There are a lot of homeschool blogs out there that are amazing. I read them and can't even understand how moms are so creative and organized. How they get their children to smile and do activities in every photo. I can't even seem to find time to take any photos, even if my son would sit still for them. I'll try to put some up soon (read - when I can get my husband to help unload them off the camera - yes, I am technologically challenged. Profoundly. It's a miracle I figured out how to BLOG!)
I am hoping to use Sonlight to homeschool my son. You can read about that here:
http://www.sonlight.com/
We are starting with the P3/4 curriculum, the first program they offer. The program is designed for 3 trimesters and would appear to take about 6-9 months to complete. It is geared to ages 3-4, though I think many of the picture books in it are classics, like Make Way for Ducklings and Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, that kids would enjoy throughout the elementary years.
I want to use this until spring of 2013, so I am adding in these extra books:
General
The Complete Adventures of Curious George
The New Adventures of Curious George
A Treasury of Curious George
Dr. DeSoto
G is for Goat
Mary Engelbreit's Fairy Tales
Davy's Dream
Noah's Ark
Hide and Seek Fog
A Child's Garden of Verses
Richard Scary's Favorite Storybook Ever and Best Storybook Ever
Beatrix Potter books
About 25 assorted Little Golden Books I got from my mom that were mine/my sisters' as a girl. My sisters haven't laid claim to them so I snatched up about half the collection - sorry guys!
"Electives" (anything that could fall under fine art, science, social studies, or math)
Chicken Soup with Rice (teaches months of the year)
Come over to My House
The Planets: a Solar System Stickerbook
Bees
One is One (numbers up to 20)
Mathstart level 1 books (several of these)
Oscar the Cat books (several of these - such as Oscar and the Bird) - preschool science series
Chickens Aren't the Only Ones
Animals Born Alive and Well
The Reason for a Flower
Count Monet's Lilies (and others in this series)
Sing, Play, Create
Alphabet Art
Bible
The Big Picture Storybook Bible
Beginners Bible for Toddlers
The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes
My ABC Bible verses
Big Thoughts for Little People
God's Wisdom for Little Boys
Wee Sing Bible Songs
Hide 'em in your Heart vol. 1-2
Songs for Saplings
DOLCH site words - one new word a week, from a laminated flash card.
Once we are in our groove I may try to introduce All About Reading Pre-Level 1, but his disdain for any crafts or seatwork lately has me hesitating to drop 100 bucks on the program. I may wait till summer for that. There is plenty of time!
We also do Music - mostly Wee Sing, also Nancy Cassidy's Kids' Songs and Raffi the Singable Songs Collection (and he's getting great exposure to my fabulous 80's collections as well - hey, they'll be like Golden Oldies to him! :) And of course several kinds of classical music. And he has a little set of "classroom" style instruments - rhythm sticks and bells and sandpaper blocks and so forth.
Everyday I pick one CD from the collection I've gathered every week (including the Bible CDs above) and play it in the background while we do whatever else. I don't do anything more than that, unless he expresses a special interest in a song. Then we might play it on repeat, learn the words, talk about it, or whatever fits...
Last but not least we set up an arts/craft table - http://www.onestepahead.com/popup/zoom.jsp?productId=535220&imageDir=ensemble&altImage=2
It was a gift from my mother in law that I requested. I love it. It has all his supplies within easy reach to TRY and encourage creativity. Still, to my disappointment, so far it's like pulling teeth to get him to sit there and do anything.
So I'm not pushing it. Maybe he will like it in time...? I can't even get him to do stickers or glitter or fingerpaints, stuff most kids go wild for. Ah well... each child is different I guess. I loved crafts as a kid. I loved art class in elementary school. Then again, I loved workbooks too... and my kid would rather help me with the laundry or go to the grocery store (seriously) than do workbook pages with me, even when I try my darndest to make them fun. He hates them so much I am probably just going to drop all of them for 6 months and try again - hence I didn't even list the 10 or so workbooks I planned as part of this curriculum year, mostly those in the Kumon and I Can series.
Wow, do I thank God He has led me to homeschooling. This has to be from God because to be horribly honest, 4 years ago, if you had asked me what I thought of homeschooling, I would have said no dice, picturing in my mind the very weird family I knew as a child who homeschooled, with 8 or 9 kids, whose dad sat at the head of their family table and made everyone wait to eat until he had eaten and who, yes, had goats and wore homemade, funky clothing. (For the record I love large families... and goats... and even homemade funky clothing... but I do NOT love authoritative, punitive, harshly patriarchal families...)
What a gift this is going to be. And a challenge that will give me so much room for personal growth! I truly hated the way I was schooled, loathe those memories and what that place did to me to this day. It will be so wonderful to learn in a NEW way, right alongside my son.
And so... together... we BEGIN :)
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