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Suddenly prepping for homeschooling!!

465 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  veggiemomma, 
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My dh and I have always planned to hs, but as can be seen in my sig, we are not quite ready to do so, as our dk's are only 3 and 2.

A family recent family crisis has lead to the need for my dh's 6 yo cousin (JR) to be homeschooled. JR's recently single mother had to take a job working swing shift in order to cover their bills. I have agreed to help by homeschooling JR during two weeks of the month while his mom will be working night shift. I am fairly certain that this will eventually lead to me homeschooling him fulltime, but I am prepared to take responsibility for that because the family situation for him is extremely bad, and he seems to respond to me better than other adults in the family.

Anyway, enough for background...now I find myself quite unprepared for homeschooling a first grader (who attended public school for K). I have access to all the materials for Saxon Math and Shirley English, both of which I really like (although I have not used them in the classroom yet). We are considering ordering FIAR to begin work on Unit studies (this is what I planned to use with my kids anyway as my 3 yo son is already a "global" learner)

Do you guys have any experience with Saxon or Shirley? I have seen some good reviews here for FIAR, and definitely like the price!


Additionally, with my children being so close in age, I was planning on schooling them together. Now that I will have a 6 yo...ummm...what will I do with my kids?!?
Joking, but still a serious question. Is PreK and 1st grade do-able together?

Any input you can supply would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
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L
We did PreK/Second grade last year. It is doable. Instead of a lot of textbook work, we focused more on hands on and individual activities. I created a cubby system with different trays - one activity on each one. For times when I needed 1:1 with a kid, the other was free to choose an activitiy and work with it. Other things, like history and science, we could all do together. A LOT of hands on work - making pyramids, dressing up, making ancient Greek food...all the kids can get involved.

I haven't used the curricula you'll be working with, but we did try out Saxon last year and it wasn't a favorite. Our opinion, though, seems to be in the minority when it comes to reviews so I wouldn't worry too much.

Good luck!
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Thanks for your reply. I am not stuck on Saxon, it is just what I can get for free. I have heard good things about Math-U-See...I am unsure what would be best for him to use. I do know that he is a very active, hands-on builder type of learner. He is definitely the constructor/destructor of the family!
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Callimom
Do you know anything more about JR's academic level or his mother's goals? I would imagine if you are teaching him 1/2 time that you would want to agree on materials that work for both you and his mother as well as for JR, and that it would need to be stuff that is easily 'transferable' between his two learning spaces.

I have 6 y/o twins who would be in grade one next year. We're using:
~ Miquon for math supplemented with the Living Math approach
~ Multi pronged approach for reading - Starfall computer game and printed materials as the "spine" combined with lots of easy readers, games/manipulatives and some Montessori reading activities thrown in for good measure.
~ Story of the World for history
~ Real Science 4 kids for a science co-op (it's adjusted down to their level but meets the needs of the level of the older kids in the co-op)

Can you take some time to observe him and how he learns, find out what he is interested in and get to know his level and then research your options?
Good luck!
Karen
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I think fiar would be a good start. It would give you something fun and hands on to do while you are getting used to eachother. Lots of my friends have used it and loved it.

I'm reading a book right now called Teach a child to read with children's books. It is pretty good so far. You might want to read it too.

For 1st grade I'd do lots of hands on stuff. Sounds like he's going to be going through a lot and you won't want to stress him out with school. Remember too that he'll need time to deschool.
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Quote:

Originally Posted by veggiemomma View Post
Thanks for your reply. I am not stuck on Saxon, it is just what I can get for free. I have heard good things about Math-U-See...I am unsure what would be best for him to use. I do know that he is a very active, hands-on builder type of learner. He is definitely the constructor/destructor of the family!
Our math curriculum turned out fairly eclectic. I went to the library, got a book about "what your _grader should know" and wrote down a list of skills to cover at home. We'd work on each skill in turn until he got it, and then move on, rotating back every few days.

We ended up with a lot of hands on materials. Some of them were:
an abacus
paper stars from the dollar store -multiples of 5 on one side, numbered in order on the other. It was great for skip counting and then developing multiplication skills later.
wrap ups
a homemade beads and checkerboard set for learning place value and multiplication. I made my own graph paper to go with it.
A su-doku set
tangrams
measuring cups, pitchers, and containers.
flat fraction tiles
magnetic numbers used EVERYWHERE. Numberlines were made on the ground, they were used to border the checkerboard, math problems randomly placed around the house during the day...

Can you tell my 8yo is very kinesthetic?
To get him to sit still for more than 5 minutes last year was amazing. I think the only times he did that was when we did hershey bar/m&m math.
This year we're using Math U See. We started it a few weeks ago and he loves it! You can order the demo through the website - but be warned, he does talk a lot on it. The lessons (after the first one) are rather short, but he does get into the demo quite a bit.
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Karenwith4 View Post
Do you know anything more about JR's academic level or his mother's goals? I would imagine if you are teaching him 1/2 time that you would want to agree on materials that work for both you and his mother as well as for JR, and that it would need to be stuff that is easily 'transferable' between his two learning spaces.
Karen
Well, he was promoted from K to 1st in the public school, but the teacher's comments included that he needed improvement in dealing with money, time, counting by 2s, 5s, etc, and sight identification of fractions. I would suppose he is about mid way through the K level in math.
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