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Today we’ll focus on choosing the homeschool skills subjects; math, language arts and reading. As I said in Part 1 of this series, check your state laws before you start curriculum shopping.
When picking homeschool subjects, I break it down into Skills Subjects, Content Subjects, and Extras which I like to call Dessert Subjects. You can think of the skills subjects as the three Rs of reading, writing, and arithmetic, or math, language arts, and reading. These are foundational to any education. In this post, we’ll start with skills subjects.
Math
There are many great options out there. Math curriculum tends to be broken down into two main categories, Spiral or Mastery.
Spiral vs. Mastery Math
Spiral math means that each concept is introduced one small piece at a time. After doing a few problems to practice the new concept, the rest of the lesson is review. There is A LOT of review with spiral curriculum. This is great for kids that get frustrated with too much new information at once and handle small, baby steps better. It is also good for kids who tend to forget concepts.
Mastery math curriculum focuses on one concept at a time. There is a lot of focus and practice on that concept in order to achieve mastery. Often there is very little review of past concepts as the expectation is that mastery is already achieved. This is great for kids who catch on quickly or who may get bored with the tediousness of constant review. It is also good for kids that are easily distracted and need to focus on one thing at a time.
There are always arguments over which is better, spiral vs. mastery. I say teach the child you have. I don’t believe one is superior to the other, so use what works for your child. Look at lot’s of samples and go with what looks good for you and your student. Whichever you choose, make sure to have your child take a placement test as the scope and sequence can vary greatly from program to program. Then, put them in the level they test into, even if it is behind or ahead of their grade level. Grade level is just a number and understanding and learning math is more important than that number.
Language Arts
Language Arts is sort of a broad term that can cover many subjects, but I’ll focus on grammar, writing, and spelling. How to teach language arts varies greatly amongst the different homeschool styles. Some language arts curriculum will include reading/literature, but I’m keeping that as a separate skill in this post.
The main thing to decide with language arts is if you want an all in one language arts program, where you can buy one curriculum set and it includes all LA subjects.
The other option is you can choose your grammar, writing and spelling separately. You don’t always need to teach spelling as a formal subject. If you are writing, you are practicing spelling. Some people alternate grammar and writing by semester or even by year. This is a great option just make sure your state doesn’t require both every year.
While an all in one program is convenient, keep in mind that it assumes your child is on the same level for all three of those skills mentioned above. I love the convenience of an all in one, but one of my kids has such a mixed skill set, I find it is better to get separate books so I can choose the right level for each subject. Either option is good; just keep your child’s skill set in mind when choosing.
Just like with math, I am going to recommend placement tests for language arts. Some publishers don’t provide these for LA, and if that’s the case look at the samples closely to see what matches your child’s level.
Reading
Reading changes depending on the age and grade of your child. In early elementary, the focus is phonics, learning to read, and learning to love reading. I encourage you to not focus too much on comprehension and literary analysis in the learning to read phase. You can use your read alouds to start building those skills, but learning to read is a big enough task by itself.
As kids move into upper elementary and middle school, they can start working more on literary analysis. They will continue building those analysis skills through highschool. You can choose a reading program focused on real books, or one that uses a reader that usually contains short stories to analyze. I’m a big fan of using real books instead of readers. My kids love Sonlight readers. In the past we have never used Sonlight for our full curriculum, but I have purchased many levels of readers from them as they really do offer great books.
Read Alouds
Now let’s talk a little bit about read alouds. Reading to your kids should begin when they are born. Yes, you read that correctly! No, they don’t need to be able to comprehend what you are reading. As they move into toddlerhood, they don’t need to sit still and listen. They will still benefit from being read to. Read to them until they are old enough to tell you they don’t want to be read to anymore. My oldest is twelve and still likes our read aloud time. Choose great picture books and chapter books. You can choose books that are slightly above their level or even below. Choose books that feed their minds and imagination. Reading to your kids is so beneficial for you and them!
Read alouds can save you time by pulling double duty. I will talk more about content subjects in the next post, but I love using good, living books to teach history and science. Not everything needs to be a boring textbook, and being able to knock out a subject for the day by snuggling up on the couch with a good book is the best. We have used Beautiful Feet and some Sonlight to help us with history and science through literature, and they are both wonderful for this.
Action Items
Here are your homeschool skills subjects action items:
- Decide between mastery and spiral math
- Give math placement tests
- Choose how you want to teach language arts
- Select a reading program
- Start or find a list of books to read to your kids
- Read to your kids!
You can read the next post in this series, Content Subjects here.