Someone decide for me...

[ktgrok]

1st grade. I'm a relaxed kind of gal....rigor isn't for me. We like lots of time for unstructured play. But we also are not unschoolers. If I try to state my goals for homeschooling they are, "kids who enjoy each other, enjoy who they are, enjoy books, and enjoy learning. Kids who find wonder in life and find joy in learning new things. And...kids who are culturally literate."

 

No matter what we will use CLE math and AAR. I like those, they work, and they are open and go. Handwriting will just be A Reason for Handwriting unless someone convinces me otherwise. It works. It isn't overwhelming. We used it for K. Science, honestly, we do science all day long. We enjoy nature and the outdoors, and dad comes from a technology/engineering background and mom is a former biology major and vet tech. We've got science covered via conversations in every day life, documentaries, etc. But, everything else....

 

Sonlight Core A (or maybe Bookshark Core A)

 

OR

 

American Pioneers and Patriots as a read aloud, plus American Tall Tales, plus whatever books from the library. 

 

I am BAD about getting to read alouds. I admit it. I love books, but tend to put off reading aloud. Not sure if better to go with Bookshark/Sonlight where that is scheduled out for me and I actually have to do it, or if I can stick to a self imposed schedule. I do like the idea of doing American History with a little one...it just sounds fun. But, will I end up skipping read alouds because they aren't on an official schedule? Starting to think that is more likely than I like to admit. Or, will I feel rushed by Sonlight, and end up having a kid who hates books instead of loves them? 

 

then of course, my DIY plan is MUCH cheaper, which leaves more money for say, an art program. She adores art. Making a Masterpiece is spendy but might be up her ally. She loves to learn from watching videos. Or could I find similar stuff on youtube for free? I don't know. 

 

I also want to do picture study, but honestly, that's not hard to add to whatever else we do. I'll probably get the prints from Memoria Press for that. Music will be CD's in the car . Maybe piano lessons as well. 

 

Anyone want to convince me? I've never been so undecided before! Usually I am all motivated to get something, then end up switching it out later, lol! I think that may be why I'm more cautious now. 

[almondbutterandjelly]

I loved American Pioneers and Patriots.  I also love tall tales.  (Evan Moor has a fun literature pocket for tall tales.)  

 

So that's my vote.

[Slache]

Do the DIY so you can spend the money on the art but get the Sonlight books from the library and go through them at your leisure. Keep in mind that you might be pregnant and make sure pregnant you can handle your choice.

[Sahamamama]

Sonlight Core A (or maybe Bookshark Core A)

 

OR

 

American Pioneers and Patriots as a read aloud, plus American Tall Tales, plus whatever books from the library. 

 

I am BAD about getting to read alouds. I admit it. I love books, but tend to put off reading aloud. Not sure if better to go with Bookshark/Sonlight where that is scheduled out for me and I actually have to do it, or if I can stick to a self imposed schedule. I do like the idea of doing American History with a little one...it just sounds fun. But, will I end up skipping read alouds because they aren't on an official schedule? Starting to think that is more likely than I like to admit. Or, will I feel rushed by Sonlight, and end up having a kid who hates books instead of loves them?

 

I don't know if you would feel rushed by Sonlight, but I know that when my kids were that age, I needed my own homemade plan for things like History. With my own plan, I could always adjust it to work better for us, without feeling guilty about what it cost (just a bit of time). Also, then I didn't feel like a slave to another person's plan. Things come up, you know? If you can't "keep up" with the schedule of Sonlight (or BookShark), then what really is the point of buying it? OTOH, you could choose your own books, line them up in chronological order on a high shelf (so only you pull them down), and begin to read them aloud, at whatever pace actually works for you. When the book is done, it goes in the History Book Basket, which remains accessible to the children. Then you begin the next book or subset of books.

 

When my girls were that age, I think they were Pre-K/Pre-K (twins) and 1st, we did what we called Around the World. This was just a homemade countries and cultures "trip" that started in Africa and ended up in Canada. LOL. I would put books on hold through the library system and pick them up, read them, and then we'd do either a simple craft, a simple recipe, or make simple "costumes" to represent that country. It was actually easier to do than what it sounds like here, and very memorable. Surprisingly, they still talk about this! :)

 

The next two years, when the girls were K/K & 2nd, then 1st/1st & 3rd, we did American History. We started off with Native American History Pockets (Evan Moor), which got my nice and neat plan completely off-track! But it was truly worth it. We have great memories from those projects, and we still (believe it or not) have the projects. Just can't throw them out, they mean that much. Later that first year, we moved on to the first European exploration and colonization, and finally made it up to the birth of Benjamin Franklin.

 

For our second year with American History, I wanted something that would help to keep us a bit more on-track with our forward momentum. ;) We used the "old" six-books-a-set versions of the American Girl historical books (not the horrible BeForever versions) as our structure:

• 1764--Kaya (September) + books about Native American cultures
• 1774--Felicity (October) + books about the Revolutionary War era
• 1812--Caroline (November) + books about the War of 1812, first pioneers, sailing
• 1824--Josefina (December) + books about life in the Spanish Southwest
• 1854--Kirsten (January) + books about pioneer life, covered wagons, the Pony Express
• 1864--Addie (February) + books about slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction
• 1904--Samantha (March) + books about industrialization, railroads, child labor
• 1914--Rebecca (April) + books about immigration, urbanization, cross-cultural experiences
• 1934--Kit (May) + books about the Great Depression, Dust Bowl, Amelia Earhart
• 1944--Molly (June) + books about WW2, life on the homefront, and a few things from the 1950s (polio vaccine)

We skipped Marie-Grace & Cecile (1853 New Orleans) because there were so many great books to read for the 1850s (pioneers, westward expansion, Gold Rush, etc.), that we focused on those, instead. We also skipped Julie (1974 California) because I didn't want to get into the 1960s & 70s with young children.

 

Instead of using the library (too far, not many books), I simply purchased all the books we used. This turned out to be a good decision, because having so many books on American History in the house means that the girls have returned to that collection again and again.

 

Personally, I would rather make a simple, adjustable plan and buy BOOKS, than buy a detailed, rigid plan and then have to use the library for the actual books. IMO, that's a pain in the rear, plus the kids are never going to interact with the plan. Children interact with the books, so to me it makes more sense to invest in the books they will actually pull off the shelves and read over and over.

 

There are a TON of fantastic books on that age/reading level for American History, just a truly wonderful collection of books out there. If I could get my lists off my old CPU, I would post them here for you, but alas, she has died. HTH.

[Guest]

Go cheaper, because just the fact of having a schedule in front of you does not mean you have to follow it lol.

[SebastianCat]

We are long time Sonlight users, and I needed the schedule at first, but one of our most relaxed years was when we studied state history for a year and just read books at our own pace. I put the books in order, started with the first, and just kept reading. We really needed to have a daily routine established to make sure it got done, but I didn't feel pressured to follow someone else's schedule. For Readers, I assigned my older child either 1-2 chapters or 10-15 pages to read per day, and assigned a bit less for my younger child.

[prairiewindmomma]

You're hoping to be pregnant and deliver a baby in the next year, right? Go for whatever brings everything to you in a box and is pre-scheduled.

[MerryAtHope]

I think I'd look again at what makes you not get around to read-alouds. Sonlight Core A is almost all read-alouds (you read the history, literature, and Bible aloud). We liked that core a lot, but I didn't really have trouble with read-alouds. One thing that helped me, though, was to break it up. I didn't like doing the lit. read-alouds during the day--it made school seem "long" to my kids and they didn't enjoy everything as much. So, I read just history and Bible during the school day, and did the lit. read-alouds at night. Then they just became part of our bedtime routine. 

 

I also liked a "slower start" to our day, so for me, snuggling on the couch to read Bible and history before digging into a lot of hands on stuff worked well. Maybe experiment with times when you do RA's, to see if that makes a difference in your motivation to do them?

 

We used Sonlight (or at least parts of Sonlight) all the way through, and really enjoy their lit. selections, so I don't think you can go wrong with that. BUT...if you think you're less likely to get to all the books, consider alternate plans:

 

1, take 2 years to do a core (I did this a few times and liked mixing in other activities)

2, just get some read-alouds, set a daily time for those that you can stick to, and plan on more art or something else.

 

HTH some!

[Runningmom80]

I don't know if you would feel rushed by Sonlight, but I know that when my kids were that age, I needed my own homemade plan for things like History. With my own plan, I could always adjust it to work better for us, without feeling guilty about what it cost (just a bit of time). Also, then I didn't feel like a slave to another person's plan. Things come up, you know? If you can't "keep up" with the schedule of Sonlight (or BookShark), then what really is the point of buying it? OTOH, you could choose your own books, line them up in chronological order on a high shelf (so only you pull them down), and begin to read them aloud, at whatever pace actually works for you. When the book is done, it goes in the History Book Basket, which remains accessible to the children. Then you begin the next book or subset of books.

 

When my girls were that age, I think they were Pre-K/Pre-K (twins) and 1st, we did what we called Around the World. This was just a homemade countries and cultures "trip" that started in Africa and ended up in Canada. LOL. I would put books on hold through the library system and pick them up, read them, and then we'd do either a simple craft, a simple recipe, or make simple "costumes" to represent that country. It was actually easier to do than what it sounds like here, and very memorable. Surprisingly, they still talk about this! :)

 

The next two years, when the girls were K/K & 2nd, then 1st/1st & 3rd, we did American History. We started off with Native American History Pockets (Evan Moor), which got my nice and neat plan completely off-track! But it was truly worth it. We have great memories from those projects, and we still (believe it or not) have the projects. Just can't throw them out, they mean that much. Later that first year, we moved on to the first European exploration and colonization, and finally made it up to the birth of Benjamin Franklin.

 

For our second year with American History, I wanted something that would help to keep us a bit more on-track with our forward momentum. ;) We used the "old" six-books-a-set versions of the American Girl historical books (not the horrible BeForever versions) as our structure:

• 1764--Kaya (September) + books about Native American cultures
• 1774--Felicity (October) + books about the Revolutionary War era
• 1812--Caroline (November) + books about the War of 1812, first pioneers, sailing
• 1824--Josefina (December) + books about life in the Spanish Southwest
• 1854--Kirsten (January) + books about pioneer life, covered wagons, the Pony Express
• 1864--Addie (February) + books about slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction
• 1904--Samantha (March) + books about industrialization, railroads, child labor
• 1914--Rebecca (April) + books about immigration, urbanization, cross-cultural experiences
• 1934--Kit (May) + books about the Great Depression, Dust Bowl, Amelia Earhart
• 1944--Molly (June) + books about WW2, life on the homefront, and a few things from the 1950s (polio vaccine)

We skipped Marie-Grace & Cecile (1853 New Orleans) because there were so many great books to read for the 1850s (pioneers, westward expansion, Gold Rush, etc.), that we focused on those, instead. We also skipped Julie (1974 California) because I didn't want to get into the 1960s & 70s with young children.

 

Instead of using the library (too far, not many books), I simply purchased all the books we used. This turned out to be a good decision, because having so many books on American History in the house means that the girls have returned to that collection again and again.

 

Personally, I would rather make a simple, adjustable plan and buy BOOKS, than buy a detailed, rigid plan and then have to use the library for the actual books. IMO, that's a pain in the rear, plus the kids are never going to interact with the plan. Children interact with the books, so to me it makes more sense to invest in the books they will actually pull off the shelves and read over and over.

 

There are a TON of fantastic books on that age/reading level for American History, just a truly wonderful collection of books out there. If I could get my lists off my old CPU, I would post them here for you, but alas, she has died. HTH.

I love the American Girl US history!

 

Ktgrok, I vote DIY and art!

[HomeschoolingHearts&Minds]

Katie, you sound a lot like me in some ways.  This is from the heart---I had a big ole plan for history and literature this year for my 3 youngers and it got pushed aside.  It was too much.  What happened was we were filling up our days with "school" and they were not having enough time for free exploration.  We are all happier when our days are not completely filled up with the "plan".   

 

So I pared history down to a spine, we read and discussed, and they narrated.  We reduced the number of lit read alouds and we picked what we felt like next as we finished one.  I also gave the two older kids a book basket they could select from for their "assigned" independent reading.  They learned soooo much and had so much time for their other personal interests.

 

Granted, my kids are a little older, but there will be time later on for yours to read more.  

 

I vote you do the DIY.  It will give you the flexibility to pursue rabbit trails (something I didn't have time for the year I did Sonlight), and you can do a topic that will be fun for you.

[Chris in VA]

I vote DIY as well. I dislike the way Sonlight schedules a little bit of several books instead of fewer books at a time but more logical stopping points. I like the stopping points to be me-chosen (lol) because when I can control how much we read, I can match it to attention span and interest.