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Click here for colorful, printable chore lists for toddlers through tweens.

If you want more chores, efficiency, and organization help, check out the podcast episodes listed here.

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I have loved teaching writing and language arts to nearly a hundred students a year for the past fifteen years (started out with eight students!). Through that process, as well as through writing fifty thousand pages of curricula, books, blog posts, and more over the past fifteen years, I have learned so much about teaching writing—and also about the expectations and goals that we have for students at various levels. Sometimes these expectations are extreme, but sometimes they are not adequate. In this series, I hope to give you an *encouraging* writing tip for each grade level. Keep in mind that I am talking here about the act of writing/creating/composing, not the act of penmanship (or even spelling). Here we go…

Kindergarten:

Teach “writing” informally through reading aloud, listening to audios together, and building the child’s background of experience.

At this level, the child may not be able to “pen” words or sentences (my kids certainly couldn’t), but writing is about creating and creativity and thinking first and foremost. The penning will come later—and its success will be based on the level of creativity and thinking that a child has developed.

Every time you read aloud to a child, you are building his creativity. Every time you listen to an audio together, you are teaching him to “make pictures in his head” (my six year old’s words fifteen years ago!). Every time you discuss things, go to the zoo, visit a re-enactment, or watch the creatures at the aquarium, you are building his background of experience.

These books, pictures in his mind, and experiences will all be brought together—first in his learning to read (his reading comprehension following “word calling”) and then in his learning to write. When I was in college, these were called “background of experiences.” Regardless of what they are called, some things never change: a student thinks and learns based in large part on those.

Taking his experiences one step further through discussion seals his learning and thinking. Use the same good questioning techniques with experiences as you would with building reading and listening comprehension: ask why, ask what makes him think this or that, ask what that is similar to or different from, ask what might happen next or what might have happened before.

Writing is not only taught with paper and pen (or computer). Don’t underestimate the non-writing “writing lessons”!

The post A Writing Tip for Every Year: Kindergarten appeared first on Character Ink.

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I was recently asked what my “educational expectations” would be with a five year old. Now, this fall marks our thirtieth year of homeschooling. Through the years, we have ebbed and flowed with the trends of homeschooling just like all other long-term homeschoolers. However, there are some things that have always stayed the same for us:

(1) Teach obedience before starting school

(2) Put relationships above academics

(3) Put God first, then marriage, then children, then others

Read More!→

One way that we like to help parents determine whether a child’s behavior is of a serious nature or whether it is simply childishness that needs training, rewards, more training, follow-through, and consequences to solve it is by using the benchmark of the 4D’s.

If you have been to our Raising Kids With Character parenting seminar, you have probably heard us describe the importance of determining which behavior a child is having. This is because the behaviors that we call the 4D’s are heart-oriented and more life-affecting than those that are simply childishness such as irresponsibility, laziness, or messiness.

That is, we take the four D’s behavior more seriously and attack it with more intentionality than we would childish behavior that we can train and teach from area

It will help you to be able to discern between the two types of behaviors if you recognize and memorize the 4D’s…  Read More→

Donna Reish, author of character quality language arts and meaningful composition, answers a couple of readers questions about kindergarten. In this podcast episode, she specifically talks about what types of behaviors parents should expect from a four to six year-old child before starting formal academics and the six most important things to focus on first, including obedience, morning routines, chore times, and informal learning. She describes the optimum learning environment and gives insight as to what to look for in readiness to learn to read.

Join Donna as she describes some of the best years of parenting.  Listen HERE!

Many years ago we were able to go to many homeschooling seminars including the Christian Homeschooling Workshop by Greg Harris. I mentioned before on this blog that we came home from his seminars (basic and advanced) ready to tackle one thing at a  time out of that amazing binder of material.

One of the things that he taught us were the amazing benefits of using delight directed studies. He said that if we would focus some of our studies on things that our children love, things they were delighted in, things they were interested in, they would learn so much more easily and learning would be more fun.

I was all about waiting for readiness in my children so that they would love school. I was all about building a love for learning in our children. And delight directed studies lined up beautifully with those goals.  Read More→

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The post This Week’s Character Ink! Newsletter {July 9, 2015} appeared first on Character Ink.

Consider Behavior First

1. Readiness to learn formally is more than just “academic readiness”

2. Behavior problems of the preschool days will get carried into school work

(Having a school schedule does help behaviors some, but will not solve them entirely.)

3. The trouble you might be having getting teeth brushed or coming to breakfast, etc., will

only be exacerbated by adding “come to school table” or “do seatwork” or “listen.”

So first solve behavior issues—Tips and Links

1. Link: In general, I have dozens of preschool posts that apply to the four to six year old age range. These run the gamut from morning routines to story time to bringing in behavior boundaries. If you have a five year old who does not obey, will not cooperate with general commands and instructions (brushing teeth, unloading dishwasher, or sitting down for stories, etc.), you might want to scroll through this list.

2. Link: Specifically, posts about lack of cooperation and getting the five year old on board for obedience and decent schedules can be found :here:

3. When I am trying to solve a problem in my schedule or routine, I try to work on the first hour of the day (for me personally), the same thing is true of our littles. Before starting formal school, I recommend getting the morning routine down pat. This will help him learn cooperation in other areas of the day—and will make the day run so much smoother. Keep in mind that it doesn’t matter what time this morning routine takes place (seven or nine) or even if the times are the same every day—just so the order, expectations, and consequences are always consistent. Here are some helps for this.

4. Other unacceptable behaviors should be handled quickly and seriously (not “don’t hit” but rather no more friends, play dates, staying up later to watch a family movie, etc., until you are “strike free” for a week, etc.). Be firm and consistent with Four D’s—they are not character issue that you should “train” in and reward. They are serious and should be treated serious. Read “Discerning Between the 4D’s of Behavior and Childishness”.

5. Determine your family’s behavior absolutes (if you have not already done so). These are the behaviors or character that you absolutely will not allow in your home. What you allow now will become the “acceptable behaviors” to your child. These seemingly innocent actions include “fibbing,” hitting, etc. For our family, these include talking back, saying no to parent, lying or deceit, temper tantrums, and striking.

General Expectations for a Kindergarten Child

1. Obedience. Take it from an old mama—school is so much better with a six year old in kindergarten who obeys than it is with a five year old in kindergarten who doesn’t obey.

2. Morning routine. If our kids couldn’t do a simple morning routine chart of making their beds, grooming, putting away their own toys and books, “reading” a picture Bible (or doing a Bible book and audio set), and getting completely ready for the day without a big fuss, I didn’t do bookwork with them.

3. Chores. Once a five year old is known for first time obedience and following through on his morning routine, I add chores to his schedule. You can read more about developing chores for this age group here.

4. Room time. I believe room time has so many educational benefits, namely those of increasing a child’s concentration, creativity, independence, and risk taking (all found to be important factors in studies about children who were “natural readers”–that is, they learned to read without instruction–this is important because if it helps a child become a natural reader, it can also help a child become a good reader in general). You can find out more about room time here.

5. Bible time. I would have the kindergartener join us for Bible time as well as having a “little kids” Bible time during the morning. I liked to put this after morning routine and chores, so we had an order that put character and faith before academics. It might work better for some to do it during story time.

6. Informal learning time. We had an adage that “we would never teach a young child anything formally that could be taught informally.” Therefore, when it came to pre-reading and pre-math skills, we were extremely diligent to “teach while we are in the way with them.” In other words, rhyming words, initial consonant sounds, ending consonant sounds, letter recognition, beginning math concepts (counting, recognizing numbers, less than/greater than, and much more) can all be taught informally, and we did. We also used picture books, puzzles, games, manipulatives, audios, videos, computer games, felt activities, toys, blocks….anything! I recommend building this time into a kindergarteners day–either through room time or through a learning center or table time where activities are set up for him, etc.

7. Formal learning. We only used workbooks with our five, six, and seven year old (non-readers) when they were set on numbers one through six above–and only if the child wanted them and enjoyed them. There are colorful, wonderful kindergarten workbooks available through Timberdoodle.

Formal Learning Tips for This Age:

a. If your kindergarten student is ready to learn to read, I don’t recommend using a complete kindergarten/first grade curriculum to do this. Learning to read doesn’t need to take three to five years. If you get a good program, a child can learn to read in three to six months if readiness is in place. Get a good phonics program that teaches reading only (i.e. not complete language arts at this level) and use a word family phonics approach combined with readers. Some of my reading program reviews are found at Raising Kids With Character for Phonics Tutor and Saxon Reading.

b. If you do want to get an entire kindergarten program, do not get a textbook-driven approach. Again, Timberdoodle has wonderful preschool and kindergarten programs with many hands on and fun activities included.

c. Make kindergarten fun. If I had kindergarten to do over again, I would do all of the tips above and get Timberdoodle’s kindergarten fun things, a colorful math program that has manipulatives (Math-U-See and/or Saxon kindergarten math are very hands on!), and Five in a Row (and choose the activities that you want to do and leave the rest). But again, I would only do that after the first six things above are met!

Other Podcasts That Might Interest You:

How Do I Prepare My Child to Learn to Read? 

Summer Reading Help

RKWC Terms and Definitions

Chores and Chore Charts 

Story Time With Littles and Very Littles

Listen to the “What Should I Do With a Kindergartener?” podcast here!

Print this post.

The post Podcast Handout for: What Should I Do With a Kindergartener? appeared first on Character Ink.

Donna Reish, author of character quality language arts and meaningful composition, answers a couple of readers questions about kindergarten. In this podcast episode, she specifically talks about what types of behaviors parents should expect from a four to six year-old child before starting formal academics and the six most important things to focus on first, including obedience, morning routines, chore times, and informal learning. She describes the optimum learning environment and gives insight as to what to look for in readiness to learn to read. Join Donna as she describes some of the best years of parenting.

Click here to download the printable handout.

Subscribe to our Wondering Wednesday podcasts in iTunes.

Click here to see our previous podcasts!

The post Podcast: What Should I Do With a Kindergartener? appeared first on Character Ink.

I was recently asked what my “educational expectations” would be with a five year old. Now, this fall marks our thirtieth year of homeschooling. Through the years, we have ebbed and flowed with the trends of homeschooling just like all other long-term homeschoolers. However, there are some things that have always stayed the same for us:

(1) Teach obedience before starting school
(2) Put relationships above academics
(3) Put God first, then marriage, then children, then others

And many more!

My expectations for five year olds still haven’t changed! If I had a sweet, wonderful, amazing five year old, this is what I would do! (Btw, four to six year olds are the greatest kids ever!)

1. Obedience. We can’t expect children to do school work if they will not make their beds, brush their teeth, come when called, etc. Obedience is a pre-requisite to bookwork–always has been in our homeschool. Take it from an old mama—school is so much better with a six year old in kindergarten who obeys than it is with a five year old in kindergarten who doesn’t obey.

2. Morning routine. If our kids couldn’t do a simple morning routine chart of making their beds, grooming, putting away their own toys and books, “reading” a picture Bible (or doing a Bible book and audio set), and getting completely ready for the day without a big fuss, I didn’t do bookwork with them. (See number one!) I talk about morning routine charts here and here and here.

3. Chores. Once a five year old is known for first time obedience and following through on his morning routine, I add chores to his schedule. You can read more about developing chores for this age group here and here and here and here and here.

4. Room time. I used room time from ten to fourteen months (playpen time) up through age six or seven, depending on how much the child could join us for older kids’ school. The reason I list it here as an expectation for a five year old is that I believe room time has so many educational benefits, namely those of increasing a child’s concentration, creativity, independence, and risk taking (all found to be important factors in studies about children who were “natural readers”–that is, they learned to read without instruction–this is important because if it helps a child become a natural reader, it can also help a child become a good reader in general). You can find out more about room time here and here and here and here.

5. Bible time. I would have the kindergarten join us for Bible time as well as having a “little kids” Bible time during the morning. I liked to put this after morning routine and chores, so we had an order that put character and faith before academics. It might work better for some to do it during story time. (I used what I called “interval Bible training,” meaning that we did various Bible teachings from sun up until sun down, so that they were always being trained in Bible stories, character, doctrine, hymns, songs, etc. all the time. For instance, we would use Bible on audio during morning chores, hymns and praise music during breakfast, Bible story read alouds in the morning, more in depth Bible studies with the olders during “unit studies,” Bible audios and/or videos during room time (almost always audios; I wasn’t big on videos as I wanted them to “make the pictures in their minds”); Bible stories and character stories during story time, audios as they were falling asleep; Bible reading and singing at dinner; Bible stories at bedtime, etc. Find out more about what we used during this age here and here and here.

6. Informal learning time. We had an adage that “we would never teach a young child anything formally that could be taught informally.” Therefore, when it came to pre-reading and pre-math skills, we were extremely diligent to “teach while we are in the way with them.” In other words, rhyming words, initial consonant sounds, ending consonant sounds, letter recognition, beginning math concepts (counting, recognizing numbers, less than/greater than, and much more) can all be taught informally, and we did. We also used picture books, puzzles, games, manipulatives, audios, videos, computer games, felt activities, toys, blocks….anything! I recommend building this time into a kindergarteners day–either through room time or through a learning center or table time where activities are set up for him, etc.

7. Formal learning. We only used workbooks with our five, six, and seven year old (non-readers) when they were set on numbers one through six above–and only if the child wanted them and enjoyed them. There are colorful, wonderful kindergarten workbooks available through Timberdoodle. Here are some other formal learning tips for this age:

a. If your kindergarten student is ready to learn to read, I don’t recommend using a complete kindergarten/first grade curriculum to do this. Learning to read doesn’t need to take three to five years. If you get a good program, a child can learn to read in three to six months if readiness is in place. (Call to order my audio on Teaching Reading in the Homeschool for more information on reading readiness, choosing readers, and choosing a phonics program.) I recommend a couple that I have used or had friends use, but there are many good ones out there that teach reading only (i.e. not complete language arts at this level) and use a word family phonics approach combined with readers. Some of my reading program reviews are found at Raising Kids With Character for Phonics Tutor and Saxon Reading.

b. If you do want to get an entire kindergarten program, do not get a textbook-driven approach. Again, Timberdoodle has wonderful preschool and kindergarten programs with many hands on and fun activities included.

c. Make kindergarten fun. If I had kindergarten to do over again, I would do all of the tips above and get Timberdoodle’s kindergarten fun things, a colorful math program that has manipulatives (Math-U-See and/or Saxon kindergarten math are very hands on!), and Five in a Row (and choose the activities that you want to do and leave the rest). But again, I would only do that after the first six things above are met!

As for general expectations, here are some other tips:

(1) Morning routines, morning chores, sitting during reading, room time, etc., first (have I mentioned this yet?)

(2) An hour or so of time with you either in fun learning (see c. above) and/or in learning to read, preferably in the morning.

(3) Story time, room time, quiet time, book and audio sets, etc. for independent learning all built into the schedule.

(4) Interweave free time with all of the above. It is my experience that four to six year olds who are not doing “formal” more all day type of school end up being bored and restless when their days are not predictable.

Hope this helps you with your five year old! Most of all, enjoy them! These should be some of the sweetest days of parenting! I know they were for me, and I want that for every mama out there! 🙂

More Help With Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Kindergarteners?

BLOG POST: Character Q & A: How Can I Start Character Training With My Toddler?

PODCAST EPISODE: What To Do About Toddler Trouble?

PODCAST EPISODE: How Do I Prepare My Child to Learn to Read?

The post Expectations For a Five Year Old appeared first on Character Ink.

Click here to download the printable handout.

Subscribe to our Wondering Wednesday podcasts in iTunes.

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