My wife and I have talked about homeschooling our daughter. She is finishing kindergarten now. Currently goes to a private Christian school that we do like and is doing extremely well.
At first my wife was against it cause she thought she wouldn’t be able to do it and all of the typical negative thinking for it. Now she is really wanting to do it and is researching all different homeschool curriculums. My question is in regards to curriculums. Is there an actual beat curriculum? Is it a pick and choose from different ones? Is it a “don’t worry too much about curriculum” and more if a self pacing? I’ve just seen so many things about different approaches.
So if any out there that have homeschooled or are currently doing so could just give different pointers or tips for a family that is wanting to do it, I would greatly appreciate it.
Congrats to your family! We have been homeschooling for almost 20 years now, have graduated 4 and have several more to go. There really is no best curriculum. The longer we’ve done this, the more we just pick and choose what looks like it will be the best fit for each child at that particular point in his/her development. We have some favorites that we’ve used with most of them, and other materials that were better for one or another.
This is a huge topic we could discuss for hours over a pot of coffee, but in the early years especially, resist the temptation to try to do TOO MUCH. Focus on reading (Logic of English has GREAT resources for really understanding why English behaves as it does), writing neatly, spelling correctly (as it comes up in reading/writing), and basic math facts/functions. Beyond these foundational learning tools, just enjoy experiencing life together and involve her in the things you are doing yourself or topics you are learning about (age-adjusted appropriately as needed).
One of the (many) biggest problems with the whole “school” paradigm is that children and teens are intentionally kept separated from real life, real experiences, and real relationships with a wide range of ages/backgrounds of people. It’s a totally artificial environment that does not exist “in the wild” of life. Academic studies should be a TOOL for engaging life, but they are not life itself.
I hope that helps, and may God bless you all on your new journey!