Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Michael Farris:
Vickie, in thinking about the time to start formal instruction, I don't want to focus on opinion so much as your experience. How have you dealt with the starting age for academic instruction?

Vickie Farris:
Well, for me there's been basically two factors involved with that decision. First of all, I consider the interest and ability of a particular child. If they're really wanting to get going on school, I've tried to do something with them no matter what the age, and oftentimes I'll have an older child maybe do some things with them. Or, you know, if they're just particularly ready--Jayme actually taught herself to read, basically, at age 5, so you know I went ahead and did school with her. Michael, I tried to teach him to read when he was 6, and we struggled through the whole year. But then the very next year everything clicked for him, so I probably could have waited a little with him. So it kind of depends on the child.

And then the second factor, for me, is just how much time I have. I usually don't hurry to start formal schooling because I am very busy already, so I certainly don't try to start before age 5. Actually, Jessica got the latest start of all our kids. I hardly even did 1st grade with her, because I had three older children I was teaching and three little ones. And she's done absolutely great--she's an A student at Patrick Henry College today.

Mike:
I hope that these insights are helpful to those of you who are dealing with a younger child who just doesn't seem ready to learn. They might need to just get a little older. I'm Mike Farris.