Sunday, February 02, 2020

Answer to a friend thinking about homeschooling...

As for whether it's a good fit and any hesitations you might have I would love to talk in person about that sometime!  There are so many considerations and each family is so unique that I think it's best to address your specific needs and challenges as a family instead of giving general info.

As for curriculum...  It sounds like you need very efficient schooling where you are able to boil it down to the basics (and add on as you are able).  It also sounds like you are looking for things that have one lesson after another instead of requiring a lot of creativity and figuring things out as you go. I'm just going to type my ideas as they come into my head.  I will give specific books to look at so you can start somewhere.  I use a little Charlotte Mason, a little classical, and a little delight directed studies.  I change things up all the time.

One thing to consider is that you really only have 2 that need lots of schooling.  The others need to be learning of course and need structure.  But as far as pressure to educate...just focus on the older two for now.  I don't start Kindergarten until my kids are 6.  So, for the younger ones you can organize some time for them to do activities (like the ones in this book), give them tons of time to play inside and outside, read aloud to them as much as you can, work on obedience (you can't homeschool very easily if your kids won't cheerfully do what you ask them to do:0), teach them to play independently and be content.  If some of them are interested in reading you can use The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading.  My kids all liked The Letter Factory so I skipped the first 26 lessons in the Ordinary Parent's Guide that introduce letter sounds. I don't recommend using videos too much, but if you do use 1 a day make it count to teach letter sounds or Bible truths.

Now, back to the big kids.  There are 4 areas that you can think about in education: 1. Your kids in relation to God and man (the most important area to know about). 2. Skill areas in which you have to learn how to do something (Language Arts and Math) 3. Content Areas in which you learn information(Science and History) 4. Life Skills (how to cook, balance a checkbook, have a good work ethic).

Area 1. Use the Bible and especially Proverbs.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.  Also tackle character issues as they come up and deal with them biblically.  This truly is the most important curriculum that you can teach your kids.  What good is it if they have read all the Great Books but don't love the Lord, love His Word and love their neighbor?

Area 2. For Language Arts You Could use the McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader  with this level 2 Lesson Book or if they are more advanced than that use the Third Reader and the 3rd  Lesson book.  The Beauty of this approach (that I learned from this mom of 15) is that it provides structure for Copywork, Narration, Dictation, Spelling, and Drawing using good literature that is already picked out for you.  It's accessible, but the language is elevated so that you get a lot of bang for your buck.  Easy!  If you wanted something different you could look at 
First Language Lessons and Writing with Ease (whatever level you think they are ready for).  For Math you could do Math U See.

Area 3.  You can just start off by assigning them readers.  Let them pick something they would love to learn about in Science, read a good solid book about it then tell you about the book.  They have to read 1 chapter from the book each day.  For history assign them a biography and have them read 1 chapter per day and tell you about it.  You could use the book suggestions on Ambleside Online, but you might want to use books suggested for lower grades to start off.  Or you could use Story of the World. and Apologia Young Explorers Series.

Area 4.  Just include your kids in your life.  As you need to cook, teach them how (maybe one at a time if it's easier).  When you need to fix something let them watch or help.  Talk to them about money.  Talk to them about adult decisions.

This is a lot to think about.  Write back if you have specific questions!  Homeschooling is lots of work, but I love it!

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