I am starting homeschooling with my oldest son right now, I just pulled him out of school several weeks ago. He is 12 (6th grade). He was doing Saxon 8/7 at school, and i'm thinking that I will maybe keep him with Saxon? He's done well and gotten really good grades. I could use advice about learning how to be his teacher now. I'm ok at math, but it's been a few years since i've done algebra/geometry, etc., y/k? I'm wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom for starting homeschooling with an older kid? Where do I start, which subjects? He's really self-motivated, and an eager learner, but does get bored easily if he is not challenged. We've been hanging out and reconnecting the last few weeks, I wanted to allow him the time to de-school. We have been cooking, shopping, talking, reading. However, he's getting restless, and i'd like to get him some curriculum, beyond library books. I really think he'd like some "schoolwork", minus the formal school setting. lol Personally, I will eagerly and appreciatively accept any advice you'd want to throw at me at how to proceed with this new endeavor. Such as how many subjects to introduce at a time, how to even determine which program to go with. We're both very excited about the prospect of homeschooling, just stuck as to how to decide which curric for which subjects. lol I also have two other kids, a 3rd grade son and a K daughter. I would like to bring them home this fall. My oldest just needed out sooner, and I wanted to take this time alone with him to let him unwind and get myself and home prepared for this. I'm also looking for a good complete curric for 1st grade, that's not horribly expensive. I can handle designing a curric for my olders, but would rather not have to do that with the 1st grader, just for ease and to not overwhelm myself. Recommendations? Thanks!
You'll have no problem teaching Saxom math; it's user-friendly even in the higher levels! I think that if I had a self-motivated and eager learner, I'd let him read, research and write about topics of interest in science, history and literature. You'd have to guide the process and instruct along the way, of course, but if he can do much of it independently, I'd encourage that. As for 1st grade curriculum, I'm having trouble thinking of anything that is complete and inexpensive. There's Sonlight, My Father's World, Veritas Press, etc. but I wouldn't consider any of them inexpensive. You can do Sonlight for a lot less if you have a good library in your community where you can get the read alouds and readers. First graders really only need reading and math. So, you could just buy Saxon math or some other math program and an inexpensive reading program like Explode the Code.
Me too Welcome! I hope he adjusts well, it sounds like you had him in a private school thus far? Doyou mind my asking if he has other books he can take home that you paid for? What other currics was he using for school, if he was getting good grades there it may be wise just to continue on with the same lessons he was using for the rest of this year at least and regroup for next year? I have three kids, one is graduated, one grads this year and one is still home schooling, 12 yr old, I have been schooling at home for near 13 years I think. If you have any questions that I can answer I will try!
For first grade, Christian Light is wonderful. And you can buy just a few Lightunits (with the TM) at first, and get more as you need. To start, you'll need Learning to Read and Math. The math continues all year, but the Learning to Read is finished in one semester (or so). About unit 5 of LtR, you'll start the Language Arts, which will continue the rest of the year. When LtR is done, then you'll replace it with first grade Reading (called I Wonder). Bible, science, and social studies are there to get if you want to, but I prefer just to read library books and do coloring sheets and such, observations outdoors, educational videos, etc., for Sci/SS at that age.
I also second Christian Light Education. The Light Units are laid out really well, full of information, but in a simple way to make learning/finishing the work fun. It's not very expensive, either. I, too, would also do the Reading and Math, maybe even the Bible, through CLE, and then do little experiments and activity sheets for science. I'd do field trips to local places for SS - the police dept, fire dept, any govt. offices that will allow visitors, the local hospital, etc., etc., and of course use the library for books on all kinds of subjects. For your oldest I would stick with the Saxon math, but I would also ask him what he liked about the different subjects from school. Maybe he will give you guidance into what kind of curriculum to get. He may enjoy the time lines from history, or the experiments from science, or he may prefer workbooks. I think he's old enough to tell you at least some aspects of what he enjoyed and what he didn't like, then you can go from there. Have you thought about what you want to do for your 3rd grader yet? There are quite a few curriculum choices that can span several ages/grades... just something else to think about.
Yep, the kids are in parochial school, except the oldest. I'm glad to hear that Saxon is user-friendly! I have the Algebra 1/2 that I found at Half Price Books, but it's all review to him, so I have to go up some levels, I thought that would be where he would continue, but he went to the last chapters, and it's all review for him. But at $10 complete set, maybe the others will eventually get there and use it. There isn't any curriculum that I can get from the school. And to be honest, he doesn't want it, he wants to start anew. CLE i've heard good things about, so glad to see that recommended, I will have to look further into that. This is our 2nd attempt at hs'ing. The first time we pulled them out of public school, our middle son was in 1st grade, and we didn't really ask him if he wanted out, we just didn't want them there any longer for our reasons. He adapted to home for the 2 months we did it, but then we re-enrolled them that fall in a parochial school, where again he has made friends and is doing well. He's not one that adapts to change overly well, and I won't pull him out of school unless he's on board with it. I just can't do that to him again. So i'm letting him watch his older brother to see what he's doing and letting him process his options without pressure. I have kept some curric in mind that spans ages. Is my 12 y/o too old for SOTW or MOH? I've also looked at History Revealed. Any thoughts there? Thanks for the advice so far, I really appreciate it!
We are starting MOH next year... looks like everyone will benefit from it, no matter how young (or old!). I like that I can adjust the activities for different levels. That should make it even better.
I thinkyour son is perfect for MOH! We are doing it this year and my ds 12 is totally loving it! He is learning so much, we started with the Red books. I forget if its book 3 or 4? Renn to Rev. Basically it has a text and an activity book, the activities are broken into grade, jr/middle and Highschool levels. So I would say he can do it!
