1st Year of Homeschool: Curriculum

We officially started "school" this week- this will be our first attempt at homeschooling. The whole idea of it is very overwhelming, especially for someone with a Type A personality (such as myself). I am always concerned that we won't do enough.... but then I also worry that we'll try to do too much. Tanek is, afterall, only 4, and I have to remind myself that "playtime" is just as important as "schooltime" at this age. So, the challenge is finding the right balance that works for all of us, so that learning continues to be fun. At this point, I want his "schooltime" to be just as fun as his "playtime".

Anyway, like many others, I have spent hours and hours obsessing over the various curriculum options trying to find the perfect one that will meet the needs of our family. Since I've also spent plenty of hours reading about the curriculum everyone else has chosen, I thought I would post ours as well. Hopefully, in a few years when I look back on how our first attempt at homeschooling went, I will still be pleased with the choices we made! And, hopefully by next year at this time, we will all feel more secure about this whole process in general!

For math, we are using Right Start Math Level A. I spent a really long time trying to decide on a math program, so I hope this will work out well for Tanek. I really, really liked it when I saw a demonstration of it at a convention!

The Right Start program was developed after studying the way math is taught in Japan. It is a very visual and hands-on program that teaches a person to see quantities in groups of fives and tens instead of counting by ones. It also uses a lot of games to teach the math concepts, which keeps it fun and entertaining. Sometimes we do supplement his math with "The Verbal Math Lesson", Miqoun Math (Orange book), or some other workbooks. Tanek loves to do workbooks, so we throw in some of those for fun.


For Language Arts, we are using Language Lessons for Little Ones 2. I definitely like the Charlotte Mason approach to learning and the focus on narration, memorization, and copywork. Narration is not one of Tanek's favorite things to do, so this is a big focus for us this year. He loves to read and be read to, but he doesn't always like to answer questions or tell the story back to you. Especially if it involves studying a picture and making up a story about what might be happening in the picture! Next year we will probably start on First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, but we'll see. We plan on reading many books this year, including classics such as The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit, The House at Pooh Corner, The Wind in the Willows, etc. For memorization, we'll work on Bible verses and some poems from A Child's Book of Verses. Right now, we are working on memorizing Psalm 23.


We are using The Reading Lesson and Explode the Code for his reading and phonics lessons this year. We use Bob books, the 1st grade reader, I Wonder, from the Reading to Learn series, and other early readers such as Dick and Jane, Dr. Seuss, and Little Bear. I'm sure we will continue to use the Reading to Learn series because they are nice, wholesome stories -similar in many ways to the Amish Pathway readers.

Handwriting: We are using Handwriting Without Tears for his handwriting program. This is Tanek's weakest area. He still writes with both hands which doesn't make it any easier. We go slow with the handwriting and I only have him do as much as he will do. Once he says "it's enough", we stop. I don't want him to hate writing later on, so we only do 1-2 pages a day. He does like to do mazes, so sometimes he'll do some of those instead, to work on his fine motor coordination.

Science: We are using The World God Made from Christian Liberty Press. It is perfect for his age and is centered around the 7 days of Creation. We're also planning to do some experiments using Blast of Color, which I know he will enjoy!

Geography: We are using the Beginner's World Atlas and Galloping the Globe. We'll also use geopuzzles and geography songs CD to reinforce what we're learning (and make it more fun). We could end up spending a disproportionate amount of time on geography if we're not careful because Tanek, my Mom, and I all really enjoy it!

History: We're using History for Little Pilgrims (also from Christian Liberty Press) for a brief overview of history. I think this will be a good introduction that won't be too overwhelming for a 4 year old.

Bible: We're using Leading Little Ones to God for this, and Devotions for the Children's Hour. We also have multiple Bible memory verse CDs that we listen to. Tanek frequently prefers to listen to his music than watch tv, which is nice, because there isn't much on tv that I like for him to watch!

Thinking Skills: I have several books and activities that focus on thinking skills and logic. We're starting with Developing the Early Learner. Then, we also have critical thinking books such as "Mindbenders" and "Lollipop Logic", and we're also going to try out the MiniLUK system. I've read a lot of great reviews about the MiniLUK, so we'll see if it is as interesting as others have said it is!

So, that just about sums up what we have planned for the year. He has plenty of educational toys and games that he can do during read-aloud time or whenever else he wants. Oh, we also have a couple of Russian and Spanish language CDs for kids that he listens to just for the exposure.

I think this will be a fun year with lots of learning (I hope). If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please let me know! This first year is a little scary! I want Tanek to have a great education so that he can be successful in the future. But most importantly, I want him to grow up knowing God, having a relationship with Jesus Christ, and developing the character traits that are pleasing to God.