Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Homeschool

A little update about homeschooling...

Abby started about 3 weeks ago. We decided there was no point in waiting until Fall and we just took her out of school. I do not have a set curriculum for her right now. We are going through a 1st grade Math workbook that our school in Cockeysville used for 1st grade. And Abby is doing a LOT of reading. She has read 5 or 6 of the Magic Tree House books in the past 10 days (as well as other picture books.) She is very interested in dinosaurs, so we took a bunch of books out of the library and got her a sticker book as well. She is learning about paleontologists, fossils, carnivores, herbivores, etc. Some of you might want to check out www.bookadventure.com. Every time the girls read a book, they can go on this site and take a test on it to earn points. Then the website has some rewards, or you can set some as parent, based on how many points the kids earn.

Now the other 2 girls want to homeschool in the fall also and I am getting a little nervous about doing it all. I am also nervous about choosing curriculum. I am SO bad at making decisions. And there are 4 really great math programs out there that I cannot choose between. I am trying to decide between MathUSee, Horizons, Singapore, and Saxon (but prob not Saxon). Math comes quite easily for Eme, but it is more of a struggle for Abby. (they are opposites in math and reading.) I could just really use some solid direction. There is a curriculum fair in Richmond in June and I am strongly considering begging Garr to take me. (There is also a GREAT children's museum there - maybe we can make a family trip of it!!)

Well, if anyone has ideas or advice for me - I'm certainly open to it!!! =]

3 comments:

DOW FAMILY said...

Jess!
Way to go girl! Souns great. I will just give you what I know about Math. James is trained to teach Saxon and is a HUGE proponent of it. If you want to talk to him, please call us! He has taught it at Shea, where he used to be. It is very teacher friendly and student friendly. FHS also uses Saxon. He could go into much great details, but I know he'd talk to you about it, if interested.
God Bless!
Stephanie

Susanna Joy said...

Hey girl; two things--just letting you know we've had a change of plans and will be homeschooling in the fall too. :) So I, too, am on the hunt for the perfect curriculum. I know that I will probably end up with a bit of a patchwork, and I'm becoming more confident the more I adjust to the idea. (My initial instinct was to just buy Sonlight, and let them do all the planning for me; I think I have moved past that at this point.) The other thing I wanted to share with you was this website--between your interest in sewing and slings, I thought you might like it: http://slingyourbaby.blogspot.com/
She's got instructions to make your own slings--several kinds.
BTW; we used Saxon when I was homeschooled with much success. And I know a number of homeschoolers using it with great satisfaction. We haven't really looked at those others much. I do know that some of some public schools who have passed on it because of its lack of an extensive set of manipulatives. But my Saxon catalog is arriving in a week, so maybe we can compare notes when the time comes. What grades will you be homeschooling in the fall?

Unknown said...

Good for you! Arron taught Saxon at the H.S. level and Really didn't like it. He said that it does not follow a logical progression, and was difficult for the students to follow, from lesson to lesson. In that one lesson did not prepare them for the next, etc. He recommends Singapore!
Jenn