Homeschooling: More Than One & Curriculum

They do these subjects together:

That said, there are some things in the “apart” list that they actually do together, sometimes:

Also, there are some things apart in the “together” list. I’ll let Owen narrate his answer so I can write it down, while I’ll have Madelyn do her own writing. Or, I’ll read to them about a historical or scientific subject and then Owen will draw a picture or write a few sentences about it, while Madelyn will do additional at-grade-level reading and summarize or outline that. In other words, sometimes it’s deepening the work to make it appropriate for Madelyn, and other times it’s scaffolding the work for Owen to make it developmentally appropriate for him.

What made this (relatively) doable for me, is that by the time Owen began doing school at home (he did two years of nursery school in town, and half-day kindergarten at the public school), Madelyn was in fourth grade. She could read well, and knew what was expected. This is also when Saxon math goes from direct instruction by the teacher to student reading from her textbook. This is not to say that Owen did not “do school” with us during those earlier years – he did, just not formally. And I could pick/choose the most challenging things to do with Madelyn while he was doing his own thing, out of the house. If he had been home, I would have done this type of work with her while he was napping, or involved in his own independent play (thank God I have two kids who can play by themselves for long stretches of time; I am deeply grateful for that!). Or while he was watching a show and she was whining that she couldn’t watch it too, or while he was dumping out every toy he had and evenly distributing them all over the house, or while he was hanging onto my leg and screeching for attention. Let’s be real here!

Over the years, I’ve found which subjects are good “pairs” – meaning that while one child is doing something independently, I can work on a different subject with the other child, who needs direct instruction. For example, I’ll get Owen started on his math. While he completes his math, I’ll do spelling (direct instruction), with Madelyn. When she’s done spelling, she’ll do math, and I’ll do spelling with Owen. Or handwriting (independent) and reading (direct instruction). It really depends on which curriculum you choose, as to which pieces of it, and how much of it, is direct instruction vs. independent.

Which brings me to another question:

Question:Do you recommend building your own curriculum or purchasing, and which curricula do you consider worth the money?

Answer: Choosing to build your own curriculum vs. choosing a boxed curriculum (or online school), really depends on a person’s comfort level and time. For me, the fact that I only have two children, that I have a degree in education and can’t stop thinking about “how would I teach this/that concept” even if I tried, and that I’m trying to save money all lead me to building my own. If I had lots of money and little time/inclination, a boxed curriculum would probably be the way to go. So, that all depends.

I do love that building my own gives me more freedom to select curriculum based on my children’s interests and strengths/challenges. On the other hand, it can be overwhelming, and sometimes I pick stuff that doesn’t work.

Here’s a list of programs and books that I think are thoughtful and well-done:

Story of the World – books & activity books

Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History

TimeFrame history books (for middle/high school)

Kingfisher Atlas of the Ancient World (and other time periods)

All About Spelling (love this one!)

First Language Lessons (though it does get repetitive, we skipped around a bit)

Handwriting Without Tears

Institute for Excellence in Writing – their history-based writing lessons

Saxon Math

Real Science Odyssey – we did chemistry the last two years & are trying their middle school biology program this year

Spectrum workbooks – they’ve been good supplements

I’ve done grammar through some kind of “fix it” sentences someone photocopied for me, and on the fly, since that’s my background & writing more or less the same way, though also with random workbooks and unit studies. History and science were very much interest-led through third/fourth grade. We still leave time for interest-led or current event driven science & history tangents.

Previews on the Rainbow Resource website, and Amazon.com, and the publisher’s we