What are /r/homeschool&#39;s favorite Products & Services? From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

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Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons: Revised and Updated Second Edition

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The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades

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Kindle Kids (2019 release), a Kindle designed for kids, with parental controls - Blue Cover

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Ink Refill Kit by BCH - for PG-260 CL-261 TS5320 / PG-240 CL-241 Inkjet Printer Cartridges - First-Timer Kit with Tools - EZ30-T

Leapfrog: Letter Factory

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How To Tell Stories To Children

#11

Scotch Thermal Laminator, 2 Roller System for a Professional Finish, Use for Home, Office or School, Suitable for use with Photos (TL901X)

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Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks With Over 125 Illustrations

#13

Learning Resources MathLink Cubes - Set of 100 Cubes, Ages 5+ Kindergarten STEM Activities, Math Manipulatives and Counters, Homeschool and Teacher Supplies

#14

Native Americans: DISCOVER THE HISTORY & CULTURES OF THE FIRST AMERICANS WITH 15 PROJECTS

#15

Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers

The most popular Services mentioned in /r/homeschool:

Khan Academy

8 /r/homeschool comments

Scratch

6 /r/homeschool comments

Typing.com

4 /r/homeschool comments

Notion

3 /r/homeschool comments

Codecademy

2 /r/homeschool comments

WebMD

2 /r/homeschool comments

Duolingo

2 /r/homeschool comments

Redbooth

SlideShare

#10

Google Docs

#11

freeCodeCamp

#12

Code.org

#13

Treehouse

#14

Zoom

#15

Cold Turkey

The most popular Android Apps mentioned in /r/homeschool:

Endless Reader

https://www.amazon.com/KIDWILL-Learning-Multi-Color-Manipulative-Calculating/dp/B08F4X7FC8/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?dchild=1

Free

The most popular reviews in /r/homeschool:

You can use libreoffice writer to edit a text document and save it as a PDF. It's open source free software.

Download

My opinion is that she's too young. She just turned 5. Average reading age is 6-10. The public schools have been pushing the age for reading back to fit in with their agenda, but kids have not changed. Kids know when they aren't ready and your daughter is letting you know. Read to her a lot. Have a lot of fun. https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/when-should-kids-learn-read-write-math#1

I think one of the best places to start is the The Read Aloud Family by Sarah MacKenzie. She is a homeschool mom of five and her recommendations for books are great but she also has insight into ways to incorporate books into your routine. My husband actually got the book first and suddenly all these fantastic picture books showed up on hold from the library. I asked him where they came from and he told me about the Read Aloud Family book.

The library is your friend here. If you buy too many things you'll be swimming in books your child will never wants to read again. I would recommend really working your local library system. Look up lists. Put things on hold. Take her a few times a week to check things out.

We discovered that picture books are great to read over breakfast. Even our 11 year old loves them and many of them incorporate into his science curriculum. It creates peace and joy in the middle of what could be a harried routine and one of our favorite things that homeschooling has introduced to the family.

We do chapter books at night. My five year old LOVED Charlotte's Web and Bunincula. We have started Mr Popper's Penguins but honestly no one's that into it at the moment. Winnie the Pooh is a huge favorite.

Check out School Library Journal's booklists for recommendations. I also utilize the Amazon "customer's also bought" recommendations (which I then input into our library website.)

Recent favorites: I AM BAT by Morag Hood, The Rules Of the House by Mac Barnett, Have You Fed The Cat by Michele Coxon and Fruit Bowl by Mark Hoffman.

I started a Co-op and it was a beating. First find three to five families to create a board. The board will be responsible for al the decision making. Vote on the issues and record the vote. Decide what kind of Co-op you are going to be (core subjects, elective, social). This book helped a lot. https://www.amazon.com/Homeschool-Co-ops-Start-Them-Burn/dp/0982924585/ref=nodl_

Seconding http://www.khanacademy.org/ which starts with "1 + 1 = 2" and takes you all the way up to advanced college-level math.

the videos are short (3~4 minutes each) so you only learn a single concept in each one
he can re-watch them as much as he wants and the video player never gets impatient
the website has simple quizzing that helps you figure out when it's time to move on to the next concept

I’ve used Scratch to teach programming to younger kids. Often at that age actually. There is very little typing with Scratch.

https://scratch.mit.edu/

Look at the tutorials on the site, there are also books with lessons and projects, I’d suggest finding one.

Way back in the day I used mario teaches typing, http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/987/Mario+Teaches+Typing.html

Because I'm weird and think about educating my future hypothetical children way too much, you might want to consider getting a smaller keyboard for her small hands to encourage proper typing technique: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=keyboard+for+kids&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=Yx3&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&biw=1192&bih=637&um=1&ie=UTF-8&t... or something

Hello,

For the summer I bought my kids a workbook from Carson Dellosa Education called Summer Bridge Activities. It is basically a workbook that focuses on bridging the previous grade to the new. The sheets themselves don't take a long time to complete (15 minutes or so) however it is comprehensive enough to build on or not. Also, I recommend a summer reading list. Just a quick search online for their grade level should help you build a solid list.

For the summer we primarily focus on not losing what we learned during the school year (using the Summer Bridge workbooks), reading (then have a discussion on what they read or read as a family), doodle (coloring, painting, making art crafts), and lots of play.

Resources:

Workbook

Summer Reads

Hope this helps!

Here are my notes for this method. It includes how I and my child were able to figure out the root cause of the problem
https://www.notion.so/5-Why-Method-ae9b02b26de9414687a5b3a59b15d983

If you face any difficulty in using this method please let me know.

For reference, I was homeschooled from 1st grade. Most of what I learned was because of hobbies/interests I had. In fact, by the time I was your sons age, my curriculum was just starting to get really free-form, relying on my hobbies to teach some subjects and just filling the gaps with "traditional" school work. Eliminating his interests won't make him less bored in other subjects and it certainly won't make him love to learn. It'll make him resentful of the thing that stole what he loved and fight more against it. He's at that age where he's going to dig deeper into his interests. Rather than being interested in everything, he's going to start exploring every nook and cranny of a particular subject. So rather than take that away, guide him. Show him the nooks. Show him how math is used here, how language is used there. You hear so many people say "I'll never use math", show him how it relates to his interests. I can't tell you much about roblox, but I know Minecraft. It is successfully being used to teach. Just off the top of my head, you can use Minecraft to teach resource management, math, logic, programming, art, cartography, topography, gardening, geology, oceanography, color theory, architecture, 3d design/printing, and more. To start, check out minecraftEdu, it's a special edition of minecraft, but the lesson ideas there work fine in vanilla minecraft. Grab a raspberry pi and give him minecraft pi edition to learn programming. Give him assignments in Minecraft (have him build a replica of the Taj Mahal in minecraft, now he has to read about the Taj Mahal before he can reproduce it). Have him write about Minecraft (have him research how minecraft distributes "minerals" and write a report on it). This is the power of homeschooling, to teach by application and exploration rather than by textbook.

Take a week off from math. Even two weeks. I know this sounds wrong. But the biggest gift you can give yourself and your kid right now is a break from this concept. The best part of homeschooling is that you are not limited to only 180 weekdays to teach an entire year's worth of standards. When a kid is frustrated, they can't absorb new information. Trust me, a week or two won't tank their entire math education. Right now, your kid is panicking (I know the feeling, I was a weak math student), and the panic is stopping her from truly listening and understanding.
My favorite math manipulatives for elementary - snap blocks. You can use them all the way through multiplication and division. https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Mathlink-Educational-Counting/dp/B000URL296/ref=pd\_lpo\_1?pd\_rd\_i=B000URL296&psc=1

Kids love to snap and unsnap the blocks! It turns addition and subtraction into a game. Also, if she's secretly struggling with number sense, this will help her with a physical/visual cue of what she is doing. If she just doesn't like math, this won't feel like math but will still blend perfectly with Singapore math instruction.

The best advice I can think to give for your situation is to combine subjects wherever possible. Practice your writing skills with history/science papers. Read historical fiction/memoirs to beef up any lacking reading skills and to make learning history faster/more enjoyable/easier. Even math and science can be combined in many ways. Combining subjects will save you an immense amount of time so you can get more done.

I know you said you think you are okay with grammar, in which case I would recommend a quick read through of "The Elements of Style" just to be sure and to fill any gaps.

You may find it helpful to look into common core standards for 9th grade to understand what you would be expected to know in the different subject areas by the end of the year.

Also, this just occurred to me, many homeschool curriculums offer free online placement tests or questionnaires that may help you figure out what grade level you are currently at in each subject to give you a better idea of how far behind you may or may not be.

I hope something in this mess of a reply is helpful! Good luck!

Scratch Jr. can be used on the iPad. There is also regular Scratch for the computer. The Homeschool Buyers Co-op sells programming curriculum, so maybe look over there.

>Places like Best Buy are the antithesis of what someone interested in computers should be doing.

This alone was worth my upvote.

>Many perceived problems are what we call PEBKAC (problem exists between keyboard and chair) i.e. user error.

Or ID10T errors.

This is sound advice. As far as programming is concerned, there is a lot of cool stuff out there. Code.org is neat, and free. My kids have enjoyed the little function you get from that as well.

I really like the other resources mentioned. There is a series of Danny and Darla books like this that are a choose-your-own-adventure choice making series for young kids, my kids have enjoyed them.

Yes, a simple one for kids. I use the one from Right Start. You can buy one from Amazon for cheap too:

I will probably buy the real Japanese abacus later. For now the simple one is enough.

Here is my last year's list for an example. Remember that these are your intended materials: you are not bound to them. You are free to change books or approaches at any time.

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AcdCD6dS80ALZDVxNjU4Zl8yMDJ2cnFjc3ZkYg

We've been homeschooling in Clark County for many years and have never been challenged. Remember that you should either mail in your papers by Certified Mail or hand them in and get a copy signed. After you turn them in they have two weeks to notify you of any issues. If they don't, you are home free. If they do, post their query and we'll help you with it!

This sounds so good, I think you are already on the journey to encourage kids to think on there own. If you go can go through the interaction-design site you will find a lot of literature on mental tools. Once you have trained yourself you can use that tool based on the situation. This area comes under design to solve the problems.

In the meanwhile please try FiveWhy method, here are my notes for it. If you have any feedback please share.

https://www.notion.so/5-Why-Method-ae9b02b26de9414687a5b3a59b15d983

People have addressed the laws and requirments issue. We practice something I call directed autonomy. Our best resources include the library, museums, and other home educating friends. We do use a few tutors for subjects we can't possibly teach - like Mandarin and Music. Other than that, we let him have at it. It's hard sometimes to watch a kid play video games all day or running around playing in the sunshine all day. But, when words like "trajectory," "momentum" "excellent habitat for echinecea purpea" or "metamorphosis" come out of a little kids mouth, I can see how trusting him actually works. I think the most important advice to give a new home educating parent is to relax and trust that children will learn anything in any amount when they are motivated to do so. (I have a reluctant reader who got exceptionally motivated to read when I stopped reading his video games to him. He is now at grade level.) Also for maths and so much more, Khan Academy is free and fantastic! http://www.khanacademy.org/

Low-effort wordpress site is low-effort.

Team Treehouse has an amazing offering as far as video/etc content to help anyone of any age, including young people, learn to write code. My wife has used it off and on for a couple of years now and it's been consistently good. https://teamtreehouse.com/

Has he done free code camp? https://www.freecodecamp.org/ My 15 year old is enjoying it. Also... He can get college credit through CLEP tests. If he uses modern states(free), they will reimburse you. https://modernstates.org/

Is anyone here familiar with creating your own slide samples? Or rave me any unit ideas/experiments to help get more use out of our microscope?

Here’s the model:

https://www.amazon.com/Microscope-Magnification-Biological-Educational-Accessories/dp/B07H1GSYK1

I really enjoyed the if you lived…. book series. There are a ton of them. We did the colonial one during thanksgiving.

There are a TON of “room on the broom” things on teachers pay teachers. We did those during halloween. As well as the gruffulo.

This year (2ndish grade, we just keep building on skills) I got some culture cards and a book called “this is how I do it”. Its just different kids explaining their normal life around the world

I actually bought Blossom & Root's curriculum for this year, only to discover that several of the books called for are only available on Kindle (which I am trying to avoid) and/are are quite expensive. To actually use it, I'd be paying around $100, and that for an incomplete curriculum.

So for now I've put that to the side, even though I love the idea of it. What we've got is a biased book and a counterpoint to it. The biased book is This Country of Ours and the counterpoint is Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror, which is readily available used. There's a "kid's" version of the second book, but I decided the original was a better idea.

So what I'm doing is trying to match them up. The first thing we read in This Country of Ours was about the Vikings' exploration of North America, and I noticed a lot of not-even-hidden racism. Since I'm reading it aloud to 2nd & 4th graders, I'm able to edit out the racist language as I go (stuff like swapping in "natives" or "people who were already there" for "savages"), and being not even close to new at this stuff there are lots of editorial asides and a discussion afterward about what bullshit it was that the Vikings were off attacking the people who were already there. The next day, we read "Before Columbus: Vinland" from A Different Mirror, and it touched on pretty much the exact same things I had, and as a bonus insulted the looks of the Vikings the same way the first book had insulted the looks of the natives. I'm hoping to continue that. I wasn't crazy about the idea of having to edit things, but I think maybe an ongoing discussion about the nonsense people have been taught to believe for a long time will be pretty useful in the end.

We’re using Getty Dubay (link to first grade book, $15) for italic writing. It’s not cursive—just print with a slight slant. The later grade books transition to italic cursive but I’m not sure if we will do those.

We went with these covers (comes in different colors). They are nice and thick for extra kid protection. It also comes with a built in stand, hand strap AND a shoulder strap to make it easier for them to sling across their shoulders and carry on nature trails, (hopefully museums soon!) etc. https://www.amazon.com/timecity-iPad-10-2-7th-Generation/dp/B07ZYRGF3K

Ah perfect perfect. The dreamhouse kings collection by Robert Liparulo, it’s great although I haven’t finished the collection myself. They just read amazingly and if he can do dark and grim he’ll have fun. Here is a link to the Amazon page where you can read about it.

I'm not sure if this is comprehensive enough for you, we just started it and so far it's been awesome. Time4learning It's a monthly subscription of $19.95 a month. Has a super easy interface for my third grader, I am very pleased with the coursework, covers all areas of study: social studies, math, science, vocabulary, writing, even art. Has quizzes and tests that are stored in a database that you can log onto to check progress. Works great for creating independent learners- it even allows breaks at the online "playground" with cool games. Also gives good outside reading suggestions to supplement the coursework.

I do a lot of outside things but this is a great foundation. Also, for your math lover...check out khan academy love, love, love it!

For my kinder, I started phonics instruction (All About Reading 1 or Logic of English Fundamentals A would be a great place to start), and for math we played board games and she worked through this workbook (quickly, she did about two pages/day). She also tagged around for her brother's science and history lessons, although he was only in third. We also did tons of read-alouds. And then she played and played and played. Kinders learn so much through play. Magnatiles, Snap Circuits, fort building kit, play silks, everything.

It's never easy. When you fall down, get up, as they say... but do take time to rest, reevaluate, and reaffirm your goals.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004X3KTII/ref=as_li_ss_tl

This book, or its companion for 7-10 yos, Sex is a Funny Word. They are top-notch for all the questions your kid might have, but in a non-threatening format.

I used 100EL when my kids were 3 (gifted). We did not do any of the writing. The book was originally intended for 6-8 year olds who were behind in reading. I don't do any formal handwriting practice unless the kids want to (my oldest is almost 6). They do write for schoolwork and for fun (they love to write books) but I would never require them to at this age. I did teach them how to hold a pencil properly. These helped my child who struggled: https://www.amazon.com/Pencil-Grips-Handwriting-Correction-Preschoolers/dp/B07PHKRQV8/

Imo the best way to teach writing is to make paper, crayons, colored pencils, markers, and pencils available to your kids at all times (yes, this will make a horrible mess) and let them figure it out.

My kids love it. They're outside now, but I can add their input when they come in.

We are also very social. We have meetups with friends 2-3 times a week and get park play or hanging out with neighborhood kids every day (weather permitting). I can see how isolation would be really hard to deal with and ruin the whole education experience. Are your parents open to you socializing? Is there a way you can look on meetup.com or facebook and find homeschoolers and classes in your area?

I check in with them regularly to see how they're feeling about schooling and if there's anything new they want to do/ change. I think open communication is definitely important for success.

I'm not a big fan of either Curiosity Chronicles or History Quest, but they're the two frontrunners by far in the secular (non-religious) homeschooling groups I frequent. I don't like them because I think they're too much reading and their "fun" projects are occasionally fun but often lame, plus you only get one a week and I preferred to do one a lesson. That said, both have great free download trials available so you can see if they're right for you. Blossom and Root also has a history bit that's becoming more popular, but I don't think you can test drive quite as much as the other two (and it might be for older kids). That said, my kids' favorite history project ever was probably History Quest's Neolithic cave paintings, it's part of the free download in their Ancients curriculum.

My personal favorite after lots and lots of trial and error was Core Knowledge, and then I'd google up my own fun projects to pair with most lessons. I thought it was the most age-appropriate to my kids' attention span and interest levels. That said, I also read a great piece of advice to just spend K-2 focusing on different cultures more than on formal history, so we did lots of geography (loved this workbook, along with building some river dioramas, etc), and also did lots of holiday studies (Diwali, Chinese New Year, Hanukah, St Patrick's Day, Election Day), making salt art mandalas and Chinese paper art and latkes and all those fun projects that are really more memorable at that age. Formal history really can wait until third.

I agree that getting digital microscope can be good, but it may not be what is used in University. Seeing samples as in higher education is helpful. To avoid frustration, the optics (the actual glass) really matters. Cheap microscopes are awful and frustrating to use. Bad optics will make everything frosting. Binocular scopes are 100% better than monocular to use. Modern microscopes can be both analog and digital.

We have this model. AmScope B490B Compound Binocular Microscope 3M. The 3M is important because it means it has a digital camera built in. That camera can be removed and upgraded (bit plus) and it had good software. Its a good solid microscope that is good enough not to frustrate me -- and I use very high-end scopes at work. This model seems to be unavailable, but you could contact AmScope and ask for what replaced it.

The most common problem kids will have to breaking slides when they start. Start with the least magnification and easy to see stuff.

Home education is a viable education choice for parents. We home educated all nine of our children K-12. They've all completed undergraduate degrees, and five of them have post graduate degrees including two PhDs in Mechanical Engineering. They are all married and seven of them are parents -- the two youngest couples don't have children as of yet. But, not all of these parents home educate our grandchildren -- some attend small five day Christian schools or hybrid 3 days on campus/2 days at home Christian schools. The beauty of this is that you have options! As your children are just 5 and 6, concentrate on teaching them a love of learning in an enriched home or part time school environment. Read aloud to them every day while you research your options. The hslda.org website has very comprehensive resources that can guide and direct you and your wife in making the best decision for your children and your family.

Some people don't like supporting Usborne, but they're sold at my local science museum, so I have no issues with the MLM model that I'm not using.

So, that said, my kid (10) LOVES these Usborne See Inside books. We have Chemistry, Biology, and the Periodic Table. They give a lot of detail, and when we studied Chemistry last year he was coming up with all kinds of factoids he'd gotten from reading those books.

That sounds like a lot for a planner. I have been using this one for years and it costs $13 dollars. https://www.amazon.com/Period-Teacher-Lesson-Horizontally-W101/dp/B00PUSNY5A/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2D496O0HC2VXV&keywords=Elan+planner&qid=1666451614&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI0Ljk3IiwicXNhIjoiNC4xNSIsInFzcCI6IjMuNzMifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=elan+planner%2Caps%2C165&sr=8-4

If you're ever looking for (possibly want to follow up with) an audio version of the Hobbit:

https://www.amazon.com/The-Hobbit/dp/B08C8XFQMN

It's incredible. Read by Andy Serkis (Gollum). Oh man. Huge, huge treat.

We spent a whole week camping in the yard last fall, and doing the Hearthmagic Hobbit guide and listening each night. It was so, so hobbity-goodness fun.

I hope you guys all feel better quickly!

It sounds like you're very aware of what the typical kindergarten curriculum should include. To settle your thoughts it would be a good idea to read Cynthia Tobias' book - The Way They Learn. Tobias helps parents to better understand learning styles which then helps us choose the curriculum that best fits our student's learning mode. The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease is also a great resource. Trelease lists books by age and stage which is helpful! In addition, check out the resources here -- you'll be encouraged and equipped.

We homeschool in my bedroom. I’m working so I’m in a recliner next to the bed and he’s on it. We have the laptop board and a laptop. A good pair of headphones. We have a smart tv and I send a lot of stuff up there for us to watch. We have a cart for some of his stuff I just got a bookcase because the books are taking over!! We do projects downstairs on a folding table in the living room which is in front of our big tv.

We have two lap whiteboards. A good printer, laminator, an electric hole punch and pencil sharpener are all good. Clipboards. We use this for worksheets Five Star Flex Hybrid NoteBinder,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086M2DKTV?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Start with a laptop and see what you need. Invest in good curriculum. I love beast academy and I’m looking for a good coding online program.

Try the early Dick and Jane books. https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Dick-Jane-Storybook-Collection/dp/B01FKRQ1B4 The used ones are less than $10 shipped.

They start with just one sight word and add words slowly with continued practice on the following pages. For a struggling reader it is a book they can read and it builds fluency quickly. Repeat chapters often and sound out words that are new or forgotten (or just read them and let your child repeat after you if they are frustrated).

You don't need experience, there is no teachers manual, and best of all, a child starting from nothing can really learn to read these early books. My kids loved these because they built their confidence and made them feel like they could read. The stories are not flashy, but the work is doable, predictable, and tear-free. My kids started with just 5 minutes a day and built from there. You're doing awesome. Keep up the good work with your little one.

My kid can't stand to have their hand rest on spirals or even the crease of binding so I've had to get really creative. I bought a hole punch for the Japanese binding style on Amazon and then some binding edges also from Amazon. With those I can bind everything across the top which seems to work but at 4 punches per page, max 5 pages at a time it does take time. I really want a spiral coil machine but I can't quite justify the price.

Truthfully most things I just paste into a composition book, which thankfully lay flat enough for her!

The SAT will be going digital in 2024. If you have younger students who want to get ready for it, I made this free resource that they can check out. Hope they find it helpful!

A Homeschool family written book about sustainable agriculture and more

another one

Stoked Katz "learn ASL" with rhythmic poetry .

You said you're looking for specifics, but I'd humbly recommend getting good with certain general principles of teaching. Not everyone knows the commonsense basics.

Work-life balance is a toughie. I wish you luck with that, but at a guess, it's going to involve doing a lot more than you're currently doing. Having a kid is a huge commitment, and homeschooling is also a huge commitment. I watched many of my friends get married and have kids; first thing to go, when you have a kid, is sleep. Say goodbye to that. But if both work and teaching seem worthwhile to you, then by all means pursue both. You have my respect.

https://www.amazon.com/Umbra-Exhibit-Picture-Gallery-Adjustable/dp/B08446C94V/ref=sr\_1\_6?crid=10L6BNAYONL2D&keywords=hanging%2Bmetal%2Bpicture%2Bframe%2Bwith%2Bchain&qid=1661818511&sprefix=hanging%2Bmetal%2Bchain%2Bpicture%2Caps%2C12...

I think teaching them general money management would be helpful. I wouldn't push them to work like a dog, but to understand what work is for. They need to have a healthy relationship with money and work. As a child of one binge spender, and a work-a-holic for the next vacay, it realllllllly messed me up to witness unhealthy relationships with money.

Shoot for philosophy in this area, imo. This book is great https://www.amazon.com/Leisure-Basis-Culture-Josef-Pieper/dp/1586172565 when it comes to teaching what leisure and work are for. It does have religious components, but the overall philosophy doesn't exclusively pertain to religion.

^ That directly answers your question. I'll caveat that there is some criticism over its avoidance of Kanji. It's common to pair a textbook/grammar course like this with learning first radicals & common Kanji and then building vocabulary (using kanji). A commonly used tool for this is WaniKani. (Another is some version of Remembering the Kanji paired with Anki.)

And regardless of what method you go with, immersion is highly useful in cementing the knowledge. You can find tons of resources for that in r/LearnJapanese and r/Refold (^(the latter of which is a language learning strategy that started with Japanese but isn't exclusive to it)). Graded readers, easy news sites, podcasts aimed at learners, etc. all help the acquisition of the language.

Yes. It's a series of books that is separate from the original books. Also I had the name wrong, it's "fact tracker", not checker, sorry for the confusion.

https://www.amazon.com/Dinosaurs-Nonfiction-Companion-Magic-Before/dp/0375802967/ref=pd_aw_fbt_img_sccl_1/143-5380793-2268941?pd_rd_w=AmEDa&content-id=amzn1.sym.b6e57bf5-2054-445a-8980-1886178987a5&pf_rd_p=b6e57bf5-2054-445a-8980-188617898...

I would recommend Curriculum Theory: Conflicting Visions and Enduring Concerns, 2nd Edition to learn more about all four!

For more on a purely LC framework, check out this video about the Sudbury Valley School.

And for more on SR, which I want to point out to all reading is rooted in leftism (not liberalism, leftism) I would checkout Paulo Freire, especially his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Which will be a little bit of a harder read, but worth it. You can also look for videos explaining it on Youtube. Hope this helps!

I've seen a lot of kinder families do WildMath for a Math option when paired with Blossom & Root. Another popular choice for this age (and a bit more formal) is Singapore Math. For my daughter, we played math games and did this workbook from Amazon, then we started into Math Mammoth's first grade program (but she was an older kindergartner with an older brother to model from). For writing, we did a lot of writing prompts like these, as well as the first book of Handwriting Without Tears.

My son enjoyed doing Electronics technology. We used this book. You can buy kits for the materials needed (or get the parts separately.

I don't think you need to take a special course, but do avail yourself of the tons of information out there re: educational psychology, teaching methods, etc. Keep in mind that you and your students are on a learning adventure together, so it's okay if you're not an expert in everything. Just like your child, you'll learn as you go! Good luck.

Mine learned to read at age 3 with this https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Child-Read-Lessons/dp/B07QPPR83F and Endless Alphabet and the other apps from Originator. YMMV.

I'm a fan of Les Stroud, too. I wrote my own take on the whole "Grylls vs. Stroud" nonsense some years back.

Read-Aloud Revival is one I recently finished which made me realize the importance of continuing to read-aloud to our kids, even though they can read for themselves.

Rethinking School is written by Susan Wise Bauer, a homeschooler, but I really loved this book. I find Susan Wise Bauer is great at giving me the motivation I need.

I’ve never once had anyone tell me my kid was going to be weird or have no social skills. But I have had people ask “but what about social skills? How will he make friends?”

That’s when I answer with : “What explicit social skills did you learn in school? I went to public school and I was never taught how to make friends. I’m an adult and I still have to work on my social skills. He will make friends with other kids. Homeschoolers, kids at the extra curriculars he does, people we meet at the library and events. He won’t be limited to only those his age/grade.”

Here’s another point: people are always worried when I kid doesn’t “have friends”, but I feel like their idea of friendship is not always a healthy ideal. At the beginning of my homeschooling journey I was recommended the book “Hold On To Your Kids” and that really helped me to understand that I don’t want my kid to become hyper focused on peer-attachment. I want my child to come to me when he has problems and need advice, not go to his friends. I want him to enjoy the company of others but I don’t want him to substitute a peer relationship for our relationship. And a lot of the time when I heard adults talk about “kids need friends” that’a exactly what they mean. “Who are they going to cause trouble with? Who are they going to tell all their secrets to? Who are they going to bitch about mom to?” Is this healthy? Why is this considered normal and okay?

I started homeschooling when my son was 7 years old and my mom was always saying, “Well make sure he has a chance to make friends”, but at 7 a child isn’t finding a life long companion to confide in. He’s happy if he can play in the sand box with other kid.

My 11yr old has been using the following book this year and has enjoyed it; but he was already partial to science.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761160957/

It is laid out nicely, has lots of content, the font and highlights keep his attention, and has fair review questions. And coincidentally or not, nearly all the chapters have names very similar to Bill Nye Science guy episodes that you can find on youtube easily. We have combined the two into a nice little science lesson.

Your "outside family" has a right to its opinion, of course, but they have no say on how you educate (or generally raise) your children. That's the line in the sand.

I live in South Korea, where a kid's life is one test after another from very early on. Kids still manage to be kids here, but the testing mentality is inculcated so deeply that testing poorly, in later years (high school), becomes a reason for committing suicide, and Korea has the highest suicide rate among all the OECD countries.

When I was a kid in the American system, though, I do vaguely remember quizzes and tests being a part of life after kindergarten. Nothing super-formal, but we did get tested on things like basic math and maybe language arts (my memory is fuzzy on that). And that was happening right in first grade (wow—I remember my teacher's name: Mrs. Roche).

Anyway, you have my sympathies. Testing little kids never quite feels right, but if your state has testing requirements even for homeschoolers, I guess the best solution, at least while the kids are young, is to test them minimally.

Here's a list of contranyms.

For under $10, you can get a used copy of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It isn't absolutely the BEST phonics program out there, but it gets recommended all the time because it's seriously by far the best for its price point and does a reasonable and fairly thorough job of walking a beginning reader (and their parent/caregiver) through all the basics.

I love contranyms—also called auto-antonyms and Janus words.

fast: (1) rapidly; (2) unmoving

He ran fast. / Her hand was stuck fast to the wall.

weather: (1) erode over time; (2) survive intact

a weathered rock / We weathered the storm.

There are plenty of national and local learning standards that you can look up to see approximately where your kids are on a spectrum (keeping in mind that every individual is different, so it's important not to take those standards as anything other than guidelines).

As for the pushback, in recent years, against the notion of learning styles, well, my personal experience suggests learning styles do exist, but I respect the reasoned arguments against them. I wrote a bit on that topic here.

I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I'd say the other side of the coin is that kids do respond to structure and discipline. I agree with the basic thrust of the above illustration, of course: when structure and discipline become overbearing and oppressive, they aren't constructive forces at all. So it's important to strike a balance—especially with younger kids, who should be free to explore the world as the spirit moves them. Again, though, kids can't go through their formative years totally without structure. I'm against things like boring lectures, standardized lessons, memorization tests (which don't test real thinking), etc. Learning should be an active, body-centered experience, not a passive one of "shut up, listen, and just take notes." I'm OK with using videos now and again, but even here, videos encourage passivity unless they're paired up with other activities to get the kids thinking about what they're watching. So all in all, I'd favor a middle way between too much structure/discipline and none at all. As teachers, we should try to strike a balance between the static and the dynamic.

Back when I was a high-school French teacher in the 90s, we were all pretty old-school, using standard grade books (you can probably find these at an office-supply store). When I began teaching EFL in Korea, I started using good ol' spreadsheets, which you can program to automatically calculate number grades. But I'd recommend going with whatever makes you the most comfortable.

https://www.amazon.com/10-Minute-Puppets-Noel-MacNeal/dp/076115714X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3K14UD92A7OKC&keywords=10+minute+puppets&qid=1655213871&sprefix=10+minute+puppets%2Caps%2C59&sr=8-1

This book is by the guy who played Bear in the Big Blue House, it's great!

> I would say if your kid loves a challenge or puzzles still look at Beast Academy.

This is a great point! It really is a matter of taste, my oldest would hate it as a main curriculum, but he enjoys the puzzles and games. I'm the kind of kid who used to read the I Hate Mathematics books as a kid, so it's waaaay up my alley.

On a positive note, if your child is expressing a preference for homeschool, that's to your credit: he enjoys himself there. That said, I agree with the commenters who contend your child may be a bit too young to be deciding his own fate, but based on your responses to those comments, you seem perfectly aware of the situation. My own feeling—and I'm certainly not telling you how to parent—would be to keep homeschooling him for as long as you can; when homeschooling is done right, it often provides a much better education than what your child would get in a pubic school, especially these days. Just my opinion, of course.

For what it's worth, as someone who deeply sympathizes with the homeschooling movement, and as a former teacher, I thought it appropriate to help out by publishing some thoughts on the matter of good teaching (see my signature below). A lot of what I wrote is fairly commonsensical, and because I wanted the information to be easy to digest, I kept it short. The book doesn't presume to tell parents how to parent; it concentrates purely on the question of what a teacher's mindset ought to be: setting goals, having a plan to reach those goals, valuing boundaries, exercising patience, being consistent, learning while teaching, doing research, thinking about testing, and prioritizing success experiences. This is more of a booklet than a book, at under 90 pages; it's a quick, easy read. And since I'm a terrible marketer, I'll say there's no pressure; you can go to Amazon and look over an excerpt of the book for yourself. It might be helpful to you, or it might not. (Honestly, you can find a lot of that same wisdom here, from the other commenters on these threads. See? I suck at marketing.)

It's amazing how much you can learn and relearn when teaching. "You learn when you teach" is a maxim I heard often during teacher training (I'm a certified French instructor, but I've taught English and a variety of other subjects in different contexts), and "Teaching is learning twice over" is a maxim I encountered recently (Joseph Joubert: "Enseigner, c'est apprendre deux fois."). You can definitely rely on outside sources when you're not the expert in something, but for what it's worth, I'd also recommend that you do your own studying so it's easier for you to keep track of whether your student is on point or off base. It's also good to realize that, because we learn when we teach, asking our kids to teach something back to us is a great way to check knowledge (although this, too, requires that you know, at least to some extent, what's being taught). Especially as kids get older and more articulate, I highly recommend the "teach me this" method. In the meantime, if you stay a couple lessons ahead of your child while going through a given curriculum, I think you can "fake it till you make it." All the while, please keep in mind that you don't have to pretend to be an expert in everything. It's quite OK, in my book, to tell your kids that you're going on a learning adventure together. That immediately makes you more relatable to your student. Good luck!

I just finished with my first grader. Here's what we did.

All About Reading Level 3 and All About Spelling Level 2 Real Science Odyssey's Life curriculum Math Mammoth Grade 1 This geography workbook Some Evan Moor writing workbooks And a bunch of read-alouds

Congratulations and good luck as you start down this path. I'm not a fan of Reddit in general, but this homeschooling subreddit has been, overall, very positive as well as a great source for information. Being a former teacher (I taught French in the States and EFL in Korea), I wrote a little book about basic teaching principles for homeschoolers, but then I got to this subreddit and realized there are many issues I didn't even know existed. It's been educational. You'll get plenty of good, commonsense advice from the people here, as well as the sense that you're not alone in this. I wish you the best.

Yeah, the teachers subreddit is a pretty gloomy place. Seems that about 70% of the posts are some form of "I've had enough" or "I'm quitting." Things have gotten even gloomier since the Uvalde shootings.

I’m homeschooling my only child and the mom guilt is real. There’s two types of guilt: 1) doing enough academically, and 2) social interaction.

For the actual academics, I choose high quality, scripted and well laid out curriculums. I want something that is easy to follow, has a schedule or rhythm to it (whether I decide to follow said schedule is another matter), let’s me know what I should say to my child and what I can expect their answer to be, and has a clear scope and sequence.

Because of this, I end up using a lot of “classical curriculum”. What that means is its inspired by the idea of the “classical method” of homeschooling. The number 1 book I recommended to everyone is The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. Your library might carry a copy and you can even find the PDF for free online.

Anyways, because I use scripted material, it really takes the pressure off of me coming up with my own stuff and wondering if its “enough”. Most people I meet who stress about doing enough are using work books and piecing together every subject, and get burnt out while doing so. That doesn’t mean you have to stick to scripted material forever. But I think in the beginning, when you’re getting a sense of your teaching style, and your child’s learning style, its made easier when you have the curriculum do the work for you. That’s just my two cents.

The second guilty feeling is met by getting involved in our local homeschooling community and enrolling my kid in activities.

One of our weekly school goals is to write at least one journal entry. I found a bunch of writing prompts online for my daughter's age, copied them into a Word doc, printed them out, cut them out individually, and store them in a ziploc bag in our homeschool binder. When she doesn't already have an idea to write about, she chooses a prompt from the bag. We use these notebooks so she has space for art as well. We've been doing this since last fall, and she now has a private journal that she writes and doodles in at night too.

To understand CC you need to understand what a Classical Education really entails and the philosophy behind the Liberal Arts. I do CC with my kids and if I didnt send them to CC it'd be to a classical private school.

Two books I recommend: Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America and The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy for Classical Christian Education

I'd really challenge you to read those books (the second is considerably more meaty). Feel free to DM me with any questions.

I use the book Spelling Plus by Susan C Anthony and it’s okay, the lists are mostly based on most frequently used words but each week many of the words have the same spelling pattern. Each day we do a different practice, some were suggested in the opening chapters, plus orthographic mapping boxes. I downloaded several options from droppin knowledge with Heidi and used in a dry erase pocket.

I love playing the old school Where in the USA is Carmen San Diego with my 6 and 7 year olds. They love it too! There was a newer one, too, but not easily available. This one is online.

We also have been going through this Only in America Activity Book. It's fantastic. We use it as a curriculum with an activity twice a week. Lots of puzzles, fun and weird facts, "would you rather" questions, and fun ways to explore the content. We find the places on the map, watch related videos, and have interesting discussions.

Not everyone follows the traditional route through life. I have two brothers; I'm the eldest. I and my youngest brother Sean are fairly bookish in temperament, and we both did well in school, following the traditional route. I work in EFL education, based in South Korea, and Sean is a professional cellist in Chicago. But the really interesting brother is the middle one—David. He failed out of college, but he's been working at a PR firm in DC for the past fifteen or so years, and he's at a managerial level now. David's picked up all sorts of creative skills along the way: he knows everything about video production, for example, from hiring actors to directing shots to adding animated graphics and sound effects. He's a whole creative team rolled into one, and while money's not the most important thing in life, he makes the most money of the three of us. He's also pretty satisfied with what he does, so by most measures of "success," David's got it all, and he did it without going the traditional route.

That's a long way of saying You never know how life is going to turn out, so in the meantime, you do you. You don't sound as if you need any advice, so I'll just say Live deeply. Good luck!

https://www.amazon.com/Misdiagnosis-Diagnoses-Gifted-Children-Adults-dp-1935067435/dp/1935067435/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

u/Necessary-Koala1840

This book might be helpful (there is a previous edition used for less $$) The author has several other books on 'gifted' kids that are helpful.

Homeschooling online or having your parents homeschool you are both viable choices if you're dealing with problems at school. Good luck as you figure out what to do!

I'm all for anything that gets the kids bodily involved in learning—building stuff, manipulating things, interacting with each other, or just moving around instead of sitting and listening to a lecture or passively watching a video (not that videos are bad, of course). So yes, this sounds amazing to me! As other commenters suggest, coordinate with your local homeschooling community and maybe set up some classes.

Can you think of ways to integrate what they learn in your classes with topics they're learning in other subject areas (math, other branches of science, history, etc.)? That might be part of what you discuss with others in your local homeschooling community.