Personalised Homeschooling – Grades 1-3

Personalised Home Education – Grades 4-6
High School Options for Grades 10-12

Choose personalised homeschooling that is both fun and effective by selecting a mixture of different homeschool curricula, which will meet and exceed the “minimum requirements” for academic success!

Avoid the mistake that so many young families make when they start home education: they start out with online schooling or a school-at-home programme and then usually within the first two years, they hate it!

The rigid schedule they initially thought would give them a sense of security, becomes a straight-jacket and they find their children increasingly bored and unmotivated by the material The mother becomes increasingly stressed to get the children to keep up with the demands of the curriculum “slave master”. 

Old hands always recommend that you put yourself in control and find ways to ensure that you kindle the love of learning and the joy of being together as a family. You select a personalised home education combination that caters for each child and allows them to progress at their own pace. You are the master and the curricula you choose, become your tools! This allows you to discover each child’s unique interests, struggles or talents and gives you the freedom to spend time on the topics and skills that you want them to master and enjoy, in addition to developing the basic skills that we all want our children to acquire.

In the early years (foundation phase), the three R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic (maths) are where your main focus of time and attention is likely to lie. Mastering those skills demands quite intense effort from children! They require encouragement and supervision. We recommend that, at this stage, you keep those lessons very short, as short as ten to twenty minutes each, so they are not a drawn out struggle with tears and drama! The rest, the other subjects and skills, should be pure fun and not a struggle at all! You should read aloud to your children as much as possible during this phase.

This approach is also known as ECLECTIC homeschooling. 

Pick these foolproof curricula to start your personalised homeschooling adventure

For children in the Foundation Phase (that’s a government/school term for Grades 1-3), we have listed our top picks in the table below. These should set you off to a strong start on your homeschooling journey. Footprints does not supply all the products on our recommended list, but the suppliers are listed or links are provided

We don’t adhere to strict grade levels as we know that children might fall into multiple age brackets within a family and using the same social studies and science curriculum for all of them, if they are close enough in age, makes things simpler for everyone. Many parents adjust the recommended activities to suit the abilities of the children that are just above or below the target age level.

For Languages and Maths, each child needs to work at the appropriate level for their age and abilities. Don’t rush these skills. Some children are only ready to start learning to read or do formal maths lessons at about age 9, while others are early starters. The late-bloomers soon catch up with their early-start peers, if they are not pressured.

For children roughly between ages 6-8 years, we recommend the following selection of materials.This combination of curricula will provide you with 2-3 years of delightful homeschooling adventures and get your children off to a strong start.

Subject	Product/s	Comments	Time Allocation 4 days per week
Social Studies and Life Skills	Barefoot Days Volumes 1, 2 & 3 (2 years to complete) Followed by Little Footprints (12-18 months)	These holistic unit studies include Social Studies, Life Skills, Poetry, Art Appreciation, Music Appreciation, Bible, Copywork (for handwriting) and a variety of short projects, Arts and Crafts and Writing Assignments. You can buy the programmes one at a time.	30-60 minutes including reading aloud daily
Home Language (English)	English Language Programmes (Check our list. There are many others. They all work. Our top picks follow alongside >)	Pick one: Progressive Phonics (free printable) Explode the Code (workbooks) All About Reading Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons	10-20 minutes (keep lessons short)
Maths	Math-U-See (or any other option you prefer. See other popular homeschool Maths programmes)	Math-U-See is now available from Good Neighbours online store). Use the printable placement tests to determine each child’s starting level. Search for the exact title on Good Neighbours.	20 minutes per day
Technology	Touch typing	BBC Dance Mat Typing or any other online typing trainer	10-15 minutes
			TOTAL – roughly 2 hours per day (maximum) to allow plenty of informal learning and productive free time

A selection like this will give your children an excellent education. If you have time and the inclination to add other subjects or skills (reading aloud in a second language, art etc.) you could add them, but if not, your children can pursue those specific interests at a later stage in their educational journeys.

If you have two (or more) children close in age (between ages 4-8 years), keep the family together and use Barefoot Days and then Little Footprints with both of them at the same time. This will simplify your life. 

Our Footprints products are also non-consumable, so you can re-use the same programme with younger children, when they reach the target age level – so they are a good investment!
Here is a sample chapter for you to view: Barefoot Days – Sample

Barefoot Days Meets the Minimum Requirements of CAPS – Easily!

You can read how our Barefoot Days programme meets and exceeds the national Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). Little Footprints also covers many of the requirements.

Barefoot Days/ Kaalvoetpret and CAPS 

What about Homeschool Assessments?

At Footprints, we do not offer testing and exams like online schools, as we believe that home education should NOT be school-at-home. The most effective learning happens when children receive a customised education and are free to progress at their own pace. As they complete the Maths book for one grade, for example, you move them up to the next level – and this can be at any time of the year. Some children progress very quickly in the early grades! As a parent you will observe their development as well as their interests and you will notice any struggles. You don’t need a test to show you how your child is getting along.

Our short video on Homeschool Tests and Assessments will explain how you can do this in more detail as well as the articles linked below it.

You can be confident that your children will not fall ‘behind’ their peers at school. You will be giving them one-on-one attention that children seldom receive in a crowded classroom. If your children ever need to return to school, they will be well-equipped!

Here is our three-part series of articles that explains how parents can perform homeschool assessments and even create reports, if that’s necessary. 

Homeschool Assessments, Reports and Compliance

Part 1 – Homeschool Assessments
Part 2 – Homeschool Reports
Part 3 – Should You Submit Homeschool Reports?

Please read the more detailed descriptions of each of our products on the links provided above. If you have questions and need more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Buy Barefoot Days Now