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Sarah
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 2:04pm | IP Logged
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First of all, "hate" isn't a word I like people to use around here, but after the first week of school, my kindergartner said precisely that about homeschooling. He is a brutely honest person anyway, and he told me "I hate school!"
This makes me SO sad. I bought "handwriting w/out tears" Pre-K book, which starts out with coloring (easy & low-key). We did clay, blocks, read alouds. I bent over backwards to have a good start for him, and here he is "hating it!"
When his Grandpa asked him this weekend what he's learning in school he exclaimed abruptly, "Nothing!" (like--"don't ask!") Yikes! What have I done? 
When I asked him what the problem was he thought it was "too long." We are going from 8:30-12:30 with a snack and outdoor recess break in between. PLUS, after he's done he goes out to play anyway (alone- I'm sure he misses the boys).
So, what does your kindergartner think of school so far? How can I help this child? Any thoughts?
BTW, he was 5 yo at the end of May.
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Dawnie
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 3:33pm | IP Logged
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Sarah,
I think that 4 hours, even w/ a break would have been too long for my dd when she was in kindergarten. It would be too long for her NOW, and she's in 2nd grade this year!  When she was in kindergarten, we worked for less than an hour 4 days/week. She just did phonics, handwriting, and math. Religion was mostly "unschooled." We didn't do a lot of hands-on stuff b/c I had a newborn, but we got through the basics and she was ready for 1st grade the next fall.
Even now, she gets really antsy after about an hour of "formal" school. She turned 7 in May. I've been setting a timer for 5 minutes for her to work on those subjects she doesn't really like. I ask her to stay on task and do the best she can for 5 minutes, then she can stop and go on to something else. She can really get a lot done in 5 minutes, if she is actually working the whole time. I plan on increasing the time she spends on her lessons as she gets older and her attention span and self-discipline increases.
Dawn
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KC in TX
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 4:51pm | IP Logged
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I agree with Dawn about the time. When my son was a kindergartener, we spent about 20 minutes with actual seatwork and then we just read a lot of books. Some kids don't like the Handwriting without Tears PreK book. Michaela did not. She does like the current one we're using though. Maybe instead of so much seatwork you could have him do puzzles, math games, sandpaper letters a la Montessoir, etc.
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mumofsix
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 5:11pm | IP Logged
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Sarah, my kindergartener certainly could not do three hours of school work, even with a break. He would be starting school right now if he were not homeschooled, though here in England we start one year earlier. (My son is 4 and will be 5 in December.)
For formal academic work one half hour is his maximum attention span. I do half an hour of simple maths and memory work with him in the morning, and half an hour of reading instruction in the afternoon, right after lunch.
In addition, I do a "pre-school" session for him and his little sister for an hour, but that is purely fun. His older sister has an hour in the afternoon for "fun school" which he often opts to join in on. That will involve simple kitchen science experiments or Montessori catechesis or arts and crafts or singing, etc. I also read aloud to him for half an hour at bedtime, then to his older sister for half an hour. He usually chooses to listen in on her story too, so that is a whole hour of listening, but he really loves this. He gets a little bit of informal catechesis in our family prayer time too.
That sounds like quite a lot, now that I write it all down! However, most of it is not what he would recognise as "school work". I can say that he does seem to love everything we do together, and he is very rewarding to teach.
Your son is very young yet, so maybe keeping formal teaching times very short, and teaching through play and read alouds mostly, might work better. Remember that one to one tutoring is very intensive, so a little goes a long way.
Hth! Jane.
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 8:34pm | IP Logged
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My dd just turned 5 last week and is in K this year. We do a morning meeting (15 mins or so) all together where she mostly does some copywork (letter of the week and color word)and listens in on ds's lessons, then she gets 15 mins or so of math, which is mostly counting stuff right now. Then she is free to choose activities from her Montessori shelves while I work with ds. Later she gets another 15 mins of lang arts. Then we do nature study all together(the time varies), lunch, and a read-aloud before nap. In the afternoon she is free to join ds and I or choose more activities from her shelves.
She is very enthusiastic and would do more if I asked her to, but I want to keep it short and pleasant for her.
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JuliaT
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 9:39pm | IP Logged
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Sarah,
I am doing K this year with my 5.5 yr. old ds. The three R's take a little less than an hour. I let him decide if he wants to join us for picture, composer and nature study. Usually he does. We only do one a day, though. Then in the afternoon, I read to him. I agree with the others, maybe 4 hrs. is a bit too much for him.
Julia
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Juliainsk
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MacBeth
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 9:42pm | IP Logged
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He's 5?
Hold him close.
Read good books.
Walk outside.
Draw or paint, or model with clay.
Read more books.
Go back outside.
Hold him close.
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Mrs.K
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 10:00pm | IP Logged
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Perhaps your son 'hates school' not because of disliking the work load but because of 'missing the boys' as you stated. I don't know your situation, if your olders are off at a brick and mortar school or just off in another room doing their big boy work, but either way it is 'school' that has deprived your 5yods from having his brothers to play freely with all day. That may be the underlying reason why he resents anything to do with that thing called 'school', no matter what you have planned for him. Just a thought!
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Willa
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| Posted: Sept 05 2006 at 10:04pm | IP Logged
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Sarah, when I read your post it occured to me that entering the school year is a transition in itself for a little boy if he has older siblings, even if he wasn't school age himself. My preschoolers used to find it difficult when suddenly one day their older siblings would become unavailable to play and I was suddenly a busier mom.
You could try transitioning him more slowly into the school year -- even putting off working with him formally until the homeschool patterns are well established in the house, with the older kids? That might help get him used to all the new things gradually. OF course you could still have the workbooks and clay and books around if he was acting lonely or bored. You could try setting up some learning shelves and having him pick some activities to work on when the rest of you are busy.
I have to say that I have never really done kindergarten with my kids  I usually read to them of course, work on phonics a bit and do some very low key math activities but these fit into odd corners of the day, when things were less busy for me. No real concentrated academic time. Still, it was enough to keep them well on track.
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Willa
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Sarah
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| Posted: Sept 06 2006 at 10:46am | IP Logged
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Thanks everyone. I guess I should say, too, the HE's not doing school for more than 10-15 minutes each day (not including read alouds). Hope I didn't make it sound like I'm making him sit four HOURS.
The other kids are working at school from 8:30-12:30. I just don't know how to shorten it and still get anything done. We have a really hard time getting back to work after lunch. It usually doesn't happen.
I think a huge chunk of the probelm is that he is bored and lonely. The summer was filled with the boys all playing and exploring. Even though my boys are home, they are occupied.
All your advice is so helpful. He smiled this morning. 
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Topic: When they "hate" school
