What topics do you teach? Feeling overwhelmed

[Guinevere]

Until recently, I've been mostly an unschooling/eclectic homeschooler.  We have always done formal math, and A LOT of reading.  This approach has worked well for my oldest two, but now that I have 5 children, there just isn't enough of me to go around.  I can't be intentional and interesting in 5 different directions all the time!  I'm so tired, and I fear I'm leaving major gaps with the younger 3.  

 

Since I am deciding to switch to a more scheduled homeschool, I'm not sure how to break down the lessons.  My children do tend to learn quickly, and are frustrated with tedious work.  That is actually why I began just letting them go originally.  It was always SO tedious and boring for them to follow a regular schedule.  I don't want school work to be piles of boring, yet I have to be able to just get the stuff done, and know they are learning something.  

 

If, at a minimum, I cover the material in the following, will their elementary education be sufficient?  I used to be so confident with my first two, but now I just don't know.  It's a very strange position to be in.  

 

FLL and MCT

WWE

SOTW

Miquon/Beast/AoPS Pre Alg

Apologia (all elem books)

 

And then a lot of reading.  Most of the typical classic books recommended to children, plus the majority from the Songlight lists.

 

Again, I'm talking the very basics.  Ideally, I will add some sort of art, music, and foreign language, but that's a post for another time.

 

Also, I don't have any phonics or spelling, but I don't think we need phonics.  The older two are great natural spellers, and the younger seem to be following suit.  Opinions?

 

Thanks for reading this long post!

[HomeAgain]

How old are your kids?

[Guinevere]

Oh, sorry.  This fall, they'll be 5, 7, 8, 10, and 12.

[Tawlas]

I would venture to wonder if your kids might find FLL too repetitive?  I don't know.  Maybe the youngers wouldn't, at least not at first.  I LOVED First Language Lessons at first.  Loved the poems, just everything about it.  But it was repetitive and I'm throwing in the towel as far as level 4 goes.  We'll look for the next wonderful thing next fall :)

[Guinevere]

I would venture to wonder if your kids might find FLL too repetitive?  I don't know.  Maybe the youngers wouldn't, at least not at first.  I LOVED First Language Lessons at first.  Loved the poems, just everything about it.  But it was repetitive and I'm throwing in the towel as far as level 4 goes.  We'll look for the next wonderful thing next fall :)

 

Yes, I have the first two books, and they are very repetitive, but if the content is complete, I think I can tone that down to the needs of the kids.  When I have experimented with them before, we just do 4 or 5 lessons a day.  We do that with WWE, too.  When I've tried it, we do it a week a time, in one sitting.  But then I wonder, if this is second grade, and my 7yo is doing it with no instruction and no struggle, why are we doing it?  

[Tawlas]

I understand what you mean!  My second grader is very similar.  I'm not sure if I should bump him up a level or drop it entirely?  Gah.  My two older kids struggle a lot and yet I always seem to know how to proceed.  It's the ones who don't struggle that stump me lol!

 

[Tawlas]

I'd say that if you went through the content in the resources above, you'd have more than sufficiently covered the basics.  I'm sure you know that there's no way you can cover everything and have no gaps!  Using those resources as guides, I would venture to guess that your kids would encounter all sorts of new ideas and have a good foundation to build on.  I'd also hazard to guess that if you're satisfied with your older two kids' education without this "spine", then your youngers will flourish without as much work from you since you basically have a list in front of you to simplify all the decisions you need to make as you go through your school year, thereby giving you more time and energy for everyone.  That's really what you're looking for right?

 

I found FLL, WWE and SOTW were pretty open and go.  I appreciate that so much can be done orally, especially with littles.  Easy to adjust to their level and fairly quick and painless for everyone.

 

I don't have experience with the other resources you listed.

[Guinevere]

Yes, I need to know that if I have done at least whatever is in the curriculum I choose, then we have done enough.  Anything else can be bonus at that point, but I don't want to have missed a genre of things.  For example, dd8 last year surprised me when she didn't know how to read a calendar.  Somehow, I just forgot to show her.  If I'd been following a curriculum, that wouldn't have happened.  I just had so much more time to talk with the older ones, and more came up in conversation than it does now with the littles.  Well, and I had more time to think of things to share with them.  Now that there is no naptime in our house, and they don't go to bed early, I find I don't have much time to have my own thoughts, and their education has become reactionary instead of purposeful.  

[HomeAgain]

I wouldn't do FLL.  We were rather bored with it.

 

Honestly, because reading good books is in your schedule, I'd put the 7&8yos in ELTL level 2 so their language arts piggy back on a book they're listening to.  Then you can scrap WWE, too.  I'd have the 10 & 12yo work through 2-3 guides from Moving Beyond The Page's 10-12yo books, using the two different worksheets provided for each lesson.  I'd have the 12yo do WWS as an addition to it.  Using the guides would let you tweak things every 4-6 weeks for the older kids if it wasn't working or if they were bored.

 

If your kids read phonetically without a curriculum, I wouldn't add one in, but I'd keep that slot open for the 5yo just in case.

[Guinevere]

Wow, that's a lot to think about!  Thanks for the rec's!  I'll look into them!

[ScoutTN]

That is a big change! 

 

IMO, content subjects are the last area to introduce the new structure. Perhaps ease in with skill subjects first?

 

Maybe your kids will love them, but we find Apologia books dull at best and much prefer library books for science.

For structure and some output, you could just set up a simple list of topics, decide how much reading per week, then narrating, writing summaries, outlining, drawing or doing a project for output. To keep things simple, but still fun and interest led, you could have them make a list together and each kid get to pick some of the topics, so everyone works on the same thing at the same time. That way videos and fun stuff can work for all, much as many of us do multi-level history.

 

I agree with the poster above that WWE, FLL and SOTW are all easy to do with minimal prep and largely oral for youngers.

[Bay Lake Mom]

In our house we don't have nap time, but we have required "quiet time"! Both of my children go to their room after lunch for 1 hour to do what they like. They usually read, color, play Lego, build forts, or play with toys. Sometimes they'll even lay down and rest! We have always done this. When they were little, they would nap. When they stopped napping, they were instructed on how quiet time works. They are 7 & 8 yo, and they both love this time alone each day. It helps me keep my sanity as well. Regardless of your curriculum choices, I highly recommend implementing "quiet time!"

 

Oh, and they are required to keep it quiet. (If they don't have their own rooms, try to find other rooms they can spend their time in.)

[ScoutTN]

Quiet time, oh yes!!

[Guinevere]

Thank you for the suggestions!

[knitgrl]

I wouldn't do FLL.  We were rather bored with it.

 

Honestly, because reading good books is in your schedule, I'd put the 7&8yos in ELTL level 2 so their language arts piggy back on a book they're listening to.  Then you can scrap WWE, too.

 

:iagree:

 

We have completed several weeks of ELTL, and dd asks to do it, even though the act of writing is still somewhat laborious for her. (I don't have her do all the copywork suggested.)

 

[Charlene]

I agree with trying ELTL instead of FLL/WWE. Your kids sound like they share some similarities with some of my kids, from what you describe, and I chose ELTL because I think it suits our style beyter, and we like reading a lot of good literature too, which goes well with ELTL.