Hi! I'm new to this board. This is our second year to homeschool. I have 4 kids (ages 9,7,4,2) . Two are officially school-age, but my 4yo does some basic phonics and math. Since I will have 3 in "school " next year, I would like to use a science and history curriculum that would be appropriate for all of them (will be K,2,5 next year). Do any of you have suggestions? I have checked into Story of the World, but don't know if that is the approach to history that I want to take. I haven't found any science that seems appropriate for them all. Thanks for any help! Pam
Welcome! I really like My World Science. Its a lot of fun and my kids are enjoying it greatly. website: http://www.myworldscience.com/ I ordered Story of the World to use next year and have thumbed through it a lot. I love all the hands on work that it gives. The more hands on the better for my two. Next year mine will be third and first graders. There is also just units you can do. We did a unit on ocean critters, land critters, human body and so on. Rambling here...so I will be quiet!
Hi Pam... A big welcome to you! So glad to have you.. I have 3 boys. 11, 9 and 5.. We use Story of the World and will be starting our 3rd year in it...WE LOVE LOVE it! Everyone here uses some of this and that! I have all kinds of recommendations . Can you tell more of what you want? Do you like classical methods? Do you want something laid out? Does it matter if it's secular or christian content? I know you want multilevel, is that it? How much hand holding do you want? I see it's your second year, so are you ready to explore a little more? Again, welcome here!
I don't really use a certain method. I guess I'd be called eclectic. Right now we are using mostly worktext/textbooks. We use Abeka science and history, Saxon math, and secular language arts programs. I plan all of our curriculum myself. I don't have the kits that lay it all out (mostly because of the cost). I would LOVE to have something that plans it out for me, but I'm not afraid to do research and come up with things on my own. It's time-consuming though! That's why I want a multi-level curriculum. I prefer a Christian curriculum, but would consider a good secular one. I mentioned that I looked into Story of the World. I love all of the activites that are included. My kids would love that as well. I'm not sure about the strict chronological order part of it. I've never used it, so I can't really so whether it works or not. I may not really understand how it works. Thanks for your suggestions! Pam
YES!!! I do science and history with my three altogether. They're 11, 9, and 6. I use "The Mystery of History" and "Considering God's Creation". Both are designed for multi age groups. My youngest right now can tell you the difference between complete and incomplete metamorphosis, and can use words like "predator" and "nocternal", and can explain the difference between a "decidious" and "coniferous" forest. When my dad wanted to put "plant food" on the flowers we planted last year, he told him "Oh, no Grandpa!!! Plants make their own food from the sun!!!" And as far as history goes, I've learned so much!!!
Pam.. Here are some History resources for multi age, laidout... Story of the World Biblioplan WinterPromise (new, but can use for several grades) Tapestry of Grace Mystery of History Sonlight Resources, laid out, but inexpensive that you could get a couple of levels.. Rod and Staff history Science for multiple ages/laid out..(What Kind or topics for science?) Do you want a spiral approach, or do you want to consider one topic at a time? RealScience4Kids Apologia Living Learning Books Rod and Staff Sonlight Noeo Science Pam, I love doing history in chronological order. I did not learn history this way, so it becomes *bits and pieces* of information here and there. SOTW begins at the beginning and brings it forward. The activity guide has questions/(WITH answers ) on the same page, plus one book to read. You don't have to get the supplementary books if you don't want to. Tapestry of Grace gets rave reviews too. It integrates all subjects for all levels. A lot of people warn about the *TOG FOG* because at the beginning, it's a lot to get organized,but once you have it down, it has few people leaving it to try other curriculum. Biblioplan is more laid out, a definite Christian view and it has some parts of SOTW laid out in it. Mystery of History doesn't have any SOTW in it, but it has more Bible history that Biblioplan seems to. Sonlight, lays it out for you too and you can use for multiple ages. It is literature based. For science, I happen to love bright colorful well made science books. Apologia and books from Gravitas publications(Real Science 4 Kids) fit this bill. The apologia has an elementary series when you go to google them. They have astronomy, plants, and creatures created on the 5th day. Living learning books is wonderful too. Easily laid out and you can buy the books you need to use from Usborne from them directly.. Noeo science is also pick up and go.... This doesn't mean this all there is, I just have mentioned things that have *ease of use*. There are other well written curricula as well, but these seem to be more teacher friendly... So now, that I have overloaded you:lol: does this help you with some options..
I've just started using KONOS unit studies (the orginial volumes). We are really having a great time. My kids are 5yo, 7yo, 18mo and have a 5yo neighbor that joins us. If we get custody of our 10yo he will be easy to include too. I like the unit study aproach because it is to easy to adapt to all the ages at once. Using KONOS helps because I don't need to do all of the research and organizing of the unit myself. It has lesson plans to use if you want or to modify as needed. Or you can just go thought the list of activites and books and decide for yourself what to do. It is very versital. They encourage each family to use KONOS in the manner that best suits the family. It is a Christian curriculum, but again you get to decide what to include and when. Each unit has several topics and has activities and reading idea for ages pre K to 8th grade. Each volume is designed to be a two year study, but it can be adjusted to what suits your family the best. Units can be done in any order. History is not taught chronologically, but they encourage the use of a timeline (they actually sell the timeline and figures to go with each volume) so that different people and events can be seen in their proper perspective in history. The also give ideas on how to use the timeline for review. We have ours set up in our stairway so that the kids are always going by it and talking about it. If you want to know more you can go to their website at www.konos.com If you want something more laid out they also have KONOS-in-a-box. These are units that they have taken from the original volumes and have expanded to make in to longer (9-15 week) units. They include daily lesson plans, prepackaged activites and the books to read. This is a much more structured version. Good luck
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I feel like a have a start now and am going to do some research into some of these curriculums. Tina, you hava an amazing amount of knowledge. How long have you been homeschooling? Pam
Pam... I don't mind helping ANYTIME... I enjoy homeschooling.. This will start my 7th year of homeschooling. However, I have a secret to confess, so you won't be so enamored by my knowledge...... I serve the newbies (new ones to homeschooling) as a leader in my area. I do this as a way of giving back and serving others. Matter of fact there are two of us on this forum that do... Sheila and myself teach monthly meetings. In addition, we have to do to yearly training and keep up with workshops. My gift to our newbies, other homeschoolers and my children is to amass a great amount of knowledge desiring to use such God given talents as way for furthering homeschooling. So I do spend large amounts of time reading, reviewing and putting my hands on certain curriculum. For you, there are several other wonderful curriculums, I just wanted to keep the list down to those items that seem more teacher friendly... Let me know if I can help you anymore...
