OK, I homeschooled two youngest sons soooo long ago for six years.  Now I have granddaughter in the house.  She went to a private kindergarten in a school which is closing.  She will be six the end of September.  I had planned to put her in another closely affiliated with the first yet it is a 50 minute round trip on a good day...needing to obviously be done twice a day.  I am getting cold feet for many reasons.  I hesitate to break in yet another school.  Plus. the money.  Times are tight.  Having homeschooled before my biggest fear of course is her being particularly alone.  As an only child with no children to play with as neighbors....I hesitate taking school away from her.  I know I can homeschool her though.  What I am doing is researching, bring myself up to date, on options out there.  I am an informal homeschooler at best.  :)  I believe in interest led guided education.  IE:  If they are interested in dinosaurs then all necessary appropriate lessons are dinosaur focused ...til we move on to someting else.  She is bright.  She is young.  Anyhow; I know Timberdoodle is out there still.  I liked dealing with them.  I Liked the concept of Sonlight but not the cost.  I think I liked Beautiful Feet the best.  However; I did not use it at her age level as I recall.  I am going to recheck into that.  I am big on good quality literature.  If anyone has some Sonlight or Beautiful Feet or even Progeny Press books for the 5-8 year old age group and good Math recommendations I would love to have them.  :)  Thanks so much.

Yes; Melody is still here...seldom but still here.  I still have much to get rid of in this house.  If I have neglected use drop me a line.  I know I am still getting to finding some vintage crochet books for someone.  I have not forgotten.  Later!

Mel

Anyone for Scrunchies?  Crocheted?  :)

I'd look into homeschool co-ops or try to find other hs'ers to socialize her with, also city league sports or going roller skating etc can be a play to her make friends.  Whatever she's interested, just try to find others with the same interests. That's what we are working on with ours.

Have you looked into ACE?  I like that I do not have to plan lessons and everything is easily explained and teaches them to be self motivated.

Of course you can homeschool first grade! Looking back on it, that's a great age. We are not homeschoolers who isolate. A fair amount of time was spent networking in the HS community to meet people. We had a weekly park day outdoors in fall and spring. I had to (still have to) make time for my kids to socialize with others. For first grade 99% of it was just fun play time (not academic courses). Once we found some friends I invited them to our home for playdates and we went to theirs. The moms stayed for the 2-3 hours and talked so we got to know each other.

My kids are 10 and almost 13 right now. I still dedicate time to networking and choose to do things for social reasons (i.e. the main goal of the homeschool co-op we do now is for social time with friends and new kids). Carving time for the social part is just part of the job of a homeschool mom (or grandmother) and it's a necessary thing.

For the books check the local homeschool network for used book and curriculum sales. See if your libraries have charity book sales, and borrow from the library if PBS doesn't have it.

HTH. ChristineMM

I homeschool an only.  We make sure and get to a lot of activities. We do park plays, 4H, rock club, co-op, and swim lessons (with time to socialize), We sometimes add in a homeschool PE class.  There probably is a Girl Scouts troup near you.

There are a lot of free curriculum available.  Homeschool Share has free literature unit studies.  You should be able to get hold of the books at your library or on here. 

Well I know I am not worried about the academics just keeping her and myself sane with enough socializing.  When I did hte boys years ago, there was just nothing out there really to do that worked for us.  This community like so many others is cutting back and back and back and the schools are just getting worse and worse.  The caliber of students is deteriorating too unfortunately due to the "quality" of the city going down.  There is no  industry for good jobs soooo...anyhow....  :)  Thanks for the input.  :)  I appreciate it....much to think about.

Melody

PS:  I mostly only buy "curriculum" for Math & Science depending on grade level...  The rest is all literature and "delight" led if you will.

Hi,

I homeschooled my grandson for 2nd grade this last year for the first time.He is an only chile.  It was great, really great. And we've both made some friends. There are always coop classes, science fair groups and park days or nature days. Going to classes offered by homeschooling associations is a good way for your little one to make new friends and socialize. My grandson took 4 classes last year. He loved it, learned a lot and made good friends that I approve of.  Seek out some homeschooling families in your area and ask them about what is available in your area. You can also go on the net and find out. If you need any help you can PM me, any time.

Oh by the way, I have good ideas for books for homeschooling, I can give you a list of many fun language arts and math and science books as well as what I do with teaching Spanish if your intersted.

Good luck and god bless,

Elona

As far as math suggestions... we love Horizons! 

Edie

I have to believe that this will be a much different experience!  If you live in an area like ours (Orlando) there are tons of homeschoolers- so tons of things to get involved with!  Lots of co-ops, academic or fun.  Our science center has homeschool science classes available, and our zoo too.  We have a statewide organizations called FPEA whose newsletters inform people about the laws and also area activities.  WE also have an annual convention.  So chances are your state does too.  Depending on your grandchild's learning style I would recommend Math U See if she is tactile, or Teaching Textbooks if she is visual and auditory for math.  Both are worth the money.  Also- in Florida there is a public school option called flvs, which is a public virtual school.  Totally free to Floridians, and we love it- so you might want to check your state for something similar.  No record keeping, grading, etc.

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