Homeschool Agendas and Plans
This week’s theme from the HSBA Homeschool Memoirs 2008-2009 is Homeschool Agendas.
This being my first year as a homeschooling mom, I could have easily been overwhelmed when it came to selecting a curriculum, but I chose to keep it simple.
I did a Google search on “Christian Home School Curriculum” and narrowed down my options to three choices. After deciding on one curriculum in particular, “ABC, I Believe“, several friends from church passed down their new or lightly used preschool-1st grade curriculum/material. So, while I’ve made the ABC curriculum the backbone of my teaching, I supplement it with these other resources.
The ABC Curriculum naturally covers 26 weeks, so I’m having to supplement it with something else for the remainder of the year. I will probably throw in some unit studies around the various holidays and touch on particular areas of interest. I took a sneak peak into the Schoolhouse Planner put out by the Old Schoolhouse Magazine to get some ideas. And my kids are involved with Cubbies as part of the AWANA program at our church. I plan on integrating that into our weekly lesson plans as well.
Another thing I did was I downloaded the Standards of Learning (SOL’s) from my state (Virginia) and am using that as a checklist of things to be sure to cover throughout the year. My kids are only 3 and 4 years old, so I’m not worried about getting everything perfect this go around. But I would like to have my oldest proficient at the Kindergarten level this year (she’ll be 5 in December).
We just completed our first week of school and I found I really need to come up with something to occupy the younger one while I work with the older one (and vice versa). They are only 15 months apart but the two are not at the same level when it comes to letters, sounds and numbers. The problem is the older one wants to demonstrate that she can do what I’m trying to teach the younger one instead of staying focused on what I’ve set up for her to work on. I’m sure I’ll figure it out, but I’d love to hear what others have come up with in similar situations.
Posted: August 29th, 2008 under Curriculum, Memoirs.
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August 30th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Oh wow! I have been involved with Cubbies for 4 yrs (this is my 5th year and 2nd year as co-director). I helped with Cubbies when I was 13 yrs old and in Awana. I have one in Cubbies this year, one in Sparks and one in T & T. They LOVE Awana!
Everything will work out. Just don’t pressure on yourself. Our 5 yr old will sometimes answer questions I am asking our 3 yr old. I have given her the “look”, asked her not to and now I asked her to teach her. After a few minutes she doesn’t want to anymore and will usually go and do what she needs to be doing. You are doing a wonderful job!
August 30th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I have a piece of advice: Chuck the SOLs. Most curriculums have a pretty good outline of what is required for each grade level. I know that you want the security of a checklist, and if you are going to do that, check the content of your curriculum against the SOLs to see if you are going to be hitting specific areas, then lay it aside. The point of homeschooling is exactly that-not to be like public school. I’m not saying that’s what you will do. I just don’t want to see you get frazzled and discouraged if things don’t always go according to planned.
As far as the issue in the last paragrah, I had this happen when I first started homeschooling the boys. I made it plain to my eldest that I was proud of what he knew, but this was his brother’s time to learn those things. I needed his cooperation to work quietly while I taught his borther those things. I also gave my eldest an opportunity to teach his younger sibling what he knew- after he finished HIS work.