how to teach a home school kindergartener in english class?

Question

the confusion lies in like,Jim and Gym? He will ask how come the gym doesn't start with a J?

Answer 1

Praise him for seeing that it doesn't make sense. He is very insightful. Explain to him the fact that our English language doesn't always follow it's own rules and certain letters have the same or similar sounds and we just have to learn the inconsistancies and that it is totally normal to be confused right now.

Answer 2

A kindergartener is at a stage of wanting to know the whys of the finer points like that. There isn't necessarily an answer to every question unless you want to get potentially complicated. For example, in this case, the reason that 'gym' has 'gy' is because it comes from Greek. This could lead to further questions about who speaks Greek, why are we borrowing their words and so forth. You have to be willing to say at some point, "You know what, I really don't know. I just know that that's the way it is. Maybe someday we'll be able to find an answer to that question."

Answer 3

Memorization, just like how you learned it. There a lot of rules used to help you with spelling in english but some things are just the way they are and need to be memorized. Tell him that's just the way it is spelled and that there are a lot more words like that in the english language.

In public school, he wouldn't get any better answer than that. To go into any more detail would just confuse him than help.

Answer 4

praise him for being so observant! specifically, some consonants have a "hard" sound (cat) and a "soft" sound (cereal). the best explanation you can give at this point is that many english words are "borrowed" from other languages, so not all words follow the english "rules." they are called homophones (phone = sound), they sound the same but have different spellings/meanings. a neat website that has a long list of homophones is here:
http://www.taupecat.com/personal/homophones/

Answer 5

Wal-Mart has books that help children learn, I just bought a few for my grandson who is in kindergarten. They are in the color book section and they are good books.

Answer 6

dont homeschool your kid :-( they miss out on so much valuable life experience! my years at junior high and high school were absolutely horrible, i wanted to die. but i learned how to get through it, and without that experience i wouldnt be the person i have become today, and i kinda like who i have become :-) ps: you can still become smart going to a public school.