Homeschool Update | What’S Working And What I’M Changing | Pre-K And Kindergarten

Hey y'all hey! Welcome back to my channel, or if you're new here, welcome! I'm Shadow, a mom to a five-year-old, a three-year-old, and a 10-month-old. Today, I wanted to give you guys an update on how homeschooling is going for my five-year-old, Eliana, and my three-year-old, Corey.

A few months ago, I did a first-quarter update where I mentioned that Eliana had finished a kindergarten curriculum in just a few months. Since then, I've been exploring different options for her, but I haven't printed off a first-grade level curriculum yet. Why, you ask? Well, I have so many resources, workbooks, and hands-on activities that I was getting a bit overwhelmed and confused about which ones to use.

What I've realized is that both of my girls love hands-on activities. They are able to quickly grasp and master skills in a short amount of time. For example, when it comes to reading, they can learn multiple lessons and grammar rules in just one sitting. So, instead of strictly following a set curriculum, I've been going with the flow of my children's interests.

Each week, we focus on different themes based on what the girls are interested in. Some weeks, they might come across something new, and we ditch our planned activities to dive deep into their newfound curiosity. This flexible approach has been working well for us.

However, I do have certain main focuses for both of them. For Eliana, my main goal is to teach her about different types of literature and work on her spelling skills. She has a passion for spelling and wants to be able to spell everything. In math, we're focusing on teaching her how to count money and tell time. We're also working on mastering math facts and preparing her for multiplication.

For Corey, our focus is on handwriting, as she's learning to spell and read. We're also working on reading quantity, getting familiar with the days of the week, identifying colors, and other foundational skills. The beautiful thing is that I don't need a specific curriculum to teach these things. I can use workbooks and crafts as tools to guide our learning journey.

Eliana has a first-grade workbook that covers various topics like adjectives, nouns, and verbs. Even though she's technically in kindergarten, I don't limit her to only kindergarten-level materials. If I feel she's ready for something in the first-grade curriculum, I challenge her and let her guide the pace at which we learn.

One advantage we have is that, since Eliana is only five, we're not subject to the compulsory age requirements for reporting homeschooling progress in Alabama. This takes a lot of pressure off me, as I don't feel the need to stick to a strict daily routine. Instead, we have a list of things we do each day, and sometimes the order can change depending on how the day goes.

In the fall or in a few months, I'm excited to find my groove and figure out how many days I want to homeschool. Right now, I try to start on Monday and go until Friday, but lately, Fridays have been a bit challenging. So, it's looking like we'll stick to Monday through Thursday for now. I try to prep on Sundays to have lessons ready for the week, but sometimes life happens, and things don't always go as planned. I'm still learning what works best for us.

One struggle I've faced is finding a balance between being a parent and a homeschool teacher. There's a difference between setting boundaries as a parent and challenging your child as a homeschool teacher. I want to prepare my girls to be their best selves, expand on their interests, challenge them, and make sure they have fun while learning. It can be a juggling act, but overall, homeschooling has been going well.

My girls are looking forward to their lessons each day, and they always have an endless stream of questions. I'm currently researching different curriculums that I can introduce later in the year, but I won't be investing in too many things. I already have plenty of resources that I haven't even used yet. For now, we're mainly focusing on reading, math, science, geography, and spelling.

I'll make another update once I've chosen a curriculum and have more to share. But in the meantime, we're enjoying our homeschooling journey and making the most out of each day. Thank you for joining me, and if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below. Until next time!