Starting some Homeschooling, need advice?

[ferrytale]

Good morning all,
MY DS(4) doesn't meet the cutoff to start kindergarden in the fall, and I will be enrolling him in preschool. However, I think he is MORE than ready to start doing some "structured" learning. I want to get him more familiar with his letters and #s. Can anyone offer me some suggestions of how to begin, or some websites that might give me some good ideas?
We haven't neglected any of this, but I want to add some time in each day to work with him focusing on this rather than just "learning as we go along". Let me know if you can offer any advice! Thanks!

 

[mjkacmom]

My twins knew their letters, numbers, and their sounds before they were 3 - leapfrog letter factory and number factory, dvd's. By 4, they could write their letters and numbers, and could spell their names. Gotta love technology!

 

[clori]

Some things that may help (depends on the child) but are more learning thru play include the website www.starfall.com (starts with learning the alphabet), the dvd leapfrog letter factory which goes over the alphabet and letter sounds. There is also a math circus dvd which goes over numbers, addition etc.

Leapfrog also makes an alphabet refrigerator magnet set that you put the letter into a special magnet and it tells you the letter name and sound.
The letters are uppercase but there is a lowercase expansion set as well. I know my oldest learned her letters primarily thru making an alphabet puzzle which included upper/lower case letters.

I never did structured learning for the alphabet/numbers but maybe old fashioned flash cards would work well. Do you have a teacher supply store nearby that you could look at preschool workbooks or perhaps look at stores like Walgreens.

 

[EthansMom]

The Leapster system has some great learning games and videos. I especially recommend the "Letter Factory" video for the Leapster which taught both of my kids their basic phonics in just 2 or 3 weeks.

Once my kids knew their basic phonics, I've used the "Now I'm Reading" phonics books by Nora Gaydos. My DS7 started Kindergarten able to read at a basic level (long and short vowel sounds) and DD5 might even be further along in the fall.

I'll second http:/www.starfall.org.

For educational t.v. programs, I prefer Sesame Street and Between the Lions for my kids.

As for numbers, have your son count things. Ask him, "How many candies did I give you? And if you eat two candies, how many will you have? If you and I are going to split these candies equally, how many would we each get?"

And practice writing his letters, especially his name, using one capital and the rest lower case letters.

I hope this helps!

 

[mommyof2princesses]

Going to third. www.starfall.com. best free website out there for learning letters and sounds and beginning reading. My dd still goes on there to play even though she is way past what is presented on there!

We had plain ole refrigerator magnets and she loved trying to spell words with them. Eventually she started to make sentences with them. She also had foam letters for the bathtub...I think from World Market.

She also loved writing her name so I bought her some lined preschool paper and she did it when she wanted to!

 

[momma2minnie]

Dollar Tree has some per-school workbooks....trace the letter/number things like that.
And most are Disney themed to boot!

 

[The Three Cabs]

If you plan to continue homeschooling you can always start kindergarten now. My DS was reading so well by the time he was 4 I decided to start then. (He has a Jan birthday so missed the cutoff too) I figured it would be a great trial period for me too. If we didn't like the homeschooling he could always go to school the next fall, if not we will be a year ahead. It worked so well for us that at age 12 he is still homeschooling and is still a grade ahead.