Please note: If you read this already, go the bottom and read the last four paragraphs. Those paragraphs were accidently omitted when I posted this this morning!

This post was written by my dear friend, Rebecca. She is in her first year of homeschooling her oldest son, Micah. She has written a guest post for my blog today on her experiences about getting started with homeschooling!

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I'm a first year homeschool mom halfway or so through this school year. Homeschooling is not something I ever truly considered until about two years ago. I blogged about my decision to homeschool our son Micah here on my blog. The shortest version of that post is that God was tugging on my heart and slowly allowing me to become open and excited about homeschooling. He laid on my (and my husband's!) heart that homeschooling our son is what we needed to do for him not only for academic purposes but also for social purposes and to help guide and protect his little heart.

Ok. Great. We decided to homeschool. But then what? I was so overwhelmed with where to begin. The amount of curricula out there is astounding. I starred at different websites for several minutes many times completely confused before I was able to dive in and begin my research.

One huge help for me is that I go to a church where homeschooling is quite popular. We even have our own homeschool group that meets for projects, presentation and group classes. Many of my friends with children either homeschool or plan to. I also had a few adult friends, including my brother-in-law, who were homeschooled. So I started there. I asked them all question after question about curricula. What did they like? What didn't they like? Every question you can imagine. If you know anyone, even if you don't know them well, ask! Most homeschooling moms LOVE to chat about homeschooling!

I'd also been reading the blog Confessions of a Homeschooler for a while. The blog's author Erica blogs candidly about homeschooling her children and blogs each year about what curricula she'll be using and why. If something doesn't work for her, she's not afraid to share that, too. God used Erica's blog to speak to me about homeschooling my own child(ren) and also as a great resource. (She even has a geography curriculum she created that I can't wait to do with Micah in a year or two!)

Aside from talking to friends and looking through Erica's blog, what else would I suggest to a mom preparing to homeschool the first time? First of all, pray. A lot. About the decision whether or not to homeschool. What curricula to chose. How/when to work it into your day. Your heart. Your husband's heart. Your child's heart. For knowledge and wisdom and grace. For patience.

Secondly, research, research, research. HomeSchool Reviews was my first go to site for reviews of curricula. I also read lots of reviews from sites where you can buy curricula. My favorite two are Christianbook and Rainbow Resource Center. You can also go to these sites and request homeschool curricula catalogs. I found these to be very helpful! I learned everything I felt I needed to know about curricula from my friends, Erica's blog and these three sites and catalogs. My friends were definitely my spring board. If you don't know people who homeschool, maybe this post, or Elaine's or Erica's blog or one of these sites can be your starting point.

So what and how did we chose? My son is four (five next month), but because he is quite academically advanced, my husband and I agreed to do mostly first grade material with him. It wasn't a decision we just made on our own but after talking to other teachers, parents and homeschool moms.

Another great tool was using some guidelines and tests from some of the curricula sites or taking a look at their sample lessons online. For example, while we don't use A Reason for Spelling, I used their placement test near the bottom of this page to see about where he fell.

We do use A Reason for Handwriting. It is, in my opinion, most closely with what's taught in schools with the most proper form and does teach cursive later on. It also has the children writing scripture!!

Another curriculum that I hear is great is Handwriting Without Tears. I can't speak for it myself, but I know it's another one of the more popular ones.

We also use All About Reading and All About Spelling. We love them! They have been thorough and so much fun for my son.

I have a friend who does Classical Conversations with her children and really loves it. However, when her girls were in about the 2nd and 3rd grades (last school year), she realized that they hadn't really grasped a lot of the basic building blocks for phonics/spelling. So this year she also began the All About Spelling with her girls and they have picked up a ton.

I'm NOT knocking Classical Conversations at all, but it just goes to show that there are definitely different teaching/learning styles out there which is what is SO GREAT about homeschooling! You find what works for you and your children which wouldn't be the case in a traditional school setting!

And don't be afraid to change a particular curriculum if it's not working for you!! We decided to use Saxon math which just seemed to fit Micah's learning style best. Another popular one is Math U See. Since I don't use it, I can't speak for it personally, but I think it's a curriculum worth checking out.

We are also doing a little science/Bible with him using a book called The World God Made. It's a 92 page book that goes through the six days of creation in a simple way using lots of scripture, pictures and activities. Of the four days a week we do school, I use it two days, on T/Th. I also alternate reading and spelling doing each two days a week. We do math and handwriting daily.

So that's what we do and decided on after lots of research and prayer and I've been very happy with our choices. There is TONS out there that I'm sure would be equally as good, so it really is just a matter of reading up on it, praying and following your heart about what just feels right for you and your child(ren).

Another suggestion I'd like to share is that when you do decide what curricula you want to purchase, check around for pricing. If you can buy it on Christianbook or Rainbow Resources and I'm sure other places, you're very likely to get it cheaper than from the curriculum's website! I got everything except our spelling and reading curricula from Christianbook and figured I saved at least $100!!

Lastly, if you can, find a homeschool convention or sale to attend. Just google conventions or sales in your region, state or city to find one. There are typically ALL the biggest, most popular curricula there for you to actually flip though. And you can talk to very knowledgeable people about each curriculum.

Also, you will need to look into your state's legal requirements. In most states, until your child is six or seven, you don't have to file any paperwork or attendance records. But if you are pulling a six or seven year old or older child from traditional school, please don't neglect this step to be sure you're in accordance with your state's laws.

Though this is a long post and a lot of information, I hope you find it at least somewhat helpful and not too overwhelming. Please feel free to comment here or contact me directly if you have any specific questions at lukerebeccanc@gmail.com.

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A HUGE thank you to Rebecca for writing this post! Right now, I am trying to decide if I will send Little Bug to prek-4 next year at the preschool she attends two days a week now OR if we will officially start our homeschool journey come August. I am leaning more and more towards starting homeschool officially this fall and this post is an excellent resource for anyone just starting this journey!

Thank you again, Rebecca!

- Elaine