Getting Started with Elementary
Elementary School (as we know it) is a time where we generally encourage kids to explore a lot — we may not traditionally think of Elementary this way, but truly that is its purpose. Alongside the establishment of specific foundational skills, the goal is truly to expose your kids to a range of science topics, history, reading different kinds of books, and engaging in education as a process.
That being said, this can feel overwhelming! As homeschool parents, we know how it feels to wonder if they’re reading at level, learning what they should, and finishing everything on time. So let’s attack a few important things to realize about homeschooling.
First, homeschool looks different for everyone. So if your child is a math genius, or loves science, but maybe isn’t quite so thrilled about reading—you have time to address their reading while pursuing what engages them and makes them love learning.
Second, loving learning and loving schoolwork are two different things. So if your child isn’t excited every day about schoolwork, but they are excited about researching their favorite hobby, or drawing designs for a new invention, or taking notes about something that interests them (even if that involves screens) then congratulations! You have encouraged a love of learning and built research/writing/interest-led learning skills in your home.
Third, even in public schools everything is not taught completely every year—but before we oversimplify, the school system measures instruction by goals called the Texas Education Knowledge and Standards (TEKS), and these lay out a vertically aligned set of measurements for every subject. This means they have content that builds on itself K-12. Most homeschool curriculums will do the same thing, but will not align specifically to TEKS for Texas. This doesn’t mean they won’t cover “everything” it means their curriculum will cover the “everything” they intend to cover, not only what Texas wants covered. And that is ok - perfectly acceptable and fine. Looping back to point two—loving learning and loving schoolwork are two different things.
So let’s take a quick look at what elementary school would ideally cover. The state requires you cover specific things, but based on your goals for your child, you will likely add to what the state wants covered according to the law for homeschool students. Here’s the most important thing regarding elementary school: It is an overview of many subjects and a foundation for those that need to be built on to be properly learned.
Reading: Foundational, normally based in phonics early on, timelines for student reading skill vary widely.
Writing: Foundational as handwriting, and eventually as communication
Math: foundational, will build on itself
History: Overview. If you can read, you can learn about and love history.
Science: Overview. This becomes foundational later on in a school career.
Electives & Sports: A great extra, and a lot of fun for children.
Our team members will take over now and share some of their thoughts on homeschooling elementary. As always, if you have questions, reach out! We love to hear back from homeschool parents and our members. Today, we will be hearing from Lindsay, who does all our visual communication (and more!) and Julia, our Speaker Coordinator.
Complete grade guides with supplies and curriculum lists will be available to our members (work in progress, not all are currently available.). If you can’t afford a membership right now, please contact us at hello@elpasohomeschool.org for a scholarship, we don’t want finances to get in the way of starting your homeschool journey well!
How long have you been homeschooling your children? What are their ages/grade levels?
Julia—I have been homeschooling my kids since Kindergarten, so we’re going on five years now. I have a 5th grader, 3rd grader, 1st grader, and Pre-K age child. Their work doesn’t stick to one grade level, but it is a helpful indicator to have a grade level in mind, for us.
Lindsay— I started homeschooling when my kids were 4. We did Prek at home. I now have a 9 and 6 year old and we are doing 4th (ish) and 1st (ish) grades. They don’t fall into one specific grade level.
What philosophy of education do you prefer, or do you use an eclectic approach?
Julia—I definitely started out inclined towards very traditional school due to my former teaching career. Over time, I have become more diverse in my curriculum choices, but I still stick to a pretty traditional view of academics. My family knows learning happens everywhere, but we have a schoolroom and have traditional, daily subjects we adhere to doing via writing and worksheets.
Lindsay— I loosely follow a Charlotte Mason/Waldorf approach to schooling. We do structured phonics lessons because my kids are dyslexic and for some odd reason they love math worksheets, but everything else is pretty loose and interest led based on really great literature and nature.
How did you decide what to teach for your Elementary age students?
Julia—I started with Abeka because I knew I wanted a strong foundation for reading and math. I still use Abeka for K5-2 because with four children, I know it works for us (so far) and I know that I don’t have the capacity to learn a whole new curriculum for that age level. Past third grade I tend to purchase individual subjects, with their intended use in mind: whether or not I can use that for multiple children at once (even if I need to modify it) and then tailoring what I use to each individual child. The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer is a constant reference for me when it comes to researching grade levels and curriculum.
Lindsay— I was really unsure where to start. I knew some of the more traditional programs would be a problem for both me and my kids, so I started by buying the smaller Timberdoodle kinder pack. There were a couple elements of it that I fell in love with (Mathematical Reasoning) and some that really didn’t work. After those failed miserably I found Five in a Row and we did that through the end of 1st grade. From there I have grown in my understanding of my kids and curriculum and we have moved around a bit to find what works.
What are some of the curriculums you have most enjoyed using for the Elementary Years?
Julia—I like Abeka for basics: K-2 math and phonics/language arts. I don’t use their other subjects except for the occasional reader. For elementary grammar and writing, I have liked IEW themed writing books and their Fix It! Grammar series. For history we use Story of the World. I’m starting to formalize Science more, and using a series of books through Master Books that go with notebooking pages I make for my kids. Hot Tip though: I buy a lot of my curriculum secondhand or used online. Having to erase written in books will never bother me. For reading, I let my kids guide their choices, and we do read alouds together.
Lindsay— After some trial and error I have been really happy with All About Reading and Spelling. Mathematical Reasoning has also been a favorite from day one. Science is really nature based and interest led. And we really do love Story of the World. We also spend one day a week doing handwork activities and creative pursuits.
What are some of the challenges you have faced as you Homeschool during Elementary School?
Julia—I think what I find most challenging is training and consistency, and my expectations of training. I kind of expect academics to take some work, so I am more patient with how long academics take. However, when I started out, I knew moms with much older kids who had children that worked independently. I expected that pretty early on, which was silly of me in retrospect. All my kids still need me to sit with them when they’re working, and they do need my help. As for consistency what helps me most is organizing my environment—have the daily work available so I can quickly set it up, have a routine regarding the work we do, and make it so I don’t have to stop our day to find a random supply we need.
Lindsay— My biggest challenge is teaching my daughter to read. She showed a lot of signs of being accelerated in many ways, but reading was a massive struggle. Having her tested for dyslexia was the best thing I did as it gave me a path forward and an understanding of her specific challenges and needs. Balancing that with other areas and finding the right balance of pushing her and adjusting my expectations has been a challenge and taken a lot of time to work through.
What have been some of the positives of homeschooling through Elementary School?
Julia—I mean, the first time I realized I had taught my child to read was pretty thrilling (and then every time thereafter!). My kids also seem to pursue their interests more readily and my oldest can now research his interests which is cool to see. It’s also just fun to be the person who gets to see your child’s development up close. You get to see all their victories and be there at the finish line when something has taken a lot of time and effort for them to learn. I also like how close we are as a family, in part due to homeschooling.
Lindsay— Being able to individualize my kids learning. Both my kids have some learning differences and while it’s been time consuming for me, it has been really wonderful seeing them love learning despite their differences and sometimes even because of their differences.
What advice would you give someone who is nervous about starting their Homeschool Elementary School Journey?
Julia—I would say to lower the pressure on yourself and your child. There’s no rush to finish, and the goal is mastery. For instance, we want our kids to read fluently, and well. That will take time. It’s an ongoing goal for a skill that is lifelong. Education is not based on all you accomplish in one year. It really matters far more to start, create an environment where your kids know questions are allowed and where they know they have time to work through even the harder subjects for them. I will forever say this too: the “right” curriculum does not determine your child’s academic future.
Lindsay— Homeschooling will look very different from public school and very different from the Homeschool family down the block or on Instagram. Don’t compare yourself. Take inspiration from others, but ultimately be okay with doing what’s best for you and your kid(s) and family. It’s okay that you can’t find someone else to emulate or look up to or even that has similarities. Find a group of people that will encourage you no matter what your journey looks like (thankfully El Paso has a great community of people that are so supportive).
Thank you for reading all this, and we hope you found it helpful. As you can see from the above Q&A we all do things differently and we all focus on different aspects of homeschooling. You can start out strong in Elementary School - and see your child blossom along the way!