Q: How did you decide on a homeschooling curriculum or approach? What resources or support systems did you find most helpful?
A: We started with simple workbooks when our oldest showed a need for some more educational stimulation. Rainbow Resource had (and has) something called Developing the Early Learner and we loved that. 10-15 min a day added to the playing and little household chores we did together. Shortly after we got Mind Bender books for the very young and just started expanding on our daily living together. We moved to VA in Nov when the kids were 4, 2 and <1. The HEAV Convention that June or the following was where I started to learn about curriculum and methods of home educating. I had no idea there were so many options. We joined a co-op at the church we were attending at the time, and had the kids take some classes there. We met our first homeschooling friends by being in that co-op and we joined another couple of groups for field trip/support options. Co-ops abound in this area, or you can easily start one with a few other moms. My guess is that on FB you'll find groups in this area.
We always read a lot to our kids even as babies, and we just kept that up. That sort of thing showed me how I could teach my kids anything. We would talk about the content. When it was time for more structure, we looked at what we could afford and seemed doable. What we started with isn't what we stuck with. As I learned more, I changed things up from time to time. First grade I went with Christian Liberty Press for everything with my oldest, halfway through the year I changed to a more in-depth English program others told me about (The Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading). A few years later I learned about classical education and man, it made so much sense. We started with that method, and I heartily loved it.
Cathy Duffy has good reviews that are helpful, but the Convention in June will be most helpful. All About Reading is popular and looks good, and I loved All About Spelling. In early elementary though we just focused on reading, math and handwriting and I read to them from science and history books. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons is a good book to start with. Lots of math options to choose from. The key is to memorize math facts and do speed drills, even if your curriculum doesn't do them. You want proficiency and speed--mastery. You can print free math drill sheets online (or used to!). My husband is a chemical engineer and had a lot of opinions on our math and he became the math teacher when our oldest reached 3rd grade. For the Children's Sake is a worthwhile book by Susan Schaeffer Macauley--she was the pioneer of the Charlotte Mason style of educating. Little Hands to Heaven is a nice young child Bible story book to go through. I like CHAP, it is a homeschool group in PA with nice posts on Facebook that I've often seen. We always belonged to HSLDA (the Homeschool Legal Defense Association--if you are a member and have legal trouble, they will help you for free) and their website has a lot of info on it. We also joined HEAV annually.
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