yahoo...we are going to homeschool

[tomjon]

We need as much advice on homeschooling curriculum as possible; all different kinds, no kinds, good kinds, working kinds, anything. Please help us.... we need to make a decision (although we already have), and the curriculum seems to be the last issue. Where do we start? How important is it? Is there a best way? Blah! Blah! Blah!....

tomjon

[Openskyheart]

Hi Tomjon,

I just went back and read your story. Yay! I'm so happy for you! I 100% agree with the other posters that you are *not* spoiling your boys for listening to them.

I only wish I had listened to my son sooner about homeschooling! I also wanted to tell you that my son's social life has *improved* yes, *improved* since he was in school (we pulled him out after two months of 2nd grade). This didn't happen right away, of course. His life improved overall right away - but it took some time for his social life to come together. Now that it has I'm amazed I was ever even concerned for a fleeting second about his social life.

My daughter just started homeschooling with us a month ago (she also left before the end of 2nd grade. Hee! Guess that's when it gets really awful!). Since we're already plugged into the homeschooling community here, she already has a great social life.

Now, on to your curriculum question. My opinion (and you will receive many differing opinions on this - as you know ) is to spend any money you would think about spending on curriculum on wonderful activities that your family loves to do together. Spend that money on fun things, silly things, splurges, or nothing. You are in a deschooling, exploratory period right now. The best advice I ever got about what to do when starting to homeschool was to deschool. Pretend it's summer vacation and do or don't do whatever you would do then.

When my son first left school he made his own deck of cards, learned to cook pancakes, made chess pieces out of Indian clay (we still have the king and queen). We went to parks, and museums, had friends over to play, watched movies, made popcorn, and relaxed.

I'm learning my own lessons about homeschooling, and just as I now wish I had never put my kids in Kindergarten, I now see that our original deschooling time never needed to end, and that just following our children's interests will lead to everything they will ever need to know.

Other, more experienced homeschoolers/unschoolers will weigh in I'm sure. I'm looking forward to reading their responses.

Enjoy!

Laura

[clothcrazymom]

My oldest went through a non-traditional Kindergarten and a few months of a Waldorf Kindergarten before we started homeschooling. The best advice I ever got was to take 6 months to a year "off" and do "nothing". I thought she was NUTS! Even though she had homeschooled her children and they were then in college and doing very well and I respected her greatly...I thought she was completely nuts to tell me this. Then due to some circumstances...it happened that we ended up doing just that and she was RIGHT! It was truly the best thing we could have done. We all needed it.

So I would tell you the same thing....take the time and enjoy the kids. Relax and have fun! They'll let you know what they need.

[tricia80]

Congrats on ur choice to homeschool.. i hope you and your family find it as great as we do...

I unschool dd who is 5... she is the type of kid that needs to do stuff with her hands and doesnt really like sitting around for extensive long periods... since we unschool we dont follow any curriculum... altho she is learning to read using phonics and books from the library, she also uses her comp, leappad, and of course lots of being read to by me and living life..once we move we are gonna plant a little kitchen garden... we volunteer for an abandoned cat rescue so she deals with animals who have been abused and abandoned and how to rehabilitate them.. we also have a cat of our own she helps to care for... and we are vegan so she knows alot about food, nutrition, and animal rights..and of course she plays with her little friends and goes to gymnastics...


i believe she can learn from life just as well as learning from a book... its jus more fun to for her to do it this way... we also belong to a homeschool support group in our town who go on outings together and have playgroups etc... we live in a history rich town so we have an old castle that was used in a war long ago she can visit, we have the planetarium, botanical gardens, safari, and my father and i will be taking her on her first real camping trip.... her greatgrandparents also live in the north and she learned at 2 how to drive the big boat.. (obviously not unassisted) ... so i think she has learned quite a bit for a little 5 yr old... and she loves life... we have a variety of talents in our family... for some reason i wasnt gifted creatively...lol... but when dd is old enuff my father will teach her to work with wood cuz thats his hobby and my stepmom is a professional doll maker and i made my own porcelin doll at a young age with her and cant wait for dd to as well...

ok im done rambling now... i hope you find all the info you need..and dont forget to check out lots of books from the library about various curriculam... its your childrens learning style that you should take into consideration...there are tons of lesson plans and printable worksheets off the net for free...always research all curriculum before you spend lots of money... Good luck and welcome to the homeschooling family club

[anythingelse]

read about different methods of instruction, look at our childs learning style, look at her interests, draw up a budget$$

then request catalogues from online and visit the public library
look at your state law and what subjects you will need to cover and when

then move to what curriculum base on how your hs style will be

look at what you can find used from your wish lists first and talk to other hsers in your area support group, some hs groups have curriculum borrowing libraries

[Mom4tot]

T Hi Vanna'a mom....your new pictures are beaytiful!

[anythingelse]

thanks Sue!! I am trying to get a 'real' photo of all of us together before they grow up too much, but we haven't managed that since vanna was born.

hijack over sorry OP

Mary