At the beginning of my research into homeschool education I came across various forms of education styles. I came across Charlotte Mason, Montessori, Classical, and Eclectic classifications. In addition to a variety of styles I've tried several homeschool curriculums that align with varying learning methods. Of all the methods I settled on Classical learning years ago dating back to 2013. But, along the way I strayed from any one set of guidelines and chose curriculum that fit our way of life at the time.
With my first child I tried to create a baby genius with the How to Teach Your Baby to Read method by Glenn Doman. His method was based on the success he found with children with learning disabilities learning an exorbitant amount of information through flash cards. It was based on large letters and a flash approach of 10 cards daily at multiple times a day. Truthfully it was very labor intensive. I created word flash cards and picture cards on various science and history subjects. But what I found over the years was that although I put in so much work, my daughter was still grade level in many of her subjects.
I read immensely to her in the early years at the rate of 10 books daily. It served as a way to expose her to various ideas and advanced vocabulary, but also became precious moments for making memories. At the age of three she was ready to formally learn reading. She soared within a year and of all my children she picked up reading the most naturally. I attribute her progress to all of the reading we accomplished in the toddler years. But it was a lot... a little much.
At the age of three I created Montessori home stations with tactical hands on activities on various subjects. They became a play outlet for her and a chance to progress in learning new things. My favorite were marshmallow shape structures and dinosaur stations. Around that time I created a YouTube channel of our early years and although they are now set to private, we still get a laugh of many of the precious memories from those years.
Curriculums that I've tried: Math Mammoth, Singapore Math 1a and 1b, Christian Light Education, Math U See, Life of Fred, Houghton Mifflin, McGuffey Readers, Ray's Arithmetic, Harvey's Grammar, Apologia Science, Shurley English
For the majority of my homeschooling with her and the rest of my boys I've been eclectic, pulling from various curriculums and making it work. I scaled back with the boys. I've learned that learning is life. They learn from one another, they learn through developmental readiness, and they also learn through games and play.
