We just started homeschooling about a month ago. Our son is in first grade. We purchased the curriculum (here she named a specific well-known Christian curriculum), but it's not going as well as I had hoped. My son really doesn't like the structure of the program. He's a six-year-old boy who loves to be outside. Any encouragement, advice, resources, wisdom, or thoughts would be appreciated! Thanks so much!
It's wonderful that you are homeschooling! Yes, that can be a great curriculum; I am very familiar with it and have used aspects of it. However it is a lot to cover and does not fit all personalities and learning styles.
Truthfully I think that six is too young for a formal curriculum, especially for many boys, and especially with a curriculum that is as involved as the one you mention.
If I were you, I'd try very hard to get to an inclusive homeschool conference (like the VaHomeschoolers conference in my home state), which would be a really good place for you to get a feel for the many different homeschooling approaches people use. These are homeschooling styles, and not all of them involve formal curricula.
Now as for what you can do at home, consider informally putting a plan together yourself or else go with unit studies -- your own or those you can find online -- or at least consider using a less ambitious curriculum. One good possibility as far as a pre-done unit study curriculum is Five in a Row -- but if you use that, I would not feel bound to using it exactly according to instructions because it might drive your busy son crazy. For example, the instructions say something like read the same book each day and do a related activity. Well, my experience is, despite what their FAQs indicate, many kids can't take the "read-the-same-book-each-day" part for five days, even though this is a very good program. So, you adapt it. Read the children's book with your son and do activities that appeal to you and you think will appeal to your son, but don't read to him to the point of him being sick of the book, which is counterproductive.
Another more relaxed curriculum is Oak Meadow. I have also used this curriculum, though always tweaking it in ways that worked well for us. Here is a review I wrote of Oak Meadow.
So those are several curricula I'd recommend over the curriculum you chose for a little guy—but overall I'd say—Do What Works!
Homeschooling Boys
Try living a learning lifestyle.
So living a learning lifestyle means that if you have an active busy boy who will play with Lego bricks and cars while you read good books from the library for a bit each day, then do that. Have him cook with you. Make things with him. Take him for long nature walks and collect things along the way -- a fallen bird nest, a red leaf, a locust shell -- and arrange them on a nature table and talk about these treasures. Supply him with a magnifying glass and a bug book so he can look at the details of the locust. Set up a bird feeder and feed the birds, with a bird book and binoculars right there at the kitchen table, so you model looking things up for him. Sketch the birds or color pictures of the species you find. Go to the play ground, ostensibly to see if you can "also" find cardinals there -- but really you are also letting him run off more steam.
In other words, I think that with a six year old energetic boy, mainly you want to live with him and do things to encourage and engage him. Take walks and skip count. Let him count and sort Daddy's socks. Read little readers about math concepts (see www.LivingMath.net) Go to the library. Go to a play or music performance. Take field trips. Make art. If he likes animals, do an animal "unit study" and let that be science. If he likes robots and electricity, make that your unit study and let that be science. The Radio Shack guys gave me great guidance on what supplies we needed to build a little circuit board for the guys to play with, or you can buy electronics kits for kids.
Here is an example of something I wrote about a kind of "live and learn" project I did with my children, Creating a Calendar with Children.
Note the tone of this article -- which is that it is about doing as much as the child can tolerate in one day - not as much as possible! The idea is creating engagement.
Here are a couple of relevant articles that will help you explore these ideas more:
I think if you take some of these ideas into consideration, you might find your son enjoys homeschooling more. Good luck!
Read the next installment of Ask Jeanne—when this same homeschool friend responds that some of the problems adjusting to homeschooling seem related to her previous job—as a public school elementary teacher!
A popular speaker at homeschooling conferences, business groups, and parents’ groups, Jeanne Potts Faulconer homeschooled her three sons in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Virginia for twenty years. Holding her Master of Arts degree in Communication, Jeanne conducted portfolio evaluations for Virginia homeschoolers for evidence of progress for many years. Jeanne is a former college faculty member, former editor for several publications, news correspondent for WCVE, and former director of Brave Learner Home. She is the contributing editor for TheHomeSchoolMom newsletter and writes the popular Ask Jeanne column addressing homeschool parents' questions here at TheHomeSchoolMom.
I want to homeschool my kids myself. They have been attending Michigan greatlakes virtual academy k12. But I want to do it myself on our time instead of when teachers say it's time. What is the best way to do this as I want to do it more with paperwork instead of all virtual. The kids love the outdoors and are always active but can't focus in virtual and it don't hold their attention. So can you suggest a program where I can do it all whith paperwork instead of constant computers?
You are naming a great advantage of homeschooling over virtual public school: the flexibility to help your kids learn on your family's schedule and in ways that engage your kids. These are things I love about homeschooling!
There are many curricula that are available in print (books, workbooks, project plans, etc.) or that are downloadable/printable by parents so your child does not have to be using a computer or other device. There are also many project-oriented curricula that are hands-on.
The thing is, curricula vary so widely that it is difficult to make suggestions that will fit a given family. There is some trial and error involved. Many curricula do not cover all subjects or do not cover them all in the way your child does best.
You may want to look into Oak Meadow, Blossom and Root, and Harbor and Sprout to get started. You could also look at ways to inject outdoorsy activities by using Scouts merit badge books (or just join a scouting program) or by using a subscription box such as Think Outside. You could do nature journaling, which is a feature of the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling. If you explore the Charlotte Mason method, you will find various curricula based on her ideas. I would consider throwing in some citizen science such as butterfly counts and bird counts, which you should be able to google up. There may be other citizen science projects in your area, such as monitoring stream water or recording observations of certain insects or plants.
You can also use library books. Ask the librarian for help in finding books about nature and outdoor adventures. These can include novels that you can read aloud and discuss. My Side of the Mountain was an amazing hit with my kids, and novels by Gary Paulsen (like Hatchet) were loved by my kids. If you have younger kids, you make like Bravewriter's Quill, which includes programs on bugs, flowers, weather and more.
And don't forget field trips! You may have natural areas, museums, and parks near you—often with programs your kids can attend to learn about the stars or local animals and plants.
There are also various outdoor schools and co-ops, sometimes called forest schools, that you can look for near you.
Many people use all of these resources and others they discover along with resources or curriculum. Homeschoolers can make up their own learning programs, and that's a valid curriculum, too!
Best of luck as you put together something that will work well for your kids.
Looking forward,
Jeanne
I need help! I have an ADD active, outdoorsy 13 year old boy (7th), a dyslexic but enjoys learning just not reading 11 year old girl (5th), and a spunky, always wants to go 6 year old girl (1st), and I'm at a complete loss as to how to homeschool them and with what curriculum. I'm scared and freaking out! My husband thinks we'll all be fine. My oldest just graduated after being homeschooled through high school, but she was self-motivated and disciplined. These next 3 are not. And they are all so different that a one size fits all curriculum won't work here. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Amber,
I'd probably look for ways to do project-based learning if this were my family. I'd aim for the middle with the 13- and 11-year-olds, and have the 6 come along for the ride. This would be for science, social studies and literature/reading comprehension.
Projects are great for kids with the qualities you describe.
I'd do a ton of reading aloud and audiobooks, perhaps aimed at the oldest two with the youngest also getting her own read alouds and audiobooks. You can coordinate titles with projects.
For the child who has dyslexia, consider a reading program that is based on an Orton-Gillingham approach, which provides specific lessons designed to help children who have dyslexia. And you can do a learn-to-read curriculum with your youngest.
You could consider literature-based curricula that include project ideas.
Math and writing could be separate for each of the kids, except perhaps where you make writing around a similar theme or project for all of them.
You could also do this in reverse: make a list of science and social studies topics you want to cover and then seek or create unit studies and add novels (historical and otherwise) that are related.
You may be most concerned about the oldest in terms of content, so you could look at the topics in a typical science book or just use a typical science curriculum for his grade as your "spine." Seek a science book or curriculum that features projects, or add projects to the topics in the book yourself.
You could also get the kids' ideas. For example, an active outdoorsy 13 yo 7th grader may enjoy the science behind survival skills (mine did), nature studies that involve going outdoors and collecting or observing specimens, or exploding stuff and learning how that happens.
These kids will learn differently than your oldest, but if you focus on what engages them and what works as a helpful tool for your child who is dyslexic, you'll be on your way.
This is why we often say that it is difficult to find a single "all-in-one" curriculum for a child, much less for a family of children. That said, if we keep the kids in our minds, we can make educational choices that will be meaningful for them. You've done a great job observing and describing them. Now you will have to mix and match and do a bit of trial and error to find the resources that work well. My idea is just one idea—you may come up with something that's a better match.
Looking forward,
Jeanne
I don’t have kids of my own .
I have a friend who has some kids
She wants me to help her to homeschool them but she has to work .
Where do I get the information for the home school curriculum ?
I gave a degree in teaching but haven’t used it in a while .
If I were a parent where would I go to get the information to home school them ?
Thank you 🙏🏻
Hi Simone,
Each state handles homeschooling differently, so you and your friend would need to check the laws in the state where you live. You would need to verify that it is legal to homeschool someone else's kids, whether you would follow the homeschooling statute, or whether there is a separate option set up for tutoring by a credentialed individual. For curriculum, check out our huge section of homeschool curriculum reviews (linked in the main navigation) and read Jeanne's article "How To Choose the Best Homeschool Curriculum for Your Family's Needs." The best place to start is by reviewing our Homeschooling 101 section (also linked in the main navigation). It will guide you through the process of the legalities, curriculum, finding local networking, and more. Good luck!