{"id":1200,"date":"2014-12-04T15:40:13","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T22:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/?page_id=1200"},"modified":"2015-07-08T10:45:08","modified_gmt":"2015-07-08T16:45:08","slug":"keep-on-schedule-or-let-em-fly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/keep-on-schedule-or-let-em-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep on Schedule or Let ’em Fly?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h3>\n

Question:<\/h4>\n

I just started homeschooling my 5 year old boy who loves math. I bought the Calvert Kindergarten curriculum because I had no idea what I was doing and thought I needed a lot of structure (which is what I got). It seems to be too slow for him and sometimes boring. He already knows how to do simple addition, subtraction, and multiplication in his head because he is always asking us math questions (especially related to money). He carries around a calculator all day and comes to tell me what 572 plus 12 is. He wants to know about millions and billions and beyond. We have never done addition or beyond on paper but it seems he is ready for that. Should I continue on with these lesson plans as they are outlined or let him go on ahead as he wants to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Answer:<\/h4>\n

What a wonderful situation you are in! You have a 5 year old who wants to fly\u2014so let him!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Your question brings back memories of my own son, Mark (who graduated from a university in Political Science), when he was just a little boy attending kindergarten public school (back in the days before I homeschooled!) A few weeks after school began, I got a phone call from the teacher. Mark was in trouble! It turned out that he was guilty of “sneaking ahead” in his math book. I had to stifle a chuckle as the teacher explained his crime! He was so interested in math that he couldn’t stay with the slow-moving class, going laboriously over things that he already had figured out. He wanted to fly!<\/em> I solved the problem my taking him out of school and bringing him and his math book home, where I told him to do all the pages he wanted! It only took him a week to finish the book and beg for more. I bought math manipulatives, math games, math toys and he soared! He loved math and loved the freedom to satiate his curiosity!<\/p>\n

I can think of no quicker way to kill a natural love of learning that to enforce a slow-moving schedule on an interested learner.<\/strong> Think about how it feels to us adults to sit in a class where the teacher answers your eager, pertinent questions with: “we’ll get to that later in the course.” It doesn’t take long before apathy sets in, simply out of frustration.<\/p>\n

\"thumbnail\"<\/a>There are so many wonderful math resources to satisfy your son’s anxious desire to learn. If you choose to use a different textbook, I highly recommend Singapore Math<\/a>. It moves quickly and caters to children with its bright pictures and visual representations of the math formulas. You can give him a free placement test (online) to see where he needs to start.<\/p>\n

A good place to learn about big, big numbers is this website: Math Cats: Really Big Numbers. <\/a>\u00a0\u00a0In fact, the whole website, is excellent for young ones yearning to learn more and more about math. Here are my favorite math resources too\u2014you can find them in my store:<\/p>\n

\"image-2\"<\/a>Math It<\/a><\/p>\n

Foam Dice Set<\/a><\/p>\n

Calc-U-Draw<\/a><\/p>\n

Addition Wrap-Ups<\/a><\/p>\n

Multiplication Songs CD<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What could be more fun than a child who is eager, eager to learn?! \u00a0Have fun together!<\/em>
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May I reco<\/b>mmend:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"homeschooling-Louisa\"
\nIndispensable Math Facts
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\"child-315049_1280\"
\nSiblings Progressing at Different Rates
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\"1105\"
\nMuggins
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I just started homeschooling my 5 year old boy who loves math. I bought the Calvert Kindergarten curriculum because I had no idea what I was doing and thought I needed a lot of structure (which is what I got). It seems to be too slow for him and sometimes boring. He already knows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,9],"tags":[48],"class_list":["post-1200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-math-articles","category-what-articles","tag-eager-to-learn","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Photoxpress_2054643-150x150.jpg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6IrRN-jm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":501,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/opposite-math\/","url_meta":{"origin":1200,"position":0},"title":"Opposite Math","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Hot . . . Cold Wet . . . Dry New . . . Old Open . . . Shut Children can grasp the idea of opposites at a young age. If you take advantage of this concept when teaching math, it cuts your work in half! Instead of teaching\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Math"","block_context":{"text":"Math","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/math-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"blackwhite","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/blackwhite-e1427910761964.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1187,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/just-wants-to-play\/","url_meta":{"origin":1200,"position":1},"title":"Just Wants to Play","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've just started homeschooling, and I'm having a horrible time with my 6 year old son today. I've said he had to do the lessons before going outside, but playing outside is all he wants . . . what do I do? Answer: Easy answer: Go outside with him!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How to Homeschool"","block_context":{"text":"How to Homeschool","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"homeschooling_0096_DCP_2917","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/homeschooling_0096_DCP_29171-e1428004757696.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1160,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/gifted-child\/","url_meta":{"origin":1200,"position":2},"title":"Gifted Child","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I homeschooled my son in kindergarten and then had to put him in public school for 1st grade. They of course tested him and he is \"gifted\". I am blessed to be able to homeschool him again next year. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on what I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Concerns"","block_context":{"text":"Concerns","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/homeschooling-concerns\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/3kidsonarock.jpg?fit=373%2C280&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1198,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/messed-up-in-math\/","url_meta":{"origin":1200,"position":3},"title":"Messed up in Math","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Our granddaughter goes to public school and she is struggling so hard with math. The school has really messed her up and is teaching her things backwards. When we try to help her it confuses her. They are teaching her to do math problems from left to right, to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Math"","block_context":{"text":"Math","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/math-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/69.195.124.81\/~homescp3\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Photoxpress_5485645-199x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1158,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/public-school-and-resistant\/","url_meta":{"origin":1200,"position":4},"title":"Newly Out of Public School and Resistant","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I need some suggestions on how to motivate my 9-year-old to do any school work. I took Derek out of public school about a month ago after a lot of prayers and heart ache. He was in the third grade and we spent more time at night doing his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How to Homeschool"","block_context":{"text":"How to Homeschool","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"family7","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/family7-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1289,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/homeschool-kindergarten\/","url_meta":{"origin":1200,"position":5},"title":"A Day in our Homeschool Kindergarten","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Kindergarten has got to be my favorite year of homeschool: sweet little eager minds so anxious to be big and to learn and everything! Come with me through a day of teaching a kindergartner at my house. After morning scripture study, bath and dressing, breakfast, chores\u2014it\u2019s school time. At our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How to Homeschool"","block_context":{"text":"How to Homeschool","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kindergarteners are Great!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/3kidsbigball.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1200"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7385,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions\/7385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}