Homeschooling Overload

Oh mama you can do it. Take a deep breath and just be still for a moment. He is good and He will provide. At the ages of your babies you really only need to teach reading and math. A solid reading program, some beans for math and a library card will do just fine. Teach reading, use manipulatives to teach numbers, addition, subtraction, go to the library. Read poetry, get art books, juvenile biographies, history, fiction. Use one of the online reading lists, they are plentiful. Read Bible. Copy beautiful verses, passages from books. It does not have to be complicated. Watch science on the internet, go for nature walks, get books about bugs, trees, clouds. I agree that all of the resources here are amazing and they make life easier. But at the you g ages of your kids you dont have to be particularly structured in the order of things you learn. This website has tons of free resources. Easy Peasy homeschool is also completely free and all of the reading is linked online, you might find something useful. It is not CM, but you could take parts that feel right to you and use them. Make this a relaxed (free) year, make a plan for next year and begin deciding what you need to buy. I buy mine term by term to spread out the cost. Try not to be drawn to the beautifully packaged curriculum with the lofty price tag, it usually looks prettier than it is. You can do this. The Lord has your back.

It can be as expensive or cheap as you need. My early years were focused around the library and free curricula other than math (I wasn’t confident enough to do that without some sort of curriculum, and this was over 15 years ago in 2004.).

Now, as a large family mom who has been doing this for a very long time, I have slowly acquired many materials. I learned to look for materials that can be reused totally or in part, for younger children. For example, one year I bought an Apologia Elementary science textbook for $25. I can use it for every child over the years, and can flesh it out to be more living with library books if the style doesn’t quite fit one of my kids. One purchase, 15 years of use or more. (By the time child #10, who is 2, graduates our homeschool, I will have been homeschooling for 30+years.)

Truly, if you are willing to use the library, you don’t need to purchase a curriculum for anything, but especially for science, history, art appreciation, composer studies (books and cds are usually at libraries), poetry, geography, literature, and so on. I do prefer having a math curriculum, and they run the gamut in price. I searched for the teachers manuals and dvds used every year until I had all levels from elementary through high school (Math U See), bought one set of manipulatives. Then I just purchase a student workbook each year for the level a child needs. Some people use online programs that have one price for the whole family for math (CTC Math, they have a homeschool price), which can be cheaper possibly.

Also, in the early elementary years, I focus exclusively on helping a child learn to read, learn to form letters/handwriting, and learn to do basic math with manipulatives. They may join in the family lessons if they wish for science or history. They will see the art and hear the music in the home that week. They will spend time outdoors with the family. But their core each day is a focused short lesson in phonics, handwriting, and math. Once they have that solid base, they can read/write/learn so much more independently and easily. And they are older, so they don’t object to sitting for a bit longer for interesting things.

So for this core, I would be willing to spend money. I like All About Reading for teaching a child to read. I bought one copy of each level (and some kids can skip level 4, so maybe wait on that one). I put the activity pages/games/fluency pages into a 3 ring binder in page protectors. We NEVER glue things in an activity, we simply move the pieces where they go, and then put it all away. This means I have had lots of kids use the exact same pieces and readers and pages to learn to read. One purchase price to be used over many years for many children. (Right now the level 1 is waiting for a 5th and 6th children to be old enough to use it. I got my money’s worth and beyond.)  However, some people like Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons – and that costs even less and is reused for every child.

For math, other ideas for inexpensive/reuseable would be CTC Math online, or Math Mammoth downloads to print for each child when they are old enough for them. Or just get the table of contents for a curriculum like Math U See or Saxon and use that to give you an outline of what to teach next. 😉

The library is one of the best resources I can think of for homeschooling, especially if your library is part of a larger network. I can request books on the online catalog and have them sent to my local library when I need them. So helpful! I also love to go to library booksales, I find lots of resources, especially for science, very inexpensively.

I recently came across this free online curriculum that is “in the spirit of Charlotte Mason”. I don’t know much about it, but what I’ve looked at is intriguing. All the resources and links you need are right there in the lessons. Perhaps it could be helpful to you. https://underthehome.org/home

-Dorothy