Let’s talk homeschooling encouragement and resources. If you are new to homeschooling, welcome! Firstly, out of the gate, I like to say this to new and old homeschool moms… Homeschooling should not look like a traditional school, it shouldn’t even look like a private school.
Your family and the way you homeschool, will and should be unique to the needs of your family and your children. One of the many benefits of choosing to homeschool your children is that you get to know your student’s individual needs and learning styles and can cater the curriculum and the way you teach that child the way they need it to best learn the information being taught.
I am only covering Pre-K to 8th grade in this post as that is as far as I have gone up till now, even though I have had my older two finish out Jr. High in 8th. Eventually, I will write up a post dealing with high school with a lot of great resources.
Homeschooling For Pre-K
I can’t even begin to tell you how many first-time moms I have talked to who have had a hard time with the younger years. They burn themselves and their child out with FAR too much curriculum and
not enough hands-on and hands-off learning. Let me preface this next statement with this, you do NOT have to start your child out in school before the age your state requires.
That being said I have taught all my children to read at a strong first-grade level by the time they are 5 years old. This is just the way I teach best, and it works for our family.
The craziest part of this, is I do it in 20 minutes MAX a day. Your kids at this age will DO WAY better with your consistency rather than your forcing hours a day in bookwork on them. One of the best things you can do for them is NOT overwhelming to them.
During the first few years, we spend our homeschool days, working on mostly reading. We talk about numbers, but reading is my focus. If I could get them reading, EVERYTHING else falls into place SO much easier.
All, that being said here are some resources I have used during my homeschooling journey in the early years. Some curriculums I found worked better than others and if I could say one thing to homeschool families, that you take away, it’s this… ONLY use a curriculum that works for YOU and YOUR CHILD. It doesn’t matter how popular it is, DON”T use it unless you really love it. Trust me, it doesn’t end well for you are your student.
Resources Recommendations For Pre-K
All About Reading I used this and think it’s a GREAT program but, my other resources work better for my teaching style. I added it because of how well put together it is, and how many other homeschool moms I know love it.
Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons
Homeschooling For Kindergarten
Very similar to Pre-K, bookwork isn’t always the best use of the time you have in their education. This is when I introduce K-level math. If you look at education as if you are a staircase, starting with simple steps that are going to be the foundation of everything they are going to learn, being simple and to the point is what is going to set your child up for many more years of learning.
If my child starts getting bent out of shape, I drop it for a while and come back to it the next day. Things go WAY smoother when your child isn’t in a distracted or grumpy state. So take a deep breath and don’t hesitate to take a break.
I have tried a multitude of different math curriculums for K and First Grade, I am linking the good and the beautiful because we did enjoy it… However, I still feel like I want to try other ones, so this is not necessarily the math, I will stick to for this age group.
Reading- Pathway Reader Grade 1
(I do not use the workbooks with this reading curriculum as they are already covering what the workbook covers in their language arts curriculum.)
Language Arts- Reading, Writing, Art, Geography, Spelling, English, and Grammar.
Homeschooling For First Grade
First and second grade time wise is pretty similar to Kindergarten, about 1 1/2 hrs sometimes shorter. They usually get all the required bookwork done and then can move on to other learning activities. Schooling year-round makes it so that I don’t have to overcompensate for having fewer days to work with. Hours and homeschool requirements vary from state to state, so just be sure to check your laws.
Language Arts- Reading, Writing, Art, Geography, Spelling, English, and Grammar.
Homeschooling For Second Grade
This grade is when I transition math, to Teaching Textbooks. I don’t do a lot of online courses or online learning… However, this math curriculum has been AMAZING. Even though it starts in 3rd grade, I always start my second graders in it, as it’s very simply explained, and thus far we have not had any problems doing that.
Language Arts – Reading, Writing, Art, Geography, Spelling, English, and Grammar.
Homeschooling For Third Grade
Third and fourth grades are also similar time-wise, 2 1/2 for all their bookwork. Sometimes faster if they are determined. Timing can be longer or shorter depending on the child.
Language Arts- Reading, Writing, Art, Geography, Spelling, English, and Grammar.
Homeschooling For 4th Grade
Reading- At this point, I just get my child a library card, they read through at least one book of their choice and then they have to do any of the curriculum-required reading on top of that.
Language Arts – Reading, Writing, Art, Geography, Spelling, English and
Homeschooling For 5th Grade
Reading- Their own booklist and any required curriculum reading
Language Arts- Reading, Writing, Art, Geography, Spelling, English, and Grammar.
Homeschooling For 6th Grade
Reading- Their own booklist and any required curriculum reading
Language Arts – Reading, Writing, Art, Geography, Spelling, English, and Grammar.
Homeschooling For 7th Grade
Reading- Their own booklist and any required curriculum reading
Language Arts- Reading, Writing, Art, Geography, Spelling, English, and Grammar.
Homeschooling For 8th Grade
My two oldest (Irish twins) tested into High School one for language arts… I am going to link the 8th-grade level here for language arts, but I recommend taking the placement tests from “The Good And The Beautiful” before placing them in a level.
After much thought, I decided to have them complete Science, Math, and History at each level. This is just one of the many good reasons, I love being a homeschooling mama… I love that my kids could go at their own pace.
Reading- Their own booklist and any required curriculum reading
Language Arts-Reading, Writing, Art, Geography, Spelling, English and Grammar.
Homeschool Co’ops
Homeschooling has become WAY more popular over the last couple of years, due to… Well, just look around us.
That being said, most places will have a local homeschool group you could tap into, especially if you are a new homeschool parent. Co-ops are certainly not necessary, however, I have found they have been helpful in some seasons of our homeschool years, and extremely UNhelpful in other seasons.
Can homeschooling cause depression and anxiety?
Homeschooling doesn’t cause depression and anxiety. Maybe a dysfunctional homeschool or more importantly the home life… If you have the right motives, the oomph to pull it off the right way for your family, then it should not CAUSE depression or anxiety.
If you suffer from depression or anxiety period, I would take that seriously and make sure your hormones are balanced and get professional help if necessary. When I first started out, just having some older homeschool moms to talk with and bounce things off of helped SO much!
Can homeschooling make your child anti-social?
Alright, this one ALWAYS gets me… No, homeschooling does NOT make you anti-social. Being anti-social makes you anti-social.
Homeschooling parents MANY of them anyway, make it a priority to have get-togethers often, to get their kids into nursing homes, to get them involved in extracurricular activities available to them.
Now, each family is SO different, and the beauty of homeschooling is that you get to choose what best fits your family’s lifestyle…
More often than not I have been able to give my kids MORE opportunities due to the fact we have the freedom in our schedule to decide when and where we want to go.
I have met awkward public schoolers, awkward private schoolers, and awkward homeschoolers. This is really more about the person and the dynamics and environment they are growing up in.
Is Homeschooling better?
For many reasons, I would say yes. That being said, there are many situations where the answer could and should be no. This is a question each family needs to answer for themselves.
Is Homeschooling hard?
I personally do not think it is hard. I mean it is work for sure, but it’s life.
Education is not just book work, it’s just life if you can realize that as a parent, you need to teach your child more than bookwork, that like skills are equally if not more important than knowing every scientific fact in life, that brings a lot of perspective and peace into homeschooling.
How To Pick Home School Curriculum For Home Education?
The first step in choosing your homeschool curriculum is to know your own kids well, like really do your best to learn your child’s interests…
Some people like to attend homeschool conventions, which is a great option if you are the kind of person that needs to physically feel the material and see it with your own eyes.
There are online classes I know you can get your hands on if that is your thing.
- My absolute #1 Tip when picking a homeschooling curriculum, is to MAKE SURE you love teaching it, and that your child enjoys the curriculum. This will save you both a lot of tears and stress. This doesn’t mean every single lesson is going to be peachy, it just makes teaching WAY easier and you know, you are starting out on the right foot!
- My #2 Tip, is to ask veteran homeschoolers, this doesn’t mean you have to go with what they are using or suggest but, a lot of times they can give GREAT advice and a variety of ways to get started with your homeschool journey as you get the ball rolling.
- My #3 Tip, is to do youtube reviews before purchasing a curriculum, it’s a safe space to really analyze what it is that will work for your homeschool life without any peer pressure. Your loving and connecting with the curriculum, like I said, is KEY!
- My #4 tip, is to ask another homeschooling mom, to see her curriculum if she has one you are interested in. If you don’t want to go to conferences and need homeschool encouragement, your homeschool mama friends are definitely a great resource…
Classical Science for K-8th
The Good And Beautiful Science
Classical Science for History K-8th
This is what we are currently using, but I know with all curriculum it can change if we find something we like better. I love learning classical style in these subjects though, it makes teaching SO much easier.
Another great resource is called Teachers Pay Teachers this has a lot of great educational downloads.
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3 Powerful Habits to Create More Connection With Your Children
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