Comments on: the school conundrum

By: rachel

rachel

In reply to ashley @ the handmade home. Ashley, We live in Prattville and there are a couple of different groups here with activities for homeschoolers here, from Lego club, stem, art. If you want send me an email and I can get you more info. I have 2 boys that I homeschool 10 and 11. We are like you guys taking it year to year. let me know if I can help any.

By: Leslie

Leslie

HI! I just saw this post. I am a homeschooling mommy (about to start year two) so I only have one year of experience to draw from. BUT… my kids are also technically Kindergarten, 2nd, and 4th this year. I will be using My Father’s World (used it last year, several friends use it- it’s terrific!). I also looked at Sonlight but I like MFW so much better- and the curriculum works for a broad age range so I can teach to all three kids. My Fathers World will be our history, science, bible, art, music. Then I also use Math U See- love this. It’s a short tv video teaching with worksheets. I limit my kids screen time, so they actually ask to do extra math because they know I’ll say yes to math on the TV. I have two engineering degrees [meaning I had my fair share of duper super hard math courses and calculus homework] and the teacher on this video is PHENOMENAL. I learned something from him already. I also use First Language Lessons, another highly recommended program. This next year I’m adding in Wise Guide for spelling, as well as First start reading for my Kinder Gal. … I wish you the BEST!

By: Ginni

Ginni

Have you looked at Apologia’s Zoology series for Science? My daughter is entering 4th grade, and we did Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day for third grade. She LOVED it. And we involved my “technically in kindergarten this fall” child through the whole way last year. You buy the text, and then the spiral – it is Notebooking. (They have a lap book, but we have not tried it yet.) My daughters beg me to do it every day- even in the summer. We read the text- I do it, or my older daughter reads. Then the girls illustrate and write important details about the animals from the sea. Now, the older one gets to work in the spiral, and I make an adjustment for my younger daughter to draw the whales on separate papers or a copy of that notebook page. For my little I either write the words or spell them out for her. Next up is Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. Apologia Zoology it has been a super blessing for this house. They look forward to science! (Even Mama I loves it.)

Happy Schooling -and Teaching them what you know they need!
God Bless! -Ginni

By: Leigh

Leigh

This is year 14 for us and my answer would be shorter if I just listed the curriculum I haven’t tried! I came to your site for the home decorating aspect but when I saw this post, I had to see what you are up to in terms of homeschooling because no matter how many years I’ve been at it, I still love seeing what others are doing. Your mention of Sonlight caught my attention the most because I’ve returned to Sonlight this year. My oldest (homeschooled from 3rd grade all the way through) loved Sonlight and it was the perfect fit for him. For my second, it was neither a good fit for him nor me *at that time*. Now with my third, another perfect fit and, at this time, a perfect one for me as well.

There is an ebb and flow with homeschooling and I’ve learned to go with it. No matter what, it just all seems to balance out. Maybe not all in one school year, but over time it just always seems to work itself out. I remember the anxiety I felt with making the decision, years ago, to begin the homeschooling journey and how odd it would feel to no longer be in that school mode. Now I can’t imagine leaving homeschooling circles and being out of that mode. It’s definitely a lifestyle choice and at the end of the day I’d much rather be disappointed with myself for not providing the education and influence I think my children need than outsiders falling short. I have control of what I do and don’t do but absolutely no control of what others do or don’t do.

By: Nicole

Nicole

When I had our fourth, I realized I couldn’t “teach” every subject and cook and clean and care for baby…
I looked into independent style learning methods like Robinson curriculum. While I don’t follow RC. Verbatim, I do follow the methodology. Once kids are reading independently and have math facts memorized, they are given an outline of what they do daily to work through. I am still mediating but I am not teaching. My fifth and seventh graders are almost completely independent aside from the subjects I choose to being us all together for.
I also utilize many of Charlotte mason’s principles for learning…most of our learning comes from classical literature and living books. We use Saxon and DIVE programs for math.
Sonlight is pretty parent intensive; I think it you can find a less intensive program it would help relieve some of the pressure you are feeling while still allowing homeschooling if that is what you want.:)

By: Courtney J

Courtney J

This will be my 2 nd year homeschooling. I’ll have a 3rd grader, a 1st grader, and a newborn come early October
Last year I used Starfall, a comprehensive K curriculum. I liked aspects of it ( took the guesswork out of it for me) but some of it was overwhelming (targeted for a classroom curriculum, just a bit over the top for 1 kindergartner).
This year I am using McGruffy for my 1st grader. It’s a comprehensive Reading, Language Arts, Spelling and writing curriculum. Looks much more manageable. Fo both of them we’ve chosen Story of the World vol.4 and Apologia’s Anatomy & Physiology for our history and science co-op. For my 3rd grader we did All about Spelling last year and while I loved it, he didn’t so we’re trying Evan Moore spelling which he’ll be able to do more independently; Zaner Blosser cursive, Singapore for Math, IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) for writing (fingers crossed because writing (Daily 6 Trait Writing) was our achilles heel of homeschooling last year), and I’ve put together our own independent reading and read aloud curriculum based on The Well Trained Mind’s reading recommendations and a few Sonlight revommendations.. We’ve got Rosetta Stone Spanish on order and he’ll be doing an online typing course. Sounds like a lot but it should only take us about 2 1/2 hours each day
By the way I love all your posts, especially the ones on homeschooling because, solidarity, and I use parts of your planner for my own personal/homeschooling planner every year!
Keep up the good work!!
-Courtney

By: Maureen

Maureen

Just back from vacation so I just saw this post but wanted to give a suggestion that worked extremely well with my 3. It’s basically Pick A Book. Here’s an example: You or your kids are in love with ‘A Seed Is Sleepy’ by Dianna Hutts Aston, a book of incredible beauty about seeds and plants. So you have science. Sept or Oct is perfect when plants are going to seed. You read the book, you go on excursons,maybe greenhouses, farms, fields, back yard… you include Writing, Language Arts, Photography, Drawing, Painting. You plant seeds(avacado, beans….) You look at other books, like ‘In A Nutshell’ and DK Eyewitness Books-Plant’. You teach a little about GMO’s and about caring for the environment. You write stories and poems and make a beautiful journal. Maybe you “travel” to other countries and learn about their seeds and plants as well as other climates. That starts with just one book. Think of what you can do with any of your kids favorites… geography, history, science, cultures, language arts…. When we 1st stumbled on to this it changed school for us. It became an adventure and it was not abstract, It’s real world at it’s best. We saw what we could do with one book and it continues on for my kids even with the oldest being 32.

By: Karla Sheridan

Karla Sheridan

We’ve been on the homeschooling journey for 9 yrs. now and continue to evaluate, make changes, and look at what fits our children’s needs at the time; I love the flexibility it offers for each individual. Here is a partial list of the curriculum we are currently enjoying and finding to be a good fit for our family. Mystery of History as well as Winter’s Promise for our history, Apologia science (we love!), A Beka Language, Horizon’s Math for two of my children and BJU for the other, Latin for Children, and LOTS of great novels, historical fiction, etc…

By: Aja

Aja

I’ve used sonlight for my son actually after reading you homeschool post. I want to try A beka streaming…but I’m not sure if that will keep his attention. I do love Sonlight program, it’s just sooooo hands on. I’m not a fan of their science or their history usually I have to do a lot of you tube searches or nextflix for history. I love the math and I do love the books I read with my son. I don’t know how to switch it up and to be honest it’s kind of scary. My two old step daughters use monarch online, they are homeschooled by their mother. I want to continue to homeschool my son, but i don’t know why I feel so completely nervous trying something new. I used Apolgia science when I was homeschooling my girls but I dislike it. So right now we do the tinker boxes. They come once a month even for kindergarten he likes the tinker ones.

By: ashley @ the handmade home

ashley @ the handmade home

In reply to Jenn @Home is Where….

Thank you for the list – I have definitely seen a lot of favorites repeated in all these – will definitely be checking them out! I have my work cut out for me ;}