Our family has made the decision to homeschool next year and I'm trying to choose a curriculum that meets our needs. I will have a 1st grader and 3rd grader next year. My soon to be 3rd grader is above grade level and my soon to be 1st grader is at grade level. I'm looking for an all in one curriculum since this will be my first year. I have looked into Abeka, Sonlight, and a few others but I would really love some advice from people who have had first hand experiences with these curriculum's. Also, on the Abeka website it has the "Grade 1 Child Kit". Is that everything I will need to school my daughter for the entire year or do I also need to order the Language Arts kit and Arithmetic kit? Thanks so much!
It's been a while since I used Abeka, but I remember needing only the parent kit and child kit. I opted for science, history, and music, which weren't included. At that time, the child kit included reading & math, so I'm sure it's probably the same now. Abeka is a very solid program, and I like it a lot. It didn't fit my kids' learning styles, though. It's very "classroom-ish" with lots of busy work built in. It's workbook based, so expect a lot of writing. If your kids "get it", there is no reason for them to do every.single.assignment. Just move on. Abeka tends to be advanced compared to a lot of other publishers out there, so you should be able to challenge your kids by getting the grade level they would be on if still in school. Sonlight is a reading-based program, and it's more expensive than Abeka. It's also a good program, but it's completely different in style than Abeka, and also not right for my own kids' learning styles. Sonlight uses a couple of things that we use separately (like Miquon math and Sequential Spelling), but we don't use Sonlight otherwise. I know Abeka has a "scope and sequence" listed somewhere on their site for download, so I'm sure Sonlight probably does, too. Take a look at those to see what your kids already know and what you think they'll be ready to do next year. Also, if you want to get Abeka, you can get it cheaper in the Spring. They have online deals for 20% off, free shipping promotions, etc. and/or you can go to one of their displays in person (see the website for schedule and locations) to get free shipping as well. Seeing everything in person really helped me make decisions early on. Actually, I still use Abeka for some of our handwriting work. I love their traditional, loopy cursive style.
Welcome My first advice to a new homeschooler is to relax, take a breath, and then forget what school looks like. Take some time to deschool after they are out of they public school system. Homeschooling often looks nothing like school, and from my experience my kids learn best when that is the case. Before you commit to anything, take some time to figure out exactly what direction you want to go. What are your goals? I'll tell you mine. My goal is to raise children who can learn anything that they want or need to. What does that mean? It means that I want them to be able to read, be able to research, be able to process all information for any source, take what they feel is essential from it, and put it into a logical thought (possibly on paper ). All that said, I really want to encourage you to look into other options. The nice shiny boxed curricula look wonderful, esp when you are new and are feeling like you need something to hold your hand, but just like a one size fits all hat, it most certainly isn't one size fits all. You may find that the math of something fits great and the history of the same program makes you want to rip your hair out or brings tears to your childs eyes. If you ask everyone here on the board, you would find few that use an all in one. Learn your state laws, come up with your own learning goals for your children, then look for curricula that will help you get the job done the way you want it. You also should look at how your children learn best... are they visual learners? hands on learners? audio learners? Each of your children may be very different. My kids are visual and kinesthetic (hands on), so they learn best if we read very visual books, watch videos (brainpopjr is one of their favorite things as are Magic School Bus videos), and try to do lots of crafty hands on things. No matter what, know that you can not mess up your kids, just remember that school should not involve tears and stress. If something isn't working, sell it and start over.
Sommer gave GREAT advice! I keep looking at the shiny boxed curriculum and then realize that it just would never work for us for one reason or another. I find it easier to list out the subjects I need curriculum for and research each subject separately choosing the one that best fits our learning styles. I lean towards open and go curriculum options and I prefer history/social studies/science/art that I can do with all of my children together to keep things simple in that area.
I like abeka, however my complaints with them are that they have a lot of busy work, which is fine for some people, especially ones who have more than one kid homeschooling. I only have one daughter though and she HATED the reading they had in kindergarten and first, even a lot of the second grade. She is in second grade at PS now, but she didn't like the way the reading program works. She's fine with the books now though since we just use the books on occasion to supplement her regular school. The lower grade books are very short and not "real stories" according to her. She doesn't like phonics things though and Abeka is heavy on phonics which is great for a lot of kids. They have a lot of worksheets, which she enjoys for math but not so much for reading and writing. She doesn't like to write she would rather dictate or type. This is just from our experience though and she is also ahead in school. I haven't ever used any of the other systems. Since I really only did kindergarten and preschool I mostly used workbooks and used things I found around at used book stores and such. I also really liked starfall.com It was great for learning to read and working on phonics in a way she didn't feel like she was doing any phonics work. For science we mostly did small experiments from books I found. We are considering homeschool in fourth grade depending on a few different things though. I always made a plan Friday or Saturday for the next week and just checked it off as we did it. However like I said my daughter LOVES to do workbooks so that was a great tool for us both online ones I could get free and ones I bought. Not everyone enjoys workbooks though.
Hi and welcome I have used Sonlight for the past couple of year. I only have one child so I am not sure about using it with multiple kids but I guess there are folks who do it. I love the literature based approach for history at the elementary ages. I think it just helps the kids relate a little bit better than with textbooks. Sonlight is great because it does lay everything out for you but you can still tweak it if needed. For Language Arts I used Sonlight at those ages too. I like the approach for the early elementary. Some copy work, a little mechanics and a writing assignment each week was not overwhelming for dd. Starting in 3rd grade we added Easy Grammar and this year (4th grade) we are using IEW for writing but I will probably go back to Sonlight next year. For math I used Horizons for grades 1-3rd and now I have switched to Saxon which we plan on using through high school. For science we have used both Sonlight and Apologia, both are excellent programs. The first year I really relied on Sonlight's schedule but now I am more comfortable and have begun branching out. I still plan on using Sonlight as my history and readers for the next few years though.
I agree with the others on the box curriculum. When I started homeschooling, I used SOS for all subjects. I wasn't real impressed with the program, but even if I was, learning all subjects using the same model got boring for my kids. We now use Sonlight for History and LOVE it. My kids are in 6th and 4th grade, and they share the History curriculum. You could do the same for your kids as they are close enough in age. For Language Arts we do the Sonlight work but we add IEW. They are both on the same level with that as well. For Math they are on separate levels but are both using the Saxon curriculum. They share the same Apologia Science class, currently the Anatomy class. So, picking and choosing these various currilums has allowed me to keep both my kids sharing as much as possible, which is a lot easier to manage for me.
What she said. I think box curricula is appealing because we are afraid if we pull together our own things we'll miss something. The whole fear of 'holes in their education' thing. But, EVERYONE no matter how or where they were educated has 'holes' in their education. Look at our world, there is no way PS could have taught me all I would need to know today. Approx 30 new countries have come into existence since I was in 9th grade. The internet and email was in it's infancy when I was in school (AOL and floppy disk anone??! LOL) and dial up was your only option. Cell phones were large and only made phone calls. Smart phones and tablets were unheard of. Your GPS was handwritten directions you hoped were correct. All cameras took film. I listened to cassette tapes and a few CDs...there were no MP3s and satellite Radio. My goodness Google didn't even exist when I graduated high school!!! LOL I agree...figure out what your goals are and WRITE THEM DOWN! Refer to them when you hit a bump in the road, because there will be bumps. And when you run into problems, refer to your goals and ask 'Is this really important? Is it getting me toward our goals?' My goals for my children's education are: 1. First and foremost teach all things from a Biblical worldview. (As a Christian this is important to me) Good morals and values (common courtesy, respect and Biblical ideals). I don't want to raise kids with 4.0 GPA that don't care about others.... 2. My goal isn't to teach my children information but teach them HOW to learn. There will always be questions that you can't answer by remembering what you read in a textbook, but if you know how to find answers to questions...that's golden. " Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire." -- W. B. Yeats We don't know what information our children will need 5, 10 or 20 years from now. They may be going to college for a degree that doesn't yet exist that will get them a career in an industry we haven't even heard of yet. There isn't a scope and sequence checklist in a textbook to prepare them for that. 3. Discernment. Nowadays any idiot can google but knowing which source is reliable and which isn't...that's a gift. (example for #2 & 3: facebook posts and emails that warn of things that are ridiculous and untrue that are easily verified as false, yet they spread like wildfire because people can't discern truth from fiction and don't know which source to believe) 4. Each child's curricula is customized to fit them and their learning style and interests. Kids who are stressed and crying aren't learning. Studies show when under stress, our brains go into a kind of fight or flight mode, the part that learns and retains new info....it shuts down. (This is important to me because my oldest was totally stressed in PS, and he shut down.) 5. Quality of education. PS teaches the 3 R's (sometimes) but it's dumbed down. The arts are being cut out of many schools. They teach to masses and if your child falls above or below...too bad...If they have a question that's a bit off topic, it's not answered (and they might even get scolded for asking) They aren't given extra time on a subject/topic they struggle with or enjoy, they can't skip over things they already get, etc We read old books with big words, study art and classical music, take lots of field trips and do lots of science experiments and nature study. I answer my kids questions (and google the answer if I dont' know it) we chase rabbit trails all the time. We cover the basics in short spurts and focus on things my children want to learn. When you want to know something, you're more likely to retain it. We may start with phonics then spend the rest of the day on history and never get to math that day. One day we may do 4 math lessons and never get to history or science. Relax. Figure out your goals. Take some time. You don't have to start your first day of school with a full subject load. Take some time to see what your kids like, what they struggle with, what's out there, different educational approaches, your kids learning styles... Then ease into it, 1-2 subjects at a time so you don't get overwhelmed. And enjoy your kids
Here is some of my advice for choosing curricula: 1. Buy used, especially at first if you can. If you don't like it, you won't be out as much money. 2. Bend the curricula to your families needs, not the other way around. It is OK NOT to do every single assignment in a subject. 3. Be willing to change methods/textbooks/philosophies or mix between the various ways to teach and help your children learn. 4. Don't be upset at yourself if a boxed curriculum doesn't work out--it is a very common problem. If it does work out, that it great also. A Beka is good and ahead from what I hear. I wouldn't worry about doing all the assignments/quizzes/tests. Sonlight sounds really cool. I don't have any particular advice with this one, but if my son was younger I would probably start with something like that. (By the time I would have seriously considered that my son was high school age-I didn't want to adjust that much). It is costly but can be used (most of it) for more than one child. There are other great options out there also and some that stand out for particular subjects: 1. math- Teaching Textbooks and Math U See and Saxon 2. science- Apologia 3. grammar- Easy Grammar, Shurly Grammar (spelling?), and many others. Anyway, I would venture to say that it is quite common to start with an all in one package. I think a large percentage split things up later on, but a large percentage probably stay with the packaged curriculum. It is whatever works for you.
Involve your children in the decision. It will help you to determine what excites them, where their aptitudes might be, and they'll become enthused. Looking back, I'm not a big lover of A Beka. We used it quite extensively, but I wish we'd cast a wider net. As someone stated, there's a lot of busy work and unnecessary (boring) repetition. They (and Bob Jones) also contort themselves at times simply to get a Bible verse in there somewhere. Take a stroll around one or two homeschooling conferences. It will be worth the time and money. You don't have to buy materials there, and don't let yourself be bullied by some of the big-name exhibitors, but you'll get a much better sense of what's out there.
If you're interested in boxed curriculum, you might like to look at Christian Light Education. There are extensive samples online www.clp.org. Even if you decide on that, which is my very favorite one, I suggest sticking with Reading, Math, and LA. Often, we can get those 3 done in 45 minutes or less, each (so, 135 minutes). Then do something else for science and history/geography. Then you can be sure that the "basics" are all covered (a feeling of security for the parent), and get on with the learning in a broader sense (fun for the kids), exploring interests, trying out other methods and materials, projects, field trips, videos, lapbooking, and so on. There's plenty of time for formal learning of science and history/geography in high school.
I use Old Fashioned Education because the curriculum is free and you can find almost all of the books on Gutenberg Project. It is a lot of reading which I like because I want my son to enjoy reading more than watching TV (not happening at the moment). She has a curriculum laid out for every grade level and there's a table you can use to map out your school year. It may help you gain confidence in planning your own curriculum. I'm sorry I didn't post links, I just joined yesterday and I don't have the ability. Old Fashioned education is the web address you just have to add the most popular ending and you'll get there. Or you can Google it.
Okay now just to add in a bit different opion. I started out about 16 years ago with a mix of stuff I found at my local Teacher Store. It was okay for Kindergarden but we went with a boxed set up for first grade. AOP.com we used life paks, which are very much like CLP that Lindina suggested up there. It worked well for us we added in the Horizon Math because it was more exciting looking and it turned out to be a half year ahead of the other maths. Worked great for us as well. I have used AOP for the majority of my two older kids ( Adult kids now in College) and half way through I personally got bored with it and switched up for JR /Sr high school levels. I have one left at home we now use MUS for math ( video teacher then I go over what needs to be done and he does the work) Sos Spanish, Notgrass Exploring world history, Abeka for English and another curriclula for Science... you can mix and match what works or looks fun at your kids ages make it fun to learn and you will have them learning in no time at all.
There is a lot of great advice here and thoughts for a newbie but I also wanted to suggest looking into reading Cathy Duffy 101 Top picks for Homeschool Curriculum. Or visiting her site: http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/ The first part of the book is about learning styles and teaching styles/ learning preferences and then the second part she breaks down the curriculum to what you are looking for and what curriculum suits learning styles. I wished I read it beforehand as it is really helpful, but her site gives info. too and at the end of each review it breaks down information for you. A word of caution though, the amount of information on her site can be overwhelming so I would look at what you want more information on and if you can read the book =). But I did use Sonlight Core B last year with my 1st and 3rd grader. This year we are using Core C, for 2nd and 4th grade. I will say my older one gets more out of it and I expect that. I am not worried about my younger one understanding a lot but she gets the big idea. But I like the idea of everything laid out for me- I do adjust the reading schedule, as it can feel like a lot some days. I prefer to read from the same book rather than a little everyday from several books, so I just look at the schedule horizontally rather vertical. Also I do incorporate some hands on ideas from their Core Tips CD, but not a lot. This year I am also trying out their Language Arts, it is okay and not for everyone. So I have also incorporated Essentials In Writing, which is going really well. But I also use a grade level below, as it is enough. We also prefer ALL About Spelling which is teacher intensive, but a great program! And there will likely be some trial and error and that's okay! Have fun with them too!
