Feeling overwhelmed (a newbie-sorta)

[Earth Angel_79]

I need a little encouragement....I'm a newbie here, but I've been homeschooling (or just in general learning with my kids) since birth. I feel the need to be more structured as my oldest ds enters the k year (he seems to be working on more of a 1st grade level to me, but I don't mind working below that so that we can bring his brother along for the ride easier). We won't be notifying because we don't have to until 6 and I like flying under the radar.

I have been looking at curriculum and just about everything homeschooling under the sun for a solid straight month. I'm starting to get weary...I'm tired and I don't want to burn our family out. I vascilate between wanting a nice solid schedule and throwing it all out the window (some of the first writings I read about homeschooling were Holt, so I'm a little enamored with unschooling). I love the idea of planning our own curriculum because I know my kids' interests and I like to take the bull-by-the-horns. BUT, I know that I will search and search for just the right project, etc. and I don't want to keep doing this kind of computer time or planning time every 6 weeks or so. I was planning on doing 4-6 week unit studies and I like the idea of unit studies because they seem to lend themselves to the ideas of child-directed learning the most (at least with the goal that the kids will start picking their own themes and we could work with those).

Aside from unschooling I like the teachings of Charlotte Mason very much (although there is this perfectionist air to her stuff that I shy away from, knowing how my Type A personality became my own worst enemy in several aspects of my life). This is all said, btw, to give you a little background. Aside from all this, the only boxed curriculum I come back to again and again is Sonlight...we love reading, the kids love listening to stories, and Sonlight's book lists are top notch (imho). It is pricey, but honestly, with all the stuff I'm interested in buying, I won't save any money building my own curriculum (I just don't know when to stop buying all those delicious books:tongue_smilie:).

Sigh....sorry for the rant, maybe it will help by just airing this. I presented this all to my dh (again) and he points out that "#1-yes, you could do it Angel, but #2 it's like you always tell me when I want a project (ie rebuilding a little sailboat, refinishing a door, etc) wouldn't it just be better to buy it already done knowing how little time we actually have to do things with 3 little ones." And I want my time with those little ones! Sniff, sniff...my kids are outside right now and here I am, yet again on the 'puter.

 

I'd love your encouragement and constructive suggestions. Thanks in advance!

[silvermine]

Don't forget you can always change things! Even if you buy a cirriculum, you can use it however you want to. :)

 

We actually started with SOTW because my son loves stories, and history, and I would just read it to him. We didn't do narration. Maybe did a project. We played "Egypt" for a month, dressing in sheets and acting silly. We would find other books about it.. but it didn't become "School". He *asked* for it! He still does!

 

I tried to bribe and force reading lessons on him, which was really one of my worst decisions. I should have had more patience. I really wanted him to be independant though, and I knew he'd love being able to read. But it was just not the right time for him. Once he wanted to read, he'd beg for 4-5 lessons a day. :D But until then, he didn't pay attention and fought me.

 

We did random science experiments. :) I'd keep the things required for a few interesting ones around the house so I could pull them out spontaneously. We also went to kid's museums which also present hands-on science concepts. We didn't write up a lot of lab notebooks or anything, but just playing with stuff he'll get a feel for it. It's just kindergarten. :)

 

Early math we did through games. In "war" he learned greater than and less than. We then played war with dominoes so he had to add the dots on both side to get his "total" number. At first he had to count them up, but over time it was basically an addition drill. :D But he loved it! We also got out interesting math books and read them over and over -- books about math tricks, magic squares, huge numbers, tiny numbers, whatever looked like fun. Sometimes I'd get out a bunch of books and it wasn't interesting to him. But that's okay! Other concepts that came up were subtraction and multiplication, just through things you do every day. Now we're working through Math-U-See, with very minimal required problems for him. Just until I can tell he "gets" it.

 

Early grammar was just gently correcting him when he spoke and then Madlibs (which, yes, he begged for!). Now he enjoys his FLL (though I skip, oh, half of it and modify it when needed.)

 

Homeschooling doesn't have to either be structured school or random hands-off unschooling. I mean, you can suggest things and plan things without having a schedule and a boxed cirrculum, and have everyone still have fun and enjoy learning. :) It's not either/or!

 

I think in kindergarten it's important to know their limits and skills -- my son was *not* interested in writing or reading that much, so I had to do writing for him, or reading for him, and find a way for him to still enjoy math and science without making it dependent on his non-perfect writing skills. ;) Kids just get there at different rates.

 

But you don't need to make it all yourself. Just pick a curriculum that speaks to you and use whichever bits you want however you want. Add other things you like, ignore things you don't like. Do school stuff on saturday morning, if that's when you all like to do it. :)

[Sue G in PA]

My advice to you is to first take a few deep breaths. Okay. Done?:) Now, a few words of advice. Your children are so young. You don't need to start a formal curriculum, even with the 5yo. Does he read? Pick a good phonics program to start with if he doesn't and go through it at his pace (Phonics Pathways, OPG, 100 EZ lessons, The Reading Lesson, Phonics Road, etc...lots to choose from). You already love books and likely read to them all the time...so keep that up! Math? Again, if you prefer a curriculum there equally as many good math programs out there as phonics (sorry, that's not helping is it? :tongue_smilie:).. Singapore Earlybird, MUS Primer or Alpha, Horizons, RightStart, Saxon, etc. Everything else at this age is gravy. If you really like unit studies...I would highly recommend Five in a Row. Great, great program. AND, it is all about reading great books...every day...and doing related activites (Science, Art, Geography, History, LA, Math, etc.) based on the books. You would love it and so would your kids...all of them. Just my humble opinion. That would be a relatively inexpensive way to do it. HTH a little. FIAR, phonics and a little math...presto! Super K curriculum you can do with your 5yo AND your youngers will love sitting in on the FIAR stories and activities! Good luck!

[Karen in CO]

One of my favorite things that I recommend for homeschoolers who are just beginning with young ones is Five in A Row. You use wonderful picture books as a jumping off point for short unit studies. It really helps you to have a little structure, yet is easy to implement. There are wonderful teaching and activity suggestions included in a variety of areas. You won't regret spending time with your littles while they are little. Take lots of field trips and nature walks and encourage them to have real experiences and interactions with the world. There is really no better time for it than now.

[PeterPan]

EarthAngel, it is true that you can spend a LOT of time getting sucked into the abyss of curriculum options. You have to know yourself too and know whether you're wanting just a little help (phonics/LA, a math curriculum), or whether you're wanting someone to tell you EVERYTHING. At this age you really have 3 components: LA (learning to read, handwriting, that type thing), math, and gravy. Once you pick out your LA and math stuff, you might enjoy Moving Beyond the Page for your gravy. It would be planned out unit studies, something you could move up or down with to fit your child, and something you could try with just 1 book for a little money and see how you like it.

 

And yes, the SL books are great and worth the money.

[HSMom2One]

In my humble opinion it is the best reference book/hs guide there is! I have based all my decisions about hs'ing on what I learned from this book. It is well organized and easy to understand, and the methods are not hard to follow. SWB herself is living proof that these methods work.

 

Children thrive on a classical education, whether it is hs or privately taught at a school. I teach art part-time at a private classical Christian school, and the success rate for our students is phenomenal. From what I've seen and what we've experienced in our own home, I will stay with classical methods of learning as I raise my dd.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[Rainbows]

For kindy we just did Singapore Earlybird and McRuffy Reading/Phonics. It was enough that it felt like we had "school" but it wasn't overwhelming. We didn't even do it every day.