Your first, best hs resource, that is. And by first, best, I mean what resource finally seemed to hit on what it was you were looking for. What was the first hs book that clicked for you and answered most of your questions or put you on the "right" track? What was your first favorite hs website? What was the first curriculum/teaching resource you bought/found that made you really happy? Tell me about your first hs group or playgroup that you clicked with. How did you find them? What did you all do when you met? How often did you meet, and do you still see them? I'd answer, but I'm not there, yet! (Except for being very happy to have found this forum!) Christine
Well this is our first year so I am new too. The book that really resonated with me was "Educating the Whole Hearted Child." It just spoke to my heart. Also, "The Relaxed Homeschool." As for sites, well of course this one. My best help has been my friend mamamuse (Kari). We have known each other since before our oldest were born. She has blazed the trail for PS to homeschool a year or two ahead of me, so she listens to me whine. I am just meeting local hsers.
Good luck and speak to your children's librarian he/she will probably be a wealth of info. I know ours is.
My favorite book is The Well Trained Mind. I like the way it explains everything and I also like the way it covers most things that a child needs to learn. I do think it could add a few more things to the history side of it, but in all, its the best HSing book I have read. Favorite curriculum so far is Mystery of History and IEW. I cant decide on which one is my favorite. I think this is my favorite website. I come here to learn more about HSing and to find resources about HSing. I also look at the WTM site, but post very little. I just like reading about the resources that other people use and researching them. I have found a lot of good websites and books that way. The first curriculum that made me happy was Hooked on Phonics. I loved watching my son learn to read.
1. The 1st book( and best) was "100 Languages of Children" (Reggio Emilia styled teaching) 2.I like to read other peoples homeschool blogs. 3.1st curriculum piece that made really happy was STory of the World- for history. I loved it as it was suitable to use to teach multi levels, and I learned a lot from reading along. 4.Haven't met any other home schoolers over here. In Oz my neighbour hs, so we occasionally did other things/activities together. The co-ops were too religious for my liking. 5.1st curriculum that made me happy was Math-U -See. Im actually happy with all I have found/used...but MUS, was the 1st I ever received in the mail. Loved it then, still love it now.
Ok well the first Book that i read that really gave me confidence to homeschool was "So You're Thinking About Homeschooling by Lisa Whelchel. My first homeschool website was this forum where I could ask questions and get great answers from all the ladies here. My first curriculum that made me really happy was Math U See...I loved it and so did the boys. They finished all 30 lessons in just over 2 and a half months. And groups I don't have one so can't help there.
What was the first hs book that clicked for you and answered most of your questions or put you on the "right" track? I didn't read a book. My inspiration was my sister. She was homeschooling first. What was your first favorite hs website? I was homeschooling a few years before I joined Homeschool Spot. I have loved it ever since I started. What was the first curriculum/teaching resource you bought/found that made you really happy? A Beka was the first curriculum we used. I really liked it. We only use pieces of it now. Tell me about your first hs group or playgroup that you clicked with. How did you find them? What did you all do when you met? How often did you meet, and do you still see them? We were part of a homeschool program for a few years. I heard about them from a homeschooling friend. We meet for fieldtrips, park days, and meetings. Meetings were mandatory and we meet every quarter. As far as fieltrips and park day, we went only when we wanted to.
We are a very very relaxed ecclectic family. We use educational tv and real life for most of our learning. I have found for us, my kids pull more from 30 minutes in front of the Nat. Geo channel than they would from 5 hours of me lecturing. You will find that no matter what works for others it most likely won't work just right for you, that is the beauty of homeschooling, no two families looks the same.
Winston Grammar was the first that clicked. Classical Writing not only clicked but matched up with what I'd been building for writing and my goals for Catherine and with what she wanted out of writing. so it clicked right to my core, if that makes sense. Singapore Math, which we've had a bit of a bumpy relationship with since Catherine was 8 seems to finally fit us perfectly. The difference is in Catherine's reading skills (for word problems) and that I purchased the Intensive Practive and Challenging Word Problem supplements to round it out. I have to add MUS too. I should have bought it years ago!
What was the first hs book that clicked for you and answered most of your questions or put you on the "right" track? This may sound funny, but the book that really made me think about homeschooling was The Unschooling Handbook. It caught my eye at the library one day while I was looking at parenting books while my kids played. I had decided to delay kindergarten for my son who had a July birthday, I just knew he wasn't ready for all day in a classroom. That allowed us an extra year to decide what type of schooling we wanted, public, private or homeschool. And even though I am not a true unschooler that really clicked with me that the whole world is a learning experience, it was how I was dealing with early childhood, why not make "school" more that way too. But it took us another year after reading that book to actually decide to homeschool. What was your first favorite hs website? Definately this one. These ladies are so very helpful to a newbie What was the first curriculum/teaching resource you bought/found that made you really happy? Horizons Math seems to be a great fit for my son so I am glad that I found that (as suggested by several people here). My favorite overall resource is www.christianbook.com. I love that they usually have sample pages to view and reviews. Tell me about your first hs group or playgroup that you clicked with. How did you find them? What did you all do when you met? How often did you meet, and do you still see them? We aren't part of a group right now.
The first book that really convinced me I could homeschool and made me want to do it was "The Well Trained Mind" this was NOT the first homeschooling book I read, it was probably the 50th! This is my favorite site for homeschooling questions, and we don't have much experience with curriculum because we're so new, but one that I do love it "Phonics Pathways" it taught my dd to read in 3 easy months. I have a local homeschool group that I love and I found them through the yahoo groups page. Good Luck! Amy
The Well Trained Mind is the first thing I got that covered everything and I just love it. I use the book as a foundation and then go from there.
I've never read a homeschool book. One day I decided to do it and we were off. I found a private school which listed their books and curriculum online and I copied their stuff for our program. My daughter was in 7th grade. Some of those books are still in our program - like Vocabulary from Classical Roots. My daughter did several years of those and she saw my son's book a few days ago and was like OMG I remember THOSE! She has since graduated. My first best curriculum came the second year when my son started homeschool- Pathway Readers. Loved them then and love them now. Also History Pockets were great back then. I was an Evan-Moor fanatic for a couple years. Pathway was my number one best thing that ever happened in the first years of homeschool though. Now it is Teaching Textbooks. What a lifesaver.
I never read a homeschool book before I took the leap lol. I did read some on TWTM, and then looked into Sonlight curriculum. I ordered a Core that was too advanced but we still enjoyed that first year of chaos and doubt. LOL First curriculum we've just loved has been Winter Promise. My son loves hands on activities to make his history lessons come alive. Although he equally enjoys listening to SOTW cd's while we are in the car. I cant believe he actually asks to listen to those! YAY The first hs board I joined was this one of course... It took me along time to find it though. The hs group is still up for debate... I dont feel comfortable there yet. I still feel like an outsider.
Your first, best hs resource, that is. And by first, best, I mean what resource finally seemed to hit on what it was you were looking for. My best resource is the about homeschooling site: homeschooling.about.com I came across it 1 1/2 years ago on my look into homeschool info and it had everything I needed, law info, curriculum info, methods, printables, helpful articles and a forum. I still use it a lot. What was the first hs book that clicked for you and answered most of your questions or put you on the "right" track? I don't know, I read a few, but the first one that really helped was probably Homeschooling for Dummies. Since then, I would say that I love the Well Trained Mind. It's pretty much what I invisioned when thinking of homeschooling. What was your first favorite hs website? in addition to the about site...I would say that my first favorite was the Core Knowledge website (dot org). What was the first curriculum/teaching resource you bought/found that made you really happy? Just this year, Saxon math.. it's exactly what we were looking for for math! Tell me about your first hs group or playgroup that you clicked with. How did you find them? What did you all do when you met? How often did you meet, and do you still see them? Still looking for this one. I am in the process of starting our own. Remarkably I have had negative experiences with a few... One flat out told me I was too far away (even though it's about 45 minutes away and I'M USED TO DRIVING THAT FAR FOR THINGS...I live in the country..it's normal). Then another one said quite rudely that it was too late to join and that was it, never heard another word...not you can join later, or you can still join and do field trips..~sigh~ maybe one day!!! I'm trying to socialize my children! Really I am! :cry:
