Homeschooling

[Jesusfreak101]

(thinking out loud please comment on what your thought is) i did it to my self again..... i bought some books from a yard sale. 1st grade from life Pac,
kindergaten from horizon and some 2grade both from horizen and life pac.... now i almost have all the books from those to do next year for 60$ going to have to buy 4th grade for oldest... it would be 350.00 from lifepac or from rod and staff.... i tend to use rod and staff regularly... the kids do well with it. i had thought may be adding some extras for older to make it more fun as a trade off for her staying the rod and staff for next year as i could use the teacher books. for the youngers and the work books from rod and staff are like 3$ compared to horizon 24-27$a workbook and life pac 8$ a work book(last two are in color )... desions.... hmm I think I might have the one in kindergaten to the yard sale books and also the 2grader maybe... hmmm then we can go back to rod and staff for 3rd grade and then the doing kinder next year could use the 1st grade the following year..... hmmm or should just use the garage sale books as fillers/fun... if i get this coming year for all of them to lifepac/horizon ie will cost 600 (including what i got from yardsale) following year same currculium 1050.00. Rod and staff for this coming year 320.00 for what i currently need and may be 400 for the following year. and i have currently 1000.00-1500.00 budget for the books, readers and supplies/anything else school wise for this year budgeted.

 

[Alaskan]

I really like the readers from Rod and Staff, starting in grade 4. Their younger readers are really just Bible memorization, so not fun. (Most grades are a set, book with stories, then a workbook and an answer book).

But the readers grade 4 and up are excellent not only for critical thinking and vocabulary, etc. But SO GOOD for character building and Godly virtues etc.

I am also highly fond of the Rod and Staff remedial English worktexts. Quick fast English review.

The Rod and Staff textbooks are great, but lots of repetition, sit down work, and not exciting for us...

The English textbooks, with the matching workbooks and test books, are excellent, just lots of work (which is good... you just have to do it).

I don't think I ever tried the math from Rod and staff.... I have gotten and liked their accounting set and barn building etc set... but those are for 8th and 9th grades.


For math I have tried various things.... eh.. I have no strong opinion there.

But after English and Math... for under hjghschool set, I would not do a curriculum.

Science is library books, nature walks, growing plants, hatching eggs, cooking, the weather, the seasons.....

Pick one topic each week or month to learn about in depth. Like all about bats. Or how and why baking powder is used in biscuit recipes.

History is also easily all library books. I do... well, did... history by time period and then went more deeply into some areas that the kids found more interesting or I found more important.

Library books are FREE, and great! You can take home a new stack every week. You want to have a basket where the library books live, and keep the receipt they give you in a very safe place (at our library they give you a receipt with the names of what you checked out). That way it isn't too hard to keep track of the books even with tiny kids.

I have also found some gems at the used bookstore in town.

So... personally... I would spend the money on a math curriculum and on an English curriculum

But NOT spend money on the other subjects until high school.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

lol i really like their math and English. we have had great success with it i been using notgrass for history and berean builders for science its our first year with it. a friend and i talked it out. Rod and staff works for us so we sticking with it the kids finish it fair quickly most of the time school is 3hrs work book and the rest is hands on. we have been able to enjoy rod and staff even the amount of work by adding dry erase boards, hands on counters, magnet letters and ect. we do alot of cooking, farm/life science, sewing music and other things i just want to try to get use to another one lol my life crazy enough right now.

 

[hysop]

I will have to catch up on another day when I have time to read the whole thread up until now, but in the meantime:

I homeschool my 5 year old twins. They’re close to 6. I have chosen not to buy curriculums for the time being. I was given a whole set for 3rd grade for free so I’ll use that when the time comes.

Like you I just make them some activities they can work on. Right now I’m wanting them to practice writing cursive. One is left handed so it's a struggle for me to teach the way the pencil should move, but they do great.

They love math and so do I so I’m always finding fun ways to implement math and I also bought flash cards.

 

[Alaskan]

lol i really like their math and English. we have had great success with it i been using notgrass for history and berean builders for science its our first year with it. a friend and i talked it out. Rod and staff works for us so we sticking with it the kids finish it fair quickly most of the time school is 3hrs work book and the rest is hands on. we have been able to enjoy rod and staff even the amount of work by adding dry erase boards, hands on counters, magnet letters and ect. we do alot of cooking, farm/life science, sewing music and other things i just want to try to get use to another one lol my life crazy enough right now.

I haveva couple of the history books from Notgrass... they are good.

I don't think I ever saw or tried Berean.

But yes! If it is working then stick with it!

 

[Alaskan]

I will have to catch up on another day when I have time to read the whole thread up until now, but in the meantime:

I homeschool my 5 year old twins. They’re close to 6. I have chosen not to buy curriculums for the time being. I was given a whole set for 3rd grade for free so I’ll use that when the time comes.

Like you I just make them some activities they can work on. Right now I’m wanting them to practice writing cursive. One is left handed so it's a struggle for me to teach the way the pencil should move, but they do great.

They love math and so do I so I’m always finding fun ways to implement math and I also bought flash cards.

Little kids... age 5 and 6, are so much fun to teach!

For writing with your two, I would suggest those big fat triangle pencils. Little fingers still have difficulty with the pincer grasp, especially on standard skinny pencils.

Also, bigger letters are easier, and the triple lined paper (the ones with the dotted middle line so they know how tall the humps on an "m" should be), are worth the money. You can even get dry erase boards with those lines, if you are going through too much paper.

What I did, especially with work pages that you wanted to use more than once, was get a sturdy plastic page protector, like for a 3 ring binder, but then cut through one side, so you can slide it over the workbook page. The plastic page protector is a great dry erase surface! For this trick to work well, buy a higher quality plastic page protector so the plastic is stiff and doesn't wrinkle when the kid writes on it. The super inexpensive ones wrinkle too easily.

You can get low oder dry erase markers in any thickness and color.

That trick was invaluable especially with those pages of addition or times tables problems, the ones the kids should be repeating often to get them well memorized.

 

[Cecilia's-herd]

Following along! Despite being married to a teacher I've always wondered whether or not homeschooling would be better.

 

[hysop]

Little kids... age 5 and 6, are so much fun to teach!

For writing with your two, I would suggest those big fat triangle pencils. Little fingers still have difficulty with the pincer grasp, especially on standard skinny pencils.

Also, bigger letters are easier, and the triple lined paper (the ones with the dotted middle line so they know how tall the humps on an "m" should be), are worth the money. You can even get dry erase boards with those lines, if you are going through too much paper.

What I did, especially with work pages that you wanted to use more than once, was get a sturdy plastic page protector, like for a 3 ring binder, but then cut through one side, so you can slide it over the workbook page. The plastic page protector is a great dry erase surface! For this trick to work well, buy a higher quality plastic page protector so the plastic is stiff and doesn't wrinkle when the kid writes on it. The super inexpensive ones wrinkle too easily.

You can get low oder dry erase markers in any thickness and color.

That trick was invaluable especially with those pages of addition or times tables problems, the ones the kids should be repeating often to get them well memorized.

That’s such a great idea! Thank you! I will have to look for the white boards with those lines. I want to say I have seen them in stores but if not then I’ll check out Amazon.

I’m open to anything that will save some paper because my kids end up wanting to keep everything they do but if they know it's a dry erase board they don't get attached

 

[Jesusfreak101]

warning dry erase markers dry out fast.. my kids are bad about lids and if they use the dry erase and forget the kids for 10minutes or more that markers dead.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Hey all I found some sites for free school, ranging from small lessons for younger kids, typing, and some readers.

Free Homeschool Reading Curriculum - Freedom Homeschooling

Freedom Homeschooling lists free high quality homeschool reading curriculum for all grades. Complete programs, not supplements.

freedomhomeschooling.com

Let's count online exercise for Primary

Numbers interactive activity for Primary. You can do the exercises online or download the worksheet as pdf.

www.liveworksheets.com

https://www.kidztype.com/dance-mat-typing-level-1-stage-1_f1117a537.html
also look at education.com you can print a certian amount every week or every month you can also buy a life time membership its not overly expensive.