A Kindergarten Routine...school ideas needed please : )

[JoyousBlessings]

Hello everyone,

I hope each of you are having a wonderful and blessed Friday. I am back again with more questions.

As mentioned before, we are new to the home schooling adventure. We are VERY excited though and I am even more thrilled that I found HOD because I think it will be an awesome fit for us.

What I am curious about is how I should begin this whole adventure with my son. He turns five in August, so he is a young kindergarten guy. : ) I haven't ordered any of my HOD stuff yet, but will soon. So, I really have no idea of how all this is going to work.

My son did go to preschool three days a week last year at a church. He enjoyed it, but was not overly thrilled. He did prove to be a very quick learner and he is FULL of questions. Even at his dentist visit yesterday, he wouldn't stop asking questions when his mouth was wide open! HA! HA! The hygenist was cracking up... he was questioning everything! It was really cute, but very funny too.

Anyway, I got off-topic. I am planning on using LHFHG because I think he will be ready for that even though he is younger. The teachers told me he is eager to learn and definitely ready for kindergarten material which made me feel good about my choice.

I was wondering though, about how long should I be teaching my son each day? I know if I were to send him to church kindergarten, he would be there anywhere from 4-6 hours per day. However, I feel that lots of that time is spent on outdoor play, eating lunch, rest time, teachers attending to other children, etc.... etc... So, I am thinking that teaching at home will be a touch different on time spent teaching per day.

I plan on teaching my son during the children's nap time since I run an in-home childcare. Also, I hope to get some teaching time in later in the afternoon once the kids have left for the day (around 3:30 or so). I have heard people mention teaching "half-speed" and "full-speed", but I am not really sure what that entails. Wouldn't I be behind if I am only teaching 1/2 of what my son should be learning each day instead of all of it??? Does that make a school year longer? I plan on teaching year round, so I don't know if that makes a difference or not also.

Another question that I had was because I am contemplating teaching four days a week instead of five. I am thinking of doing a M-TH type thing, but again, will that put us behind? I would love if someone that does this would share with me how it works.

Sorry for all the questions, but I am excited and I want to learn. I know that once I start doing this, things will start coming to me and then maybe I can be like all of you are to me, and help others one day. Until then, this newbie needs some help and advice to make her son's education a bright, fun, and exciting one.

Thank you for everything and I hope each of you have a wonderful day!

[christyg]

Good morning joyousblessings! I am new to homeschooling this year too! I am going to be starting LHFHG for my daughter in August for kindergarten. She will be turning 6 on Sept 1st. She probably would have been able to handle kindergarten last year, but, since her birthday was the cutoff day, I decided to wait, and sent her to preschool for 1/2 day. It was more about me not being ready to send her off to school . And since that time, we have moved to a different state and I have decided that homeschool would be the best choice for us.

According to the FAQ section on HOD's website, the LHFHG program takes about an 1 1/2 hrs or less to teach each day. So, that sounds very doable.

I am also planning on doing a 4 day schedule. We are planning on doing school on Monday thru Thursday as well, and then taking Friday off for running errands, appointments, and fun things like field trips. I think that everyone has their own way of handling that type of schedule, but I plan on doing the guide just like it is, and not doubling up on anything. We will just do it Monday thru Thursday, and then pick up where we left off on Monday. I plan on doing school year around, taking breaks when we want to.

I hope that this helps,
Christy

[Jessi]

I think if you do full speed 4 days a week it will spread your year out for an extra 9 weeks which would be perfect as he is on the young side of K anyway. So with you schooling year round and Little Hearts taking so little time to complete, you could do it all this year through next summer and next fall begin with Beyond. If he is ready for the workload then by all means go full speed. If you feel like it is too much then by all means slow down for a little while and do half speed (which basically means you do the left side of the spread on one day and the right side on the next day).

And if you are worried that by doing half speed he would be "falling" behind his counterparts in Public School....let me assure you that he will be perfectly on target if not ahead. I distinctly remembering a mom of a girl I used to babysit tell me that when her daughter was in K she was learning the exact same thing that I was teaching my daughter at 3. And that was in November of that school year!!! They were only covering the four basic shapes and colors and introducing the letters. Remember that public school can only go as fast as the slower kids in school because they don't want to leave anyone behind. You don't have that problem because you are working at his pace!

We are doing 4 day weeks in the fall and seeing as we have already completed 11 weeks we'll finish mid April. That is why we are doing 4 day weeks so that we don't finish so far in advance that we are floundering trying to figure out what to do in the interim. We'll take off a couple of months because we do a lot in May and June and then she'll begin Beyond right after July 4th. I have it mapped out. I'd recommend sitting down and figuring out what 4 day weeks will look like for you and how far into next summer it will take you. It sure helped me to "see" it on paper. I am leaving the fifth day for make up work, field trips and co-op stuff.

[my3sons]

Good afternoon, JoyousBlessings! Your little guy sound like such a cutie - I'd like to have been at the dentist's office and tuned into that! So, you had a few questions that Jessi and Christy did a great job of answering, but I'll chime in as well for fun...

I was wondering though, about how long should I be teaching my son each day?

We found LHFHG did indeed take us right around 1 1/2 hours to do, and that was perfect because my ds had plenty of time to play outdoors and indoors, do chores, computer, etc. It worked out great and fit that age's attention span well.

I plan on teaching my son during the children's nap time since I run an in-home childcare. Also, I hope to get some teaching time in later in the afternoon once the kids have left for the day (around 3:30 or so)

This sounds like a good way to have that special 1:1 mommy time with your ds. The Corresponding Music and rhymes could be done with all of them if you wanted (at least if you have any 2 yo's on up). They are "get moving" things (we march to the music as we sing it), and they could be done right before you put the other dc to nap so you'd have more time alone with ds during the nap for the rest of the plans (not sure how long the little ones will nap well or how consistently they do). You could also have him do his Fine Motor Skills box sometime before the littles go to nap. If you are going to do something later in the day after 3:30, Storytime and math might work well. They are both fairly short and can be done easily later in the day since they are not themed to match the history like everything on the left side of the plans.

I have heard people mention teaching "half-speed" and "full-speed", but I am not really sure what that entails. Wouldn't I be behind if I am only teaching 1/2 of what my son should be learning each day instead of all of it??? Does that make a school year longer? I plan on teaching year round, so I don't know if that makes a difference or not also.

Half-speed is doing the left side of the plans one day, and the right side of the plans the next day. This takes 2 years to go through a guide and is usually only done if teaching time has to be kept shorter - either due to dc being very young doing a guide, mom being short on time for a season, or mom wanting to slow down an older child so a younger child could eventually meet up with them and join them combined in a guide. Full-speed is doing both the left and right side of the plans each day, and this takes 1 year to go through a guide. This is done more commonly and would be the typical school year for dc.

Another question that I had was because I am contemplating teaching four days a week instead of five. I am thinking of doing a M-TH type thing, but again, will that put us behind? I would love if someone that does this would share with me how it works.

Some ladies (me being one of them ) also enjoy doing school 4 days a week, in which they just pick up wherever they left off the next week (so, the first week Monday through Thursday would be Unit 1, Days 1-4; but then the next week Monday through Thursday would be Unit 1, Day 5 through Unit 2 Day 3, etc.). If you do this, it will take an extra 9 weeks to finish the guide, but you have your Fridays (or whatever day you choose) off each week.

HTH! You have some great questions, and I can see a great plan falling into place. Have a super afternoon!

In Christ,
Julie