By the time your child has entered his ninth or tenth year, he is acquiring the ability to reason, to figure things out. He wants to know how airplanes fly, what makes seeds grow, and why he has a bedtime. He wants to make sense of things in his own mind, to feel he has some understanding of the world and his place in it.
By this age your child is beginning to gain an understanding of time, of distance and space, and of the physical laws of nature. He is learning how to count, spend, and save money. He is developing a sense of humor as his new reasoning abilities allow him to discover some of life’s absurdities. He is looking to peers for companionship and approval, but still has and seeks a close relationship with his parents. He is beginning to recognize and acknowledge individual differences, and the concept of fairness is becoming an important issue for him. He has reached an age of accountability; that is, he can discern right from wrong and is beginning to develop his own set of moral values.
Your fourth grader’s auditory and visual senses have had some time to develop and mature. Speech perception is more accurate, so, in turn, words may be articulated more clearly. Visual perception is improved, allowing the child to better distinguish differences in letters and numbers with fewer reversals (such as p and q).
In addition to these new perceptual abilities and more mature ways of thinking, your child has likely exhibited certain strengths and weaknesses. These can be clues to discovering your child’s personal learning style. A child who enjoys reading, writing stories, solitary activities, or playing word games might be given different learning activities and experiences than a child who can’t sit still for long and prefers socializing, playing group games, or being out of doors. Depending upon your observations, he may best learn from visual, auditory, or tactile experiences. He may best benefit from short, to-the-point lessons, or he may be more project-oriented. A little artist may need illustrations, diagrams, maps, or models incorporated into his curriculum.
Fourth graders should continue to work on their reading skills. Ensure that your child have a good understanding of phonics so that new words can be discovered by “sounding them out.” Not everything that a fourth grader reads is understood, but comprehension improves with more experience. Remember that children whose parents read to them really do become better readers themselves. Read to your child daily, and allow him to observe everyone in the home reading and enjoying books and other reading materials. Try to limit your child’s personal reading to twenty or thirty minutes at a time; then allow him to rest his eyes with some outdoor play and distant vision opportunities. Young children are naturally far-sighted, so to avoid eyestrain, they should not be given too much close work.
Arithmetic concepts are best learned through real life experiences, just as math is a symbolic representation of real things. Fractions and measuring can be learned through kitchen experiences and gardening. Decimals can be understood with the handling and use of money, such as a regular allowance. Further opportunities for earning money can provide excellent practice in keeping an account of income, managing money, saving for the future, and giving to a worthy cause. If your child enjoys working out problems on paper, math worksheets can easily be created, or find a grade appropriate math workbook at an educational supply house. Play games involving money such as Monopoly and Payday, or other games that build math concepts such as Uno, 24, and Yahtzee, and strategy games such as Chess, Checkers and Stratego. Don’t forget about brain-teasers, card games, and puzzles.
Make sure you have plenty of art materials on hand. Homeschool should always provide art opportunities for self-exploration and creativity. No right or wrong answers here, just fun and plenty of opportunity for creative and mental growth. Keep plenty of plain white and tinted paper as well as felt markers, graphite and quality colored pencils, pastels, watercolors, tempera paints, scissors, glue, and clay, all stored in an art caddy or box. If you are uncomfortable about teaching art, remember that most children come up with plenty of ideas for art projects by themselves. There are also many excellent books and other resources available for teaching children art.
Nature study continues to be a source of curiosity and delight, and exposure to it is integral to the homeschooler’s curriculum. A child’s study of nature and science need not be highly structured until the middle school years. For now, continue to provide opportunities for discovery and observation. There are so many facets to the study of nature and scientific exploration. Nearly every child has questions to be answered and experiences to be had. Provide field trips, outings, nature walks, and equipment for simple experiments as needed. Let your child lead the way.
Basic science equipment to acquire will depend upon your family’s particular interests, such as a microscope, a water magnifier, a good magnifying glass, and quality binoculars or a telescope. A few good field guides (birds, animals, insects, reptiles, and wild flowers, for example) will certainly be well used. An outdoor or indoor garden is a constant source of living nature study. Let your child acquire, stock, and care for an aquarium. Create your own weather station for collecting and measuring rainfall, snow, and gauging temperatures, then use a large calendar to track the weather, high and low temperatures, cloud types, and rain or snowfall.
Your fourth grader should learn to read and construct maps. Start with your home and work your way outward to your block, your town, and your state or country. This can lead into a study of geography and the globe; and a basic understanding of the world and your child’s place in it. Give him opportunities to learn about other countries and the customs and foods of the people who live there. Teach him to love and appreciate his own country. See and learn together as much as you can of your land, and instill pride and patriotism by your own example.
Your child now has a sense of body concept, and he wants to know about how his body functions. By teaching him about the marvels of the human body, you can instill in him the importance of taking care of this amazing machine and keeping it healthy and strong. Find information about the skeletal system, the muscles, the heart and the lungs. What happens to food when it reaches the stomach? Why is it necessary to brush his teeth? Use a stamp pad to make and study his fingerprints under a magnifying glass. Have him create a book about the five senses, or about ways to take good care of the body.
Make sure your child gets plenty of exercise. Install a basketball hoop in the yard, or get him involved in athletics or recreational activities at the YMCA. He may love to play baseball or he may want to try gymnastics or swimming. Beware of competitive sports teams. By the age of nine or ten, some children are ready to participate without undue emotional distress or damage to their self-esteem. You must decide if your child has developed sufficient self-worth and maturity to withstand the rivalry of team sports.
Teach your child the value of work. Make chores and physical work a regular part of your school day. Besides his regular chores of making his bed, cleaning his room, helping to pick up common areas and helping in the kitchen, children at this age can learn to change a bicycle tire, repair squeaky doors, polish shoes, and do the laundry. They can paint, do woodworking, knit, crochet, and mend clothing. They should be encouraged to complete projects start to finish, and to have a positive attitude. Work instills a sense of pride, responsibility, diligence, and self-reliance. It teaches and reinforces new skills, ingenuity, common sense, and independence.
For more ideas and insight, collect books written by or about other homeschooling families and how they do it. Search out books containing projects, learning games, and curriculum ideas that appeal to you. Build a “homeschooling library” that you can refer to often, always keeping in mind your standards and views of what homeschooling means for your family. For peace of mind, get your state’s guidelines for what students need to know at the end of each grade. Go to the library for this or search on-line. But don’t stress over it, especially for the younger grades.
Relax and enjoy your homeschool adventure together. Whether you have homeschooled “forever” or this is your tentative first attempt, have fun and enjoy this exciting time in your child’s life. Keep him challenged as he continues on his journey of self-discovery, while learning about the world around him.
