Can someone show me how to start homeschooling my 6 year old, in MI she'll be in the 1st grade?

Question

I would like to homeschool my daughter next school year as it will be easier all around for us as I am expecting my baby in early Sept. We live in Michigan and I was wondering if there was a low cost way to do this..all the programs I checked (like Abeka) were quite a bit for the year... do I have to use their supplies? I really have no idea how to do this and would like to know how before Sept! thanks!

Answer 1

I just finished homeschooling my 6yr old for her first grade year. I made up my own curriculum for the most part and had no problems at all--she tests great.  If you get a copy of your state's standards, you will see what they expect a child to know as far as math and language arts are concerned.  I did use a math curriculum(horizons) and supplemented with a lot of hands on stuff--counting and grouping things, fractions, math games, cooking, puzzles, playing store, etc.  For reading a year or two ago ,  I used a notebook and piece of paper with word families written on them and had her practice them daily and read from easy readers available from the library or B+N.    

  For science and history, we picked a few topics, got some books from the library on them, read them, drew things from them, wrote things about them and did some hands on stuff about each topic.  It was a lot of fun!  Don't sweat it--you don't need an expensive curriculum at this level.-------

Answer 2

K12 and ECOT are free and very helpful homeschooling options. i am in 10th grade with ohio virtual academy through k12 and my brother uses ECOT.  Google them and get more info, i really recommend it

Answer 3

I bought BJU Press booklets for my kids they are not very expensive and have colored pictures and they like them. I buy my material at the local home school convention and then I do not pay shipping etc. If you purchase through Rainbow as long as you purchase a certain amount there is no shipping as well. They have a large variety. You can use the local library as well. There are certain things you must do in your state as well to have your daughter home schooled and it varies depending on your state. Get in contact with the county school board and ask them what you need to do. Good luck. Find someone in your area who has done it. It is a lot easier if you have someone to bounce questions off of.

Answer 4

A little word of warning: being it's your first year and you are going to have a newborn in the house, the chances of you being able to follow a truly structured program are slim at best. Decide what are musts that she needs to learn/work on (like reading, handwriting, math...) and then make a list of additional things that would be nice to do but if they don't get worked on, oh well.

Which means that the lowest cost way to do this would be to teach her to read from a simple program, you can have her work on writing letters through workbooks or worksheets printed off the computer, you can help her keep a journal or write stories and things like that, maybe find a gr. 1 workbook for math and then rely on the library and kids' websites for science, history and geography. Don't let yourself get all stressed out! Having a baby in the house can take up a lot of time, as you undoubtedly know, and trying to figure out how to fit in a full prepackaged curriculum is in many cases just too much to do!

Answer 5

If you are a Christian, you should use the Rod and Staff curriculum. It trains your child in the way of the Lord. At first, you may think it too strict, but it is all to bring out the best in your child. You can find some of their books very cheap on Ebay!

Answer 6

Here's a good place to start:

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/meth...

Also:

http://www.homeschoolmath.net/reviews/

and

http://homeschoolreviews.com/

If cost is your main concern, then unschooling may be for you. Really, we can't help much until you decide what method you want to follow, what your educational goals are etc. My guess is you'll need a good few hours of internet searching before you'll make any kind of decision. When you find a "YEAH, that's what we need!!!" you'll know. Then come back and ask more specific questions.

Good luck, there's no one size fits all answer, which is why you won't get one. The best we can do, until you figure out what you want, is tell you what we do. I follow The Well Trained Mind, with a good helping of Charlotte Manson, fyi :)

The others are right, you won't have the energy to do too much this year, with a baby in the house. Make a start with reading and maths, and top that up with library books. Hey, in many countries in Europe, they don't start school until 7, so don't worry. As long as you satisfy your state's minimum requirements, there's no need to fuss. She's only just beginning. At this age, you can take care of the neccessary basics in about an hour a day. A new baby will be enough of a learning experience...

Answer 7

Get connected with other homeschoolers in your state - they will often help out by sharing books/knowledge, etc.

Answer 8

I'm assuming you already did this, but if not, do check your state laws. You can do this here:  http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp, however, do not rely on this exclusively, but check the law yourself because you are responsible for it.

An all around very cool website to learn a lot of information about homeschooling in general is: http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/

A very popular record keeping software is Homeschool Tracker: http://www.homeschooltracker.com/. They offer a free version that you never have to pay for and can use indefinitely, but some of the features are limited.

A free k-12 literature based curriculum, that also includes a link to a free (off-site) preschool curriculum is Old Fashioned Education:

http://oldfashionededucation.com/index.h...

Your biggest expense will be printing up the books, however, you can minimize this by using the library or looking for cheap copies to buy. The program is very similar to Sonlight (already mentioned), however, OFE uses public domain books, while Sonlight (http://sonlight.com/) uses a combination of public domain and more modern books, but is VERY expensive. OFE has an excellent support group, and a very open community who will be happy to help you find all kinds of resources.

Other similar and inexpensive programs are:

A2 @ $99.00 for k-12

http://www.accelerated-achievement.com/

Robinson @ 195.00 for k-12

http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/

and Ambleside, free k-12 http://www.amblesideonline.org/

however, you will have to buy some resources from whereever you can get them.

For a little different kind of curriculum, though somewhat similar in philosophy is Konos. http://www.konos.com/index.html

Not terribly expensive, but you will have to buy several books.

Now for a couple of free resources to use to supplement whatever program you end up using:

currclick: http://www.currclick.com/index.php?affil... gives away a free e-book every week. It could be anything from their store, but it's always interesting.

and Hands of a Child http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/

gives away a free lapbook per quarter. If you are not familiar with lapbooks, this is the place to start. This is a GREAT way to get kids excited about learning.

As you can see from my links, I'm not a big fan of textbook learning, like A Beka. I did use A Beka for a while; it is really more like public school at home, but with God. I know that some parents swear by A Beka and other text book methods, but it's really not the best way for kids to learn. Of course, you have to determine what's best for your own children and use that method.

If you join the 3R group listed at the OFE website, you can ask all kinds of questions and we'd all be happy to help you out with links, encouragement, whatever.

Good luck and enjoy the journey.

Answer 9

We have some things in common. In the fall my daughter will also be 6, in 1st grade (but homeschooled from birth), and we live in Michigan.

Like others have said, you don't have to buy any curriculum at all. A library card and some interest in the world around you gets you pretty far. We do use a packaged curriculum, but that works for us.

One idea is to find a homeschool group in your area and attend a meeting. There you will get to talk to other homeschooling mothers and find out what works for them. It's a good way to review a lot of options. Many support groups have introductory workshops for those new to homeschooling this time of year or later in the summer.

You could also attend a homeschool used book sale to see some of the choices available. Just don't be tempted to buy, buy, buy, your first time out! Maybe leave your wallet at home and just go to look.

If you're near Grand Rapids (or anywhere you could drive to it) the Home School Building has a store and library. Both are a great way to really see many of the materials available before you buy.

Answer 10

Abeka is really good for younger kids..it has many pictures to help illustrate the point.I isn't just a ton of black and white words.That kind of makes kids spaz out and think they cant do it.A good history/literature...is Sonlight....they mix the reading and history together.Most of the time they focus on one subject in history for the whole year.This is not meant to be the kids only history.A friend of mine uses something called sing-spell for her 1st and 3rd grader.They also use horizon math.I use different curriculum for different subjects.Try researching online or at the library.For younger kids...preferably1st through 4th,cant be quite as independent.as they get older though,you can assign them with what they need and(if they don't have ADD)can sit down and do their work independently.I hope this has helped!!