4Kiddos Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Hello everyone- I am so excited to find this forum. I had some questions if you don't mind. How did you handle trying to decide which curriculum/approach works for you? My oldest son is almost four so I do have a little while to go before I am officially homeschooling- although we will be doing Five in a Row next year. My son is so excited and keeps begging to "do school" so we read, do phonics, do some math, etc. but it is nothing too structured. Also, I have begun to read and research homeschooling and I must confess I am totally overwhelmed.:001_huh: How did you decide what approach to use? And then, how did you decide what curriculum to use? How do you know what to choose? From what I have read Charlotte Mason seems like a good approach for our family so far but the Classical Method also seems appealing.:confused: I guess that I am just asking for how you figured out what is best for your family! Lauren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorrainejmc Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 :seeya:Hi and welcome. Trial and error is how I have chosen what to use.:blush: I like both classical and CM approaches and combine bits of both with some waldorfy crafts thrown in. I would suggest reading The Well Trained Mind. It really helped me see what was even available for homeschooling. I have also heard the Cathy Duffy book mentioned here often but haven't read it myself. I need to run now as it is bath time over here but I'm sure you'll get lots of good advice here.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I ended up buying a copy of the Well-trained Mind after borrowing my girl friends 4 times. It's always on hold at our local library. I recently borrowed Cathy Duffy's book from the library! Wow! It was a huge help to me. I was able to sit down and "work" through her exercises and had an amazing layout of how, what, and why I wanted to homeschool for each of my kids personalities. These pages became invaluable along with the Well-trained Mind book to help me sort out which curriculum to use with each child. I was able to completely by-pass the unfortunate process of trying some expensive curriculum and discovering my kids just hated it. That saved me some serious cash! I would strongly suggest that you either borrow each book from the library and read them through or buy the Well-trained Mind and borrow Cathy Duffy's book from the library being prepared to photo copy some of the work sheets. I just started this school year myself. This forum is amazing! If you think you might like a curriculum I'd suggest you search the forum and read what people have to say about it and more importantly "WHY" they like it or don't like it. You have to select curriculum based on your child's needs, strengths, abilities first, then look to see if it fits your needs (limited prep work, lack of internet in the home, etc) You will be blessed through this process, if you thought you knew your kids before it's amazing how much you learn about their learning styles after reading both books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Hello everyone- ...How did you decide what approach to use? And then, how did you decide what curriculum to use? How do you know what to choose? ... Lauren :seeya:Welcome to the board. Like Lorraine, it was a lot of trial and error. I learned (and still learn) a ton from this board. If you hear about a curriculum, you can easily search this board for info from people who've used it. As your kids get older, it gets easier to figure out how they learn and what they like. Sometimes that rules out programs you previously thought would be perfect. :glare: You also learn your teaching style, and what works for you. Learning style is important, but so is teaching style! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellalarella Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Welcome! The previous poster mentioned Cathy Duffy and I echo that suggestion. I started with Cathy Duffy, then read The Well Trained Mind, started on Five In A Row, and then read some Charlotte Mason. The Power of Play by David Elkind had a major foundational impact on our overall schooling plan. I wanted my kids to have plenty of time to play a nd after I read Last Child in the Woods, I wanted them to be able to play outdoors. If I could look back to me 2 1/2 years ago I would say, "Start Slow. Don't Buy A Lot of Stuff. Just do a little and find out who you are and who your kids are. Don't be hard on yourself if you end up disliking a curriculum." Well, I hope you have fun on your schooling adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 How did you decide what approach to use? And then, how did you decide what curriculum to use? How do you know what to choose? From what I have read Charlotte Mason seems like a good approach for our family so far but the Classical Method also seems appealing.:confused: I guess that I am just asking for how you figured out what is best for your family! 1) The approach was decided based on my own personal goal of what I feel that an education should accomplish for a child. Read, and most especially if you are leaning toward classical method read more than TWTM, and if you are leaning toward CM read CM's actual series along with other author's takes on it. 2) My choice of curriculum is based mostly on whether it accomplishes the goals set for the year, whether it is user-friendly and most especially important--If it has too many manipulatives, moving parts, tiny pieces or takes up more than one-half of my very small table! Another factor would be the cost and the ability to manipulate it to fit the situation. I like to be able to slow down and speed up, I also like to be able to allow both my boys to progress at their own pace although the are in the same grade. 3) There are a lot of choices out there. The good news is that a lot of things are quite good. If you can get a look at it instead of relying only on recommendations I'd pick the things I want that way. Finances dictate my choices in curriculum, time dictates my choices in curriculum. (I happen to have time, so I can do a lot more one on one work.) One thing that I don't tend to take into consideration is learning styles, because I don't think I'm well qualified to determine that for my boys. I would not be objective enough. I'm in the minority in that regard, but I'm just defective that way.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuirkyKapers Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Welcome! I did a lot of research regarding the different methhods online. I settled on Charlotte Mason and I do some Classical. Mostly, it was trial and error. Things I thought my kids would love, sometimes they didn't so I had to make adjustments. I found it wasn't a cut and dry process. Even now, every year I evaluate to see if something needs to be switched out. Math was the hardest for me to work out. Finally, this year we are doing a program that works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinmami01 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I have to agree with trial and error. Often times, we found that what worked one year did not work the following year. With children that young, I would not invest in too much right now. There are lots of free resources out there. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Another vote for trial and error. FIAR is good, but I think if I had to do it over with a preschool aged child, I'd do phonics, math, handwriting and just read aloud a lot with some easy science kits and art. My go-to books are 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, The Well-Trained Mind and The Writing Road to Reading. I have read a lot about different philosophies on the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Kiddos Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 All of you have had such great advice. Thank you very much! I was wondering about the Cathy Duffy book that you all were talking about. What is the title of that book? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 All of you have had such great advice. Thank you very much! I was wondering about the Cathy Duffy book that you all were talking about. What is the title of that book? Thank you! 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Kiddos Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 Thank you so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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