There is a lot of beauty in homeschooling. Sleeping in when we need to. Choosing to spend extra time on topics of interest. Adjusting curriculum. That is my favorite.
People often ask me about how I know what curriculum to choose for the girls, or where I get the material I use for teaching. Well, trust me, there is no shortage of options. The longer we homeschool, the more I am learning what works for each of the girls and myself. How do they learn best and how do I teach best and where is the happy medium? As I learn that, it makes the selection process easier, but in the meantime, I consult other homeschoolers in a variety of states with a wide range of experience in home educating. I also talk to local schoolers I know and my hubby. I also read reviews from a variety of sources. I take all that information and make my selection. Sometimes it works perfectly, other times I realize we need to adjust.
That’s what happened with history and geography this year. I chose a book, an atlas, and a wall map. I was so excited.
Until I had to admit that we all hated it. Thankfully, it has lessons for all levels of school so I think it will be a fantastic option in a couple years, but for now, it is not a good fit. So I went back to the drawing board…
My goal in the beginning was to have the girls learn about our state, learn the states of America, and about our presidential/governmental system.
That is still my goal. But I was puzzling over how to put it all together. We have done a study on our state, but made little progress on all the states, and very little on the presidents.
But I think I have our new plan. The girls are enjoying a new iPad game about presidents and we have another one about the states we are going to check out. There are also some YouTube songs I think we’ll incorporate. We got a great puzzle of the states from one of our grandmas yesterday and a shower curtain with the USA on it with all the states labeled. Today I found the final piece of our new plan. I got a great study on the election process that we are going to work on daily. It includes books to read, websites to check out, on-line videos, and places for journaling. It really is a multimedia study.
I am so excited! I’ll let you know what the girls think after our holiday break!!
