August 31, 2011

Difficult Decision, Unpopular Choices- Part 2 ⁴

by Wendy • 2011: Bold, Homeschool

You now have the low-down on why we are starting our journey of homeschooling.  You may be wondering how we are planning on educating Catherine.  The possibilities are endless and exciting!

A fellow blogging friend and homeschooling Mom was the first person that I talked to about her curriculum choices.  She has two little ones that she is teaching, her daughter is Catherine’s age.  When she started her back to school posts, I was immediately interested in why she chose the particular curriculum that she did.  I loved hearing about what her children are learning and I enjoy her updates on what they have been doing.  I felt a bit more courage to explore what my options were.  There are so many choices out there, I wasn’t quite sure where to begin.  The curriculum company she has chosen allowed me to get an in-depth look at a program that someone I know is using and enjoying.

After having a few conversations with Lauree, I talked with my dear friend and homeschool mentor, Leeann.  Her husband and I have served together as fire chaplains for many years.  The last 3 years he has been working in Africa while Leeann has stayed back in the States to care for her two kids.  She has one child that has graduated high school and a son in middle school.  Both have been/are currently being homeschooled.  I have watched and listened to her carefully over the years and so I was excited to sit down with her and talk to her about what has worked for her children.  Each child has different styles of learning.  And her thoughts about curriculum were intriguing.  For her daughter she was very involved in a co-op.  Her son, likes to do more independent study.  From both mothers I gained some valuable first hand knowledge.

During my research, the one book that kept coming up over and over again was this book, 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy.  I kept putting it back on the bookshelf until I sat through a seminar and the presenter raved about this book.  It basically helps you figure out what your style of teaching is, what your child’s style of learning is and how to choose the best curriculum to teach based on those styles.  Now, when I was going through my fire instructor’s certification, I had to learn quite a bit about styles of learning.  This has helped me a bit but my goodness, the styles of teaching, especially in the homeschool world can be daunting.  There is everything from traditional to classical to Charlotte Mason to unschooling and everything in between!  I have been assuming that I was an eclectic but after taking her assessment, apparently I am closer to a Charlotte Mason and unschooling style.  GASP on the unschooling style!  Apparently I don’t know as much about unschooling as I thought and apparently many homeschoolers are eclectic.  I am still doing my research and am looking closer into the Charlotte Mason style of schooling.  Anyway, this book gives you the insight on the best curriculum companies that is out there.  I highly recommend it, especially if you are a newbie like myself.

As far as Catherine is concerned, my approach with her for this year is driven by what she is interested in learning.  After looking at the My Father’s World curriculum that my friend Lauree is using, I figured that I could actually start piecing things together myself.  I was extremely tempted at buying the set but we already own some of the items that are included in the pre-school set.  Here is what I have put together based on Catherine’s interests, MFW’s pre-K and kindergarten sets, and through some of my own research:

Catherine is showing an interest in reading and math.  It amazes me how she started asking about words, sounds, spelling, addition and counting to 100.  Reading and math is something that we try to work on nearly every day.  I read to her, which is the most important activity that you can do with a young child.  We also count things throughout the day.  She still gets caught on get the numbers 16 and 17 but she is doing great!

For reading we have chosen:
Reading Rods which I won’t begin until probably around late October or November.
Phonics flashcards by Usborne
Spectrum Sight Cards
and various workbooks with letter writing and basic phonics

For math we have chosen:
First Numbers by Usborne
Magnetic Pattern Blocks
and various workbooks with numbers and counting

For science we will be studying animals a lot this year.  She loves, loves, loves animals.
Usborne’s Great Wildlife Search
Children’s Encyclopedia of Animals

For Bible work we have chosen:

Miscellaneous resources we will be using are:
FLIP Kits through the Houston Public Library at the Children’s Museum (wonderful kits!)
Jump Start CD’s since she is so techie.
Brain Games
various puzzles
Melissa & Doug lacing shapes
Houston Children’s Museum (one of the best in the country)
and lot’s of hands on arts and crafts opportunities that come up.

Right now, Catherine is obsessed with giraffes and peacocks.  Today I downloaded some wonderful giraffe themed worksheets for letters, numbers and coloring from these two sites:
DLTK’s Sites- Growing Together and
www.coloring.ws

She could not get enough!

So that’s it for now!  I think we have plenty to start with.  I have a strange feeling that she will be whipping through quite a bit of these materials.  She is so anxious to learn but I don’t want either of us to get burned out before we have even started.  I think between her preschool classes two days a week and this, we should be covered until at least December!  I think she will be reading by the end of the year if not sooner.

My next post will be about resources for me.