Beginning To Homeschool: Any advice?
September 24th, 2008 | By KendraAlthough I’ve been teaching Jada really since she was an infant, now that she is technically “school age” I really want to make sure that I’m giving her a well-rounded education. I’ve been searching for a good First Grade Curriculum, as Jada is already pretty much through Kindergarten level academics. I’m just not even sure where to begin! There are so many different curriculums and publishers, I just can’t tell which one would be good for her. I’ve searched Homeschool forums for advice, but I haven’t found any help.
So, I thought I’d throw the question out there for you, my faithful friends. If any of you have homeschooled, or are homeschooling K-1st grade, do you have any advice for me? I’ve been just printing stuff off the internet, using worksheets from activity books, and pretty much just making up her lesson time as I go. I’d like to have a consistent curriculum for her, one that I know will be thorough.
She is already reading, writing her letters and short words, counting to 100 and doing simple addition. I’m just not sure where to go from here.
Can anyone tell me what I need to be teaching her for K-1st grade?
Do any of you have any suggestions on which books are the best for each subject? I’ve heard that some publishers are better in one subject than another.
Any good websites for printable worksheets??
Hopefully some of you might be able to help guide me along!! Thanks so much for any advice you can offer!
Says:
My kids are still too young, but I’ll check back to see what your readers come up with!
September 24th, 2008 at 2:34 pmSays:
I am currently homeschooling my son who is in kindergarten and my daughter who is in first grade. I’ve been through several workbooks, and have settled on Horizons (through Alpha Omega). I really like the set up of the workbooks and find that my kids do really well with them.
As far as a well rounded education goes, I suggest looking into Sonlight (www.sonlight.com). It’s a reading based curriculum. You can find a lot of their books at the library. We have used Sonlight for 3 years now, and love it!
Most importantly, have fun!
September 24th, 2008 at 3:02 pmSays:
Hi Kendra,
I am sure you will get a slew of answers as curriculum preferences seems to be different for every family!
My son is in first grade this year and we completed kindergarten last year. I have used Rod and Staff for reading, and Singapore Math for mathematics. I also do a weekly nature study for Science, and a weekly art project. For art we use an art curriculum from How Great Thou Art.
R&S is thorough and wholesome, and affordable as well as Singapore math. For R&S I have found the worksheets a little long and tedious, so I have just cut them back. If you like the Charlotte Mason approach there are a few free websites that can guide you. I know Ambleside Online is one.
If you have any other questions, I would be happy to help you!
September 24th, 2008 at 3:15 pmSays:
Hi I just discovered your blog. I thought that I would leave you a message about this because I homeschool both of my boys. There are a lot of great sites out there. If you want to have a guideline of what to go by (http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?curriculum ) check out this link. If you want you can check out my blog to. I have some sites listed on there plus blogs to other people that have a lot. Feel free to look around. Hope that all of this helps.
September 24th, 2008 at 3:36 pmSays:
I am in my 14th year of homeschooling. I used ABEKA language and math with my kids at that age. I didn’t use the curriculum though, I just did the pages in the Letters and Sounds and Language, Handwriting, Spelling, and Math. I then just found books for science and history for them. I started using Sonlight for reading, history and science in 3rd grade and would highly recommend them for the younger grades for those subjects but I did not care for their math or language. ABeka is on an advanced level so some people feel it is too tough. I was wanting my kids to really be stretched so I used it but did not do all the stuff in the curriculum which I think would be too much to do for a home environment. I start using Saxon math in 3rd grade and love it.
September 24th, 2008 at 4:03 pmSays:
Well, I am by no means an expert, but we just finished Kindergarten and have begun 1st grade. I use Abeka. I love it. It is very, very thorough. In Kindergarten, she learned all her letters, sounds, blends, numbers, counting change, and little other things I can’t think of right now. Most of this she already know. I like the emphasis on blends. Its a good key in teaching to read. Abeka encourages cursive in Kindergarten, but I did not do that with my daughter. She knows cursive letters, but I felt it was too much. Anyway, the beginning of 1st grade is a review of Kindergarten, which has been helpful to me to see how much she retained. Abeka is expensive, but I purchased a lot from ebay and craigslist, and then purchased the actual workbooks from Abeka. I hope this helps.
September 24th, 2008 at 4:57 pmSays:
I would recommend the book, “The Well-Trained Mind”. It’s been a long time since I’ve read it but you can check out all the reviews at Amazon.
September 24th, 2008 at 5:41 pmSays:
I homeschooled my kindergarten daughter last year with Sonlight curriculum. It is wonderful and literature-based which worked great for us because she loves to read. We also really liked Alpha Omega. It is colorful and a good workbook-based curriculum also. Our favorite for math was Saxon. It is very hands-on. We liked http://www.starfall.com for reading and we did a lot of worksheets. Your daughter sounds like mine. She was already reading and doing simple math, so we really focused on taking our time and I allowed her to help with the curriculum. When it was time for reading, we did our book work and then would go to the library and find books about a certain subject to read. We would spend a week or two on a unit study of her choosing. It made it much easier for us because as long as she was interested and felt like she had a say-so, she was excited about school everyday. Good luck!
September 24th, 2008 at 7:13 pmSays:
I have heard that Abeka is a great starting curriculum. I haven’t begun homeschooling yet but I talk to homeschool moms ALL the time to pick their brain
And have been told for a first time curriculum it’s great b/c it’s very easy to follow.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:00 pmSays:
Hey Kendra,
September 24th, 2008 at 11:26 pmIm homeschooling my oldest currently. He’s technically in kindergarten but I have him doing 1st grade stuff. We are using Horizons for the language and math (I didnt buy the whole curriculum) plus other workbooks that you can get from Walmart and Target. We also have Leapfrog for learning to read. They have a great phonics set that you can get off their website. The basics that she should be learning in 1st grade is addition and subtraction, counting change, time, spelling, reading, and writing. Theres also seasonal things, science, and history but Im sure that you can figure that into a year at your own pace. There’s a lot of really good curriculum out there if that’s what you want. Yahoo groups has a good homeschool group that you can ask questions at and find some good answers. I found a lot there when I needed it. You can also go to http://www.learningthings.com to find all of the curriculum at decent prices. They have pretty much anything you might need for homeschooling. Good luck on your journey!
Says:
Hi there! Try using ONE THEME a week. I’m sure you already do this, but it makes curriculum planning so much easier. So for, say, the first week of September do back to school – apples, pencils, school buses, etc. The week of Halloween – bake pumpkin pie, have a sewing lesson to put the final touches on her costume, practice trick or treating safety, etc. Then get a planning book – they even have them at the dollar store right now. Or make one on an Excel sheet. I can’t WAIT till Sam is in that stage! Also – go over to my blog and check out the giveaway – I’m sure your sweet thing is past it, but it might be helpful for Baby Titus!
September 25th, 2008 at 2:29 amkellie
Says:
Me and my 4 siblings grew up on ABeka – except for math – in the younger grades my parents used Saxon math, because they liked it better than the ABeka math. Where we live it’s illegal to homeschool and some people here have gone to jail and had their kids taken away for homeschooling. We’re praying for God to change the laws before our 1 year old is school age. If they do I’ll probably be using mostly ABeka…
September 25th, 2008 at 2:39 amSays:
As a veteran home educator (I homeschooled both of my kids through high school. Both went on to college…one is an RN, and the other has a degree in philosophy and is teaching high school at a private classical christian school!!), I would recommend that you choose more of a unit study approach at this age. Incorporate your subject areas into one theme, and teach from there. Read historical fiction and autobiographies aloud to your children. Try not to get caught up in duplicating the public school “classroom” at home. You don’t have to have a workbook or text book for each and every subject at this age. This can be stressful on both parent and child. Relax and enjoy this time…it passes all too quickly!
September 25th, 2008 at 8:22 amSays:
both my kids are out of school and now work, but we really liked abeka, we didnt really care for alpha omega.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:43 amSays:
One thing I would recommend is to first, determine your child’s learning style. That will help you decide what format of curriculum will work for her (amount of structure, hands-on work, reading vs. doing, etc). There are a couple of really good books – Discover Your Child’s Learning Style, and The Way They Learn. Also, figure out what type of teacher you are – if you’re not comfortable with a style of teaching, it will be difficult to teach your daughter.
September 25th, 2008 at 1:26 pmSays:
Hi ~
We’ve been homeschooling for 7 years and have used many different curricula. I have my favorites for each subject! It really depends what you’re looking for.
Math & Grammar – Abeka
Science – Apologia
Creative Writing – Excellence in Writing
Spelling – Excellence in Spelling
History – Truthquest
Foreign Language – Rosetta Stone
Music (for my 4-yr old) – Kinderbach
Music for the older kids – private lessons
I’m including this list of curriculum vendors website links:
http://www.iche.org/media/docs/2008/2008ICHEConventionExhibitors.pdf
I would just check them all out until you find what you’re looking for.
Are you familiar with Charlotte Mason? It’s THE BEST for younger kids! I use some aspects of this FREE “Charlotte Mason method” online curriculum:
http://www.amblesideonline.org/index2.shtml
You’ll get it all figured out – just enjoy the process!
Chris
September 25th, 2008 at 2:46 pmSays:
I have just begun to homeschool my 5 children after having been a teacher in a private school for 6 years. In my profession I chose curriculum for my school. I find some of the homeschool cur. to be less than par in some areas. I do believe that being at home with my children and just having everyday experiences with them is what makes up the difference. Take her to a good library and help her choose books she can read. Start with Mercer Mayer and his Little Critter series or other such easy readers. There are many levels out there. My library has a section for beginning readers and this allows us to move between the levels. We have found the Everything your First Grader ( or sub another grade) Needs to Know series to be fantastic for my K-1 student- needs a little supplmenting for my 3rd and 5th grader. You can try these out at your local library or buy them used- I paid like $5 for mine! I love websites like enchangedlearning.com and internet4classroms.com
September 25th, 2008 at 2:55 pmSays:
I am still learning how to do all this too, but I would suggest the book “what my (grade level i.e. 2nd grader, etc) should know”. I checked them out at the library and then found them at a used book store and find them very useful.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:58 pmSays:
I am using K-12. I live in Pennsylvania and we can use a cyber charter school that uses the program. This is my first year and my daughter is in 4th grade. We are doing well with it. You can check http://k12.com/ and see if they have a cyber charter school in your state. We don’t have to pay anything.
September 25th, 2008 at 4:01 pmSays:
My oldest is in 1st grade, and this is our second year. This is our core curriculum:
1. Five in a Row (www.fiarhq.com) unit studies (curriculum based on picture books) for social studies, language arts, art, applied math, and science. We borrow most of the picture books from the public library.
2. Horizons Math 1 (published by Alpha Omega)
3. Reading Made Easy by Valerie Bendt for phonics
4. A Reason for Handwriting (which incorporates Scripture memory)
5. First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise
These are our extras:
1. Usborne Science Activities, Volumes 1 and 2
2. Draw Write Now (www.drawyourworld.com), various volumes, for drawing instruction & handwriting practice
My favorite place to order is http://www.rainbowresource.com because their prices are unbeatable and their stock is enormous. So is their printed catalog if you order one.
If you’re looking for a good curriculum guide, try Cathy Duffy’s 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. I bought it before we began kindergarten to help me make sense of everything out there.
September 25th, 2008 at 4:29 pmSays:
First off, congratulations for making the choice to homeschool your kids. It’s so fun and exciting to watch them progress!
I too, look for good education on a budget. It seems like when I’ve bought the name brands mentioned above, my daughter loses interest and its like pulling teeth to get her to do it.
My daughter is in first grade. We’re doing a curriculum called Home Education Curriculum by Jean Wolff. The publisher is Instructional Fair. It was very affordable. I bought it at a local teacher supply store for $20. I like it because it gives daily/weekly lesson plans. It also includes supplemental activities for extra practice. I only use this as a tool. A guideline.
Another good book is What Your First Grader Needs to Know.
I too, get alot of stuff online. I have many good sites listed on my blog under homeschooling.
Another idea is the educator section of your library. Check the adult and children’s sections as well. I found a wonderful book for Literature based unit studies, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and Bob Books. All for free!
September 25th, 2008 at 7:28 pmSays:
We loved the Five In A Row series for early elementary. You really don’t need lots of worksheets and “book work” at this age. It sounds like Jada has already learned a lot without the textbook approach.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:25 pmSays:
Check out any books by Ruth Beechick. She is an amazing resource for homeschooling- she has simple books that outline how you can best teach your kids without a strict curriculum- just by having them learn through natural means in your everyday life. Start with her “The Three R’s” series- “A strong start in Language”, “A strong start in reading”, and “A strong start in arithmetic”. Each book costs about $6- but I picked mine all up on Paperback Swap.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:25 pmSays:
This is our first year in homeschooling.
The curriculum we chose after reviewing so many others is “My Father’s World”, http://www.mfwbooks.com/.
We are doing the Kindergarten program, and are just loving it. It sounds like your daughter may be soon moving on to 1st grade work.
I hope you have a moment to check out the MFW website, including the “FAQ” section where it gives even more details. We chose MFW because of its ease of use which helps first timers to have a greater success in the beginning, provides hands on activities, involves less preparation, character development, strong academics, and integrated Biblical content. Most importantly our kids are learning so much. They are enjoying school and mom is too!
When my husband and I were looking into this education decision, we intently looked to the Lord for what He would have us do for our family. It’s easy to get bogged down with all the wonderful choices of curriculum and “ways to go”. I would encourage you to make your decision with a feeling of peace that God can only give, rather than fear. This is what helped in making our final choice.
Blessings to your and your precious family.
~Lisa
P.S. I would also echo what Conni, Chinamamma, and Laura had to share.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:52 amSays:
Calvert is a homeschool curr. from preschool-8th grade which supplies you with all the books and a teachers manual. What I like the best is that I can call during the day and talk to a teacher if we have a question. Abeka is good for grammar and reading. Explode the Code is good I’ve read and saxon math also. Calvert is comprehensive and we’ve used it for 4-6th so far. Calvertschool.org is their website.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:50 pmSays:
Save time, frustration and money and give your daughter an excellent education with the resources at http://www.amblesideonline.org Read about Charlotte Mason there, first, then decide. You’ll be glad!
September 26th, 2008 at 2:03 pmSays:
Have you read?:
The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook by Raymond & Dorthy Moore
or
A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
I have learned quite a bit from these. I don’t want to squash the boys’ joy of learning but also must teach them good disciplines and habits. Anyway I am using the methods in these books over a ciriculum.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:15 pmSays:
I second the vote for http://www.amblesideonline.org. It’s amazing, excellent and free (ish). I’m only homeschooling kindergarten so far, but am really impressed with the teaching methods of Charlotte Mason. I suggest you consider joining one of the Charlotte Mason yahoo groups (there’s CMason for general discussion Ambleside_Year0 for preschool and kindergarten and Ambleside Online for elementary school). Lots of valuable information!
September 30th, 2008 at 11:22 pmSays:
I’ve taught ABekah, the lower grades were pretty good, but I was not happy with what the Math and Science taught in the upper grades having just gotten my degree in Mathematics and knowing what would be required.
I’ve homeschooled my children using AlphaOmega Lifepacs and Switched on Schoolhouse, Christian Liberty, Horizon, Rod and Staff, stuff from Online, and workbooks from Walmart and the dollar store. I have a 13 year old doing 9th grade work, an 11 year old doing 4th/5th grade work, and a young 3 year old nearly ready for kindergarten…. I can honestly say that they all have different learning styles and needs and what worked great with one, doesn’t seem to work at all with others. I also help homeschool my best friend’s children, and my sister’s children. If you want to see what a curriculum is like – look for partly used stuff off of ebay – you can usually get it for next to nothing – but watch prices. Rod and Staff is VERY cheep compared to most and harder than most – it is designed for small schoolrooms (Minnonite) so you will need to scale down the workload by at least half – but then you can always take 2-3 days to do a lesson that the child is struggling with that way. Last year we started doing something different with History and Science and have LOVED it. With history we started with Creation and are using a timeline to teach through History – mostly borrowing books from the public library. We got all the way through Genesis last year (plenty there to study) and spent the summer on just Egypt, picked up with Moses when school started, and we will be to Joshua here in a few weeks. They still are reading books about Egypt and watch and read college level books and tapes and discuss it. Even the little brothers and sister have begun to identify some things as Egyptian! We are also making lap books of the stuff they learn since all 3 girls are artistic. While in Science we pick a topic, I write down every book in the library about it – give them the list and they pick and choose what they want from the list. I’ve been delighted with the number that are written on a K – 2 level since my 11 year old is dylexic and often struggles with reading. She is actually quite bright. We have the girls tested with the state exam every 2 years – and so far they seem to be at or ahead of the age level in most areas – my 2 struggle with spelling, Best friend’s daughter with math – but we knew that before the test. I think the most important thing is to keep them active in learning. My goal is to teach them how to learn things on their own, express what they learned to others, and use it after they have learned it. That way, even if they end up with “holes” (everyone does really), at least they will have the tools to fill them in if they want to.
October 7th, 2008 at 11:07 pmSays:
I heartily second the recommendation for the Well-Trained Mind. It’s the unifying principle behind the things that we do & plan to do.
I’m also impressed by the 1000 Good Books list. http://tinyurl.com/4cd3c
Ambleside Online has a whole lot of great resources. http://www.amblesideonline.org/
Happy Phonics look like they’ll work wonders in helping kids to learn without really realizing they’re learning. http://www.ldfr.com/catalog/product/0707301
And I’m also very impressed with the Bob Books for 1st readers: they only need 4 letters (M S T A) to read the first book! I checked those out at Barnes & Nobel on my last trip. Another pair of great books is Mudpies to Magnets & More Mudpies to Magnets. It’s hands-on science, and tons of fun.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:07 am