I am in Indiana, and of what I have read it isn’t too strict on the homeschool laws. One rule they ask HS to follow is to have 180 days of lead instruction. As far as curriculum and such we were free to pick what we wanted to teach. Which is really, in my opinion, the main point of HS. My husband and I wanted to teach our son what we feels really matters for him. We probably all have those memories of long school days, beating our heads against the desks with yet another states and capitals quiz, or another crossword puzzle. Just busy work.

So for us we wanted the freedom to choose what we wanted to teach. I would like to do a post on a review of what we choose, but for starters I will tell you what we are using. For phonics we are using the Abeka K5 curriculum. Its highly regarded in Christian education, and tends to be advanced in comparison. To encourage his reading ability we are utilizing the book “Teach Your child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons”  by Siegfried Engelmann.  Their set up is based around a “Distar” approach , which to be honest I have started to read the introduction explaining the basis of it and struggle to get through it! However, a majority of the reviews say the book works wonders. Finally for math we choose Horizons. Reviews were great on the curriculum. They even have an evaluation “test” to give your child so that they will be placed in the proper level of math.  My son actually tested into the first grade level( I’m allowed to feel proud about this 🙂 so I am interested to see how fast it progresses. We do also have the Numbers portion of Abeka if we need to slow down a little.

One benefit of HS that has really come into play this week is the flexibility. My grandma is in her final days and they are keeping her comfortable in our local hospital until she is ready. This is such a hard time for our family. As a nurse, I have now been on both sides of seeing the grieving family, while watching for the “typical” signs of eminent death. You want it to be over to give her peace but we all crave for more time, more conversations.

This is the first time my son will be witness to a family death. He knows of death regarding animals and cows for meat, but obviously it is very different when it is someone real that he knows and loves. Of course my need to grieve while being emotionally stable for him will be a vital thing as well. He has asked Jesus in his heart so he has an awareness of God and heaven. Any thoughts on how best to talk through this time ? Would be happy to hear input.

 

Praying for you-

Me.