desperate for help with homeschool

[L and J]

Hi everyone, my husband and I decided that we are going to homeschool our children. I've read books and articles, but I'm still confused about the system that I'll use them. I know that I am not able to search and work with books used in schools, I need something more dynamic, and something that come prepared. something that I just have to present and explain to my kids.
I was thinking of calvert school.
My daughter will start pre-k next school year, and I want to be prepared to work with her. but still do not know which system to use. The only one tha I know is the Calvert School.

Please help me.

[DadDude]

You can get lots of help at http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums . If you've read books, you might know that the common advice is first to think about your educational philosophy--what your goals are, and based on that, what sort of approach, overall, you want to take. I agree, I think this is very important. As you also probably already know, homeschoolers tend to identify a number of different approaches to homeschooling, including classical, Charlotte Mason, Unit Studies, traditional textbook/workbook approach, the project approach, unschooling, and others and various combinations of these. Many, maybe most, people come up with their own approach that isn't clearly any one or another.

Just to offering my own reaction to what you said: "I need something more dynamic, and something that come prepared. something that I just have to present and explain to my kids." Wouldn't plain old books fit the bill? My own approach is based on this insight.

You're worried about how to start homeschooling pre-K? Don't! It's pre-K! Relax and take your time learning what (in your opinion) needs to be done. The best approach might be simply to do what you know or firmly believe works, and then take your time doing research and thinking about how to improve. Nobody can make up your mind for you, although some might try.

One last thing. I have read that other people are highly tempted to get a big canned curriculum, and indeed some do. I've never done so, myself, but it seems understandable. It sounds like you're tempted to go in that direction. The trouble (I gather) is that a lot of people bounce around from curriculum to curriculum. Some people (like us...) end up getting stuff a la carte because, well, homeschooling allows them to. It might seem intimidating to make choices individually. Well, it's not that bad. You basically just have to decide what you're going to teach, and then make a series of decisions about each subject.

[person]

If you're looking for good homeschool curriculums from Pre-K, two ones that I have found to be good are ABeka and Christian Light Education. You can order at abeka.com or clp.org.

[Tanikit]

I liked the sonlight P3/4 and P4/5 (I am not sure what they are called now - look at www.sonlight.com - they are mostly just books that you read and some activities you can do. FIAR might also be a good idea. If you do look on the well trained mind forums (and it is worth looking) you will find most people there think you should just do your own thing for pre-K and not worry too much and that is how I am starting to feel too, but that is because I have already done it - my DD is entering K next year. I would probably just advise you to start now before you even order any curriculum - once you get going and get a routine to having your child at hime and teaching them every day you will find that you probably need less than you think (you really just need some books and some art supplies and some ideas (which you could get off the internet with little effort))

For my DD in pre-K this year I decided that the 3Rs were the most important for me and that the rest would be covered by reading all sorts of books to her. So I did some phonics with her (using OPGTR which I adapted and also the C books of Ladybird which teach phonics based on sight words my DD already knew) and we read aloud every day together. Math I did buy a curriculum - we use three in fact - Singapore 1a/b (you can start with Earlybird/Essentials for pre-K), MEP 1 (they have a short reception course too which you can also use in pre-K) and Horizons K (this may be a bit fast for pre-k unless your child is writing fairly well) so we just do one worksheet a day and I switch the curricula around depending when my DD gets bored or is a bit stuck. And then I taught her handwriting myself - we were well taught at school ourselves so my own letter formation is correct and I know some teachers who could advise on certain things that were needed to teach this to a young child - many advise HWOT for teaching handwriting if you want to try a curriculum though there are many others - stay away from tracing letters til letter formation is automatic else they tend to learn wrong.

And then we do read alouds and I read to her from anything and everything. Once a week we do a science experiment, sometimes we will do art - today we painted a tree and labelled it which was then the writing practice as well as a basic biology lesson and sometimes we will learn history. I also try to get both my girls dancing and singing in the morning as this gets them awake for more school work. And they play a LOT. School takes maybe a half hour a day except for the read alouds which can go on for quite a long time and she is often learning when playing with me around too - digging in the ground brings up earthworms and so on and a lot can be taught while doing that too.

Definitely set goals and decide what you want. Set curricula or boxed curricula seem nice, but seldom work for accelerated children (which most on these boards seem to be at least as far as reading goes)

I've used a lot of abbreviations - sorry - if you do not know what they are just ask though if you google the abbreviations you will probably find what I am talking about anyway.

[Korrale4kq]

Lots of free curriculum here. You don't need to follow anything strictly. But it can give you a good idea.

http://www.letteroftheweek.com/preschool_age_3.html

Also, I would go to a store, Walmart, target, office depot,m staples, Barnes and Nobel and have a look at their work books. Those have a lot of activites to do. 

[evachong]

I have my homeschool idea from 1+1+1=1 and I love this very much.. and i think she is using the Montessori method... please search on google and this would be help to kick on home school system...

Em... I have work out my homeschool syllabus... and also included all method... from shichida... doman... Montessori... etc...

see... my idea on my blog will help you or not.. check it out herehttp://littlemommy2012.blogspot.com

[L and J]

You can get lots of help at http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums . If you've read books, you might know that the common advice is first to think about your educational philosophy--what your goals are, and based on that, what sort of approach, overall, you want to take. I agree, I think this is very important. As you also probably already know, homeschoolers tend to identify a number of different approaches to homeschooling, including classical, Charlotte Mason, Unit Studies, traditional textbook/workbook approach, the project approach, unschooling, and others and various combinations of these. Many, maybe most, people come up with their own approach that isn't clearly any one or another.

Just to offering my own reaction to what you said: "I need something more dynamic, and something that come prepared. something that I just have to present and explain to my kids." Wouldn't plain old books fit the bill? My own approach is based on this insight.

You're worried about how to start homeschooling pre-K? Don't! It's pre-K! Relax and take your time learning what (in your opinion) needs to be done. The best approach might be simply to do what you know or firmly believe works, and then take your time doing research and thinking about how to improve. Nobody can make up your mind for you, although some might try.

One last thing. I have read that other people are highly tempted to get a big canned curriculum, and indeed some do. I've never done so, myself, but it seems understandable. It sounds like you're tempted to go in that direction. The trouble (I gather) is that a lot of people bounce around from curriculum to curriculum. Some people (like us...) end up getting stuff a la carte because, well, homeschooling allows them to. It might seem intimidating to make choices individually. Well, it's not that bad. You basically just have to decide what you're going to teach, and then make a series of decisions about each subject.

Thank you so much, you have no idea how much relax I am now. I didn't know wat to do. In my head I had to follow directions. Thanks again

[L and J]

  Thank you all, I gonna check all sugestion and at the end I'll do wat I think is the best to her. thanks again

[Mandabplus3]

I also think you have nothing to worry about you are starting with Pre Kindy, let's face it in the standard education system what will your kids learn in pre kindy? Let me see...how to write their name ( maybe) how to count to 5 or 10, their colours and maybe a few letters. They probably will also do a unit on " my body" the bar isn't set very high, so it won't be hard for you to hit it

[L and J]

Thanks everybody for everything. After carefully look all curriculum here mentioned, WE decided to stay with sonlight. The content is fun, I did not like the workbooks from pre-k, but that is not a problem, and has a good price. But what really call my attention is the books for work about God. So, thanks again...

[L and J]

I try to do what you said, but It is so hard for me because I have being educate in a different country with different content and different methodology. Once I decided that for me, homeschooling was how I want my kids to be educate, for tell the true, I panicked. one of my kids has so many allergies that every time I am not around, I have the feeling that someone will call me to say that my kid is at the hospital. Recently we discover a new allergy. So I didn't now what to do and I found Calvert. Looked good, but not expensive for what they offer. Thanks a lot. you and everybody here open my eyes with homeschooling and I just decided to stay with sonlight because I actually like all the content for pre-k. We will try to have fun....

You can get lots of help at http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums . If you've read books, you might know that the common advice is first to think about your educational philosophy--what your goals are, and based on that, what sort of approach, overall, you want to take. I agree, I think this is very important. As you also probably already know, homeschoolers tend to identify a number of different approaches to homeschooling, including classical, Charlotte Mason, Unit Studies, traditional textbook/workbook approach, the project approach, unschooling, and others and various combinations of these. Many, maybe most, people come up with their own approach that isn't clearly any one or another.

Just to offering my own reaction to what you said: "I need something more dynamic, and something that come prepared. something that I just have to present and explain to my kids." Wouldn't plain old books fit the bill? My own approach is based on this insight.

You're worried about how to start homeschooling pre-K? Don't! It's pre-K! Relax and take your time learning what (in your opinion) needs to be done. The best approach might be simply to do what you know or firmly believe works, and then take your time doing research and thinking about how to improve. Nobody can make up your mind for you, although some might try.

One last thing. I have read that other people are highly tempted to get a big canned curriculum, and indeed some do. I've never done so, myself, but it seems understandable. It sounds like you're tempted to go in that direction. The trouble (I gather) is that a lot of people bounce around from curriculum to curriculum. Some people (like us...) end up getting stuff a la carte because, well, homeschooling allows them to. It might seem intimidating to make choices individually. Well, it's not that bad. You basically just have to decide what you're going to teach, and then make a series of decisions about each subject.

[Krista G]

Homeschooling you PreK child is going to be a breeze and a lot of fun.  You can do it!

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