ChinuchAtHome

Everywhere we go, we are often asked "Where do your children go to school?" And when we tell them, we homeschool, they get most uncomfortable. So, how do you do it?

How We Homeschool

by Sarah Carpenter

I tell them that every "schooling" day, I spend quality one on one time with each individual child on his/her assigned work for the day. Depending on the child, it may take from 1 hour to 3 hours. I don't actually do a "1 room schoolhouse" since I don't teach all my children simultaneously. Each child who is not priviledged to my undivided attention gets to work on his or her special projects or hobbies while waiting for his turn with Mommy.

In many ways, I am like the unpaid private tutor to the children. After having accumulated college degrees in undergraduate and graduate schools, teaching my own children in elementary and middle school curriculum is not so difficult. I was a very good student when I was in school, and I am priviledged to be able to transfer my knowledge to my own children.

My children do not sit and learn the entire day. They are not the type, but they are constantly busy learning, whether with me or on their own. Children are bright people who needs structure and direction.

"So, what about Limudei Kodesh?" asked the inquisitive. There are tons of materials freely available online at chinuch.org that one can download for home as well as school use. These materials are not checked for accuracy or errors, so use them at your own risk. Often, there are spelling mistakes in important subjects such as Ivrit and Chumash. One has to be diligent in scanning for errors and correcting them before using them.

In addition, we utilize Morah Moriah's Digital Chumash Workbook series, which are fantastic. We only need to purchase one copy for the whole family, and each child gets to reuse it when he is ready.

Our Ivrit curriculum that we favored comes from an author named Menucha Fuchs, whose best-selling "Sha'ah Shel Menucha" Hebrew series for American speakers can be found online at Targum Press.

Our Math curriculum for the first three grades comes from Miquon Math. It is not boring like most math curriculums. We have used it for three of our children and hope to continue with our fourth. For fourth grade and beyond, we use Mammoth Math by Maria Miller.

Our English curriculum is from the Spectrum Series by School Specialty Publishing. Spectrum also has practice test books for various achievement tests.

We conduct yearly national achievement tests for our children at each grade level, 1 and up. This is not something done in regular schools. We have gone beyond our homeschool requirement, and I am very satisfied with the results of our children's achievement. Baruch Hashem!

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