I was wondering if anyone could help me to find, or recommend, some secular titles of homeschool-geared science and history texts/curriculum for the fourth grade? I have found a wealth of religious-based texts but I'm looking for secular. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Pandia Press (pandiapress.com) carries history curriculum based on the classical model of homeschooling. They also have science curriculum, but I have not looked too closely at those as they are too young for my son. It seems to me that many of the christian homeschooling books can be used working around the religious references. That's always a possibility too since it would give you a lot more variety to choose from.
Just off the top of my head: Calvert, Oak Meadow (both "umbrella schools"). Steck-Vaughn has grade level stuff in addition to their high-interest-lower-level materials they're famous for. I believe Globe-Fearon does too, but I'm not positive about that. They're not homeschool-specific, but pretty easy to use. TMs can be pricey. Evan-Moor. Spectrum. Teacher-Created Materials. Basic Not Boring. Frank Schaffer. These aren't specifically homeschool, and aren't complete courses, but are good supplements. HTH!
Don't forget the major textbook publishers. Although they are mainly geared for classroom use a home school mom can still use those books as a "spine". Pull the main concepts for each chapter, get library books, google those topics, find online worksheets. I've just learned about Flexbooks. Free online texts and workbooks. Google 'CK12'. I was looking at high school materials but they may have 4th grade books as well.
Calvert and Oak Meadow as Lindina has mentioned don't have to be virtual schools you can buy their curriculum and do it on your own, Calvert has a no resale clause with it though... something I avoid like the plague, I feel if I buy something I have the right to sell it. Mr Q for science seems to have lots that like it. You can do your own without texts though... I'm using Core Knowledge Sequence via Baltimore Curriculum Projects free lesson plans with Intellego Unit Studies and the What Your __ Grader Needs to Know books. (see my blog for more info) There are also great lesson plans for Social Studies here: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/matrix.html And great Science plans here: http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/ Also some of my favorite books are the The Complete Book of books from American Education Publishing (or maybe Carson Delosa now?). We are secular homeschoolers, it takes a while to figure out how to find stuff, but it's out there... just not quite as well known as the religious curriculums are.
We are secular homeschoolers too. For science, Real Science 4 Kids is worth looking at, it wasn't right for us, but it might be a good fit for you. We have also used Macmillian McGraw Hill science - which is the one included with Calvert. Again, we didn't like it much. Galore Park is a British curriculum and used for private schools there, and homeschools, if you don't mind a British textbook, they are fabulous. Their history is all British/European starts at 1066 is I remember rightly, and finishes at 1900. We wanted a wider world view, and I didnt feel comfortable with the Anglocentric slant to the texts. We have used Calvert. I have mixed feelings about Calvert. We sped through the material and I needed to buy more books and materials after about 6 months. That said, my daughter did very well on it, and Im reusing the books for my son this year. Steck Vaughn do some lovely books. Their history pockets are engaging and fun. We also have used Spectrum science for review. I always think the Spectrum books are pushing a bit of an agenda, but that might be just me being a bit of an aging hippy. We also really liked Science Fusion, and it is worth a look. Laurel Springs is expensive, but it looks very nice indeed - it is an umbrella school, like Calvert, but with a lot more support and tutors who monitor children's work. Again, not for us, I dislike the interference, but it is an option. This year we are using Galore Park science 1, with 21st century science biology, and a few lovely books added to it, like David Burnie's Animals. National Geographic education site is in Beta testing and has some really interesting print outs too!
Story of the World is secular. It does talk about Christianity, but from a more historical perspective. It is World History in chronological order.
Thanks for the advice every one... I have a question about Story of the World... is it truly secular? I read on reviews that it starts with creationism and treats bible stories as true where other religions' stories are treated as religious myths.. is this true?
I've not read it myself, other than the last volume. MY UNDERSTANDING is that the woman who wrote it is a Christian, but wrote the book intentionally with a secular world view so that it would be more marketable. Probably the best way to find out is to see if the library has a copy and read it for yourself. Many libraries do carry it. (Actually, that's often good advice for ANY curriculum you want! I've had SO MANY things that I heard were SO WONDERFUL that I checked out from the library, and discovered quickly they were NOT for us!!! Oh, try Hlillyer's A Child's History of the World. It does start with evolution.
We used the Pandia Press materials last year-- R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey and History Odyssey. I liked them both fairly well. We plan to use them again this year, progressing to the next level. The history curriculum incorporates multiple sources and suggests opportunities for further reading.
Have you tried looking at Secular Homeschool Dot Com? They have a curriculum directory. Maybe you will find something great! Joyfully, Jackie
Re: The Story of the World, I have the first volume, and though it is not specifically creationist, it does treat biblical figures as historical. It is in a grey zone in my mind. I would have been quite happy using it for our children, but we found it very very dry, the activity books are a bit too arts and crafts based. I wanted to love it, I really did!
I have used Oak Meadow. I think its beautifully done. The only reason I didn't stick with it is I found it labor intensive for me. Since I work outside the home I struggled with that component.
Another Pandia Press user here. I really wanted a truly secular science curriculum so I went with Pandia.
Just out of curiosity, why would treating Bible characters as historical people make it a gray area? Or do you not want to study the contributions the Hebrew people made to history?
Ok.. SOTW.. It is not secular enough for me. I had vol 1, read it and sold it. I would not read it to my kids. It is true that it starts with creationism ideas and treats bible stories as true. I don't mind my kids learning bible stories, but I do not agree with them being taught as fact and other religious ideas from history being taught as myth. Hillyar's A Child's History of the World is far from secular as well. It's more of an intelligent design type of thing. It mentions God quite often and if I recall correctly says something about him being the only one true god. I read some of it to my kids, but it ended up being too many explainations as to why the "story teller just said that". While it's easy for kids to understand that different people believe different things, it's not easy for them to understand that they need to take what they hear or read and decide for themselves if they feel it can be true.
