Ahhhh!!! Why can't I decide??

[iloveaidan&finley]

On a curriculum/method for our homeschooling? There are so many things I am attracted to but can't commit to any particular one. (I have a 7 year old and a 4 year old, by the way). I like Montessori because it is hands-on and the child chooses the activities that interest them. The downside to it is that it isn't very homeschool friendly because so many materials are involved (cost and space prohibitive). I like the classical literature and nature study in Charlotte Mason. The Global Village School curriculum is attractive because of the global perspective and study of different cultures, etc.
In August I decided that I would just put together a few different curriculums and just go with it. I bought Explode the Code, Horizons math (my son and I absolutely hate it), Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding, History Odyssey and Handwriting Without Tears. So far, all we have done is Explode the Code. Workbooks feel so dry and my son really resists them most of the time. I want so much more for us than sitting at the table doing workbooks for several hours a day.
I guess I should clarify what I want for my kids: exposure to classical literature; a deep understanding of science--not just facts but I want them to learn as it connects to the Earth and their lives; understanding of mathematical concepts and how math connects to real life--not just rote memorization of facts and drill; rich history curriculum (my son loves history, especially military history); exposure to different cultures and societies; strong language arts program.
I want all of these things, but I also don't want it to be too forced. I want learning to be fun, not drudgery. I also need things to be laid out for me very clearly at this point, although I'm sure that I will be able to piece things together myself more in the future when I'm more comfortable with this whole learning at home situation. I'm sorry this post is so scatterbrained but I'm in one of those freak-out periods that homeschooling parents tend to have from time to time. Any suggestions?

[Lillian J]

The thing is that you really don't need to choose a curriculum or a method in order to provide all you're describing. Lots and lots of homeschoolers have happily and successfully homeschooled all the way through without something that could be labeled as a method, and others have picked a little from this and a little from that.

You feel right now that you need to have everything laid out for you, and that you'll be able to piece things together for yourself more in the future when you're "more comfortable with this whole learning at home situation." But this is what's causing a lot of the frustration. I understand your thinking on that right now, but it won't be long before you're able to relax and take one thing at at time. Yes, you'll be able to piece things together for yourself more in the future, but you really can start doing that from the beginning without it being a problem. You really don't need to jump right in with a plan - what will happen is that you'll be discovering for quite a while in the beginning what feels like a good fit for you and your children, and having a plan laid out can actually throw a monkey-wrench into that process.

There are no ages mentioned in your post, but I'm assuming they're pretty young, so you have all the time in the world to try a little of this and a little of that without any worries of getting behind in anything. It really doesn't take much time in a home setting to easily cover the things that take much more time in school. The less you try to plan now, the more freedom and relaxation you'll have to pick and choose and experiment as you go.

Here's one really wonderful resource for looking through a variety of resources chosen specifically for nurturing a natural joy of learning and encouraging an enthusiasm for lifelong learning - FUN-Books, and your public library will be packed full of wonderful things you can use for your goals. There are also lots of wonderful resources available online that can make it easier. And there are lots of good books that have outlines and suggestions for covering all different subjects in creative ways - one is Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School, by Rebecca Rupp, and she's a scientist herself, so science is covered well. The book is not a "this is what you should do when" one - it's suggestions for how to cover things in much more enjoyable ways in situations where you need to keep up with school expectations.

And you can always get lots of thoughtful suggestions here in this forum as you go along - just pose a question about things as they come up, and you'll hear about lots of things various people have had success with. Lillian

[SundayCrepes]

We are unschooling (to choose a term) our 4.75 year old and 2 year old. At this point they mainly play and we read books. We are using the booklist from www.sonlight.com. I choose the secular books that I think will work for our family. They have some amazing books. Their idea is you learn a whole lot cuddled up with mom and dad on the couch reading good literature.

I will likely stick with the sonlight books as they give a broad range of subjects. We also joined the secular sonlight users group at yahoo (you can google it.) I've gotten lists of evolution books from there (sonlight is WAY Christian.)

There is also a living books science curriculum http://www.noeoscience.com/ that looks really good.

[iloveaidan&finley]

I mentioned that my son is 7 and my daughter is 4, it was just jumbled in the hot mess that was my initial post. I know I'm just freaking out at the moment and that my kids are still really young. We have years to cover all of the things that I feel are important and that they are interested in. I really need to calm down and just get a feel for what my kids want to know rather than getting in a tizzy about what I think they should know. I know I will find peace in all of this eventually. At this point I'm leaning toward letting my son decide what he wants to do for math since he's already taught himself to add, skip count by 5's, count backward, use a calendar, and so forth. For the rest, I think I might go with Global Village's curriculum guide since it touches on all the basics and gives ideas for incorporating it into your life without being overly planned. If I change my mind on that, there's always the book lists on Ambleside to just read from. All of that combined with History Odyssey and BFSU sprinkled in as they are interested will be more than enough for this year. Besides, my son goes to a fine arts homeschooling day once a week and my daughter goes to ballet and museum school once a week as well. They are plenty busy and learning bunches. And I'll think about next "school" year when it gets closer. Thanks for calming me down.

[iloveaidan&finley]

Originally Posted by SundayCrepes

There is also a living books science curriculum http://www.noeoscience.com/ that looks really good.

That science curriculum looks interesting. I'm going to look into it further, thanks!

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by iloveaidan&finley

I mentioned that my son is 7 and my daughter is 4, it was just jumbled in the hot mess that was my initial post.

Whoops - I guess I tend to skim through jumbles.

Glad you're seeing light at the end of the anxiety tunnel. But, of course, you'll be revisiting anxieties periodically all along the way, and probably later, even if your kids go on to be internationally acclaimed nuclear physicists. That's just the way it works. Have fun! Lillian

[tammyw]

My kids are same age as yours - dd is 7.5 and ds is 4. We don't do anything specific with ds other than just live and read and play with sister (or see what we're doing with her).

We have a ton of things we've tried out with her - and here are things we've liked/loved/continuing to do (or have had recent success with):

MY GUIDELINE:
- What your 2nd Grader Needs To Know (surprisingly we've already made our way through most of it because we did a lot of reading last year)

ART:
- She does artsy stuff all the time on her own
- Artistic Pursuits to incorporate some cool projects and a bit of art history (great program)
- Lots of books on artists that include samples of their work - Mike Venezia is one and Laurence Anholt is another
- whenever a cool art class comes up, I sign her up for it
- Michele Cassou has an amazing book that I loved. I plan to order paint supplies and such that's recommended in that book

MUSIC:
- she takes piano
- Classical Kids cds - those are wonderful to listen to and you learn about the various composers stories
- playing all kinds of music at home
- taking the kids to the local symphony (wonderful fun for adults and kids - we love it)

MATH:
- Singapore Math (before this we'd tried a bunch of different methods but this really seems to work for her).
- Math games (board games or computer games or iphone games with DH)

LANGUAGE ARTS STUFF:
- We just bought Michael Clay Thompson's Island Level books because they came recommended highly
- Various computer games
- Various things I find here and there
- All About Spelling (we just started with book 1 about a month ago and are more than halfway through - I know others start earlier, but she is flying through it and I am AMAZED at how well she can spell - really the "rules" just help her to remember stuff so starting with book 1 is helpful).

HISTORY:
- Story of the World ON CD - I have this going in the car all the time. Usually she asks me to turn it on unless she wants to read in the car
- from what your 2nd grader needs to know, I just look at that as a guide, then order books from the library from the area of study. Right now we are starting Ancient Greeks (which we've done a lot already but she loves it and this cements it). books like "You wouldn't want to be a slave in Ancient Greek", D'Aulaire's Greek Mythology, etc.
- For American History we've already read a lot but we'll do more books from the library, we'll start Joy Hakim's History of Us
- DVDS - this is a GREAT area to incorporate various videos and such from history. The library and Netflix are wonderful.

SCIENCE:
- DD is taking a science class from a local homeschool co-op. She really loves it.
- DH will be starting a Chemistry program that we just ordered/received from Pandia Press - it looks fun and she loves all things science
- Lots of books - check Beautiful Feet books - they have a science unit - wonderful stuff for library recommendations
- Lots of dvds - e.g. Bill Nye the Science Guy, etc. The library has tons of videos on various sciency areas.
- Real Science 4 Kids books - my husband was reading these before bed at one point and they were liking that.

OTHER:
- Spanish - right now, DH and the kids meet a Spanish speaker once a week and just have conversations - that's it. No writing, nothing. DH has become pretty fluent just doing this!
- Ballet - she has taken this since she was very young and really loves it - this year she will be in the Nutcracker again - she loves performing on stage
- Karate - just started with a homeschool class and loves this also. The skills go well with Ballet skills. It is teaching confidence and self defense. My son will start this when he is 5.
- LOTS of stuff on cd - any kinds of books or whatever that my DD turns on whenever. She is usually either reading her book or listening to a CD of some sort. We loooooove anything Jim Weiss in this house (Story of the World is also him which is why we love it).

They also go to the park every night with DH and just play - with each other, with kids they meet, etc. They need that to get rid of excess energy throughout the day!

And lots and lots of reading. We have about 150 books from the library at any given time. I take full advantage of the online ordering system. I am always looking for good books (here, chinaberry catalog, amazon, anywhere really).

Sorry, this turned into a book, but thought it might be helpful to see some of the stuff we're currently doing.