My name is Jim and my wife and I are going to start homeschooling next year. Or kids are ages 13 (8th grade), 10 (6th grade), and 8 (4th grade). We understand that the first year is often very stressful, so we need suggestions concerning which home school curricula are the most user-friendly. We have done a little research on the different methods, and we have been initially drawn to the classical method, but we also like unit studies. In short we will probably end up with an eclectic approach, so all suggestions are welcome. Since we understand that we will be learning as much about homeschooling during the first year as our kids will be learning about the various subjects we cover, it is very important to us that we make the first year as stress free as possible while still providing a good education. Ideally, we would like a curriculum that is not only user friendly, but also teaches us how to homeschool as we engage in the process. Thanks, Jim
I cannot point out a whole program that will take care of your needs, but I can give some general advice: 1. A lot of "all-in-one" programs are very enticing, but can be very stressful to work with. You might like the English, but the math is lacking. Or, you might find it to contain a lot of busy work-which you can limit, but with it there in front of you, you might feel guilty not doing it all. 2. What works for one person may not work for you. What you like may not be the best for your kids. What one child thrives with may not even make sense to the other child. 3. Don't be afraid of dumping a curriculum if it is not a good fit. 4. Buy used, especially in the beginning. But, if you find something you like a lot-you may want to buy new later on-to support the company. I would especially encourage this to small homeschool focused companies. 5. Get your hands on samples or borrow from other homeschoolers. Take long looks at the style and content. Ask questions from seasoned experts (who are they- I don't know-I am still figuring this out). 6. Check out the return policy. Some are very generous and some are not. Don't let your kids write in books you are not sure of. 7. Don't be afraid to do some classes without a curriculum, especially with the young ones. Ok, this is getting long and I will list some of my likes and dislikes, but remember these are my opinions-doesn't necessarily mean they are good or bad: Lifepacs (Alpha Omega)- Cute little booklets, but dry and sometimes random in content. I found the math lacking in instruction. ACE - Again, cute little workbooks, but I wasn't impressed with the sample I got. BJU (Bob Jones)- solid academic textbooks. They also have DVD and other options. Very intense. I like their grammar and literature and their math is close to what you would get in school. A Beka- much like BJU. I prefer their science to BJU's. I haven't used other subjects enough to comment. They are pricey and can't be bought from a retailer (unless used). Apologia (science)- great books and easy to read and challenging. A hit with many homeschoolers. Teaching Textbooks- a great math curriculum. I believe it start in 3rd or 4th. They are not cheap, but can be re-used and they re-sell well. A lot of it is computer based, but they permit you to re-sell. Math U See- a math program with manipulatives with a mastery approach. A very good math program. That is probably enough to think about for a while.
I agree making up curriculum is rather easy for the younger grades. And there are all sorts of lesson plans to go with areas of study for free online. I guess what you pick will also depend on what style you decide to go with. Charlotte Mason, unit studies, waldorf etc. Check a few gov't run sites for free lessons also. Museums and universities also seem to have a lot of free lessons. Take your time in deciding and as the previous poster said don't be afraid to ditch a program if it isn't working for you and your children.
You got great advice We are in our first year as well, and the number one thing I would suggest is to REALLY look at samples before you decide. There are many different teaching philosophies and methods, and unless you agree with the publisher, it is going to be impossible to teach. And your kids' learning styles and your teaching styles are a huge part of what will work and what won't. I also want to add that until you REALLY sit your kids down, you won't know exactly what they know. I thought I did- until I started my 3rd grader in 3rd grade math and he had a breakdown (and this was an A student who loves math). Likewise, he knew no LA at all beyond punctuation. If I had spent a lot of money on curriculum, I'd be in trouble. It is impossible to talk about specific curric unless I tell you why we chose each thing, so here's my short (and weird ) list: Spectrum math- love this math. Basic no frills math workbooks with no fluff or games. Spectrum LA- I JUST use this book as a guide. I don't give the kids the worksheets in it. I refer to it so I know I'm covering things in a decent sequence. Harcourt Sci text- the kids LOVE this book. There are tons of pictures, and the text is written in mostly kid friendly language. We suppliment with a lot of other things because it is rather wide and shallow, but I am so very glad we bought these. Otherwise, I pull from a lot of internet sources, and come up with things on my own. I printed the World Book Scope and Sequence as a very general guide for my kids, just to give me some goals for the year. Our newest addition.... Netflix. Lots of educational vids (although the search engine is pathetic).
I'd like to add to what cabsmom said. If you're considering a particular publisher, and there's a placement test to their materials, use it before buying. If they offer samples online, or paper samples in your hands, check them out. In the spring, there are TONS of homeschool conventions, conferences, and BOOK FAIRS! See if you can find some in your area to attend! You can see curriculum materials hands on and ask questions of the vendors but don't make any snap judgements. I'd like to suggest Christian Light Education, if you lean toward Christian materials. Especially Reading/literature, math, and Language Arts/English. www.clp.org There are samples online of most stuff. I really think their Reading program is tops. Math too, up through 8th grade. LA through 8th grade is great - I haven't used above that yet. It includes grammar and composition, spelling, and handwriting, in each lesson. The lessons are in workbooks, and the students can work very independently because of the really good explanations and examples. For English through 10th grade, you may want to look at Rod & Staff instead. They are very reasonably priced, and in textbooks, so they're reusable. www.rodandstaffbooks.com There are samples there too. VERY solid! People who have used this through 8th grade have said that their kids were more than well-prepared for college, and that the 9/10 books are actually college-level. I don't know - I haven't used those higher levels yet, but the lower grades 2-6th that I have used (completely or portions of) are excellent. The TMs have reduced-size student pages with the answers around the edges with teacher-tips, oral review of previous lessons, and quizzes - very open-and-go.
For Elementary I really like Sonlight for History, LA, Reading and Science. Everything is really well laid out. For High School: Based on what I used with sd I would use the following: History: if you want a more textbook approach BJU (Abeka was very dull and the test were not very good). Notgrass or Beautiful Feet work well with a child who likes to read. Sonlight also has a history program for the high school level but that is very reading intensive. English: Jensen's Vocabulary or Wordly Wise, Progeny Press or Novel Units literature guides, Easy Grammar Writing: IEW or Jensen's Format writing Science: Aplogia Math: Saxon There are also alot of things out there you can do for electives in high school.
For high school, I would recommend two yahoo groups: homeschool2college and hs2coll. You will get lots of great resources from the archives or from asking the group for a variety of high school subjects as well as record keeping and college application topics.
HS'ing 3 children at one time is going to be very time consuming. You are going to want a couple of programs that allow the child to work independantly. Bob Jones is a really good program for first timers, everything is layed out for you, but it is time consuming. I have used all subjects for various grades. The English program is really good, it includes writing and grammar. However, I did not like their science or history, and my dd hated the reading program (she thought the stories were boring :roll It can get expensive by the time you purchase all the books for student and teacher. Some good programs that kids can do without much instruction from you are Teaching Textbooks for Math, Easy Grammar, Real Science 4 Kids, Lifepacs, and Switched on Schoolhouse (however they are expensive and resale is not permitted).
This is our first year hsing. The ones that I love so far are: BJU - History, Grammar, Reading Saxon - Math Science - RS4K (real science for kids) When we started out it I found that with the BJU we were completely and totally overwhelmed. So, I dumped the entire curriculium and bought SOS (switched on schoolhouse) I must say that was a life savor for about 3 months. Now, we have gone back to the BJU and I am able to look at it and not be so overwhelmed. My children like it so much better because they love the work books and they are colorful sorta like what you would get at ps. Don't be afraid to skip over lesson either. If they know it move on! It took us a long time to get into a routine but we have the hang of it now. Also, when you start begin with only 2 subjects get into a routine and then build on it from there. You will not fall behind I promise. I tried to do them all at first, no one gave me that idea because I didn't know anyone. If your kids are getting it at first, they will, its all new! Enjoy your journey it is the most rewarding experience of your life. Oh, also go to CBD (Christian Book Distributors) there is a homeschool number you can call and talk to other homeschoolers I did that all the time while I was figuring out what we wanted to use. Pick their brains as well. Also, what ever you pick remember you don't have to do every nook and crannie you can skip over some things as well.
When I first decided to switch up from an all in one (Abeka) I read tons of reviews on www.homeschoolreviews.com. There are some subjects, like history and maybe science, that you can choose one curricula and do it for all 3 grades. Mystery of History and Apologia are ones that come to mind. There is also a spelling curricula that you can buy once and use for all grades all the way thru grade 12. It is called Spelling Power (orange book). It is basic, easy, and has worked well for us. Mystery of History details and full review: http://heartsathomekids.com/store/index.php?main_page=page&id=35 We love Teaching Textbooks, and you can use the individual grades for all 3. You can save the upper grades and pass it down to the next one in line, or resell (great resale value on these). I would recommend taking the online placement tests www.teachingtextbooks.com. For grammar, we have used several things along the years, and now we have found our niche! Easy Grammar! It is easy to teach and easy to learn. I have even learned a lot. http://www.easygrammar.com/index2.html Enjoy learning each other's teaching/learning style the first year, and in the years to come. You may switch up along the way, and that's ok! It is a worthwhile journey.
You've already received some good advice, but can I stress that you decide what/how you are comfortable teaching, and pick an approach that matches that! If you are a "check the box" kind of person, than an open curriculum will seem too flighty or loose. If you are more relaxed, then the workbook approach may seem very stifling. If you can attend a homeschool convention near you this spring/summer you can look at many different types of curriculum, and speak not only to vendors, but to people who are actually homeschooling and using the items! But remember, what works for other people may not work for YOU! Take a curriculum at its face value and see if it teaches your child. If it does, and both you and the student are happy- go with it! With all of the possible choices out there it is quite easy to get pulled into thinking that if a curriculum is being used by the family down the street, than maybe we should be using it too. Trust me- it happens!! Read through some old topics here, check out review boards, talk to homeschoolers in your area, look through the items on sites like Christian Book Distributors (cbd.com)- which carries many homeschool items- not just Christian ones, and then decide. Have fun! MT3
Totally agreeing with this! I would not assume that all-in-one will make things easier. Using the library often will be one of your best resources, especially for the younger ones and especially for science and social studies. Try to use homeschooling to uncover what your children are interested in, and then try to go with that as much as possible. We are in our 12th year of homeschooling. We are eclectic. Here are some of the things that have worked for us: Spelling - Spelling Power (can be used by all the children for all their years of homeschooling) Math - We used Singapore Math until 6th grade and were very happy with it. After 6th grade their program changes and we switched to Teaching Textbooks. I highly recommend both programs. TT is less intimidating if you have anyone that has math phobia. Story of the World - There are 4 books, meant to be used for 4 years. There are also activity books that go with them which have review questions, maps, coloring pages, literature suggestions, and other activities. Easy Grammar is easy and it's grammar. Works for us. Science - incredibly difficult to find anything for homeschoolers that is not Christian-based. This can be incredibly frustrating, just to warn you, if that matters. Spectrum Chemistry (it is Christian) worked well for high school chemistry though.
Its possible you could combine history and/or science for your 4th and 6th grader. You might want to look at the following which lend themselves to this: Noeo Science (www.noeoscience.com) Story of the World (buy used on Ebay or Amazon; check out the activity book. Esp for your 4th and 6th grader) Spelling Power (approx 3rd grade through high school level. Takes 15 min a day. Love it! We have used it for 4 or 5 years and swear by it-it works! Plus its a one-time buy. No other levels to buy). Other great stuff: Apologia Science (My highschooler is using Biology. You can buy an older textbook on Ebay for about $15 to see if you like it. It is very user friendly-for the student and the parent. A+) Switched On Schoolhouse (for each child's individual subjects. It can get expensive especially if you are buying for several kids. MATH is not recommended with this publisher) **For good discounts on curriculum go to www.homeschoolbuyerscoop.org **Love to Learn offers a nice catalog of nifty things, especially good with library builders **Rainbow Resource: The GRANDDADDY of all homeschool catalogs! What is it? 1,200 pages?? In a word, AWESOME! and they usually give free shipping over $150 which is all too easy to reach. **If you are going high school independent of the local school district, you may be interested in North Atlantic Regional High School (www.NARHS.org) They provide a way for independent homeschoolers to earn an accredited high school diploma (which may or may not interest you. Many people feel accredited is not necessary. Totally up to you..) Good Luck on your homeschooling adventure!
The VERY first thing I would do is purchase an e-reader. If you can afford it, I would buy one for each child. The reason is simple. Once you have the ereader, all the books are free. And what wonderful books there are! Start at www.manybooks.net. Jacob and John Abbott books are awesome biographies! Then surf to www.mainlesson.com which also has outstanding(!) reading material. I recommend the cheapest Sony ereader. If you get the fancier models, your children will have internet access that might be hard to monitor. Then if you are comfortable using a computer, I would purchase Grammtech software to help teach your children grammar. This is a great tool. http://www.academicvisions.com/ Finally, I like Saxon math. Many would disagree, but at least give it a try. The books are easily available 2nd hand; and if you discipline the children to do one a day, they can make tremendous progress and learn math well. They can also usually do it quite independently. But.....as everyone else has already said, to each their own. Find something that works and stick with it. We've all made mistakes. You'll make some too. Don't fret it. Check in here for lots of group wisdom.
I've not read everything everyone said, but did skim through. Would especially like to emphasize that it's OK to toss things mid-year if they're not working. Also, I'm not sure if someone mentioned this, but many times the first year of hs'ing sees gains NOT so much in academics. It's a year to establish things, and to "recover" your kids. Many call this "deschooling". So don't get frustrated if all three of your kids aren't fluent in Latin and coming in first place in the spelling bee by this time next year :wink:. My children are 16, 14, and 11. My oldest is 95% independent right now, but I've done a lot of combined teaching in the past. Mystery of History is my all-time favorite, top-choice. Story of the World is similar to it. Both are excellent for using across grades. This year I'm doing geography with my younger two called "Around the World in 180 Days". It's also good for multple grades. Science is another one you can teach to all at the same time. "Considering God's Creation" is good (though they have a hoaky CD with songs that your kids would turn their noses at! You don't have to listen to it, lol!) The biggest thing to remember is that YOU are in charge of the curriculum, the curriculum is NOT in charge of you! Feel free to add/take away from any of them. They give lots of "ideas"...use them as little or as much as you want. Don't feel you MUST do something simply because it's in the book. Oh, something else you might want to look into is "English from the Roots Up". It teaches Latin/Greek roots of English. You can use it with mid-to-upper elementary students and older. When my oldest was eight, she came to me in the middle of math to tell me that she decided that OCT must mean EIGHT in Latin or Greek, because an OCTOGON had eight sides, and an OCTOPUS has eight legs. (I then explained to her that OCTOBER was the eighth month in the Roman calendar).
I am fairly new to homeschooling. We started in August 2010 and I was very stressed out when I started because I thought I had the "perfect" curriculum and then I realized that some of it was good but just not for our daughter. Here is what we do and why: (Our 9yr dd is a very visual and kinesthetic) Grammar--Easy Grammar grade 4. I started with R&S because I loved to diagram sentences when I was in school but was a bust for her. I had a long-term HS mom direct me to Easy Grammar and it was perfect. I saw where even some of the issues with my daughter was the style and the font of the letters so this was perfect. Good review, short but sweet lessons and opportuniy for reinforcement in the student workbook. Daily grams we will use during the summer to keep fresh. Reading: Anything she wants to. Math: Saxon 54 Homeschool edition (3rd) Although I like the review it does get a bit much so we skip some of it. Again sometimes the "jumping around" even a small bit overwhelms her but she has done well. History/Bible/Art: The Mystery of History Volume 1. We use the lessons as our history but also the scriptures in it gives us a chance to read and study chronologically. We also let her draw during the reading of each lesson so she can depict what her minds thinks as she takes in the story. Art/Music/Drama: locally she participates in a fine arts program all day once a week. This is my little piece of time and she loves fine arts so she loves it. They study all those areas and the history of those as well. Spelling: Spelling Power. This is great! Once you go through the placement tests and find their level it is very easy. You read the words off for them to spell until you have reached 5 minutes or they finish spelling the entire list. Any missed words get put on a separate paper that takes them through a series of tasks for reviewing the correct spelling (10 minutes). We bought the cards that go with the curriculum but we haven't really used them. Science: We found a local environmental center that hosts homeschool classes really cheap for 6-8 weeks sessions. Very hands on and she loves them. Check with your local parks and recreation centers. Usually they have these same ones and it gets the kids out of the house. Hope this helps!
I totally loved the long listed info you were given. In our 14th? year of hsing here we found Life Pak style books the best for starting out. The early grades they were great for, primary/grammar school aka elementary and even up to Middle school jr high levels. Once you get into High school levels you want to change to something else. My 13 yr old is taking Colorado moms Simplezine homeschooling Physics for jr high. He loves that part of his schooling! Though at this age he likes to say he doesn't know the answers when point blank questioned if I open a book, web site etc ad start talking to him about it he proves how much he is really learning! For Math we are using MUS ALg1, but Life Pak 8th grade is a general Math review up to a pre algebra type of study. We used that last year for him. We take a band class at a private school. Bible - is off and on with different studies. English-- we are using 180 days Grammar he likes that it is a page a day. We also use Vocabulary with Stech/Vaugh's series. HE is at G level I think right now. ( I say I think because the book is not in front of me and its either G or H that we have). History- we are using Trail Guide To Geography and working our way around the world studying a bit about each section with a home school group co-op. I put together a bit of this and that each month and we have a packet to follow that includes Trail Guides as a part of it actually. PE he is in baseball they are practicing two hours a day almost each week day at present. HE does not need to record PE yet but if I were it would be up to two weeks a a week of PE for second semester which we started last month, that included baseball> I also ad in my own training exercise as well as video lessons from the Library on each sport we are focusing on. Not sure if I added everything but , if you have any questions just ask! Wehave two kids that are in College now so have been through all grades up to 11th, as dd went to our church's private school for sr year. Theyused SOS there.
I guess the advice I am going to give you is different from some of the other advice you have been given so far. Your job is more difficult than mine is, I only have one child. You need to teach to the child's learning styles as well as your own teaching style. Additionally, you will need to keep good records and have good lesson plans. What we use and love as our core curriculum is online, Time4Learning. It is based on state and national standards. I really love the record keeping and lesson plans part of it. My daughter likes that it is fast paced, colorful, and interesting. We do suppliment, and will have to find another curriculum for some subjects soon, as well as a whole new curriculum in a couple of years (it only goes to 8th grade), but T4L certainly made the decision to homeschool and the search for the initial curriculum easier. Linda Homeschooling 1 child for 4 years with Time4Learning!
Good record keeping and lesson plans will depend on where you're at and your personality. I don't keep any records at all, with the exception of grades for my highschooler(s), because I'll need to give them transcripts eventually. And I had difficulty putting lesson plans together when I was in the classroom, because my rather...spontaneous...personality would never stick to them. But others love doing the planning, etc., or live in a state that requires good records.
