Hi, I'm Peggy, Mom to Tyler, age 3, Kaila, age almost 2, and Wyatt, due in October. I'm the main homeschooling proponent in our household, with hubby saying he's in favor as long as I can do it well and keep up with the household too. But, really, he's a fan of the social "benefits" of public school. I read "so you're thinking about homeschooling" a year ago, loved the book, and tried doing "Letter of the week Preparatory" with the kids last fall, but honestly, fell off the bandwagon with that, too much prep work, plus Tyler already knew his letters/colors/numbers and Kaila was still too much of a baby. This year I'm considering "The Learning Box" or "mother goose time." $$ is kind of an issue, but I really like the almost complete lack of prep work necessary! With the "keep up with the household" thing being held over my head, I need to concentrate on the house. I know the kids are little (Tyler just turned 3 in May) so they really don't need anything so structured, but Tyler is so hungry to learn phonics! and his fine motor skills need work (IMO), so I feel like something structured will be best. But with new baby due in October, I may wait till January to start a structured program, and in the mean time, keep doing little workbooks, crafts, games, etc. I've just ordered "Leap Frog Letter Factory." I bought "talking word factory" not knowing the difference, and the kids LOVE the sounds they learned from that, so I can't wait to see how fast they learn from the more age appropriate DVD!! I'm more a fan of sight words (that's how I learned), but the kids are really enjoying this phonics "stuff." I'm looking forward to reading and learning from you. I was just going to lurk, but someone needs salmon recipes, and I have a couple that I Love, so going to post them now.
Hi Peggy, Welcome. This is a great place and it has helped me so much in the last three years. I have made some great friends on here. Glad you joined us. Beth
I said "Hi!" over in the Healthy Thread, but I'll do it here too. Sounds like your ds3 and my dd2.5 are similar in that my dd seems on the verge of understanding reading, but could use a little assistance in the handcontrol category! Welcome!
Welcome I had all 4 of my kids with in a 3 year span...... twins first. there are a lot of benifits from homeschooling........ like they won't pick up the "bad words" they would in a public shool setting, they won't come home with tons of colds and flu. The teacher/ student ratio is perfect! you can learn at your own pace too. You don't need a set curriculum at your childs' ages. It sounds like you are doing fine. Take some time to look for a good local homeschool group, in my group there are more families like yours (young kids) than you could imagine. ----- there for they are not missing out on social experiences. you can go on field trips with the homeschool group to further your social outings......... so don't get hung up on the fact that they aren't socialized if you don't go to public school. I use a lot of : www.learningpage.com and other pre-school - 3rd grade stuff on line!! FOR FREE (well you need a decent printer and some black ink)......... really its enough! also you can borrow educational movies and stuff from the library. because thats a great resource for FREE!! ---- I may sound "odd" but I do let my kids watch quite a bit of TV...... educational stuff moslty because they are audio visual lerners and they learn so much from those PBS shows. ----- not to mention I can't sing at all and they learned the basic kid songs from Barny and such shows.
hey, you will get more comfortable with each year that goes by, you don't have to follow a set schedule if you arn't that kind of family....... there are no rules, if you want to start at 2 pm, in your PJ's....... its fine. some people like to start at 8 in the morning all dressed and formal and that works for them too.
