Home Schooling. What Curriculum's Worked Best for You?

I didn't start homeschooling till 7th grade so I don't know about the lower lvls. I would suggest going to a christen bookstore. We have a Mardel's here that's where I get mine from. You can look at all they have and choose what will work best for you.

Hi A.,

I read your other post and was about to respond when I saw this one. You are overwhelmed to say the least (understandably). My good friend had a similar experience with her daughter who had seizures in her first year of life and lost her short term memory. What I can tell you from her experience is she had to adjust her expectations somewhat because her daughter learns differently. You are his advocate and will figure this out. Try not to think you have to make your homeschool look like public school. By doing so, you limit yourself.

I homeschooled my daughter from first grade through graduation and my son from K and he's in 8th grade now. For kindergarten, learning needs to be fun. Math U See is a WONDERFUL curriculum and is what I've used from K up. I haven't used their spelling U see, but I have heard great things about it. Mr. Demme has a special needs child and he was told his son would never be able to do math. He was a public school math teacher for 16 years and determined to design a curriculum where his son would learn. He did and I think his methods are outstanding.

For Kindergarten for my son, I used Backyard Scientist, Math U See Primer, worked on letters using a variety of mediums (sprinkle baking soda on a cookie sheet and have him write his letters on it). We cooked together, read A LOT, listened to music, studied artists and looked at paintings, learned about nature. I love apologia for science.

There's a great book called Cathy Duffy's Top 100 you can probably find at your local library. In it, she describes how kids learn and the types of learners there are. My son is more audio learning, my daughter was one who read and dug in. Reading her book really helped me in figuring out how my children learned best.

I highly recommend joining a homeschool group or co-op. You and your son will benefit from and learn from others. Please feel free to private message me. I am happy to visit with you and help you as much as I can.

hi A., i never used a complete box curriculum, but did grab bits and pieces. i hear great things about math-u-see. we started homeschooling later, and used saxon (which no one loved but actually worked best for my kids' learning styles) and later Uncle Dan's Algebra.

if i WERE to use a boxed curriculum for a 1st grader i'd have 100% gone with Oak Meadow or Clonlara. there are probably a lot more out there now, but we were in the early years of the internet as a resource when homeschooling.

as for the rest of it, i'd try not to overly compartmentalize your homeschooling. one of the loveliest things about is that you DON'T have to 'limit times for learning.' homeschooling and parenting become inextricably intertwined.

organization is important, though. i kept ongoing files of their work, and a journal (spiral notebook) of quickly jotted chronological notes of stuff the BOE wanted see, such as field trips or specialty activities like helping estimate the amount of fencing needed for a field, the cost, and the work itself. all of that too will be useful down the road when creating transcripts for college admissions.

i let my kids organize their own time to a great degree. i set up weekly outlines of what i wanted done in that week, and they got to pick how to meet those goals. sometimes they'd knock it all out the first day in a marathon. sometimes they'd wait til the last minute, sometimes they enjoyed parceling it out day by day. a little fellow like yours will need more oversight, but start to practice letting him expand and contract his own schedule. it's incredibly empowering, and something few children get to experience.

i didn't unschool, more because of my own fears than anything else, but got as close as i could bring myself.

the longer you homeschool, the less you'll look for curricula. once you've got a firm handle on your kid's learning style, his strengths to be fostered and his weak spots to give extra support, you'll find it easier and more helpful to simply create your own. but starting out it's great to have it in a package.

good luck! you're going to love it.

khairete
S.

Good for you! I have home schooled all 3 of my kids. I started with Pre-k, and have not regretted my decision. I graduated my oldest in May of 2017, and my younger 2 are in grades 9 and 10. I agree with the response from Lori H. - make it fun, join a group for support, and determine your child's learning style. (I, too, love Apologia for science!)

I never tried math-u-see. I did absolutely LOVE Sing, Spell, Read, and Write for Kindergarten. My kids all loved it as well. Only once did I ever buy a complete grade set from one publisher, and I regretted it. Since then I have used favorites from different publishers.

Keep good records and stay organized. Make school a priority each day, but be flexible enough to have a fun day here and there. You can plan field trips and find learning opportunities in almost anything you do.

The best part of it is that you can go at your son's pace. There's no need to rush. If he has trouble in one area you can take extra time for mastery. Others you may find he whizzes through. The point is that you get to set the pace based on his needs and abilities.

Best wishes!

the great thing about homeschooling is that the parent and child get to work together to see what learning style works best for them, rather then a teacher making that decision for you. our daughter does better with the homeschool workbooks, we run errands and then go to the library and do the bulk of her classwork there, then we go home, get lunch and wrap up her classwork and reading.

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the great thing about homeschooling is that the parent and child get to work together to see what learning style works best for them, rather then a teacher making that decision for you. our daughter does better with the homeschool workbooks, we run errands and then go to the library and do the bulk of her classwork there, then we go home, get lunch and wrap up her classwork and reading.

We did K-12 and loved it.

There are many home school support groups.
Find one for your state and area and see what your states requirements are.

https://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/local-support/homeschool...

When we started homeschooling we really enjoyed using Beestar. Beestar has a math and language arts component and it has really helped build our kids confidence in these subjects. I also really liked the math competitions to keep my kiddos challenged and to overcome their fears.