Well hello! Is anyone else losing sleep over sending their kiddos back to school? I feel like the big ticket question is whether or not to homeschool. So, I want to share the ins and outs of homeschooling if that’s the decision you’re wanting to make. First off, let’s take a look at my RULES! Now, these are for YOU! So pay attentiong:
I’ve had so many conversations with friends about what to do this coming school year with COVID running rampant. And, there seems to be no clear answer. I know there is fear, worry, guilt, and stress surrounding the decision of whether to send the kiddos back to school or not. So, I’ll start by saying, I don’t think any decision is going to be perfect. I think there are pros and cons to both! And I also think this decision depends on each individual family and the children! So, guilt be GONE!
Now for me, I work from home so I’m able to spend the morning teaching the kids. I do a bulk of my work during quiet time and then in the afternoons. It’s all about finding a balance. Some days are more school heavy and some days are more “independent play” heavy! And some days I lose my sh*** and it’s all a bust. Regardless, we’re all gonna be fine in the end!
Now, back to the ins and outs of homeschooling! I’ll talk about the curriculum we chose, our schedule, and also my Ultimate Homeschool Planner that has helped me stay organized!
The Ins & Outs
1. The Curriculum: Turner is going into 2nd Grade and Gracie is in 4K. For Turner, I bought the My Father’s World Deluxe Curriculum for History, Science, & Bible. It comes with all materials, handouts, read-alouds, bible, maps, & teacher guide. It lays the lesson plans out for each day and tells you in detail on the following few pages exactly what to do and say. For spelling, grammar, reading, and math, I went with Horizons Math, Horizons Spelling and Vocab & Reading. I absolutely love it! They’re so easy and self explanatory. You literally go through the workbook and use the teacher guides as support! And, finally, for cursive writing I chose Handwriting Without Tears.
For Gracie, I chose the Deluxe Package for Pre-K. It comes with all of the materials, teacher guide, books, and manipulatives. There are awesome puzzles and hands-on activities as well! She even gets her own sweet bible with photos! I’ve also been reading a lot with her one-on-one and practicing sight words, sounds, upper & lower case, and numbers. For letters, I chose Handwriting Without Tears.
2. The Schedule: Feel free to download my schedule HERE if you’d like to use it for yourself. This is pretty much the flow of our day. Within the school time, I bounce the kids between independent work, one-on-one work with me, ABCmouse, and book basket. Book Basket is our favorite! It’s a basket of books that we rotate each week. They can be anything from fiction to non-fiction, on grade level, or picture books. Basically it’s a time that the kids get to choose whatever they want to read or look at independently. Gracie’s favorites are the Richard Scarry books!
3. Ultimate Homeschool Planner: I actually made this because I searched far and wide for ONE notebook to keep track of grades, attendance, lessons, field-trips, and notes, but I couldn’t find one. So I made this and created a digital download to share with YOU! It has helped tremendously in planning my week. I sit down on Sunday and spend some time looking through the materials & teacher’s manual and writing out the week’s plans.
4. Register With The State: We live in South Carolina. So what I did was, once I knew my materials & curriculum, I set up an account with SCAIHS to register with the state. I was assigned an advisor who was SOOOO helpful, because I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. We set up a phone call and she helped me set up my account and talked me through how to submit grades and keep attendance. She reviewed my curriculum and materials and gave me the green light to get started!
5. Other Materials: I wanted to share a downloadable shopping list of supplies that we bought for our classroom! I’ve linked to the items if you’d like to purchase them online as well! We spent the first day going through our materials and setting up our OWN pencil box and supply bucket. We labeled everything so each kid had their own supplies. It was a very special day!
Now, I know I just threw a ton of information your way. My goal is to make your transition to homeschooling as easy as humanly possible! So if you feel stressed, revisit my rules at the top of the page! At the end of the day, it’s a decision that you need to make that will work for you and your family, not mine! This is something I’m extremely passionate about, so if I can be a resource for you, please reach out! Much Love xoxo!
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