Herrington Homeschool Materials

A couple of people have asked me recently what we do exactly as for as homeschooling Annie. Awhile back I typed up something to send to a friend about the different resources we use and I thought it would be fun to share a little more here. I think I'm going to do more specific posts about each thing later, but for now he's an overview.

1. The Well-Trained Mind - This book is like a manual on how to homeschool if you're wanting to give your child a classical education. It's a really comprehensive book if you're interested in homeschooling for the long haul. I think the chapters on preschool have been really beneficial as a stand alone resource, though.

2. Beginning Critical Thinking Skills - AP *loves* this. It's sort of like puzzles that teach basic concepts like shapes, colors, angles/lines, patterns and reasoning. It's really cool. The book is sort of expensive, but I've loved doing it with her (we do three or four pages a night).

3. Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready- This is the neatest book. It has a different activity each week from birth until age five. The first week is like leg exercises with your newborn and the last week of year four is "how to pack an overnight bag". It's practical and fun. We had it for the longest time and I never got it out, but now I'm using it for both kids. I love how practical it is and that it reminds me to do things I just forget about- like teaching Annie to play hopscotch. 

4. We have some alphabet blocks and flashcards, and we work on letters some but not obsessively. At this point, she can identify the letters and tell me the sound they make and (most of the time) tell me a word or two that starts with that letter.

5. We use this type of Kumon workbook for tracing - I laminated the pages and put them in a binder and she uses dry erase markers so we use the same sheets over and over. We also have a workbook that teaches her cutting skills as well.

6. For memory work, the little school she goes to has different Bible verses each month and usually one other thing (a poem, a song, a diagram, ect.). I also usually pick a hymn I want to teach her that month. One or two verses, one hymn, and a short poem/diagram/ect. per month. Very manageable. Plus we have a kids' catechism we use. One thing the teachers at Annie's school really harp on is memory work because it's SO much easier to learn facts when you're tiny.

7. I've written about this before, but the last thing is that we REALLY try to take advantage of the library. AP's teacher focuses on a letter a week and I try to go online and look up books at the library with things starting with that letter (we did "cat" books for "c", for example).  I also try to pick ones that go with the calendar, too (Thanksgiving, Black History Month, ect.). Plus, I've started picking one long read- aloud book for her because kids can understand stories that are slightly above their working vocabularies. That's been super fun and AP's loved this component.

Like I said, I'll probably share more details about our routine later, but this is the basics.