Homeschooling

Hi there,

My son has special needs and a list of learning disabilities. Right now he is in a regular education Kindergarten classroom in public school but is struggling and I have been told homeschooling my be a good thing for him in the future. In the meantime, I am looking for guidance to reinforce what he is learning at school. I am wondering if there are some good curriculum resources online where I can get worksheets or instructional ideas to help him after school?

If I were to homeschool him, I am curious, because my son sees me as his mom, obviously, not a teacher. He can be very stubborn with me now just doing homework for 20 minutes per day. How do you do transition to become a "teacher" in the eyes of your child when you homeschool?

Thanks for your help!
Cheryl

Welcome Cheryl.  I'm glad you found our board, and I hope we can be helpful.

I would keep any "extra" learning that you do at home light and very fun.  He's in kindergarten...he's a young child, plus he's struggling with his disabilities.  If I had to hazard a guess, it would be that part of the reason you're struggling with him over 20 minutes of homework is that he's burned out from school already.  (AND, HOMEWORK FOR KINDERGARTEN????)  OK, sorry, just had to get that little vent out...it's one of my pet peeves about institutionalized education.  You did come to a homeschooling board, after all ;-)  Anyway.  I think your best approach would be to tread very lightly.  Learning is supposed to be fun, not work, especially at his age.  I'm not sure exactly what areas you're wanting to reinforce so I can't give specific suggestions, but if you want to give us more details you'll probably get more detailed ideas.

Some of my general suggestions would be to use computer games for phonics/math and make it fun.  If you're trying to work on writing (which I wouldn't, but if you're in school you have to) do fun things like write with dry erase markers on a glass window or door, or finger write in pudding (and then lick your fingers :D) or shaving cream, or in flour or cornmeal or sand.

Please feel free to ask questions and participate in conversations.  We all have the best interests of our kids at heart, and there's a huge variety of experience here to be tapped.

Hi Susan,

Thanks for the welcome! I totally get what you are saying about "homework" at the Kindergarten level. My son is almost 7 and repeated Kindergarten already. He actually gets a lot of therapy and tutoring already after school. I am always worried about burnout for him for sure, but not sure what else to do. I realize at this age it should be fun, but my son needs extra help with academics and doesn't always learn by exposure alone. He needs more direct one to one help and explanation of more complex concepts. (This is one of the reasons why it has been suggested that I homeschool him, so he gets the attention he needs rather than staying in the large student-to-teacher ratio he is in now).

The Kindergarten teacher can't always give him extra attention in class, so I want to do what I can at home. He has a lot of basic concepts down, counting, number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, but they are starting to do more complex math concepts (whole/part, more/fewer, etc.) and he didn't seem to get it, so I want to help him at home.

I guess I was hoping there was a resource I could find that would help me reinforce whichever area of the curriculum he is not learning well in class.

I hope that is specific enough. Thanks so much for your input!
Cheryl

Welcome to the board!

You mentioned math, so I'll suggest Math U See. They have manipulatives that are used to show concepts. I believe there is a parent video that you can use to learn how to teach the concepts. This is a regular math program, so you may wnat to pick out the concepts he needs help with as he's needing help.

I've not used that one, but I've known several people who love it because it is so concrete. You see what you're learning about.

   

  http://connect.ivillage.com/cl-phacademy

I am so sorry. The way they treat kids in schools these days with any little need for extra help breaks my heart. I mean K is suppose to be non competitive, time to learn about community and forming friendships, listen to stories and learn to love literature and play with numbers to learn to love that too. I had a daughter with extra problems in K and they were glossed over and sent on to the next grade, they need people in the classrooms to assist the children who need the one on one and so it does not take away from the other children, who also deserve a positive education.  It really just hurts me to think of all the kids out there in a classroom not getting what they need. Try the free site's for K homeschooling. I am sure others will have better suggestions. Most schools do not put in stra effort with any children with extra needs until 3rd or 4th grade....I think it is due to cost cutting measures, but that is just my opinion and past experiences talking.

Heather