Homeschool Chat Part III

[momimouse27]

I am with JoanneDisFan, sometimes the best learning comes from just reading, learning colors, simple math, etc. Sounds like you are doing great

 

[jahber]

I am with JoanneDisFan, sometimes the best learning comes from just reading, learning colors, simple math, etc. Sounds like you are doing great

I 100% agree. I'm a former teacher and have a 6th grader and a 3rd grader who have always been homeschooled. My 3rd grader never went to preschool OR pre-K, even though it's free in Florida, and honestly, he's a better reader than my 6th grader who did preschool and pre-k. I know it seems scary not to have a "plan," but I promise promise promise it can work. Littles don't need curricula. They need you to read to them and play math and maybe phonics games with them. If you really want a curriculum, as a certified ELA teacher, I'd recommend Primary Arts of Learning by Institute for Excellence in Writing. It's game-based and low-key, but has lesson plans (even scripts you can follow). For math, really, any program will work at 4. Just follow her lead. If she gets frustrated, stop and go back to just reading and games for a couple of weeks. I know it's scary. I know it seems like kids need "school," but they don't at that age. That's why we do what we do . You're doing great. Just keep loving your girl and reading to her!

 

[Polishnavy]

Looking more at sonlight- it looks like I should have started with preschool? Will I be doing my child a disservice by starting with the pre- k and not the preschool? We read tons of books ( at least 10 per day), so I think she has a good appreciation of the written word, which is what the preschool curriculum seems to be instilling.

We've used Sonlight for K, 1 and currently doing 2. You won't have an issue with missing Pre-K. My son isn't even that crazy about reading and he's doing well.

 

[cruisecrasher]

DD will be 4 in August and I would like to get more organized about her education. Currently we don't really do much formally. I've tried horizons preschool for 3s, and while it does seem to help, we get through the the lessons quickly and then I feel lost. I do incorporate learning into our daily actives, but I really feel at 4 she needs to start a real pre-k program. My school plan is to do a labor day to memorial day schedule when she's young, maybe switching to a more year round approach if need be.

Anyhow, I was looking at sonlight because, well, honestly that seems to be the most prominent program for that age. Anyone have any experience with it?

I am open to other programs as well, if anyone can recommend anything.

I know a lot of people say not to buy stuff at this age, but honestly, trying to prep all the lessons and materials myself gets overhwleming. I work overtime hours, DH is in grad school and works full time, I'm just a busy mom. We do a co-op once a week and also go to story times and do a lot of educational experiences, so she is learning, I would just like it to be more formal.

Any ideas?

We've loved Sonlight for kindergarten through third grade and are getting ready to order fourth. There is a religious angle to some of the discussion questions.
Bookshark is a parallel secular program by the same company.
Both feature many of the same awesome books!

Another way to do the Sonlight preK program without spending the entire cost of curriculum is to purchase whichever handwriting set you want and check out the books on that year's curriculum from the library.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

Hi everyone! I'm planning on homeschooling. My DD is 4 and will be 5 next month, so technically would start Kindergarten. (I taught art education for 4 years before deciding that I wanted to be stay at home mommy). I called my local school corporation who said to go during walk-in registration to get a form for intending to home school but then i said that i read on the DOE that for IN nothing is required until age 7, so she said either way is fine. So for other homeschool parents, would you start homeschool at age 7 or sooner? I mean at age 4 we do lessons often, and she's already reading sentences, spelling, writing, and so it's already begun... since birth she's been learning. In two years from now i can only imagine where she'll be at, grade level wise..she's so smart and easily understands everything i teach her. Today she read without any help: I like my new scooter. It is fun to ride my scooter. My new scooter is red. Mandy has the same scooter too. I got four dolls. They are cute and little. They had fun in the camper van. (She read camper but didn't know what that meant). She wrote "I luv mi scooter. It is fun."
I write on a doodle board, and she has one, so does the baby, and we have our lessons that way.
I would like text books that the other kids in her school have, or better.. but online i'm not finding what i want. What do you all use? She would be at a first grade level now.

 

[wasnotafan]

Hi everyone! I'm planning on homeschooling. My DD is 4 and will be 5 next month, so technically would start Kindergarten. (I taught art education for 4 years before deciding that I wanted to be stay at home mommy). I called my local school corporation who said to go during walk-in registration to get a form for intending to home school but then i said that i read on the DOE that for IN nothing is required until age 7, so she said either way is fine. So for other homeschool parents, would you start homeschool at age 7 or sooner? I mean at age 4 we do lessons often, and she's already reading sentences, spelling, writing, and so it's already begun... since birth she's been learning. In two years from now i can only imagine where she'll be at, grade level wise..she's so smart and easily understands everything i teach her. Today she read without any help: I like my new scooter. It is fun to ride my scooter. My new scooter is red. Mandy has the same scooter too. I got four dolls. They are cute and little. They had fun in the camper van. (She read camper but didn't know what that meant). She wrote "I luv mi scooter. It is fun."
I write on a doodle board, and she has one, so does the baby, and we have our lessons that way.
I would like text books that the other kids in her school have, or better.. but online i'm not finding what i want. What do you all use? She would be at a first grade level now.

Sounds like she is ready. We did a mixture of materials. The one thing that we found that was fantastic was Saxon Math. 1st summer in 4 years for us not planning work. DD and DS are going to a school down the road next year.

 

[Brisbanemum]

Just found this thread and thought I'd post a quick hello I have homeschooled our two amazing boys (10,13) here in Australia for the last two years and we are all loving every moment of it! Both boys have Aspergers (high-functioning autism) and we found that traditional mainstream schooling was the worst learning environment for them. We now follow a more natural homeschooling style which is annually monitored by the Home Education Unit here in our state. I look forward to getting to know you all

 

[lovethattink]

We've been using Alpha Omega Lifepacs for years for my son. But this will be our last year. When the new ones arrived for the 2016-17 school year, the new font, new color, etc. is not going to work well for us. The colors are muted now. The print is a dull gray. My son has a visual tracking problem and the font and color are terrible for him. I'm really disappointed this year. I notified Alpha Omega and they said they'd forward my remarks to the curriculum committee. I'm sure many, many books have already been printed and change will probably take years. We'll use them since we bought them. Maybe he'll grow accustomed to the new print?

 

[chicagoshannon]

Hi everyone! I'm planning on homeschooling. My DD is 4 and will be 5 next month, so technically would start Kindergarten. (I taught art education for 4 years before deciding that I wanted to be stay at home mommy). I called my local school corporation who said to go during walk-in registration to get a form for intending to home school but then i said that i read on the DOE that for IN nothing is required until age 7, so she said either way is fine. So for other homeschool parents, would you start homeschool at age 7 or sooner? I mean at age 4 we do lessons often, and she's already reading sentences, spelling, writing, and so it's already begun... since birth she's been learning. In two years from now i can only imagine where she'll be at, grade level wise..she's so smart and easily understands everything i teach her. Today she read without any help: I like my new scooter. It is fun to ride my scooter. My new scooter is red. Mandy has the same scooter too. I got four dolls. They are cute and little. They had fun in the camper van. (She read camper but didn't know what that meant). She wrote "I luv mi scooter. It is fun."
I write on a doodle board, and she has one, so does the baby, and we have our lessons that way.
I would like text books that the other kids in her school have, or better.. but online i'm not finding what i want. What do you all use? She would be at a first grade level now.

I would definitely start school with her. I would NOT register, however, until it's required by law. When it comes to homeschooling never do more paperwork than is required by law. It would set precedent and could cause problems for other homeschoolers.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

What is an average homeschool day schedule like for Kindergarten or 1st grade?

 

[JoanneDisFan]

For K it was about 1-2 hours of actual school work each day. Sometimes we would only get 4 days a week done and it was still good progress. We chose to focus on reading, writing and arithmitic for K and it worked great. For 1st grade we plan to add a little science and history as well.

 

[Jaime4004]

Hi! Joining your group because DD (going into 7th grade) is going to start being semi-homeschooled. I've been thinking about it occasionally for years but she started mentioning it more and more over the past few months and has been doing her own research. I say "semi-homeschooled" because I think she'll actually take math, science, social studies and language arts in an online public school. She's going to start with science (her choice) as soon as school gets out here to see how it goes. I'll focus a lot on reading and reading comprehension with her because that's her weak point. I'm sure i'll be posting lots of questions as we get into it.

 

[chicagoshannon]

Kindergarten can range in what you do. For DD we did a LOT. She was already a reader and was very advanced. With DS he hadn't shown any interest in reading before then. So we concentrated on reading, handwriting and math. We threw in a little local history as well. He also enjoyed doing science experiments with his sister.

For first grade we're adding in grammar/writing, official history and spelling with his reading and math. He will also participate more with science.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Hi everyone!! How is "Summer" going for you all? Hahaha, I put it in quotes, because we don't take the Summer off and love to just keep going year round.

I wanted to let many of you know that this is my 3rd year starting a Facebook group for field trips and it has been a GREAT way for my kids to make friends AND to get into fun places and tours with discounted prices! It's a great idea and so easy to do one big field trip a month and one friendly park or restaurant meet up a month. If anyone is looking to get more involved with other homeschooling families in their area, i would highly suggest doing something like this!!

 

[OnlyDisney]

Hi everyone!! How is "Summer" going for you all? Hahaha, I put it in quotes, because we don't take the Summer off and love to just keep going year round.

I wanted to let many of you know that this is my 3rd year starting a Facebook group for field trips and it has been a GREAT way for my kids to make friends AND to get into fun places and tours with discounted prices! It's a great idea and so easy to do one big field trip a month and one friendly park or restaurant meet up a month. If anyone is looking to get more involved with other homeschooling families in their area, i would highly suggest doing something like this!!

We're looking into moving to FL in about 3 years. The one thing I'd miss from where we are now is our homeschool field trip group. It is awesome! RiverCityFieldTrips.org has so many field trips throughout the year - tours like an apple orchard, chocolate factory, amazon distribution center, many plays, parks, legofest, state fair, children's museum, etc. Some things we do as a group together and some are just a way to get a great discount on tickets.

I can't wait to see what they put together for this coming year.

 

[weluvjasmine]

I'm not new to homeschooling as I've been HSing my 10 year for 3 years. But she went to public school for K & 1st grades. Now my 5 yo will be starting K soon. What subjects do you think are important at this age? We are using Horizon for Math, Explode the Code for phonics/reading (online program), Science will be basic unit studies/books with topics like basic weather, the body, animals, oceans, etc (then do a lap book, craft, or science experiment) and Clifford the Dog science kits (once a month). Also, he will do Prairie Primer activities with my daughter (once a week- like make a craft or go on a field theme), religious studies (coloring page 2 or 3 times a week), and US Geography (coloring activity of the state bird and flower- 2 states a week). The Prairie Primer and US Geography are things that if he doesn't feel like doing, we can skip. At his age I want to make learning do fun than overwhelming. Does it look like I am missing anything that is important at this age? He is a very hands on learner.

Also, wish me luck with 10 yo. This is the first year we are not doing a box curriculum. We are still using textbooks because unit studies did not work will for her last year. Any suggestions for Language Arts/Writing for sixth graders?

 

[weluvjasmine]

Hi everyone!! How is "Summer" going for you all? Hahaha, I put it in quotes, because we don't take the Summer off and love to just keep going year round.

I wanted to let many of you know that this is my 3rd year starting a Facebook group for field trips and it has been a GREAT way for my kids to make friends AND to get into fun places and tours with discounted prices! It's a great idea and so easy to do one big field trip a month and one friendly park or restaurant meet up a month. If anyone is looking to get more involved with other homeschooling families in their area, i would highly suggest doing something like this!!

What is the Facebook group called?

 

[DisHmsklMom]

Does it look like I am missing anything that is important at this age? He is a very hands on learner.

I'd recommend you look into some handwriting, we started with letters in sand, then sandpaper letters (montessori type of stuff), then moved on to Calvert handwriting. My son, since he was pretty active at this age, liked to do his handwriting practice in the evenings.

Also, wish me luck with 10 yo. This is the first year we are not doing a box curriculum. We are still using textbooks because unit studies did not work will for her last year. Any suggestions for Language Arts/Writing for sixth graders?

Check into the Cover Story writing curriculum for middle schoolers by Daniel Schwabauer. We've taken our time with his program and she's finishing it up in the next few weeks. We also have used Saxon Grammar, and Wordly Wise series.

Enjoy. It all goes by so fast!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

What is the Facebook group called?

We are in Northern, IL so it is a group called Rockford IL Homeschool Field Trips
Starting something similar is so easy to do and all you have to do is spread the word on other homeschooling pages you belong to that are local and before you know it, it will take off and your kids will find themselves with some pretty close friends!

 

[PrinceOfPeace]

Do any homeschool moms know of some printables for planning that I can use for the kids? Someone suggested having them use map skills and math skills etc to help with the DW planning....and of course it would be a great way to teach them!