Afterschooling!

[hypatia]

So DD is now 4 and will start her second year of preschool- in France, children go to La Maternelle for three years ( from three to six ) and then start primary school at six, six and a half.
I still need to work out if CP, the first year of primary school, would be considered Kindergarten or First grade in the US :-))

School is morning only, for 5 hours.
We get home at 1 pm. Usually, lunch time is over by 2 and by that time DD is ready for a well-deserved nap, she usually wakes at 4 or a little earlier.

I am a teacher so I will get to spend probably 3 afternoons with her during the school week.
BUT because we get up quite early, she goes to bed at 7 sharp and we read for half an hour (meaning that we start eating/bath routine at six pm)

That leaves me very little time to teach her during this 2 hour period: she also needs to play outside and I sometimes have my own work to do, if I did not have time to finish while she was sleeping)

I would like to focus on the things she doesn't do at school. they do a lot of songs and drawing, painting and play outside.
I've ordered some books in English (some workbooks, Bob books, Singapore Maths).. it will 'force' me to speak to her in English :-) I'm really keen to get her started on Maths, she doesn't grasp addition yet, so far we've focused on patterns, bigger/smaller, heavier/lighter.. Those kind of concepts.

I also odered a booklet (handwriting without tears) to improve her writing but I know she won't do those much, no more than a word or two.

We have Little reader and Little Musician which we'll play everynight (max. 10mn)

I'm restricting TV (educational dvds) to the week-end.

Any suggestions? any Mamas in a similar situation?  thanks!

[waterdreamer]

What about an educational video game?
We have very limited time as well in the evenings and I set up my laptop in the kitchen while I cook dinner and my son would do lessons from reading eggs. He'd work independently, but I was also available to answer any questions

What about Hooked on Phonics? Wesley and I would do a couple pages a night as part of our bedtime reading.

[Mandabplus3]

I afterschool my kids. Some days we have lots of time other days we have even less than you. I average about 2 hours of schoolable time per day but like to give the kids 1 hour of uninterrupted play time on the two days a week we are home. I also don't school at all if they have too much homework, or if they are tired, grumpy or just fried. Do take your daughters lead on this one, I have wasted much time trying to teach when I should have been snuggling with a book instead.
So how do I fit it in? Well in truth some weeks we just don't! BUT the best advise I have is make the most of the wasted times. Particularly the time spent traveling to and from school. Car schooling is our most productive time of the day! We have a DVD player in the car, the iPad is always with us and we are just starting story of the world in cd audio.
At home,  read in any spare minute. If everyone is ready early we read or do extra little musician lessons. The kids read while I brush their hair.
Each afternoon we focus on math as I find it the hardest to squeeze into the free time. Te kids do IXL or MEP or some right start. We do as much math in the kitchen while I make dinner as I can think of, this would be a good idea for you too. Measurement, fractions and addition are easy in the kitchen.
I would suggest in you limited time ( really you have 1 hour, by the time they eat and you cook dinner etc) you choose a subject for each day of the week. That way you can fit in a bit of everything.
Also as you are early risers I would try to do something each morning before school. The morning teaching sticks in their memory better as they are fresh!

[Skeptic]

I'm just reading around borrowing ideas. Thanks a lot! I'm afterschooling as well.

[annisis]

I have to agree completely with carschooling when possible. At one point, my husband was working out of state for a year and my son (1 at the time I think) was forced to sit through a three hour drive there and again on the way back (we have large dogs that are difficult to travel with especially when daddy is staying in an apartment). The DVD player was a life saver and I only played educational ones. It became a habit once we got home that stuck for a while. If you don't feel good about DVDs, how about simple workbooks that don't include a lot of writing? Some books focus more on coloring or matching by drawing lines.

[Korrale4kq]

Books on CD are good for the cars. As are CDs with educational songs.

[Mandabplus3]

Oh yes educational songs on CD ( or MP3)! good thinking we use this one ALOT. It's so easy to put on a CD while they have a bath, or playing the playroom or yes in the car. The bonus is the extra music exposure....assuming they have any quality about them!  Peter Weatheralls DVDs come with an audio track, Currclick have quite a few also.  I just bought 2 more as they are heavily discounted right now. $3.50 for 25 science songs! but a google search will land you quite a few options.
My kids learnt quite a lot  from one science Cd we own, about mammals, clouds, space, colours of the rainbow.... We also have one on advanced phonics ( blends digraphs)
Here is a link if you want to check out the sale http://www.currclick.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=20
Or in the odd chance you have some spare time to play an instrument try these (AWESOME) lyrics to popular tunes, http://www.tlc-sems.com/songs-that-teach.aspx
Kerileanne do check out the math one from the link above!

[hypatia]

Wow, great suggestions!
I'm travelling atm and don't have much access to the internet so will come back soon 

[jane_dmitrova]

I would also recommend to do 2 sessions per day, one in the morning and one in the evening. And please plan the difficult pieces for the morning session. Last month we started to do the morning one and it is going very well. In the morning we always do Singapore math, numbers and in the evening – different Kumon workbooks. And, you know, my son is already used to this regime. Once I overslept myself so I had to skip this morning session in order to be at work ontime but he started to complain and insisted to do at least several exercises

[hypatia]

Great suggestions!
School hasn't started over yet (early September) so that leaves me time to plan.
I've splurged (using her birthday as an excuse ) on quite a few things, I've ordered with Christian books and Rainbow resources for the first time, can't way to get the packages. I'm very impatient on All About Reading!

Morning time is impossible for us. We already leave way too early for my liking (before 7am).

Cds are a good ideas, I'll look into those titles.

I think I will need to mix up a bit of 'sitting down' school time but mostly will need to use Ipad apps, read alouds and games. We have some fun holiday activity books and it's hard to find the perfect spot when she wants to do them, even coloring a little stops after 1 mn.
:-)

[hypatia]

So our packages have arrived and this is what we are going to work through.
(I should add that our main language is French and that I've chosen material in English which is a little above my daughter's language abilities)

Reference for me
What your kindergartner needs to know.
Great suggestions especially for Art, geography and science

Pre-reading

- All about reading Pre level 1: I purchased the Deluxe set as I knew the puppet would be loved, We're on day 2 and I'll think we'll make a speedy progress if we're consistent. I would wait for it to come on sale if I had to buy another one though, as it's very expensive.
But I love how it's quick to do (little reading, a simple craft, an activity with cards and the puppet..) and all laid out.
It's great for us to learn new vocabulary through the rhyming games and the short stories but I wouldn't recommend the pre level to English speaking kiddos on this forum who can already read.

Reading/memorization
The whole Dr Seuss collection and two Bob Books set. The goal is to memorize entire sentences to help with her pronunciation and vocabulary.

Maths
Singapore Maths 1, essential A B + activity book

Definitely our 'weak' area so really want to comit to at least 1 page a day.

Handwriting
My first school book: learning how to write capital letters the 'right'way.
http://www.christianbook.com/my-first-school-book-preschool/9781934825532/pd/498356

We're still waiting on Scholastic Success With: Kindergarten Workbook
http://www.christianbook.com/scholastic-success-with-kindergarten-workbook/9780439695282/pd/695282 ,
which should cover what our current Pre K: Brain Quest does.

I've ordered two other programs which are above her level but will be use in the next 9 months I'd say:
First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, Level 1
http://www.christianbook.com/first-language-lessons-trained-level-1/jessie-wise/9781933339443/pd/339443
Really beautifully made, well laid out for the teacher.

and Spelling (Grades 1 - 2) http://www.christianbook.com/spelling-sharon-hoover/9780307235701/pd/03570x


What I need now is a proper diary to write down what we've done each day. I use a regular book to record achievements and special memories but I need a proper, motivating Afterschooling diary 

Aiming, in the short 2 hour period I'll have with her every afternoon, at 15mn of proper seat work, 15mn of fun stuff (all about spelling, educational puzzle) and half an hour of Ipad/LR/educational dvd.

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