Hello all! I will be homeschooling my children (2nd grade and young 5s) after Christmas. I have their curriculum picked out and purchased, however, I don't know where in the books to begin.. specifically with my 2nd grade daughter. I have Saxon Math 2, and BJU English/Spelling 2. I see there is a placement test for Saxon, but it isn't for a Mid-year placement. Is there a guideline on where I should start her in both books? do I just determine how many weeks in school she is, and start with that week in these books? Thanks so much for your time! Melissa
I would start at the beginning. If there is stuff that she really seems to know well already, I would skip it. With homeschooling you aren't stuck with a Sept-June schedule. You can work on weekends and snow days, summer holidays, Chirstmas day, etc. You will end up getting more accomplished than they would in public school, even if you start at the beginning of the book. The best thing about homeschooling is you can teach your children exactly where they are at. If they are ahead of, or behind where the public schools say they should be, it doesn't matter. Just keep moving forward at the pace that works for them.
Just another note... Homeschooling materials will likely not line up with what kids learn in public school, in fact all homeschooling materials will have a different scope and sequence. That is why you can't really say since the school year is 1/3 done, you should start 1/3 through your homeschooling materials.
You'll have to play things by ear. Don't get upset if everything doesn't line up, because it will not. Never let yourself believe you are failing or that you kids are failing. It will take some time getting used to. Don't try to start with everything at once. I'd suggest starting with 2-3 subjects and working your way up to incorporating more as you get the hang of everything.
You've gotten good advice. Try to be patient - with her, yourself, the curriculum. Just start at the beginning, work faster if she already knows the content, and slower when it's new. And don't fret if she can't do the beginning part of the book. As a previous poster pointed out, the curricula you have may be completely different than what she was being taught in her school. If she doesn't know the content, I suggest you don't fret over her being "behind." Just work from where she is and move forward from there.
I very well agree that homeschooling materials have different scope. It will also depend on a capacity of a child to learn.