Homeschool Curriculum Reviews

Have you ever wondered whether or not certain curriculum would be a perfect fit for your family but wanted to hear the opinion of someone who has used it before? I know that in the past 12 years of homeschooling I have thought that more than once and usually did not know someone I could talk to and find that information out. I eventually turned to the web and found a great site that offers many different reviews from people who have used it on practically everything you could think of. Not just the pros are listed either, they also list the cons. You can visit it here:

http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/

This site has been a huge blessing to me in answering some of my questions and I hope it helps you too.

The Duggars: 16 Children and Successfully Homeschooling

The Duggar's Most Frequently Asked Questions



How do you make a household of 17 people run smoothly? What is a typical day in your lives?

The Duggar Family

Our #1 goal is to lead our children to seek a close relationship with God & give Him every area of their lives. We purpose to start each day with a family Bible study, reading a chapter of Proverbs that corresponds with the day of the month. We have heart to heart talks with each of the older children regularly. We try to keep up with their attitudes & actions.

We desire for each child to develop a learning spirit & a servant's heart that looks for opportunities to serve others. It is a joy to see our children becoming best friends. If they can learn to treat their brothers and sisters like they want to be treated, then they can learn to get along with just about anyone along life's way.

Our daily routine begins with personal hygiene (get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, etc...). Each older child has a younger buddy or two that they help. We eat breakfast & read Proverbs at 8:00a.m., then we "quick clean" the house (older child & their buddy work together to clean their jurisdictions).

Throughout the day we try to pickup as we go along, but naturally things tend toward disorder. So, it is a constant training process with "quick clean" times throughout the day. At 9:00a.m., the older children help their buddies with their studies in phonics, math, violin & piano (J-O-Y- Jesus first, Others second, & Yourself last!). Then the older children start their music & individual studies- math, English, spelling & typing.

We break for lunch at 12:00pm. Jill (age 15) prepares lunch & we all help cleanup. After lunch we work to finish individual studies.

At 1:30p.m. the little ones go down for naps (4 & under). Momma & older children are around the table at 2:00p.m. for Wisdom Booklet group studies - science, history, law, medicine - part of our ATIA curriculm. We work on one subject until we complete the study. We also review & memorize scripture, hymns & operational definitions of character qualities. The children especially enjoy this because they make up motions to help with memorization.

At 4:00p.m., we break from group study to complete individual studies, otherwise this is free time. We have dinner at 5:00p.m. Jana (Age 17) prepares dinner & everyone helps cleanup. We do another "quick clean" of the house after dinner & then have free time. Some may still be finishing up music, seeing we have to take turns on the pianos with 11 students! 8:00p.m.is snack time. Then we get ready for bed (baths, brush teeth, pick out clothes for next day).

9:00p.m. is Bible time with Daddy. This is probably our favorite time of day. Daddy reads the Bible & we discuss the passage together. We talk about the day & bring out points of how to apply what we have learned. We enjoy making up skits & acting out examples of right responses & wrong responses. Often our little ones will fall asleep as Daddy begins Bible time, still they love to be with us at this special time. Bedtime is 10:00p.m.

We have a master schedule of each family member's responsibilities displayed on our dining room wall. This idea came from the Maxwell's, "Managers of Their Homes". For each month, we also have individual daily checklists which cover schoolwork, chores, music lessons, & personal hygiene. These were designed by Daddy so we could see at a glance how each child is doing. These checklists enable us to keep our children accountable & also reward them accordingly.

We have goals, but then we have reality! We are learning to practice flexibility -Not setting our affections on ideas or plans which could be changed by God or others! Sometimes we have "Daddy Days" when Daddy overrides the schedule and takes the children out for family time, a field trip or a service project. We try to make each day fun. Everyday is an exciting adventure!

Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you!"

II Corinthians 12:9 says," My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

(Taken from an recent interview with Michelle Duggar)

Mother of 10 Shares Homeschooling Advice

How Do You Do It?

by Pam McDonald

I have been homeschooling for 15+years and have had 7 children during that time, with a total of 10 so far (7 boys!), and I would agree with others that we need to be more mother and less teacher.

The practical working of that in relation to learning is that I keep my little ones with me at all times. The baby sits on my lap or at my feet doing whatever I am doing with the older ones. The toddler also stays with me, "doing school" too. I let them play with toys, or nurse, meeting their needs as we are all learning together. I found that God gave us our little ones to enhance our curriculum, rather than to detract from it. As we are learning to read and write and do numbers we are also learning to yield our rights and to be patient and kind to others.

I consider all of our children to not only be siblings to each other, but teachers also. Our newborn teaches us to be selfless, and to love babies. Our toddler teaches us to be persevering and patient and to laugh at ourselves. I would also like to share some other practical things that work for me.

I find keeping a regular schedule is a life saver. I don't mean a feeding schedule, but a simple event oriented schedule so each member of the family will understand that after we eat breakfast we do chores then school, after we eat lunch we read books and nap and after dinner we do chores, baths, devotions and bedtime. Life is so much easier when I don't have to catch everyone and get them going the same way all of the time.

Another tip that has helped me tremendously is to do spend time with the youngest children first. While the older children are finishing chores I take the littlest ones and spend time with them, reading, doing puzzles, just playing and being Mommy. I emphasize that we work before we play and I consider this part of their day as school. I have found that by giving the little ones their time first they will be content to play quietly at my feet for awhile by themselves giving me time to work with the older ones. I will say that I consider my little ones to be those under 8-10 years old!

My schoolday for my current 9 and under goes like this: rise, get dressed, groom and tidy bedrooms. I have been up for awhile and help the little ones follow my directions. It takes time to get everyone ready, but for the little guys it is a lesson in itself, so don't feel bad taking the time to do it.

Breakfast is very simple and wholesome on schooldays: cooked cereal and fruit. After breakfast we do chores. When all of my little ones were your children's ages we all did them together. Chores teach so much character so I am glad we have them. After chores we all convene on the couch for school. I start with Bible reading and Bible stories. Then we cover phonics.

Everyone gets a chance to say them, the youngest copying the older. After phonics the readers read aloud to all of us. Baby nurses whenever he needs. Then we get out the math manipulatives. Everyone does math. The older one does addition and subtraction stuff with the blocks, the preschooler adds them while the toddler counts them. Baby "eats" the bigger ones. We all work before we play and its hard work to count blocks. It's fun too!

After we do our reading and math we all move to the kitchen table for assignments. I put the toddler's high chair up to the table too. Each child old enough to care has a notebook filled with all sorts of papers. First each child works on his writing. Some scribble, some make circles, lines and dots, others copy my printed letters, some work a handwriting book. Of course even little ones get to use a pencil! Then I have those who can write a story or copy a passage from the Bible or book we have been reading. The little ones "write" or "copy" also. After writing they all illustrate their work using either cut and pasting or coloring.

During this table time I am working primarily with the older ones (over 8-10 years old) while supervising the younger. I bring an older one to the table so I can keep my eye on the younger ones. This works well for me as we do it everyday, we always work before we play, I change the activities just before the children get bored and therefore naughty.

After about an hour of table time (remember we first practiced writing, then wrote stories then illustrated them so I kept the little ones moving at a pace just ahead of their boredom) I let them move to the living room for duplo or blocks time.

The livingroom is adjacent to the kitchen table so they are right there for me to see, but they can have more room to move about and be a bit noisier without disturbing us. The little ones can play nicely without me for about an hour for several reasons: they already feel connected to mom since they had my total attention first thing in the morning and they are very ready to play since they have had a structured morning. I want you to understand that while the little ones did "school" it was still age appropriate things they were doing.

When my children were all young I used duplo time for reading aloud to everyone. They learn to play quietly and contentedly while listening to me read. Now for read aloud time most of the children prefer to sketch or color. After duplo time (I do not call it play–it is still schooltime) I can let the younger ones play outside my kitchen window (where I am still working with the older ones) for about an hour. The 7yr old can supervise while you get lunch if need be. I think it best if you can go out to play also. This is play time! They have worked hard all morning and play feels so wonderfully fulfilling to them now!

They play until just before lunch when we have a pick up time. I should mention that during schooltime I always emphasize tidying up as we go along. It teaches the little ones to pick up after themselves and gives them a little break from their work, stretching the time a bit more.

We all eat lunch then read aloud some more and then our entire household goes quiet for a 2 hour time period. I nap also. This is an essential for all of us. We used to live in a condo and did not have any yard at all. For exercise we went on a 3 mile walk each day (still do!). We also walked to a park several times per week. Children need lots of physical activity.

I am not saying that all of this is easy. It is not! Everything we do that is worthwhile takes time and concentration. Keep at it and you will see wonderful fruit from all of your sowing! By the way, I don't see much mature fruit until after about 10 years old – the "light bulb"age! Gal 6: 7-9 tells us to not be weary in well doing for in due season we will reap, if we faint not!

Homeschool Video: How to Teach Different Ages

I found this video on how to homeschool children of different ages:

Click here for more on "How to Homeschool Your Child: Homeschooling Tips"

Scroll down to turn off the music on the right hand sidebar by clicking the pause button!!!!!!!

Click on the link above the movie to view other videos she has done on topics including:

How to Pick Homeschool Curriculum
How to Organize Your Schedule
How to Teach Fine Arts
Homeschool Tag Team Teaching
How To Use Games in Homeschooling

I haven't watched them all so I can't say I support all her views so watch with discretion and remember as a rule that all homeschools are different and just because one person might have a view on something doesn't mean we must adopt it for ourselves.

Happy viewing!

Putting the Home in Homeschooling

Putting the Home in Homeschooling

By Clay Clarkson
Printed in PHS #25, 1998.

A young mother approached Sally at the break during one of our conferences. She had a worried look in her eyes that said, "Help me, please!" For several minutes, she poured out her anxious concerns that she wasn't doing enough for her children, that they weren't progressing, and that she was failing as a homeschooling mother. "How old are your children?" Sally asked when the woman finally took a breath. With a note of seriousness, the woman replied, "Oh, they're three and five years old."

If that seems humorous to you, that's good. There's hope for you! After countless conversations just like that one, though, our stifled chuckles have turned to sighs. Too many parents see their homes only through the lenses of institutional education. Rather than finding joy and freedom in their homeschooling experience, they find themselves in bondage to cultural models of education defined by textbooks, workbooks, classrooms, age-grade norms, testing and grading.

Fortunately, we discovered early in our homeschool experience that textbooks and formal curricula are artificial means of education. Rather than unleashing learning potential, they hold it back. For us as parents, they created a false security that we were doing enough, and a false confidence that our children were really learning. For our children, they created a false dependency on formal methods of learning, and a false distinction between learning and living. Conventional classroom methods diluted the wonder and joy of real learning, turning it into a tedious and burdensome task unrelated to real life at home.

On the other hand, our children naturally loved reading and being read to, talking about their own insights and ideas, learning through real life, and having lots of time to explore and learn on their own. The more we studied Scripture and observed our children, the more confident we became that this was how God designed children to live and learn. It was the liberation of learning in our home!

As we lived out these principles, we found it helpful to express them in a model. Educational theoreticians would call it a paradigm, but we think of it as a corrective lens for seeing your home from God's perspective as a living and learning environment. It consists of five areas of focused studies.

1. Discipleship Studies: We start with the study of God's word to gain wisdom. Our goal is to shape our children's hearts to love God and to study and know his word.

2. Disciplined Studies: Then, we study the "basics," such as math and language arts, that require a more disciplined approach. Our goal is to develop our children's foundational learning skills and competencies.

3. Discussion Studies: Then, we spend the bulk of our studies in the humanities, reading and reading aloud literature and history, and studying the fine arts. Our goal is to feed our children's minds on the best in living books and the fine arts.

4. Discovery Studies: Next, we direct our children into the "study of learning" in areas such as nature, science, the creative arts, and all other interests. Our goal is to stimulate in our children a love for learning by creating opportunities for curiosity, creativity and discovery.

5. Discretionary Studies: Finally, we turn to the "study of living," focusing on natural gifts and interests, community involvement, and life skills. Our goal is to direct our children in developing a range of skills and abilities according to their drives and gifts.

Your home can and should be a warm, vibrant place where your children love to learn as freely and as naturally as they love to play. In fact, education is the natural outgrowth of the discipleship relationship between parents and children, so it should be the natural activity of every Christian home. That is what this "home-centered learning" model tries to capture.

There is great freedom in knowing that what you are doing conforms to a pattern that is already built into the very fabric and rhythm of your lives by God - he has designed your children to learn, he has designed your home to be a learning environment, and he has designed you to be a learning guide. Joy and freedom naturally follow when we cooperate with God's design.

We have come to the place where we can honestly say that there is no distinction in our home school between home and school - we are living to learn and learning to live all at the same time. That is what should happen in a home.