I've seen several of these posts... I hope that it's okay for me to also jump in for advice. Not a whole lot of homeschoolers around here, and the ones I do know have much older/younger/fewer children.
We had a super-relaxed kindergarten, that didn't even begin until Jan since I was still baby-mooning with #4... I have a 6yo DD who was beginning first grade work before we quit for summer. I also have a 5yo DD - tomorrow! - who learned to read and dabbled a bit in math. I have a nearly 3yo DS, and 11mo DD who hang out and keep us all entertained! I feel like we overloaded a bit, or perhaps I was a bit ambitious... so I want some feedback on what we have started previously/plan to do this year:
Reading: complete OPGTR with both girls
Writing: HWT with both; WWE with 1st grader. We like it so far. Wondering if both is overkill?
Grammar: FLL I like the short lessons.
Math: we have done a bit of Saxon, but so far it's been the most difficult thing for us. It's not that DD (6yo) hates it.... It takes FOREVER for us to complete (the meeting, the lesson, the fact sheet, the worksheet). It seems tedious. I'm just not loving it and have seriously considered changing this up since we've only just begun. (Maybe 1/4 of the way thru.) DD seems to get math pretty easily (and DD2 is definitely mathy), but she seems bored. Plus, it's unnatural for me to read the script, I feel pressure to have everything prepared, it's hard to stay focused with inevitable interruptions... Perhaps this is the norm for homeschooling...? This is my first. We have considered switching to Singapore.
History: We have tried reading SOTW and doing the coloring pages and mapwork... It's been difficult for me to do an activity or project each week. I was hoping my girls would LOVE SOTW (I love it!) but they don't seem to like it as "school work". They love listening to audiobooks and I have considered getting the audio version and having them listen to the audio and they won't even realize they're learning! :) Thoughts here? Would it be wrong to have them only listen to it this year, and move on to doing narration and activities later? They resist "doing school" sometimes. I really want them to enjoy it! Or perhaps we should do something entirely different? I DID NOT enjoy History in PS, and I was looking forward to learning History with them.
Science: I really have no further plans here. We live in the country and have some farm animals that they occasionally help out with, in addition to a garden, so I figure they're getting some "science". I've encouraged the keeping of a notebook to record what they observe. I sometimes think I would feel better if we were checking off something in science... However, I'm not sure how we'd fit it...
Bible: we read the Bible all together and just talk about what we learned in church, etc. I have purchased TGS, but we have been very inconsistent in using it yet.
If you've read all of this - amazing! I am mostly insecure with myself as a homeschooling mom.... I don't want my kids to get behind, and I often don't feel like we do enough school work. At the same time, I want them to get to be kids and play as long as possible! It's difficult having a family member with a daughter the same age HSing that seems to do so much, and my MIL a k'er teacher who acts like we don't do a thing all day!
thank you for reading,
Mindy