Getting Started

Posted by LaToya | 0 comments

When I decided to homeschool I also started the task of sorting through the different options for curriculum. In the beginning, I only knew that I wanted something Bible based. I foolishly thought that requirement would narrow down the options. I quickly learned that it would be that easy. At two, my son knew all of his letters and most of the letter sounds. At three, he was begging to learn to read.

Then I stopped looking for our perfect curriculum and started looking for a phonics program. The problem that I ran into, aside from the plethora of choices, was that I couldn’t find one that fit my son. The beginner programs were too easy for him because he already knew the letter sounds. But the more advanced ones weren’t a good fit because he didn’t have the attention span for it at three. In the end, I choose to ignore his request for a year.

At four, he started to ask again and I decided to give it a try. Things went along okay for about a month until we hit a wall. He wanted to learn but wasn’t able to sit still or focus long enough. In the years of trying to find what would work for us my son was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). Part of that disorder was the discovery that he has very weak fine motor skills as well as attention problems and other sensitivities.

To help work on the fine motor issues I started using Handwriting Without Tears. I also started using Explode the Code and Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading for phonics. Things got a bit easier. My son also started seeing an occupational therapist which really helped him with his sensitivities and it also helped me to help him. We were on the road to a great start.

Somewhere along the way I also kept looking for that “perfect curriculum’ for when my son turned five and it was time for kindergarten. It took two years but I finally settled on My Father’s World. But it still wasn’t that simple. I had grown to love the different tools that we were already using and wasn’t sure that I wanted to give them up for the curriculum that I’d chosen.

Long story short, after talking with another homeschooling mom I realized that I didn’t have to part with our favorites. I decided that we would just use everything together. I was all set to get started. I placed my orders and happily flipped through the lessons when the package arrived. While doing some preliminary planning I came to a realization that the “perfect curriculum” was a little too easy for my son. So then I was faced with another problem: what to do with my possibly gifted almost kindergartener?

LaToya Edwards is a homeschooling, single mom of two beautifully busy boys, one that has been diagnosed with SPD. She has a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Development, will soon have her law degree and aspires to run her own adoption agency in the future. She is a very busy woman, but wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s loves music, poetry and reading fiction stories. But mostly she just loves spending time with her boys. LaToya get real over at Christian Momma, where she blogs about the struggle and journey of being a single christian woman and mom.

photo credit: Flickr