Anna will be in kindergarten next year! Well, she’ll be kindergarten age, anyway. She turns five in April. Maggie doesn’t turn three until October so we’re not doing much with her yet besides letting her tag along with Anna.
The dangerous duo
The master plan… and I am so happy it’s so simple. (It will get more elaborate with time, I’m sure. But as a first time homeschooling mom, I’m very happy with this plan. Relieved!) So far, we read together and do a little handwriting while Maggie naps. I don’t know how it will work next year, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out. Baby #4 will arrive in early September, so we aren’t committing to doing this every day. 🙂
The subjects – and how we’ll teach them:
What: Math, learning to recognize numbers higher than 10, counting by 2’s, 5’s, etc., addition and subtraction
How: Getting some Math U See blocks (you know, cuisenaire rods), writing numbers, math with beans, print worksheets off the internet, etc.
What: Reading
How: Anna reads to me from books we have. Then I read to hear from The Little House book series.
What: Writing
How: Letters and numbers in the BrainQuest workbooks we have… then I’ll print worksheets off the internet. Once she doesn’t need letter guides, we’ll practice handwriting and do spelling at the same time.
What: Bible
How: Brian reads Bible stories to the kids before bed. We also pray together at the dinner table and sometimes Anna takes a turn. Anna also attends AWANA
What: Science
How: She is learning plenty of this by asking a million questions about how the world works and why things are the way they are! No need for more yet.
What: History
How: Not yet. Have any good ideas for later?
What: Co-op
How: Well, it’s co-op. We show up once a week and I don’t know what classes will be available yet. 🙂 But we’re hoping to do this.
That’s it. Fin. Kaput. Kapow!
It sounds like a great plan! Homeschooling is so much fun, and it doesn’t need to be super elaborate. I truly believe that simple, is better. I enjoy hearing what others are doing in their homeschool. Right now, we are rethinking a lot of our curriculum, going more toward a Charlotte Mason approach to learning., which, it looks like you are planning to do. Our kids are 10, 8, 4 (almost 5), and 18 months. We have used a few different curriculum’s in our years of homeschooling. Some we have liked, some not so much. Here are some internet resources that we use and enjoy:
http://www.starfall.com for phonics
http://www.xtramath.org for helping to memorize math facts (you probably won’t need this for a while but it is an excellent resource I have recently found. I wish I had known of it when my 10 y/o was in first grade.)
http://www.homeschoolshare.com lots of great free resources, mostly for lapbooks and such
http://www.amblesideonline.org has a free Charlotte Mason inspired curriculum that we are just beginning to implement in our homeschool
Okay, I apologize for the novel! I love homeschooling! =) Also, if I may say one more thing, for history, we learn history through living books and the Bible. What better way than a Biblical one?
Happy homeschooling!!!
Ellen – WONDERFUL! Thank you so much!!! And I’ve heard good things about Charlotte Mason, though I haven’t researched yet. Glad to hear I am doing something like her method. 🙂 I love the resources you posted and I love to hear other people’s homeschooling experiences too.
Have you checked out Julia Nalle’s history curriculum? I haven’t used it yet but just based on reading about it, it looks good. I’m considering purchasing it to start with Elise this fall. She’ll be in grade one (turned 6 in February). Right now funds are tight, but perhaps it will look better in a few months. Julia makes a good case for the classical/chronological approach to studying history in this post (and has a link to the curriculum website near the end):
http://covenantbuilders.blogspot.com/2012/02/chaos-to-order.html
So is Anna already reading? How did you teach her? We’ve read tons of books together all of Elise’s life but just “picking it up naturally” hasn’t worked. We’ve started “How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” and so far it’s going okay. We’re at Lesson 27 or something, and she still seems a long way from reading a real book… I have a nephew who’s 6 months younger than Elise, and he just started reading without really any formal instruction.
Kindergarten this year has turned out to be much more lacking in content than I had originally planned. Most days it seems something has to fail when trying to balance doing things with the older kids, maintaining a livable house, providing something to eat, keeping the speech-delayed baby (21 months) from screaming and grabbing away the books we are reading, etc. Usually the thing that falls by the wayside is activities with the 4 and 6 year old and they end up entertaining themselves most of the day. I really wonder what it will be like once Niko is home… Every morning I have these grand schemes for the day (grand equaling something as exciting as doing a cool craft or science experiment) and every day “life” seems to get in the way. I’m wondering if a schedule would help… but some things, like a shrieking toddler, are hard to fit into a schedule. I’m not trying to be discouraging, as I really do like homeschooling. I just sometimes wonder if I’m doing an adequate job… Okay, sorry for the novel. I was just planning on giving you the tip about the history curriculum. 🙂
I homeschooled some of mine from K-High School. I would love to get together and talk about it anytime you want 🙂 Just let me know!
Hi! Found you on Babycenter Sept Birth Club…you’re comments always caught my eye because we seem like-minded and from your blog I see that we are! Congrats to us being due in Sep! I LOVE that you’ve adopted a special-needs son. Adoption is my heart and my husband and I have been saving for 2 years to adopt. We’re waiting on God’s timing, but we believe it is His plan for us! You have a beautiful family. Anyway, just wanted to say hi and introduce myself 🙂
Carol, I love novels! Anna learned her letters and sounds with Leapfrog Letter Factory. I’m so grateful for that silly cartoon! Some time later, she was ready for me to just start sounding out words… and once she could kinda do that, I had her read a few pages of “Hop on Pop” to me every day. It wasn’t the most fun, but I was so proud of her for doing “real school.” She was proud of it too! It will be very different for Maggie, I think. She is equally a smartipants, but not a studious type. 🙂
I will look up the Nalle’s history plan… I like to see how people are doing things. And I’m with you on the “great ideas that don’t always pan out.” Somehow my energy doesn’t keep up with my plans. One day at a time!
Hi Rebecca! Thanks for the offer! I am not quite ready to be heavily inundated with more ideas, lol. Probably sometime though. I appreciate the offer. I can’t tell you how much I have learned from my fellow mommies… especially those with kids a few years older! It’s such a blessing. But not yet on this one… going to stay super simple this year until this newborn comes along and gets settled in. We’ll see what kinda crazy notions I’m ready to tackle next spring/summer!
Hi Megan! Thank you for introducing yourself! I went and read a little of your blog and I’m so excited for you and your family! You’ve got your sweet son, another coming in September like me (wonder which of us will meet our baby first? will you be finding out the gender?) AND you are excited about adoption! Did I see something about a family member or friend adopting from Ukraine? That is a country in need of adoptive families, for sure! Our son is from Bulgaria, which is right next door. Are you familiar with Reece’s Rainbow? I’m excited to be baby buddies with you!
p.s. Megan – I am trying to be content about my chair and recliner too…
My husband and I went to Ukraine on an orphan care trip when I was pregnant with our son. That was almost 2 years ago! But it was an amazing, eye-opening trip. I am familiar with Reece’s Rainbow. It’s such a great site/resource. So cool your son is from Bulgaria- I’m hearing that all those Eastern European countries are in dire need of adoptive families for their children with disabilities.