(A few of these might be affiliate links, where I might get back a tiny (tiny!) piece of anything you spend. Most are simply links to the resources themselves.)
This year, my kids range from 1st grade to 11th grade. And as usual, they are all based at home. I started typing them out and goodness, but the post got long! So here is where I’m going to put some of the things we’ll do together, and over the next few days, I’ll be posting the individual plans for each child.
***If you aren’t interested in homeschooling, please just skip through these few posts. This is a hot topic in my neck of the world (and internet) right now!***
That’s one of the best things about homeschooling – each kid gets a specifically tailored experience!
A couple of things before we get into this in more detail. I work teaching undergraduate psychology from home. I tend to do my work at night, but it means that I need to watch how much I am expected to teach – I need to have some juice left in the tank for my undergrads! In addition, with 5 kids to work with, I prefer to double up or more when I can. You should absolutely take into account how much time and energy (and patience!) you have to do one on one work when you are planning.
Also, we are not going all in one curriculum here. My kids, like all kids, are somewhat uneven, and instead of trying for one, we let them work at their own level. Some kids learn better with workbooks, some like online options, some like classes, and choosing for each subject and each kid allows us to work with them on this. (If you are looking for a list of curriculum ideas and links try this post.)
Here are some of the things we are using for more than one child.
History / social studies: following the election (C-Span does some good classroom materials on this, and in 2016 sent out a great map, but there are a lot of options!), Story of the World 4 (The Modern Age) – we have the books, the activity books, the CDs (I haven’t seen audiobooks, but please let me know if you have!), and the tests and answer keys. If you want to start at the beginning, you can do volume 1 (Ancient Times), volume 2 (the Middle Ages), and volume 3 (Early Modern Times).
Math: Teaching Textbooks is our go-to math until we have to worry about accreditation. I love that it grades them for you and explains when the student gets something wrong.
Language Arts: Open Tent Academy classes (one per kid at their level and to their interests), copywork, Writeshop books, typing with TTRS Typing, and Spelling City. Other favorites for multiple ages are Brave Writer or Pathways of Exploration (this can be a complete curriculum for multiple ages – each older kid just goes a bit farther).
Music: Hebrew in Harmony and classical music studies
Physical Education / Gym: Tae kwon do practice (luckily we have a black belt in the house!) and running on the treadmill, jumping on the trampoline, and biking- just being active kids!
Art: Talya’s Art Studio (live classes for the whole family, only $39 per month for any classes/recordings you want!)
