Seeking Moms That Homeschool

Hi, D.,

Homeschooling is one of those things like parenting that everyone's experience is a little bit different than everyone else's. I could tell you a whole lot (and I mean a WHOLE LOT) about the range of experiences I know about, but I'll give you briefer answers based solely on what we did (my 17 and 20yos were homeschooled all the way through).

1. We didn't. Our lives looked a whole lot like a Saturday in July, all week long, all year 'round. I couldn't come up with a single reason to create distinction between 'this' exploration of the world and 'that' (which happens to line up with the arbitrary stuff selected for the curriculum team).

2. Both of my kids averaged about 2 years ahead of the dumbed-down curriculum (I know because I read it, man -- you want an example of seriously poor writing in English, that's your source!) -- and so did every other child I knew well, inside school or out. Whether or not that came through on tests was a whole other subject.

3. Having examined a number of curricula, and observed my kids for years (like 5 before Kindergarten) it became obvious to me that my kids had a well-rounded education already, and that one arbitrary selection of items to teach seems as irrelevant to my kids and their lives as the next. So, instead of imposing something from the outside, I watched them blossom and explore and mature and, truly, go out and get their own broad-based education that is unique to each of them.

One of the great joys of my young life was watching my youngest help a friend (who is 3 years older) with her grade 12 advanced math homework... after having done NO math beyond what was necessary to work as a cashier. This is one of a zillion examples from just my kids. I have a huge store of a great many more homeschooled children, too.

Hi D.! I also have a girl, then 2 boys! (5 1/2, 3, 3 mos). And I'm homeschooling.

I'm starting my daughter in Kindergarten this coming fall and I am planning on using My Father's World. I'm using it because it is the most hands on, theme oriented that I have seen so far. I'm not into pushing my kids into "table academics" too soon (too much time sitting). There are so many other ways that a child can learn, not even realizing that they are doing school. Life with mom and dad provide so many learning opportunities. So really, school and everyday life can be one and the same. At this young age, I wouldn't spend more than 60 minutes at the table and even that I would intersperse with chores, outside play, service, and other stuff. I'm going to make sure that reading books is a HUGE part of what we do as well as learning from nature, life experience(gardening, cooking, etc), serving others.

My one caution would be not to start her too soon. 4 1/2 is very young, in my opinion, to start K. There is a lot that happens emotionally in a child even in one years time. I've heard from teachers that the students who start a bit later agewise (K at 6yo) naturally catch on faster and become natural leaders. Of course, this is not an absolute, just a tendency.

I would just encourage you to make it flexible and light-hearted. Study the things she loves, read lots, and take a break when she needs. I'm really looking forward to the homeschooling process and I hope that you will be blessed in it as well!

D.,

We started homeschooling our 7-year-old son at the end of this January, and have really enjoyed it a lot. Our daily routine starts with getting up, breakfast, dishes and starting a load of laundry. Our son usually gets about 30 minutes to play before starting school-at-home at 9am. I use a rotating schedule of Monday, Wednesday, Friday we focus on math and history. Tuesday, Thursday we focus on science and grammar. We do some things every day such as 30 minutes of reading to mommy, spelling word practice, and reading comprehension. We try to accomplish everything in the morning so we both have the afternoon to play. Because our son is an only we also send him to the local elementary school for the special classes of music, art and gym. He loves seeing his friends on a daily basis, but also enjoys learning at home. For us it is a good balance of two worlds.

Have you searched on the internet for on-line support groups in your area? I am a member of the Ionia and Lansing Home schoolers, and both groups provide great opportunities to get together for classes and field trips.

Children in kindergarten usually focus on learning sight words (some focus on learning the alphabet and the phonics of each letter), a bit of science (what is a plant, a mammal, a reptile, etc.), music (introduction to composers and different genres), art (drawing and painting techniques with different shapes, lines, and colors), a bit of math (names of shapes: rhombus, cube, sphere, pyramid, etc.).

If you have a teaching store near you, it would be well worth your time to go and see what is available for purchase. Before buying you may want to check out the titles on Amazon.com and look at the user reviews. Also, ask the other members on the internet support group and see what curriculum they use and the pros and cons of that particular publisher.

If you have any other questions about the academics, drop me a p.m. I hope you enjoy your time homeschooling your children!

-C..

Homeschooling can be life-and life can be homeschooling don't feel like you have separate them. At age 4 especially, all life is school! Each day is filled with exploration and learning.

D., I wanted to share that I just did my first year of homeschooling with my son, Owen, who is 5 at the end of June. We set aside a time to do a few subjects, on M, W, F, for only about 1 and a half hours. We established a routine that after he woke, he got dressed, ate breakfast, and brushed his teeth, and then we started school. We are early risers, and so we were usually done with school by 10:30am. It was a really good time together, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Learning really is an inseparable thing from the day, but logically, I found, I needed to know what he was learning.
Owen's typical day:
1. I read to him a story from the library.
2. He reads me a day's page in the Children's Bible.
3. He reads an Easy Reader from the library.
4. Language Lessons from Jessie Wise's Grammar Book.
5. Pre-writing book to learn how to steady hand and pencil.
6. Math from DK Book (Got it at Sam's Club).
7. I read a book from the AlphaTales books from Scholastics, and he practices writing the letter for the week in a creative way.
8. We practice the memory verse from the Bible for his program at church.

That's it. Not complicated, not long, not unfun.

Your daughter sounds a lot like my son. He asked me to teach him to read when he was 3. I used "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" by Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox, and Elaine Bruner. It's a scripted book, so you know exactly what to do, and your child gets to read a few words right away. It made my son soooh happy to get immediate results. When you are finished with the book, your child will be roughly 2nd grade reading level. You will enjoy sitting down and doing this with your daughter. Every child learns differently, though, so I decided to read up as much as I could on different styles of homeschooling.
One book in particular, really stands out to me as useful to define my own style and what would be best for Owen. I read "Mary Pride's Complete Guide to Getting Started in Homeschooling," by Mary Pride. Two copies are on the shelf at Allendale and Gary Byker libraries. You could place one on hold, and send them to your library of choice. This book is thick, and you may want to attack it a section at a time, but it is complete, and super informational.
I found that I am mostly "Classical" in my style of teaching. But, you may be different. It's worth looking into.
Now, Owen did Math from a DK 5/6yr old book, and I used a typical relaxed writing style of my own...He really isn't ready to write physically much...but practiced in pudding, rice, on his doodle board, chalkboard, etc. His desire to communicate just can't be satisfied, and he already likes to write letter to daddy, and he is beginning to want to write a book about trains. (Mostly drawings of trains. lol)
We also go to the library every week in some fashion. I had Owen in storytime and he has a great relationship with the Children's librarian at Gaines Township. A must for future homeschooling efforts...and very easy at Gaines Twnship...they are super friendly.
And Owen is very socialized. He has many playdates, and goes on field trips with our group of homeschooling moms and dads. He goes to gymnastics weekly, and we take him everywhere. We take advantage of all the library free events they have to offer for his age. Last year, we took in zoo animals there, and one lady brought in bee's to investigate, and a bubble artist was there...lots of exciting things with many kids to interact with.
A link you might find useful is...
http://www.christianbook.com/homeschool.
Also, if you are interested, we'd love to have you in our group of homeschooling moms and dads. We meet once per month with just the moms, and then once per month we go on a field trip with our families. We've had gym nights, gone to Historical places, a greenhouse, etc. Lots of fun, and lots of support. Just let me know, and I'll give you more details.
I know this has been long...but my hope is that you will see there are many different styles and approaches, and so, what works for you for each subject, might be different than for me. But, it will work! :)
Please feel free to ask me more questions, via pm, and I'll will give you my contact information then. :)
Good luck.
Mrs. J. Andrews

It sounds like you have thought out what you want to do and the goals you want -- that is a great! Homeschooling is ALL ABOUT making it fit your child(ren) -- teach whatever you want her to learn. If it is Kindergarten stuff or 1st grade stuff -- you can and know that she likes it and gets it.

I tried the 100 EZ lessons with my son but he didn't sit still long enough so it didn't work for us. BUT... I can play games with him and teach him TONS of stuff without him knowing we are even doing school. I do make him sit down each day and do something, for example math, handwriting, cutting stuff out, even doing a worksheet, matching game or the like. I am amazed at how much he has learned over the "preschool" year of age 4.

I love a nature journal and we take pictures of nature (flowers, bugs, snakes, the garden, ducks etc...) and write about it. He some times tells me what to write and sometimes cuts out the pictures we print off from the computer. It is something that he could continue with his whole life if he wanted to and it can grow with him. He can identify common plants, trees and birds – dandelions, Robin (MI state bird), Weeping Willow etc…)

The other thing I used and you might want to look at is http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?curriculum/kindergarten -- it is what kids "should" know after they are through with each grade. Of course there is no Bible in there but we know that is even more important :).

I tend towards the Charlotte Mason and unit study approach and really enjoy using the 5 In A Row books with my boys too. Check out used curriculum before you buy any. There are TONS out there and sometimes they will not work and it feels better that you helped another homeschool family even if you didn’t use it, AND it will be cheaper. Check out http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com/ and/or http://www.vegsource.com/homeschool/ .

I also used the library A TON and Handwriting without Tears since he couldn’t even write his name when we started last spring. He now tries to write whole sentences! It is so exciting to see all the steps and see them 1st hand instead of at the end of the day, if he remembers to tell you.

We are also going to classes once a week on Fridays, we just started those and he really looks forward to that. They meet in Troy if you are interested in that. ____@____.com

Just a side note. You said you have a 3 year old -- teach him at the same time, I'm teaching my 4 year old to count to 100 (he is still having trouble making the jump from 29 to 30 and not twenty-ten :) but my 2 1/2 year old now knows how to count to 20+ as well since we count in the car a lot. He also knows all the letter sounds just like big brother too. So you might well find that both kids will learn some of the same things at the same time.

I hope you enjoy the journey! Check out The Oldschool House magazine too. I don't get the magazine but I get a lot of free e-mails from them that I have enjoyed reading and finding out about products.

OK I had better stop since I could go on forever. I really have enjoyed this year of school!! :) GOD Bless.