Praying for God to move in mighty ways for you and your child. <3
Thank you very much, that is so nice of you! @Vanessa04
Hello everyone, My name is Sandra. I have a 6 year old and 8 year old. Both boys I just wanted to start by saying that I am very thankful for finding your blog Erica! ! All of the information you provide has been such a blessing to my family. Both of my children are on the Autism spectrum and have been going to public school. My oldest is on the higher end and is very advanced academically. He has done very well in school so far without the need for an IEP. My youngest son just started kindergarten this year and I can honestly say that it has been a nightmare. He qualified for special education services and it has been nothing but a battle with the school district to make sure they are abiding by his IEP. Sadly, it became a very bad experience for my family. They were not meeting his educational needs and they were harassing him because of his disability. Without getting into all the details, they made it a very unhealthy and unsafe environment for him to the point where I just couldnāt trust what was really going on anymore. We prayed and feel that God has led us to homeschool. February 3rd, 2015 is when my husband and I said enough is enough and we withdrew our son from public school. (So we are very new to homeschooling). We are very thankful for all of the information you provide Erica, it has been a true blessing when we were first taking the plunge into homeschooling early this month. We felt overwhelmed with where to start, with all the curriculum choices, etc. We are still learning and adjusting but overall we know that we are doing what is best for our son. We are at peace knowing that our son is now safe and we no longer have to worry about what is really going on in school. Sadly, we found out the hard way how horrible the public school system can be, especially for a vulnerable child with special needs. Our son is slowly opening up to things that happened. He is doing much better now, knowing that he wonāt be going back. (I found out that every time he told me about something that took place in school, after I asked the teacher, they questioned him about it and intimidated him.) I just wished I would have pulled him out sooner.
Our older son is still currently enrolled in school for the remainder of this year but we will be homeschooling him as well starting the new school year. He currently has a great teacher so we donāt want to just pull him out mid year. We are honestly excited to go on this learning journey with our children and I think they are too.
Thanks to you and your husband for creating this forum. I am sure we will be putting it to good use as we continue our homeschool journey. We are currently using your āLetter of the weekā curriculum and plan to use all your other great curriculum as well.
Please call me CJ and Iāve been āofficiallyā Homeschooling for 3 years when my eldest turned 6. I have 4 kids, 3 girls and 1 boy. So far my teaching style has been flexible as I learn how my children learn best. Our family decided to start homeschooling because of our belief that parents are responsible for what their children are taught.
Good morning! I have been homeschooling for eight years, currently my children are in 7th and 5th grades. Our journey began when our district went to all day kindergarten. And here we are! God has led our decisions for our schooling each year, taking it year by year. Through the peaks and valleys, God is faithful, providing perseverance and love that gets stronger each week. My approach is mostly traditional, but eclectic if that makes sense. On top or traditional curriculum, we do some unit studies together, read a lot of literature, required and not required, and make sure we have plenty of service opportunities outside of our classroom. This is a well designed forum!
Hello Iām Fritha. I have two children 4 and 5. I love the Charlotte Mason method and am a book junky! I decided that Iād homeschool soon after I got saved 12 years ago while watching my close friend transition. I was so thrilled by it all. After getting pregnant with my first I researched all about it and tried to learn what I would work well with. Then I started to collect books for them Iām so excited to have them at home with me, teach subjects dear to us (biblically), and help them to enjoy it!!! I feel blessed to be able to mold my kiddos how I feel God leading me. What an adventure!
I suppose Iāve been homeschooling them since they sat in my lap to listen to stories Iām in Co too, Loveland! We enjoy using your stuff as wellā¦
Hi, my name is Mindie Walker. I have 8 children, ages 17 down to 1. My oldest 5 children are in public school, but I am in the middle of my 1st year homeschooling my 4 year old twins. Iāve been using your letter of the week and K4 curriculum and have been following your blog for advice. This year has been so rewarding and we have been having a blast. I have decided to continue on our homeschooling journey for them, and am praying about the possibility of pulling some of my older children home as well.
Good Morning, I am homeschooling my 10 year old daughter (4th grade), just about to turn 9 year old son (3rd grade) and my 5 year old son (kindergarten). I was homeschooled myself from 4th grade through high school. I went to college and graduate school and have a degree in Education. I always planned to homeschool and have from the beginning but 3 years ago I got cancer and my children had to go to school. They went to public school for 2 years and now that I am better, I pulled them out this year to continue our homeschool journey. The greatest advantages (now that I can compare the two) is family time, the ability to tailor our curriculum for individual needs, and the ability to include God in our schooling. I am just really enjoying this year. We are using an eclectic mix both in terms of curriculum and educational styles (workbooks and unschooling). Looking forward to getting to know you all.
Hi! Iām Erika and Iāve had a homeschooling heart/mindset for 5 years, but have been homeschooling for about 3 years because my oldest is only 6. Our kiddos are 6, 5, and 3 and we have a blast! My husband and I have a developmental homeschooling mindset so we delay formal academics until about age 8, but even after that our desire is not to have āschool at home.ā We are striving for a faith-based and interest-led homeschool environment where mom and dad oversee and provide resources rather than any one boxed curriculum. So you could probably put us in the eclectic category too! We have loved and utilized two of COAHās packages along the way and plan on using more of Ericaās stuff in our homeschool! We also like LOF, we have SOTW on the bookshelf waiting to be used, we donāt use a formal curriculum for writing, and the rest comes as we live life right now:). Iām glad I finally paid attention to my email and joined the forum!!!
Hi, Iām Mari and Iām so excited to be here. Your website has been such a blessing to me in my homeschooling journey. Thanks Erica! I have 3 kids and have been homeschooling for four years. I do a little bit of everything. I homeschool preschool, kindergarten, and high school. I also live with a chronic illness and go by a very flexible homeschooling method. I am truly blessed to be able to homeschool. I canāt wait to get to know other moms on here. Blessings!
HI Iām Jeanne and I have three kiddos aged 5, 4 and 2. They keep me hopping!
Iām still fairly new to this homeschooling thing, only been doing it for two years. I went to public school so itās still a bit foreign to me but I do it for two reasons. First I think itās the best way for our kids to get a good and godly start in life. Second I do it for the bond it creates between me and my kids. Secretly I might also do it because it means I āhaveā to stay home But donāt tell anyone I said that!
I think weāre fairly eclectic but rely maybe halfway on traditional methods. Iām still in the see-how-it-goes stage, I suppose.
Hi! My name is Jessica, and I have 2 boys that I homeschool. We have been homeschooling for 2 years now. Some days we love it, and some days we have had enough of each other! We started homeschooling, because both of my boys (13 & 11) are on the autism spectrum and didnāt feel that they were getting what they needed in public school.
My name is Becky, and we live in Louisville, KY. I was a 2nd grade teacher for 10 years before getting married and having children. I have 2 boys (4.5 and almost 2). I chose to homeschool because, frankly, I feel like Iām qualified and because it is what God has called us to do! So far, I have used Ericaās LOTW curriculum with my 4 year old (when he was 3 we did it), and am now working on the K4 curriculum. Next year, for kindergarten, we will be using Timberdoodle along with a Bible curriculum like Awana. Iām so excited to have another place to go to for resources and advice.
Hi my name is Nikki. I have 8 wonderful kids, from ages 15 - 9 months. My husband and I got married young, weāre 33 years old, so we feel a little isolated with the amount of children and our ages. This is our second year homeschooling so I am pretty new at it. Our oldest attends the local Catholic High School but all the rest our home with me . We started homeschooling to instill our faith beliefs into our children along with virtues and manners. We use more of a classical approach with our curriculum. I am looking though for new ideas for next year. This year has been a trying year for us. I am looking forward to making friends on the forum and getting some great tips and ideas, especially about scheduling.
Hi! Iām Sarah and I just started homeschooling this year. We have three kids 6, 2 & 1 and one on the way. I have to admit it has been a rough year starting homeschooling! I have been sick from pregnancy for the majority of it, so we arenāt where I want to be. Iām still trying to figure out what we like but I think I am leaning toward Charlotte Mason. We decided to homeschool because we were not impressed with the schools where we live. And we also want our children to learn from a Christian world view.
Hello my name is Jennifer and I have only been homeschooling for 3 months. I decided to pull my son out at the end of last semester due to his ADHD he was just not striving the way I knew he could. I have 2 other children both girls and I will not be sending them back to school next fall. I have not had much experience with any of these curriculum choices I really did not know what to expect starting out. I have been using A Beka for math and total language plus for the language arts portion. I have been sprinkling in history, geography and science just things that I pick up here and there. My children are ages 6, 8 and 10 so I am a little nervous of how the next year will go with all of them home, but I believe I can give them a better education than the public school system
Hi, My name is Sandra. I have two children, ages 8 and 4, and I have been consciously homeschooling for 3 years. After trying our eldest in kindergarten, we noticed he wasnāt given the opportunity to use the skills he had already acquired at home, and wasnāt given much time for socialization. We opted to homeschool the rest of the year, and realized this was a better path for us all. I had also taught elementary school for over 10 years, and knew how frustrated I had become over what I felt to be wrong curriculum choices. I realized if it bothered me so much then, having my own children in that situation was just asking for unnecessary aggravation. Weāre still working out our teaching style, I predict it will be a constantly evolving style, hopefully recognizing what works best for each child and being willing to let it go when it doesnāt. We tend toward developing our own curriculum by choosing topics and literature to support it. We build on it with activities. This year weāve had a lot on our plates, so we tried some curriculum, and have adapted it to suit our needs. Looking forward to reading and learning from this new community.
Hi I am Meghan from Louisiana. This is our 2nd school year as homeschoolers. I have a 2nd grader and a pre k 3 student. I also provide after school care to a 2nd grader. It is interesting to see the homework he comes home with from public school compared to what we are doing in homeschool. Before God called us to homeschool, I was a college graduate looking for my first teaching position.(high school history) We love homeschool though! I couldnāt imagine ever going back.
Hi, Iām Kristen. My kids are 6, 4, and 3. I plan to start homeschooling in the fall. We have not been happy with how kindergarten is going, academically, for our oldest. We miss our family time and having our lives centered around each other rather than our schedules. I am confident that this is the direction that God is guiding us (for now) and I know we will be much happier!
I would say that I am eclecticā¦Charlotte Mason for subjects like history, traditional for subjects like math. But I havenāt even started yet! Ha!
My name is Melanie and I just started Tot School last September with my daughter who is 2. I use the workbox system and some montessori styles as well. Tot School for us happened easily as I love to teach and my daughter loves to learn while play. I enjoy being able to tailer her days to fit her needs and incorporating our Bible lessons into her daily education.