How to begin Homeschooling?
It's a long answer coming from me. I don't take this decision lightly and its been a long, difficult, beautiful road. I spend the majority of my days thinking about my children's education probably more than on anything else I do. And it has been the most rewarding job I will ever do. Ever heard the phrase, "These are the longest days of the shortest years"? Well that phrase pretty much sums up my homeschooling experience so far.
I began with my oldest son in Kindergarten, and now he's entering the 6th grade. I have a pre-schooler, a kinder, a 3rd grader and a 4th grader coming up behind him! It doesn't seem possible to have come this far. I am so very thankful to have had the opportunity to watch them learn right in front of my eyes! The joys, the triumphs, even the frustration and tears shed have been the driving force behind our journey. Every home school mom I talk to says the same thing, we love to plan and buy curriculum and start the year. The new construction paper, freshly sharpened pencils, new novels to read, new concepts to discover and then... half way through the year, we are done and threatening to run away. The beauty is, you call your other homeschool friends and you take all your grumbling, foot stomping children to the park and let them climb and scream and play and swing. And you and your friends sit on the park bench and commiserate on how your children threw a paper off the desk and stomped away and how your two year old drew all over the walls in her room while you were teaching long division, and you get to laugh together. Because your not alone and there's always tomorrow, and magic erasers, and many more days to try again. So if your thinking of taking this journey, I will step through what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. What I do will probably look nothing like what you will end up doing. That's ok! That's what makes it YOUR school.
So to begin:
Start with the 3R's Reading, Writing and Arithmetic and then find a support group. You will have to try a few groups, a few park days, a few field trips to find where your family fits. Don't give up!
There are many on-line groups. But the best way to find a group is to join an activity. We've met new people with Sports Kidz AZ and Moezart Productions. Both groups can be a little pricey, but they have been well worth the investment.
Curriculum: Buy used as much as possible
www.homeschoolclassifieds.com
and Covenant resource center are my go to resources.
I would also encourage new home school parents to e-mail Carl Gary. She is a consultant to new homeschool families. She is incredibly helpful when it comes to starting up and if your family has any special needs regarding school.
carol.gary@cox.net
Carol A. Gary
AZ State Ambassador
Home School Foundation
"Many Hands Making a Difference in Your Homeschool Community"
I will start listing my personal homeschool resources in the following blog posts. But here are a few you can research!
Here is my list of curriculum that works for my kids. I've tried different things over the years and I continue to implement new things. I will start by listing what I'm doing for different grades this year: (This is just a basic outline, not a schedule to follow) * I have underlined actual curriculum I've purchased.
5-6th: Teaching Textbooks math, multiplication skill sheets, IEW writing class, Abeka reading comprehension skill sheets, Hand Writing Without Tears Typing program, Language Lessons for the Secondary Child, Grammar skills book, Cursive copy work (I find copy work everywhere! the bible, song lyrics, book passages), , Excel and Code writing for computer and various novel studies.
3-4th: Teaching Textbooks math, multiplication skill sheets, IEW writing class, Phonemic awareness games and reading lessons (I'm creating this on my own), right brain phonics program (Dianne Craft for Dyslexia), HWWT typing program and cursive.Abeka math Various novel Studies
Pre-school -Kindergarten: Five in A Row volume three, Spectrum kinder math and letter flash cards
various novel studies
We will do the following together as a group:
Apologia Science Swimming Creatures of the Firth Day
Bible
English from the Roots UP - Greek and Latin roots
I will list more curriculum favorites in later posts!
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