Is it cheating to write answers for a homeschooled 3 year old?

Question

My DD has just turned three this month. She is bright (doing K and 1st grade work) and we have decided to start her formal HSing. However, only being three she can not write. We are working on it, but it will be quite some time before she can. Is it cheating or wrong for me to write the answers she gives me.

I don't know if it matters, but we don't send our curriculum to anyone.

I appreciate all the input given here. However, I am not testing my child. I am teaching her because she leads me to. She has a great hunger to learn and we follow that. I understand she is a child, and she acts just as any 3 year old would. She also has friends and plays and has plenty of time to be a kid. I am not trying to MAKE her a gifted child, she IS a gifted child. Thank you.

Answer 1

I am a board certified teacher and also a homeschooling mother. If you are accurately recording her answers, I don't believe that you are "cheating." In my state, this is a normal and justified practice in special education. Special education encompasses both students with learning disabilities and gifted and talented students.

You may want to request your state's policies on such and follow them if there is any question. Also, you can record some sample sessions in case there is any question of your daughter's performance or your state's guidelines.

Hope this helps...

Answer 2

You are in charge of your child's education when you homeschool. If you are writing the answers down as she gives them to you then it is not cheating, but be sure you are writing down her exact words. A bright 3 year old does not have the fine motor skills a 5 or 6 year old will have so for you to help her is fine, just remember not to hint or give her the answers, let her do the thinking and you can do the writing even if the answer is wrong.

Answer 3

I'm in the same position, my three and a half year old is reading at a second or third grade level, but doesn't really write.
I'm VERY concerned about academic burnout, since we're starting so early. so what homeschooling we do is very laid back and informal.
What he loved, and your daughter may too, is sitting at the keyboard typing out his list of sight words. This way his three year old motor skills didn't slow down his more advanced skills, and he loved seeing the words appear on the keyboard. A text editor is great for this, since you can make the words big, and in any color.
Another thing we do is that he dictates to me and I type his words into the text editor. He loves to read back later what he "wrote". The first time we did it, I just wanted to record a dream he'd had, in his own words. The next day I had the file open, and he started reading it on his own, and was SO EXCITED. "Thats MY story!"

edit: You can buy rubber pencil grips that guide kids to the proper pencil gripping position for writing. I know that Lakeshorelearning.com sells them, or at least their stores do.

Answer 4

No, homeschooling is all about working on their level. You don't need to make her wait to learn reading, science and math because her handwriting isn't there yet. My 8 year old 2nd grader is reading on a 5th grade level, doing math at a 3rd grade level, knows more about science then some middle schoolers, but only writes on a level with a late first grader. He is coming a long, but his motor skills just happen to be the last thing developing. At this point worry more about coloring, tracing around things, drawing a straight line, and maybe some early childhood level mazes. That way she learns pencil control. You might also look into some of the montessori style exercises like tweezing, tonging, and scooping, as these activities help them develope the hand muscles they need to hold a pencil.

Good Luck,

Answer 5

No. In fact, if you follow the classical model, they will do narration at least until first or second grade. Narration is where the child tells you the answer and you write it down. As they get older and begin writing, they will tell you the answer, you will write it down, then they will copy what you have written.

For most children, their verbal skills far surpass their writing skills for the first several years of schooling, so this is a good way to make sure they use proper punctuation and spelling when they are beginning to write.

Answer 6

You guys are nuts! Tests for 3 year olds?!
Come on, give the kid a break. What ever happened to childhood?
If you think that by stuffing all this information down the child's throat early is going to create a genius or something, you're wrong.
All you're doing is creating another nervous neurotic mess.

Answer 7

Yeah it is. You are not helping your child by writing the answers for her. She needs to develop her writing skills. The people you send the work into need to be able to see her work in order to assist you in helping your child learn properly. It is okay to model the correct way of writing or to sometimes guide her hand but having her dictate the answer to you and you writing it down is not helping her. It will take a while. Longer than you would like but that is why teachers are teachers. They have patience.

Answer 8

If she knows her alphabet, then let her write down the answers. You just tell her how to spell the words.

Answer 9

i do not think so because if she is giving you the answers then she knows it. but instead of you writing it for her maybe you she write it and have her try and copy it so she can learn.

Answer 10

The answers are her own, so no I don't think so.