Homeschooling.

[Sullibe]

In two weeks, I will be quitting my job and staying at home to homeschool my two oldest children (9 in 4th grade and 5 1/2 in Kindergarten). I have never homeschooled before and I’m looking for any advice anyone may have, including what curriculum (preferably Catholic curriculum) you recommend and why? What a typical daily schedule looks like for you? How often do you get behind, and what do you do to prevent from getting behind? Any other advice anyone can provide will be very much appreciated. In the interest of full disclosure, I also have a 3 year old and 7mth old.
Thanks.

 

[good2bhome]

Welcome to the ranks!

We have been homeschooling for 13years now and we have one graduate and three still at home. I used Kolbe academy in high school for the oldest otherwise I sorta put my own together. Catholic Heritage Curricula has a good, gentle but thorough program.

Although not Catholic, try taking a look at The Well Trained Mind site. They have a forums area and families typical days. For us a typical day will be getting up and going to Mass. Then coming home and getting breakfast. My youngest is twelve so they are pretty independent. Each child does one subject a day plus math. They do complete a week’s worth of work in the one subject. We find that way more manageable than doing a few pages of 6 subjects a day. After lunch we get together and go over work and cover subjects such as: art, music, poetry, etc. In the afternoon they have different activities like speech and debate, a swim and gym class, Vision explorers, Yearbook committee, Boy Scouts, Peace and Justice committee, etc. Check for a local Catholic homeschool group near you. Ours offers different feast day parties, spelling bee, Little Flowers/Blue Knights, yearbook, and tons of other stuff.

As far as ‘getting behind’ I haven’t met a family that didn’t feel like that at one time or another. Just keep plugging away and don’t be a slave to the schedule.

Hope this helps! Can’t wait to see other’s days.

 

[bnbkaine]

I use the Mother of Divine Grace curriculum and I really like it. I have used it for the past four years and some things I have adapted to our family; it breaks down the day to day activities for each of the 32 weeks in their school year and is super easy to follow. It incorporates a pretty classical educational standard and my kids are exposed to many different subjects.

It is so great that you are taking the plunge and doing the homeschooling thing. I was nervous as all get out, but I really enjoy. My kids drive me nuts sometimes, but I think they would do that regardless. Great luck to you!!!

 

[BlueShadow123]

Actually there is cirriculum online that you could help them with. there are private options for you to chose meaning (catholic online schooling). you could do that.
either way, itll be nice having their dad home with them.

 

[Katholish]

I had great success with the Seton Home Study School program. There are a few websites out there that might help you get a better grasp of homeschooling and point you in the direction of some of the online resources out there. One good one is HomeschoolingCatholic.com.

 

[scottm]

In two weeks, I will be quitting my job and staying at home to homeschool my two oldest children (9 in 4th grade and 5 1/2 in Kindergarten). I have never homeschooled before and I’m looking for any advice anyone may have, including what curriculum (preferably Catholic curriculum) you recommend and why? What a typical daily schedule looks like for you? How often do you get behind, and what do you do to prevent from getting behind? Any other advice anyone can provide will be very much appreciated. In the interest of full disclosure, I also have a 3 year old and 7mth old.
Thanks.

Been homeschooling for like eight years now. Three children. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, and there is no way to know what to do until after you’re in the middle it. That’s not a pretty answer, but it’s true.

Remember back to when the children were born. They didn’t come with a manual. You had to make it up as you went along, and not everything your friends and relatives and neighbors did was right for you. That’s homeschooling too.

ATTEND A HOMESCHOOL CONVENTION. Please. It might happens only once a year where you live but it will be a lifesaver.

AND JOIN A LOCAL HOMESCHOOL GROUP. There are probably at least three near you.

There are probably one thousand different curriculum options – and I’m not exaggerating. The market is huge. If you want to see everything in one place go to “Rainbow Resources.” It’s a catalog company the size of WalMart. The catalog is a book the size of a phonebook in a major metropolitan city. I am not kidding. If it exists, it’s in that book.

To not “get behind” you just follow the schedule of your chosen curriculum. It’s as easy as that.

We use Sonlight as the core of our curriculum. Well Trained Mind is very good.

I used Seton’s catechism for a few years. The books are gorgeous but as I’m Eastern Rite rather than Latin Rite it wasn’t a good fit.

For math I’ve tried Saxon, Math-U-See, Singapore, Keys, Scott Foresman, and generic workbooks. Different children are different. My brain loves Math-U-See but my daughter couldn’t handle it. Scott Foresman was best for her.

For English the best so far is Daily Grams and the … I forgot what the main book is called, but you’ll find it if you look up Daily Grams.