I have been looking for a curriculum for my 11 year old. He has been going to a Norwegian school and although his reading is VERY good, his spelling and grammar and writing skills are probably at about a 4th grade level. Can anyone recommend a curriculum that covers all or most of that and that is secular? I have looked at Shurley English but as I am having a baby in September that just seems to teacher involved. I want something that doesn't require too much supervision as my son is quite good at working on his own and enjoys that. I am asking for a lot, aren't I?
Does he like to write letters to friends and relatives?This is a good way to incorporate everything. For this coming year I am looking at Bob Jones English.
We're going to be using Rod & Staff but its a Mennonite publisher so not a secular choice. Have you looked at IEW for writing? Boys tend to really like it esp. if you get the student DVDs. They really like Andrew Pudewa as an instructor. We've just started it with my older girls (my son is still a bit young.) www.excellenceinwriting.com My oldest using Spelling Power and its nice because they only study the words they miss....not work on a list of words all week that they already now. I think Winston Grammar would be more secular. You might look at it.
I have a 15 mo old under foot so I can't dig them out, but I have some workbooks that you may be able to find in the lower grades also. We started them this year and will carry them into next year. My dd is going into 8th grade but I'm still finding out what she didn't learn in ps and we've been hsing for 1 1/2 school years. Remind me to get back to this! I also have secular suggestions for history/geography if you need them. PM me if I forget!
This is something that I looked into for this school year for my 4th Grader: Wordsmith Apprentice . This claims to be very self directed. Here's a link with info about it: Wordsmith Apprentice I ended up not choosing, not because it doesn't look really cool - but because my daughter reallying like her current L/A (Alpha Omega) which is NOT secular. Sorry. And her curriculum this year is covering writing pretty intensively. For spelling, you might want to look into Sequential Spelling - I think it's by AVKO? I'm looking into this. My eldest's curriculum does have spelling - but it doesn't really see to follow patterns or logic and it's not very challenging, I don't think. AVKO Sequential Spelling is like a spelling test every day, and it works on word groups/families, etc. and helps build spelling skills that way. I hope this helps!
Life paks do all of it, they have writing and spelling and reading all in one book, well in ten books the size of a booklet. aop.com Also has horizon Phonics and penmanship that may help.
Thanks guys, I am looking into all of those now. I feel I need to specify, I am Christian but I much prefer to teach it on our terms that is why I want to avoid it in the curriculum. So if the publisher is religious but it does not have any references to religion in the books then that would be okay.
Ok, I really like the look of Wordsmith! I would love to have the LEarning Language Arts through literature as well but as he is so varied in his abilities (awesome reading, not so awesome grammar and spelling) I don't think that LLATL would work. Wordsmith should be just great, though. Spelling power also looks good, I like what you said about not having to practice a bunch of words he knows. Now all I need is some decent grammar program and a challenging reading comprehension program.
You know....for reading comprehension....you could do books that he enjoys and just read along with him so you can come up with question/answer pages for him. OR....I've found www.edhelper.com to be worth the $20/year just for that....they have short reading comps and then they answer questions. They have 1 for every day - even several to choose from. I don't do them EVERY day....but maybe 1 or 2 a week and my eldest has learned some really neat things because of them! There are also grammar workbooks/reading comp workbooks in teacher stores and such....you could look on amazon, too. Wordsmith IS neat...isn't it???? I might use that next year - I think my eldest will NOT be thrilled at all with her L/A this year even though she claims she loves it! LOL
Good idea about edhelper.com, I keep forgetting about that site and then being surprised every time I "rediscover" it.
check out Horizon phonics, I know the math only has a few codes you figure out that has scripture verses in them, but its nto pushy or anything, so maybe the Phonics wont be either?
What about Easy Grammar? I know alot of people at my support group recommend that program. I have used the older student book Easy Grammar Plus and I think it is very easy to follow and well laid out. http://www.easygrammar.com/index2.html
I found one called Growing with Grammar that has received rave reviews on homeschoolreviews.com Anyone familiar with it? It is made by a homeschooling mom.
Phonics is a lot like grammar it helps you learn the rules and stuff to do with reading and writing both. We are using English 6 with BJU next year for my gonna be 11 yr old,
Ok, I see. Thanks for clearing that up for me. There's a lot of stuff that is difficult for me to get not having been born and raised in the US.
I bet there is! How exciting though! With English from BJU ( Bob Jones University) they do a little of it all and it really made learning these things more enjoyable for my ds10 in 5th this year.
