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Helen
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| Posted: Oct 05 2009 at 4:38pm | IP Logged
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I'm looking for suggestions for books/materials for my kindergarten aged daughter. Since she is my sixth child schooling, I need suggestions that keep my large family in mind. 
What are you doing with your non-reading sixth child while the other children school or are dumping out drawers, baskets and shelves? 
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Ave Maria!
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Oct 05 2009 at 5:15pm | IP Logged
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Well, my first is in Kindergarten, but I really love the book Abadaba Alphabet read by Jim Weiss. The illustrations are beautiful even though it is "silly," and I like having it to stick in in workboxes and he can listen independently. abadaba alphabet
I do like the workboxes for my little guy because I can just tell him to go do school. I put a sticky next to activities in Draw, Write, Now or put lacing cards or a coloring page or something to cut out for another activity (I'll have him cut out his own cards for Right Start math). He just goes through them at his own pace independently, and I can strategically place the things like math or phonics either at the beginning or end when I think I'll have the most time to give him. If I'm busy, I can just tell him to go on to the next one and we'll come back to it. It may sound like a lot of work, but our boxes (I only did 8) are pretty low key (spray painted linen paper boxes from dh's work) and it is less work since he can work independently without coming to me in between activities since he couldn't actually read a written check list.
ETA: I don't use the workboxes every single day.
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Lindsay
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Helen
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| Posted: Oct 05 2009 at 5:31pm | IP Logged
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| I do like the workboxes for my little guy because I can just tell him to go do school. I put a sticky next to activities in Draw, Write, Now or put lacing cards or a coloring page or something to cut out for another activity (I'll have him cut out his own cards for Right Start math). He just goes through them at his own pace independently, and I can strategically place the things like math or phonics either at the beginning or end when I think I'll have the most time to give him. |
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Thanks Lindsay -- I should have mentioned that I'm using workboxes and they are extremely effective. I just don't know what to keep putting in the boxes. I need fun suggestions that aren't extremely time intensive for me.
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Ave Maria!
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KackyK
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| Posted: Oct 05 2009 at 6:31pm | IP Logged
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Helen my 6th is in K too and I have 7 dc, with #8 coming this winter.
Anyhoo...I too am doing the workboxes, although ours are work drawers. Mine loves them. But it can be hard to find new things in there to keep interest. The faves have been coloring pages (I have some Mary and Rosary coloring books), dot to dot pages, dominos, playdoh with different cookie cutters, books on tape, do a dot markers, blo-pens, cutting pages, etc. oh and preschool bags. The preschool bags we use are from two preschool bag swaps I organized (I highly recommend this! I got so many activities out of this, not hard to do at all. This is the site where I purchased the two ebooks with the activities. If you want to know more about organizing...let me know. But you could purchase the books and just make a whole set for yourself alone.) Oh and I also have some file folder games I put in there. I need to get on the ball and whip out some more of those.
Notice I don't put math/phonics/religion in there at all. It's kind of fluffy really, but keeps her occupied. I couldn't wrap my brain around how to organize them so I wouldn't be occupied with other dc when a workdrawer kid needed help...so everything in there is strictly done withOUT any help from anyone else.
A short run down on how our day goes shows you how the workdrawers work into her day. We all start with prayer. Everyone goes to their own work. The oldest 4 (9th, 7th, 5th, 4th graders) have agendas with their lesson plans in them and they follow those. The 2nd grader goes to his workdrawers. Then I do the math and phonics and religion with my kinderkiddo. We are done usually within an hour for sure. Then she moves to her drawers and I move on to the 2nd grader. He too doesn't have the math/phonics/religion in his drawers. He knows he just has to stop at whatever drawer he is on, works with me, and then goes back to the drawers. This keeps everyone busy until lunch. Then I hit the older kiddos, but they don't need as much as time with me. Only my K and 2nd dc have workdrawers.
And during this time the 15mo.old wanders. And yep she gets into stuff...dvds all over the floor, books pulled out the case, etc etc. But I just go into the day knowing that this is how it is, the older kids do a cleanup later in the day and it all gets picked up. We are spread out all over our first floor so someone is near her all the time. So sometimes we can stop the spread of "stuff". 
This was probably too long and too much info! Maybe some of it was helpful! I'd like to know what you are putting into your boxes?!
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helene
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| Posted: Oct 05 2009 at 8:34pm | IP Logged
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My 7th is in K this year and I am expecting. I spend about 20 minutes one-on-one with him daily. First he does a phonics worksheet and then a math sheet. Then we do some flashcards. He isn't really reading yet so I try to read to him. Other than that he plays with Lego and Army men with his 3 year old best bud for most of the morning. I hope he listens in and gleans things while I teach older ones, too. Not very sophisticated, but it seems to fit the bill.
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Helen
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| Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 1:56am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the suggestions Kacky and Helene.
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Ave Maria!
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Jenny
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| Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 10:35pm | IP Logged
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If you have a tv and dvd payer, I would highly recommend Leap Frog Letter Factory. This buys me 30 minutes to work with the bigger kids and the little ones run around singing the phonetic songs all day.
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Jenny
Chris' wife and momma of 7. My blog: The Littlest Way--Bible Journaling, Inspiring Bible Quotes, Daily Affirmations, Prayer Journaling & photography
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KackyK
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| Posted: Oct 07 2009 at 7:18am | IP Logged
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Yes! I double that recommendation...all the Leap Frog dvds are good. I also recommend the Magic School Bus episodes on DVD. Sometimes Amazon has them on a really good special for only $5 a dvd and there are two episodes per dvd.
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KackyK
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: When your sixth is in Kindergarten
