How to start homeschooling? Help!

BeaumontAlum · #1 Jul 21, '12, 9:38 pm

It has come to be that I have to homeschooling my 2 school age children, going into grades 4 and 2. We recently moved and unfortunately have moved into an area with less than stellar schools. We petitioned to send our kids to another school in the district but were denied. Fyi, I live in a rural suburb south of Atlanta, there are virtually no Catholic schools in the area. So we have decided to homeschooling them and I have no ideal were to begin! Homeschoolers, do you make your own curriculum or did you purchase one? Is it a Catholic curriculum? While I am sure the technical stuff will work itself out after a bit of research I am most terrified at the ideal of dedicating enough time yo them and having time for other household duties! I have twins that will be in PreK so they will be gone thru the day but I will have a 1yr old at home with me. With 5 kids total making us a family of 7 I wash everyday, clean everyday, and everyday I run out of time! How do you get everything done?

rkcomeau · #2 Jul 21, '12, 11:34 pm

First, take a breath; second, say a prayer; and third, pat yourself on the back! You're going to have a wonderful adventure and it looks like the Lord had to drag you to the starting gate. You will be happy with your decision.

My wife and I have 7 children as well. Currently, they are 2-24. When we had problems with our oldest being bored in fourth grade, we decided to home school and have been doing it ever since. My wife does 99% of the work, but I have helped over the years and greatly admire the results.
There are many fine curriculums out there, some Catholic and some not. We use Seton because we like how they weave religion into every subject, it's accredited, we can send in work to be graded online, and they are good administrators as well. There is plenty of help for you from Seton as well as homeschool groups that must be in your area. Contact your parish or diocese (even if you're not Catholic).
One of the best benefits is the focused attention a student receives. You've probably heard people claim that they homeschool in a couple of hours instead of the 6-8 required by public/private schools - well, yes and no. It makes sense. If a teacher is teaching 20 students, he/she can either spend time talking to the entire class or a few minutes per student. For you, that hour is 100% on your child. However, several parents use that to put in a couple of hours and call it a day. You get out of it what you put into it.
Other benefits are you can plan vacations and holidays to YOUR schedule and preferences. For example, we take off the Feast of St. Nicholas (Dec 6) and that is the day Santa comes to our house. We open presents and do something special as a family (movie, museum, zoo) without the crowds. It's one of the best days of the year (then we only have to deal with family presents on Christmas)!
In addition, don't believe the myths about being anti-social. My homeschooled kids are the MOST social kids in our parish of 4000 families. They know and get along with everybody! Of course, they are very involved in our homeschool group, alter serving, youth group, etc.
I believe you also asked about how you get teaching and all the housework done. You don't. My wife used to keep an immaculate house and was constantly making something cleaner or better. Eventually, she had to make a conscious effort to accept that we would have to put off some housework in order to teach the children - otherwise, she was just too exhausted at the end of the day. It's okay to have dust on the shelf for three days. The payoff with our kids has been completely worth it! A couple of years ago, we decided to pay for a housekeeper to come in once every two weeks and do some deep cleaning. That's helped her feel much more at ease about that - and that makes me happier! Now, my wife is a great organizer and she has found the kids thrive in having a schedule they all get to know and they all live by it pretty strictly. She also has kids help with chores as they can (like cook the corn dogs for lunch while she finishes teaching).
At the end of your life, would you prefer kids on the path to heaven or distant relatives to say, "you know, she always was an excellent housekeeper!"?
Enjoy your adventure and God bless!

rkcomeau · #3 Jul 21, '12, 11:38 pm

http://www.setonhome.org/

BeaumontAlum · #4 Jul 22, '12, 10:04 am

Great information, thanks! I looked at setons website and will definitely be contacting them tomorrow! I can pretty much guarantee I am not near as organized as your wife, I've always struggled with keeping the house together, but do feel like thru necessity I am called to homeschooling and therefore will make a way. A housekeeper sounds great, working that into our budget as we speak! Again thanks for the insight and my hats off to your wife, I pray I can homeschool and run a household as well as she does!

lizaanne · #5 Jul 22, '12, 10:10 am

You don't have your location listed so it makes it difficult for people local to you to offer resources. This is an excellent group in my area that may be able to point you in the right direction in your own location.

http://www.rc.net/lansing/mch/

Sadly, they are not too great about keeping their website up to date, but the contact email will still get you to someone who can help.

~Liza

ThyKingdomCome · #6 Jul 22, '12, 7:41 pm

Hi! Someone recently posted a thread about this topic. Here is is:
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=695344

That poster's situation is a little different than yours, so I will reply to you directly as well. People do all sorts of things with homeschooling - some register with a curriculum and follow a program exactly, while others come up with their curriculum completely on their own. Still others register with a program, but take advantage of the flexibility of their programs to make substitutions. Many Catholics use Catholic homeschool providers and programs, and many do not. The variations are endless.

The fact that you are being thrown into homeschooling so soon before the school year starts, makes me think that you don't have the chance to explore all the variations before you start homeschooling. I would recommend that you consider following one program pretty closely. The two programs that I recommend for brand new homeschoolers who haven't done a lot of research are:
CHC ( http://www.chcweb.com/catalog/index.html )
Seton ( http://www.setonhome.org/ ) and

Both of them are Catholic, both are fairly "scholastic" in their approach (which isn't too different from the course of study you find in many schools), and both are good programs. Seton offers enrollment and will go so far as to grade your materials for you (which requires you to send materials to them rather frequently). CHC is just a provider - they don't offer enrollment, you just buy their materials. Their materials include lesson plans which will still spell out everything you need to do. Either one will guide you well through your first year doing this. It just depends on your style and preferences. While I've used materials from both providers, there are so many that I love about the CHC materials, that I have to give them an extra plug.

That said, there are other programs out there. The main Catholic ones are:
http://www.kolbe.org/
http://www.motherofdivinegrace.org/
http://www.angelicum.net/
http://www.reginacoeli.org/
http://www.olvs.org/index.asp?PageId=758
http://www.staa-homeschool.com/

I register with Kolbe, but they all have good qualities. I consider most of these to be less similar to the "mainstream" style of education that you are probably used to. Which isn't a bad thing, but it just might take some time for you to research the different approaches to homeschooling to decide which one you really like. You might find that just picking CHC or Seton is a good place to start, and then you can take your time and make more opinionated decisions next year if you are still homeschooling at that point.

About your time management...my advice would be to enlist the help of everyone in the family. My husband does a lot of chores, and it is really helpful. Also see what chores your kids can help with. Include chores in with the list things that your children need to accomplish each day. Also, relax your expectations, at least at first. Understand that this will be a transition, and you will probably not "get it right" right away.

KCT · #7 Jul 24, '12, 10:41 am

I always suggest that people read Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum by Laura Berquist.

The title is a bit misleading; you don't have to design your own curriculum to benefit from reading it. It goes into various theories and methods, so it's good no matter how you lean towards curricula.

Read it as soon as you can!

Kindness · #8 Jul 24, '12, 1:16 pm

Although no longer homeschooling, our American kids are in our local schools here in Germany so I try and supplement with English language resources to keep their English abilities alive and (at least) at grade level.
I wanted to recommend a book that is well known in homeschooling circles for good reason and is a great resource. It is called "Honey for a Child's Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life" by Gladys Hunt and gives lists of recommended books for read alouds and independent reading from ages 0-14.

A very simple but extremely effective method for teaching but also for hours of pleasure for you and your children is to read, read, read to them. Take them to the library get them their own card and encourage them to pick out books. If you are too exhausted or busy for reading gets books on CD, download them or borrow them in audio form from the library. I started buying books on CD when my eldest daughter was about 5 and all my kids still go to bed at night listening to stories on CD! I notice that it really develops their vocabulary and they can also decode new words well after listening to so many stories.

For math my kids love Math-Whizz an online math program that adjusts to the child's ability to help them succeed. It is about 100 dollars a year and you can find cheaper resources but my kid's really enjoy it - another very popular math program with homeschooling parents is Math-U-See.

Kindness · #9 Jul 24, '12, 1:17 pm

Opps duplicate

kristacecilia · #10 Jul 25, '12, 5:20 am

Welcome to the wonderful world of home education!

There is a great Catholic homeschooling forum at http://4real.thenetsmith.com/default.asp

I started off using a boxed curriculum- Catholic Heritage Curricula- and moved to building my own after a few years.

The biggest thing you are going to have to embrace is that home education is not like doing school at home. At least not for most people. It's more like a natural extension of your parenting. It takes time and a lot of trial and error to find the right balance of work, school, and play.

I second the Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum recommendation. Also, Real Learning by Elizabeth Foss.

Katholish · #11 Jul 25, '12, 8:50 pm

I would second the recommendation of Seton. I started using it in the fifth grade and it was a real lifesaver. Over the years, I have gained quite a familiarity with many of the other homeschool curricula and still think Seton is the best.

jawgee · #12 Jul 27, '12, 12:31 pm

Just so you know, school at home will not take the typical 7 hours it takes in a public school. For most people I talk to, schooling is done by lunch time unless the children are in their teen years.

Kindergarten and 1st grade, actually, will take just 1-2 hours each day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kristacecilia

Welcome to the wonderful world of home education!

There is a great Catholic homeschooling forum at http://4real.thenetsmith.com/default.asp

I started off using a boxed curriculum- Catholic Heritage Curricula- and moved to building my own after a few years.

Sillara · #13 Jul 27, '12, 10:44 pm

I use Kolbe for my three who are school-age. We used to be Protestant, and I used a Protestant curriculum then. (It was good, except for the Bible segments, but it closed down right around the time I was switching to Kolbe.)

For me, I like a boxed curriculum, which I can then modify to suit myself and my children.

We live in Japan, and though I considered the Catholic school here, well, let's just say that $2500 US per child per month is just not doable for our six-child family.

Not to mention that the commute is 1.5 hours each way.

However, homeschooling has been great for us. My husband teaches university, and I am able to adjust the girls' schedule to match his. As another poster mentioned, we are able to avoid crowds by doing things on days when everyone else is in school. The biggest challenge for me is keeping the three little ones out of the way as the three big ones work. However, Daughter #4 is starting kindergarten soon, so this difficulty will only lessen as time goes on.

dranzal · #14 Jul 31, '12, 8:34 am

Relax. Yep. Relax.

Now, read this: http://www.livingjoyfully.ca/unschoo...eschooling.htm

And this: http://www.homeschooloasis.com/art_deschooling_tips.htm

"Homeschooling" exists on a spectrum. The range goes from "school-at-home" with parents structuring school activites during standard school hours and including all the standard curriculum, testing, grading, etc. to "unschooling" with parents trusting the natural learning ability and desire in their children to motivate them to learn.

In the middle of the spectrum you will find people who use boxed sets (flexibly), people who forego "schooly" things to hit the park on beautiful days, people who think that preparing a recipe for 1 1/2 batches of cookies is a good way to teach fractions and watching Magic School Bus is a good way to reinforce basic science, etc.

This is where you'll find most homeschoolers.

The point you should be getting is that it isn't rocket science. Did you need a book to teach your children to walk? Talk?

Now, think about your own schooling. Think about the subjects you didn't like. Do you remember anything useful from them? If not, did you really LEARN the material? Ponder the answer to those questions. The solution won't be the same for every family. One more question...if you had been able to dedicate the TIME spent "learning" the stuff you didn't actually learn on the subjects you were more passionate about, what would the outcome have been?

Think about anything you weren't interested as a kid, but are now interested in, such as theology, politics, breastfeeding, parenting, etc. If you are KNOWLEDGEABLE in those topics now, how did that knowledge come to pass? Congratulations, you have homeschooled yourself in those topics.

For the laws in your area, check, www.hslda.org

http://handmadeforheaven.blogspot.com/

dranzal · #15 Jul 31, '12, 8:37 am

Oh, if you want an easy, fun way to get your children started, but want more time to investigate resources, this is an inexpensive online "curriculum" that is pretty good.

www.time4learning.com

For the younger set, www.jumpstart.com has a membership. We have it and all of my kids, including the 15 yr old, love it. Of course, the older ones are not actually challenged by the educational portions, but really enjoy the game anyway.

If anyone joins, let me know and my kids can "buddy" your kids.

http://handmadeforheaven.blogspot.com/