Please help guide me

amother

Copper

Mon, May 22 2017, 8:42 pm

We are considering starting to homeschool. We have 7 children ranging from toddler to age 15.
I am enthralled with the idea of spending more quality time with my children and enhancing their learning with real life experiences. I am also hoping we can redirect our financial resources to provide them with opportunities we otherwise couldn't afford (eg. music lessons). However, I am overwhelmed thinking about how I would figure out curriculum for everyone and keep everyone on track. Also, how do I foster friendships for them with peers? How do you balance everyone's needs and schedules?
Can anyone please tell me what a typical week in a large family setting looks like?
Any guidance and direction is appreciated!

yaelinIN

Mon, May 22 2017, 10:25 pm

amother wrote:

thanks. that's why I'm on this forum...trying to get info. from real homeschoolers.
any specific recommendations on books to check out? thanks.

There are more homeschoolers on the Yahoo groups and FB. Just go to your local library(ies) and take all the books on homeschooling. Filter out anything that doesn't fit with your family (religious or otherwise) and learn as much as you can.

amother

Blue

Thu, May 25 2017, 8:43 am

yaelinIN wrote:

I'm also interested, do you mind telling us about where to find a curriculum for the younger grades?

yaelinIN

Fri, May 26 2017, 9:38 am

amother wrote:

I'm also interested, do you mind telling us about where to find a curriculum for the younger grades?

I wouldn't recommend a "curriculum" for the younger grades at all. That's why I suggest reading as many books on homeschooling as you can. That will open your mind to the world of choices you would have a a HSing parent. You don't have to "do school" to educate your children. Most people who just start HSing without some serious research and soul searching choose a curriculum (online mostly these days), find themselves (and their kids) overwhelmed and burnt out within a year, two tops.

As for the OP, every HSer juggles how to teach his/her children to the level s/he wants. That's to be expected! Talking to other homeschoolers (frum, Jewish, or not) about how they handle it, going to HS support fora (my favorite is The Well Trained Mind - not only for Classicial HSers), and reading a jillion books on HSing will help you figure out how to make HSing work (or not!) for your family.

Socialization is easy if your children (and you!) have friends already - just get together and do your thang! If you/your children have no friends now, then yes, you will have to make it a point to find people (not just ones of their age group/gender/religiosity) for them to befriend. That can happen at HS park days, HS classes, Rec classes, Shul, NCSY, B'nei Akiva, around the neighborhood, etc. Homeschoolers tend to be more open in terms of socialization.

Good luck to you all!