How did you start your homeschool?

[Mom2J112903]

I have decided that we are going to do a what is maybe a different approach to beginning our homeschooling adventure.

 

I do not want to overwhelm J or myself, so we will start one subject then gradually add in all subjects over a course of a month or so until all are in. This and J is BEGGING for school to start, and he has not been out of Catholic School for two weeks!

 

I am not certain which subject to start with first, I will most likely start with Phonics first, just because that is the subject *I* am not100% comfortable with. We are skipping the first 10 lessons in Math because it is ALL review for him and lessons 11-20 will be accelerated as well. Saxon Math2 was definatly over his head, so we will acclerate Math1.

 

Is this a good plan, we do plan on a schooling year-around.

[lllll]

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[ScoutTN]

We are doing something similar. Also because my child is interested and eager.

We've begun phonics and will add handwriting mid summer then add math in August. We'll be loose on schedule during the summer then make something more structured in mid August.

This is our first year, so I don't know if this is a good idea or not! :D

[Dmmetler]

My DD was the same way-she finished parochial school K, and the next MORNING begged to start school at home.

 

So what I've done is to introduce the workboxes, but to keep the stuff in them pretty light and low-key.

 

Right now, we're looking at folk tales from around the world and looking at the countries they come from (very gentle introduction to geography)

 

Going to the international market and trying out different foods and looking up where they're from. DD also is enjoying learning a few words of different languages from the people there.

 

Playing with C-rods and Base 10 blocks (trying to cement number bonds and especially making 10s), lots of math games

 

Writing practice, mostly outside with sidewalk chalk

 

Growing our garden and observing outside

 

Going to the library, bringing home stacks of books and reading a lot

 

Song School Latin

 

Lots of crafts, painting outside, playdough, and other messy stuff that I only let her do on the porch where I can hose it (and her) down when she's finished.

 

Lots of playing outside, running in the sprinklers, playing on the swingset, going to the park, and all the other stuff that it will very, very soon be too hot to do.

 

IOW, not all that different from what we'd do in a normal summer, except that I've added the structure of the workboxes and checklist for her. I plan to gradually introduce the more structured curricula starting in July (when it's WAY too hot to go outside, and even getting in the car to go somewhere inside has no allure).

[RahRah]

I did this with DS last fall - he was ready for kindergarten (turned 5 in August) so we started slowly since I was not quite sure how to do this homeschooling thing!

 

We started with math, continued to add on to include writing and phonics, basic science concepts - ya know, five senses, the body, simple machines, solar system, etc. and dabbled with history a bit. Lots of reading aloud. In the last couple of months I've added more writing practice with both phonics and math.

 

I didn't structure any of it - we'd do stuff on days he was enthusiastic and on days he didn't want to do stuff, we'd do something else.

 

The only structured things I used - Saxon math 1 and Hooked on Phonics coupled with Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading.....other subjects were just as it came with the books I had here or from the library.

 

Now here we are getting ready for first grade! And I'm looking at adding in a bit more structure now and have been designing our curriculm for the summer and next year.....and DS is getting very excited about having more to do, he's ready for more and ready to sit for longer periods of time to get things done!

 

We are going to school year-round - summer will concentrate on phonics and continuing with math (we'll start Saxon 2 in late August).....and concentrate on science coupled with geography to learn about different animals and habitats in relation to world geography. We'll leave aside history and other stuff until we ennd of August when we'll start our full-time schedule.

[Mom2J112903]

Traditional School here starts at the beginning of August, so I figure we will be "full throttle" with homeschooling around the same time.

 

Saxon Math2 is about 6 months ahead of where J is right now, I wonder if we should have just started Saxon Math2 and just "delt" with things as they come along. DH and I decided however to do Saxon Math1 and let Josef go at his own pace, so if we finish Math1 in 6 months, so be it. That is just one of the reasons homeschooling is so nice.

[Chris in VA]

I'd wait to start "real school" and do some fun projects (cooking, crafts, etc) and lots of reading aloud. Start encouraging a routine in the am that you want to carry over into your school days--are you going to give her morning chores, like making her bed and getting dressed for breakfast? Are you going to have a tidy-up before lunch? That sort of routine can help a lot, and if it's in place already, so much the better.

 

Work on character issues like obeying you without fussing, not being overly dramatic when asked to do something she doesn't like, accepting no without too much negotiation (however you define that at your house), etc.

 

I think adding in one subject at a time is fine--I liked to do a little more, because the enthusiasm is high at the beginning, but I think you are right in not giving her a ton of work right off.

[kmacnchs]

I have decided that we are going to do a what is maybe a different approach to beginning our homeschooling adventure.

 

I do not want to overwhelm J or myself, so we will start one subject then gradually add in all subjects over a course of a month or so until all are in. This and J is BEGGING for school to start, and he has not been out of Catholic School for two weeks!

 

I am not certain which subject to start with first, I will most likely start with Phonics first, just because that is the subject *I* am not100% comfortable with. We are skipping the first 10 lessons in Math because it is ALL review for him and lessons 11-20 will be accelerated as well. Saxon Math2 was definatly over his head, so we will acclerate Math1.

 

Is this a good plan, we do plan on a schooling year-around.

 

This is what we did - phonics, then math, then writing ....

[Mom2J112903]

J is already a VERY routine child :) We have a schedule for every.day.of.the.week and have since he was tiny. This is how J is, this is how he works and does better. When we are on vacation, EEK! I have to plan our vacation more than I would like!

 

We do have a very busy summer-three different groups of friends to do weekly things with in addition to OT for fine motor skills. This child is busy!