Lancelot Acres

My homeschooling plan (re: Kindergarten)

So I've been thinking about this a lot.  My DD is ready for Kindergarten now, she's 4 1/2 years old.  I plan to use the Christian Liberty Curriculum.  They have a regular Kindergarten, and an Advanced one.  I'd like to put her through both of those, AND have her start 1st grade in Fall 2007 (when she'd start 1st grade if she was going to PS).  I don't mind if she's ahead of that schedule, but I don't want her behind it.  No real reason, just something I think about.

Here's my idea.  DD is ready for K now.  I plan to order her regular K curriculum and start it in April (next month).  I expect DD to do well at it, as she LOVES school.  IF she does well, and we enjoy it, I hope to get her THROUGH the K curriculum before our baby is born at the end of October.  It's a 9 month curriculum, and that's only 7 months...I will not push DD too hard, we'll just go with the flow and see if we can make it work in the 7 months.  I'm hoping to just add a little school time to each day's work, so it's more spread out, rather than working 7 days per week or something silly like that.  I have heard the K curriculum is relatively easy and short...so I don't foresee and time problems there.

I will not push DD.  If we start it and she just isn't getting it...the plan will be null and void and we'll just take our time with it.  We have a full 12 months to complete the 9 month curriculum.  We'll take the full amount of time if she is having trouble, but I don't expect any trouble at all.

SO...if my plan works, we'll have completed our regular K sometime in or by October.  I'd then like to take the months of (remainder of Oct), Nov and Dec off...adjusting to the new baby and new schedules and getting through the holidays and such. 

I'd then like to start DD on her advanced K in January 2007.  I'd like that one completed by about September 2007...so she can start her 1st grade curriculum at that time.

This is just something I've been thinking about lately.  It would work out nicely to have a little break in between curriculums when the baby is born.  We will all need that time to adjust to changes being made.

What are your experiences with homeschooling when a new baby is born?  Any thoughts/suggestions are certainly welcome!

Good Plan...

{ 03:25, 2006-Mar-5 } { Posted by wannabeone }

Your plan sounds very good. One of the MANY blessings of homeschooling is that we can set our own calender and time-table!!

This our 13th year and we generally follow the time-worn fall to spring time-frame...with a little jog in the calender - we start the 1st Monday of August and then take the whole month of December off. By the end of May, I'm usually tying up loose ends and/or almost looking for something to for them to do to count for school work. Homeschoolers get their work done so much faster than private or public schools.

I think your plan to take off a while when the baby is born is a good one. Just give your daughter little workbook pages to do, do counting games, say the ABCs, etc. so that she doesn't lose what she already learned before the baby was born -- besides, you'll want her to do a little bit of that sort of "busy work" while you're busy with the baby at times.

Please go to http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Buckeyeblog and read my article: "Are You a Double-Minded Mom" among others.

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><