I'm going to admit that History and science have always been placed on the backburner.. I'm stressing a little over that now since my two older ones are back in school and I've seen them struggle.. I have this year and next year with my soon to be 13 year old then she will be off to school as well.. SO that leaves me feeling like I need to rush and get all the history and science in her before she goes back.. But where do I start?? I want to go through US history the next two years just to get her ready.. Is there an outline that I can use to make sure we get through the important stuff or can someone suggest what they would teach? Is there a curriculum that would follow ?? I really don't want her going back with NO history or science background and I'm at a loss for what to do.. She will be required to pass a STARR test in US history and biology in order to graduate.. And reguardless of what anyone says it's hard to catch up when you go back and have never learned any of the stuff before.. She does have SOME science.. We have used ABEKA in the past but just last year and the year before.. and never finished the books.. It may be too late to change, but I feel that I have given my kids a mediocre education... And taught them to just settle and not strive for more.. So I need to get on the ball and get going.. I would really appreciate your help.. Thanks
I am using A History of US for the next 2 years with my oldest. We are doing 5 books per year. We are also doing SOTW, so my oldest is getting both history's. I have heard a lot of negative reviews of History of US but so far my ds and I like it. I bought the syllabus from Hewitt and the assessment book from Amazon to go along with it. I am tweaking the syllabus to work for us but it has tests and a lot of project ideas in it. I have had my ds pick out what projects he wants to do and we have marked them on his calendar. As, for science, I just use living books and simple schooling website. He is not behind his peers when it comes to science. We have done some hands on experiments too, but we really haven't had a structured curriculum.
For science, Real Science 4 Kids has a middle school program that will help your child understand chemistry, physics, and biology (each a semester long curriculum) before heading into high school: http://www.gravitaspublications.com/
I try to have the kids do the same topics that public school does, in the same years, because I know most of them will be going back. Some I KNOW won't be going back, so I feel a little freer to choose their curriculum accordingly. But I would say for history, in 7th and 8th grade histories we (in this state) usually do state history and American history. You might do World one of those years? Just get an 8th grade US history book (whereever you choose to get it from) and have her do that in 8th grade. Then she will have had the same level (or better) of American history that her ps peers have had. I would say, either CLE or Lifepacs 8th grade history would be good, and can be done in one year. Then do a 7th and 8th grade science, like Abeka's (and finish the books), for those two years, and she will have had "about" the same science her peers in public school will have had. (In my state, they do life science in 7th and earth/space in 8th.) You really do NOT have to do, like, 8 years of history and science in two years, to "catch up" to the public schoolers' history and science knowledge. Most of the time, they don't finish the book either.
I use Sonlight and have used it with all my kids through all the years and they have ended up knowing a lot more than their school friends (and our homeschool team often wins the area wide History Bowl!). Sonlight uses A History of US and my older 3 really liked it - so I would second at least doing that. I will be using the whole Sonlight Core with my 13 year old this year. Sonlight also has a World History year you could do for middle school. Usually they do it over 2 years but there is a condensed version. The nice thing about Sonlight is that English is combined with History - so you study the history, read books set in that time period, do creative writing related to what you are reading and studying etc. I love the integrated approach and I have noticed how much my kids retain because of it. Apologia General Science covers a lot of topics. And their Physical Science covers more so if you have 2 years those would get them up to speed.
I have seen sonlight mentioned so many times in the past years, but I didn't realize it was set up that way... Thanks for clairifying how it works.. And we do have the Apologia books that you suggested.. We may be using those since I already have them... Thanks
I would suggest you go to sonlight.com and request they send you a catalog. Don't be scared off by the price. All you really need is the Instructor's Guide. I usually buy those new from Sonlight and then get the books out the public library. But you can also find used ones on Homeschoolclassifieds.com for good prices. It doesn't matter if they are a few years old. I am reusing the ones I bought 5 years ago for my older kids. The newer ones generally just have minor tweaks like new layouts, maybe switched out a book or two.
Check out All American History. It's a two-year course. The first year went OK for me, the second found me putting it down more and more. Why? Because it was WAY too text-bookish for me (especially after using MOH!!!), and my kids were eventually bored with it. It does have a good workbook that goes along with it.
thanks for all the suggestions.. Getting my list together for next year and have NO clue where to start..
