Hello all! I'm new here as you can see & I'm also new at Homeschooling. My family & I live in North Carolina. My husband & I have 2 boys our oldest is in 6th grade & our youngest is in 3rd grade. We're looking into using non-religious curriculum. Does anyone have any suggestions? Also, any other information you have about Homeschooling for a newbie is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Hi & welcome to the board. We would really need some specifics to be able to offer good suggestions for curriculum - things like do you want full, pre-packaged curriculum or do you want to piece it together yourself; what method do you plan to use; your children's learning styles; what subjects are you looking for, etc. That way, we can tailor our suggestions to your needs & wants. On my site (link in my sig), I have a few articles about starting to homeschool & homeschool methods, as well as links to some good sites & other stuff. Hopefully, it'll help answer some of your questions.
Welcome and Hi, I'm doing 3rd grade as well this year. I answered some of your questions on the Homeschooling forum. Ann
Hi! Welcome! I'm new here too, and missing NC! I'm NC State Alumni and miss the food in Raleigh so much!!!
I do apologize to all for not being on here so much...I've been busy. I appreciate all the warm welcomes...it's nice to be here!
Hi, I'm looking to use a non-religious curriculum that's pre-packaged with all subjects. I'll be sure to check out your site & thanks so much for your help!
I've only come across a few places selling Secular full, pre-packaged curricula. They seem to just be public school textbooks & materials put together, and cost $300 or more per year/per child. Homeschoolstockroom has one that's a good example of what I mean. You'd probably be better off piecing it together yourself. If you'd like, I can list off the things we've used & what we thought of them, how well they worked, etc.
Yeah...$300 is too much for me to spend on curricula right now. I would love to see your list of things you've used. I appreciate your help!
This is our 6th year hsing, so we've tried quite a few things. We're eclectic homeschoolers & I like to piece their curriculum together myself. I use a lot of supplemental stuff, so I'll try to list mainly the more complete things instead of all the supplements. Latin’s Not So Tough! – price isn’t bad, liked levels 1 & 2, but level 3 started introducing translating sentences & didn’t give enough info so dd got confused Discovering Great Artists – book, good price, we study one artist at a time, dd does a bio on the artist & at least one project in the style of the artist Complete Book of U.S. History – good price, we used as a spine & did extra projects, assignments, & research for each topic covered Spanish Immersion Plus Complete – good price, just CDs, didn’t work for dd because there was no real work for her to do with it, just listen to CDs & repeat Key To… series – Math, pretty good price, dd did Measurements, Metric Measurements, Decimals, Fractions, and Percents, didn’t do Algebra or Geometry because we didn’t feel they were complete courses Teaching Textbooks – Math, expensive but worth it, non-consumable, we started using it with Pre-Algebra Rosetta Stone – expensive, non-consumable, really good foreign language program Writing Strands – good price, breaks writing assignments into smaller daily assignments, has really helped my dd with her writing (her weakest subject) World Geography & You – good price, we only do a few chapters a year, doing more in-depth research on each area, it will last 3-4 years doing it this way Oxford University Latin Course – good price, explains much better than Latin’s Not So Tough did, dd enjoys it more & is making good progress with this program Mastering Mathematics – 1st-6th grade for $135, Mastery approach but can be adapted to Spiral approach, comes with workbooks, games, flashcards, and self-checking fact wheels Spectrum workbooks – good price, math had too much repetition for dd & she found the Spelling boring, though many others use & enjoy these, they just weren’t for us The Complete Book of…. Series – these are those big workbooks at WalMart & Sam’s, good price, fairly comprehensive This year we also picked up some textbooks from Power Basics. They’re for 6th-12th grades, but written at a lower reading level (I think 4th grade), so can be used by struggling readers as well. They have textbooks in Science, History, Geography, English, and Math. This year we got Earth & Space Science & Basic English. For the Basic English, we got the Single, which includes textbook, workbook, test packet, answer key, and teacher guide. For Earth & Space Science we just got the textbook & teacher guide. I think Science should be a pretty hands-on subject, so I’m assigning extra projects for each unit. We also tend to do hands-on projects for History – making meals from the time period, making pyramids & mummies, building a Roman courtyard, dioramas, etc. We also use Science kits & books of Science experiments. Notebooking & Lapbooks (called Project books in our house) have made their way into our schooling. My dd has her own timeline in a binder & ds will be starting his next year. For reading comprehension, dd can do a book report, study guide, or project for each book she reads. Projects can be pretty much anything (book review, diorama, comic strip, etc.), as long as it shows she understood what was going on. We also have a large selection of educational DVDs, educational software, and educational games. We check the library for DVDs & software related to what we’re studying, in case they have something we don’t. We borrow tons of books from the library & have a large home library. We’re not big on textbooks for Science & History, since they tend to make those subjects rather boring. If we do use textbooks for them, it’s mainly to serve as a spine or base for our study to start at. In the early years, I combined subject whenever I could. So, when we studied a time period in a certain country, we studied the geography & culture of that country then & now, the art & music of that country, and any inventions or Scientific discoveries that came from that country in that time. By doing that, dd has done mosaics, beading, origami, calligraphy, and other types of art she might never have been exposed to otherwise. My dh is a guitar player, so he gets to teach the kids guitar & music theory. I sang from 1st – 9th grade in school performances & show choir, so I get to teach singing (with the help of some teach yourself to sing materials I found). I also cover Music Appreciation & History, having them study different genres of music & important musicians from each genre. I add in some inexpensive workbooks for Logic, Analogies, etc. to help with logical thinking. I plan to have dd start an actual Logic curriculum next year or the year after, though I haven’t decided on one yet. You may want to check out Rainbow Resource, they have tons of materials from many different publishers. A lot of what they have is Christian, but htey do have Secular stuff as well, and often tell you in hte description which it is. They have really good prices, too.
hmsclmommyto2, I really appreciate you taking the time & listing things you've used. I'm gonna start checking into some of those. I've looked at & bookmarked Rainbow Resource also! Thank you so much!
You're very welcome! I'm always happy to help. If you have any questions about any of the things I listed (or anything else), just ask. I'll do my best to answer. I'm sure others will pop in also & list some of the things they've used or give their opinions of some of the already listed materials.
Hi! I'm new as well... Hi everyone, I'm a mom of 4 and I am going to homeschool my 3 boys this year. I'm reading a lot about homeschooling and right about dizzy by now I'm not sure which math books, language art books, how much science and history.... it's a bit overwhelming. I'm hoping to get some help and guidance from experienced home schooling mothers in this community. Also, a big welcome to others that are new to homeschoolong as well! Ismary
Hi & welcome! Yeah, the amount of info out there & the number of resources can be pretty overwhelming. This is a great group of people who are always willing to offer advice, support, & encouragement. So, ask away! If you're looking for curricula suggestions, we can give better suggestions if we have some specifics - secular or religious, your children's learning styles, what level they're at, etc.
