My little prince is only 5 years old and I often feel that I treat him much younger as he is my baby... He is a bright little boy and constantly suprises me with all that he knows and can do...
I really haven't pushed school this year with him... After the first month or two of this past school year I realized that he just wasn't ready.... He would try to be obedient in school, but I could tell that things just weren't sinking in the right ways...
It did seem that about January when he was closer to the 5-1/2 age he was much more ready for even a semi-formal attempt at "school"....
So, what has worked..... I had bought the Rod and Staff preschool set and he enjoys doing it daily... I do set limits... we work from only 2 of the "workbooks" at a time with the total for both books being around 10-15 minutes a day... He enjoys doing projects and spending time doing something well, but he needs alot of encouragement. He tends to have a defeatist attiutude and needs to be shown new things in the context that he has already done it to a degree.
We also use Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons... We are only on lesson 20 but so far so good.... Again, he just needs alot of encouragement and praise...
He also tends to listen to alot of the Princess' readings and over the years has become pretty good at doing narrations aloud.
We also do a bit of handwriting daily along with cutting.... he hates to color as a rule, but I have found that letting him use colored pencils somehow works better for him than crayons or markers...?
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For his next school year, that starts in June, this is the plan: I still plan on merging what I consider to be the best of The WellTrained Mind with amblesideonline.
We will start the day with devotions from Leading Little Ones to God and Bible readings with narrations/questions...
For grammar we will continue 100 Easy Lessons from above and start First Language Lessons on a daily basis.
Read a poem a day with memorization every few weeks from the Garden of Verse or Milne...
I may try out Saxon math 2 with him just to see how he does with a formal program... he tends to get practical math well... but then again, I may wait a few months and let the rest of this all sink in first...
Mondays: History day... I am fusing my own history with Story of the World 1 (we didn't mummify the chicken with the Princess, and I've waited 4 years to do this!) and Our Island Story using ambleside's schedule alternated with Trial and Triumph... Also Shakespeare paraphrased for kids... either Lamb's, Nesbits, or Covilles...
Tuesday (I often work so Mr. B or the Princess manage this day):50 Famous Stories, Aesop fables, and Just So Stories...
Wednesday: Science day... using Zoology 1 from Apologia with the Princess joining in. Also read stories from the Blue Fairy Book and Herriot's animal stories
Thursday: Aesop fables and art, also Story of the World activities/maps
Friday: Zoology 1 again with the Princess... Also cover geography with Paddle to the Sea. Nature walk... and the Burgess Bird Book
Additional reading should include:
Charlotte's Web
St. George and the Dragon
Peter Pan
Pocahontas (d'Aulaire)
Pinnochio
Velveteen Rabbit
King of the Golden River
Favorite Greek Myths (Osborne)
Benjamin Franklin (d'Aulaire)
Buffalo Bill (d'Aulaire)
Viking Tales (Hall)
Little House in the Big Woods...
I have linked many of these items for clarification for those interested, but many of these can be found for free online as they are in the public domain.... check with ambleside for direct links to the free text or librivox for the free recording....
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