These are some of the solutions we've found to be helpful:
Course Study:
1. History – I like the “Story of the World” series by Susan Weis Bauer. We read it together while the kids take notes on it (I highlight while I read, so they can look at how to spell it all later); then they come up with a skit or video or they just tell it back to you showing the pictures they drew.
2. Geography – We spend a year learning the 50 states, a year on Europe, a year on continents and oceans and world famous sites, a year on the rest of the world. (Middle East, Africa, China, etc.) We play a game called “10 Days in Europe” and “10 Days in the U.S.” The kids LOVE these games… it takes some time learning to play it, but tell them to be patient (and bend the rules if you need to)… we focus just on learning how to spell/pronounce the places and learning where they are.
3. Science – We look for a program that comes with all the supplies you need & explains the science that’s going on with the experiments. You’d be surprised how hard that is to find. We’re going to try www.homeschoolscience.com this year. I like that it comes with everything you need, and the explanations for the science are clear and interesting. So far, so good.
4. Foreign Language – The best years we had of this were when Eric would take over and teach the class. When you don't have a tutor, Rosetta Stone is probably the next best thing… but it’s expensive. There’s also something called the Learnables but I don’t know much about it. I've run out of patience in this department, so I'm just going to break down and purchase Rosetta Stone. The key is to be consistent and review what you’ve learned all week long. The big kids have also used the curriculum from Alpha Omega that I’ll write about later on.
5. Art – We love the Draw Squad book by Mark Kistler… It’s fun and all the kids (and you) can do it together. You can also get a craft book or work with clay or paints or whatever you want for this day. They love it.
Planners - As soon as your child can read and write it's helpful to give them their own planner. (We're not talking Franklin Planners here... we've found simple planners at the Dollar Store that do just fine.) Teach your child to set goals and write out specific things to be accomplished for the day. During devotional, the children should go review how they did the day before, discuss what went wrong and what went well and then talk about what they plan to get done that day. This is a skill that will help them through-out their whole lives. For more in-depth discussions, we set aside one Sunday a month (or as needed) to sit down one-on-one with each child and talk about how their goals are going and how we can help. You'll be surprised at the wonderful things you'll find out about your child in these moments.
Admin. Days – You’ll want to schedule a week (or at least a few days) each month for your own sanity. These are the days when you’ll have cards (you make in advance) that the kids choose one at a time that have assignments they can do on their own (all the Freestyle things, penmanship & spelling workbooks) and any other thing you want to throw in there that they can do on their own. They pull out the cards one at a time, complete what’s on the card and put it in the “Done” folder or pocket (I have a clear bag stuck to the fridge with magnets). When they’ve finished all their cards, they get free time. The point is, everyone needs to understand that on these days they need to be self-driven. You get work done on the house, or your calling or whatever you need to do.
Provident Living/Field Trip Days- Choose a few days each month to work on fun things together (maybe as a reward after spelling tests, or just when everyone needs a change of pace before you all go crazy). You can paint a room, plant a garden, learn to check tire pressure/ clean bikes, baking or cooking, spring cleaning, sew buttons/ mend socks, build a tree-house… whatever thing you want them to learn to do. Or you can go on a field trip to some awesome place. Or do both!
Chores- One huge perk to homeschool is having the time to truly teach your children that keeping the house nice is not just mom’s job. The house belongs to everyone, and therefore, everyone needs to help keep it running smoothly. Two books that offer wonderful counsel and suggestions are “Kids, Chores, & More” by Judy H. Wright and “The Children You Want With the Kids You Have” by Marie Ricks. We have found our groove. Each of the kids have a job that changes monthly (dishes, unload dishwasher, etc.) and everyone cleans part of a bathroom and helps vacuum and dust each week. We also have jobs that kids can volunteer to do in order to earn money, but we don't pay our children for doing their normal chores. These chores come with being part of a family. We're a team!
The Annual Plan- Once you’ve gotten most of your curriculum together you’ll want to print up a good calendar and set a plan for what you want to get done each day/week/month. I get really detailed with my plan, but you don't have to. I have a friend who puts together a spreadsheet each year. It's just important to have some sort of written plan that will keep you feeling good about where you're going and what you're accomplishing. It is also good to have as a record in case you need to show someone evidence of your homeschooling. It doesn’t matter that you stick to it precisely… you’ll just need to have things planned out to help cut down on emotional stress later on. You may end up tweaking the plan several times every other week… and that’s okay. You’ll figure out what works best for you.
Worksheets- I use www.edhelper.com for hand-outs and little papers etc. You'll want to schedule a week when you can just hunker down and go through all of this stuff and find what you like best and how you want to use it.
Workbooks- we like going to Barnes & Noble and Borders and perusing what they have. Spectrum uses the Little Critter book characters and explains the lessons really well. I like the workbooks that the kids can just open and get to work. There are some like Kumon that might work well for your kiddos, it just depends on what kind of learners they are. They're not really our thing, though. Most of my kids are right-brained dyslexics that need visually interesting material. For Kindergarten through 6th or 7th grade, I use spelling (one page each day Mon. - Thurs. and a spelling test on Friday); reading, writing, penmanship, grammar, and math workbooks. It gets hard to find workbooks for 7th Graders. We'll probably sign up for a set curriculum for our next 7th Grader.
Math- the best math out there is Saxon Math... but it is as boring as watching grass grow. I would only use Saxon for children who LOVE math and have a natural affinity towards it. For my family, however, I really like Teaching Textbooks much better. It’s thorough and extremely well-done. It’s a set of CDs for the computer and has verbal as well as visual explanations… step-by-step stuff. The younger grades have some animation. The kids really like it… and that’s impressive… because none of my kids like math. They are expensive, though.
Set curriculum- This is if you don’t want to mess with the schedule I suggested above. I use this for my 8th graders through High School. The best thing we’ve seen out there is Alpha Omega’s Switched on Schoolhouse (SOS). What’s great about this is that it takes all the effort out of it for you, the mom. You choose which subjects you want, and they send the CDs along with any supplies you may need for each subject. You enter information and the program sets the schedule of assignments that they need to accomplish every day and keeps track of their grades, quizzes, reviews, etc. It’s great. The only down-side is that it doesn’t have an audio explanation to go along with what the kids read on-screen (unless you turn on the text reading app on your computer… but then it sounds like a computer is reading your lesson) and it can be boring because it’s just them and the computer every single day… no variation. They’ve just developed an online interactive version of it called “Monarch” that looks great, but it’s more expensive. I think it would be more interesting, though. Check them out online. This is the way to go for 7th and 8th Grades and High School. They have all sorts of courses to choose from. I don’t do their religion classes, (we handle that on our own) and we’ve tried their math and it’s terribly boring… we like Teaching Textbooks better. I’m not sold on the writing course either, but it’s really worth it for the sake of your sanity and time. You know they’re learning even when you, as mom, have had a bad week/month/year. :)
Textbooks- There are some AWESOME textbook/encyclopedias from Usborne Books that are internet linked. They are the most beautiful books I've found and each section has internet links to educational websites on that topic that are pretty fun and interesting. These would be perfect for research projects, or when kids are bored, or when you need something for their free-style time. For older kids, if you don’t want to go the set curriculum route: “Grammar Rules!” by Mary Schatz, “Write Shop I & II” – Kim Kautzer and Debra Oldar, Teaching Textbooks computer CDs for Math, "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy" explains economics, and, believe it or not, all the “For Dummies” or “For Idiots” books… they’re funny & interesting.
High School Kids- Have them write, write, write! They need to be in the habit of writing papers that are several pages long every week. This might be a good course to pay for a group class. Also, have them start practicing for the ACT /SAT exam through the awesome online courses they have. They need to start that by their Sophomore year at the latest.
Graphs for Math Facts/Typing/Geography Maps- These are good for Admin. Days and free-style time. We make a folder called “Fast Facts” for each kid. Then I created a page with a graph on it where the kids write down the name of the column of math they were doing (you can find pages of math problems at the back of the workbooks or edhelper or any free math online site). They use a stopwatch and mark how long it took them to complete that column on the graph. The kids time themselves and seem to have fun trying to beat their own scores. They keep timing themselves and marking it down on the graph until they can do it in the time set as a goal for them. The younger ones can do addition and subtraction and the older ones can do multiplication/ division. They’re really never too old to do these… it’ll just make advanced math easier if they have these facts memorized and not have to use their fingers. You can also make up a folder with blank sections of maps that they time themselves filling in, or typing. We tried all of them but only really stuck with the math.
Toys- There are some wonderful educational toys out there. I don't think they make Turbo Twist anymore... but it's a math toy (they also have spelling) that turns it all into a game. Leap Frog toys are great. We also use Leap Pad... but I think they're phased out, too. There are a ton of new ones out there, though, and if nothing else, you can probably find the old ones on Ebay. All learning games are a great investment. Pick their favorites and use those for Admin. Days and any time you need something for them to do.
Creative Writing- I put a bunch of fun story titles in a jar and the kids draw one out and write a story for me every day. On Thursday, they pick their favorite story from the past four days and turn it in for me to correct. On Friday they re-write the story and keep it in their portfolio. They can also make a poetry book or a photo book. For the youngest ones who don’t write much yet, I'd get those tablets of paper that have the top half a place for them to draw a picture and the bottom half to write a few words about that picture. If you can get the "Draw Write Now" books online, they are wonderful for beginners. They are taught how to draw a picture and then they copy the writing below it. I'd get the Drawing and Handwriting Book to go along with it. We also save fun calendar art-pictures and have the kids make up a story about the picture they see.
Great Brain Projects- Something that I love, love, love is having what we call "Great Brain Project Night". This is when the kids go to the library and research a topic that interests them and then put together a presentation with visual aids and everything. Then you have a special family night where all the kids give their 3-5 minute oral presentations. The kids actually have fun doing it and they never forget what they’ve learned. We usually got together with another family when we did it. We did this about once a month and took turns hosting it while the other family brings the treat.
Websites- One of our favorite fun learning sites is http://www.jumpstart.com/. It requires a membership fee, but it is wonderful and age appropriate. I know that they went at least to 2nd Grade... but it's good review stuff for kids who may be a little older. I also use (as previously mentioned) http://www.edhelper.com/ http://www.funbrain.com/ and I have the older kids creating their own blogs.
Reading at Night - We spend some time each night reading to each of our kids before they go to bed. It started with picture books and then gradually grew to many of the classics and popular youth novels such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Anne of Green Gables, Chronicles of Narnia, etc. This has become a treat for all of us. The little ones get a few picture books and the older ones get together for whichever novel we're enjoying at the moment. I didn't expect my older kids to want this to continue, but they still loved it until they hit high school age and became impatient with having to wait until bed time to continue the story. That's usually when they venture off on their own and settle for just a hug goodnight as a bed time routine. :)
Think Outside the Box- A HUGE perk to homeschool is that you (and your child) now have the freedom to do something that other kids don't have the time for. If your child likes to write, have them start a novel. If they like to draw, have them start a portfolio or start their own comic series. They should be building things and exploring and experimenting! When your child is older, he/she can apprentice for someone in a field that interests them. Even the young kids can volunteer at pet shelters or other service-oriented places. Every vacation and road trip should be a fun, memorable learning opportunity! We need to re-train our minds to look at education as something wonderful and lasting instead of something that we cram in for a test or check off our list of things to do for the day. Carpe Diem!
