Too much info...now I'm overwhelmed...

[tsmom1227]

There is a such thing as too much information.  I want to start homeschooling this summer...where did everyone start...HOW did you start...I'm WAY OVERWHELMED!  My two are 3 1/2 and 5 1/2...Please help me get started!

Kris

[EmmAlesh]

Start with a curriculum.  There are some great references at the top of this group home.   Know where it is that they are expected to be and go from there.  Go where?  Wherever you go from there, make it fun and hands on.  Play time is a very important time and it is when kids learn the most.  I would definitely say there should be some writing practice for your older, but that can still be fun.  Making it fun is the bane of my world.  LOL  I am still trying to learn how to do that!  LOL

Second, I have also found that making a schedule and sticking to it is best for them and me.  Not to the hour or anything, but that there are certain things that we have to do each day, etc. 

Relax and have fun with it!  I know what you mean about being too much info.  I feel the same way, but ultimately it is up to you.  I hope it all works out!

[brookesmamma]

 I personally find unit studies nice. you have something to base the week on and incorporate every thing you want your child to learn math readig/phonics science etc. I do put stuff together but i feel that i will miss stuff and dont want to spend all my time looking for good curriculum so i decided to buy a curriculum. We bought the my fathers world kindergarten. with the ages of your kids you could do it with them both and its affordable. i did a ton of research and it looks like it will be great fun and hands on learning with only a little work book. I have heard that the kindergarten is a little easy for kindergarteners not sure we havent started yet

[LoreleiSieja]

Step one:

Write, think, pray, contemplate: What are your reasons for homeschooling? What is your philosophy of education?  Why do you want to do this?  What do you hope to achieve?  The answers to these questions will help you wade through all the options out there. For example, if you want to raise godly children, then remember that is more important than raising geniuses.  If you want to raise brilliant children, then you don't need to get sidetracked with unit studies that tend to be more work than educational but are a lot of fun.  If you want to help your children learn what they need to learn, but want to protect them from school violence, then you don't need to feel guilty that you aren't sending them to school!  Also, if you know WHY you are doing this, then on those days when things aren't going well, you can read that again, and get motivated to continue.

Step two:

It isn't about what they learn THIS YEAR.  It's about what they learn before they GRADUATE.  You have twelve years to teach your child what he needs to know.  You don't have to get all worried about what he learns in first grade or in fifth grade.  For example, some kids learn to read in kindergarten, some in first grade.  Some kids don't really learn to read until second grade.  But by age ten, all children should be reading. If your child isn't successful at learning to read this year, relax! The reason you are homeschooling is so that you can tailor your child's education to meet his needs, not so you can keep up with the Jones's. 

You can get a list of topics that your child needs to learn before he graduates. This is sometimes called a  "Scope and Sequence Chart" and all the major curriculum publishers will have one of their own.  THey will NOT be uniform.  Some schools may teach American History in fifth, seventh, and ninth grades.  OTher schools may teach it in fourth, eighth, and tenth grades.  The year isn't important, only that your child learn it before he graduates.  THis is FREEDOM for you!  But if you get a scope and sequence chart, then every time your child learns something, scratch it off the chart, or highlight it.  By the time he's eighteen, everything on the chart should be highlighted.

Step Three:

Find out where your child IS.  This is more important for pulling older children out of school than for starting with younger children, but still, you don't need to repeat stuff your child already knows.

Step Four:

Know your style.  Unit studies are GREAT.  You can teach both children the same stuff every year, treating them almost like twins - then only teaching them separately for reading and math.  You just expect a bit more from the older child.  But there is no reason why a three and five year old can't learn the same songs, do the same art, etc.  This will be more apparent when they are eight and ten.  However, unit studies are often very mommy-intensive.  If you want to be more laid-back, then you may want to go with a workbook option, or a full-service curriculum, where all your work is done for you. 

Step Five:

Make a choice!  Don't let all the options stifle you!  Think of going shopping in a large store.  There are ten thousand different brands of toilet paper, but you just need to pick one and stick with it! If you don't like it, then buy somethign different next year.

Step Six:

HAve fun.  This is the best choice for your children.  Homeschooling works!  The public schools are dumb-founded, because we put them to shame.  Homeschooled kids outperform public school kids again and again and again. 

Step SEven:

Join a homeschool support group, or subscribe to a homeschool magazine, or read some homeschool books for yourself - to encourage you when times get rough. I recommend anything by Raymond and Dorothy Moore, like "Homeschool Burnout" and "HomeGrown Kids".

Lorelei