Homeschooling
We officially decided to home school Colton and Calvin. This is of course tentative and really a trial. We can always change our minds (I am not going to change my mind, but I don't know if Shane might). I am having a hard time finding information about homeschooling that is not religious and especially having a hard time finding other free thinkers that home school.
NOTE: I'm not an atheist, but Shane is. I don't label myself anything. Sometimes I say "agnostic" or "spiritual" to avoid having to explain my belief system.
Back to homeschooling. I am really excited to start. I have done a little bit over the last few weeks, but I am trying to get a good schedule and make my own trial curriculum for this year. I don't plan on purchasing curriculums at first. Except for possibly math. I have a Hooked On Phonics kit for reading, a library card, and writing is something that I can teach. There are tons of free print offs online for learning to write letters and words. I want to do topical studies for science and social studies. This way we can pick things to study and go to the library to find books and videos, search online, etc. The kids have so many of their own interests for me to pick from!! Shane is going to do music classes so they gain a proper appreciation for classical music. Eventually we can choose unit studies or curriculums. This is really the very beginning for us, so we haven't yet written down any goals or plans on what the kids are going to study. I'll keep you updated on some of the process we go through. I hope to get some time to write up some goals in the next week. I picked up two books at Barnes & Noble on homeschooling. They both say that the first step is to write down WHY you are homeschooling and WHAT you want your child to learn. Then you can decide HOW you are going to teach them. I plan to teach eclectically. Which basically means I am not going to use all curriculums. I want to do some unschooling where the kids pick what they are currently interested in and pursue it, and some unit studies where you pick a topic and apply that topic to all subjects. I may not be organized enough, but I hope that I am.
NOTE: I'm not an atheist, but Shane is. I don't label myself anything. Sometimes I say "agnostic" or "spiritual" to avoid having to explain my belief system.
Back to homeschooling. I am really excited to start. I have done a little bit over the last few weeks, but I am trying to get a good schedule and make my own trial curriculum for this year. I don't plan on purchasing curriculums at first. Except for possibly math. I have a Hooked On Phonics kit for reading, a library card, and writing is something that I can teach. There are tons of free print offs online for learning to write letters and words. I want to do topical studies for science and social studies. This way we can pick things to study and go to the library to find books and videos, search online, etc. The kids have so many of their own interests for me to pick from!! Shane is going to do music classes so they gain a proper appreciation for classical music. Eventually we can choose unit studies or curriculums. This is really the very beginning for us, so we haven't yet written down any goals or plans on what the kids are going to study. I'll keep you updated on some of the process we go through. I hope to get some time to write up some goals in the next week. I picked up two books at Barnes & Noble on homeschooling. They both say that the first step is to write down WHY you are homeschooling and WHAT you want your child to learn. Then you can decide HOW you are going to teach them. I plan to teach eclectically. Which basically means I am not going to use all curriculums. I want to do some unschooling where the kids pick what they are currently interested in and pursue it, and some unit studies where you pick a topic and apply that topic to all subjects. I may not be organized enough, but I hope that I am.
posted by Rachel at 2:17 PM
1 Comments:
Hey! With Math, you might want to look into Saxon Math... I almost taught myself math in high-school with that program, and they have it starting in K. For cheaper prices, try e-bay. Cheers!
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