She wrote: “I’m considering homeschooling my soon to be kindergartner and have no idea how to do so.”
I responded . . .
Welcome to the homeschooling journey! You can do it. You may feel inadequate. You may wonder what to do and then you’ll wonder if you did it right. Sometimes you will want to quit and then there are times when you celebrate and your space is filled with joy and thanksgiving. Think of all the ways you’ve felt in the past as a mother. Those same feelings will come and go as you homeschool. They are normal. Just remember, I said you can do it. I believe any mom who has taught her child to eat with a spoon can homeschool, especially with the resources and curricula we have available online.
There are so many resources and helps to support you. And there are lots of people with experience and skills willing to help you if you reach out. In fact, sometimes the difficulty is in choosing which one to use or whom to seek counsel from.
I am one of those people who can help you.
First, there are five foundation areas that you will eventually make decisions about. I recommend you become informed about these areas. (I wrote in more detail about the first four in another post: “Homeschool Help.”
- Your states LAWS and regulations for homeschooling. Search with “homeschooling laws + your state.” I recommend you look at the laws and regulations on a state government site. Sometimes educator websites are not updated when laws and regulations change.
- Join homeschooling a COMMUNITY (or several) like this one online. Sometimes it is good to join a homeschooling co-op near your geographic area. We never did because we were homeschooling before there were co-ops, and so we didn’t feel the need. And we didn’t have the time to commit to one.
- Plan your SCHEDULE. There are three parts to it: the school year (school days and non-school days; traditional or year-round), then decide which days each week, and finally, decide your daily time. If something doesn’t work, remember scheduling is flexible and can change based on your needs and situation. Just don’t keep changing it all the time. Kids thrive on predictable schedules.
- Determine the SPACE in your home where you will do the work and where you will store books and supplies. Think about the kind of work and be flexible, i.e., on the floor with puzzles, at the table or a small desk to draw or write, in a comfy chair to read. You can dedicate a room or part of a room to schooling if you have space. At one point we had seven kids homeschooling, so we turned a family room into our homeschooling space.
- Decide on your CURRICULA (ideas below).
Plan to have systematic, explicit lessons every day you have school for two core subjects: language arts (foundation literacy) and math. When you begin the year, start with only one subject until your schedule and use of materials is running smoothly (one to two weeks). Then add the other. For example, start with math, then add language arts.
Before I share more, I’m going to encourage you that once you start do not jump around, trying this curriculum or approach and then trying a different one. Find something and stick with it. Set your course and stay it. Find the basic resources and curriculum you want to use and stick with them as long as they are working for you. Of course, If something isn’t working, change it. That’s part of the beauty of homeschooling. Don’t get distracted hunting for “fun” things; the fun is in the learning, the doing, and the interaction you have with your child.
For science and social studies, We use an eclectic approach. You can have science routines as part of your day, i.e. notice daily weather and keep records, notice seasonal changes, take walks and observe life. Use library books written for children: science topics (i.e., weather, magnets, animals, plants), history (i.e., stories, flag, biographies), and geography (i.e., maps). You can use a grade level textbook and simply follow it. For example, get the student science book for K from Abeka and just read and discuss it together. Let it guide your topics.
Keep in mind that puzzles, games, read alouds, play time, are all part of their learning. Baking or cooking with you, gardening, learning to care for things (chores), guided shopping (talking about items like names of fruit and veggies, etc) are also part of K learning.
Core Knowledge has a great free resource that outlines core knowledge / skills by grade level. It will help you be informed. WARNING: Do NOT be overwhelmed when you look at it. There are lots of materials and resources that simplify it for you!! With a math program like Saxon (more below) and with my online lessons for foundation literacy (more below), you can easily provide the two most important core subjects.
About “Letters Sounds Words“
Teaching foundation literacy is my expertise; I have four decades of educational experience in multiple capacities. My kindergarten, online, on-demand course is “Letters Sounds Words.”
You stream and go. Think of me as your co-teacher who plans lessons, teaches lessons, and models the work. You, as the other co-teacher, provide time, place, supplies; monitor student engagement; and give encouragement.
Students experience hands-on learning in 80 lessons that seamlessly integrate print awareness, phonological and phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge, phonics (both decoding and encoding), handwriting, spelling, word work, sentences, capitalization, punctuation. Instruction is systematic, explicit, and teacher-modeled. Videos are student facing, picture-in-picture, and students feel like they know me, calling me their teacher, answering my questions as though I were actually with them.
The course has over 620 videos, ranging from 3 to 15 mins in viewing time. There are 4-8 videos per lesson. A lesson can be spread over two days. Read more and watch some sample videos HERE.
In “Letters Sounds Words” we sing songs, write in cornmeal, create letters with clay/play dough, write with tracking letters. We learn the English code, discover sound-symbol patterns in words, take dictation and self check our own work, sound out words to write/spell them, then sound them out to read, create word families with rhymes, do word finds in our work.
Check out my FREE web resource for sound-symbols (phonograms) and for formation of lower case letters using a clock face as a backdrop — phonogrampage.com.
Now, for math, I highly recommend Saxon math. We have used it with 13 grandkids, all levels, K-HS. My son-in-law did all his math in Saxon… through HS. What Saxon does well is build understanding of the concepts in the lessons… and the lessons are scripted so anyone can teach math well. You don’t need to worry about doing it right or what comes next or when do I need to review. It’s all in the teacher’s manual. Saxon has a box of manipulatives that you will use in the lessons; I recommend purchasing it rather than piecing it together. You will need the teacher’s manual and student materials.
I recommend Starfall for additional practice and application of language and math. It aligns well with “Letters Sounds Words”; both are based on the science of reading and cognitive research. It gives your students quality screen time and independent practice activities. My grandkids have all loved it.
For more information or clarification, contact me. I’ll support you in any way I can. Use “Reply” below, or use our private Contact Form.
May your homeschooling be blessed with the joy and the love of learning.
where Alice Nine teaches language lessons that
Empower Students with Language Proficiency
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