Hello folks! As I posted in my introduction thread I'm new here & to homeschooling. Now, I've been reading some of the threads here with others questions about Homeschooling & I've just got to say...I don't think I'm prepared at all for this! I've already been approved I guess you call it, got the card in the mail & now in the process of getting a copy of my boys records from the schools. I've not even started on a curriculum yet & my place is not big enough to set up a Homeschool area. I feel like I'm gonna fail before I even begin. I guess I'm just really worried about not getting the right curriculum for my boys & teaching them the things they need to be taught for their grade levels. Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions for non religious curriculum for 3rd & 6th grade I would appreciate you sharing it with me! Thank you for reading!
I don't know how far you are from Franklin NC, but there's a homeschool show there on Saturday, and it looks like many of the curriculum providers will be there. I'm not sure how much in the way of 'non religious curriculum' will be there but, if it's not far away, it's probably worth the $15 entrance fee. Here's a link to their website.
Hi and welcome. Please keep in mind when reading on here, a lot of posters are veteran homeschoolers. We were probably all overwhelmed and not quite confident in the beginning. You can do this! You don't have to have a special place to homeschool. A table, your kitchen bar, a sofa, even sitting on a bed,under a tree, even in a tent outside, are all places we've used while homeschooling. If you aren't sure what you need to teach at your children's grade levels, maybe start by looking for one of those books. "What Every 3rd Grader Needs To Know"/ " What Every 6th Grader Needs To Know" they might help in getting you started in picking your curr. LR
This is good advice. You don't have to have a room set aside for 'school', and many of us don't. You just need some bookcases or containers to hold your materials. For scope & sequence, you can visit your local school district's site to see what they teach each year or use books like those already mentioned. Personally, I prefer Home Learning Year by Year because it has scope & sequence for each year prek - 12th grade (meaning I only need the one book, instead of one book for each year).
Below is a list of religiously neutral publishers that I copy and pasted. Suggestions for History/Geography : Hakim's A History of the U.S. History Odyssey Maps, Charts and Graphs Trail Guide to World Geography Language Arts/Grammar suggestions : Easy Grammar Grammar Key Hake Grammar Jensen's Grammar Learning Language Arts through Literature A few suggestions for Math Chalkdust Horizons Jacob's Math Math U See Miquon Math U See Saxon Singapore Teaching Textbooks Science suggestions : Backyard Scientist R.E.A.L. Science Real Science 4 Kids Singapore Science Some suggestions for Writing: Igniting Your Writing Wordsmith Writer's Jungle Writing Strands
You can do this! Welcome! First let me tell you that the more you read about curriculum and other people, the more you'll feel like you're doing it wrong. When you read takethe knowledge that you don't have and that's it. You'll need to realize that everybody's child is different. What works for one will not work for the other. So if somebody else hates the curriculum, it doesn't mean it won't work for you. The reason it doesn't work for somebody else may be the very reason it works wonderfully for you! Second, you can't possibly fail unless you do absolutely nothing. Third, because something says it's grade 3 doesn't mean anything. Curriculums work in different ways. Some give all the info at once. Some give the info in increments, some start strong and level off and some start slow and you think you're behind and you're not, it just hasn't gotten there yet. Figure out what you can teach. The more excited you are the better your kids are. Realize that your kids have different ways of learning. Some auditory, some visual, etc. A curriculum may work for you as a teacher, but not your kids. It may work for your kids, but not for you. Find a happy medium. This will take some trial and error. YES. YOU WILL BUY STUFF THAT DOESN'T WORK. You need to let it go and chalk it up to a learning experience. I will guess that your first buy just may be this. It will happen. It actually takes a few years to figure out what you need and want and how to work it. Trial and error. Basically all curriculums work when you use them in their entirety. They are meant to be used from start to finish. Not a year here and there. So if you find you think that a subject is light in 4th, it may be, but it also may ramp up in 5th or 6th grade. Cathy Duffy's book on Homeschool Reviews is excellent! http://www.amazon.com/100-Top-Picks...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249522321&sr=1-1 I suggest it and Mary Pride's book is good too: http://www.amazon.com/Prides-Complete-Getting-Started-Homeschooling/dp/0736909184/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249522227&sr=8-1 If you have more than one child, you'll need to consider the difficulty of teaching different levels and see if you can combine any grade levels. You can combine usually History reading and Science, but math and phonics are a per child subject. You don't need a homeschool area. The couch is good for read alouds and the coffee table is good for writing, so is a kitchen table or a book to put on the floor to write on. Your house will not be clean. Leave it alone. You have a job and it's homeschooling. Don't try to be the janitor and the teacher. You will fail. Let it go. You will be home all day. A house used is a dirty house. Do a lifeskill lesson with your kids. One month it's laundry, one month it's cleaning countertops, one month it's cleaning mirrors, etc. That's school too! Cook! That's math, measurement, etc. If you need a break, for heaven's sake just take one! Feel free to email me if you have questions. I can't really help w/curriculum as I don't use secular. I think Saxon math is secular, but I don't know much about history or science. Sorry. But I do know about trial and error, being afraid and wanting to quit. This is the right thing to do. If you haven't given it AT LEAST a year then you haven't tried. (IMO of course!) You can do it! Ann sarasmom@rickandann.com
The Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer would be a great book to read before you begin. I found it helpful.
I am new to this as well. The one central thing I can tell you is "It's normal to feel scared". The advice on here is good, and if you keep cruising you will find answers. If you find a post that has some answers or sites, click on the person who posted it's name, then choose to view all posts by that person. You just may find other ideas that way, I have. I am in Missouri, I have already found a lot of sites and received tips from several of the wonderful ladies in here. I have been putting them in a "Word for Windows" document in list form. I also open the site and put it in my "Favorites" under "Homeschooling". I have been doing this for the last 3 weeks. This week, I am going through them and adding them in my lesson plan if I think they will help. I would be happy to copy and forward what I have to you if you want it. Click on my name and message me if you are interested. Just don't give up! It's really not as tough as it seems, just scary. But you will get a lot of help in here.
Hello!! I am fairly new here as well and this will be our first year homeschooling. I felt the same way you did 2 months ago. Honestly for curriculum, I just sat down and looked at many different ones through their websites and it took me about a week, and it was stressful, but eventually you'll come across one that you know you want. I also felt as if I shouldn't/couldn't do this, that it was somehow wrong, what if I don't teach them what they need to know. But, trust me, once you really get going and choose your curriculum you'll feel much better. I can now say I am at peace with my decision and am ready to go, we'll probably start the last week of August. Also, we are not religious either, but I chose Abeka (It is religous based, but I loved the looks of it, it looks like a great curriculum)
Okay I would add to check out STory of the WOrld for history you could use it with both kids at one time, it is very wide in spectrum.. it does tell about all religions beginings though so not sure if it meets your criteria but it has excelent activities! You read the lessons with kids, taking turns with your ages, and then discuss it, then there are discussion questions, or you can choose to have them write thier answers. There are reproducable pages for maps, coloring pages, and ideas for activities such as cooking and really cool crafts and even some ideas for parties that go with your lessons! You do not have to do them all, but it is there if you choose to! This program takes the guess work and hard research out of the class. Okay now, to see what is in the books you can go to CBD.com, even though it is Christian they do carry some things that are non specific. So you can check the inside of books mentioned in the list up there out annd see if it fits what you want.. As for finding out what your kids learn like, we did the learn as you go method on that. I used AOPs stuff in the begining but it is very Christian that was what we were looking for though. The thing was it was a good way to get started for us too! Made me see how to set things up... so it could be good to see how they do it if you can look at one of thier teacher books for first grade it explains how to do a lot of set up things.... if you go to that book sale thing Steve talked about? Math U See or Teaching Textbooks are tops on Math aside from what was listed. Other wise Horizon is my fav! Glenco? or Huffin Miffin has Science and MAth as well that are not 'religious".
I have a free year by year curriculum listed on my homeschool group website that you are free to use. bchg dot webs dot com It's normal to feel overwhelmed, but believe me once you get started it won't be so bad. Teaching a child isn't nearly so diffucult as people make it out to be. We don't have a dedicated school space either, just the kitchen table or the couch. My house is clean, uncluttered and organized or I'd go nuts. It's not that hard. Just teach the kids to do most of the tidying up. The Well Trained Mind is my favorite curriculum/philosophy guide for homeschool, but if I were you, I'd read up on lots of different homeschool styles and philosophies to find out what fits your family best and to glean the best ideas from all approaches. Don't worry though, if you pick something and it doesn't work, you can just change.
MLC how do you keep it that way? How old are your kids? I used to be able to say that but after 13+ years of homeschooling I am cluttered and crazy! I clear it up and it grows more! I have tried other sites to find ways but getting the rest of the world on my page doesn't work. So maybe our newbies can use your method to keep from getting to my point? Thanks!
I truly appreciate all the help from everyone that has posted! I apologize for not getting back to anyone since I started the thread. I will go through & read each reply post as soon as I get more time. Again thank you for your help!
knwo what, its kinda neat when we post to these questions we get ideas off everyone else so thanks for posting your question!
YOU CAN DO IT!!!! The first year seems to be the toughest. The tough part is finding a curriculum YOU and DC likes and will work for you. But not to worry there is a lot out there and I am sure you will do fine. The neat thing is YOU care about your children so you take the ups and downs more personally. I wish you and your boys a fun and productive year!
We don't have a homeschool area really either. We have a kitchen table to work at and bookcases all over the house. I try to keep the books seperated by topic on our shelves so I can find all our science together and etc. It saves time. I'm sure as you look around you'll find ways to be creative. The short wall by our table often has posters and info. posted on it.
We do have a 'schoolroom', but the boys are rarely in it. I have the computers elsewhere...so that is done in the office (converted mudroom) I needed the computers to be somewhere where we were regularly walking by...not in a back room with a door. I keep all current schoolbooks on one shelf...I am working on the boys putting stuff back. including pencils etc. So we are not looking all over for stuff to get started. Last year I jumped into homeschooling with just borrowed and used curriculum I was given. We read good books I remembered from my childhood and we read a lot. We started with Time4Learning...and that didn't work, switched to Saxon, which worked really well and Mystery of History...which we used but were not crazy about. (a lot of ladies here really really like it.) For history I ended up with Roman history from Simple Schooling (thank you COmom) and we are finishing that up for ds the elder, while ds the younger (first year at home) does state history. Then we will move on to Middle ages, again with Simple schooling. I have chosen a lit program this year, which I hadn't last year...so we will see how that goes. I felt vindicated by my schoolteacher daughter when I mentioned grammar..."just read them good books and correct their writing.. grammar rules need to be internalized not memorized." So we do workbook pages on out of the house days. (and mad libs) We (after one week) have already adjusted ds the youngers schedule, moving typing from 3 days a week to two and changing the program so he is mostly playing typing games...I am just not sure his fingers are up to really touch typing yet and he gets so frustrated. (perfectionist tendencies) But he doesn't want to "drop" anything, because he wants to get ahead. We do history, science and lit together. one does typing while I do Spelling Power with the other...because SP is so personalized we don't do it together. I am not a fan of lists to memorize for friday and then forget...so this works for us. although because of the day change, we will have to figure out something else to do now. My main point is, you will buy curriculum that does not work. But you will learn something about what will work in the process. It is overwhelming...but you can do it. I am not an organized person, and my kids tend to freeze up when friends, relatives or thier father quizes them...and I cringe. (really, today they knew that and asked great on topic questions...really!) But, they are learning. Don't take the OCD girls to much to heart. (I am praying for you guys!) spend this year getting to know your kiddo's.
Hi, You will be fine! What you are going through is normal! All homeschoolers go through this when they first start out!! Goog luck with your homeschooling adventure!!!!!!
Ok, I just re-read this thread & I must say THANK YOU to everyone that's posted with all your helpful info! To those that posted a website or a book to look at, I'll be sure to check them out! I'm really glad I found this forum! And I feel less scared now after reading all the replies from you all! Again, THANK YOU ALL!!
I'm on your site right now & getting ready to print out the list of Books for Reading you've suggested for each grade...awesome! Your site is helpful...thank you! Added your site to my bookmarks also!
