Our Homeschool Curricula :)

One of the best things about homeschooling is the ability to pick and choose what is best for your family! I love picking and choosing curriculum and exploring the different styles of homeschooling! If you are unfamiliar with the different styles of homeschooling, do a quick google search on "homeschool styles". I would write about it, but I'd rather not reinvent the wheel. There is plenty out there about the difference between Charlotte Mason, Unschooling, Montessori, Waldorf, Classical, Unit Studies, Traditional, University, and Eclectic, but don't forget to come back to find out about our choice in curricula!

My family has very much have adopted an eclectic homeschool style. According to the Oxford Dictionary, eclectic is defined as "the practice of deriving ideas, styles, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources," so from the outside we look like we're all over the place, but really it is a careful selection of what works the best for us! Our Kindergartener is currently using 4 different curriculums with a supplemental workbook to make up his "Kindergarten language arts," but that all fits together to create a well-rounded language arts program that is tailor-made for our boy that his parents can also afford. Personalized curriculum is the reason behind the eclectic homeschool style. If Montessori works for science, but not for reading, or one child loves Saxon-Math, but another child thrives on The Good and The Beautiful Math, that is all perfect in the eclectic homeschool style. It's also completely acceptable to change styles and curriculums and supplement as needed. Eclectic homeschooling is embracing anything and everything that works for your family!

Below is a list of resources that has made up our eclectic homeschool. This list is meant to be a source of ideas, but not to follow exactly, because every family, and every child, is different. I have included age/grade-levels in which we used these sources the most, but also know that we do not follow age/grade-levels like a traditional school. I know traditional schools have GT, intervention, etc. I also know traditional schools are given the job of educating the masses, so it is impossible to tailor-make curriculum for each child. We find resources that are as appropriate as possible for each of our kids' abilities. It is much easier with two kids, than 30, 100, or 1,000 kids.

Tot-school

When my children were 2 or 3 years old, I did not buy a curriculum. I read to them multiple times a day, we did nursery rhymes, we incorporated seasonal crafts, and I began teaching them letters and numbers through 10. I tried to expose them to as much as I could educationally while they were still playing and exploring. I did not schedule our day with subjects for certain times. We learned throughout the day as life allowed. I planned activities on the spot to match a child's interest. For example, garbage truck counting on garbage day. I tried to alternate activities between active and inactive. Plus make time for all the grown-up things I had to do. Almost everything we did was cross-curricular. For example, reading the book "Five Little Monkeys" incorporates math, language, small motor, and large motor skills. Our favorite resources included:

Preschool

I started to introduce curriculums when my children were 3 and 4 years old. I picked out curriculums with the goals of furthering math skills (counting to 30, identifying shapes, etc.), pre-reading skills (letter names and sounds, rhymes, etc.), Bible knowledge, and begin Spanish learning! We did not follow the curriculums to a T. We definitely left room for incorporating my children's interests, seasonal fun, and remediation if necessary. Reading to my children multiple times each day continued. Schooling lasted an hour or so, but was broken down into 15 minutes or shorter periods with plenty of free-play in between.

Pre-K

My babies only had one year left before Kindergarten. At this point, I wanted to make sure I could really, actually homeschool without my kids getting behind, so I started serious researching. Besides reading a few parenting articles every month, I also started listening to podcasts at least once a week. I began introducing many Kindergarten skills to my children at this age. My kids were ready for it. We did schooling for an hour or two tops that was broken down into 15 minutes or shorter intervals with plenty of free-play in between. Here's our Pre-K list which is now sorted by subject!

Kindergarten

After my year of Pre-K, I realized that homeschooling was a LOT of work, but was also SO worth it for us. Here's our wonderful Kindergarten list!