Homeschool

 We have been homeschooling for eight years. It seems the homeschool journey is ever changing.

 Homeschool seems to be more accepted now, but there are some who still judge. I think every child is unique and for some children the best option is public school, while others the best option may be homeschool. I think instead of looking down on anyone for their decisions, we should encourage and support one another. 

There are so many opinions on which curriculum is the best. Truth is the best curriculum is going to look different for each family. I knew I wanted a Christian based curriculum. The curriculum I chose thought Kindergarten should be more about learning through play than worksheets. I knew Maddy would not do well if I gave her a bunch of worksheets each day. That also felt too much like public school. I wanted her school experience to be as fun as possible. 

I feel like homeschool is a lot of trial and error. When we first started, I thought we had to use everything the curriculum suggested. It took me a year to realize that not everything within the curriculum was best for Maddy and we would need to mix and match curriculum. 

Another question I see a lot is if it is possible to homeschool as a single working mom. My answer to that is yes, it is absolutely possible depending on your schedule. I am a single working mom, but I work from home. If you work outside of the home, I would say it is still possible, but a lot more difficult. The older Maddy gets, the more she does on her own. Her curriculum has a lot of reading. I used to read those to her. Now she does all the readings. The only thing we do together is English, Spelling, and Bible. 

Her biggest struggle in school has been math. We have tried a total of three different math curriculums. She still hates math, but she has found Teaching Textbooks to be the best so far. Teaching Textbooks teaches the lesson and then they work through about 22 problems. This program has taken a lot off of me and I love the fact that it grades them. Each day I get an email that lets me know what lesson she completed and her grade. We chose to go with the 4.0 version, which is the app. We both love the flexibility of doing math anywhere. 

Her bible changes each year. This year she is working in the book of James and has an inductive bible study called Boy Have I Got Problems. I am enjoying this study as this year has been extremely hard for some reason. The book goes through problems, and they use the bible to help find the answers.

For spelling we use Spelling Power. We have tried a few spelling curriculums as well, but we came back to this one. Public school doesn't typically have spelling in sixth grade. I chose to continue spelling because she misspells words she shouldn't. I have learned she gets careless sometimes. She has always been good with spelling. Once she stops making careless mistakes, we will drop spelling. Spelling Power is not your typical spelling curriculum. Every day you give a test and only work on the words that are misspelled. The misspelled words are then retested the next day. At the beginning of the year a placement test is given. She tested a grade and a half above her actual grade level. 

English is part of our mix and match curriculum. We use BJU. BJU alternates between learning grammar and writing. We have a separate writing curriculum, so we usually skip those lessons. I think BJU does a great job of teaching the concepts, but I feel like they review a little too much of previous concepts. I may be looking to change curriculums in the near future. I am also thinking about online English classes. BJU offers this, but there is a significant price difference. 

For writing we use IEW. This is a 24-week writing curriculum. This curriculum comes with DVDs to teach the lesson. The video is broken up over two days, and then the student uses the rest of the week to write their paper. This curriculum also comes with Fix-It-Grammar, and they learn the grammar rules that are taught in the video. 

Her art curriculum is also different than what her main curriculum suggests. This year we purchased Artistic Pursuits. Maddy hated art. The art that came with her main curriculum was art history. It did teach some art concepts, but not what she wanted to learn. She has really enjoyed this year's art, so we will stick with it.

Maddy chose to learn Spanish when she first started school. I chose to use La Clase Divertida curriculum. This is another video-based curriculum. I have been trying to learn along with her, but I haven't been able to keep up. I highly recommend this curriculum.

My advice in picking curriculum is to watch reviews of the ones you are interested in. YouTube has been extremely helpful. Once I find a curriculum I'm interested in, I will go to YouTube to see if there are any flip throughs or reviews. There are also conventions you can go to that allow you to look through books. I went to one, but the curriculum I was interested in wasn't there. The convention is how I found her Spanish curriculum, and for that I am very thankful.

History, Science and Social Studies are included with her main curriculum.