What is Reddit's opinion of Preschool Math at Home: Simple Activities to Build the Best Possible Foundation for Your Child?

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Okay, finally I can type! Info dump incoming. It's a lot, so please take your time. I could honestly write a book on the topic. This is the best of my experience and knowledge, but please just feel free to take what's useful to you and forget the rest. And don't hesitate to ask me any more questions you have, now or in the future. I'm happy to help. It's nice to have peers to talk about this stuff with!

Btw it's funny you mention your son loves Brain Candy TV and Blippi, those are two of mine's favorite shows. Along the same vein, I can also recommend Blaze and the Monster Machines and BabyBus. As for apps, I recommend Baby Panda World (the same creators as BabyBus) and Khan Academy Kids.

Math

You have a few options here. It sounds like you're right on the cusp between Pre-K and Kindergarten math. The only thing holding me back from recommending Kindergarten is the fine motor skills. This is one of the challenges of having a gifted kid - the asynchronous development.

So what I would recommend would be to shore up some of the advanced Pre-K math skills while focusing on building fine motor for a couple of months.

The first thing you might want to check out is Kate Snow's Preschool Math at Home. I don't think you need to buy it, both because your son has mastered most of the topics and also because I don't think her teaching style quite lines up with his learning style, but it would be worth borrowing it or looking through the table of contents to see if there's anything in particular you want to review/master before moving on. I have an Evan Moor assessment workbook that they've unfortunately stopped selling, but the skills they list that I think you might want to work on are:

• Using one-to-one correspondence (each dog gets one biscuit, etc.)
• Putting number cards in order when they're all mixed up
• Adding and subtracting concrete objects
• Following location directions (under, on top of, in front of, up, down, inside, outside)
• Compare measurements (longer/shorter, bigger/smaller, lighter/heavier)
• Nonstandard measurements (how many pawprints long is the table?)
• Recognizing and extending patterns (ABAB, ABBABB, and ABCABC)
• Beginning charts
• Classifying objects by different attributes (e.g. sorting by color, then by shape, then by size)
• Identifying two things that are the same in a group; identifying one thing that is different in a group

At the same time, I'd complete just a couple of Pre-K math workbooks. I'd recommend:

• Spectrum Hands-on Math PK
• The Critical Thinking Co. Mathematical Reasoning Beginning 1

So I recommend working on that for a couple of months. A daily lesson might look like practicing one skill for five minutes and then doing a workbook page or two.

Once he's a bit more comfortable with tracing, I would optionally add in:

• Spectrum Let's Learn Numbers 2+

When you feel like he can handle that level of tracing, then I think you'll be ready to go ahead and start a kindergarten program. I have a couple of suggestions for you.

• My top suggestion would be Simply Good & Beautiful Math K. It's really attractive, includes stories, is light on writing, conceptually solid, just overall fantastic. Note that it does have some non-denominational Christian content.

• Another option is Right Start Math Level A. You'd need to buy the Math Set just once, and then the Book Bundle for each year. This is not my personal favorite, but based on what you said about your the way your son thinks and learns, I think it's possible it would hit a "sweet spot" in his brain. Take a look and see what you think, and what appeals to you and him most. Here's a sample.

Once he's into Kindergarten math, there are lots of workbooks to recommend. Forgive me for not linking them all, but they should be easy to Google. You definitely do NOT have to do all (or any) of these, just whatever looks good to you! These are roughly in order of difficulty:

• Spectrum Counting and Sequencing 3+
• Spectrum Math Readiness PK
• Evan Moor Beginning Counting with Mother Goose: PK-K
• DK Math PK
• The Critical Thinking Co. Mathematical Reasoning Beginning 2
• All of the Kumon math books for ages 4/5
• Evan Moor At-Home Tutor Math K, Skill Sharpeners Math K, Smart Start Math K
• All of the Spectrum K books
• DK Math K
• The Critical Thinking Co. Mathematical Reasoning Level A

Again, at this point I would suggest one 10-15 minute lesson plus a couple of workbook pages per day. Watch his stamina and plan your daily lessons to be a doable amount even on his hardest day.

Language Arts

Alright, so you have a few options here. He's ready to start reading, it sounds like, but the problem is that blending is more of a developmental skill than a cognitive one - it comes when it comes, and it can't really be forced.

So for reading, I have two possible recommendations:

• All About Reading Level 1 is the gold standard imo. The stories are kind of weird, but the pedagogy is sound and it can teach any kid how to read. However, I'm actually not 100% sure that your son needs this level of support, and it is pretty expensive.
• A second option would be Hooked on Phonics Levels 3 & 4. It's not my favorite program because it's a bit simplistic, but it is extremely audiovisual with just simple books and workbooks. It might work well for him.

For reading/phonics supplements:

• Bob Books are the best beginner readers.
• Spectrum Reading Readiness PK and Phonics Readiness PK are great for phonemic awareness (e.g. rhyming, beginning sounds).
• Explode the Code is a good limited-writing phonics curriculum. He might enjoy this. I would start with the get ready/get set/go for the code set. It's a review in terms of letter sounds, but it's good for phonemic awareness, early tracing, and other literacy skills. You don't need the teacher's manuals at any point.
• Once he has some tracing ability: Spectrum Learning Letters PK and Evan Moor Skill Sharpeners Reading.

For general language arts:

• The Good & the Beautiful is the best language arts curriculum, hands-down. Again, it is non-denominational Christian. It also is not great at teaching beginning reading. You have a few options here. You can do the Preschool course. This would mainly be review for your son, but it would help introduce him to a more structured format and help with some of the phonemic awareness activities. You could also wait until they release their new Kindergarten Prep course, which will replace the current Level K primer. I would wait for the release, which will happen sometime between now and April, because their updated materials are always amazing, and blending is really a prerequisite for this level imo, so that would give you time to work on that.
• Evan Moor Reading Assessment Tasks PK
• Other Evan Moor workbooks: At-Home Tutor Reading PK, Skill Sharpeners Spell & Write PK, Smart Start Read & Write PK. These all require some tracing.

Finally, something I think you could add for language arts that your son would really enjoy is some literature-based curriculum. Any of these would be amazing. If I were teaching your son, this would be my "special" curriculum I focused on, in the way I do science and engineering stuff with mine. I suggest just buying the guides and then checking out as many of the books from the library as you can, in order to cut down on costs:

• Sonlight for Preschool or Pre-Kindergarten. It's an evangelical program that's a bit much for me, even as a Christian, but the non-religious parts are great. They also have a sister company, BookShark, which is secular, but they only start at Pre-K. It's almost exactly the same program, just with the religious parts swapped out. I recommend only the reading/history package for this age, not the other materials.
• Beautiful Feet Books starts at Kindergarten level, so it might or might not be a bit advanced still. Check it out and see what you think.
• There is Before Five in a Row for ages 2-4 and Five in a Row for ages 5+. I would look at samples of each to see which level seems appropriate.

So at this age what I would do as a daily lesson would be something like:

• one literature-based lesson (maybe 30 minutes)
• 10 minutes focused language arts lesson, either reading or general (I might alternate days)
• 1-2 worksheets