This is my sixth year of homeschooling my oldest son, Hunter (age 7), and my second year of homeschooling my youngest son Damien (age 1).
Hunter did three years of preschool (K2, K3, and K4) and then kindergarten (K5), 1st, and now 2nd grade. Damien has been homeschooling (planned developmental and learning activities) since birth (KB, B=baby) and is now in “grade” K1. “Grade levels”, however, have never dictated content for us. My oldest, while in “second grade”, does mostly 4th-5th grade work. Damien is learning how to read and do math and other things not “typical” for one-year-olds (these days at least – maybe it will be in a few decades).
Sometimes people ask me “What curriculum do you use?” and I don’t particularly know what to tell them. I guess they call what we do “eclectic” meaning we use a lot of different things. A lot of things I just make up on my own.
A short summary:
Hunter (age 7) Short Summary (For full curriculum post, click here)
Language Arts
Literature: Classic book list read-alouds, children’s through adult level (independently and as a family)
Reading Comprehension / Grammar: Time 4 Learning lessons (grades 3, 4, and 5)
Writing: Blogging, journal & letter composing
Penmanship: Bogart Family Resources copy work pages (mostly cursive, a little manuscript)
Greek/Latin (vocabulary / root words): English from the Roots Up, Rummy Roots card game
Misc. Vocabulary: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
Math
General Math: Time 4 Learning lessons (grades 4, 5, possibly 6)
Advanced & Accelerated: Jones Geniuses Math Four (hopefully start soon)
Worksheets: Misc. worksheets including (but not limited to) Math Practice at Home Grade 4; Math Basics Grade 4, Grade 5, and Grade 6; The Complete Book of Algebra and Geometry (Grade 5-6)
Logic & Reasoning: Building Thinking Skills, Mathematical Reasoning through Verbal Analysis Book 1
Science
Core: Exploring Creation With Biology
General: Time 4 Learning elementary level lessons, at leisure
Other: Google, Youtube, and Netflix are his best friends for his endless science questions
History
Core: Our Father’s World, Creation to the Greeks. Timeline keeping
Social Studies: Time 4 Learning elementary lessons.
Geography
Core: Reintroduction / solid memorization of all country names, locations, flags, capitals, outlines. Memorization of 50 USA state capitals (he already can list all states names) and locations (partway there). Map tracing, puzzles.
Other: The Complete Book of Maps and Geography
Art & Music
Piano: Alfred’s Basic Piano Library. Android piano / music apps on tablet (while on the road).
Classical Music: Music appreciation with classical piece of the week. Composer study.
Hymns: Learn new one every two weeks
Art: Drawing lessons (from me). Art projects and crafts (misc, from around internet)
Foreign Languages
Spanish: Abeka’s Por Todo El Mundo. The Complete Book of Spanish.
American Sign Language: Learn with little brother
Bible
Listening: Listen to 3-5 chapters on tablet from recording at each meal
Independent Reading: 1-3 chapters per day from the King James Version
Other: Bible history (in history), memorization, discussions, devotions (sometimes), stories.
Life Skills
Entrepreneurship: Self-initiated jobs: selling personal possessions, recycling collection, etc.
Finances: Lessons in money management: long and short term saving, giving, investing, spending, record keeping, goals, compound interest, debt (dangers).
Responsibilities: Chores: Participation in most all household tasks. Learning perseverance, self control, patience, and so on through work. Learning of many skills necessary for running household one day.
Nature & Survival Skills: Lessons from dad while camping. Discussions.
Physical Excellence
Running: 1-2 miles run/walk per day (sporadic)
Exercises: Resistance training, flexibility, small weights, balance activities, cardio, alongside mom and dad (loves it)
Activity: Lots of free play outdoors – including self- and peer-initiated activities and free play, bike, scooter, skate board, and roller blade riding, toys and games. Participation in organized sports on occasion, to be determined (basketball, soccer, and baseball were last year).
Swimming: Daily to weekly swims with crawl stroke, back stroke, sitting dives, back floating, treading water, and water safety.
Damien (age 1) Short Summary (For full curriculum post, click here)
Reading: How to Teach Your Baby to Read. Approximately 50 single words per week. Short sentences in homemade sentence books.
Alphabet: Continued letter sound learning (he already knows about half). Introduction of lowercase letters. Phonics combinations (ch, sh, igh, and so on). Letter names.
Literature: Listening in with family read-alouds of classic literature and poetry. Lots and lots and lots of story books. Finger plays, nursery rhymes.
Writing: How to Teach Your Baby to Write. Daily journaling with mom as “secretary” (I ask questions and he answers, tells me stories, I write down what he says). Drawing in his journal. Writing specific shapes / lines (copying mom) as interested. Word tracing.
Language Development: Goal of back and forth conversations of at least 17,000 words per day.
American Sign Language: Possible learning of more signs
Math: How to Teach Your Baby Math and Math for Mothers (I-III). Quantity recognition (distinguishing of “how many” without counting – up to 100). Arithmetic with quantity cards. Counting objects forward and backward. Numeral recognition. Talking about numbers, shapes, positions, patterns around house. Singing from 1 to 100 at every nap / bedtime.
Encyclopedic Knowledge: How to Teach Your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge. Learning facts in the domains of art, biology, general science, geography, history, human anatomy, languages, literature, mathematics, music, and scripture. Approximately 5-10 facts from 5-6 categories (domains) every other week (25-60 facts every two weeks).
Physical Excellence: How to Teach Your Baby to Be Physically Superb. Daily walks, walking on various surfaces, stair climbing, crawling. Parent-child and child-only balance activities: rolling, turning, spinning, lifting, beam walking, etc. Manual exercises such as hanging from wooden dowel, brachiating (monkey bars), small motor activities.
Swimming: How to Teach Your Baby to Swim. Swimming underwater (by self), back floating, jumping in pool, climbing out of pool, splashing, pool rules and water safety.
Sensory: Tactile stimulation (water and dough play, art, kitchen participation, texture experiences). Auditory stimulation (conversation, discussion of heard sounds and where sounds are coming from, piano note naming). Olfactory & Gustatory (smell & taste – helping in the kitchen with discussions about tastes and smells). Visual (reading, math, and encyclopedic knowledge activities. Discussion of sights).
Small motor: Homemade and store bought toys that encourage small motor skills, thinking, and problem solving. Objects in spaces/holes, puzzles, manipulation toys, stacking, sorting, pouring and transferring, and so on.
Life Skills: “Helping” with household tasks (laundry, cleaning, cooking, desk work, other chores). Pick up after self, take diapers and other garbage to trash, help wipe down own high chair, help dress self, take clothes to hamper, so on. In process of potty training – goal by age 18 months.
Field Trips: learning experiences at the farmer’s market, the grocery store, bank, the fair, the zoo, the park, etc.
For MUCH more detailed descriptions of each child’s homeschool curriculum choices this year, be sure to visit these posts:
My goodness! I don’t know how you do all that AND blog. Is it because Hunter is so independant already that he can do a lot of his work on his own? My daughter is 4 and reads some, she can locate 40 countries and about 25 states. I did Doman’s math program with my son for a while (up to subtraction), but when he started becoming mobile he did not seem interested. Should I pick it back up? Did it really help your son with math? Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!
What is your weekly schedule for all of this? These are all things that I wish I was already doing. Please offer tips on getting it all together.