I have decided to homeschool and am very excited about the decision, but have many questions!! I hope that you all can help me!
I am Texas so I am very lucky. I have a 4.5 year old so I am planning to start her at the kindergarten level. She has been tested a couple of times and already found to be gifted and has a HUGE desire to learn and with her not being able to go into kindergarten in school until a year from this coming August, I feel that this is a great option for us. I just finished my undergraduate degree in Education and because of the education situation in Texas... I won't be able to find a teaching position so I think this is the best idea for everyone. Now that I am done with the details... let's move onto the questions!!
What are your favorite curriculums for the earlier grades? I have read conflicting reports on if I have to utilize a formal curriculum can anyone help me with the correct answer?
I know I missed the Book Fair in Arlington, but I thought I saw that there is something in Plano possibly this summer. I can't find it now though so if anyone has any ideas of places that I can go look at different curriculums and options, that would be great! Is there somewhere online that I can purchase used books from homeschoolers that know longer need them?
Is anyone associated with the McKinney or Plano Homeschool groups? If so, can you please let me know about them?
I know that many of her friends will be having Pre-K and Kindergarten graduations in the next couple of years and I hate for her to miss something like that so I am curious if some of the groups have their own celebrations like this.
Also, if you have attended any great educational places within a couple hours of Dallas / FTW that would be good for a younger elementary student and could share I would really appreciate it.
Any other information you can share about how much you spend per day and how many hours a week you do work with your children, or anything else would be GREAT!!
THANKS!!!
This is a homeschool blogger who has won several awards for her curriculum and activity system, and she has tons of resources as well. That's about all I know, I sometimes check in to get ideas for my kids even though we don't homeschool.
http://www.passportacademy.com/
I made the same decision 7 years ago, for the same reason! :) First, you can use any curriculum, or mixed curricula that you desire. The requirements for Texas are found here: http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Texas.pdf.
You will likely find that a gifted student will fly through the early curricula, and will find phonics-based reading very fulfilling (decoding is fun!). My oldest was in 2nd grade by the time she turned 5. Some subjects are easier, and she is still ahead in some more than others. The beauty of homeschool is that you don't have to hold her back where she wants to fly, and can still get in the things she doesn't like as much :).
There are several great used homeschool bookstores and resources online:
http://www.home-school-inc.com/ (planning and recording her work)
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index3.aspx?id=3264&menu_i... (released TAKS tests she can take, and have scored online)
http://www.usedhomeschoolbooks.com
http://www.triviumpursuit.com/
http://www.amazon.com/
http://www.finders-keepers.net
http://www.workboxsystem.com/ (excellent system for setting up school... works GREAT, wish I'd found it sooner!)
http://www.cornerstonecurriculum.com/ (Math, Art, Science, History ... local homeschool dad created it; he used to be a public school administrator)
http://www.hometrainingtools.com (new science stuff, but still good prices)
http://www.homeeducatorsresource.com/ in Lewisville, my favorite brick and mortar store for browsing curricula, and they can answer any questions you have! They've been homeschooling for gobs of years!
I spend about 4 hours each day in instruction for my 3 (1-6 grade), but my youngest (5.5yo) spends about 1 1/2- 2 hours each day doing his work, mostly right next to me. At this age, the instruction usually takes longer than the seat work.
My MIL home taught her 6 children, several of whom were/are gifted, and her advice has held up well with my brightest children: Remember that s/he's only 5, and fine motor skills will be way behind his/her mental skills. So, handwriting takes a back seat to reading more often than not, and following a 1st (or 2nd!!) grade curriculum to the letter for a younger child is often a self-defeating project. They're really not ready for that much seat work. Also, many curricula are designed for private schools, and that requires more seat work than is usually necessary to get the point across, especially for a gifted student. Use your best judgement, even with the best curricula, and have her do only 1/2 the exercises on content she can demonstrably understand. Skip entire assignments, even! This was the hardest lesson for me to learn when my daughter was first beginning school!
Good luck, and feel free to PM me with any questions, concerns, or just moral support needed! :)
l
If your looking for a job in teaching and still want to homeschool then you might want to look into
You could look at working from home teaching with the school and homeschool your daughter all at the same time.
We homeschool with connections academy and we love it.
I hope you and your family find what your looking for.
Purely MY favorites? (As in what we use in our house and love with our starting at age 6 and now almost 9yo)
Math
- Singapore (general)
- Montessori (general) http://www.freemontessori.org/?page_id=9
- Borenson (algebra) http://www.borenson.com/tabid/933/Default.aspx
- Cluefinders (game)
- Carmen San Diego (game)
- pbskids.org (early / games)
English
- Charlotte Mason http://simplycharlottemason.com/basics/what-is-the-charlo... & http://simplycharlottemason.com/basics/started/charlotte-...
- Time For Learning (we only use the English portion of it) http://www.time4learning.com/
Science
- Noeo (!!! As a science chick, it was hard to find a curriculum that met my own standards. This one is phenomenal. Christian publishers, but completely secular science program)) http://www.noeoscience.com/
History
-This one I actually write myself, to date (for ancient history). We plan on using Joy Hakim as a base once we get to US history.
Latin
Minimus http://www.minimus-etc.co.uk/
For preschool I used A Beka's K4/K5 curriculum. Although my daughter learned how to read rapidly, I wasn't thrilled with the push for cursive writing especially since she was just 4.5 yrs old when we started. I ditched the cursive and focused on printing and she did very well. I used First Start Reading Program for my daughter's kindergarten. It's put out by Memoria Press, but I think you can find it on Amazon.com also. We started last August and finished end of April. I liked the simplicity of the curriculum (it is adapted from an early 1900's phonics program) and the daily incorporation of drawing in each lesson. I also used Horizon Math K and she excelled in that also. It was a very colorful, fun curriculum and I found I didn't even need the teacher's guide. I supplemented with workbooks from dollar stores and Target, devotional books for kids, and money management curriculum from www.crown.org. In May, we started Prima Latina and my daughter is loving that too. This elementary Latin curriculum is easy to teach and I learn from it too! I also read to her 1or more books a day from the library and she reads at least one book to me. I had 2 little boys (<1 and 2) so I completed the bulk of her schooling between 1 and 3 pm while they napped. My daughter completed her math early in the morning. It took me about 1.5 to 2 hours a day to complete all 4 parts of her curriculum (reading, writing, math, Bible/Christian Studies).
Homeschooling clearly isn't for everyone, but it certainly is a wonderful thing for our family at this time. My husband and I sit down and talk about our goals for our daughter's education each year and then evaluate if we should continue to homeschool and if so, what direction we want to go with it. There's so much out there to choose from that it seems overwhelming at first, but now it's getting easier to pick a curriculum. Oh, and we didn't have a Kindergarten Graduation, but it didn't seem to bother my daughter because her church SS class had a graduation party complete with caps and cupcakes.
More questions? Just PM me sometime. Best wishes! R.
No, you do not need a curriculum to home educate your daughter. You can purchase one, create your own, or use no curriculum and just use real life learning (another term for "unschooling" :)
The public library system is a fabulous resource. You can get books on all sorts of subjects.
We're more on the unschooling end of things, though we do use some curriculum. To us, learning goes with breathing. The kids start homeschooling when they wake up in the morning and cease when they go to sleep.
For reading, we have enjoyed pieces of the Rocket Phonics curriculum, especially the cards. We have a lot of educational board games. Usually the kids are dragging me in to play a game with them, rather than vice-versa.
This is, incidentally why we are on the unschooling end of things. I have consistently found that my kids spend more time doing drills and intensive study if they initiate it, rather than if I do.
