Hi everyone! I am sure you get these kind of questions all the time, but I am just so overwhelmed with curriculum and don't know where to begin. This will be our first year homeschooling our 6 and 3 year old daughters, and well, I am overwhelmed. There are many different reasons we have chosen to homeschool. Our 6 year old attended public kindergarten last year, and although she was very excited at first about homeschooling, she has become a little unsure about it. She has become so bored with summer, and it would be nice to go ahead and get started. I really want this year to be exciting, fun, and creative, but most importantly, I want her to blossom both spiritually and academically. I have heard good things about Saxon math, Apologia science, and A Beka, but I am a little interested in the My Father's World complete curriculum set. I like how it is already planned out, and I think it may be easier to follow with this being our first year. Does anyone have any experience with this curriculum? I would also really love some ideas on other curriclum that would be great for a 1st grader (complete set or different individual.) Also, does anyone have any tips on schooling a 6 and 3 year old at the same time? I would love some ideas on things I can work on with my preschooler as well. We just found out that we are expecting, and our new little one will arrive in March, so we'll take a week or 2 off to adjust. I am so sorry about all of the questions. I just really want to make sure we get started off right. Thanks so much in advance!:love:
Welcome! We took dd out of ps after k too. The start of the first year she wanted to go back to ps but by the end she was trying to convince her friends to hs too. Through the year I kept reinforcing things like when we were done by noon I would say all those poor ps kids who are still in school and we can go out and play. I would also do lots of field trips and remind her that most ps kids are lucky to have 1 field trip a year these days. As for curriculum I have not use MFW but it looks good. I use Sonlight which also lays everything out for you. For Math I used Horizons for grades 1-3 and then switched to Saxon. I thought the Saxon was a little too hands on for me at the early ages. We have used a couple of the Apologia books with our co-op. I really like them and there is a lot of information in them. I know there are folks who can speak to schooling 2+ kids at the same time. I had a high schooler and a 1st grader so that is totaly different.
Welcome! I'm in the same boat... sort of. My daugher will be going to school for half day K next year, but then I plan to HS so I've bee looking into 1st grade curriculum. I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about Saxon. I'm leaning toward using it for math because a friend recommeded it and both of her children have very strong math skills. I'm really wanting to piece together curriculum by each subject (instead of buying a complete set). Sorry I'm not much help.
Welcome! I only homeschool our youngest daughter. Our older two girls graduated from public school. Personally, I do not like Saxon at all. Some people think it is great. As you homeschool, you will find that what works for one family will not work for another. Children only know what they know. lol Your daughter is familiar with public school so it is natural that she will sway in that direction. But, eventually will see that homeschooling isn't going to cut her off from friends or activities. When Ems started Kindergarten, we went to the store and bought special pencils, a lunch box, and other special supplies so she could see that homeschool doesn't mean boring. My mother-in-law gave us lunch trays and I would put lunch on the table and Ems would walk around with her tray as I scooped the food on her her plate. She loved it! Ems is now in 11th grade and we still go to the park or lake for lunch and lessons. Life is good outside of public school. If you encorporate more than just curriculum, your children will enjoy it.
I've never seen Saxon for the younger grades, but the year I used it for 6th grade, I got pretty bored really fast. I like Horizons for math, and the kids seem to enjoy it. For K/1st, I really like Heart of Dakota. It's similar to MFW, being all laid out and planned for you. It is very hands on and easy to integrate with a little one. I don't like it for the older grades, but wish I had found it when mine were little. My youngest two are very close in age, so we combine for almost everything, so I don't have alot of advice for you about working with the 3 yr old along with the older one.
Well, you can see what I am using on my blog in my siggy. I do not like Saxon for math at all. I do like McRuffy.. it's like one of those lesser known gems. It's fun and the kids love it and learn soooo much from it. Your 3 year old doesn't really need much, I would let him/her sit in when they want and wonder around playing when they want. Just a few times a day maybe bring things up that you feel are important for a 3 year old.. you know count steps as you walk up them, talk about the color of the apple that you are eating, talk about that apple starts with A that says aaahhhh and that A looks like this (draw it or better yet make it with pretzels ) Relax, have fun, you can not mess up your kiddos!!!
Welcome! If you like the idea of "curriculum in a box" with it all laid out for you, you may (or may not) want to look at CLE. www.clp.org It's in workbooks, with excellent TMs, all sort of scripted for you. It's made with a school in mind, but is VERY easily adapted to teaching only one child. You could do just the 3R's "core", and then "cover" science and social studies by read-alouds (which could include your 3yo too of course), free internet stuff, educational tv, grow some beans, observe the weather, talk about families, holidays, and so on. CLE is built so that even a first grader can do some independently after they get into the routine, so that you can "teach" (tend to) other children in between teacher-directed sections. A lot of people have said that they can keep the toddler/preschooler engaged while teaching olders by having some toys/activities that only come out during school time, maybe kept in three or four separate boxes and rotating these every so often so that it's "always new". Most that age will want to do whatever the big kids are doing, so having some spare worksheets, plain paper, manipulatives, etc., can keep little ones occupied for a time. If you school in the kitchen, you can put the little one down in the middle of the floor with a dishpan of water and various objects that float/sink, pour, squeeze, etc. Or clean new sand, or rice or small beans that can pour from one container to another. Or stand her up at the sink with soapy sink of water to "wash dishes" (play with plastics and sponges). Or "fingerpaint" with soap or shaving cream (or pudding!) on a table or countertop. Or put on an age-appropriate video for a little while.
I do not know anything about Saxon. We did do MFW for older grades, and do love how they have the schedule all laid out for you - I've heard very good things about the K/1st programs. I will 2nd Horizons Math for the lower grades. My youngest used K & 1st and loved them. She's going into 2nd next year and tested into Teaching Textbooks 3, so now she wants to switch (her older siblings use TT, so she's jealous and wants a curricula that's on the computer! LOL ) I love, love, love A Reason for Handwriting. Small, short, simple lesson each day, not taxing. I use that all the way up to 6th Grade. My youngest wants to learn cursive, so we're doing the Transition book this year for her. Starts with manuscript, moves through cursive. We don't do formal science until jr. high/middle schoolish. But, my oldest did the Apologia stuff this year and I loved it. I'm imagining the younger grades stuff is good as well. I understand your desire to start out with a boxed curricula until you get your feet wet. Good Luck.
Yes, we LOVE Saxon Math. It is "spiral learning" which means they go over the essentialls through out the year, and even into the next year. We really enjoy the bucket of manipulatives (countign teddy bears, linking cubes, tanagrams, etc.) that you can get to go with it for 1-3rd grade. If you need any more help let me know?
I didn't homeschool the early ages, but I have heard wonderful things about MFW. My advice is that whatever you do, don't be held prisoner to ANY plan, especially at young ages. While it is nice to have everything planned out for you, what happens if it is too fast or too slow for your children?
We use MEP for math: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm It is a great fit for our family, and can be found online. It covers a wide variety of math, and challenges my 10 year old, who was always bored at ps. I second that you have to find what works best for your own family. Good Luck!
I would suggest Horizon math by Alpha Omega for first grade it is awesome! OH I see Leissa also mentioned it! I have been schooling my kids for 16 years or so this year and all three of mind did wonderful and enjoyed Horizon math. Just remember to choose things your dd will enjoy learning but also that apeal to her learning style. I have a sophomore this year and we are trying to use books we used with his sister she was a read and learn person, he is not so much, bu twe are going to adapt it to his style because it cost a lot to get it in the first place. So keeping that in mind think of the other children who will use it after her. choose something that has a good Teacher book too!
Thank you all so much for the wonderful suggestions! I have read so many great reviews of MFW, and I think we are going to try it this first year. We'll be open-minded, not be glued down with it, and switch some things up if we need to. I do think we'll supplement with the Horizons math, and I really liked the A Reason for Handwriting book. Thank you all so much!!! I am so excited (and a little nervous!) about homeschooling. I hope I don't bug you all with questions. Our family is not supportive of our decision at all, and everyone looks at me like I have a third eye when I mention it. I really appreciate the support and advice from you!
Mfw I am using MFW this year, or our first year of hs. You might want to check out Math U See, it is popular with all of my hs friends. Explode the code is also a great supplement. Queen Homeschool has some great programs for handwriting and language. Just some things to look at Good luck on your journey!!
I have never used MFW, but I can relate to dealing with your six year old. I pulled my 8 year-old DD out of public school midway through 1st grade when she was six. She had wanted to homeschool like her older sisters prior to me pulling her out, but after she was home, she kept expressing a desire to go back to school. She has slowly adapted to being homeschooled over the last 1.5 years. It did help a bit because I was able to point out how much earlier she would be done with school, and how much more free time she had to read her favorite books or just play. Also, she is very proud now, because so she accomplished so much last year that when she asked me what "grade" she was in now, I told her she had learned so much that she was ready for 4th grade level material. I reminded her that in PS, she would have been stuck in 3rd grade being bored this year. I have not used Saxon math, although my oldest DD loves their Grammar and Composition. For math, I have had excellent results with the Life of Fred series. It takes a slightly different approach, but is supposed to teach higher-level thinking skills.
When its your first year of homeschooling its sometimes a good idea to start with the basics (3Rs) and then when you have that under control and can get to all three everyday then add in science/history/geography. There are advantages to this method and also then when a day is rough you can just cover the 3Rs and be done. However the rest is often the more fun part of homeschool so its good if you don't just do the 3Rs and add in the rest as you can. Boxed curricula work well for some families but can be a bit overwhelming for others if you are scared to tweak them when need be. My DD is due to start K next year January, but will be doing first grade work by then. We use MEP 1, Horizons K and Singapore 1 at the moment though only doing one or two of them a day - she's young so we can afford to take our time and she likes to change approaches often. Handwriting we have done our own thing (I read up a lot but my DD needed larger lines and no tracing) which has worked well and she is ready for lined paper now - HWOT and A Reason for Handwriting are two programmes that seem to come up often however. My DD is reading already and we used OPGTR to cover all the phonics but even this I had to adapt. For the rest we just use read alouds and discuss them and I will continue this next year. If we are going anywhere on holiday I usually plan to add some field trip material in there too.
