would you use a curriculum package for a 4 year old or stick to autonomous?

[mumof4darlings]

i home ed my 2 older children, but havent experienced home edding in the early years, Can any one advise me on methods they have used. I would like to just relax and let him learn in his own way through play, but am still tempted by packages. I would love to hear from both sides structured and autonomous. Many thanks!

[siblingrivalry]

I HE my 8 year old dd,and I think dd2 (4) is starting school in September. However if I was h edding her, I would stick to an autonomous route.
It's only my opinion, but I think 4 is too young to be doing 'formal' stuff. They are like sponges at that ageand will absorb massive amounts of information through play alone.

It's a very personal decision, though,and you have to go with whatever you feel comfortable with. Good luck

[Kayteee]

My 12yr old has just started a more structured approach, his choice .He has decided he wants to go for a Maths igcse next year.

Both my boys have been autonomous for 4 years, the younger one is nearly 9 now. He taught himself to read at about 7, again his choice. We have tried a few tutored classes for things like Maths and Science but, tbh, they have learned more, and been happier, doing things at their own pace.

As Siblingrivalry said though, it's a very personal thing. Every child is different and I know some kids who thrive on structured HE. I think "go with the flow" is a good idea to start off with

This Early Years Yahoo Group might help

[mumof4darlings]

thankyou both and thanks for the early years group, ihave just signed up!

[mychildrenarebarmy]

My DD has been HE'd from the start. Until she was 6 we did very little formal work. Now she does something formal every day. I waited until she seemed ready for it.

[isittooearlyforgin]

if your child went to a nursery or good reception they would be letting them learn through play and letting them choose from a range of resources that encourage language skills, counting, colours etc. with the adult helping them by giving vocabulary etc so probably early years is the most natural of all stages to home ed.

[emmawil37]

I'm going to be carrying on the same as I am now with my 4 year old, we go out a lot she has become very interested in money and looking at prices in shops so at the moment that takes care of the maths. She's also very interested in reading and writing so we look at loads of signs and I have brought some wipe clean work books for her writing and she picks them up whenever she wants. We're going to carry on doing things as she wants she does seem to like a little bit of structure but its totally up to her I don't push her.

[flamingobingo]

Autonomous every time. My two oldest know absolutely heaps through being in charge of their own learning - 6 and 4. I am certain that their learning would have been no where near as efficient had it been led by me.

Read 'How Children Learn At Home' by Alan Thomas and Harriet Pattison.

[Fillyjonk]

autonomous, absolutely.

I suspect we would stick with autonomous all the way anyway, but a big draw for me of early HE is that they can just play.

[Yurtgirl]

We arent officially HEing yet but deffo autonomous for a 4yo

When mine get to 11 then things will get much more structured - but we still wont use a package as such - more a bit of this, bit of that and a few courses in specific subjects

For now just a specific package in Maths for ds who is older - havent decided which yet

The sonlight catalogue is very interesting nonetheless - I wont buy from them but will deffo buy some of the items from uk sites having read about them in sonlight catalogue

I would be interested in reading other about other 'packages' too - but havent come across any yet

[Roseanna123]

My 6 were all autonomous, all the way. The youngest is 10 now, the older ones all decided at some point about a direction they wanted to go in then worked for qualifications to get them there, 2 did GCSE's (not much fun and pretty useless once you get past 16) and all have done Open University courses except youngest. I 'teach' science to home ed kids - well, we work out what we're interested in then research it then share it with the group. I see a huge difference in 'home schooled' formally home educated kids and the autonomous ones - the latter are flexible, enquiring, passionate about things they are interested in - like toddlers. They are not bored with learning because no-one ever made it a chore.