After years of being interested in homeschooling, I've decided that Im going to start in September. I have a 3 yr old, 8 yr old, and 10 year old. Whatever advice I can get I will be happy to take. Im very overwhelmed by the curriculum. At first I was going to buy one whole program, but a coworker of mine suggested I not do that. I also see people on this forum who suggest otherwise too. My goal is to homeschool them until my husband has graduated from Moody Bible Institute and we can get out of Chicago, so its very important to me that they are where they need to be, and have the knowledge they need. My coworker swears I won't put them back in.:lol: Please help!!
Welcome! so glad you are taking the plunge! a little advice: as a first timer, you may feel more comfortable with a whole,packaged curriculum. it may be easier to schedule, stay motivated, cover all bases, and transition the kids with a boxed curriculum. kind of like training wheels! do what feels right for your family. lot's of moms start out this way and as they get more confident, they feel they can venture out "on their own". which ever way you go, the ladies here are a great resource. dont be afraid to ask any questions!
Welcome from a fellow Illinoisan! I started out homeschooling without a prepackaged curriculum, but I knew what I wanted by looking at friends' books. We use Math-U-See for math, but even though you and your children may love it, it doesn't follow the same sequence that most schools do. If you plan on sending them back to a school later, I'd second the idea of using a packaged curriculum like ACE or Lifepacs. They seem to follow what the public schools do almost exactly, IMHO. (I also second the notion that your friend had--you'll want to continue homeschooling!!!)
Welcome. We are in IL too. I found with my first year, I over bought. Most companies have a great return policy if you do not like their curriculum.
Welcome! With the 2 older children, I would suggest making sure you stay "up" with math. For the he other subjects, the "topics of the year" will change based on where you end up living, so do what you think is important for them to know at their age and what fits well with their learning and your teaching style. If you are comfortable with a pre-packaged thing for starters, great. You can ALWAYS change. Try to buy used and if it doesn't work, resell it. You can change a little at a time as you get comfortable with teaching and scheduling or as you discover what works for your kids. Like the other posters said, you are very likely to change your mind and keep them home, but let's just pretend for a minute that you do put them back in a year or two...think of homeschooling for a time the same as one family moving across state lines. For example, if you have a 4th grader in school in Illinois and your husband is graduated and you all move to Texas. 4th graders in Illinois probably study different things than 4th graders in Texas. State history is one example, that will vary depending on what state you are in, but if you learn Illinois history in 4th grade and move to Texas for 5th, are you at disadvantage? Probably not. Same with science. One state might teach health in 4th grade while another focuses on botany. Nobody can teach everything, so the states pick and chose what is taught at what level. You will do that for your homeschool. You can look at different states scope and sequence listings to get a general idea, but no two will be exactly alike. Any child who moves alot will be at a slight disadvantage, but if they know how to learn and enjoy it (you can make this a reality by homeschooling), they can easily compensate and/or catch up with what they have missed. I can say this from personal experience. My oldest started (public) school in Texas, then we moved to Georgia, then to NC before we started homeschooling. Everyone does things a little differently and if the kids "move in" they have to compensate. Even if you do stay in Illinois when your husband is finished with school, moving to school from homeschooling would be similar to moving in from another state. Math would be the one exception. Since almost every math program I have ever seen is pretty close on scope and sequence, if they are "behind" in math and return to a public or private school, it would be difficult (but not impossible) to catch up. Best wishes!
I agree - once you see the potentials of homeschooling, and the positive changes in your children, you will probably not even talk about giving it up! My advise to you is to relax and don't be too hard on yourself. You will be amazed at what your children will learn. Keep their work in notebooks or file folders so that you can reflect back at their progress when you are discouraged. As far as curriculum, most people who I have helped get started have thought about "one kit" and quickly found that their children were better off with "chosen" books for each subject. For example, I have one child that loves to read and answer questions but my other child bores very quickly and is ill if that is all she gets to do. She wants more of a hands on approach. Since you have three children, I would look at unit studies to cover part of their school. My children, ages 9 & 14, each have their own math, spelling, and science. The 9 year old is dyslexic so she has to have extra reading and phonics on her level. We do history/geography, Bible, science experiments as a family. From there, they have level appropriate writing lessons and additional reading to accompany the study. We have started Latin and again they get the same lesson taught and then the required work is based on their levels.
