lovinmyboys Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I will officially start homeschooling my oldest (K) in the fall and am starting to realize that I have tons of gaps in my education. However, I am getting overwhelmed knowing where to start-it seems like I have so much to learn. I started by reading Liping Ma's math book and it made me realize that I may not know as much math as I thought. I also read through the story of the world quickly just to get an overview of history. Suggestions on where to go from here? How far ahead should I be learning? I feel like I need a review of grammar, math, well pretty much everything. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I think you will learn as you go, as far as the stuff you are teaching. I wouldn't worry too much right now. Have you read The Well Educated Mind? That is a good guide to self education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELaurie Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 You'll learn a lot as you go along. Here are my suggestions (in no particular order); Choose a phonics program. Choose a program for penmanship. Read lots of good books to your dc. For now, you'll familiarize yourself with good literature as you go. Read SWB's book Writing With Ease (if you're inclined to use this program; otherwise, do some research and identify which writing program you will use when your oldest is in first grade). Figure out which spelling and grammar programs you want to use, but don't worry about how to teach these subjects for now; you'll learn / review what you already know along with your dc. Decide which math program you will use. Same for art, music, Bible (or other text relevant to your faith, if applicable). Read through SOTW 1, or listen to the CDs to give yourself an overview. Begin picking literature selections from the AG for next year. Think about which activities you want to do; read through the Kingfisher or Usborne encyclopedia you plan to use. Find a good children's atlas. Read TWTM, if you haven't already, to understand the "big picture." You can go deeper with your own self education later. Why start here, you may ask? Because it's practical. Because you need to do this anyway :001_smile: And because it will provide you with an overview to see where you want to go with your dc's education. With that in place, you can identify where to concentrate as you fill in the gaps in your own education. Right now, you're in the grammar stage, just as they are. I found that reading SOTW, and the associated history and literature when my dc were in the grammar stage provided me with the orientation I needed to go deeper with self education as my oldest entered the logic stage. This year, as ds 8 read SOTW and ds 11 outlined the Kingfisher Encyclopedia, I began reading SWB"s HOAW and the associated literature. It's been immensely helpful, and I plan to continue this approach next year with SOTW 2 (for ds 8) Kingfisher (for ds 11) and HOMW and associated literature for myself. I also have TWEM as a guide to literature. All the best with your endeavors :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Jo Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I looked at my weaknesses, interests and how long I would need. I love languages, and they take time to learn, so that's what I'm focusing on now. My grasp of the order of history is shaky, so that's high on my list. Science I'm doing with the kids, but it's pretty basic right now and I'll probably learn with them. Prioritize what you need and are motivated to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I've been learning as I go. For the first 5 years or so, it's not very difficult. If you plan on hsing thru high school, you may want to start learning higher math or science. There are lectures you can get for free online (webcasts or podcasts or something like that) from some of the big name colleges, like Berkley and MIT. I don't know where they are online at the moment (dh is the one who uses them), but with a little searching you can probably find them. (I'm very computer illiterate...but they're out there...somewhere....) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 This has been my priority list: Grammar (Analytical Grammar) Literature (Well Educated Mind- but this is a long term project) Latin (Wheelocks- but I didn't try to start that until I'd done a year of AG) When I finish AG, I'll start the Logic book I have here. By that time, my kids should be old enough to sleep through the night on a regular basis so I'll finally be brainy enough to get to maths! If my kids were older, maths would be higher on the priority list. I'm not sure what to do about science yet, but I think I can learn alongside them for a few years. I am reading SWB's History of the Ancient World, but that's more because I like history than anything else. Pick something and start!! Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I agree with the others. You'll learn as you go. You'll find that you are learning (or sometimes re-learning) right along with your children as you teach them, look up answers to their questions when you don't already know, show them how to find information, follow rabbit trails and so on. It'll be fine. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in Florida Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 An easy place to start would be Ruth Beechick's books. While they are about teaching your child, they also explain a lot about brain development, the process of teaching and how/why children learn. The 3R's series is very inexpensive and cover K through 3, reading, language arts and arithmetic. You can teach your child successfully, covers all topics from 4th through 8th is VERY easy to read. These books aren't just lesson plans or scope/sequences they explain HOW and WHY and every thing you need to be a good teacher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovinmyboys Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I am not nursing or pregnant for the first time in over five years, so I am feeling like now is a good time to start re-learning the stuff I will be teaching in a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Personally, I believe it's more important to be a partner in learning than to feel like I always need to be one, or even more, steps ahead of my children. That sounds exhausting!! This has become especially important now that my children are in high school. I wasn't a great high school student but I'm learning some neat things alongside my children! Although I must confess that my feelings about Geometry haven't changed. It was stupid in high school and it's stupid at age 43. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Suggestions on where to go from here? How far ahead should I be learning? I feel like I need a review of grammar, math, well pretty much everything. Thanks! I have learned so much from learning to diagram. I like Rex Barks. I used this book, which is available cheap, to wander through the whole scope of the first 6 years of math, and I pretended I was a kid, and learned from scratch. This helped me feel facile about math, even before I was inspired by Liping Ma: http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Mathematics-Elementary-Middle-Schools/dp/0131700596/ref=tmm_pap_title_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1303434981&sr=1-1 I also found that I could get middle school books ... history, art history, science, and read them for a good seating on the BAsic basics. You can read them quickly, since they are for 12 year olds, and get the nomenclature down in your mind so when you start teaching it or pointing out things in the world to kiddo, you can use the language naturally in conversation, which I believe is the very best way for small children to learn. YMMV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Personally, I believe it's more important to be a partner in learning than to feel like I always need to be one, or even more, steps ahead of my children. That sounds exhausting!! It was less about that and more about it being exhausting to feel like an idiot because I didn't even know the stuff in FLL2. That was terrible for my self esteem. :lol: Mind you, I'm feeling clever this morning. We're "studying" nursery rhymes and dh doesn't know any! It's not that he'd forgotten them. He says he's never heard them before! 35 years old, three graduate diplomas, and he's currently flunking preschool. :lol: Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Mind you, I'm feeling clever this morning. We're "studying" nursery rhymes and dh doesn't know any! It's not that he'd forgotten them. He says he's never heard them before! 35 years old, three graduate diplomas, and he's currently flunking preschool. :lol: Rosie Oh, we went through that too! I remember my 2 younger children being about 9 and 11 years old and didn't know more than Humpty Dumpty. They also had never heard the story of the Little Red Hen or other fairy tales. I don't know how I skipped that! We read some but they felt like the rhymes and stories were babyish. If I remember, I can give them books as gifts for their newborns. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 You might also find it informative to read those threads that have been labeled 'self-education.' Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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