We Homeschool!!

[shell2011]

Wow, Jen, you thought of everything!

We have been homeschooling for 6 years now and LOVE it! I have 3 sons. My oldest is in 9th grade, my calmest is in 5th grade, and my craziest is in Kindergarten.

I am very passionate about homeschooling and would love to talk about curriculum choices, offer encouragement, or just chat with others about how their schools function

[Jennifer]

LOL, I pulled this all together in one day, like all day lol I tried to think of it all but if there's anything else you guys would like to see let me know! I want everyone to feel like this is our group and feel at home

[hsmom24]

Awesome, I'll never need to visit another board again, we have everything right here...except maybe a crunchy parent sub-forum.

I home school too, and have been since my oldest started K. I now have a 7th, 5th, 3rd and 2nd grader. I cried so badly when my youngest was in K and learning how to read. I thought I would never again get the opportunity to teach another little one the joy and wonder of reading.

Here's a mini rundown of what curriculum we use:
Math: Math-U-See
English and Bible: Rod & Staff
Science: Apologia
Spelling: Spelling Power
Handwriting: Italic Handwriting
Reading: we pretty much just let the kids read whatever they'd like, so long as it's grade appropriate (I have one or two kids who like to read something WAY too simple just to get reading done with quickly lol)

[shell2011]

Hey Leslie! I use different things for each child, but Apologia is a constant for us! My 14 yr old has done everything through Chemistry. He is using a secular text for AP Biology, but will be using Apologia over the summer for Advanced Chemistry. That way, he has a solid Biblical foundation before he moves to the secular text used for AP Chemistry (we did this for AP Bio, too).

I just began using Rod&Staff for my 5th grader and LOVE it!! He likes it, too. We Math-u-see to supplement Singapore Math for him. We used Saxon math once we get to 6th grade.

How do you like spelling power? I have it, but can't seem to make it work for my 5th grader (the only one that does spelling).

For history, geography, literature, and Bible/Worldview, we use Tapestry of Grace. This is my absolute favorite program! We follow the classical education model and have children at very different learning levels so this curriculum choice has been such a blessing.

[hsmom24]

I really like Spelling Power, but I changed it up a bit from how they recommend you do it.

We do our 5 minutes of spelling, and any word a child gets wrong is written on a piece of paper (that I also use as the bookmark) with a dot next to the word. This dot tells me that they haven't spelled the word correctly yet. We always start our spelling by going over the words that are on my list with a dot. When they do spell the word correctly, the word stays on my list, but the dot is removed. Then I don't have them review that word again, until the start of the next week. If they spell the word correctly on Monday, the word is removed from the list, but if not then I place a dot after it again, and we review it again.

So, on Tuesday Cortney spelled incomplete wrong. It gets written on my list with a dot. On Wednesday she still spells it incorrectly, so it remains on the list with a dot. However, on Thursday, she spells it correctly. The word stays on the list, but the dot is removed. On Friday we do NOT go over the spelling of this word, but on Monday we do. If she spells it correctly again on Monday, then the word is removed from the list altogether, but if she spells it incorrectly, the dot goes back next to it and the cycle starts over again.

I've found that by doing this it helps with the spelling retention. Spelling Power wants you to only review a word until it's spelled correctly one time, and then you never go back to it. I want to make sure that they really remember how to spell the word before moving on (that's why I wait until Monday to review it again, because then they have at least the weekend as a break).

[Jennifer]

Leslie, I checked out your blog and so admire your homeschooling. I really wish I would of started this with my kids and you look so organized! Like the white board schedule and cork board!

[hardin82]

We home school. I have a 1st and 2nd grader, both about to be done in Feb!! We use Alpha Omega and our own bible curr.

I do not like everything with Alpha, but it's working. I'm new to it all, ya know! Also, we used "Scaredy Cat" for our reading system and WOW, it's amazing. My girls read so well and how it teaches them, they will be excellent readers for life. I even learned so much teaching it! Crazy.

Love the organization of this site!

[shell2011]

Hi J. Hardin! I'm so glad to see you here. I've learned so many things since we began homeschooling. I've used Alpha Omega here and there. We used it for social studies one year before I discovered Tapestry of Grace and for health. Do you use the computer version or the workbooks?

That is so nice that your children are wrapping up in Feb! Wow! So, will you continue to the next grade level or take a break?

[hardin82]

When we finish a school year early, we always just start to the next, so they can keep learning and have Summer break!