Starting homeschooling this year!

[realtonygoodwin]

Hey, we have decided to homeschool my oldest daughter, at least for Kindergarten. Any recommendations for anything? If you check out my latest blog entry, it is all about what method and curricula we will be using.


Anyone else first-time homeschoolers this year?

[realtonygoodwin]

We are the only ones?

[Nate-ForLiberty]

I don't have a kid :p

[realtonygoodwin]

Get working on that! :P

[sunshine05]

I homeschool my boys. This will be our 2nd year. My older one will be starting 5th grade. Younger one, first grade.

[Southron]

Well Trained Mind book and forums. Check them out.

[realtonygoodwin]

Alrighty on it Rifleman! I joined there around the same time I joined here!

[AceNZ]

Every parent and child are different. Part of my experience home schooling my kids (for high school) was to let them pick subjects they were interested in. I didn't see any need to force the usual public school agenda on them. Instead, I helped them understand that for the long term, learning is really up to them -- and I was there to help answer questions or provide guidance if they got stuck.

It helped that my kids went to a private school for nursery to 8th, where they taught in a similar way.

Some key moments of insight for me in their education included things like: for most kids (not all), if they are exposed to books and other written words, they will learn to read pretty much on their own, with only minimal instruction. The same is true for many other areas of study. Also, when they're young, nurturing a desire to learn, an enjoyment of the process and the ability to ask questions when they get stuck -- along with appropriate social skills -- is, in many ways, more important than the subject matter being taught. I know it probably sounds counter-intuitive; I found most other parents at my kid's school had a hard time accepting this at first, but finally got it by about 7th grade.

Here's their general curriculum for kindergarten, in case it's helpful:

In kindergarten, the abilities to express oneself and to make personal decisions continue to be encouraged. Children have opportunities to express themselves through art, play, and selection of activities. Creating self-portraits, for example, incorporates both observing and defining oneself and observing how others define themselves. Children also take pride in beginning to share responsibility for tasks within the classroom, including cleaning up and caring for materials.

While play is still central to the curriculum, the children begin to join in more formal group processes. For the first time they participate in class meetings-telling their news, expressing their opinions on how to solve class problems, voting, and listening while others talk. There is greater emphasis on group activities, including art, science, music, clay, and physical education. Special teachers come to the classroom every week to lead exploration in these areas. Class projects, which often develop out of the interests of the particular group, are generally initiated and guided by teachers, but are shaped and modified by the children. Teachers work at engaging each child's interest in the project at hand, and children may pursue tasks in highly individual ways.

Kindergarten also includes opportunities to develop pre-reading and math skills through activities which include counting, measuring, building, and letter and word recognition. Finally, the first field trips are taken, offering opportunities to draw upon local resources as well as to broaden the range of activities in which children may participate.

[sunshine05]

I'm sorry. I meant to add - we're going to use Moving Beyond the Page for both boys and Math-U-See.

[trey4sports]

I recommend reading, For a New Liberty by Murray Rothbard :p

start 'em early, no Thomas the train or blues clues :D

[realtonygoodwin]

Thanks!

[UtahApocalypse]

We are starting to research homeschooling so we can be prepared when it come that time in a couple years.

[iGGz]

Hey, we have decided to homeschool my oldest daughter, at least for Kindergarten. Any recommendations for anything? If you check out my latest blog entry, it is all about what method and curricula we will be using.


Anyone else first-time homeschoolers this year?


Hey I just got reminded of this website from the Colbert Report tonight. You may want to take a look at it, it's pretty amazing.

I used to follow it a couple years ago, but had totally forgotten about it. Sadly, I need to refresh some of my math skills and this will help a lot.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

[romacox]

Every State is different in their legal requirements. So it is important to contact your State Homeschool Association. Here is a link for that purpose:
http://www.read-phonics.com/homeschool.html

Here is a resource for homeschool curriculum...much of it is free:
http://educators-space.blogspot.com/p/sight-map-of-articles.html

[Eagles' Wings]

On line public school programs provide a full curriculum, books, science experiments, computors with printers, lap tops for highschool, etc. So, the child is a public school kid taught at home. We've looked at a couple and especially like the K12 program, founded by Bill Bennett.

Families then add their own flavor to supplement this as needed/desired.

The kids spend some time in a virtual classroom with a teacher they can see/hear and they can hear the other students. I imagine some use skype as well.

No tuition - that's a plus.

[Lucille]

On line public school programs provide a full curriculum, books, science experiments, computors with printers, lap tops for highschool, etc. So, the child is a public school kid taught at home. We've looked at a couple and especially like the K12 program, founded by Bill Bennett.

Families then add their own flavor to supplement this as needed/desired.

The kids spend some time in a virtual classroom with a teacher they can see/hear and they can hear the other students. I imagine some use skype as well.

No tuition - that's a plus.

K12 (AZVA) is the one mine attends. We love it.

Congratulations on your decision, and welcome!

[randolphfuller]

I used the materials from Calvert company. Which are conservative and excellent. I presume they are still in business.

[ifthenwouldi]

Well Trained Mind book and forums. Check them out.

Doing that right now. I'm gonna start homeschooling my 11 y.o. son August 1st.

[realtonygoodwin]

What is your user name there?