Hey! I'm a veteran of homeschooling, but new to this site. I used to be a regular on the Donna Young forums (anyone else?) and missed my "national" friends' input when they dissolved. My local friends are great, but I know their opinions. I need fresh input from time to time! ) We are eclectic homeschoolers, with a strong child-led focus. We love discovery based, hands on learning, especially for science and history. I also struggle with my tendency to lean towards a strong classical foundation. I am a strong believer that if a child loves to learn, then they will try to learn everything that crosses their path... at some point! My job is to provide a great variety of exposures, so that they will want to learn more! ) Generally, these are the resources we have used: Science -- child chosen themes, library resources, hands on experiments, personalized science journals filled with drawings, notes, and personal reflections on discoveries History -- field trips, travel, integrated projects, History Pockets, lapbooks, but we have also used SOTW and Story of US for cohesion and inspiration Math -- Foundation with manipulatives --> Singapore --> Teaching Textbooks Grammar -- EZ Grammar Spelling -- as needed in writing, sight words, word patterns (Blevins' Phonics as resource) Vocabulary -- Vocabulary Workshop, Red Hot Root Words, hoping to start English from the Roots up one of these days! Writing -- journal jar, Evan Moor resources as individual needs arise LA/Reading -- Spectrum Reading series, library books chosen by child, lots of lists of "Great Books" like Sonlight readers, 100 best books, etc. Foreign Language -- Sign Language, Rosetta Spanish, still looking for a good Latin program for the older one Art -- as inspired. We dabble as our interests wax and wane... currently older one is focused on acrylic texturing. The younger one is dabbling in pastel chalks. We hope to start on Discovering the Great Artists one of these days! Music -- experiential learning, classicalarchives.com, pandora, public concerts, etc. Logic -- everything and anything from the Creative Thinking Co. We also incorporate a lot of Scout projects and 4H into our learning. Some of these currently include rocketry physics, marine biology, photography, and nature studies. I look forward to reading about what others are doing, using, and struggling with.
Welcome to HS. I tell all newbies to keep visiting the archives. Check out "Rae's List Of Sites", it is a listing of sites on the internet related to homeschooling. Such as free worksheets, whole curriculum and sites that are specific to subject. There is an option included for you to type in and search for what you need. Just keep in mind it is an older post. Most of the sites are still there, but you may find one every now and then that is defunct. I look forward to seeing you post.
Welcome! We're eclectic too and are active in our local 4H group. I'm a former teacher who had to make major adjustments to fit my "right brain" thinking children. See you around!
i'm new to the site & homeschooling in general. your lists of resources are great..just what i am looking for. i'm setting up curriculum & am searching for good ways to teach science to grade school age children. anyone have suggestions?
