RebekahnDavidMom Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Hi everyone, My name is Andrea and this is my first time posting on this board. I have 2 children, Rebekah is 4.5 and David will be 2 next month. After reading some other posts, my daughter doesn't sound all that advanced, but I'm going to ask for advice anyway :-) She has strated reading with a vengance. She has read the first set of BOB books and we're waiting for the 2nd set from the library's interlibrary loan system. She has also read much of Sonlight's K readers and some of the ICRI series from Sonlight LA 1. She also takes many of her books (picture books) at night and has us help her sound them out and teach her the "funny" rules for vowel combinations and such so she can read "real" books. I have various homeschool curriculum and can't decide which to use, lol. My dd will be going to public school for K at her father's insistance (doesn't think homeschooling is appropriate, trying to change his mind) but becasue of her birthday won't be able to go until she is 5.5. So we have a whole nother year of her at home that I'm trying to fill. My husband is okay with supplementing her public school education which I take as a blessing and plan on doing as much as I can. I have Sonlight Cores P3/4-K. I have Sonlight LA K and 1. I have Sonlight Science K. I have Heart of Dakota's preschool and K programs. I also have Living Book Curriculum K. I have ALL About Spelling 1 which she loves! For Math, I have Singapore 1 and Right Start Math A. I also like Ambleside Online. I have Magnets to Mudpies program as well as a bunch of file folder games and activities I just found at a yard sale of a retired public school teacher who taught K-2 throughout her career. Does anyone have any advice of what order I should do this in? Or any additions to add? She loves reading and science. I was thinking of doing the Heart of Dakota K program with the Living books Curriculum K and Magnets to Mudpies Program. Adding in some of the P4/5 books that we haven't read yet from sonlight and doing the Sonlight LA K program with AAS 1. For Math, do the right start A with some of the "money" and addition facts file folder games I got from the teacher. Then I was thinking about doing sonlight K, with LA 1 and Science K adding in Ambleside's Year 1 slowly. Either Continue with AAS 1 or move on to 2. I was thinking of adding in FLL and WWE 1 here as well to supplemet public school K. I was gonna do the Singapore here after the Right start and add in the rightstart games. Do you think this would work? Like I said, do you think there's a program that won't work or something I should add that i might not have thought about? There are just so many options and I want to do them all to give her as many viewpoints as possbile. She also wants to learn all. the. time. and gets bored very easily if you're not giving her something to do. My goal is to equip my daughter with as many viewpoints about the world and learning as possible and let her dicide what she wants to do with that information. I don't want to limit math to "this is the only way to get to the answer" but give her different options and decide which way she likes the best. I want history to come from all sides, religious, selcular, general, in-depth and to be seen from multiple viewpoints.....people living in other countries or on the other side of the equation. Not just ego-centric white America's viewpoint on history. Science, the same way..... I really like Apolgia's (sp) view point on science thru religion, but that's one of my husband's biggest problems with homeschool material (he has a very scientific mind and chemistry is his favorite subject) so it's going have to come from a secular viewpoint as well. If you've read this far, what do you think I should do with my dd for the next year that I have her home with me? And do you have any suggestions for ways to supplement her public schooling to acheieve what I've outlined above? Thanks so much and sorry for all of the rambling! Andrea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Hey, I just saw that you posted this yesterday and haven't had any responses. I'm sorry about that :sad: I would suggest re-posting in the curriculum board. I hope you're still here, lurking around and learning from what other people have already written. I have a 4.5 yr old and I wish I had as many things as you do! Right now we're doing Right Start A and OPGTR off and on. I'd like to add more, I just don't have it all yet. I would go with what you're all ready doing, and add something new one at a time. You have time, so don't stress out too much. Maybe if your dh sees how well she does and she is bored in "real" school, maybe he'll change his mind. Good luck :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Your plan sounds fine to me. If your DH's biggest problem with homeschooling is the science curriculum, I don't know that he'll like the public school, as they don't teach a lot of science in early elementary. It's very basic stuff usually. You can find all kinds of secular science resources at the library. That shouldn't be difficult at all. Take a look at the WTM science recs. They are secular. The Usborne science encyclopedias are secular. There are some secular homeschool science programs, like RSO. Some people use public school science texts. There are recommendations floating around. I will warn you that afterschooling can be difficult once homework starts rolling in. Hopefully you wouldn't have much, if any, homework in K. I afterschooled first grade, just supplementing math and science, and that was all we had time or energy for. We had to do homework and extras during the "witching hour" of dinner prep (when the younger kids are all melting down), then after dinner they played with Daddy and then went to bed. That was really all we had time for if I wanted him to have play time, which I think is very important at this young age. Your DD will probably be bored with the academics in K, but usually the fun of K (party party party) helps. It's first grade where the party stuff was taken away and it was more academics that were all things DS knew already. So there wasn't anything to keep his interest anymore. He also got in trouble some the first semester of K when they were learning letters and numbers. His teacher sent home a 2nd grade reading book to use instead of the little K readers that were sent home (think Bob book type stuff). Anyway, hopefully your DH will come around when he sees what is actually taught in school and what you are capable of teaching at home. My experience with science in the school was that the Elemental Science Intro to Science that I used (which was way too easy for my first grader - it would have been more appropriate for him at age 3, *maybe* 4) was much more than they were learning in school in first grade. A single library trip resulted in more science learning than my son learned the entire semester he was in first grade at school. Seriously, they spend very little time on history or science. My DH wasn't big on the idea of homeschooling at first, but after going through K and half of 1st grade, and seeing what I was teaching him just in math and science alone, he turned around and is now pro-homeschooling. Hopefully the same will happen for you! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenieReighn Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Maybe your DH needs to see a list of what science is actually taught in K. I know mine was shocked to see that our child would learn absolutely nothing in K pretty much. Our school puts out curriculum pdfs with each detail learned listed on pages 2-4 of the pdf. Here is the link to it: http://www.urbandaleschools.com/uploads/curriculum/KindergartenScience.pdf Even if a kid didn't already know these things going into K, it definintly wouldn't take them a year of school to learn it. Once my hubby realized how watered down public school was, he was all for hs. Maybe you could offer to let him teach the things that he is passionate about. My DH teaches our children math in the evenings and I'm perfectly fine with not having it on my plate. :-P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 *covers ears* lalalala I can't hear you!!!! (Dd is starting in a charter school in fall. Science is her gift. Afterschooling here with BFSU & Singapore.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 There are some good HS curricula that are neutral on the "hot button" issues and therefore acceptable to both Christians and secular families. Real Science 4 Kids and NOEO are two. Dr. Keller of Real Science 4 Kids holds a PhD. in biophysical chemistry and Dr. Pritchard of NOEO is a veterinarian, so both programs are written by folks with extensive scientific training. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 If she's already reading, SL LA K might be too easy for her. On the other hand, LA 1 might be too hard as they require a lot of creative writing. I don't think SL LA is a good fit for early readers. JMO. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 If she's already reading, SL LA K might be too easy for her. On the other hand, LA 1 might be too hard as they require a lot of creative writing. I don't think SL LA is a good fit for early readers. JMO. :) :iagree: We've had great success with rules based spelling to fill in phonics gaps for my early readers. I bought LA K when my oldest was in K but the readers were way too easy and the writing too hard. SWR fit us perfectly. However, it sounds like your dd could definitely benefit from OGPTR since she's still in the beginning stages of reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 (edited) I posted this on the K-8 board about science resources we use for my science nut (to answer your question about science suggestions): ****** For science, we have been using Noeo Chemistry 1. But I have lots of other resources available (for variety) when needed because I have a science nut: -Magic School Bus Chapter books, readers and picture books -Let's Read and Find Out about Science books -Cat in the Hat Learning Library books -The Complete Book of Science (workbook) -The Complete Book of our Solar System (workbook) -microscope, magnifying glass, magnets, hydroponic lab -We used Sonlight Science K so I have the supply kits from those that we use for various experiments -I find free downloads that my big girl works in like: http://www.physicscentral.com/experi...sics/index.cfm (she completed one of the Color Me Physics books in one sitting!) -She has a journal that she uses to sit outside and "observe my neighborhood" **************** Those are the main things I can think of off the top of my head.... Just some ideas to look into and run by your DH. You can show him how full science at home can be when lots of resources and materials are available! ETA: We recently discovered "Beakman's World" on Netflix - a really cool science show geared towards older kids (like 8-10 according to Netflix) from the early 90's. Amazing HIT with my big girl! Edited June 16, 2011 by MissKNG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 I posted this on the K-8 board about science resources we use for my science nut (to answer your question about science suggestions): ****** For science, we have been using Noeo Chemistry 1. But I have lots of other resources available (for variety) when needed because I have a science nut: -Magic School Bus Chapter books, readers and picture books -Let's Read and Find Out about Science books -Cat in the Hat Learning Library books -The Complete Book of Science (workbook) -The Complete Book of our Solar System (workbook) -microscope, magnifying glass, magnets, hydroponic lab -We used Sonlight Science K so I have the supply kits from those that we use for various experiments -I find free downloads that my big girl works in like: http://www.physicscentral.com/experi...sics/index.cfm (she completed one of the Color Me Physics books in one sitting!) -She has a journal that she uses to sit outside and "observe my neighborhood" **************** Those are the main things I can think of off the top of my head.... Just some ideas to look into and run by your DH. You can show him how full science at home can be when lots of resources and materials are available! ETA: We recently discovered "Beakman's World" on Netflix - a really cool science show geared towards older kids (like 8-10 according to Netflix) from the early 90's. Amazing HIT with my big girl! :iagree: Our science is BFSU with the supplemental reading, and also interest-led (this week it's piranhas and surgery, with library & our own books & Youtube videos), plus we have a ton of visual encyclopedias from animals to the universe, and we have Magic School Bus books, we watch Bill Nye, we have a VanCleave chemistry experiment book, Snap Circuits, a couple of random science books like the Bearnstein Bear's science book, an experiment box filled with magnets and soda bottles and balloons and straws and so forth, and several prepackaged experiment kits, plus two microscopes and journals for drawing about our nature walks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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