Aubrie's kindergarten curriulum arrived in the mail yesterday and we are both very excited about it! After a year of Christian pre-school and about a half year of informal pre-K homeschooling, I decided that it was time to officially get started with Aubrie and start her kindergarten schooling at home.
One of the benefits of homeschooling is that you don't necessarily have to follow any particular time frame or do exactly what the public schools are doing and so you can work ahead or take more time if need be. So it may seem strange that we are starting kindergarten in February but I know Aubrie is ready for it and eager to learn and so I see no reason to wait until September like the public schools do. In our state, we don't have to do any reporting until Aubrie is six (she will be five in March) and at that time I will need to fill out a form, stating that we are homeschooling and send it to the school superintendent. Other than that, the laws in our state are fairly lenient compared to those of other states and we won't have to do much more than simply inform the right people that we are doing home education. Just a few miles across the border, though in the next state over, the laws are stricter and there is more required accountability so just to stay on top of things and for my own use, I am going to be keeping up on everything and keeping records of what Aubrie is doing and her progress. Also, if the laws ever change in our state and they start requiring more of us, then I will be prepared.
We are using A Beka curriculum and it looks like great material! I love that it is Christian curriculum and that the truth about God is woven throughout all the lessons. I've only had about 15 minutes to look through everything since it arrived and from what I've looked at so far, it looks like it will be a lot of fun. I'm a bit intimidated since I've never done this before and it is a bit overwhelming knowing that Aubrie learning to read will be my responsibility but I am sure that once we get a groove and with a lot of help from God, it will all work out! I am the type of person that likes structure and organization and so this curriculum will be great for that and has lesson plans outlined for each day. I like having something to follow and I'm sure as time goes on and we get more comfortable with things, we can play around with things a little bit if we want to.
And so I will probably be busy the next few days reading through all the material and my teacher's guide but I'm really looking forward to it. Aubrie is so excited to start -- as soon as all the boxes came and we started opening them, she said, "Okay, can we start school now?" She was thinking we could just sit down and do it that minute and so I'm trying to explain to her that I'll need a few days to get prepared.
There are also a couple homeschooling groups in our town and I've contacted one for more information because I would love to have the support and advice of other veteran homeschool moms in the area.
I know this is a big step and that I will probably get plenty of flak from friends and family members who think homeschooling is weird but that's okay! We know it's what we are called to do in our family and so here we go! :)
7 comments:
I've heard it is a good curriculum! We are doing a haphazard mixture of things. But that is just my style :)
Way to go! I didn't realize you were starting already but nothing wrong with that! You'll have to guide me through it when my time comes!
I have been Homeschooled with ABeka curriculum all the way. In my opinion its the BEST curriculum out there, especially for younger children!
Thanks for your comment!
I am kind of in the same boat as you. Deacon turned 5 at the end of December, so we turned from preschool to a more kindergarten feel in January. Not everyday but we started working on reading etc.
My goal is to have him reading at some level by the time he is officially in K in the fall. We are also going to start some Miquon math when it arrives from my friend and some handwriting without tears work. At the end of summer I will see where we are at and we will move on from there. We do a little history/geography and science about 4 times a week too. (our history book is Abeka. I LOVE it but wish the Bible verses were not in King James...)
I got a book "What every Kindergartner needs to Know" and that has been a great resource.
He will be in AWANA sparks in the fall so we will probably use that as Bible curriculum, or at least a jumping off place and LOTS of books from the library!
I looked at the Sonlight Curriculum for K and they wanted over $700 for the kit...yikes!
I was homeschooled though K-8th grade and so I have some idea of what I would like to do and I have lots of friends, mother and MIL to guide me along. So hopefully my haphazard curriculum will be effective :)
Exciting Lesley! God bless you! As you lean on the Lord I know He will give you and Sam wisdom.
I am so very thankful that my parents home schooled me... SO thankful! :)
Yay! Sounds like so much fun! Our order was only preschool stuff, but I was still super excited to get the shipment in the mail about a month ago! I'm looking forward to reading about your Kindergarten experiences! We have some people who are unsupportive of homeschooling(to put it mildly)in our lives as well. If you have any good ideas about dealing with this issue I'd love to hear them as well!
I'm so excited for you! I've always heard A Beka is an excellent curriculum. I'm sure it will be a wonderful experience, especially since Aubrie is already so excited about it!
Keep us posted, will you?
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