On top of many other reasons... I will not send them somewhere that will scare them half of the day 5 days a week!!!! "Dont play with other kids!! You might die!!" Not gonna happen!!!
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You don't need a lot of money- what grade are your kids?
ages 5 3 1 and another new one on the way!
We just got the two older ones some notebooks and backpacks so they experience "normalcy" and they loved the school shopping
You can cover everything you need to cover with your kindergartener in 2-3 hours a day tops... that's most of elementery school, honestly. We're talking letters, numbers, colors, days of the week, months of the year, weather, seasons...lots of reading to them-- beginning letter sounds/phonics... counting to 10. Talking about bugs, leaves, etc. You don't even need material for that. Count your food, buy that giant kindergarten lined paper, and draw 4 pictures showing the seasons. Do activities to go with what they are learning. Every family has their own things they are into... my boys likes to draw so I had them draw stuff related to learning. Sonlight curriculum was my favorite because it was based on whole books. A lot of their suggested books you can find used or at the library, like The Berenstein Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature. Enjoy this time-it's precious. Edit: My oldest will graduate this year with an engineering degree (civil) from a military college and my youngest will be starting not long from now a mechanical engineering degree. Despite my inconsistencies, they still are wildly well adjusted, happy, and doing well. We don't have a lot of financial.luxuries, but our boys make us beam with joy.
much appreciated...we went over a ton of stuff this morning that you mentioned. Did you give them summer break or was school year round? Glad to hear your boys are doing so well in life. We just left the daycare system so shaking off the rust here.
We did what I called weather- based homeschooling: did school during bad weather, no school when it was nice. I grew up in nature and wanted my kids to as well. We have some land and a creek. We live in Virginia, so it was a good balance. My boys got plenty of exercise and sunshine- had some farm animals along the way. Also, life stuff happened over the years- if I needed to take a break for a trip (like when my mom had a stroke) or whatever- we just took a break. In general, we tried to keep math going year around so there wasn't all that review to do. There is an excellent, but intimidating (as in they taught their kids Latin and Greek), book called Teaching the Trivium by the Bluedorns- lots of great info in there. She has a lot of research that shows starting math too soon (before that child is ready) is counterproductive. There is also a book series out called, "What your X-grader needs to know." I never bought any of that series, but I know it's out there. We did the Seton testing each year (setontesting.com), and it (the CAT Survey test) only covers Math and English (it's the easiest test)... so I could teach science and history however I wanted (sequence, etc.)... different states have different rules. Virginia is a great state to homeschool in- I sent them a test score and a letter once a year, and they left me alone. When my oldest reached 8th grade I got two priceless resources: Lee Binz' book called Setting the Record Straight on grading and transcripts for high school; and College Prep Genius' e-course on learning how to take the SAT. My son got his score up a couple hundred points, and that super high score validated my transcript for a lot of colleges. He earned a 4 year AFROTC scholarship. The course costs $150, the scholarship was worth over $90k. He ended up getting medically disqualified, so he lost it, but the point is--- those two resources teach you how the game is played. No grades prior to 9th grade count--- so you have a lot of time to figure out what you're doing. Just be clear on the testing and notification details of your state. Homeschool Legal Defense Association HSLDA should have a guide for each state. :) It's a wonderful path to take. Last comment: One thing I don't regret is cutting television and buying tons of library books at the sales they have (often 25 cents a book). My sons also didn't get a smart phone or use the internet until their older years... and no video games. Books, real games, art, nature, activities--- all real life stuff. If you are competing with video games and youtube from the time they are small, you'll have to break the addiction and deal with their withdrawal symptoms (from the dopamine feedback). I'm writing a book! Lol You'll meet great people homeschooling- and I always enjoyed our state convention- good speakers, materials, and inspiration. I could't afford to go for years, but when you can it is always nice. Have fun!