Title says it all. Looking for intelligent discussion of curricula, learning aids, routines, etc.

This is my first child. My son seems very bright and is always curious and loves to learn, we want to keep that desire for knowledge going in his mind. He learns at least one new word every week or so lately, and we read to him and have simple conversations where we encourage him to learn words and use them rather than just pointing at things and babbling. He is clearly able to understand a vocabulary numbering in the hundreds of words, but only speaks perhaps 80 words. He can identify some letters and numbers and can usually count to at least seven (nine if we are very lucky). My son seems to be ahead of his peers that he plays with, and my wife, myself, and our families are all well-educated professionals, so I am hoping some of those genes are helping him learn naturally so to speak. I have zero experience with children except for my son and what I see his friends do, but I am hoping that we are starting him down the right path.

Good on you for homeschooling.  We homeschooled and had help and guidance from both state and local homeschool groups.  There is a huge amount of information in the local homeschooling community.  We were un-sure so we opted to use the Calvert Curriculum while he was in grade school.  There are options from do it yourself to teacher guided instruction.  As a state requirement we had to give standardized tests each year to demonstrate progression and grade level knowledge.  There are a number of tests available for that.

Join the local homeschool group.  
Know the state laws and requirements and FOLLOW them.  If you don't you'll need Homeschool Legal Defense.  There are several counties in this state where the Superintendents of Instruction have taken homeschool families to court.
Join the state organization.  Ours was a huge help and had put together a guide that we bought and it really helped initially.
Go to homeschool conventions.  Our state has one on Father's Day Weekend each year.  Has different subject tracks dependent on where  your kid is in school and has a huge curriculum, book, and technology showcase.  Really cool and we try to go every year.

IMO two is a little young to start, especially for a boy.  READ to him constantly.  Keep him interested in learning...boys are pretty active hands on learners with a VERY short attention span.  That will change around 8, until then small doses of fun active learning...Read to him constantly.  Stay away from electronics.

I agree that is probably too young for a formal curriculum.  Read a lot to him and explore his interests.

Join HSLDA.
Join your state homeschooling organization. Attend its annual convention.
Join your local homeschooling organization.  Attend some meetings and get to know other parents.
Search facebook for local homeschool groups.  Attend some meetings.

The point of all that is to get to learn as much about homeschooling as possible, as quickly as possible.  You will quickly learn there are a TON of options for curriculum, an overwhelming amount of options.

My recommendation for a kid that age is to read to him constantly.  Some of it should be chapter-books, some of it should be kids books with visuals to keep his interest.  At age 2, if you can make reading FUN, then you've hooked your kid on learning for the rest of his life. Age 2 is a bit too young for a formal curriculum anyway, so make reading fun.

I grew up with my dad reading Tintin books to me, and I did the same for my kids.  It is heroism, adventure, and humor all rolled into one, in large-format graphic novels.  You can get individual large soft-cover, or smaller hardcover three stories in one.  I recommend the individual larger ones; they are more engaging for kids to read than the smaller size, and the hardcovers won't last any longer than the softcovers (kids have a way of destroying stuff).

Here are the different books:



I recommend The Red Sea Sharks to begin with





or Destination Moon

+1000 on joining HSLDA.

Have you also looked at ABC Mouse? My daughter has hearing disabilities and we have used it somewhat with some success. Maybe for your situation it may be more of a help.

HSLDA can also give you GREAT recommendations as well. I don't have a whole lot of disposable income, but they are one of the only yearly fee that is on our family's budget.

My experience is some people can do it others can't.  Make sure whomever is doing the homeschooling has a firm grip on the kids and can do it with a set schedule.    I've seen some TERRIBLE moms try to homeschool and the kid just walks all over them or mom is a lazy cunt who slacks off on the curriculum. / makes it easy to fit the kid.

This.  You gotta stick to a schedule.  The kids gotta know the schedule.  Once I started making a written weekly schedule like below and handed it to the kids every Sunday night, they quit whining about "what are we gonna do today" and they actually started getting stuff done more quickly. (we took Monday off for daughter's birthday)

You also gotta remember that if a kid doesn't grasp a lesson, it is NOT an act of defiance, so don't get frustrated with the kid or yourself. Stay patient.

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interactive toys, you know those, put square plug in square hole, etc....

https://www.google.com/search?q=manipulative+toys+for+2+year+old&client=firefox-b-1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixxYT8zerYAhUC5GMKHZ8ZBkcQ_AUICygC&biw=1920&bih=966

and read to them...no tv, no ipads crap....interact and read to them.Don't talk baby talk to them either.

They will let you know what they want read every night....every single night for the next two years....Dr suuess and other imaginative books

wife use to read Bible every night to them.
Look into Growing Family International, good moral teaching

All, thank you for the input and food for thought. I really appreciate it. A death in the family has prevented me from getting back into this thread sooner, but I will as time allows.

My wife is the primary homeschool teacher for our 3 children, ages 6, 4, & 2.  Like you, our children are very bright.  They seem to be leaps and bounds ahead of the other children their age.  They also have shown an insatiable need for learning at a very early age. My wife has started them all off with a Montessori-inspired "curriculum" at around 2 years old or once they are able to effectively communicate. The Montessori approach to learning seems to be much better suited to younger children than more traditional approaches to early learning.  It is a method of education that is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. However, once they turn 4, she switches them over to a more traditional curriculum.

One of the websites she relies heavily upon is Mama's Happy Hive. This blogger provides detailed lessons that our children really seem to enjoy.  Even though it appears the children are only playing games and doing fun activities, they are actually learning valuable information to ready them for Pre-K and Kindergarten.  This option is free.

My wife also uses New Child Montessori.  This curriculum has a more structured approach.  She typically does not use this until the children are 3-4 years old.  Even then, she picks and chooses the lessons.  If you are not familiar with the way Montessori learning works, she would strongly recommend purchasing the Supplements to the Guides, in addition to regular guides.  This will give you a better understanding of what to do and why you are doing it.  You can purchase their entire package for $250, which is very reasonably priced compared to other homeschool curriculum out there.

We hope this helps!

Until 4 or 5 years old, our kids weren't formally schooling.  We read to them like you, and challenged them to problem solve. (With plenty of guidance and encouragement).

Our kids started violin lessons at 4.  You can order a 1/16 size violin that fits them.  We value music as part of education and life, so we encourage it all the time.  Including harmonicas, bongos, maracas, and ukuleles.  Music is a great start to learning rhythm/math, art, expression, and helps with dexterity.  They also get the benefit of socializing during group lessons.  (We have one private lesson each week, and one group lesson each month).

We are currently using the Classical Conversations curriculum.  We also use Saxon math, and encourage free reading of all kinds of books.

My wife pulls the biggest share of the schooling.  I help when I can.  Most of the textbook learning is from her.  Most of the real life application is from me.  For example, they will do a math quiz, and then when we go shopping I have them do simple math to figure out the cost per ounce for where the deal is.  Or I take them to the garden/woods/outdoors and ask them questions about science, biology, chemistry, etc.  Everything in life is a lesson, but it helps to make it fun.

On electronics, I have mixed feelings.  We bought them Amazon Kindle Fire tablets a couple years ago.  The kid versions have parental locks that limit time and access.  Using the tablet or getting to watch tv/play games can be great incentive for finishing school work or practicing violin.  Also, my youngest learned to read some pretty big words by watching me and his older brother play video games.  It's amazing that he can pronounce some of the words AND comprehend the meaning.  So interest in games/electronics can stimulate the brain and encourage reading, BUT it's also a bad addiction.  I personally feel that kids today have a serious addiction (a real addiction) to electronics.  Limiting and controlling access in important.

Re electronics:  Qustodio is the best app I have found for limiting/monitoring kids’ acess to electronics and/or internet.  It allows you to set a policy for each devise that limits the hours when it can be used, the duration overall per day, the duration per app, which apps, as well as website limits per category or individually.

Good advice here. My wife is having a very tough time homeschooling our kids. Lack of discipline on her part (Stay at home mom) and mine in being a supporter, have impacted our kids and its not too late to get back on a viable path (Kids are 6 and 7, with a 2 year old that hasn't started yet.

Just applied for HSLDA and ordered some TinTin books.

Way back when the ladies in the neighborhood started up a little group to give each other a break from their kids.

It was cycled around with a day at each of five houses.

It was as much play as some basic teaching.

But each mom had one day a week without kids for most of the day.

We all survived and most new counting and the alphabet (reading and writing) before starting first grade.

Are you guys in a Classical Conversations community? That's what we're doing. 2, 4, and 6 year olds. The 6 year old has been in it from the start and we're pretty sure that will be the plan for all 3. For OP or anyone looking into this, you should investigate CC.  Christ-centered classical education and you meet up with your community once a week for mutual support, encouragement, etc.

when I got my bachelor's degree a few years ago, My adult college recommended poetry for young children.

This is one of the best posts on Arfcom I've seen in years.

One thing I will say is put your personal educational journey in its place, and think about what opportunities there are for your son to learn in his own way, starting with things that really interest him.

We use a hybrid model of a balance of structured vs loosely-structured days.  Our younger children are reading at very early ages, and devour good books on a regular basis.  Regular library visits and my wife's pursuit of good books online have been instrumental in facilitating their love for reading.

We let them wake up when they are fully rested, and have all sorts of things for them to study that they are interested in.

Another thing that has been really great are the Learning Box subscription crates.  These arrive every month with hands-on arts and crafts that focus on different disciplines, the most recent being geography and farming.

My oldest daughter (7) just did the geography crate, and along with that, she and her 5yr-old sister are studying different countries and regions.



This includes learning unique aspects of their culture, food, dress, art, animal life, language, writing, etc.   We then incorporate that into our daily meals sometimes, play, and audio-visual learning opportunities.  I seem to remember them doing Japan recently, which involved origami, Japanese dress, sushi for dinner (pretty regular here), and some kanji writing with brushes and paints.  They also watched some different things on my wife's laptop related to it.

This is repeated for other countries as well, basically shotgun-blasting the modalities with as many different learning mediums that are commonly available in the modern home.

We also do homeschool group activities, where they go on nature walks and record observations and art in their nature journals.  There is a very high parent to child ratio at these gatherings, and my wife stays with them on those.

They also go to the dinosaur museum, planetarium, aquarium, dance lessons, while receiving piano lessons at home.

My youngest boy is 3 and basically plays throughout the day.  He has been sounding out words for a long time, and is attempting to read books more and more.  We haven't really been pressuring him as it's just going to happen like it did with his sisters.

I made him a SIG 550 series study sheet the other day with numbers corresponding to all the parts like you would see in the SF Weapons Sergeant Handbook back in the day.  He has recently taken an interest in guns, making a collection of Lego pistol blasters and placing them on his night stand arranged like a weapons display all on his own.

For the early years, you can choose to just play mostly, or throw in some fun reading card exercises from The Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential.

But as Spartacus said, regular and consistent reading to him is the best baseline thing you can do.  My kids beg me to read to them practically every day, especially because I inflect and use dynamics in the story-telling process.  There is something to be said about the ancient longing for us to all have our parents tell us stories in a familial setting, especially at night before bed.

Best of wishes on your journey...

Can I homeschool with you?

My worksheets are different than everyone else's worksheets.

Some of the aspects of skills-based learning are developing tangible and intangible skills.

Tangible skills include weapons recognition, component ID, break down, cycle of operations familiarity, and mechanical systems.

I've already got a curriculum in my mind for teaching them:

* Basic firearms theory, history, and development
* Internal, external, and terminal ballistics
* Hand-loading
* Marksmanship
* Mechanical engineering related to firearms including pressure containment, feeding systems, extraction, ejection, methods of operation, metallurgy...
* Reward system that includes live fire training

Master the basics and theory, then get to smell burnt powder.

That's a little early for 2, but you'd be surprised at what a 2yr old can learn.

For me, I was surrounded by military aviation and firearms at that age, with a DoD physicist father working on certain programs at the Air Force Flight Test Center who would then come home and decompress by playing 1-2hrs of baroque classical music, then eat dinner and work on his theoretical physics into the night.

The frequent breaking of the sound barrier and resultant pressure waves against the windows, along with overflights from Century series fighters was icing on the cake.