I will start hs next year and have spent the last couple of months doing research and trying to plan. I am starting to feel so overwhelmed and tired or thinking about all of this. The three things that are constantly running through my head are: what curriculum to use, which subjects to teach and how to plan our schedule. I just don't even know where to start. My plan is to try to get to go to some conventions to get a better idea of what exactly I want to use before making any purchases. But that makes me feel stressed because I want to start planning out what our school year will look like and I can't do that if I don't even know what we will be doing. Is it a bad idea to wait that long to start planning? Also, I just can't figure out which subjects we need to be doing (1st grade). How did you start out your first year while planning? Is there any hs planners you would recommend?
I tried to keep a planner early on and it didn't work out for us. It caused us all too much stress trying to adhere to a rigid schedule. For 1st grade, I focused our purchased curriculum on math and reading (we used Math-U-See and Explode the Code). I purchased a simple science and history curriculum at that time but found that reading good books and exploring the outdoors, museums and such to be a much better learning tool for my kids. Relaxed worked well for us and allowed us to get more scheduled gradually so none of us had a meltdown. :lol: If you would like to keep a planner/records, I'm sure the other parents will be able to point you to the good ones. As time went on, I started making my own planner pages and put them in a three-ring binder so I could custom make it according to each child's subjects. Some curriculum come with schedule suggestions as well. You've certainly come to the right place for help!
It can be very, very overwhelming. I have been doing this for 10 years and still get overwhelmed with it all. I have never kept a planner. I agree with the pp that it just got too overwhelming, and, being a rule follower, I felt I HAD to stick with it because it was there, in writing. Second, I feel I did way to many subjects in the early grades and stressed my poor oldest out. It I could do it over, I would just focus on math, no more than 30 minutes a day, and some reading. You can do a reading program, but something like Explode the Code and some good reading books would be fine. Find a handwriting program that is visually appealing and you are set. Science can be covered with fun books from the library and field trips to the zoo, walking around your neighborhood, things like that. History can just be stories about certain events, again, found at the library, and field trips. Believe me, there is plenty of time for those subjects later. I don't think spelling is much good until phonics is learned. When people told me not to do too much when the girls were younger, I thought they were crazy and if my kids didn't start early, they would never get it. But they were right. I wouldn't stress about much more than the basics until 4th grade. I know some people would differ with me on this, but that is my $.02!
First. (((HUGS))) We've all been there, done that. Deep breath, and get yourself a cup of tea and sit and just reflect. How to pick what you're looking for - for first grade I would concentrate mostly on Reading (either teach how to, or enhancing skills) and Math. Add in, as desired science and social studies. Before picking a curricula, how do your kids tick? Do they like lots of hands on projects? Do they like being read to? Do they like writing? What kind of imaginary games do they play. Really, analyze what makes them tick and how they best learn. A good book for this is called "How they Learn" (sorry, can't remember author), and Cathy Duffy's Top 100 Homeschool picks. First Grade, to me, should be a lot of reading to, reading and being exposed to things. Science can be simple, using a springboard - like say - this month is about bugs, so get all kinds of books at the library about bugs, find math pages online about bugs, etc. Next, what is your value system and how does that play into how/what you want to teach? For example, I am a Christian, so I base a lot of my decisions for curriculum on how that curriculum supports my belief system. Or as a springboard for discussions about our faith and how it is the same/different than others. (for example, this coming year we will be investigating world religions). I want my children to learn godly disciplines like cleanliness, responsibility, helpfulness, compassion, etc. So I look into curricula that support these as well. Do you want to do school at home? Follow a textbook, use worksheets, etc. Do you want your children to be more independent in their learning? How involved in the learning process do you want to be, etc. For example...my children work on their spelling, grammar, handwriting, and math pretty independently - coming to me when they need help (now, they are 3rd & 5th grade, I do things quite differently with my PreK'r). But we do History and a Read Aloud that go along with that History together, and each day they ahve a response sheet they fill out for the historical fiction where they summarize the chapter, write down words to look up in the dictionary (and subsequently look them up!), and do copy work of their favorite sentence from that chapter. This is MY favorite time of day, but I also like their independent work because it allows me time to work with my PreK'r (which is mostly reading and basic math and handwriting only). OR allows me to get my chores done. Take a deep breath. Visit conventions, etc. Come here and get encouragement, I love these people!!!!
From what I can see it sounds like the subjects here in Texas that are required are: reading, spelling, grammar and math. So I guess I have to at least plan on doing those and then I can add in History and Science for fun and include our Bible time.
I would say please don't buy too much and don't try to fit in everything every day. Kids this young are not really ready for formal academics, but I know you want to follow the law. The good news is that Texas doesn't hour/day requirements, so you could do VERY little and still be within the law. Also, learning takes place without a "school" type setting in every child's life or how else did they get this far. You could do math by having her help you cook and measure things. You could teach English by reading to her and using a good phonics book (I don't have suggestions-I waited until much later to pull my son out). But, please don't do formal history and science-you might burn her and yourself out very quickly. If you do buy curriculum books, please don't follow lesson plans they suggest to the "T", kids don't need to be tested at home-you will know where she is at. Anyway, you don't have to decide for the entire future, so find some interesting books at the library and maybe a FEW curriculum books and start there.
Deep breath! It is ok! Your child is in 1st grade-you can't mess up a first grader without really trying hard! Focus on reading, math and writing- if a person can not do those three things, then they can't do anything! A book I love that helps me every year to narrow down the field is Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks. My library has it so maybe yours does also? The books has a couple tests in it to figure out your teaching style and your child's learning style. Then it has a bunch of different curriculum choices (her top picks) and evaluates them based on teaching/learning style and the pros and cons. That helps me narrow down my choices to a more manageable number. I take those choices and then research them further and try to get my hands on them if I can. As for the other areas (Science, History, etc.)- read, read, read. My girls have learned so much history and science just from our conversations and books.
For spelling, I like the lists from www.superteacherworksheets.com . I use these and key them into www.spellingcity.com . This allows my son to play games AND do worksheets on his spelling words. Spelling City even will do the test and give you opportunity to print out the "report" with all the words. He loves that. For Language Arts in general, I liked First Language Lessons of a Well-Trained Mind. Very easy, low-key lessons. Memorization, and into 2nd grade there is copywork and dictation exercises. I also love (as a companion to FLL) Five in a Row. Five in a Row has you read the same book for a week and gives you different types of activities that you can do to enhance the learning from that book. Then there's www.homeschoolshare.com where you child/ren can make lapbook of what they've learned. Way cool....my kids love the lapbooks that we've done (we haven't done too many, but they are a highlight). FIAR has Science, Art and Social Studies/Geography in with the lessons. Five in a Row has 4 volumes and then goes to "Beyond Five in a Row). Neither of these (FLL or FIAR) can stand on their own, I don't believe BUT, they work nicely together. The other nice thing about FLL and FIAR - FLL is an inexpensive book, is non consumable and is reusable! FIAR is also, AND most of the books are easily found in the library (not all, but most). HTH.
((((((hugs))))))) I felt exactly the way only my son will be in K and I am starting in May. What makes homeschooling in Texas great is the freedom, but on the flipside challenging because the possibilities are endless. You have recieved excellent advice from everyone. What I did first was make a list of what I wanted to teach. I decided I wanted to mainly focus on math and reading daily and everything else will be taught alternating days. So a sample schedule would be M-Friday Reading and Math, Tue and Thur Science, Mon and Wed Art etc. It will be great to decide what your goal is for homeschooling. (Ex. Positive learning situations, focus more on God, childrens character etc.) Before you purchase any books I recommend reading The Three R's by Ruth Beechick. She has an excellent guide for the basics. (Trust me I wish I had read her book first then purchased curriculum.) Join a support group. The homeschooling community is very helpful and I so grateful I found the spot. But joining a support group has benefits like used book sales. These are great because you can talk to moms that actually used various programs and get the scoop before you purchase and the prices are reduced. (Where are you in TX send me a pm and perhaps I can send you a list if you are in my area) Decide your start date. The beauty of homeschooling is its flexible. We will be hs year round with lots of breaks. Our week is Mon-Thur and off every Friday. It sounds like for your first year you may need a curriculum thats pre planned for you where all you do is open up and go. I used this site www.donnayoung.org she has lots of free planning sheets. She also has a book fair game plan sheet you can write down all the subjects you want to teach all the vendors you want to look at and the prices before you go. This will help you not be so overwhelmed when you get there. Lastly what I did was pray. I just decided on a curriculum and left it at that. Remeber homeschooling works because of the set up. Individual one on one instruction catered to the child, it does not matter how much or how little you spend on curriculum. I am not yelling I just want to stress that point. :love: I was getting so wrapped up in curriculum choices I finally just made a choice and said I am jumping in. Once I made my choice I stopped stressing over it and stoped talking about my choice to prevent buyers remorse also to cut down on confusion. Every hs parent has a different point of view and I had to develop my own. No better way then jumping in head first. I want to encourage you that you are going to have a great year. Claim it! It will be filled with its ups and downs but what year isn't. HTH.
Oh my goodness do I know where you are coming from!!! We will be starting homeschooling next year for our 1st grader too! I've decided not to buy any curriculum. There are so many free resources online and at the library for that age, I personally feel it would be a waste of money to pay for curriculum. In my state (GA) I'm required to teach 5 subjects language arts, reading, math, science and social studies. To that I plan to add health, PE, and Devotional/Bible. Music and art wont' be seperate, they will just be worked into the other subjects. If you check out my homeschool blog (link in my signature) I am working on posting some of the many links I have for free on-line resources. (you have to scroll down past the "about" box-which is huge! LOL) But we plan to loosely follow this FREE online curriculum http://www.lessonpathways.com/ Also, if you worried about being on grade level, check out your states site-you can find what your state requires them to know for each grade. It;s VERY detailed. Here's my states site https://www.georgiastandards.org/st...ocs/Grade-1-Georgia-Performance-Standards.pdf Here is a easy (aka not over whelming) guide to typical things they learn in 1st grade http://www.worldbook.com/typical_course_of_study_grade_1_curriculum_guide.html My son LOVES these 2 sites for learning games http://www.starfall.com/ for reading/phonics and and this one http://abcya.com/index.htm (a little bit of everything) If you ever need to talk to someone who might not be able to help, but is where you are LOL msg me Oh, and I HIGHLY suggest going to some local homeschool group meetings. Talking with real live people who are doing it calms yours fears well. To see it working for someone else is a big boost Oh and sorry if I repeated any info/advice, I didn't have time to read the responses as we are leaving for cub scouts in 3 minutes!!! LOL But I HAD to respond as I am where you are!
The book The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer helped me get started and feel confident about my choices. I think "boxed, total curriculums" are good for new homeschoolers who are feeling overwhelmed. It give you a chance to relax and just enjoy your child without worrying about all the planning. It also gives you a year to see how things go and to get to know your child's learning style. It also gives you a realistic idea of how much to do. After that, you can customize your curriculum if you like. I think the basic Sonlight program is good as is My Father's World.
