Where do I begin?

That is the first question that new homeschoolers ask.  It's a legitimate question and one that deserves an answer.  So often, in response to this question, I hear, "You have to figure out what works for you."  How discouraging for people who are trying to do something new and unusual to have no idea of where to start.

Of course, there are those who are too eager to just jump in and take over a new mom's curriculum decisions without imput at all into the family's life or circumstances.  This is almost as discouraging.

Second to the advice of 'figure it out for yourself' as to WHAT curriculum to use is the advice to 'take it one year at a time'.  This is what I want to address.  It always seemed like such a good thing to hear.  "Make a decision to stick to it THIS YEAR."  Don't let yourself become bogged down and overwhelmed by next year and the years after that.  It sounds so very wise and there is great truth in it but there is something about it that can set mothers up for homeschooling frustrations that are avoidable.

I think it is time to tell mothers to make a general homeschooling outline for their starting grade and carrying it through to high school.  If they choose Abeka, they need to assume they'll be using it 10 years from now.  If they choose a hodge podge, they need to figure out what needs to be added or subtracted each year in order to cover all the bases that the family would like to cover.  Those who choose a unit study need to figure out what they'll use for cores that the main curriculum doesn't cover.  It is an overwhelming task on the one hand... almost as overwhelming as the thought of homeschooling for more than one year.  I really believe, however, that people wouldn't feel like they were floundering five years down the road if they'd taken a bit more time to look to the future when picking out their beginning curriculum.

So often, I hear mothers talking about how they tried this curriculum, and then that.  This didn't suit, that didn't suit, they finally attempted the other, and then found the ultimate curriculum for them.  A year or two into their 'dream curriculum' and they are, once again, floundering.  I believe this is because after a couple of years it is easy to see where you've created a gap here or there and now you have all of the current school work to assign and teach as well as trying to figure out how to fill in those holes.  Had you looked to the future, you might have forseen the weak spot in the road and avoided the pot hole.

^{Luke 14: 28-29}

²⁸ "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

 ²⁹ "Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,

³⁰saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'

 ³¹ "Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

 ³² "Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

Why is it that we so often encourage someone to count the cost of having another child, or buying a bigger house, or choosing to participate in this activity or that... but we neglect to remind one another that homeschooling is not merely a knee-jerk reaction to a poor educational environment or a means to avoid such.  Homeschooling does not, in and of itself, produce an effective educational environment. 

We must make curriculum decisions, scheduling decisions, philosophical decisions, and that is only the tip of the homeschooling iceberg.  I think, in our eagerness to snag another 'homeschooling recruit', we forget that these are real people, real families, and the future generations of our country that are at stake when we impetuously encourage someone to jump on the homeschooling bandwagon with little more than a homeschooling catalog and admonishment to 'not try to copy everyone else'.

So, in order to live what I preach, I'm going to give some general guidelines for newbies and veterans alike.  These are meant to be helpful.  If what you are doing or planning on doing is working or seems like it will certainly work, ignore me.  If you're just starting and lost at where the starting line is or have been running this race and just noticed that you're on a track that isn't even a part of the race, perhaps my little steps might help.

1.  For children under age 10, please choose a basic phonics, penmanship, and math curriculum.   I highly recommend Modern Curriculum Press math (it's basically the same as Saxon in the younger grades except that you pay about 14 dollars and use forks, spoons, toothpics and m&m's for manipulatives at a fraction of the cost of the Saxon stuff.).  I really like Play 'n' Talk basic stuff for phonics but it's pricey and comes with a lot of things that I've never used.  I like Blumenfeld's 'Alphaphonics' but I don't like the calligraphy that is used for the words.  Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is another reading program but you need to follow up with some deeper phonics in my opinion.  Penmanship is well taught in  A Reason for Writing or Christian Liberty Press' penmanship series.  When these are strongly rooted in a child, then move onto things like Science, Math, History and other subjects.  I am assuming that your children are being taught Bible aside from extra curriculum but if not, by all means, add some kind of Bible into this mix.

2.  Choose your elementary subjects in such a way that you are ready, by about age 12, to start your children in Jr/High School subjects.  Be sure to remember to have lots of reading in books like those by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott, Daniel DeFoe, Rudyard Kipling, Thornton Burgess, Francess Hodgson Burnett, and even things like Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew.  Children love series that they can inhale between science and history assignments.  While we don't want to feed them a steady diet of 'fluff' in their reading, if everything they read is heavy and difficult to digest, they'll soon discover that there are other things to occupy their time and decide against recreational reading.  A book list is often a great place to begin.  http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html   Basic science like that which is taught in Considering God's Creation is a good idea before starting Jr. High science but not necessary.  For history, reading biographies, watching historical movies, and listening to books on tape is an excellent way of learning a lot of historical facts that their history textooks in high school will put in chronological and relational order.

3.  Look at the high school requirements for a respected college and make a general outline.  You'll need Grammar, composition, and literature.  Math needs to be considered in light of high school requirements.  Most high schools require Algebra I now and it is wise for college bound students to take Algebra II and Geometry at the very least.  Science texts will cover general and physical sciences as well as biology.  Physics is also a consideration.  History will have to be studied both focusing on general world history and American history.  Civics and economics should be carefully studied in order to truly understand the world that they live in.  They'll need a foreign language and beginning young will help them toward that end.  Electives such as homemaking, art, music, fine arts, cultural events, mechanical studies, and similar things will be required by most states and colleges look at things such as scouts, CAP, participation in local theater etc to determine a student's acceptance..

Beginning now to figure out where you want to end will help you figure the roads you should take to get there.  If your educational goals are academically strong and college bound, you don't want to take a practical skills route or a road to self employment!  You'll end up lacking in areas that are vitally important.

Finally, what ever choices you make, don't feel obligated to stick with them forever.  Sticking to a bad curriculum just because you once chose it is just as bad as hopping from one to another with no final goal in view.  However, if you HAVE made plans with the future in mind, when you do change, you'll know exactly where you may have to adjust your future goals and you won't be left, reinventing the wheel every July as you make out your curriculum shopping list.