How Do You Know When To Start A Child?

[faiths13]

My youngest is going to be 4 next month. I started LHTH with him about two weeks ago. We got through 5 days of work in that time. He has no interest in doing it. There have been times we have done it and had fun, but he still has no interest in doing it when I try to get him to. I tell him "lets play" or "lets play a game" or "lets spend special time together". He doesnt bite. Even when I can get him to start it's very hard to get him engaged in what Im trying to do. So Im wondering if maybe he isn't ready. I don't plan on doing LHFHG until he is about 6. That is how old my son is that is doing LHFHG now and he is doing well (for 1st grade). Sometimes he will participate in what his 6 yr old brother does, but not very often. He doesn't seem to want to sit still or listen very much, but sometimes he answers questions even when I thought he wasn't listening. So how do I know when to start him on school? should I wait a year and do LHTH for K?

[bethelmommy]

Well, I haven't done LHTH yet. I'll be starting with my soon to be 3 yr. old sometime this fall. However, I think it's fine to wait a few more months and try again. If he is still not ready, then wait a bit longer and try again. Just let him join in on big brother's stuff as he likes. If you haven't already, it might be wise to start giving him some structured time in his day for a few minutes at a time just to get him used to attending to a task. My older kids enjoyed a few coloring/workbook pages each day at that age, but we also did alot of hands on activities - play dough, pouring activities, dry erase, tracing, cutting, lacing cards, and other tot tray activities, as well as lots of reading. You could try breaking up the guide and just do one or two boxes a day and build up from there. I'm sorry I don't have more helpful experiences to share. We started with LHFHG for my oldest two and used a different curriculum for their PreK.

[MelInKansas]

I would put it away for a while and wait. Many kids (especially girls) are excited and eager to "do school" by that age, but if he is not, I don't see any reason why you need to push him in it. Charlotte Mason would recommend a very gentle introduction and school that is more activity based than book based. There's no urgency for him to learn letters and numbers and he will probably learn them on his own (my 2nd and 3rd born did, just because we were doing stuff all the time).

[TrueGRIT]

My opinion is that you start a child regularly for Pre-K as soon as they ask for it. Or in some cases when they begin participating in most of an older child's work. Or when they try to make up their own work. When my youngest did all of the above I made school time regular for her, instead of a couple days a week. Previously on those 2 days, I mainly did Bible story, songs, and activity based things - not really much in the way of FM skills. It was more of a devotional time for us.

I would say take a break, then try again just 2 days a week, building up excitement for those special times. Make it seem less like school and more like time with Mommy. (That was the only thing that worked with my middle.) I know you said you tried that, but maybe with a break and only 2 days in a week it would help. If you don't plan on LHFHG until 6, you have plenty of time for a break and going slowly. Given time he will get there.