Posted by Donna on 12:02 Jan 9
In Reply to: Advice on starting first grade early posted by Ashley
my 5yo is working 2-3 years ahead but her little hands are not nearly ready for the amount of writing required in WTM. I limit narrations to 1-science and 1-history a week and these usually include a few lines written and a picture she draws. She does more hands-on learning with the SOTW workbook and other activity books I have bought for history. Science is very hands on raising tadpoles, snakes, bugs, whatever we find in our backyard, a garden and houseplants, nature journalling- library books on different plants and animals.
Math is the only subject that she has a workbook for and even that we intermingle with fun math games from Family Math, wrap ups for fact practice, chalkboard and whiteboard to change things up, plus lots of manipulatives (more earlier on than now).
For reading, I follow her lead and I read to her or she reads to me or she reads to herself. I find fiction, non-fiction, biographies, etc...I tend to ask questions during reading or afterward but it is all very relaxed and conversational so more like snuggle time than school to her. She also does Spelling Power 4 days a week and Rosetta Stone Spanish that I had modified to remove the typing component because accents and tildas were too hard for her to type in.
The major benefit of homeschooling is that it doesn't have to be seatwork for learning to occur. I imagine most people, especially very young people. learn more doing something than doing workbook pages about it. The beauty of the WTM approach is its flexibility. I use a literature based approach and find that it melds nicely with the parts of the WTM that I like best.