I am considering home schooling next year. I really have not enjoyed the public school experience for many reasons. I am a little overwhelmed with where to start. My DS is 7 (turns 8 in September) and would be entering the 2nd grade. He is a very smart kid (as I am sure all of your kids are) and I need some advice. First, how do I go about choosing a curriculum, and do I buy the whole set from one place or do I pick and choose? How do I know what will be the best option? How do I know what grade level to purchase? There seems to be so many options! What subjects need to be included in the curriculum to make it a complete experience? Thanks for any advice!
Going to a home school curriculum fair is a good place to start if they have any in your area. There is no good or bad curriculum, it is what best suits you and your kids. Some choose to go with one curriculum as we did from K-12 or pick and choose. I preferred going with one due to all the books jiving with one another. kwim? Some call going with one curr. "boxed" but I feel that word describes a narrow minded or very limited curriculum so I prefer not to use that term. We used Abeka, there is BJU and a lot of others out on the market. Hope that helps.
It really depends on you and your family. Do you want a religious based or not? The best thing about homeschooling is you can pick and choose what you want to do. If you don't think somthing is working try something else. Some kids like one subject better than others so parents have the option of revolving everything around that one subject. GL
I would not say to get your whole curriculum from one place. try checking out the library, you might be able to see what you like.
We used all of Abeka and we also utilitzed our local library, using one curr. doesn't limit you to just what they have to offer, you can also expand and use other things.
My first recommendation would be to head to your local library and check out a few books on homeschooling. No family homeschools exactly the same way but it's nice to get a varied view from different authors. We have been homeschooling a little over 2 years. I have found that I like to chose the curriculum/resource based on each child and each subject. What we use/have used successfully: For history/reading/readalouds: Sonlight Core 3 and Core 4 (oldest), younger 2 will start Core 1+2 this fall (Core numbers do not correspond to grade) www.sonlight.com . My younger 2 have used Abeka History readers 1-3rd grade (depending on the child) Math: All have used Horizons Math (www.aop.com) Science: After a few failed resources, we've settled on Apologia's Elementary series and LOVE it! English: Rod & Staff English series (no-frills but incredibly thorough). Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing Geography: A Child's Geography Vol 1 and Sonlight's Cores Spelling: Oldest uses Spelling Power, younger 2 use All About Spelling Vocabulary: Worldy Wise 3000 2nd edition, older 2 are using Get A Clue online vocab now. Welcome to the HS Spot!!!
Hod check out Heart of Dakota Publishing. we love it! all the books used are not from one curriculum and you can even change the books you use for math, phonics, etc. if you don't like what is set up for the level of curriculum you choose. it still works out. it is flexible. it is very Charlotte Mason style but yet flexible. you don't even have to buy the books from Heart of Dakota. it is in a way similiar to My Father's World curriculum but i feel more flexible and maybe even a little cheaper. had to get my plug in for this great curriculum . and of course every family is different, but it is worth checking out. i found it by a friend showing me one of her books and i have been hooked ever since. feel free to PM if you have more questions or just check out their website and the message board they have. Jenn d.
I agree that reading about homeschooling is a great way to start. I think the best advice I got was...don't commit yourself to anything really involved or expensive right off. Spend some time reading good books together, maybe do some math worksheets (The complete book of...) series that they sell at wal-mart is inexpensive and gives you an idea on where you are at. We dabbled our first year, and we still don't have it down pat...but it doesn't give me fits to try something new when I didn't spend a fortune on it. We got freebies from the library and I let teachers whom are friends know what sort of things we could use...I have gotten a few books that way.
"What subjects need to be included in the curriculum to make it a complete experience?" When I first started I felt totally overwhelmed too. A homeschool mom recommended the "Typical course of study" from Worldbook's website. That gave me a starting point to go by. If you read the suggestions for the first several years you get some idea of what kinds of things you can look at and what subjects you might teach. Once I looked into things a little more I began to realize that there is no such thing as "the public school curriculum." Each state sets its own standards, each school district decides how to implement those standards, each school chooses its own books from a list of approved books, and then a teacher puts together his or her own lesson plan each day. Probably no two kids in the country end up with an identical education because there is just too much to be learned and you can't teach it all. Some kids who move around a lot end up with duplicate education in some things and gaps elsewhere, like my kids did when we moved to another state. I think that the most important thing we can teach our kids is that learning is fun, so that they'll enjoy it all their lives.
"What subjects need to be included in the curriculum to make it a complete experience?" Your state may require certain subjects to be taught. You should probably check with your school district to see what the requirements are for your state. As far as the way the subjects are taught....that is up to you. I use 1 curriculum, but I vary it to fit our needs. I have 1 ds who HATES to do worksheets, so instead I have him work more "hands on" instead of doing tons of worksheets. But on the other hand I have a dd who LOVES worksheets and she learns so fast just by doing her work that way. Each child learns differently and you will figure out pretty quickly how each child works. I would also recommend not spending too much money on curriculum the first year or two.
Now our first year we did the whole boxed curriculum from a supplier. I was overwhelmed with all the choices out there and did not know where to start. It worked great for us that year. It also gave me a chance to relax the first year and do "the subjects" we needed to. So, I did a lot of research after that and took and added from that. My son liked that it was like his school used to be, as far as the books went. It made the transition easier for us, now I pick and choose from all kinds of stuff. http://www.accountwizard.com/clients/shop.asp?web=cca-store this is where we got ours if you want to check out that route. It is not for everyone, but it was a good jumping off point for us. As for what to cover go to this site http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp and look up your state law and go from there.
I remember being in the exact same boat last year for our 2nd grader! We started with a boxed curriculum, the Home Education Curriculum. I used it as a guideline, but we abandoned it almost right away because we found she wasn't quite up to that second grade material. So far we've focused mostly on reading, writing, handwriting and spelling and grammar and math. We are required by Illinois law to do physical science, social science, health, PE and art, so we have her in gymnastics and art class. We've put in small units of physical science, social science, and health but our main focus is the basics. I've relaxed a lot. She goes out and gardens with grandma so there's physical science! We go to the zoo--animals! I've found she learns the most when it's not forced and it's fun. Imagine that! Good luck! We've moved from our boxed curriculum to free online resources and just letting her go at her own pace. It's been great!
One way is to purchase package curriculum that is closest to meeting your needs and then slowly replace it as you find other resources that you like better. The best thing to realize is that you will want to change and try new things with your kids so go easy on yourself. Another cheaper option is to pick up inexpensive workbooks at an office supply store for different subjects and then slowly replace them with other curriculum. Also try to buy from companies that have good return policies. Sonlight has a 1/2 school year return policy and online support forums and Excellence in Writing has 100% return policy at any time. We love both these companies and although they are a bit pricey, I have been able to resell them at the end of the year for about 75% of my purchase price so I factor that into my initial cost. As far as subjects... math history writing reading cursive (when ready) science spelling (we love sequential spelling and it's low cost) And then go on from there... typing Spanish grammar art..... If you are buying all materials that you are unfamiliar with, it will take some time for you to learn how to use them so layer them in slowly....or you will find yourself doing school all day long. For example...Start your first week with just math and writing then add history the next week and science the following week
