Intro—
·
10 kids, 19-2, names and ages
·
Bob—retired AF Lt. Col, now government contractor
·
Didn’t grow up in a big family or even ever want
to homeschool
·
College experience, bio/math degree
·
L’s lived with us, we saw homeschooling in
action
·
Walking group—trying to get into best preschool,
etc.
*Suzanne’s
advice to me then: just work on first-time
obedience, good attitude, attention span
--Buy Usborne
count by numbers and alphabet books, tear out pages and laminate them
*Moved to
Ohio, started “real” homeschooling
--Veritas Press stuff, found
Well Trained Mind
--Nathan couldn’t rhyme, had
problems spelling, slow to learn to read, but took off after he turned 7
*Did a lot orally!
--Luke taught himself to read at
4 after a few lessons of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
*Moved to VA
when Nathan was in 2nd grade, in 2004 (*had 4 kids)
--plodded on with homeschooling,
had 6 more babies, including 3 girls in less than 3 years
--Discovered Nathan most likely
had “dysgraphia”, where there was a “gate” between his brain and his hand, and
that doing things orally was a good thing for that
--Worried about putting him in local co-op in 7th because of
writing/spelling issues
--Year of CC with good friends,
the McCs—new campus, showed us what we wanted and didn’t want
--Started our own little junior/senior
high co-op with McCs and 2 other families the next year called Rivendell
*Rivendell—rigorous;
8 approved AP syllabi, 4.5 average score, I teach junior high school science
classes there, through AP biology
--Nathan graduated 2 years ago,
having gotten a perfect 800 on the verbal part of the SAT, turned down an
appointment to West Point (USMA) to take a 4 year full ROTC scholarship at VT
as an engineering major and had a 3.84 GPA last year.
Encouragement—what
they are at 5 is not what they will be later on
--WIDE range of normal; assume
normalcy but work with weaknesses
--Don’t compare, especially
boys/girls
I say all this as introduction so you know where I am coming
from. I am not one who says, “Just do
character stuff—academics don’t matter!”
BUT it is so easy to get completely overwhelmed when looking at
curriculum and just homeschooling—am I doing enough? Is this curriculum challenging enough for my
kindergartner? As you look at curriculum
and map out your path, I want to tell you what I’ve found important to focus
on, and I want to give some advice about choosing curriculum.
General advice first:
1. Pray.
Seek the Lord’s guidance. Listen
to his voice, but don’t confuse it with noise around you. Just because everyone is talking about a
certain new curriculum is not necessarily a sign that God wants you to switch
to that. Be discerning.
2. Don’t chase after the perfect curriculum, and
don’t buy into the hype of every shiny new curriculum. Don’t envy your friend’s new
curriculum—especially if the one you have been using is working just fine. The perfect curriculum is not out there. And even if you find one that works perfectly
for one child, it won’t work that well for the next. Balance your expectations!
3. A corollary to #2: Don’t jump from curriculum to curriculum,
especially in math. There may be
legitimate reasons to switch. I did it
this year for my 5th grade daughter.
But make sure you understand the reasons the first curriculum didn’t
work, and get to the root of the problem, instead of just bailing out at the
first sign of a problem. Jumping around
is a good way to have gaps for your kids.
4. Don’t make choosing a curriculum, especially at
the kindergarten level, a bigger deal than it is. You’re not marrying it. And honestly, most curricula and most methods
of teaching (CM, WTM, traditional) will really get the job done, especially at
this young age. So don’t fret about it. Go with something you like and you think you
will use because YOU understand the logic behind it. Don’t choose something that will make you
feel guilty if you don’t use it, or that ties you to a strict schedule. These are your years to be flexible!
5. Choose something that compliments your lifestyle
and family situation. Don’t choose
something with high teacher prep or high one-on-one time required if you have
several other younger kids. If you lose
stuff easily, don’t pick a curriculum that has you storing 50 small pieces that
are all very important. And if you don’t
even like crafts, then don’t choose something where you are buying supplies
every week and cleaning up messes that you hate. That’s what TNT is for.
6. Don’t try to do a ton of different subjects,
just to say you’re doing them. Honestly,
seatwork at this age should be about 20 minutes. Work on developing attention spans (and those
of you that have girls first will have the advantage here), but don’t try to
cram in phonics, math, grammar, art, science, history, etc. so their schedule
looks like that of someone in 4th grade. It doesn’t need to, because there are many
more years to add on subjects. Have
reasonable expectations for this age, looking ahead to your long-term goals,
but not trying to accomplish those goals all in one year. Fourth grade is where we really start beefing
up the schoolwork. By then the kids are
more mature and able to handle things.
Important things to focus on in kindergarten:
1.
Reading—obviously
a.
Like potty-training, this is easier when they
are motivated. If they don’t get it
right away, it is okay to not push it.
Again—WIDE range of normal.
b.
I’ve used VP’s Phonics Museum because I did a
ton of research when Nathan was my oldest, and so then after that of course I
was going to use it. 100 EZ Lessons
works well too, with ETC, or really any other phonics program. Use what you like. Your kids will probably be excited for a
lesson or 2 and then not want to do anything resembling hard work after that,
so don’t depend on what they “like”.
They can be fickle. Again, don’t
use something too complicated when you are still having babies or have
toddlers. I dropped all the fancy extras
of VP, and you know what—it still worked just fine.
c.
Read aloud, and make SURE they see you reading
yourself, something other than your phone or computer. It’s hypocritical to talk about how important
reading is, but never actually do it.
Sometimes have them narrate back what you’ve read to them to make sure
they are comprehending, another important skill.
d.
I start handwriting by writing with a
highlighter and having the kids trace over it.
You don’t need fancy curricula for everything. After that we generally use HWT because it doesn’t
have a slant, and I’m left-handed, so it’s hard for me to teach writing. This
is not a big focus of mine, honestly.
2.
Math—this is a big focus of mine, but not
necessarily the workbooks.
a.
Do a lot of practical math—cutting apples,
graham crackers, etc. into fractions, adding things, playing with 10s concepts
so they can envision numbers in their minds
b.
Encourage logical thinking, with steps, in
problem solving. Break problems like
organizing a room into smaller steps.
Critical Thinking Press, Hidden pictures, etc.
c.
Don’t skip around in your curriculum; make sure
they know their facts
d.
We’ve always used Saxon until I switched Anna (5th
grade) to Teaching Textbooks this year.
She needed a confidence boost, and her 13 month younger sister was at
the same place in math as her, so it made sense to put her in something
else. She would have been devastated to
be doing the same math as Grace. It’s
been a great change for her—she’s gained a lot of confidence back already.
3.
Memory
Work (Train the brain to memorize—Nathan has appreciated this skill in college)
a.
After a year of CC, I designed my own based on
what I wanted them to know later
b.
Bible passages (benefits to knowing chunks of
Scripture), timeline, kings and queens by houses, presidents, science facts,
poems, and then mapwork corresponding to TOG (which we use with our older kids)
c.
We do it all together (until junior high) , but
different expectations for different ages, as part of our “couch time” every
day, where we also read the Bible, pray for a country in Operation World, read
SOTW, and do other oral stuff like FLL.
d.
Younger kids—at least the first several verses
of the Bible passage, some timeline, easier poems (Owl and the pussycat, I’m
Nobody, Who are You, All Things Bright and Beautiful, etc.), while the older
kids eventually learn all the timeline, kings and queens, etc. plus harder
poems and speeches, like St. Crispin Day speech from Henry V and the Gettysburg
Address.
4.
Latin—not for kindergarten, generally, but more
like 2nd or 3rd grade
“Math for the right side of the brain”
Junior high—take National Latin Exam level 1, then start foreign language
BUT Anna is taking German this year because that opportunity arose, so
don’t be afraid to take opportunities that come up just because they don’t look
like your ideal plan
5.
Science—extra at this age. Make them curious and observant. Develop a science vocabulary, like with
memory work, and don’t worry if they don’t understand it. Read library books on different science
topics. Take nature walks and help them
ask “why” questions.
6.
History—read something like SOTW or MOH, have
maps everywhere in your house.
7.
Unstructured time to play both inside and
outside, especially for boys
This honestly is more important than any curriculum. There is so much time for sitting still
later.
8.
Don’t be
afraid to take time off. Take a
long-term view. Kindergarten schoolwork
is simply not that deeply crucial. If it
takes you 2 years to finish something, so what.
If you have a baby and need to take a while off, that is okay. “The baby is the lesson.”
9.
I liked to school 6 weeks, then take a week off
when I only had littles. Don’t burn
yourself out. Being super-rigorous or
finding the perfect curriculum is worthless if you can only last 2 years. Again,
think long-term. Go year-around—not only
is it better in terms of retention, you can take time off without guilt.
10.
If you are burning out at this stage—dial it
down. Teach practical skills instead,
that will actually help you, like laundry folding, sweeping, cleaning toilets,
etc. Take field trips. Go to the park or on hikes. Read tons of books out loud.
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