Homeschool World Forum

kkapfe · User Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 55 Location: Illinois

I am brand new to home schooling! My oldest will be in 1st grade and my middle daughter (4 1/2 yrs old) will be attempting kindergarten. She is so smart that we are going to see how she does with being a year ahead. If she needs more time, she'll still have that extra year and won't be behind. We will be starting officially in the fall but I just can't wait to get started. At first, I thought that we had to have all of these books and sit at a desk for a certain amount of time each day. Since, we have to wait for a month or two (I am a full-time student at the moment) we are just doing some of the fun colorful workbooks that you can buy at Target or Office Depot. It is definitely going a lot slower since I can't dedicate more time each day but my girls are learning. It's amazing to see the lightbulb turn on for them.

GaHerd · Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 2:55 pm Post subject:

Put her on a site like www.starfall.com that she can move around in herself and learn at the same time. Good site to make use of time with. Instead of Nick.com which kids will do if you let them.
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Theodore · Last edited by Theodore on Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:55 am; edited 1 time in total

I'm not sure introducing a very young child to the Internet is a good idea. Even ignoring the whole issue of safety, there's some substance to the argument that hands-on work (in this case, real books rather than a web sites) does a better job of developing the brain. There's just a lot more that can be done in the way of tracing things with your fingers, turning the pages this way and that to visualize the pictures from different angles, etc. There's also less distracting elements in a book vs a web site.

And yes, you can do all sorts of arts and crafts.
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kkapfe · User Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 55 Location: Illinois

I was thinking more along the lines of arts and crafts...you know, gluing 5 buttons on card stock with the number 5 written on it. That way she can learn to associate the written number with "how much" it is. My daughter is very hands on but would definitely get bored with workbooks all day long ever day. She is one who thrives in variety.

momo3boys · User Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 574 Location: Western Mass

try out www.enchantedlearning.com You can use a lot of info for free or pay a small fee to make life a little easier, but they have fun print outs, and activities for all ages. My boys love the book print outs, and the activities are really easy to figure out.
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