Homeschool World Forum

[JJ]

I'm sure there is no right or wrong way to home school.... But since I only have a basic idea of what to do I am feeling a little overwhelmed. Luckily for me my kids are both under the age of 5 (one preschool age and one K next year) so in my state I have a couple of practice years since the law doesn't require schooling until the age of seven.
I have some questions about some things. First, I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion about how to keep good records. Do you just put it on the computer in like Excel, or use a purchased software program, or what? What works best? And also along with that, if you have your kids outside planting flowers how do you classify that if it is agriculture, history, physical education, home economics and etc. Can you apply the hour they plant flowers to all those different subjects provided you only count it as one hour but it would cover the hours required in the particular studies or can you only pick one subject to apply it to?? How do you know what to apply it to?
I know what subjects I want to cover but I have no idea how to cover them without an in depth teachers guide on each subject with the full lesson plans and curriculum (to follow at their pace of course). I'm not a big fan of fully unschooling, I prefer to mix and match styles and I want to give a good foundation in the most important subjects (reading, writing and math) but my kids also need some help in motor skills with like cutting with scissors and stuff like that. If I can't find used K curriculum on this forum to use this year could someone recommend a low cost curriculum that could meet my needs? Look under the wanted section in this forum for a description......
I don't have a lot of money to buy a lot of stuff... but I don't want to just go at it without any guidance. People keep telling me I don't need any books for K but I feel like I do.
Oh and can someone tell me where to go to test my kids readiness skills to know what they are and aren't ready for or their grade level or whatever it is...
Can someone please help me sort all this out so I don't feel so overwhelmed?
Thanks to anyone who can help........
JJ

[Theodore]

Well, you could go with record-keeping software, which will make things somewhat easier, but there's no reason why an Excel spreadsheet (or even just a brief weekly summary in a notebook) won't do fine. We keep our records in folders, one folder per kid.

Homeschooling is primarily about giving your children a good education. Classifying the work you do is only for purposes of fulfilling the legal requirements, so you can be as imaginative as you like. A vegetable garden can count for agriculture, home economics, and phys ed, so you just assign the hours to wherever you need them the most. All three categories is fine if you have sufficient hours to spread

You can get used curriculum from a variety of sources, including Ebay, homeschool book sales (see your state for groups in your area), our Curriculum Buy / Sell forum, etc. Most people go with some sort of grade-based curriculum for the core, and supplement on math and/or reading.

Early readiness resources...
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[JJ]

Thanks for your reply Theodore... I feel a lot better about the record keeping with your suggestions, very helpful. I think I am trying to make this harder than it really is lol

I am still wondering though about which curriculum to choose from and I'm not familiar with any. I want to be able to follow a good teaching guide and curriculum with lots and lots of suggested activities and a layout of all the studies I need to get in so I do the best that I can for them. I don't want to make them behind or leave anything out or try to push them too hard. I guess I'm looking for something that tells me exactly what to do until I can get the hang of this. Is there a particular curriculum that you (or anyone reading this post) are familiar with that fulfills these needs?
JJ
P.S. Thanks for the readiness link!

[Tabz]

Yeah, my mom used a notebook (that way she could have it right there when she was working through our textbooks) and excel sheets with our grades.

Hey, I planted a garden and that wasn't counted as schoolwork! Unfair!
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[Theodore]

Same here, actually. I experimented with peas, tomatoes, corn, carrots, and probably one or two other things I'm forgetting now. I don't think we counted that either, at the time. Probably should have
_________________
The Farming Game - Software Edition for Mac and PC
The board game has sold over 350,000 copies worldwide, garnered many awards, is used by over 2,000 schools, and is used extensively by homeschoolers.

[hbmom36]

"Right" is different for everyone. We are primarily unschoolers, because my daughter is so motivated to learn. We keept the records required by our charter school, and no one questions it. I know other families for whom that simply would not work.