The Three R's

First time homeschool mom confession: Curriculum choices both fascinate and confuse me. But I think I'm getting closer...I hope I'm getting closer!

Since Nicholas spent a year in preschool--a year I wasn't as involved in as I'd wanted to be due to health circumstances--I'm not sure where he is on the foundation continuum. I've been hunting high and low for evaluations and foundation builders so I can find out what page he's on and get on that page with him.

For math, I've decided to go with Mathematical Reasoning Beginnings 2. I had all these grand plans to start official school with a fun "Official School" day but I was so excited to start on the Mathematical Reasoning book that I...kind of just started. We did our calendar page and I asked if he wanted to do math, and he eagerly grabbed a pencil. I'm not sure yet what kind of pages-per-day schedule we'll go with, or if we'll even devise a quota/goal per day at all, so I decided to just let him run with it. He whipped through 18 pages! 18. I could tell he was starting to get frustrated/tired around page 14 or 15, though, so I think I'll use approximately 10-12 pages/session as a loose goal and limit. I don't want to stress him out and I do want to keep him hungry for more.

And then, phonics/reading. Oh, phonics/reading.

I had no plans to start on reading yet. I figured I'd go with a casual approach, and start a formal reading program next year. He's been asking me things like "What's that?" (question mark) and "How do you spell X" for a while, though, so I think he's ready and it would be a disservice to him to not at least present the option of reading.

Unfortunately, I again find myself lacking knowledge of exactly where he is in conjunction with a phonics program. I've ordered a few books from the library and looked at some very expensive reading/handwriting programs (VERY expensive) but I think for now I'm going to keep studying and thinking and decide on something formal (if we go formal at all) at a later date. To that end, I went into my Confessions of a Homeschooler K4 packet and printed out some Beginning Sounds worksheets so I can evaluate where he stands on letter/sound recognition and, again, go from there.

As frustrating and time consuming as the Great Curriculum Hunt is, I'm glad I didn't go with my initial desire for a packaged/boxed curriculum kit. I was lusting over the expensive Timberdoodle but I'm not sure it would have met our between-stages needs. I'm going to be cobbling phonics and math a bit, but that's okay, because I'm discovering that preschool meant I don't know my baby as much as I thought I did, and this exploration period is bringing us closer.

For now, if anybody needs me I'll be pouring over The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading and Teach Your Child to Read with Children's Books (which I think might be a winner).

And FIAR, of course, although I'm scaling back a bit on that to make it more discussion-based and less Pinterest-focused. I need to play with my kiddo, not spend playtime on Pinterest.