Question for Homeschool Moms

The best advice I got when starting to homeschool kindergarten was from a homeschool mom who was also a private school teacher. It went something like this: what kids need to learn in kindergarten is their alphabet, colors and how to count to 100. Really, that's all the academics necessary.

So relax, enjoy, interact, go outside, play. Read and hang out at the library. Forget the curriculum but find some fun workbooks if your 5 year old likes them. Observe and discover your child's learning style. Do life together. Have fun. And take the 3 year old and 1 year old along for the ride.

You need to figure out what will work best for your family. I unschooling, so we don't use a curriculum. We play, hang out with friends, and are involved in two co-ops a week so the kids can play with other kids. My kids have tons of books, fiction and nonfiction, and lots of puzzle/logic games. Instead of a focused curriculum, I just buy them interesting, educational stuff and let their interests guide them. We have interesting discussions all the time, and we just focus on life as our curriculum. My daughter asked for a microscope for her 5th bday, as well as the game snap circuit. She loves science and reading, and all I do is supply her with toys and get out of her way.

This morning, she composed and sang a song, played her piano, and copied the first few words of a song. She also helped me make muffins, and right now she is reading to her 3 year old brother why I nurse. Lots of great educations activities: music, writing, reading, math and chemistry. She initiated all of it.

This sort of approach isn't for everyone, especially if you worry about milestones and stuff. I believe that there is enough of a biological component to this stuff that I just get out of their way, and amazingly, my daughter is super advanced. My son,otoh, knows tons of technical terms surrounding firemen and other rescue teams. I can't even keep up with him. He also can tell you all about digestion and nutrition. My daughter reads at a 2nd grade level, including comprehension, and my son knows basic phonics, but shows no interest in reading. He does like to count, though. And my daughter can skip count by 2 and 10, and is interested in dividing things and multiplication.

Come spring we will spend a lot of time at the zoo and do a tour of local outdoor forest preserves. And my kids love chasing butterflies, and looking for interesting bugs in the garden. In a few weeks, they will also plant seeds for our garden, and the 5 year old is going to keep track of weekly growth and make charts.

My point: you don't even need a curriculum. Just live an interesting, engaging life with them and model your own love of learning. This is a great approach for the under 8 crowd. They are programmed to be innately curious and interested, schooling just tends to crush it.

If you want more, do an online curriculum. ABCmouse.com, star fall.com etc. my kids have access to both of these, as well as to a tablet and a cell that have educational games on them. Yes, my 3 year old has his own phone. Hubby converted a phone we don't use into a tablet for him, and my daughter has her own cheap tablet. In the next 6 months, we are planning on buying monitors and using old phones to give them their own computers.

Ad of course we do story time at the library, so they have a chance to be in a more school like setting. And they both are doing a cooking class starting next month. They will listen to other adults, but I will admit that they do ask the adults to also listen to them. Some teachers don't like this, but I don't care. Questioning and knowing what you want are skills I value.

This is a really broad question! So much of what would be a good fit for your family depends on your son's learning needs and personality and your family's priorities.

Start your research by searching online for homeschool groups in your area. You my find a group that is a good fit for you, or at least a good information source. You may also find homeschool co-ops in your area. There are also bazillions of homeschooling blogs. You should also look up the legal requirements for homeschooling in your state. Some states require that your child take state tests. Some require that you have a college degree. Some have record-keeping requirements. Know the legal stuff before you start.

Also hit your library. I no longer remember the title, but I've also run across a useful book about how to homeschool your kids for free. Mothering Magazine back issues may also be useful, since they've run loads of articles about the many different styles of homeschooling.

Curriculum websites can also be useful. Just keep in mind that they are designed to sell you something.

My friends who are homeschooling from a Christian perspective like A Beka (traditional), Sonlight (literature-based), and Tapestry (classical model).

For math, I have friends who have used and liked Singapore Math, Math U See, and Miquon Math.

We use the K12 curriculum, which is a secular curriculum. Instead of going through one of the online virtual academies (which we did for awhile) I have purchased it privately. I found that while the curriculum itself is a rich, academically rigorous, mastery based curriculum, our state imposed so many scheduling and reporting restraints on us that it was impossible to use the curriculum as it was intended to be used. The virtual academy wanted every student in every grade doing the same thing at the same time, which was one reason we left the brick-and-mortar school system to begin with. For my kids, I find the structure of an organized curriculum useful. My son, age 8, is a very independent learner, and works his way through the curriculum largely unassisted. He would probably do well even without a set curriculum - he is self-motivated and insatiably curious. My daughter, 11, requires more supervision, and without the guidelines of an organized curriculum, drifts. We also do a lot of independent, hands-on learning.

One of my best friends successfully homeschools by "unschooling." While there are goals, there is no overt structure. Her daughter leads her own education according to her interests. On any given day, she might be reading everything by Edgar Allen Poe that she can get her hands on, or learning astronomy, or learning to draw on her computer. It is lovely when it works, but my daughter is the type who, when left with that kind of choice, chooses to study nothing. (Yes, I have tried to let her self-direct. It didn't take. I'll probably try again when she's more mature.)

My most useful homeschooling tools have been my memberships at local museums and my library card. One of the best things I've been able to do to help my kids successfully learn at home is to show them that I'm a learner, too. I read. I join them for science experiments. We take classes together. I try new skills. They've seen me learn successfully. They've seen me frustrated. They've seen me try again, gather more information, get help, or approach a problem from a different angle. They've heard me say, "I don't know." As a teacher, one of the best things you can model is what real learning looks like.

Please feel free to PM me if you'd like to ask something more specific about our experiences.

Because of still-developing social skills my guy is in preschool, will go to kindergarten, and we'll start homeschooling in first grade.

I plan to use an online K-12 school that provides the books and supplies for free, plus supplement with outings and library time, activities that younger siblings can attend. You can do preschool homeschool with your middle child at the same time, there's lots of things online to help you, my DIL started my grandson when he was 3.

I love homeschooling and the unschooling/online school approach works best for me, and allows a lot of flexiblility. Oh, and do get into a homeschool parent group in your area so your son has children his age to socialize with on a regular basis.

I recommend you research and attend a local home schooling show or event. The options are endless: Religious vs. non, academic vs. gross motor development. Social skills are super important when reintegrating into main stream, so please keep him involved in a club/library program where he learns to listen to other adults and take turns!!

GL!

I am going to homeschool (in the same area as you live) next year - my son will be 5 by then. My only recommendation now (because I haven't started all this yet), is to join a group. In our area, there is:
- Meetup.com - "Homeschoolers of Far North San Antonio". I like this group best because most children are very young - the oldest kiddo I've seen at the two events I've been to is 6 years old.

- sahero.org - tons of resources. They email you a weekly email about what's going on in our area

- yahoo group - NCSAHomeschoolers. I met these guys at Bullis County Park one day. THat's the only event I've been to with them (Wednesdays at 10am). There are many middleschoolers in this group and my 4.5 yr old only found one boy to play with close to his age.

If you want to PM me with your email, I can email you other websites (that I got from sahero's weekly email).

*Edited*
This was my first year to do a "homeschool" program. I have a second and third grader plus two little ones. I really wanted my kids to still meet other kids, AND to learn from other teachers but avoid all the many negatives about schools. So finding this program has been a lifesaver. And with a three yr old and 18 mo old, I knew i would have been So overwhelmed. So i Found a charter school in my county that provides all the kids' elective classes and activities (French (this year), art, dance, math games, science experiements, pe, a communications class, etc) They go to this school 2 x a week and are home with me 3 days. It's been a great balance especially as I'm just starting out. Through this program I also get an annual budget to order curriculum. And since its a charter, it's state funded and free to me. If this might interest check out schools In your area.

As far as curriculum, I found it best to wait before I spent money to order anything. Give yourself a couple months into it to see what will work. DO get yourself a good printer and find lots of printables online and as you go you will figure out what will make it easier for you and your child.
* I've found that several things that I thought would be sure-fire wins just weren't. Likewise, I've been surprised that something's have been just what we needed.
If I can offer any other ideas, message me. Good luck!

We do online schooling through the K12 program, and I highly recommend it. I have researched many different curricula, and I find the K12 curriculum to be leaps and bounds over so many others. Maybe just my opinion, but I do know that it is an advanced curriculum and I have had a lot of success with it.

You can purchase the K12 curriculum independently, or you can enroll your child in a K12 school and receive the curriculum for free...which includes texts, workbooks, literature books, lab equipment, art supplies, a computer, a scanner/printer, the works. It is considered a public school when done online through a virtual academy, which has its benefits.

Please pm me if you have any questions or would simply like more information. You call also go to www.k12.com and check it out!

Oh I feel you! My kindergartener, my 3 yr old and my 1 yr old are a handful during school time!! I use My Father's World curriculum and it is awesome. I do four day school weeks with every Friday off and I do year round to give myself time to get through the material but have some flexibility. Right now I do school while the baby is snacking in his exersaucer watching whatever is on PBS. My three yr old has a box of activities that I also got from MFW, he can take his box and play with the shape sorter etc, or he can stay at the table with us and color, cut paper, glue paper, whatever will keep his little hands busy basically. I talked with a teacher friend and MFW covers all the basics of public kinder, so I was happy with it. It also has an ant farm that we are about to do and a butterfly garden so those were big selling points. There is WAY more in just about any curriculum than you could ever get to so I make sure we do all the basics of math, reading, writing and I add as many of the fun things as we can get to, some weeks are better than others. I find that 45 minutes per day gets the job done and my kids just love school. I joined a local homeschool association so we get to do fun field trips with others and just get out! Good luck, stay flexible and have fun!

We live in San Antonio also and this was our first year homeschooling. My son is in 2nd grade. I tried planning my own curriculum, etc., but it wasn't working out very well. It takes a great deal of time to plan it out correctly and if you have a very busy schedule, that can be hard to do sometimes.

I checked out K12 and read that you can't enroll until 3rd grade. Also, I was told that if you enroll the child in a K12 program, then they are subject to all the state testing, i.e. TAKS tests. I did not want that for my son. I do want him evaluated, but not subject to the state testing. I have several close friends that are school teachers and they all hate that they have to focus so much on TAKS testing and can't teach more of what they want. Why would I want to subject my son to that while homeschooling?

My son is a kinesthetic learner. In other words, he has to be moving while learning, be it bouncing around or squeezing a ball in his hand. He also HATED all the paperwork and nonstop writing of the book curriculums. A friend told me about Time4Learning.com. This changed our world! He loves it, I love it and we are both very happy. He has learned a great deal. It is a full curriculum based on grade level, focusing on Language Arts and Math mainly until 3rd grade. He still has worksheets every day but he rarely complains about them. He has done so well that he will be finishing up 2nd grade in early May. He is very excited about this!

The thing that I like best about Time4Learning is that my son is able to come to the computer, log in, start his lesson and needs just a little assistance from mom. I do sit with him during his lessons just so that I get a refresher on things in case he has questions. The animated lessons are geared to the age of the child. They are entertaining yet educational.

On Sundays, I go through and create daily sheets that show my son exactly what he is supposed to be doing in Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies and Reading. (I have been using the Abeka reading books for 2nd grade that I found at Half Priced Books - I like these because they are Christian based, but the curriculum did not work for my son). I attach his worksheets to each daily sheet and put them all in a folder together. He gets his folder on Monday, pulls out Mondays work papers and is able to get started on what he needs to accomplish that day.

I too do a 4 day school week, with Fridays reserved for field trips, activities or errands. We do not have school if the school district is closed. My son wants to be out playing with his friends when they are home and I have no issue with that. Next week is Spring Break and my son is "out of school" too. He is already well socialized as we have a ton of kids in our neighborhood and we do a lot of activities. This Friday we are going to Morgan's Wonderland.

I am giving him the option of doing some school through the summer or taking the summer off. He hasn't decided yet. :)

I have joined a homeschool group but am considering looking for a new one. This one is good but not quite our fit.

I am happy to answer any questions I can for you or give advice or just be another homeschool mom you can talk to. Just PM me if you'd like my email and we can chat more. I remember how nervous I was at the beginning of the year!