Our Homeschool Curriculum

I have researched curriculums forever.  If you know me at all, you know I always research stuff and check credentials.  It can be embarrassing to others.  Ask my sister, I may have asked a masseuse for her credentials before a massage.  Oh yes, I did!  Anyway, I found a curriculum I liked and began planning our year.  After I had about 8 weeks planned (yes, that long), I realized it just wasn't what I wanted and saw us doing for the year.  So....back to the drawing board I went.  Then, I discovered Hands on Homeschooling.  I looked at samples and it seemed perfect for what I wanted to do.  I ordered it and haven't looked back.  It has been a great curriculum so far.   It is Bible based, and you also do some Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, and practice motor skills.  We are learning letters, learning new songs, learning about money, and had activities for practicing motor skills so far.  I love how it is all organized for you and ready to go in the binder-right out of the box.  I am able to copy worksheets since I need additional ones, and I can save it for Henry as well.  We are up to letter C this week, and are learning the names of coins.  I was skeptical about teaching the money to such young ones, but I just went with it.  They each have a few coins in their work bucket and they are really proud of that.  Today we also had a lesson about a skeleton and talked about different body parts on the inside and out.  I think this curriculum is a great start to homeschooling.  The only thing I did not care for was the Bible stories.  I was a bit disappointed in them because they seemed WAY over my kids' heads.  The memory verses were L-O-N-G, and I just thought it was setting us up for failure.  I decided instead to use something else for Bible.  I found a really neat book at Lifeway called "Instant Bible Lessons for Toddlers".  They are awesome!  They are just right for their age, and they even have a story with each lesson that is geared to 1 & 2 year olds in case the kids you are teaching are that small!  It has enough activities with each lesson to last all week, so we review our story each day and our memory verse.  Then we do one activity to reinforce the lesson.  The kids have enjoyed learning their scriptures too, they will surprise at different times by reciting them.  I am not saying the Hands on Homeschooling Bible lessons are bad, because I will come back to them as the kids get bigger.  For now, the "Instant Lessons" book series has a bunch of different options, so I'll stick with that.  I also add little crafts here and there for the kids, because they love to do crafts.  We also have a few of those workbooks you can buy at the store to practice learning colors, writing, etc. so I will sometimes throw one of those sheets in for the day's work, if it seems like the homeschool day is going to go quickly.  My kids expect to get to do their schoolwork!  They will get mad on weekends if we aren't "doing school." 

It takes us about 45- 1 1/2 hours to do our schoolwork each day.  It would take less time if I didn't add work to their lessons. 

I mentioned a work bucket above- I saw this on another mom's blog and thought it was a great idea.  It is just a white dishpan that is designated for each child.  They keep their crayons, markers, pencils, pencil case,  sharpener, glue, scissors, coins, and anything else that just they use for their schoolwork.  It has been great and kept us from having fights.  The kids just know to get their work bucket and sit at the school table.  Their stuff is all in there and no one has "messed with it" since the last time they used it.  I highly recommend having one of these!  I have one slightly bigger that I go ahead and put all the stuff we are going to need for that day in it.  Things like paint that I don't want the kids to get ahold of go in there!  Also, I keep my lesson plans binder, copies of work to be done, etc. etc. in there.  I can get it all ready the night before at my desk (which is in my room), then just carry it to the kitchen where we do our work.  It makes it really easy to stay organized. 

As for next year, I am not sure what we will be doing.  I have been researching to decide.  There is a church pre-school we have looked at.  It is the only one that really fits into our price range and has what we are looking for, but it is only 3 half days per week.  I don't know if that would be stepping back or not.  I have also considered using Hands On Homeschooling again.  My third option is going ahead and switching to the curriculum I think we will use if we continue homeschooling, Sonlight.  I have known about Sonlight for several years now, but I just wasn't sure if it was a fit for us.  It is HEAVY on reading and literature.  I think I didn't know enough about it, because I think I erroneously thought it somehow didn't cover math or science or anything but reading.  I LOVE to read, always have, always will.  If I'm on a desert island and have books, I'm good.  My kids LOVE to read as well.  They love going to the library to choose books, and we own a ton of books.  Every morning they climb in bed with me and we read together, or sometimes they just sit beside me and flip through books on their own.  I really love reading with them, and so I just kept coming back to Sonlight.  I had them send me information, and they indeed teach everything-not just reading!  :-)  I know that sounds silly, and I don't know why I had assumed otherwise.  I think Sonlight would be a perfect fit for our family of readers.  It's also a bit different from the way I learned things, and I think I like that about it!  I like to be different!  Good different of course!  :-)  In my own opinion!!! 

I couldn't end without a plug about reading.  I think reading is the single-most important thing you can do with your child.  I really do.  I want my kids to be confident readers, because that is something no one can take from them.  Reading is essential to most things in life, whether you are at the grocery store, the bank, the farm, cooking a recipe (also using math!), or just reading for fun.  I can't wait to watch my little ones learn to read!  I will probably be like my parents and grandparents were with me-we were always allowed to get books.  We loved going to the bookstore and choosing new books to read, or the library.  I get so excited when my nephew gets his Scholastic flyer each month, we buy from them through his flyer!  It really helps us afford books that might be pricier otherwise. 
Also, our Kid to Kid that we shop at lets kids choose a book priced $1.99 or less each month for free when the parents make a purchase.  I love this program they started!  We have gotten books two months now and the kids love it.  All three of my kids have a stamp card that they use to get one.  If you want one higher priced, you can pay the difference.  Most books there are cheap though. 
Our library also has books for sale as they replace ones.  On our last visit I found the Little House on the Prairie series!  I grabbed it and told the lady to hold it for me since I didn't have cash on me then.  They are my all time favorite books!  I know we'll need more copies as the kids start reading them! Our library just does it by donation too, so you can give whatever amount you are comfortable with and they won't turn it down.  I will probably do $1 per book. 

Anyway, that's what we are using. 
Here's a rough outline of our schedule:

• Circle Time-
• discuss the day of the week & month
•  decide on the weather  (we have pocket charts these fit in for day/weather, depending on what we choose)
• review previous letters, memory verse, coins, etc. 
• put a day on our "days of school" poster-we are counting to 100 days!  The kids really like this.  I do different colors for each number, but the 5's are all white.  This way, they'll learn to count by 5's too!   
• Do our Bible story-then whatever project/craft goes along with it.
• Do any writing practice for the day. 
• Do any other worksheets that are planned.
• Crafts/projects- always last.  I almost never get them reeled back in after this so last is best!