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10 Bright Stars
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| Posted: July 14 2011 at 12:29pm | IP Logged
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I know. A stupid, question, right? But seriously, I have been a homeschool mom for 16 years now (well, that is how old my oldest IS..  ) Anyway, I am starting over again with the younger set, and besides the basics which are obvious enough (i.e. to read, math, religion) how do you decide what ELSE to teach if you are not using a curriculum for the child. These are all girls if that helps! With the boys, it was nature...trains, space, stars and planets, trains....I taught them the names of most of the trees on the property, we learned about mushrooms. Some or all of this can transfer to the girls easliy enough, but I could use a real "B-12" shot in the arm of inspiration or ideas to get moving on this. I keep trying to get going on school with the younger/girl set and keep chickening out!!! I am having a very burnt out year and I have a new, sweet baby to soak in. I know what I am up against two with two older boys in Seton high school, so I think reality is kicking in that this will be one of my hardest years yet! (I have to teach the twins to read this year!!)
So if someone doesn't mind sharing:
1. How to you go about deciding what to teach?
2. What are the concrete steps you take to PLAN this out?
Thanks for any help you may have to offer. I KNOW this question has been asked before. I think I remember reading something similiar but the forum search I did came up short.
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Kim married to Bob (22y)
Mom of 11 blessings:
Bobby 19, David 17, Noah 14,
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Isabelle and Sophia 8,
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hylabrook1
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| Posted: July 14 2011 at 1:15pm | IP Logged
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In the first few of our 19 (so far) homeschooling years, we used Calvert. So when I first started doing my own thing, I kind of took their list of subjects/topics as a guide as to breadth, how often per week, how long each lesson should last, and so forth. Also, looking through fairly comprehensive homeschooling catalogues reminded me of what I "should", might, or wanted to cover; you know - which materials could I not wait to get my hands on. My favorites for this kind of thing are Emmanuel Books and Rainbow Resources (if you have the stamina ) Talking with friends with similar-aged children gave me ideas as well.
I don't have advice about teaching children to read. My oldest 2 learned it in school. The 4 I taught at home I used Calvert - even when I wasn't using it for anything else, I followed their lessons and techniques for reading instruction for 1st - 3rd grades. For me and my dc it was just the right balance of phonics, sight words, context clues, etc. Since it definitely wasn't broken, I didn't even consider fixing it. 
Peace,
Nancy
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kristinannie
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| Posted: July 14 2011 at 2:06pm | IP Logged
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I have decided to do unit studies for my littles. This year, we are doing an overview of the world. We are spending 1-2 months on each continent and studying the kids there, culture, food, craft projects, animals of the region, geography, reading saint stories, reading stories from that region, etc. It is a lot of fun. I am planning on continuing to do 1-2 month units, some with a science theme and some with a history or geography theme. I have the first two levels of KONOS because they were super cheap at a used curriculum sale so I am definitely going to use some of those.
I would do a wide variety for your girls. In the spring, you could study plants and botany. In the winter, you could study the artic. What do they like? If they like American Girl Dolls, you could do a study on some of the areas of the country or world that their favorites come from. You could make a fun study out of the Little House books as well. You could also do a baking unit to learn about yeast and how the ingredients make the recipe come out. Girls love dolphins so that could lead to studying the ocean. My daughter would rather learn about trains though!  She is just starting to figure out she is a girl!
Good luck!
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ekbell
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| Posted: July 14 2011 at 3:19pm | IP Logged
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My three oldest are girls [;)]
Back when I was first starting out with very little money, I figured out that there were the basic skills needed for learning (reading, writing, math) and the basic subjects to learn (science, geography, history). Religion and the fine arts (music, art) are a mix of skill and knowledge.
I also decided that while learning the necessary skills took priority it was important to use what my oldest dd was interested in as 'practice' learning material (not much point in learning learning skills without actually using them to learn something). She was interested in where(geography) and what(science) so that's what we concentrated on at first.
I made a list of subjects, decided on long term goals(because I personally need such a framework) gave them priorities based on my childern's interests, figured out what resources to use and then I figured out a daily schedule for skill subjects and a very loose weekly schedule for knowledge subjects. And then I spent most of my time looking for ways to answer my child's questions.
So we looked at exactly where 'here' was on earth(I used maps and a globe but google earth was perfect when when it came out) since my oldest had an obsession with 'here' which then led to learning about the various places our clothes, food and entertainments came from (where?). This obsession with 'where' also led to discussions of the solar system (a solar system walk complete with scaled down 'planets' works well with the younger crew). And so on.
In the end my 'master plan' worked out more as a list that I could check off as we went then a learning guide.
And I figured out that it's no use worrying about boy/girl when the differences between this particular girl and that particular girl are large enough as my second daughter approached everything from story and personal point of view and my third daughter enjoys well drawn books
and the periodic table. It turns out that my personal hobby of collecting early reader sets is quite worthwhile (my first daughter loved my old readers and science books, my second moved to easy to read story books as soon as possible, my third likes the Art-literature readers the best....)
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miliaz
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| Posted: Aug 04 2011 at 10:40pm | IP Logged
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Hey there! When I began homeschooling MANY years ago (-; , one of the first things I did was call our archdiocese and ask them what THEIR teachers used as guidelines. They told me that it's called A GRADED COURSE OF STUDY. There is a book (now CD-ROM) for each subject, and it is wonderful in listing everything the student needs to know for every grade. For example, the math book states what each grade particularly needs to know in each area of math, i.e. fractions, adding/subtracting, percentages, etc. It actually states things like "Student needs to be able to round numbers to the nearest 10" or "Student needs to understand and demonstrate knowledge of graphs." In my older guideline books, it states when each skill should be introduced & mastered. I bought these for a very modest price, and even when I bought a few of the CD-ROMS last year, they were still pretty cheap (I think I paid around $5 for each). These have been a Godsend in terms of scope & sequence from a Catholic perspective (and my city, Cincinnati, is a VERY Catholic city, so I'm assuming that our archdiocese's guidelines are "good" ones (-; ).
Regarding the actual application of said guidelines, I choose a subject, go to the appropriate grade in the Graded Course of Study, & look over the guidelines. They have the subject broken down into mini-subjects to make it pretty easy to go over. For example, this year my youngest girl will be in the 7th grade, & in the science guidelines, she is to learn about geology, fish, oceanology, meteorology, & various body systems. Under each mini-subject are numbered statements of what she is actually to learn. Underneath the main title of EARTH/SPACE SCIENCE is mini-title of ASTRONOMY. There are 30 things they are "supposed" to learn (-; . #14 is "Know the contributions of famous & current astronomers." #24 is "Describe phenomena that illustrate the moon's gravitational interaction w/the earth (e.g., moon's orbit, earth's tides, etc.)." We rarely complete everything in one subject but, hey, neither do the school teachers (-: . The guidelines also state that for science, a lot of the subjects listed can be switched in some of the different grades. For example, fish is listed for the 7th grade, but you could switch that w/mammals in 6th grade. The books are very user-friendly and even provide many sources of information that anyone can use, not just teachers who have special codes.
After I've picked a mini-subject to work on first, I go through my collected books and choose the ones most appropriate for what my child needs to know. I've tried to lighten-up over the years as far as being particular w/every little thing that's listed. I tend to get very "teacherish" (-; & want to make sure my child has at least been exposed to everything they're "supposed" to be. Nowadays, when I look at the numbered statements, I consider the child's interest level (if she hates geology, will it really matter in the long run whether we smash three different types of rock to see their composition?) & if the value of the lesson is worth my time. Believe me, I have certainly found THAT one out the hard way!
If you need any help, don't hesitate to contact me (-: !
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asplendidtime
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| Posted: Aug 16 2011 at 8:52am | IP Logged
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Thanks for asking this Kim, I feel so "right there" with you. If that helps any. This thread was really refreshing to read through. 
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: how do you decide what to teach?
