjoyable and educational. In the high school years, I have switched to Bob Jones, but that's just a personal preference for our family (the Apologia books get a little dry).

For writing, I've used Classical Writing with great success (Welcome to Classical Writing) and for grammar & spelling, Rod & Staff has built a great foundation for my boys (Rod and Staff Books: English).

Finally, for foreign language and logic, I would recommend Classical Academic Press (Classical Academic Press, Classical Subjects Creatively Taught)

If you really wanted a box program for the first year (which can be a bit overwhelming even in 1st grade), I would recommend this program: Memoria Press - Primary Curriculum - Reading, Writing, Phonics & Arithmetic

Your biggest challenge will be what level to buy for your daughter. The first year or so will be a lot of trial and error, but since you are starting early, it will all work out in the long run.

I hope this helps!

 

[Dordts5]

My wife and I have a child, now 9, that spent most of her toddler years in the hospital, up to the age of 5. She was not introduced to much schooling at all, just very simple primary things until she fully recovered from her transplant that took place right before she turned 5. We knew we would homeschool from the get-go and simply remained confident in God's providence in the circumstance.

We started, and have remained with Abeka. It suites her needs at the moment. I would like to move over to Sonlight because of its approach inside the material. However, Abeka is certainly a good program.

The first response after your OP is one to take with you in regards to the time factor. You certainly have a gifted child. What I enjoy about homeschooling is not just the schedule and freedom, but the ability to motivate a child to learn. Many children inside homeschooling enjoy learning.

Something else that we have incorporated into the education material is The Shorter Catechism. I just started this, teaching Audrey memorization of not only the Catechism, but Scripture as well. She is having a blast and running. Her reading level is somewhat lower for her age, but this points to another fine aspect of homeschooling: garner interest, and allow the child to accelerate at their own speed. Next on the list, after we settle in with our relocation, is to introduce piano.

I apologize for the extended post and am not trying to thread steal, but simply suggesting ideas from which you may glean.

 

[Scot]

Veritas Press (Veritas Press - classical education curriculum for Christian schools and home schools) is a good resource for titles of advanced reading material. I have used the Omnibus series for literature, but I would not recommend it because of the editing work done by Douglas Wilson and later by Peter Leithart. On a more positive side, it has been a good tool to teach my sons discernment...

Would you please give some examples of why you would not recommend it. My wife is currently using it with our children. Thank you.

 

[Pergamum]

Wow, what a beautiful and bright-looking little girl!

We use Sonlight with Saxon Math and lots of DK picture books and "Hey Andrew, teach us some Greek" - if we were in the USA we would have our kids enrolled in some sort of music or instrument course. Also, we would love to do gymnastics or some sport developing coordination (besides jungle soccer and trekking) for our children.

 

[kvanlaan]

We have a daughter that started reading at 2-3 years old. We use Sonlight as well, as it can be so easily tailored to the child's needs.