If you are homeschooling this year, check this out…

[Alicia Hernon]

I thought this would be a great place to support those moms or dads who are homeschooling.  I do think we have some veteran homeschoolers in the neighborhood who can give some good advice!  Even though I’m not homeschooling this year, I have had 20 years of experience :). so if any of you need some advice or encouragement, or simply would like to share your plan for the year, post here!

[Adam Stanislawski]

First, thank you for adding “dads who are homeschooling”!  We just switched our children last week from attending a Catholic school this year to homeschooling, and I’m the Daddy teacher.  ALL of the podcasts and websites that I’ve found consistently mention “homeschooling moms”, which is understandable, though I’m sure that there’s at least one more Dad in the US who is homeschooling, right?

Overall, this is a major change for our family and we’re a bit stressed.  That said, we’re only schooling for PK and first grade, and we already purchased curriculum for Math and Language Arts for our first grader as well as Charlotte Mason or Classical style enrichment activities for Social Studies, Music appreciation, and Art appreciation, and some kids desks.  We’re hopeful that this experience will go well; though I am certainly plagued by second guessing and am having trouble maintaining my peace and faith.  Can anyone give any pointers for engaging a young, strong-willed and very social little girl who is your daughter in a way where she’ll still enjoy learning?  Outside of curriculum, I’m most concerned about giving her the pride and ownership that she felt when she attended her school.

 

[Lori & Billy Miller]

Hey Adam,

Not sure if this will help or is what your asking (we have pre k and 1st as well) but sticker charts of some sort might work. Some of my kids reading workbooks have sticker charts to show progress and I created one for their math. They each have their own bulletin board with their charts to help them stay on track. Something that’s displayed in the home to show their progress that they can take ownership of works for us and might for you.
I also bought a sticker atlas (Amazon) this year to build a world map on our wall (“around the world with picture books” is the curriculum) & they love that thing. They’re building country by country and it’s pretty simple.

[Adam Stanislawski]

Thanks for the tips. We’ve gotten into a good routine and the girls love checking off there daily schedule. They earn a sticker for each day on their monthly calendar and that seems to give them a lot of satisfaction too. We’ve had to adjust some curriculum elements, and overall things have been smooth. The flexibility and laid back nature of homeschooling seems to let them blossom naturally. It’s beautiful!  I hope it’s going well for you too!

[James Resch]

Hey All,

I just wanted to check in and see what everyone is using for curriculum and see how the start of the formal school year is going for everyone.

For math we are using Singapore, xtramath, and flashcards.

For 1st grade language arts, we are using Superkids (a continuation of what our son started in kindergarten).

For 3rd grade language arts, we are using a mixture of Mother of Divine Grace, Mater Amabilis, and added extra stuff from my own teaching experience.

For social studies, I started with Mother of Divine Grace as a skeleton and have added to it.

For science, we are using Classical Science by Elemental Science.

For religion, we are using the Baltimore Catechism, the Bible, and Tobet.

For geography, we are using a mixture of Mother of Divine Grace and Mater Ambilis.

I have not really started any specials (art, music, foreign language) yet. I would appreciate any suggestions you all are using.

[Adam Stanislawski]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I have a first grader and pk4.</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>For math, we are using Math U See Alpha level.</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>For Language Arts, we’re using Bookshark Lang Arts 1 with Explode the Code. We’re also using a gentle handwriting workbook (2m) from Catholic Heritage Curricula.

For science, we’re using Behold and See 1 from Catholic Heritage Curricula, outdoor nature studies from SCM, and my wife, Rita, who was a bio major 🙂

For history/social studies/geography, we’re using The Story of the World vol. 1 and a globe.</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>For religion, we read a bible story to begin the day. We copy a bible verse once/week and memorize it over the week. We read a saint story once/week, use the kids St. Joseph Baltimore catechism for one lesson, and are using The Rosary in Art for Children to pray a decade each week.</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>As for enrichments, we’re memorizing a poem from Robert Louis Stevenson each week or two and having a “recital” on Fridays (they love this!). We’re reading various literature. We’re doing a weekly composer study in Beethoven from Simply Charlotte Mason, and we’re doing art picture studies from Catholic Heritage Curricula to start each day (these take 5 minutes, get them focused, and they love it!). I’ve a PE background, so I’m not worried about that.</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>It’s been pretty great!</p>

[Author]

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