After long arguments with my childrens kinder about whether or not they will recommend my oldest for school next year(he i one month two young to go but needs to) they won't write the letter for "liability reasons", lets just say the kinder teacher wants to write it but the centre is a large company that we all know and love and they won't let her.

 

ANYWAY, I have settled on taking him out of care and homeschooling him next year but I need supplies, mainly books. They don't necessarily have to be curriculum type books but anything topical and interesting. His current bookshelf includes books on snakes, volcanoes, the human body, worms, native animals, geography and a few single books from childrens encyclopedias. If anyone has anything else that might help him expand his little mind that maybe their kids have grown out of or just don't use I would be happy to cover the cost of posting it/them to Melbourne. It doesn't have to be things aimed at little kids either, some of his favorite books to thumb through are my year 12 biology text books

are you saying they don't want to send him to Kendergarten because he is too young? Trying to understand what you are saying? Before I type more

I have a few books that my kids are not interested in. I have a couple of books on science experiments that i bought for my son but he does not look at them at all. Pm me your address and i will send some your way.

Well Elly the kinder teacher thinks he is ready to go to school next year, he is actually in the 4 year old kinder at the moment even though he really should be in the three year old kinder, because he needed more than what the littlies kinder could offer as far as keeping his brain busy. The kinder he attends is an all day kinder through a large childcare company who may or may not have been in the news alot lately. They have a head office ruling apparently that they won't write recommendation letters. Wthout said letter from his kinder teacher he can't get assessed for early school entry.

 

I'm not too worried, I think a year at home with me to get him focused could do him good anyway and if at the end of that he needs to go into grade one anyway it's no great loss, if he ends up in prep hopefully that year will have just given him a bit more focus, etc.

I know your son is gifted, so is mine , but just remember the social part of being a kid is very important in their education too. Some kids who are gifted go though school to early and don't know how to make friends so get picked on. Others who are home schooled also miss the social activity and can develop social issues later on.

 

My son is turning 4 soon and he is gifted at the level where he should already be in school, but i am keeping him back so he can grow with the other kids and learn the social part of life.

 

That's just me though - i was a gifted child and was always picked on in school so I don't want the mistakes that were made on me to happen to my son too.

The tough thing is he is actually only too young by about four weeks which is why things are so hard. He was in the room at kinder with the kids who will be going to school in 2010 but he just got bored, his kinder teacher does feel that from an emotional/social point of view he is ready

 

I come from a long line of gifted kids, some who've excelled and some who've crashed and burned so I'm pretty careful about this whole thing.

 

I will definately make sure he doesn't miss out on the social side by homeschooling him, I plan to enrol him in a short day kinder one or two days a week so he still has friends He is just desperate to turn six because he wants to be a scout

Maybe another question is ... are there any programs that you can enrol him in that are external to kindegarden/school to "bridge the year"? Music classes? I started piano when I was very young, and it was the best thing I ever did. My brother did it too.

 

I know that Queensland is making pre-school compulsory now, but I am not sure about the status in Victoria...

 

If I had some books on my end, I would certainly send them your way. I did my undergrad in secondary teaching (years 8-12 English and Music), but our curriculum documents are split into K-10 and 11-12. So maybe I could send an English and Maths one down your way that could guide you with literacy and numeracy for the year?

My daughter could have went she was 5 in August but at the rate kids have to learn out (gifted or not) I believe that holding her back and going to school at 6 yr was the best thing I did for her. My son who is very smart is a December baby so he was a no brainer and went because he was already 5 1/2y. Trust me waiting for not only learning reasons but for social and emotional reasons is the best thing parents can do. During that time at home with my daughter I downloaded a lot off the internet there are TONS of educational sites with FREE worksheets. If I was closer I would give you what I have left . Enjoy them because they grow way to fast.

In Vic it is compulsory that your children are educated, that does not have t happen in a 'school' so homeschooling counts They are going to start registering homeschooled kids down here soon which will mean that those homeschooling can recieve the things that other families get like the school starter payment which is to help with the cost of books, etc.

 

It is actually not me mainly that wants him to go next year, he's my baby He has got out of bed every morning for the last six months and asked me if he can go to school today I have a lot of those internet worksheets Elly They are great for "lessons" but what he really loves is being able to go to his bookshelf and pick out something to read.

 

Magic I would LOVE anything you had, especially on guiding literacy and numeracy, I'm feeling a bit lost in the way of how to get started on these things with him so some guidance, even if it is aimed at older kids would be great

MB get him involved in Kumon by correspondence. They send you the work sheets and you get them to do 5 to 10 pages a day the correct it and send the results back to educator. There is no age level basically he can start at the start (counting wizz through those levels) and then move onto the harder stuff. It very good and I like it. He can do Math, English, Languages I am sure there are other subjects he can do.

 

http://www.kumon.com.au/home/default.asp

 

http://www.kumon.com.au/offices/viewcentre...dyCenterID=1435

 

Jenny Rule is great have a chat to her I think that your boy would excell at these. If the first steps are two easy I am sure she would let you jump sections. Works well for the kids I look after and they are all gifted and in the top classes at school.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Alo your youngest could also do it as Oliver does it and he is only 3.

Magic I would LOVE anything you had, especially on guiding literacy and numeracy, I'm feeling a bit lost in the way of how to get started on these things with him so some guidance, even if it is aimed at older kids would be great

 

I'll see what I can find for you on my end. I know that Queensland has had to crack down because our literacy and numeracy is shocking at the moment, so there should be a lot of things that I can find. I have a friend who is doing her primary school teaching degree - she might have seen some things that I haven't seen. Happy to help, keep us up to date with your son's learning! And I second Kumon. I didn't do it personally, but I have heard it is wonderful.

I hadn't thought of Kumon, there is a centre in Montmorency which does preschool age groups and correspondence also. Do you know how much it costs? I had a look at their site but it doesn't really say.

MB how old is he ( in NSW a child needs to be turning 5 by August ( 30th I think ) So if you son turns 5 after this he is to be enrolled the following year ....

 

I have a question what if kids that do not attend Day care or preschool enroll for Kindergarten, there is no one there to REFER them Wink Wink if you get my drift ...

 

Talia is 6 and she is and has always been a very advance girl she is in year 1 and currently doing year 4 reading and year 3 maths - she wasn't a very social girl as we will in the sticks and she was an only child - See if there is a Play group you can attend to help with his social skills ...

 

He wants to go to school THAT IS FANTASTIC he sounds ready - I personally think that home schooling is holding back children with the Social side of school - Friends, sports - BIRTHDAY PARTIES

 

I bought the cami program ( like a mathamatics computer tutor ) but does all areas of schooling maths, sciencs, english etc it was the best thing i have bough ....

 

You can go to book stores and get " WORK BOOKS" where he can do maths, and etc at his levels ...

 

I hope he gets in you can always request that you child is enrolled

He has a lot of work books already which he enjoys Our only other option is to get a school readiness assessment plus an IQ test done. The problem is that we are looking at alot of money to get these tests done and we can't afford it at the moment and it needs to be done before September

 

In Vic he needs to turn 5 before the end of April and he turns five on the 2nd of June, so it's only one month. Wow, so if we moved to NSW he would be in school next year

MB how old is he ( in NSW a child needs to be turning 5 by August ( 30th I think ) So if you son turns 5 after this he is to be enrolled the following year ....

 

In Victoria the child has to turn 5 before April 30th. It used to be June 30th many years ago but for some reason they changed it. Also preschool and kindergarten are the same thing in Victoria.

 

My 3 and 4th child were born in March and I kept both of them back (against kinder teachers recommendations) until the following year and it was the best thing that I could have done.

Thomas does 5 pages of maths and 10 pages of English 6 days a week and it cost about $200 a month (but that may also include Olivers 5 pages of maths and 5 pages of English I can't remember sorry)

MB - Get your Fiance ( if he isn't down there yet) to sign your son into school here - then transfer him down there ...

Maybe a worth while ....

 

Is he in Preschool or a Long Day Care? Is that what you mean by kindy ( as preschool here in NSW is the grade before Kindy ( First grade in BIG SCHOOL)

Yeah I know we call them different things in the different states. He is in 4 year old kinder (the year before prep). He shouldn't be in 4yr old kinder yet but he was bored in three year old kinder, now we are facing the issue of him having to do a whole nother year of 4 year old kinder again. We looked into schools that do pre-prep but they are all private schools and we really can't afford it

 

I'd just like to say for all those worried about the social side of homeschooling, homeschooled kids can have a great social life. There are heaps of groups for homeschool kids, as well as sport, music and some of the science education centres around here run special programs for homeschooled kids too. We are a very outgoing family and the kids get heaps of opportunity for social interaction which is why they are such outgoing kids, I am not at all concerned about this side of their development

Really, Sorry if that ruffled feathers MB, Must have changed from when i was younger

I know what you now mean.. Talia is in the same delima she gets bored with year 1 work . It is too easy for her

and she isn't stimulated - Ummm Maybe Computer work - http://search.ebay.com.au/search/search.dl...op=1%26fsoo%3D1 there are a few items on Ebay ....

You know you can always do field trips vs along with the workbooks so if you are studying zoo animals then you can go to the zoo, I am not sure if that is readily available for you. Creative options is what will help you get through this year. My son at 4 1/2 was ready for school he always asked but he could be enrolled yet and so what I did with my kids is use the internet for creative ideas. The library is an awesome place to go to pick out books and read, our library has a program for preschoolers not sure if yours does. We had an educational building by us that did pre kinder readiness and small group class to also assist with with I was doing. Search the homeschooling website ideas I bet you will find even more ideas.

 

I understand how hard it is to keep a boy's mind busy, Aaron is ALWAYS busy and he is going into 4th this year.

That's Exactly what I have in mind Elly

 

At this stage I'm still working so he will stay in full day kinder atleast for another couple of months but I want to be all set up and prepared because otherwise it will be chaos :hap:

 

Since this has turned into a more general interest topic I'll expand a bit on my plans

 

What I want to do is have a theme each week, so the theme might be weather or africa or maps or reptiles, etc. Then we will spend the first day of each week planning our week, the boys will be involved in this process, helping to decide on an excursion (not necessarily a costly one but something that fits with the theme if possible), talking about the different aspects of the topic and what he wants to find out about. Then the second day the boys will have a day at kinder/creche so I can do a bit of research/organisation and they can have some time socialising. During that day I'll hunt out worksheets for that theme. I plan to incorporate aspects of numeracy and literacy into each theme in subtle ways (since Alex tends to get bored with pure maths and reading) I suspect that once Alex can read for himself he'll become a sponge for books so I'm hoping to get him reading as quickly as possible.

 

 

Oh and Neat, you didn't ruffle any feathers It's a common misconception that homeschool kids are sort of shut away from society a bit and can be lacking on the social side of things but it really is what you make it and how you choose to do it

Edited August 17, 200817 yr by melbournebudgies

Excellent MB you know it is always good to brainstorm with other moms. There are many homeschooled kids around here and Aaron has a couple as friends and they are VERY social, it really depends on what the parents too with them. When Aaron was little I bascially homeschooled him and took him everywhere from the library, to the mall just to walk and look in the windows, to library classes and fun mom and me classes this has turned him into a well liked, charismatic boy that everyone likes . Much of the stuff I did was free.

I think homeschooling is much more common in the US than it is here but they are around, you just have to look for them We have some very good online groups and even a Yahoo group for defence force homeschoolers

Looks like you've got lots of teachers and home schoolers to help you out, as well as a good plan in place. Im a speech pathologist who works with 0-5, so thought I'd mention a few things....One thing I haven't seen mentioned here, is the benefit of taking a look at your education system's expectations for the level you are working on with your little one. In Canada they have a K-8 booklet that lists the goals/targets/objectives for each year that is very helpful in providing a focus and making sure you have covered all the bases. You could probably obtain this through the government department responsible for education.

 

Also, when it comes to literacy development, it is critical for a young one is to have some instruction in phonological awareness (pre-reading skills) such as learning to identify sounds within words, be able to segment and blend sounds and syllables. This is typically started when kids are about 4 and continues through to 6. These skills are at the core of learning to read. We have a program widely used in North America called Jolly Phonics, which combines gestures with sounds and works well for the little ones. Australia might have a different version/program, but I know the Jolly Phonics one is available on internet. If you know any teachers, they might be able to get a hold of some resources for this component of your programming.

 

Good luck!

Thanks Erin, we have a few phonics readers already but it's actually me that has trouble teaching them. What I need is a little instruction book that tells me how to teach him to read in simple steps