And here you are – suddenly and unexpectedly homeschooling due to quarantine or self-isolation.
Or you’re already homeschooling, but suddenly facing a whole lot more time at home than usual……because many homeschoolers are out and about most days.
So I did a quick-start homeschool curriculum video guide to walk you through the best high-quality, easy-to-use, low-prep homeschooling curriculum that we’ve used over the years.
Rest assured – if you use the resources I talk about you’re not going to be stuck at the kitchen table all day with tears about maths, struggling to understand grammatical terms, or frustrated because you have no idea WHY a word is spelled that way.
You can get the core work done in about two hours a day, and the rest of the day is free for hobbies and activities – if you’re interested in those there’s another video guide with links below!
Here are direct links to all the resources I mentioned. Many can be bought in PDF form and I tend to print the student books and read the teacher books from a tablet.
Quick-Start Homeschooling Curriculum
Our flexible and productive homeschool scheduling system
Maths Resources
Targeting Maths & Excel workbooks
Math-U-See from Maths Australia (US version)
Full Math-U-See review post with free number bookmark download
English/Language Arts Resources
Big Book of Tashi, Little House box set (Farmer Boy, Little House in the Big Woods), Scythe
How I taught my kids to read (Stairway to Reading link included)
All About Spelling, Grammar Galaxy, First Language Lessons (see my post about teaching grammar here)
Free writing prompts from Pobble
Science Resources
Free lessons from Mystery Science, plus Mystery Doug
KiwiCo STEAM subscription boxes
History & Geography Resources
Story of the World, Fair Dinkum Histories
Free Geography Continent sheets, Not-for-Parents Travel Book, CIA Factbook
Mapping the World with Art (video lessons with digital text is best)
Art & Craft Resources
Free Family Creative Challenge
And I also did a Facebook Live, talking about quite a few productive and interesting activities you can do to keep yourselves occupied when suddenly homeschooling. This has more of an activities and hobbies focus, and there’s lots of interesting ideas for you to try.
I called it Hermit Homeschooling – think I could get that recognised as a legitimate homeschooling style?
Additional quick-start homeschooling resources
Australian Homeschooling Summit – 30 online workshops coming up in May. No need to leave the house!
Skillshare online classes – get two months free when signing up
Begin Homeschooling with Confidence – my free email course
75+ homeschooling subject ideas
180+ Fun and Educational Activities for Kids
I hope that’s reassuring and gives you a plan to begin with. Starting to homeschool can be incredibly overwhelming, but just focus on one day at a time and you’ll soon be amazed and just how how quickly your child learns, and the fascinating tangents they choose to explore!