So many people ask me that question. I don't think it matters if you have one child or seventeen. We are pretty laid back about homeschooling and spend about 2 to 2 1/2 hours a day on school four days a week (we take every Friday off.)
What do we do? Every morning at 9:00 we start with Bible. Everyone sits on the floor together even the baby while I read. Then we do a read aloud for the younger ones, they pick it out, and then Nick (6) practices reading out loud to me. Then on Mondays we do a family project, Tuesdays I give Chelsea a clarinet lesson, Wednesdays we do some maps and geography, and Thursdays they pick an activity. We have lunch at 11:00, then they go outside (weather permitting.) After 12 Nick does his handwriting (Handwriting Without Tears ) and Math (Math-u-see) Chelsea does her Handwriting (Cursive C), math (Math-u-see) and History (Sunlight Core 4) and I do her read aloud. 1:00-2:00 is productive free time (babies are napping) At 2:00 they get to play 30 min of PlayStation, then play outside until dinner.
Preschool is pretty simple. Alex (4) and Anthony (2) listen to me read aloud and participate in family activities, but other than that they don't have any "work." We sing our ABC's and other songs, count things throughout the day (like forks when setting the table) and work on colors and shapes as we see them in real life. I do not do workbooks, or writing assignments for preschool, we prefer real life learning. Mostly for all of the kids I read a lot!! I think that is the secret. Read , read , and read some more and everything else comes together.
2 comments:
I love your blog & am learning a ton from reading it. I was wondering if Nick follows a phonic program. I am currently deciding on which if any to use with my 6 year old who I will be homeschooling this September.
Deb
Hi Deb,
I am glad you like my blog. Believe it or not I do not use a phonics program at all. I started out using Teach Your Child To read in 100 Easy Lessons but Nick didn't like it. After that I just decided to read him a lot of books that had rhyming words in it to give him an introduction to reading and I read other books to him of course. He really took off with it, figured out how to sound words out and is now reading at about a second grade level.
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