I'm always interested to see what others like and dislike.....so please jump in here. I'm using Abeka.....I love the language and phonics. I think the science, history, social studies could use more "meat", but its still ok. I think the math is good, but I prefer Horizons math. I'll continue with Horizons until 6th grade then switch to Abeka since Horizons doesnt offer anything past 6th. Sonlight was great for reading. It just wasnt our thing.
I use Horizons Math through fourth grade, then switch to Saxon. My oldest is using Teaching Textbooks geometry this year. History I swear by "Mystery of History"; this year I'm doing "All American History" (I've exhausted MOH right now!). Science I've used "Considering God's Creation" in the past, and am now doing a "Great Science Adventures" unit. I am also doing "English from the Roots Up", and we use AWANAS for our Bible. Oh, and we're reading "A Wrinkle in Time" with a Total Languag Plus guide.
Wow Jackie thats quite a mix of stuff. How did you find it all? Convention? I need to find a homeschool convention in my area. There was one in Albuquerque but we couldnt make it. I'd love to see the books and get to pick and choose.
I use Math U See, Mystery of History, English From the Roots Up, Mavis Beacon for typing, I make my own unit studies for science this year but next year we will probably use Apologia, we also either read or watch Shakespeare plays, read classic literature (right now it is Moby Dick, Tom Sawyer & Legend of Sleepy Hollow), we also read poetry. Samantha also takes gymnastics on Tuesdays and acting classes and is in Improv CLub on THursdays. For my preschooler we use letter of the week and we read a lot! We are at the library about two to three times a week.
For dd10 we use Teaching Textbooks Pre Algebra, Christian Kids Explore Chemistry (which she loves!), Getty & Dubay Handwriting, and a couple of different things for learning sign language. For ds14 we are using Teaching Textbooks Algebra I, Apologia Biology, and the "Hey Andrew, Teach me some Greek" series for Greek. He's on Level 3 out of 7. They both use Rod & Staff English, each on their own level of course. They are also both doing "All American History", but ds14 does extra research, papers and projects and quiz type things to make it highschool level. For keyboarding we use Typing Instructor Deluxe. And I keep meaning to start "English From the Roots Up", but we keep being awfully busy and are doing well to get what we already have done! I'm making projects for ds to do for his Home Ec and Shop credit and we're having fun with those projects! We have done some A Beka in the past, but I needed more from an English/Language program, and Rod & Staff happened to fit our bill. We use books 2 or 3 levels behind, because they're advanced for what we know. And from what I taught for English when I was teaching 5th-8th grades, it's much more advanced than that as well. My kids like the lay out and how it works---it's a good flow. So we're certainly keeping it for now! My kids DID like the science and did well with it though. We didn't like the math past 2nd or 3rd. We also gave Saxon a couple of good tries, but it flopped in our household as well. The TT math is going over very well---I hope that continues!
Jacqulyn, you see many of us use a wide variety of stuff. First of all, I'm a former Special Ed teacher. That means I never had a set curriculum, even when I was in the classroom. NOTHING would meet the needs of my kids. So when I started HS'ing, I was accustomed to doing my own thing, more or less, and it's SO easy to do that with Kindergarten and First Grade. Over the years, I've heard about this program or that, you'll find that, especially come January, there's LOTS of discussion here on various math/history/science programs. I've never been a "boxed" curriculum person. I also prefer curriculums that allow me to teach multi-ages. For example, especially in science and history. But the big advantage of HS'ing is that we can do what works best for us. We are NOT tied down to do what everyone else is doing. It's great to get input from others, but NEVER feel that you "must" do this or that because "everyone else" is doing it! Don't compare yourself to other HS'ers. As far as Horizons Math goes, there's a kind of jump between third and fourth grade. So I switched to Saxon with my oldest, and have just followed along with my middle one. That was quite a while ago, and I really am not sure I could tell you exactly WHY. I know it was done after several lengthy discussions with a good friend.
Spelling - AVKO. This is the first spelling program I've seen that makes sense. Grammar - Easy Grammar supplemented with worksheets from the internet. Also Madlibs! Reading and copywork - No curriculum Math - Singapore and Math Mammoth History - Story of the World supplemented with audio lectures, documentaries and lots of reading. Science - Lots of reading and some college texts. We're interested in secular science and there's not a lot out there in terms of curriculum. Art - Geeart16, documentaries and the Usborne Book of Art Ideas. Other stuff like music, latin and greek roots and such we handle without curriculum.
We teach pretty much 100% secular. Right now we are using many of the "The complete book of..." books from American Education Publishing. We also use Scott Forresman for reading. Will use mostly Prentice Hall for science and social studies in the higher grades. We will also begin Teaching textbooks next year for math.
Bible- BJU Math- Singapore and Miquon Grammar- First Language Lessons and Spectrum Writing History- unit studies and Story of the World Science- unit studies and BJU Music History- our own thing we throw together. Studying Barogue music right now and I basically get books from the library, have a coloring book with different composers and we study what each composer was famous for, instrument they were known for and then we study that instrument and have an ongoing lapbook for all of the above Writing- A Reason for Handwriting- though we don't use it much because dd writes a lot as it is. Spelling- Spelling Power Phonics and Reading- Horizons
Oldest ds - 1st/2nd grade reading and phonics - Rod and Staff math - Math-U-See science - Lifepacs geography - Which Way USA bible - we were doing Lifepacs, but I got the Rod and Staff Pre-K for my middle ds and it has bible stories and pictures to color so now they do that together. Middle ds - Pre-K Rod and Staff workbooks Starfall Horizons K math - we do most of this orally and for the addition parts we play with the MUS blocks. Lots of reading. Their favorite right now is Hank the Cowdog. Lisa
We use a little bit of everything!!!! Some of my favorites are ~ Mystery Of History - History Apologia -Science Hands On English - English Explode The Code - younger English Horizons - younger Math Math U See - older Math Spelling Power
Last year for K I spent almost $800 on the core plus from sonlight...NEVER AGAIN!!!! Besides breaking the bank...the bulk of the money spent was on reading books...most of which were WAAAY too old for her. I did like the I Can Read It books....they were wonderful and were a great platform for reading and Horizons math is super and I'll stick w/ that just cause it WORKS...but I found some Usborne (which was used for history and she just loved them) books on ebay for about $75 cheaper than the first purchase price and they are great! So I've been trying my hand at unit studying w/ them...they are also internet linked which I just think is great. It gives me a starting point but gives me tons of room to create activities and grab books at the library on my own. I love this thread! I'm so interested in what you all use. And MonkeyMomma...update your blog!! I'm anxious to see how camping went!!!!
This is my 1st full year. of homeschooling 4th grade. We use: Math - Saxon 5/4 Next year we are going to use teaching text book. History and Science - Abeka Spelling- Spelling power Reading - Christian Light I also use read and think skills from Abeka English - Easy Grammar Bible we are studing Ruth and EPH. right now getting ready for a bible bowl coming up in March.
I just got the science explorers set.. it was delivered to my mom's today, so I have to go pick it up there. We used prentice hall in school when I was in one of the best schools I went to.. and I loved it there.. now as the teacher I'm hoping to like it just as well..lol.
Bob Jones for Bible and handwriting. Alpha Omega LifePacs and Horizons for the remainder of the classes. I have workbooks for various writing projects and 5 minute language review that I have picked up at a local Learning Shop. I enjoy reading what everyone is using. editing to add:
