I am SO confused!!!!

[Shnooky]

Ok, I know my DD is only 3 and I still have a year and a half to think about her schooling, I really really want to homeschool, but there is SO MUCH out there! I have been googling and searching.

Option #1 - go straight with ACE and get everything from them for starters and work it out as I go along

Option #2 - join the School of Distance Ed at our local Christian College and use their stuff (not as much freedom)

Option #3 - get stuff from everywhere... but where? and what?

I LOVE the idea of being more creative doing things like lapbooks and going outside to discover nature and stuff... if I go all with ACE am I still able to do this? will there be time after she does everything she is supposed to do?

I like the idea of following her direction and researching things together that she might be interested in... how do I know she is learning what she is supposed to? how do I know I'm not "short changing" her somewhere in her education?

I am SO confused!!!!!!

*ETA - I am more into a structured education (not necessrily at this time we do this, but books being level 1, 2 etc), I'm :clap to those that unschool, but I don't think I could do it.

[jenny_islander]

If you want to be outside doing nature study and exploration, consider Ambleside Online, a free virtual school set up for parents using Charlotte Mason's method.

[forty-two]

I like the idea of following her direction and researching things together that she might be interested in... how do I know she is learning what she is supposed to? how do I know I'm not "short changing" her somewhere in her education?

You could spend most of your time following her direction, and spend a few months toward the end of the year (or a week every month, or a day each week, or 30min a day, or what have you) focusing on filling in whatever "gaps" she might have, when compared to a ps student. Most likely she will learn the majority of grade-level stuff via your delight-driven studies, so it shouldn't take much time to go over what she may have missed. Remember, though, you don't have to move in lockstep with the ps. You have 13 years to learn all the K-12 material, seven years for K-6. You don't have to stick to only K knowledge in K, 1st knowledge in 1st, etc. You can mix it up.

Here are some resources that can help, either with identifying gaps or providing grade-level material:

*The "What your nth grader needs to know" books, by Ed Hirsch (they are part of the Core Knowledge Series (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=%22Core+Knowledge+Series%22&x=0&y=0); they go from K-6) They have readings and activities that cover all the necessary knowledge for each grade level - an excellent supplement for delight-driven studies.

*The Checklist (http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/checklist.html) - This contains a list of all the topics generally covered in K-12, plus necessary skills, along with lots of other info. This can help you make sure you don't miss anything, while still following your dd's lead. There are lots of samples at the site, so you can see if it might work for you.

*State standards - Many states have their curricula standards online. Virginia's (http://www.doe.virginia.gov/go/Sols/home.shtml), for one, are well-regarded. They can be overwhelming to look through, though, and are not really homeschool-friendly in that they aren't something you can just pick up and start using. They are comprehensive, though.

*State exams - Many states have posted their old tests online. You can download them and give them to your dd toward the end of the year (explaining that she might not know everything on the test, and that's ok - you just want to see what she knows and what she has yet to learn), and teach whatever topics she missed. Here (http://scotthochberg.com/taas.html) are some old TAKS tests, from Texas, and here (http://www.solpass.org/released_sol_tests/released_sol_tests.htm) are VA's.

I LOVE the idea of being more creative doing things like lapbooks and going outside to discover nature and stuff... if I go all with ACE am I still able to do this? will there be time after she does everything she is supposed to do?
If you can make the curriculum work for you - rearrange things and drop things as needed - then it could probably work. But if you will feel that you must do everything exactly as written, then no, I don't think there will be a lot of time left over.


If you want to be outside doing nature study and exploration, consider Ambleside Online, a free virtual school set up for parents using Charlotte Mason's method.

I agree, Charlotte Mason's method might be a good fit for you. It is quite rigorous, but works to give kids plenty of free time. Ambleside Online (http://www.amblesideonline.org/) both explains the method and gives a free curriculum outline for implementing it.