Although my children are still young, homeschooling is nothing new to me. I grew up being homeschooled, and loved it! I have many fond memories of my mom reading out loud to my brother and I or making a big messy craft project with us. Its been so much fun to begin homeschooling my own children. I love being a part of their learning experiences and getting to witness all of their excitement over new things.
Are you just getting started with homeschooling? Here are some of my favorite (random) websites and tips for you:
This is a great article on socialization, and why its so not a big concern.
Cathy Duffy Reviews is a great place to look for curriculum ideas and reviews. She also has a book that is a great resource. You can get a general review of most any homeschool curriculum on her website and then research it further if you are interested.
Homeschool Reviews is another place to check for reviews. (Also Amazon of course.)
The Happy Housewife has a round-up of curriculum reviews written by various bloggers.
Homeschoolclassifieds.com sells used curriculum. Your local Craigslist may have listings as well.
Rainbow Resource is a huge website with homeschool books and products. Whatever you do, do not request their catalog. I am not kidding. It is around 5 inches thick and waaay too hard to get through. Just stick to looking things up on their website.
Home Science Tools is a fun science store that I have purchased some of our things from in the past.
There are plenty of websites with homeschool ideas, crafts, and curriculum. Homeschoolshare.com is a big one with ideas and printables for creating lapbooks.
If you are using a certain curriculum, check and see what other resources they have to offer. My Father's World and Heart of Dakota both run message boards devoted to helping people use their curriculum. There are also yahoo groups, both of which contain wonderful ideas and help.
Getting connected with a local homeschool group is a must! Ours has monthly meetings and an email group. Members plan field trips from time to time. This is also a great place to ask questions.
My last piece of advice? Just go ahead and buy several bookshelves right now; they will be full in no time!
Do you homeschool? What are your favorite links or tips for a newcomer?
Hi, thank you SO much for sharing this post. I too have small children 4 to be exact, however I get a lot from people about socialization and how my children "need" that, I was wondering if you could share what you consider socialization from when you were small and now that you have your own kids what do you consider socialization for them? Again thank you for posting this(: Blessings!
ReplyDeleteHi Kris! I suppose that could be a whole other blog post. :) Let me think about it and see what I come up with.
DeleteStill going back and forth on this...thankfully I have 3 more years until kindergarten!!
ReplyDeleteHi Christy-
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post! I would add www.homeschoolclassifieds.com for used curriculum, Barbara Frank Online for her wisdom and articles, and just in general for mommas to google homeschool blogs and see what they find. There are many good blogs out there!
i homeschooled four sons from beginning to end.mostly they lead me to what they were interested in.why we home schooled because we wanted them to be raised with adults not by their peers. they are all grown,work very hard,never did drugs,never smoked,etc. and everybody asks them and me how was i so lucky. we were no lucky,they were raised by grown ups and worked with adults, and did not see us smoking,doing drugs,etc. and not in large herds in elem. sch.,middle sch and esp. high school . i believe in school most children get bery bored and turned off by school. but at home they can persue so many interests.most of all they learn to learn. if you can read and write you can research what ever interests. oldest son get tear any car engine or small engine and put them back together. second son is a furniture blder. and a math whiz that harvard wanted only he did not want them,third son owns and runs a wood sawmill company and fourth son ficed up three homes and rents them and is ready to buy 2 more and rent them. they are not in college debt, each has there own home and families. it is the best way to go to raise great citzens and happy ones at that. good luck.
ReplyDeleteWe homeschool (just finished our first year and we'll start our second year in August) but like you I'm no newcomer. I was home schooled as well. I don't know if I have any other tips... just buy used, keep an open mind that your oldest kid will probably be your curriculum guinea pig (I was) and pinterest has tons of ideas as well.
ReplyDeleteeverything of what you said is SO true. we're switching to tapestry of grace this year. :) so excited about it!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for posting. Like you I have several littles (3- 4 and under and expecting my 4th in September)I am just starting this year to home school our oldest (preschool). I'm not a newcomer to homeschooling as I was homeschooled as well but it's still a bit overwhelming! Curious as to how you find local homeschooling groups? Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure! You could try a google search, otherwise ask any homeschoolers that you know? :)
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