how I ask for help in thinking up topics, then disappear when you give them? ;-) Our past couple of weeks have been a bit out of the ordinary for us, but I think we’re settling back in now. :-)

Beth said:

I would love to hear your thoughts on homeschooling curriculum!

 

Teaching our kids to read we used no curriculum. I used a white board and a dry erase marker. Instead of learning the names of the letters we learned the sounds. I started with “T” and the short “A” sounds. From there we learned other letters that could be placed in front, so right away they were reading which really encouraged them and made them excited to learn more. On days when cabin fever was setting in I’d have them race to see who was fastest bringing me something that started with whichever letter I called out. At the end of every phonics lesson we’d go around taking turns saying a word that started with each letter of the alphabet (Me “Apple”, Prince Charming “Ball”, Dexter “Cat”, etc.)

When they had the basic sounds down we added the Bob books and the Victory Drill book. The Victory Drill book is just lists of words. They each got 3 minutes and we would see how many words they read correctly in that amount of time (I never stopped them or corrected them during those 3 minutes, we did that afterward). It became quite a competition! They would learn letter combination sounds as we came across them in those books. We read through the first 3 sets in the Bob series, then graduated to picture books until they decided that they were ready for chapter books. From time to time they read aloud to us now and we correct pronunciation, but for the most part they’re independent readers!

Many people start introducing set subjects to learn shortly after reading is established (and sometimes before). We’re still not there yet, but we will be adding that in soon. Right now we would rather they learn to love reading than worry about whether or not they are covering every subject. So on top of math and handwriting we require 3 things per day. 1 chapter of bible reading (NIV pew bibles since they’re nice and sturdy, plus the pages are thicker than other bibles), 1 chapter of a fiction book of their choosing (or a set number of pages in books without chapters), and one chapter (or a set number of pages) of a non-fiction book of their choosing.  Occasionally one of them will start a book and find it either too difficult (The 5 year old choosing a biography on Sacagawea ;-) ) or not as exciting as they hoped it would be. That’s okay! We just shelve it for a while and choose something else. :-)

For math we use Horizon’s Math by Alpha Omega publishing. I’ve found it inexpensively through christianbook.com. The lessons are very well laid out and repeat just enough to grasp a concept without becoming boringly repetitive.  Click the links below for a larger image.  The photos (in order of appearance) are from 1st grade book 1, 2nd grade book 1, and 2nd grade book 2 respectively.

The pages are colorful and interesting without being distracting. While the concepts in the books are well ahead of what I remember learning at my kids ages, the books blend the concepts together so easily that we haven’t had any difficulties. I’m looking forward to some of the higher math and maybe finally getting a grasp on the things I never could figure out when I was in school! ;-) (we used Saxon growing up, which I refuse to use with my own kids.  It was torture!)

For handwriting our kids all use “A Reason for Handwriting” They all LOVE it! We’re currently in the kindergarten book and Manuscript A. The kindergarten book begins with just practicing straight and curvy lines, then moves on to practicing one letter per lesson and includes one coloring page. Instead of doing that I break the lesson up over the course of two days (because she takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R to color sometimes ;-) ). Manuscript A has 4 lessons per week, with 2-3 words per lesson.

On the fourth day the words practiced are given in a bible verse to copy onto a coloring sheet.   Once I’ve checked their work then they get to color the page.

My husband and I both used this growing up and remember enjoying it, and our kids do too! (Okay, so as much as someone can enjoy handwriting practice ;-) )

 

For a while we used this great (and free!) resource for spelling lists: http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/, but right now we just correct spelling mistakes as we run across them.

 

For P.E. we either kick our kids outside, on not-so-pleasant days they join me doing my exercises, or we’ll use the Tony and the Kids workout DVD.  My kids LOVE the DVD.  Where else will you ever find a grown man acting completely insane like a little kid?  There are several exercises including pretending to be a surfer, a ninja, and a bunny. Our only complaint on it has come from Dexter who was disappointed in not looking like Tony Horton after completing the workout for the first time. ;-)   While the exercises are good for all ages I wouldn’t recommend this video for older kids.  Even my 7 and 8 year old’s think it’s over the top silly sometimes ;-)   We’ve also used the Wii Fit and Biggest Loser exercise games on occasion. :-)

 

I think that about covers it for what we use!  The most important thing is to do what works for you and your own kids.  It keeps homeschooling enjoyable for everyone. :-)

 

**Living in California our homeschool laws are not nearly as restrictive as they are in many states, so our way of homeschooling may not be legal where you live. You can check your own homeschool laws at the Home School Legal Defense Association website.**

Advertisement