Homeschool Review!
It’s been an exciting and sometimes terrifying ride in our first official year of homeschooling.
I’ve experimented with several different curriculums and have found the following to work the best for us. Bellow is an overview with links to resources if you want to check them out yourself! Quick disclaimer that I am not sponsored or endorsed by any of these companies. I’m just sharing what is currently working for our family.
I’ve kind of give up trying to identify a specific philosophy to our homeschool, however if you’re curious here is a great introduction to all of them!
Background
I started homeschooling my daughter basically before kindergarten, and officially registered our private school affidavit with the state of California in October 2022. She is working through our grade 1 curriculum, and is very much looking forward to beginning grade 2!
Main Curriculum
Math - The Good and the Beautiful
Language arts - The Good and the Beautiful
Handwriting - The Good and the Beautiful
Science - ArgoPrep
Social studies - ArgoPrep
Language - Spanish - Weekly virtual classes
Homeschool co-op
We were thrilled to find a homeschool group and co-op operating within our county, and started joining weekly park days in March 2023. We will begin the entire homeschool co-op experience in the fall of 2023, which will include nature clubs, a Shakespeare club, science fair and monthly mom’s groups. Super SUPER excited.
Additional resources we love
Chesskid.com - We are fairly new to chess after starting in December when my parents gifted us the Storybook chess set. We very quickly became hooked, and discovered chesskid.com.
Education.com - Great website for online games in math and language arts. We also love the typing program.
Kid time story time - This youtube channel has provided a huge amount of entertainment for both of us!
Extracurricular activities
Piano
Gymnastics
Ballet
What a typical day looks like for us
7:00-8:00 - My daughter is up and moving. Normally we will spend a couple of minutes together connecting, and then she moves into her morning routine. Brushing hair, making her bed, getting changed etc.
8:00-9:30 - This is a large timeblock where we make and eat breakfast together. Its an hour and a half because we like to go slowly during the first few hours of the day. During breakfast I read her stories, our favorites are always Berenstain bears and the Ninja series.
9:30 - 10:00 - My daughter takes her gymnastics fairly seriously, and has recently started requesting time to practice in our home gym. So we go down to the gym together and I assist as much as I can. To be clear I have no idea how to coach gymnastics (I was a competitive figure skating coach), so I help with stretching and make up names for moves I don’t know)
10:00-12:00 - Studies. This is the first chunk of time that we will work on her workbook curriculum. I operate a loop schedule (M-Science, T-Spanish, W-Social Studies, Th-Art and music, F-Computer) so each day there is something slightly different happening. On Tuesdays from 11:00-11:30 she has a virtual Spanish lesson, and on Thursdays from 11:00-11:30 she has a virtual piano lesson.
12:00-1:00 - Lunch time. We prepare food and eat together, again while reading.
1:00-1:30 - Piano practice time
1:30-2:30 - Catch all. I use this time to tackle any existing studies we didn’t get to, or play chess, play, go outside, read together, create some art. Whatever.
2:30 - 7:30 - This time block changes daily, and is where the bulk of my daughters activities fall. If she is not in an activity she has time to really do whatever she would like.
6:00-7:00 - T / Th Family dinner time around the kitchen table.
7:00-8:00 - During this time my Husband and daughter will play outside (really enjoying tennis recently!) or create something inside together. This hour is incredibly special for them where they connect.
8:00-9:00 - Shower, teeth, stories and bed. During this time block we will also assess if anything is bothering here physically from her activities (gymnastics is tough!!) and administer any vitamin E cream.