Homeschooling

[Jesusfreak101]

to okay cancel that program its not ee well i suppose you could you the samples but it claims you can print it for free but when i download the book it either downloaded incorrectly or there are pages missing it skips several numbers so i going to say its not all there so clearly in need more sleep since i been looking at this for awhile and just noticed it and thank fully i hadn't printed it out yet.

 

[AmberRaif]

Hi! I'm also a homeschooling mom and am currently teaching four grades and have a 2 year old as well. I have a fourth grader, third grader, first/second grader and a kinder. We also homestead with chickens and seven goats, two LGD's and three cats.
We love this life, and it is certainly a beautiful (and challenging) time of life. But homeschooling is so worth it!
We've used and tried many curriculums, Abeka, Explode the code, I've reviewed some Saxon, and the "U See" curriculums too and we feel like we finally hit the jackpot with "Masterbooks". They are Christian based and embrace a Charlotte Mason approach, plus they are simple, straightforward, engaging and cost effective. And they have curriculum for every subject. We've found our curriculum home with them at least through the elementary years. They're worth checking out, especially for a "hesitant" book learner.

Homeschooling is a journey in love, organization, structure, and flexibility! Try to enjoy the journey. It won't be perfect, because it's life. But it's worth it!

 

[JHP Homestead]

What age is did you start homeschooling? My son will be 4 in March and I’m going to homeschool him, but not really sure when or how to start. The co-op here doesn’t start until Kindergarten, so I’m having some struggles figuring out what to do for homeschooling him at this age.

Any advice for how to get my feet wet with a preschooler?

 

[Jesusfreak101]

so today is more of the research into new curriculum. back story i suppose is needed, as well as homeschool is going with me making it the biggest challange we now face me helping my husband as his office manager, book keeping and a few other things along with running the farm and homeschooling and the regular house work. so i looking for away that makes homeschooling alittle easier however i could keep making it just nervous about missing something. i just want to make the right choice and with all the desions we currently facing its just another thing making me alittle crazier. So today i am relooking at masterbooks one of my friends uses it for her sons and has nothing but good things to say about it. its also you just open the book to that days lesson and go so there no real prep work which sounds like heaven right now. so far it looks good especially my sons. so i still looking at it for my daughter but looks good just have to have her takE the assessment test. Jp there alot of them out there and can be overwhelming to look. i started with rod and staff which i thought was pretty good but its very fast pace and doesnt allow time for much els as it more school baised and not homeschool baised. i am going to go with master books this year i think baised off the fact i heard alot of good things and there less to no prep work as where the other curriculiums have quite a bit of prep work(mostly for k and up)

 

[thistlebloom]

What age is did you start homeschooling? My son will be 4 in March and I’m going to homeschool him, but not really sure when or how to start. The co-op here doesn’t start until Kindergarten, so I’m having some struggles figuring out what to do for homeschooling him at this age.

Any advice for how to get my feet wet with a preschooler?

I think knowing a little bit about how the brain develops is helpful when starting a kids formal education.
Brain development occurs at different rates between individuals. Mostly what I'm referring to is the myelination of the nerves.
Myelin is the nerve coating, similar to the outer insulation of an electric cord. It's what makes the transmission of nerve impulses possible. Children process information more slowly because the myelin is not completely developed. And it's not always complete even at 20 years of age. It is also a process that continues throughout our lifetime. Since it also varies in development rate and in what areas of the brain develop more quickly you can have some 3 year olds capable of learning to read.

I say this because it was not something I was familiar with when I started teaching my boys. Until I started understanding this a little better I was frustrated with their lack of progress in certain areas. Like reading. My boys were not smooth readers until the ages of 7 and 8. My nephew pretty much taught himself to read at 4 while his older sister was still struggling at 7.
My Kid#2 also is dyslexic, so that was something else I found out about a little later. Being aware of what is and is not possible for them to learn at certain stages takes the pressure off. At least it did for me. I was able to relax, knowing that it would come when they were ready and I didn't have to be on someone else's time schedule.

But in a general sense I would say things like counting orally as you go about your day, looking at numbers on different items, say in the grocery store (a dozen eggs is 12, lets count them and make sure we have a dozen in this carton...) recognizing that letters make words, learning the names and their phonetic sounds etc.
So much can be done as a casual conversational type daily happening without sitting them down and giving them a "lesson" per se. This lays a foundation for them of practical learning, so even though they don't necessarily understand the concepts, they have some experience to draw from. Hope I'm making sense here. You are probably already aware of this, so I apologize if I'm being redundant.

Whatever you do end up doing, don't overface them with too much unknown stuff. There should be challenge, but you don't want to snuff the joy of learning out. I wish I could rewind and start over with the wisdom of my mistakes.
My boys were both very hands on learners and you can introduce a lot of learning that way. I wouldn't do more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time of "formal" educating at 4. You can do a few 20 minutes sessions at different times a day. That is just my opinion, and that would be my approach.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

well okay i might be the most indecisive person i know... one of my other friends mention to me that master books was very babish and that the math was just a story centered kind of thing.... which wont work for my daughter is advanced in math. so that kinda out now..at least for her might work for my younger two but she did bring up a good point that i could pre make next years school .... sounds like alot of work but might be worth it.

 

[thistlebloom]

well okay i might be the most indecisive person i know... one of my other friends mention to me that master books was very babish and that the math was just a story centered kind of thing.... which wont work for my daughter is advanced in math. so that kinda out now..at least for her might work for my younger two but she did bring up a good point that i could pre make next years school .... sounds like alot of work but might be worth it.

Why don't you just use a different math curriculum for your daughter? You could use what works in Master Books for the other subjects.
Except for my oldest sons first two years i never used a complete curriculum. I mixed and matched from different sources. I was blessed to have received hand me down curriculum and only had to buy to fill in gaps most years.
With all the extra responsibilities you are taking on with your husbands self employment, not to mention running a house and farm, I don't see creating your own worksheets as being a reasonable occurrence. You do have to sleep some time you know, lol!
But you would know better than me how that will all fit together. I have forgotten the abundant energy of the young. I look back and am amazed at what I accomplished back then.

 

[JHP Homestead]

But in a general sense I would say things like counting orally as you go about your day, looking at numbers on different items, say in the grocery store (a dozen eggs is 12, lets count them and make sure we have a dozen in this carton...) recognizing that letters make words, learning the names and their phonetic sounds etc.

I’m think I do a good job with counting, colors, and shapes in day-to-day life. Both DH and I are always having DS count items or tell us what color and shape they are. As a result, DS is pretty good at those things.

I have a really hard time figuring how to incorporate letters into day-to-day life though. It doesn’t seem like telling him what letters items start with is particularly helpful to him, unless he can see the letter written. Or maybe it is still helpful and it just takes a lot longer than learning colors or shapes, since there’s so many letters?

 

[promiseacres]

I’m think I do a good job with counting, colors, and shapes in day-to-day life. Both DH and I are always having DS count items or tell us what color and shape they are. As a result, DS is pretty good at those things.

I have a really hard time figuring how to incorporate letters into day-to-day life though. It doesn’t seem like telling him what letters items start with is particularly helpful to him, unless he can see the letter written. Or maybe it is still helpful and it just takes a lot longer than learning colors or shapes, since there’s so many letters?

My son started writing letters on a fogged over window at about 2 and a half....he watched a bit of PBS. we hadn't taught him anything formally at that point. We tried public school for him but he was bored and kept getting into trouble. So we started homeschooling at 2nd grade.

My youngest is just 5 and last year we started writing her name and some educational computer games. She was ready so we just started some kindergarten curriculum, phonics, math and writing her letters this month. She turned 5 in December. I think just showing and telling them letter names is key at this age.

 

[thistlebloom]

I have a really hard time figuring how to incorporate letters into day-to-day life though

Maybe that could be something where you start by teaching him the letters in his name. Then when you are driving or at a store you could point out words that begin with the same letter. Then build on that as he starts to learn the rest of the letters.