Thoughts on Enrichment/Afterschooling Kids Please???

[carolinamama]

DS1 is in K and has had a wonderful year thus far. Behavior is great - he's been on green every single day so far. (hope I didn't just jinx that one ;) ) He loves his teacher and assistant, who are both very kind and have great classroom management. His reading is improving. But he has gone backwards in math from his Montessori preschool work and doesn't seem to be receiving a ton of science or any social studies type work. He is one of the older kids in the class so maybe that's why I expect that they are doing more academic work?

He is a curious kid who likes to learn. I don't want that to end. I'm thinking about doing some enrichment with him in math and maybe even history-type stuff since he loves it. But I'm afraid of doing too much. If you afterschool/do enrichment work, does that make them bored at school because they are ahead? Is it just bad practice? He already goes to a science class, but that's because he likes it and has been in it since he was 3yo.

Thank you if you've gotten this far. I know this is rambly but I'm really trying to think out loud what is best for him. I was looking into ordering the Singapore math workbooks. I also really like the idea of manipulatives though since he was familiar with the Montessori tools (pink tower, cuisinaire rods, beds on wire to count, etc)

If you have done some enrichment work or are thinking about it, I would really appreciate your thoughts.

[brittone2]

nak-
I have not afterschooled, but we HS.

If you are concerned about boredom, one thought would be to add enrichment that is unique and doesn't necessarily overlap their curriculum. Things like logic puzzles, math books like things from Family Math (available in many libraries) or games like SET, etc. We use Story of the World for world history and then round it out with lots of related reading from the library, and my kids love it.

Does he enjoy workbooks? If he does, he might enjoy doing math with you using things like Singapore. I'd sort of feel that out because a lot of seatwork following a day of K could be too much for many kids. WHen it is nice outside we do a lot of driveway math-messing around with telling time, math facts, greater than/less than, etc. out in the driveway with sidewalk chalk, or drawing a big clock face and using two sticks for hands.

We use and love Singapore, but Miquon is another great math program that encourages a lot of discovery. It is not great for open and go though. Ideally a parent would read the Annotations, Notes to Teachers, etc. before using it (separate books). It uses the c-rods.

I can't really help with how to balance the schooling and afterschooling because clearly there are pros and cons to that. If your concern is boredom, I'd just look at building thinking skills that aren't necessarily part of the curriculum. Word play, analogies, etc. My kids use books from Prufrock Press and the Critical Thinking Co. has some good stuff. Games, living books, etc. are alll great.

[infomama]

Khan Academy!
http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=426425

[kijip]

I would look at things like Primary Grade Challenge Math, Connections and Primarily logic for afterschooling. I agree with Beth on using the enrichment as an add on and not a shadow school program. If you are concerned that her math curriculum at school is not doing her well, you might want something to do at home but (as a happy Singapore user) I would recommend Miquon or MEP (free) or Math Mammoth. Miquon is hands on for young learners and and MEP and MM both offer conceptual math for free (MEP) or low cost for the complete set. Singapore really needs all the pieces to work well IMO and by the time I buy the text, workbook and instructor's guide, it is about $50 per semester and that is before I buy the CWP and IP.

MEP (http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm)

Math Mammoth (http://www.mathmammoth.com/complete-curriculum.php)

I think history and science are subjects that can be made boring or just left out in the mad dash to meet math and reading standards.

SOTW is an easy read for history and def. does more for World History than I saw being taught in school.

Story of Science, by Joy Hakim is an excellent history of Science for somewhat older kids. It is really great and T has really been enjoying it. I check it out from the library, I think it is a little pricey (3 volumes).

[larig]

there are also science kits that my science ed friends talk about (an owl pellet one comes to mind). But, you can make experiments out of just about anything you can think of...growing seeds, dropping balls, taking care of animals, what sinks and what floats?, count colors of m&ms in a bag and make bar chart with the m&ms in columns by color...

[fivi2]

Well, I had grand intentions of afterschooling, but once we started K this year, I realized that it would be too much for us to do anything intense. (I also woh FT)

We do read a lot of non-fiction in a variety of subject areas. My girls enjoy doing "experiments" and we play games as a family fairly often. But right now that is all we can handle. I do see it expanding as they get older, but more exploring their interests in more detail or learning things that they don't do at school. I don't think we'll do a set curriculum unless life changes. However, I do keep meaning to get the Story of the World...

I think the Well Trained Mind forums have an afterschooling forum which might be helpful.

[egoldber]

If it were me, I would not do anything formal, not in K. As older DD got to be in 2nd and 3rd, she asked for more math than what she was getting at school and we supplied that. But I think a K kid needs plenty of time to play and just hang out after a long day at school.

I would encourage frequent trips to the library and especially (fun) non-fiction (like the You Wouldn't Want to be a ...... series). Or even fun series with a history bent like Magic Treehouse (including the Research Guides) and Time Warp Trio.

[kijip]

If it were me, I would not do anything formal, not in K. As older DD got to be in 2nd and 3rd, she asked for more math than what she was getting at school and we supplied that. But I think a K kid needs plenty of time to play and just hang out after a long day at school.

I do agree with this as well. K is pretty young and school is a long day already. Keep anything you do fun and make sure the playtime is still happening! Honestly, it was everyone telling me to after-school T for what he needed academically that made me feel like, well, if I am doing all this work I am not wasting all that other time during his day so that he can be "socialized" (er, bullied). That said, I do wish that he had been happier and more successful socially in ps and I never really advocate to convert others to homeschooling even though I am quite certain it is our best option by miles and miles. Every child has different needs.

[niccig]

I supplement here and there. It depends on the area and why need to give DS some help.

His school does everyday math, which is light on math facts. The teacher for the other grade 1 class supplements for this. Apparently DS's teacher does not - well at last I can't figure out if she does. So, we do some of that.

DS's reading is improving, but it's slow going and he was getting frustrated with me helping him sound out the words. He doesn't like help from us (I so wish he would grow out of this). So, I started him on starfall. He can do the activities and then read the short stories and click on the word for it to be sounded out. I still sit beside him as he does it, but his frustration level has decreased as he can work out the answer on his own. I've seen a jump in his reading since we started this.

I've used Handwriting without tears with him based on recommendations here. It's a great program, and we just used it as need to.

We read a lot of science non-fiction book, do science kits etc.

[kijip]

I will say this, for kids in the 7+ age range, fun books on history for supplementation (and really just reading fun) are these ones:

http://stevesheinkin.com/Books.html

Steve Sheinkin used to write textbooks and now writes books for kids on history with all the interesting stories tossed in. T just got Two Miserable Presidents (on the Civil War) and is loving it. I can see it being interesting to older kids as well. Very engaging.

Just adding this in as a resource for anyone who searching afterschool or enrichment. ;)

[sste]

My oldest is 4 so maybe a little different but every thursday night we get the kids into their pjs and take them to the library. It is our family library night. DS gets to ask the reference librarian for suggestions on his current interest (last week: "I want a book about dragons and I want it violent!"). Then sometimes we build off those interests to discuss for example, castles in Scotland.

We also will do almost whatever DS asks if we think it is potentially enriching, creative, etc. He wanted to make movies recently and we hauled out my $$$ camera. I did the recording but he enacted a rather elaborate story about a bat and incorporated his baby sister, I think as bat feed but at least she was included. :)

Oh, and DS's favorite places in the world are almost all museums (and disney). Lots of museum-going and talking about what we see.

DH is also awesome (way, way better than me) about doing experiments with toilet paper rolls and making race tracks etc with DS.

HTH. Not sure if you were looking for something more formal. :)

ETA: For DS, his math developed along with us doing things like the above and having him count, etc. For a while when he was 2 or 3 I would ask him which number x or y was bigger. Sometimes now I ask him to divide things when we are playing or eating. Or to add them though he can't do that in his head yet, he does it by counting dinos or whatever.