Last week I shared how we started homeschooling. Today I want to share about the curricula choices I made and my thoughts about them.

Before Tiffany was born, I visited Practical Homeschooling’s AOL board. It was such a help to me in so many areas. Actually, some of the recipes (one of which is Breakfast Burrito Bake) I still use today are ones I gleaned from the wonderful ladies on that board. They offered their advice and expertise those of us who were new to it all.

Brian finally learned each letter, its name, and the sound it made. Then we were able to move on to putting sounds together. At that time, Hooked on Phonics had “readers” that were just a listing of the phoneme family groups. We struggled through with him slowly laboring to sound out each word. After a couple weeks of this torture, he wizened up and realized that after he sounded out the first couple of words, he could sound out the first letter/blend and simply rhyme with the previous words.

He fooled me! I thought he actually “got it.” So after a couple weeks of this, seeming, success. I was ready to take the next step. I had purchased the Bob Books at a local book store and thought they would be perfect.  Well, we sat down, he read through the page of the hooked on phonics book we were on, and then I got out the first Bob book. OMG! He struggled soooo badly! I quickly realized what was going on and began searching for what to do next.

We continued on, using Hooked on Phonics and occasionally the Bob books. Then I ordered the Pathway readers. They are more of a sight words kind of reader, so I thought that might help. (Both Bob Books and Pathway Readers are available through most of your homeschool suppliers.)

We made it through the school year. Near the end of May, Tiffany was born. Then I started looking for what to use the next year. That’s when I found Five In A Row! I ordered the first manual and tried it out with The Story About Ping. We loved it!!! I used it with all three of the kids and recommend it to everyone. I absolutely LOVE it!!!

Then I was looking for a formal math curriculum and asked on the Practical Homeschooling board on AOL. Mastering Mathematics is the one that I went with that was recommended. I loved that it was reproducible which meant I could make copies of each worktext to use it with all three of the children. My kids do not care for math; I love it so this is bothersome to me. I liked this one because it had games and such to help with the math facts.

Next week I’ll share about the different curricula we used for learning to read and such.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº