four year old daily schedule?

Question

I want to start home schooling my four year old little boy, but would like some guidelines

Answer 1

My daughter is 4 and we will start our first official year next year. We do "school" now too though. An hour or so a day is plenty. Most importantly read, read, read. Read aloud, let him "read" to you, study the pictures and talk about what's in them. We have a little preschool workbook that I picked up from Walmart that goes over basic concepts that are mostly review for her, but it helps just to make things more concrete. We really do it mostly for fine motor skills. Learning to cut, paste, color, draw shapes, curves and other prewriting skills. Then we just talk about things as they come up during the day. We count everything. We identify letters and the sounds that go with them. I did flashcards everyday with her about 6 months ago for her letters/sounds and numbers and she picked them up in a week or two. We are working on phonics now. I am hoping to start teaching her to read around January. The other thing we do is small chores around the house to teach responsibility. She makes her own bed, sorts the silverware, throws her clothes in the hamper, sets/clears the table, folds and puts away her own laundry (with help still) and also folds the washcloths when we do the towels. As for what you need to really cover, check out the scope and sequence plans at World Book. I posted the link in the sources. Hope that helps.

Answer 2

try to balance time where the child leads the play/study and time where you decide what you both do. At 4 its important he has freedom to develop, but he is also too young to fully understand whether he will or won't like an activity, and you need to maintain enough discipine to be able to guide him to try things that he may grow to enjoy or need to study. Probably though, try to include many concepts in any one activity, so basic literacy and numeracy as part of play, lots of conversation to develop his interrogative skills, games of imagination etc, but perhaps set a time such as after lunch every day when you sit down together with a current book, or a day a week when you do something new. That will be handy later on in a few years when you need to introduce some formal academic concepts whilst not wanting to stifle his self led exploration. Some children respond very well to project work, so maybe if he expresses an interest in dinosaurs you spend time with him creating a file of everything he can think of and then more with your help, measuring, drawing, writing, baking dinosaur cakes or whatever, rather than sitting down to Maths, English, Science in a more school style environment
Balance is definately the key :)

Answer 3

First you need to think about what you want to accomplish this year (goals). That's really half the battle. Don't be overly optimistic, but certainly don't set them too low, either. In short, try to be realistic, with a slight stretch. You might check to see if the school district has a list of objectives for their Pre-K or K classes. If not, Rebecca Rupp's book, "Home Learning Year-by-Year" is a great source. She lists objectives in each subject for each year (including Pre-K) and even gives several resources for meeting them.

Once you have your goals in place, you can start looking for resources to meet them. That could mean workbooks, games, flashcards, manipulatives, library books, ... The options are almost endless. Watch for your son's learning style (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic). Does he seem to do better with written/drawn instructions or oral? Does he prefer making things with his hands or writing/drawing them? This will help narrow your choices in 'curriculum', although I wouldn't suggest anything formal yet.

See if you can enroll him in some type of athletics or sports club, just to get him out and let him make new friends.

For you, I would recommend a co-op or support group. The first year or two are the toughest and it will be a big help to have someone to call on who has already jumped whatever hurdle you're facing. Plus, they're a great source for curriculum referrals and social outings!

Best wishes on a successful school year! If you would like, feel free to email me.

Answer 4

the guidelines are have fun. read a lot to him. put labels on everything in your house (chair, window, door, etc), go on frequent walks, bake together, garden together. just live, learn, and love. you'll have a fabulous time and so will he. hook up with unschoolers in your area via the internet and meet others.

Answer 5

wow is this the wrong place to look!