Everyone is asking what curriculum to use next year. From
second grade curriculum to
high school homeschool curriculum. We are still finishing our school year. We have taken a laid back approach to kindergarden almost unschooling. Letting Honey move at her own pace. This has been nice until now. Why now you might ask? This is when everyone is starting to compare children and what they have learned for the year. I HATE when people compare children. Each child is unique and learns in their own way.
With Biggun I pushed to early and to fast. He has been paying for it ever since. Struggling with his reading and spelling. With Honey I chose not to move fast to let her go at her own pace. This proved to be the correct way to go when I started to push even a little and she totally SHUT DOWN. Not wanting to work on school at all, just "play" school with her dolls. Our school time became a headache and she was not remembering anything. When I noticed she was not remembering things it was time to take action and change and STOP pushing. We started to move at her speed. Some may say that I am letting my daughter get her way. But as a mom who has seen what pushing a child to fast can do I am willing to let others think what they want.
Honey can comprehend anything you give her. You read her a story she will tell you the story back to you. You can show her how 3 cookies added with 4 cookies will equal 7 cookies but if you ask her what letter a word starts with she was struggling or when you asked her what the physical number 7 looks like (not counting to it) then she would struggle. This would turn into a guessing game. That was when I chose to take the laid back almost unschooling approach. This let her move at her own speed. So what if we take 3 weeks working on the letters A, a, B, b. We homeschool, one more reason to LOVE homeschooling.
In taking this laid back approach yes she is not at the same level as others her age that go to public school, but then again she might not be even if she was in public school. She might be struggling even more. She is young and has plenty of time to catch up. Look at Biggun, he is doing great and about to start 9th grade! (Highschool oh my!)
We found the
All About Reading program that she loves and is improving daily with. We use our
time4learning.com and take that slow. Sometimes repeating things because her memory is not mature enough on some items. But we keep moving.
I pray that she is not judged by others the way Biggun was. Not held back from her age activities because she is not on the same "reading" level as other kids in group settings. Just like Biggun she might not be at what the world thinks the level she should be at in reading, but she can comprehend equal or better then the average child her age.
So when you ask me about curriculum for your child. I say go with what works for your CHILD! Don't let the "world" lead you in the wrong direction and make your child struggle. Learning is fun but can also be hard work.
Lil Momma Strouse
