My twin 6 yr olds...reading and workbooks ...?

Question

I am using Alpha Omega Lifepac's and we have found that to be quite boring.. anyway I have found things that we like by going to different stores and putting things together. We do only about 1 hour a day of "sit down work". My boys are doing 1-2nd grade work and they have a hard time sitting for that long. We do go out A LOT and play A LOT of games and such.

So, my 1st question... am I not spending enough time with the actual workbooks?

Also, my boys will be 7 in March and they can read ok.. not great. The still have to sound out words and things and are slow...

I am SO SCARED that I haven't been doing enough with them. It seems as though they will read words on a video game but not in books...

Where should a 6 almost 7 yr old be within reading...?

This is our 1st year and it is amazing-- it is such a great bonding experience.

Blessings~

Answer 1

I am not familiar with A&O Lifepacs, but I know that children your sons' age should not be bored with learning.  Finding things you like in various stores and putting them together is great!  I still do this for my 2nd grade son.  Recently, I found some Disney workbooks (Adventures in Learning) at a Dollar Tree store.  My boy loves them, because they include male Disney/Pixar characters.

My son just turned 8 and is in 2nd grade.  I began homeschooling him when he was in 1st grade (6 almost 7).  

We did not spend a lot of time doing workbooks.  I read to him a lot, we read stories together, and sometimes he read to me.  Starfall.com helped my son with his reading; he enjoyed it immensely.

At 7, my son was still sounding out words.  However, at about 7 yrs. 9 months of age, he took off with reading.  He is now a voracious reader and has read about 90 books since September.  I recently had him tested and his reading comprehension is that of an 11 year old.

All children are different.  I have come to understand that with reading, there is a point in time when everything comes together for a child.  I believe it is necessary to teach them phonics, use phonetically controlled readers, age/grade level readers, etc., but it sounds as though you are doing everything right.

Don't worry and be astounded and amazed when reading fluency occurs!

Answer 2

every kid is different in their development.  some kids can read at age 3 while it takes others until much older than your sons.  don't worry!  it will click eventually.  kids that young should just learn to enjoy learining through games and reading time, etc..  If they seem uninterested in their books give them a break.  everything they need will come naturally through exploring and the examples of others.  don't worry.  oh!  and i used AOP for 5th-7th grade and i know what you mean!  it gets pretty boring! ;)

Blessings to you as well!

Gracie ♥

Answer 3

When children come to visit for homework . I have a strict rule It may sound cruel but that's me. They do nothing or get anything until homework is done. I check it and ask questions. If they dont get it they must try again. I donot turn off my TV I tell they must learn to concentrate on their work around distraction. This will help them to do the same in class. One child that comes around your sons age. Is OH boy! anyway he knows every commercial, song, games,etc.   but he donesn't like to do his work. I am a big kid at heart I got almost everything a child would love. So he plays no games nor do I hear the excuses children have. You say 1hr per day try needing 5hrs to do homework. I say all this to say;   Until their reading gets where it should be, Until they can read like they play games THERE are no games the only things they would get is needed. It sounds like you haven't been around your  boys long don't let that discourage you. Explain to them why you are concerned about their education.Invite study buddies over sometimes. Let them have a full day of their time only when they have proven that education is more important then games. GOD be with you  2008    Thanks Use your desires to do better with them Stopping smoking is hard work so is education. ......More..............   I'm still learning how to work yahoo answers I just notice your question. Yes there were times when other children were playing I had to study or clean Hated it then but know as an adult I know education is not just for college It is needed in everyday life. Education turns in knowledge needed to survive. Some children feel if they study for 1hr daily ,go to school, pass their test is enough I donot I feel from the time the child show any learning ability I'm on it. There are certain words I believe children should know on sight and how to spell : milk, cartoons, all their favorite things seen or done. I did not mean anything about not being around your boys I mis-read. I went to nursery school, pre k and so on. I try to help children not to be lazy or picky when it comes to their brain. What they learn in school from 9-3 they at that age forget most of it. Now 9-3 plus your 1hr what daily still isn't enough for some bright kids because of the pass time inbetween.  I pray in some way I am helping you . I'll keep checking if you need im  me........More................When did you start home school with them,how long do you plan to do it? Are you the only Teacher, They still need study Buddies.

Answer 4

Have you ever tried shutting off the volume and turning on the closed captioning scroll at the bottom of the TV?  If they will read video games, they might learn to read this way :)

Make sure you are reading aloud to them - good books. They don't have to sit still next to you, let them play, but read! Listen to books on tape in the car (like Charlotte's Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).  Have fun!!  They are only this little once, and believe me, it goes by fast.

Answer 5

congratulations, you sound like a good teacher.  can u contact anyone else who home teaches?  there are a lot of them out there.

I have two granddaughters that age.  one is a fluent reader and the other struggles along.  encouraging them to read signs on the roads and on games and covers is a good start.

sure we don't need to advse you to read them interesting stories!  have fun, good luck

Answer 6

Relax! They won't be taking college exams for a while yet! By the sounds of it, you are doing things just right. Kids, especially little boys, learn far more from doing. If you are all bored by the program you are following, try another. A bit of sit down work is good for them, but they don't need any more than what you are doing. Observe them, and you'll see when it's time to increase the amount of bookwork. Kids in Europe don't even start school until 7, and I've read a lot of literature that says most kids aren't developmentally ready to start learning to read until 7 years. It's a generalisation, of course, but shows that your kids are doing perfectly well. Keep reading to them. Not just kids books or fiction, but anything on a topic of interest. A dinosaur phase may inspire some books on paleontology or paleo-anthropology. A science phase may trigger some biographies. It's more important to develop their enjoyment of books and reading, than it is to develop their reading skills, at this age. Give the idea that literacy is a source of power. They should have that idea from their video games, play on it. (The idea, not the nintendo!) I assume you take them to the library? Perhaps you need to take them more often? There's not a whole lot to do in a library except read books. No video games ;) You'll also be able to see the types of books they gravitate to. Libraries often have a story time for pre-school kids. Your boys are probably still of an age to enjoy that. Is their hour all in one go? Or do you break it up? You may find half an hour after breakfast, then again after lunch, with family reading time after tea, a good way to increase their bookwork a bit.

Answer 7

Ok, first of all you need to realize that ALL children learn at different rates. My daughter is 10 and just started reading near her grade level. I babysit for 3 year old twins, one knows all his colors like the back of his hand while the other struggles to remember the color of the crayon he was just told was blue. Every child is different in their interests, thoughts, ideas, and learning abilities. My 7th grader does 2-3 hours of sit down work a day. Having said this, I would think that you are doing lots of things with the kids every day. You play with them, which they are learning things from. They play with each other, they are learning. They watch tv, they are learning. They play games, they are learning. It's normal for kids to read things on games and tv more than in books because your kids are young and having to sit still and read to you is a chore. They will get it. Have you tried to do sit down work in 10-15 increments? My son has a list of things he is to complete each day and as long as that is done by his bedtime then I don't care when he does it. Every homeschool is different. We use the eclectic style and love it. We tried traditional at first and the kids and myself were ready to quit homeschooling the first month. It's not for us! I let my kids learn around the things they like. My daughter does lots of arts and crafts with her work. My son does reading, writing, history, science around his interests, currently video games. Use the internet as a resource and the library too. I spend maybe a hundred bucks a year on supplies. We decide what we are studying and go to the library to check out books or go on the internet to find things. Just google "1st grade AND math" you will get lots of sites. You can print out worksheets and everything. Google is a great tool when looking for resources.

Good luck.

Answer 8

1) Find yourself a homeschool support group. Although Yahoo Answers can be helpful, it does not compare to finding a group, even if it's just an online group for your state, county or city. Chatting is so much more helpful than just getting a bunch of answers.

2) 1 hour of sitdown work for boys that age can be a lot. It doesn't have to be all at once, you know, if you feel that they really should be getting an hour a day. Do 15 minutes before breakfast, do another 15 minutes after breakfast, etc.

3) Learning can come from a variety of places--workbooks are not necessary if you find other ways for them to learn what you want to learn.

4) It's not at all uncommon for 6yo boys to only read a little. It's not uncommon for 7yo or even 8yo boys to only read a little. Especially among homeschoolers. They catch up very quickly when they're really ready. They SHOULD still be sounding at words in gr. 1. Even in gr. 2. You can purchase phonics programs that go from K-6. And there are no shoulds with reading at that age. It's not different than learning to crawl or walk. You can only help so much, but in the end, you have to wait for them to be ready and catch on.

5) Make sure video games don't take up a lot of their time. There is research tying video game use with LOWER reading skills. A little's okay; some every day is too much.

Answer 9

We tried lifepacs with our daughter when she was in first grade and she and I both found them boring and I found them to be lacking alot.  After about 4 months or so we gave them up and started creating our own curriculum.  We did unit studies, lapbooks, workbooks, educational computer games, even her leapfrog leappad.  I filled my home with educational materials and spent only about an hour doing seat work with her.  We spent the rest of the time exploring and creating and just enjoying our time together.  We would go to the pond by our house and take home a tadpole and observe it change into a frog or find a caterpillar for science.  For history, we read together each day from the american girl books.  Our seat work was mostly handwriting- we chose handwriting without tears, I cant recommend it enough.  Reading, which we used hooked on phonics for and the Usborne early readers and math, we used Math U See for.  Some days we played games for a subject, like boggle junior for spelling, monopoly junior for money math, we even baked to teach fractions.  There are thousands of learning opportunities waiting to be discovered and few of them are lurking behind a desk.  Just because they are sitting at a desk doesn't mean they are learning and just because they aren't, doesn't mean they aren't gaining valuable information.

Answer 10

Instead of work books what about black boards, stick ons and blocks with letters.

Something they can stand up, walk and do.

We used to do that in school.  20 words up on the board, find this word and that word and put it over there.

The IDEA behind homeschool is to be an improvment NOT the same boring thing real school is!

Thus if a work book and sitting is boring you need to devise alternative ways of doing the same work.

Work on sentences that way too

Get a board wall and segregate it into

Nouns

Pronouns

Verbs

Adjectives

Adverbs

Participles

Then have them make sentences

Subject (Noun) and verb (Action) and use the other words from the parts of speech to make it make sense.

See Cat

See The Cat

Boy Walks

Boy walks store

Boy walks to store

Boy walks to the store

The Boy walks to the store

The boy slowly walks to the store

The boy swiftly walks to the store

Wouldn't hurt to have them remember the names of the parts of speech

But this is 3-4th grade stuff.

Answer 11

1. An hour is more than adequate for six yo boys, kids that age NEED to move a lot to learn, it's how their brains make those connections. Even at schools, they don't sit for longer than 20 minutes until the second/third grade. Break it up more. Find more ways to learn hands on. Make it fun.

2. Reading does take longer for boys than girls, but it still sounds like they are doing great. More time forcing table work will create a dislike for learning. Keep them up and moving. If they are reading video games GREAT! They are reading. If they are reading labels and boxes at the grocery, then GREAT, they are reading! Buy them magazines and books about their favorite shows, their favorite games. My six year old is learning to read from a Pokemon journal book. He's slow to read, but phonics doesn't make sense for him (it doesn't make sense for anyone in Oklahoma, but thass juss mah rednek tawkin) They'll decode it in time.

3. Drop the fear. They aren't going to college in August. They have a LONG time to live and to learn and to love. Keep their lives fun and exciting and full and they will learn all they need. My 12 year old was ten when he started learning trigonometry. Why? Because we spent all weekend setting off model rockets and he wanted to find a way to figure how high they were going. So we made a compass to figure angle, measured distance and he learned all about sine and cosine and finding the hypotenuse from that angle. It was the most amazing unschooling moment. It took me an entire year to understand that. and he just had it!

Homeschooling is amazing. My kids were in public schools for five years before we finally pulled them out. It's been the best thing for everyone involved. we love it.

Answer 12

I think you sound like a great teacher. At that age hands on learning may be best. Whenever you see a lizard or something outside tell them a little about it. Go on nature walks with nature notebooks and let them draw things they see, give them math lessons while cooking. If you are concerned about there reading I recommend love2learns

HAPPY PHONICS

This program teaches reading with games, but requires a lot of cutting.

Go to the library and try to get them interesting books they would enjoy. Read part of the book and leave it at an interesting part. They are sure to want to read it, especially if you are excited about the book and use lots of good voices and sound effects while reading.

Hope this helps