new to homeschooling, help!

[meg]

Okay, so I am new to message boards and new to homeschooling. I am going to start homeschooling my 4 (almost 5) year old this fall. (I also have a 2 and 1 year old who I'm sure will tag along some what.) I am LOVING The Well-Trained Mind and want to do a classical education. I'm not sure which curriculum's to use. I like Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, but I'm not sure that will be enough. So I am also looking at My Father's World but unsure of the overlap. Any thoughts, suggestions as I begin? I am so new to message boards that I don't know all the abbreviations- dd, dh, ds . . . ? Also, what is this whole Hive Mind Queen Bee. . . ?

Thanks so much!!! All my friends who homeschool just keep telling me to relax and not stress and that isn't helping!

[Deana FL]

I have 3 kids and homeschooling all of them. My last one is beginning K this year, so I'm starting all over again. I'll be using all my tried and true texts that have worked in that past. OPGTR wasn't around when I started so I'm going w/what I know...Teach Your Child to Read in 100 EZ lessons and the Explode the Code workbook series.

As far as math goes, I've always used Saxon and have never begun w/K, always Saxon 1 and my kids have done great with it.

Today was our first day back after a long break...first official Kindergarten year w/my youngest and it was so nice. Your friends' advice to "relax" is truly the best advice you could get. Your children are young...you can't mess them up because you love them better than any teacher ever could.

You have a challenge w/the 2 siblings hanging out w/you...so my advice is go with the flow..your K'er will pick up on things even when you're not really trying to teach.

Enjoy them!

[Lovedtodeath]

MFW K is perfect for a 4 year old. It takes the child through CVC words and then stops, so if you want more progress then that you will be dissapointed. All the other subjects including math are really at a preschool level not K, but it is a fantastic program. I love the short integrated lessons.

[Starr]

Welcome! dd, darling daughter; ds, darling son; dh, darling husband Around here everyone is a darling even when they're not. :) The hive is just us. I taught my son to read while drinking coffee in bed in the morning. I guess that's relaxed. Have fun, read lots of books, go for a nature walk (all walks are nature walks) and take a nap . They'll all be at the kitchen table doing their school work sooner than you can imagine. Keep asking questions. You'll get alot of help here.

[Tabrett]

I have a dd (dear daughter) who will be 5 in October.
Here is what I'm doing for K:

SL (Sonlight) P4/5
SL KLA (Kindergarten Language Arts) with Pre-ECT (Explode the Code) and SL K readers
HWT's (Handwriting Without Tears) K with all the suggested manipulative's
PP (Phonics Pathways) WTM's other phonic suggestion. I'm only doing PP's verbally as suggested in WTM.
RS Math A (RightStart Math)
MFW 3-4yr Preschool (My Fathers World) for the fine motor and visual discrimination skills (I'm not very crafty).:)

I also have a 3yr old who has his HWT's prek book and the About Three workbook from Rod and Staff (R&S). He will be joining us in math, read alouds, MFW Preschool and anything else he wants.

Google these curriculums and see what you think. I know it look like a lot, but the lessons for k and are pretty short and easy.

For first grade, I'm going to start the 4 year history cycle with SOTW 1(Story of the World) and AB (activity book), FFL (First Language Lessons) and WWE (Writing With Ease). I'm doing this instead of SL. I'm planning to continue with RS Math, PP, ECT, HWT's and add Egermeier's Bible Story Book plus science (haven't chosen that yet).

[OhElizabeth]

Hi Meg, welcome to the board! My dd is 4th gr this year, but I wanted to share some of the best things we did when she was your dc's age, things you might like to do.

Alphabet Art--This Judy Press book is SO much fun, so delightful. It has limericks, activities, crafts, finger plays, etc. for each letter of the alphabet. Do a letter of the alphabet each week and do the craft with your dc. So much fun, so age-appropriate, such happy memories!

nature walks--make little bags for each dc and take walks together each day. I got guides specific to our state and we would look for things to identify (trees, flowers, butterflies, etc.).

read alouds--WTM encourages you to do lots of read alouds and also books on tape/cd. We did this, and I have to say I think it's part of why she became such a good reader, because she had this huge mental bank of familiar words she could recognize as she started to decode. At that age she liked Narnia, Charlotte's Web, the Little House series, etc. We read to her diversely from history (especially the D'Aulaire books!), science (there is a wonderful elementary series at the library, forget the title but your librarian could show you), fairy tales (the Lang fairy tale books), and nursery rhymes.

My dd talked a lot of math with her but we didn't do anything formal at that age. When your dc is ready, I really like RightStart level A. No need to rush though, just whenever the dc seems ready. Real life math and lots of games using math will do until then.

The Five in a Row and Sonlight books are great too. The one thing that wasn't out when my dd was little that I'd like to do with this next one coming up is Winter Promise Animal Worlds. It schedules that Alphabet Art I was telling you about. We read the Read n' Grow Picture Bible quite a bit and found it excellent. I'd encourage you to just have fun, fun, fun and not be too concerned about calling it K5 or whatever. Don't think so hard about what you "have" to do to call it K5, because your dc really is on the young end. Just think FUN this year, and you'll look back and be happy. When they're this little, another 6 months or a year can make a HUGE difference in their readiness, no need to knock yourself out. If you teach them the alphabet and sounds and read to them and do basic math together, it's going to create a rich foundation with which they'll move forward when ready. Kids have their own timetables on learning to read, and it doesn't necessarily happen just because they've just turned 5 or because you've found the perfect curriculum. Those lightbulbs just come on when they come on.

[prairiegirl]

Hi Meg! You are at the right place! I have been here for 5 years and I have learned oh-so-much about homeschooling and the various curriculums. The best thing you can do is just ask questions here and read other posts. Soon you will learn what will work for your children and what will be a total disaster.

My oldest is starting 4th grade. When we did K, I had everything scheduled. I had curriculums for all of the subjects. I had everything under control. Well, our K year didn't go very well. I didn't let my dd be 5 years old. We didin't do the 'fun stuff' of a K year. It was all academics. This is my biggest regret.

I have the privilege of doing K for the third and last time and I think I am finally getting it right. My youngest is a go-getter. She wants to read like her older siblings. She wants to do school. But I am not going to fall in the same trap as I did for my oldest. I am not using any reading or math curriculums this year. We are just going to be learning the letters and their sounds. We will draw and paint pictures of the things that start with that sound. We will make letters out of clay, modeling beeswax, bread dough, etc. We will bake. We will paint with water colours. We will do lots of crafts and go on lots of walks. Oh, and of course, there will be oodles of books. We will use the book list at the living math (http://www.livingmath.net)site for math. I do have an advantage as I have amassed alot of resources throughout the years that gives me ideas to do living math activities. I don't think I would have been able to have gone this route my first time around.

I say all of this as a way of encouragement that even the simplest of plans can be successful. You don't need all of the bells and whistles for K. They are nice and they are tempting, but you don't necessarily need them. Sometimes, simpler is better.

[Lovedtodeath]

We will make letters out of clay, modeling beeswax, bread dough, etc.

This is a great idea! I did this as an afterthought to solidify how to make numbers in DDs head. We used speghetti! Also...

Montessori Read and Write: A Parent's Guide to Literacy for Children. ISBN 0609803352 This is what I plan to do with my youngest.

[meg]

Thank you all for responding, what an encouragement and help. There were some great ideas ad reinforcement to just relax and enjoy my ds! (I get the abbreviations now!)