In the last post I talked about how we have stuck with an attachment style parenting. That is something we took into consideration when choosing our teaching method. We fancy our selves unschoolers with a bit more structure. We want to encourage the littles interest and make sure they have all the tools at the ready. We're definitely eclectic by definition. We needed something that we could use for multiple ages. M would be the only one to do a math and reading curriculum this year. But J is also very inquisitive and A loves to jump right in. They all love story time. M loves math, science and art. J loves history, science and music. A is interested in anything M and J are doing. Armed with this knowledge I begin piecing my curriculum together. If it helps make a quick list of what youre looking for in a curriculum and keep it close by as youre sifting through options. It helps to do a quick amazon search, read the reviews and then look at their suggestions. You never know what you'll come across. I found some great resources this way. I would also like to add that this is what has worked for our family so far. We are still growing as homeschoolers and what works fo us may not work for your family.
First I knew I would need a math and reading curriculum for M. She would be doing Kinder this year. Although unofficially because she doesnt meet the age of attendance for our state. When looking for a math curriculum I wanted something moderately priced that I could use year after year. I also didnt want to get a series that randomly quit publishing books at a beginner level. The worst is finding a series that resonates well with every one in the family and when you go to purchase the fifth year you find they no longer make the curriculum. I settled on two different approaches. (keep in mind at this point Im still working on the trial and error aspect) The first was a spiral method workbook, Mathematical Reasoning. I was a bit concerned with this series as its a work book and the price was a bit much for a consumable book. The second series I chose was the Miquon math. Its a hands on approach which uses math link cubes. When the books arrived I found the Math Reasoning fit M perfectly. She absolutely adores this book. The Miquon math is still a wonderful program and we kept it just in case its a better fit for J or A.
I took my time in choosing a reading curriculum. M showed little interest in learning her alphabet and letter sounds. Now I feel her lack of interest was due to pressure that was being placed on her from an early age to learn these things. I wanted to go with something that would be an all inclusive 'Teach your child to read' type lesson. Since she was hesitant I also wanted to make sure it was something we could go at her pace. Again I found myself with two options. Similar all-in-one type books but different approaches. 'Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons' and 'The Reading Lesson'. M really took to The Reading Lesson and as with the math books we kept both reading lessons in case the other was a better fit for J or A.
Since both the reading and math books can be consider consumable we purchased a new printer, scanner, copier all-in-one system so I could use the books year after year and eventually pass them along to another family. My husband, the tech savvy person in the family went with a Brother wireless system. We were able to purchase it on sale and it has saved us what we paid plus some in one years time.
Now for Kinder you may find this to be enough for your family. If you look back to the Worldbook Course Study guidelines you'll notice most every thing else can be covered simply by discussing every day life with your child as its happening. For the things that may not be as simple as talking about every day life I found the 'What your x Grader needs to know' series. This is the k-8 series online free of charge. I dont always have the luxury of sitting in front of the computer so we opted to purchase a hard copy.
For our family we knew we wanted to add a science, history, geography lesson. Per the littles request. As well as a critical thinking and a literature based program. Keeping with our go with the flow, family studies approach I didnt want to purchase a hardcore all laid out for me curriculum. It also needed to be budget friendly.
About the time I was stuck figuring out what would meet our needs for science two young men knocked on my door. They were selling SouthWestern Advantage products for school. I ended up purchasing both sets of the 'Ask Me' books. (as well as the 'My fun with words') Now since I had never heard of the company and it was a spur of the moment buy I ended up paying a good penny for these books. The 'Ask Me' series however encompassed everything we were looking for. They are interactive, fun and meant for a range of ages. The kids really get into learning about everything they have to offer. At the time I also wanted to purchase the 'Explore and Learn' set but we didnt have the funds. After shopping around I was able to find them individually in great shape for next to nothing.
When it came to fulfilling our need for a critical thinking program (or series) I found Developing the Early Learner. M found it fun, simple enough not to get her discouraged or agitated but was enough of a challenge to get her thinking.
For a literature based program I found 'Five In A Row'. It can be used as a complete curriculum or picked apart and used as you see fit. You also have the option to purchase the literature packages or purchase the books individually as you go. I found that I could save more if I purchased as we went along. Ive found several facebook groups dedicated to this curriculum as well as pinterest boards to help you expand on the program if you choose to use it as your core curriculum. FAIR also has several 'go alongs'. The first being a bible study, second a cookbook and third a nature studies. The only one we purchased was the cookbook. We've loosely used FIAR Vol 1 and its gone over very well with all of the littles.
To pull together our year we added a few more things just to pick apart as we needed. M wanted to work on her drawing skills so we purchased one of Ed Emberly's how to books. To give the littles a better understanding of scientific baiscs we purchased Usbornes Illustrated Science Dictionary. For health the Usborne Look Inside Your Body. We're big Usborne fans. Even though the Waldorf curriculum wasnt a good fit for us as a whole we did end up getting their health book Growing, Growing Stronger. (the link is for the newest addition theyre offering) We listen to a variety of music but these are two of the littles favorite CDs. Wee Singing and Toddlers Sing. J is a fan of classical music and next year we'll be adding a classical studies. As the year went on I also picked up books that could build upon the littles interests. Like math books to build on specific concepts, 'I Wonder', and 'You Wouldnt Want to be' books.
I hope our experience with these products help give yall some insight into piecing together a curriculum for the early years. In the next post I'll talk about how I put all these books together to achieve our yearly goals and keep on a daily schedule.
No comments:
Post a Comment