DD would be starting kindergarten this year.

[NATTYBATSMOM]

We're planning to homeschool but we don't have to give the DPI our intent to homeschool for another year since she won't be 6 until December and you have to send the intent the year your child turns six before September 1st.

So, wondering what would be good things to work with her on besides what she's already doing.

DH is working with her on reading. She's currently reading from **** and Jane. One thing I'm thinking of doing is taking her to the library each month and picking out some easy reading books and working with her on those but right now, there's enough of the **** and Jane to last her through the summer, I think. She and DH read every night.

DD has kind of been working on math on her own so I finally got her addition and subtraction worksheet books from Target ($1!) and she's been getting through the addition part pretty well so far. It says on the front that it's a 1st grade workbook but I don't know what they do for math in Kindergarten anymore and whether addition is something she's ahead on or not. She was doing it all herself though so I figured I would see how far she can go with the workbook. I also found a School House rock video on multiplication for 25 cents so I grabbed that. She needs to work on time because she has a hard time with that especially the concepts of the minutes because she's not getting that each number is another 5 minutes. She does well on patterns and one thing she likes to do is do number patterns on the phone then hand it to me asking me what comes next. She can do a number pattern of several numbers too so definitely understands that concept. Not sure if there are other things I need to do with her for math or not since she seems a little ahead on some it. She can also count to at least 100, I'm pretty sure she can count by 10's and she might be able to count by 100s too.

Days of the week she needs to work on. She's always asking me what day it is and what tomorrow is. I saw some magnets at Target with the days of the week that I want to get. Are there any websites good with this too? Or something I could use to work with her on some of this? Months we need to work on as well, I know that.

Would love any advice and suggestions anyone has. I know it's kind of early to be thinking about it all but with the back to school stuff out already, it's starting to cross my mind. We don't have a lot of money for things like curriculum so we're just grabbing what we can from various places and using that instead.

Thanks!

[blondeviolin]

You might consider picking the Core Knowledge book What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know.

[Raquelita]

Get the Core Knowledge book "What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know" by Ed Hirsch and use it as a backdrop.

Do lots of read aloud books together - honestly, reading aloud and having DS follow along with my finger or over my shoulder (not him reading, my reading to him) has built his reading and vocabulary skills FAR FAR more than easy readers have. I'm starting to think they're a marketing gimic and designed for large classrooms where teachers can't sit one-on-one and read long books with each child.

I would go to www.sonlight.com and scroll their their book lists for P4/5 and K years - and request a few from the library each month to read aloud together. I've been amazed at what my DS (5.5 and starting K in the fall at home) has been able to comprehend. We just finished the original Alice in Wonderland on the Kindle (so no pictures, no cartoons, no simplified language) and he loved it. We're doing the Secret Garden now. Another favorite is the Milly Molly Mandy series.

Honestly, I think that all the simlified speech and language in many books and media stunts our childresn' vocabulary and language development and they don't realize how much more there is out there - I really believe in filling your child's imagination with classic literature, engaging stories, and interesting words for them to hear and learn in context.

[NATTYBATSMOM]

DH and I read to her. Right now, DH does more than I do but at night, he sits with her and goes through her **** and Jane book and then he reads to her as well. Sometimes a short book, sometimes from a chapter book (he's been reading Black Beauty). He also reads from the Bible to her.

Before I left Korea, I read Charlotte's web to her. She was four at the time and it was the first chapter book we tackled. There numerous books I plan to read to her and own: Little Women, A Little Princess, A Secret Garden, Little House on the Prairie, etc. One of my goals is to create a library for her with many of the classics that I enjoyed reading growing up.

[NATTYBATSMOM]

Maybe I should have posted this in the regular parenting thread?