Homeschool Resources
GETTING STARTED
Most parents, when beginning homeschooling their children, ask how do I do it?
What curriculum should I use, if any? Should we have a schedule? What if I don't get enough done?
The weight of responsibility looms high and many of us feel nervous getting started. On this page, local parents have come together to help make it easy. We detail the resources we've found helpful and some general options for framing your day! You don't have to do this alone. We are here for you!
You can do this!
Here is some great reading material!
Here are some amazing homeschool resources!
Bethany
We first began considering homeschooling when my oldest was still a toddler. We looked at the cost of day school and knew we could not afford to have the number of kids we wanted and send them to school. I had a number of non-Jewish friends who were homeschooling and I followed their activities on social media. I noticed how much slower their days seemed, how their relationship with their kids was close and tight, that they were able to tailor their kids' education to their needs and interests. I learned more about the ways other families homeschool and was inspired; instead of days stuck inside and reading textbooks, we could spend our days reading aloud, taking nature walks and going to art museums. Four years into homeschooling, my kids are voracious readers with favorite composers (Mozart and Vivaldi) and favorite artists (Monet and Van Gogh) and their strongest relationships are with their parents and siblings. Our days start and end slow, and we can take breaks for good weather and go on trips to the National Gallery of Art or Colonial Williamsburg. On miserable winter days, we can cuddle up and read together and rocket through math lessons. Homeschool is a lifestyle and one I wouldn't trade for the world.
We follow the education philosophy of Charlotte Mason. This is a great introduction to her ideas.
"We used A Gentle Feast as a curriculum spine for a few years; the creator notes what content is secular and what is religous (not Jewish). We use her curriculum guides, morning time materials and her phonics. We've used it to teach two of our kids to read.
"We use lots of the curriculum guides (history and geography) from Beautiful Feet Books. They are literature based programs and you can buy an entire kit with a curriculum guide and the books.
"We've been using RightStart Math for several years with a lot of success. It's very manipulative based and teacher intensive. We get it from Rainbow Resource, which is a great shop for homeschooling curriculum and supplies. We also have wooden math manipulatives from Spielgaben and Treasures from Jennifer."
"Our kids have been doing online, self-directed video piano lessons for years. We've had a lot of success and we have a lot more flexibility than if we did lessons."
"We've been using Memoria Press science and language arts curriculum. They are religious (not Jewish), but offer secular options on their charter school site."
"For moms of younger kids just starting out, I really recommend this article and many of the resources."
We do all of our Judaics for the most part with Gesher. A former day school teacher has a whole offering of full-year courses on Zoom. It's also worth mentioning that a full slate of classes for Gesher for three children is less than 1/3 of the cost of the school for one kid.
Chava
One of the things I love most about homeschooling is that we are free to make our own schedule. If one of my kids wants to work on science for half of the day and math for the other, that's totally doable! We love that sense of freedom. This doesn't mean we don't ever schedule anything, but that we can remain flexible where their needs are concerned and individualize their education. We can engage with classes, activities, curriculums and gatherings that interest them, while opting out of what doesn't.
Often, one of my children will sit down on any given day and work through multiple lessons or chapters in something we've set aside for them. They feel inspired, energetic, motivated and focused. Other days they may engage in creative collaborative or independent play the entire day. This is important work for them too. Their brain is developing and research supports this type of free play. They learn problem solving skills, how to work with a team if others are involved and can develop socially as well. Being able to develop healthier social, mental and physical habits are some of the primary reasons we homeschool and the intellectual development is only one component.
I'll bet you thought you were going to hear about curriculum! We use those as well! Sometimes we just check out books from the library and explore the world, make a timeline or write about what we've learned. It totally depends on the kid!
Some of the curriculum that we have found helpful are:
Teaching Textbooks: an engaging complete math program that kids engage with on an app. It comes complete with lectures and lessons. My kids have learned a ton and love the process!
Shirley English: It's not a Jewish curriculum, but the very small and few subtle references other religions can easily be filtered out. This program has given my kids a solid foundation in their writing and grammar skills.
Story of the World: It's also not a Jewish curriculum, but we removed or skipped a few chapters. It's a great history curriculum, keeps the kids excited and interested and really helps orient them in time and space with a good grasp of the events and how they relate to one another as we progress.
For Science we have accessed so many books over the years that it's hard to list them all. My kids ate up Real Science for Kids over the years, but for the most part we would study a topic, like a unit on frogs, and check out relevant books at the library. We would draw pictures, write about what we've learned and look up educational videos on the topic. This year we found Isaac Asmov's Guide to Earth and Space. It's been tons of fun to read through with them and there are so many leads that we followed,
THOUGHTS ON SOCIALIZATION by CHAVA
Socialization is a concern that many parents face. I'm concerned as well, but not in the way most expect. Institutionalized school, while it may work fabulously with some, often leaves a void when it comes to socialization. The presence of other children does not inherently lead to a productive learning environment. Children often are the victim of negative socialization or learn negative social habits themselves. Teachers have so many responsibilities and such a high child to teacher ratio that they are often ill equipped to oversee social interactions. Children are learning in a vacuum from other children their own age.
In a homeschool setting the social education is often multi-age and with a lower child to adult ratio. When families get together or interact with the world, which is very often (We sometime feel like we are called "home" schoolers, but never at home!), we are able to notice social needs and as a parent invested in their growth, we may be more able to facilitate positive social development. We may engage with smaller groups, or have more one on one as we move through the world at museums, libraries, parks, the clubs we've chosen for our kids or even the grocery store, but many homeschoolers feel that this is more reflective of real life. It's a quality vs. quantity thing. More is not always better.
Suri
I chose to homeschool my children when COVID forced everyone home. With a background in psychology and education, but also as someone who has always tried to be a very intentional parent, I took the opportunity to step back and really think about how children learn and if what they are getting from school is really preparing them for life. I also noticed and appreciated how much more integrated we became as a family having everyone home, how our relationships with one another improved, and how much we really started to enjoy each other's company. All of this plus all of the uncertainty about what the following school year would look like made the decision to homeschool a pretty natural choice. I only wish I chose it sooner!
My recommendation, if your child has been previously schooled, is that is is a must to de-school!
In addition to facilitating my children's interests as they emerge with additional materials from the library, online, etc, here are some of the resources we use:
JUDAICS
Ziggawat books: I have all of the Ziggawat books for alef bais as well as the nekudos book; my kids really enjoy them. There are a lot of other resources and printables available on the website, as well.
Alef Bet Sensory materials: This resource has a really great selection of sensory materials for teaching the alef bais.
My First Parsha Reader set: The pictures aren't exciting but the text is simple and to the point, and beginner readers can read a lot of it themselves, too.
Family Torah: This is a great read-a-loud Parsha book for the whole family.
Kriyah Bootcamp: This is a great workbook to help with kriyah. It's good for a child who can already read Hebrew but needs extra practice to improve fluency
Breakthrough Chinuch: Rabbi Rietti's resources are amazing. He's truly a master educator. I don't own everything he offers, but it's all really good. I would trust anything he is recommending!
Gesher: This is a school-year long, live virtual learning program . Morah Chanie Kirschner offers a variety of classes to choose from, including Hebrew reading, Chumash, and Parsha.
My older boys (ages 10 and up) also learn in person in the mornings with Rabbeim at the Chofetz Chaim Kollel
Kitah: This is an online learning program that is a hybrid of asynchronous and live classes. The live class takes place once a week, usually on Sundays, and pre-recorded lessons are sent once a week for the student to complete at their own pace, during the week. It is geared toward middle school age and up, offering Chumash, Navi, Mishna, and Gemara.
Shazak: This has a lot of fun, online as well as printable, resources. My kids love the Parsha ideos and we print the "Parsha on a page" to help them share what they know about the Parsha on Shabbos.
Chinuch.org: This is a huge searchable database of teacher-created Judaic materials for all ages.
GENERAL STUDIES
Brain Quest workbooks for the respective child's grade level. It gives me a good idea of what they "should" know at each stage. My kids actually like doing them!
Life of Fred: I have all of the Life of Fred sets. They cover early elementary through advance high school/college in a variety of subjects, not just math. They're really fun to read, too!
Story of the World: From the description in the link: " Available in paperback, this four-volume narrative world history tells the story of the entire globe, from the earliest nomadic humans all the way to the Persian Gulf War at the end of the twentieth century."
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: We own and enjoy all of Nathan Hale's books. Each book is a different event from American history in comic book form.
Khan Academy: Free asynchronous, online courses in nearly every subject for every grade level.
Crunch Labs: This is a monthly subscription STEM kit designed by former NASA engineer, Marc Rober.
KiwiCo: They have a variety of options for monthly subscription kids in science, art or geography.
I also recommend having a globe, world map, dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, and other reference materials that can be used to look information up as questions come up!
My high school age kids dual enroll in Montgomery College, as well, so they are earning college credits while they are still in high school.
FOR PARENTS, BOOKS ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING
The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child: This is a very helpful book for getting a good start, including an overview of different homeschool philosophies.
Teach Your Own: From the description in the link: "Teach Your Own helped launch the homeschooling movement; now, its timeless and revolutionary message of recognizing the ways children come to understand the world has been updated for today's environment.
Hold Onto Your Kids: This is a great parenting book about the importance of our relationship with our children which is, indeed, teh bedrock and necessary requirement of a successful homeschooling relationship.
