We’ve decided to take the plunge and begin homeschooling. We tried Boo Boo in another local preschool and, again, it didn’t work out. So about a month ago I started working with him, and Baby follows along when he chooses too. I’ve seen a TON of progress.
My first challenge was to find some curriculum that was age appropriate, he’s only 4.5, but also challenging…he works at a 1st grade level. I didn’t want to spend too much money because I wasn’t sure how he would respond. I started by looking for some online curricula because he is sooo motivated by the computer. I found Time4learning.com and K5learning.com. (You can get a free 2 week trial membership at both to check them out.) We did the assessment on K5learning, but he just didn’t seem to be into either one. (Although I may revisit them when he’s a bit older. I like how they work through a specific curriculum and he can work on his own.) Instead I found an app on the iPad that he LOVES. It’s called Teach Me and they have various grade levels. I downloaded K and 1st and paid $1.99 for each…which is a deal because I was prepared to pay $20-$25/month for the online curriculums! These apps work on sight words, spelling, addition and subtraction. After 3 correct answers they earn a coin and can spend these coins in the in-app “store”. I tell him that he has to earn 3 coins each day. He loves to work through it and get to the store! We also have a stylus so he is working on his pencil grip and handwriting too. I love this app and in just a few minutes a day I’ve seen A LOT of improvement.
I also ordered Volume 1 of Five in a Row. We are loving this too! This is a curriculum for 4-8 yr olds. There are 19 classic children’s books in each volume and you read 1 each week…5 days in a row. Each day you choose a different topic (suggested in the curriculum book) to discuss. We are on our 3rd book. First we did Very Last First Time and talked about Canada, tide zones and tundra. We didn’t even come close to covering all that the curriculum suggested but we did learn a lot! I found a website Homeschool Share that gives free resources for making lap books to go along with each book. I love this idea because it’s like making a scrapbook of what you’ve done. Next we did The Story About Ping which is about a little duck in China. Boo Boo didn’t like this one as much because the duck gets into some trouble and someone threatens to eat him…but they don’t. He can’t handle anyone being mean to animals! Now we are working on Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. I’ll work on some posts about each one so that you can see what we’ve done. It’s a lot of fun and if you’re looking for a way to ease into home schooling Five in a Row is definitely the way!
