I am totally changing the way I view my homeschool this year.. Some things I think are better left in world view than chrisian view.. Where can I find text books like public schools use?? I'm leaning more towards something more secular for history and geography.. Need to get this going ASAP..
I'd start by checking some of the major textbook publishers. They have websites that list the different textbooks they sell. Then you can purchase them on Amazon and sometimes you can find older editions at a low price. Here is a place that lists some of the major publishers: http://www.scoe.org/pub/htdocs/textbook-publishers.html#hss
Calvert is completely secular, and they are often used as "public school" materials. They have their own secular brick and mortar schools their curriculum is used in. So that may be something to look into. I haven't been in PS in like 25 years, but from what I am seeing in my home from Calvert looks pretty much the same as what I had in PS.
I have to disagree with Calvert, their A Child's History of the World is far from secular, I can't believe it's actually offered as a public school option via some of the virtuals. Honestly I like PS texts, esp starting at middle school. I like the big names... Glencoe, Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall. I also am in love with K12's Human Odyssey for middle/high school world history. US history my fave by far so far is Hakim's A History of US.
Check used bookstores. The ones around here are just FILLED with older editions, damaged copies, and sample copies.
half.com has a lot of the student text books. It is harder to find the teachers editions or the test material for a reasonable price. If you are willing to make up your own tests(if you plan on testing that is). Be aware that with history books there will always be a bias on the part of the writer. You can especially see this as you move into high school history and above. Truly any history textbook can be used well as long as there is discussion. I actually found for high school using a "christian" history book beneficial for US history since it brought out some of the major religious movements that did help shape society most of which were lacking in the secular history books. On the other hand I had a lot of issues with the world history book we used because there was too much focus on the religious in it. Everything has its place and a balance is needed. For elementary I try to use a variety of sources, especially historical fiction in order to create the balance of views but we still do a fair amount of discussion. Ok I am now off my soapbox about history/history textbooks.
You might get in touch with the local school's warehouse, or even the local public school. If there are any extra copies lying around, they may let you borrow/rent the books for the year.
I pick them up at library sales, thrift stores and other places. Many I have gotten free over the years in free boxes here and there. I do not always use them as the main material, but often use them If I need additional problem sets or another presentation of information, for clarity. If I needed to I would feel comfortable using school texts. The Christian part can added as needed. Having another world view presented is not threatening at this point and allows us to have discussions about various topics tangential to the curriculum. I want the kids to have the ability to think about and analyze information written for a secular audience.
here's another site http://www.accountwizard.com/client...s&class=SOCIAL+STUDIES&subclass=WORLD+HISTORY
What grades and subjects are you looking for? I buy most of our textbooks on Amazon and at library sales.
Where we used to live was awesome- the school districts would pool their outdated (because the NEW edition just came out fixing this date or that name) or slightly worn books in a single warehouse. One day during the summer the warehouse was open to the public and you could come in and choose as many books as you wanted- for the cost of lugging them out of the warehouse! Free! Thankfully the first year I happened to see someone I knew and she and I "buddied" up- one of us loaded books out to our car while the other watched the toddlers. LOL And continued browsing book piles of course. I ended up with an entire encyclopedia set, plus literature books- teacher and student editions, that we are using for high school. Keep an eye out locally for something like that! MT3
I used to go to Ebay for outdated school textbooks. I figured english, math, health and probably science are pretty stable subjects that don't change much. Geography and social studies need to be updated more frequently so those I would buy new. Of course, you cannot get TE for any textbooks on Ebay. It's against their policy.
They changed that a few years back I think. Homeschoolers were throwing a fit because we couldn't sell most of our things because they had answers with them.
Oh ok that was when I was independent (2 years ago). I couldn't get the TE for anything. That was a bummer! Glad to hear they changed the rule!
