(Part 2) Best products from r/homeschool

Congratulations on giving homeschooling a try! Kindy is a great time to get started.

As far as staying motivated - I would say the best way to do that would be to find a homeschooling style (or styles) that fits your family. Pulling out textbooks when everybody would rather go for a nature walk is a guaranteed way to kill the motivation.

Homeschool groups can work well too. Group field trips and get-togethers can put some wind in your sails. Blogs, Facebook, and YouTube communities are also great places to get ideas.

If you are concerned with staying on task, make sure to check with standards for your region. There are also lists by grade that can help you lay out some guidelines for what needs to be getting done. You can check out resources like Core Knowledge Sequence

http://www.coreknowledge.org/download-the-sequence

or Home Learning Year by Year

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0609805851/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486338581&sr=8-1&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=home+learning+year+by+year

I hope some of that helps. Good luck!

It's not actually a homeschooling book, and I'm not terribly certain it will help from the student side (I think there's a good chance it will, or I would not be mentioning it), but Salman Khan's The One World Schoolhouse really was a paradigm-changer for me as a homeschooler.

Also, I bought a version of this for my kids (a 60-day version that was $15 and we're honestly going to be building our own once it's consumed, because that stuff adds up!). We just got it so I can't really say how effective it will be, but my oldest, who I strongly suspect has some form of ADD, is super excited at the very prospect. It's a library-based program, and self-paced and self-led. It's got all the nice literature-based study stuff parents love broken down in a way that makes it easily accessible to students. That page does say you'll need to add in a math program, but perhaps Khan Academy can suffice there for you.

She has many years of play ahead of her! Such important things happen naturally as she discovers her world as you go about your day. Here are a couple of resources that we like:
this one is my favourite, it shows how all the necessary growth and learning happens in the home environment- http://www.thehomegrownpreschooler.com/product/the-homegrown-preschooler/
And
Slow and Steady Get Me Ready by June Oberlander (Dec 1 2002) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DIL033M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_JbkjDbXY5K0QV
I liked this to give me an idea for what I can do with the kids, although I mostly used it for making sure the kids were engaging in developmentally appropriate skills by themselves.
With this in mind, discover your own philosophy of homeschool education and preferred methods. My suggestions are reflective of my preference for the Charlotte Mason ideology. I find this beneficial as a SAHM since our greatest resource is what we have at home and outside. This method also works with the idea that kids want to play with the real stuff adults are actually using! I like the Montessori idea, but it’s more feasible and from what I’ve seen, more to my kids’ interests to not have their own version of the adult world to play in, but to join me with the real brooms, pans, food, etc.
You can look into curriculum in methods, and the more you know your daughter’s personality you can figure out what she’ll enjoy. If she loves reading she might do well with a literature-based program, or if she could stay outside all day, find curriculum that takes you outside for much of the time!

We did the exact same thing with our left-handed son (likewise as recommended by The Well Trained Mind). He's 5, and his penmanship is remarkably good. He was coached on the strokes for each glyph one at a time, but we let him figure out how he was most comfortable drawing them. My wife and I are both right-handed, so we can't really "guide" his hand, but we can go through the motions with him.

Last year, he also practiced writing his letters daily, with the help of a guide that he could reference if necessary - his penmanship is quite good for a 5-year-old, I think, though that might just be my bias talking. :)

Cursive is an interesting additional question. It's a dying skill in the age of computer communication, but I think we'd still like to teach it. I was taught Specerian cursive via copybooks like these. I dunno if we'll use that or something else, though.

I like Big History Project. I modify the work for my younger kids. It's free and covers from when the Earth was formed (not by God) to the present. It's free. There's also Crash Course. It has History and Science (and tons of other) videos that are very short and to the point. There's also CK-12 that has free textbooks, worksheets you can modify, and a ton of other stuff as well. The History of US is great too. My kids hated Story of the World. There is also A People's History of the United States. There's also some great podccasts like American History Tellers, and Forever Ago.

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I always tried to give my kids a big overview of history, and then we followed what they were interested in. At one point we did aAdd a Century Timeline and wrote out the most important dates in Roller Coaster and theme park history. Then they looked up what was going on historically and figured out if it effected what was going on in theme park history. It made it a lot more meaningful to them, I hope. We also visited as many historical places as we could.

Just want to applaud you for even considering this and then furthermore, researching and asking questions now. You have lots of time to prepare and you can totally get up to speed and then just stay one step or two ahead.

I am NOT home schooled and was vehemently against it - until I was left with no choice. Five years later...

Five years of mistakes and learning - mainly mine ;) And lots of awesomeness. Great learning. Progression. Light bulbs and hilarity. Safe environment (unless I'm yelling) with decent food that the kids cook!

I would just say, I would have a word with yourself and make sure you don't doubt yourself. YOU are the one who is prepared to take on this enormous responsibility. You also need to make sure that your husband will support and love you, even if he disagrees with any choices you make, because you're the one doing it. You will have to assert your authority on the situation - take all the help you can get but never ever allow yourself to be undermined.

Also - stress that homeschooling teaches kids to teach themselves. It is the ONLY way I am able to get mine through highschool. They have the curriculum and an online help system - my job is to make sure they've done it or maybe marking if I have the answer book. It's not great - I wish I was like all these other 'amazingly educated' home school parents, however, I am not. But that will not hinder my kids. It will make them become even better. You have to play to your strengths and stay in control and make it work for you and your children.

I started out with zero knowledge and one book:

http://www.amazon.com/Homeschooling-Dummies-Jennifer-Kaufeld/dp/0764508881/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452741655&sr=8-1&keywords=homeschooling+for+dummies

Also - co-ops. I was in one for a short time and it was superb. Sadly they all left and we're the only family now :(

Best of luck!

Right now Story of the World is working really well for us, although I would say it's too advanced for preschool and Kindergarten. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about a curriculum for history at those ages, anyway. But for elementary school we really enjoy Story of the World. I also supplement with library books about the different places/people/events, but you wouldn't have to.

For littler kids, we really like Spelling You See for spelling and phonics.

Math we love Life of Fred. Also, not a curriculum persay, but I've used the Bedtime Math books as our main math curriculum at one point, and my kids loved them. https://www.amazon.com/Bedtime-Math-Excuse-Stay-Late/dp/1250035856/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510113728&sr=8-1&keywords=bedtime+math

I tend to lean pretty light in early years, so in preschool and the early elementary ages we also did a ton of kid led projects, etc.

Wow, Austen is not easy. There is a huge amount of cultural context which can make it hard to understand especially with her writing style. I did my college thesis on the adaptation to the movie and miniseries.


Some resources which might help:

• The Annotated Pride and Prejudice: A Revised and Expanded Edition
  
  
• Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels this is a bit advanced, and more of a history book, but it could be useful.
  
  
• Free Audio Book
  
  
• The 1995 BBC miniseries with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle is a pretty faithful reproduction of the novel and along with the annotated version could be very useful.

Sounds good! I was NOT trying to ask you for your specific address, for the record, just your general city/state. In retrospect, I shouldn't have even done that - I forgot you were 13.

Anyways.

There are a lot of really good overview books. At your grade level, you don't need to go in-depth into any historical period unless it interests you.

Don't Know Much About History is one I used at your age (~12 years ago). There are updated editions, and they frequently show up at thrift stores.

Writing essays is a good idea for English, but you do need some feedback to improve. If you don't have a trusted adult to provide it, I would be happy to do it over reddit. I could easily give you an assignment and have you do it.

If not me, try to find someone. Learning to do assignments you are not interested in is a very valuable part of middle/high school.

Since you seem to have the legal aspect in hand, I wouldn't go overboard with a kindergartener. One of the great things I don't like about school is they push academics earlier and earlier before it is developmentally appropriate for many of them.

Why don't you try out readingeggs.com. I have my kindergartener on it and have been pretty happy with it. I think you can try it free for a few weeks to see if it works for you.

I also recommend checking out this book: http://smile.amazon.com/Project-Based-Homeschooling-Mentoring-Self-Directed-Learners-ebook/dp/B009AHTRBC/

Science is Simple is a great starting point. All experiment-based learning, getting outside, and building observation skills. It's for pre-schoolers, but covers basics and should easily be adjusted to fit whatever comprehension levels the girl is at.

I am a mathematician, but I haven't used any specific curriculum. In my opinion math is easy to teach at beginner levels with beans, beads, M&Ms, an abacus, and other physical objects. Past that, I will say that my mother used Making Math Meaningful to great success with my brothers and I.

I also understand it's not quite popular in some homeschooling circles, but I'd recommend looking at Common Core Standards as they were built to provide comprehensive requirements to be met at each grade level (even if they fail miserably in a public school setting).

Have you heard about the movie Class Dismissed? It's currently in limited screenings, but they are doing them all over the country. The dvd will be out in Spring 2015 I think. It chronicles a family as they make their decision to homeschool and shows some great resources and viewpoints. Make your education about YOU! What are you interested in (besides math, etc., you can always catch up on that)? What are your passions? Check out Blake Boles, Unschool Adventures, this book, http://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Your-Education-Lectures-Thousands/dp/0399159967/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419153160&sr=8-1&keywords=hacking+education, and follow your passion and your dreams.

Please seek help for depression and, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety. And also know that these are normal teenage things to feel.

We have snap circuits too, those are great. Also, LEGOS! I have an engineer minded dude, too, and he's loved Legos his whole life. I have big 6 foot table with drawers for organizing, set up in his room for him to build on. We don't have robotic Legos, but those are a thing, too, hope to get some for him soon. If you're in a bigger city, you probably have a First Lego League your son can play on, they often do stuff with robotics! As far as books, idk, what's he interested in? "The Way Things Work" by David McCauley is a cool book. So is this one:https://www.amazon.com/Basher-Science-Engineering-Riveting-Buildings/dp/0753473119/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=23W3GNNF2QZDC0REKGZ3&ref_=zg_bs_3250_17

Science lover here. It seems to me that teaching the method of science is probably more important than teaching the facts. Understanding the method of science would allow one to rediscover all the facts. To that end, at our house we spend most of our science time focused on the method, and that doesn't require much of a curriculum. We came up with a simple little phrase that defines the method at its simplest and most basic

• observation
  
  
• hypothesis
  
  
• experiment
  
  
• analysis
  
  Observation is at the front because you have to notice things before you can figure out why the things are that way. Observation naturally leads to the next step. As an example, the other day I noticed that our faucet didn't seem to deliver water as vigorously as it used to. So we got together, observed the stream, and talked about various hypotheses. We decided to test one - that there was a blockage in the trap at the very tip of the faucet. So we did an experiment on our hypothesis. We took the little plastic filter/trap thingy out and dropped it in vinegar, and let it sit. After several minutes, we replaced it and did our analysis by turning on the water. It turned out our experiment confirmed that our hypothesis was correct and explained our observations. The water ran much better.
  
  Focusing on the method allows the learners to really come to understand the strengths and limits of science. And once you start making an effort to notice that, you will see that you are doing small science experiments daily just as part of your life.
  
  As for a scientific curriculum, I can't really help too much, other than to recommend the album Here Comes Science by They Might Be Giants, and Kerbal Space Program for teaching realistic rocket science and orbital mechanics in an unbelievably fun way.

I understand the techniques proposed by Lockhart, and he has a good book out Measurement that illustrates some of his techniques.

I'm trying to address the same problem in a fundamentally different way. There are elements of discovery in my stuff, but it is more focused on presenting the development in a historical context.

Lockhart's method is great for high school students who have a teacher devoted to the method and who is steeped enough in the mathematics to lead the discovery. I think there is value in both.

Here is a book created to help bridge the gap between religious and atheist coparents. It's for older kids, and basically points out that the golden rule is an ethical universal in all religions—and secular humanism. The point is that this is but one of a huge host of materials that are available to people in your situation. PS
www.secularhomeschool.com Good luck!

But what is available then will be so much different than what is available now. The philosophy behind it, the pedagogy, the delivery method - all of it will be very, very different when she reaches Calculus - though that could come sooner than you think. My kids liked

http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Without-Tears-Learning-Students/dp/0976413809/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_5

which starts at age eight.

Khan Academy, MOOCs, Starfall, CK12, all of these are fairly new options. Even our local school system will be offering a wide variety of online courses to any family that wants to use them, whether homeschooling or not.

That's why it is not so much time to pick out an actual curriculum as it is time to figure out what you believe an educated person should be like. What kind of experiences should they have to help them along in their personal growth? That's where a philosophy of education comes in.

Once you have a bit of a handle on that, you can begin looking for materials that fit your child's needs and that help her towards your goals. Until you know what you want, piling on book suggestions is pointless, since there are thousands.

Try http://www.oakmeadow.com/

http://www.holtgws.com/whatisunschoolin.html

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/methods/Methods.htm#.UaJBjaA5Qak

Read whatever you can get your hands on about it. :) Two of my favorites were The Unschooling Handbook (http://www.amazon.com/The-Unschooling-Handbook-Childs-Classroom/dp/0761512764/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408927620&sr=8-1&keywords=the+unschooling+handbook) and this How to Homeschool guide: http://www.time4learning.com/homeschool/how-to-homeschool.shtml

Good luck! :)

I had great luck with my 5th grader using [PYTHON FOR KIDS] (https://www.amazon.com/Python-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593274076/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=python+for+kids&qid=1566683490&s=gateway&sr=8-3). He was in a programming class but it didn't suit his learning style. We worked our way through the book and then I got a teacher subscription to CodeCombat through Homeschool Buyers Coop. He was programming subroutines and writing mini-programs to earn privileges by the summer.

I've been using this with my 9 yr old: http://www.amazon.com/Python-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593274076

It's been a solid start...