How do you know what to teach?
Talking with a new homeschooler today, the topic of doubt came up. My friend said, “How do I know what I should be covering? How do I know what books I should be using?”
This is a common concern among new homeschoolers, so I thought I’d write about it here.
Books like, “What Your 2nd Grader Should Know,“ can be a useful check in, to see what kids your child’s age are doing in school. I’ve flipped through them at the library, and usually feel much better, I put the book back and go, right, we’re doing fine.
That’s one way to know. You can also find out the state’s goals for each grade, somewhere. I’ve never felt compelled to look it up, but if anyone wants to know, post a comment and I’ll find it.
What about the other part of it? Choosing the right resources for your family?
The first part of the decision, I think is curriculum vs. pick-and-choose.
We don’t use a curriculum, so I can’t speak to that choice, but maybe I can entice a guest blogger to do that.
For assorted reasons, we’ve chosen a build-your-own-curriculum.
Now in our 3rd year of homeschooling, I’ve finally gotten the hang of choosing what works for us, and I’ve also learned what my child’s learning style is. It turns out my child is a very visual learner, so resources that play to that strength make things work so much more easily!
So, how does that help you choose your books and resources? I think the guidelines are:
Know your child.
Ask other homeschoolers what they like.
Try lots of things! Test drive books and videos from the library before you commit!
We talked in an earlier post about some options for math. In future posts I’ll list some options for homeschoolers in grammar, history and more. Have a request? Please post it in the comments, thanks.