Sunday, June 21, 2015

Homeschool

We've now homeschooled our children for 2 years.  I wanted to do a post to document what we have done, and things I recommend.  I get asked all the time what it is like to homeschool.  It's like being a parent and being their teacher.  It comes with all kinds of gratifying moments and that's what I'd like to share.  I'm in no way proclaiming that being a teacher is easy and not without it's struggles, that's for another post, I suppose.  :)

We have enrolled with MyTechHigh for 2 years- it's a program that connects your student to a charter school and you send in your weekly report of what you've done and your child gets public school credit.  I like that I still have the control over what I teach my kids, and the curriculum that we use, that way I can go at their pace and customize their learning to fit their interests and style of learning, plus we have a way to stay on track.

English Language Arts:
McGuffey readers
Loosely implemented Daily 5 method (which includes daily read to self, read to others, listen to reading, writing, word work/grammar/spelling)
4 square writing
First language lessons for the well-trained mind (grammar, writing, memorization)
Library story time
Librivox recordings at breakfast
Reading classics as a family (We've read Treasure Island, Little Britches, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books, Pippi Longstocking series, Ramona books, and others)
Reading Little House In The Big Woods and crafting with it
Core Knowledge Series
Draw Write Now
Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, summer writing camp

Math
Saxon math
Timez Attack
Education City
Kahn Academy
ABC-ya
Skip counting songs by Have Fun Teaching on YouTube 
Bedtime Math books (the kids love this one) by Laura Overdeck

Science
Christian Liberty Nature Readers
Lap booking
Gardening, hiking, nature walks
Blogging
Science reports for dad (he gives them an interesting topic in the morning, and they use the writing process and 4-square writing to report back to him in the evening)
Core Knowledge Series
Field trips

Social Studies
Story of the World
Field trips


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