Hi, I will be homeschooling my 2nd grader this year. She attended public school for Kindergarten and 1st grade. I need some help deciding on curriculum. Do you recommend using a complete curriculum with lesson plans or piecing together curriculum and making my own lesson plans? Can you suggest curriculums that you have used and would recommend? Thanks! Heather
When I first started out I needed most of it laid out for me. I used Sonlight and loved it. Now that I have been hs'ing for a few years I use different curriculums. I still tend to use the curriculums how they are designed but I have become less of a box checker and will skip things or rearrange things as I want them.
Welcome here, Heather! I am also Heather and my oldest will be starting grade 2 in fall . I will also have a K'er, an almost 3 year old, and an almost 1 year old. I agree with mschickie that started out with a boxed curriculum is probably easiest. It will help you get a feel for homeschooling. As you go along you will quickly figure out what sorts of materials work well for your family, and which don't. Are you looking for Christian/religious materials or secular? I am mostly familiar with Christian materials as that is what we use. I have used Sonlight as well and think it is a great place to start. With a 2nd grader I would likely choose Core B. If you want more of a workbook approach Christian Light Education is very good. They have placement tests for math and LA. Of course there are many many more options. These are just two that I am familiar with, and highly recommend.
Thanks Ladies! It doesn't really matter to me if materials are Christian or secular. I've checked Sonlight out, but it seemed really expensive. Have either of you used other curriculums?
I made up mine off the top of my head. Honestly. K-7....here's my curriculum: Teach the kid to read well as early as possible (which involved lots and lots and lots of reading TO the kid), teach the kid to write for pleasure, teach the kid basic math/fractions. Science and social studies were pretty optional....but since she loved science we did a ton of science. We didn't do much history...figured American and World history in high school would be far more entertaining if it was a surprise. LOL. Oh yeah...and we went to the library once a week...religiously...and checked out about 30 items a week. Not exaggerating. My kid loved science videos and took out 7 each week (the maximum allowed on my library card). And tons and tons of books. I chose a few, she chose dozens. We relaxed, did our own thing...never worried about it. No tests, no worksheets, no deadlines. I was an "unschooler"...we're sort of the ultra-laid-back weirdos of the home school crowd. People look at us like strange exotic birds. LOL. You'd think a kid like this would bomb in public school, but she wanted to go in eighth grade, and she did great. Loved it, and rocked it with all A's. Some kids are academic by nature, I think. Some have other talents. My kid was weirdly academically inclined. Other kids might have other gifts. But yeah, even with her super laid-back K-7....she rocked the ACT, got into a great college and got really good funding for her education. (she's going into molecular biology with the hope of doing genetic biomedical engineering and research) My kid is proof that there's more than one way to educate well. Trust yourself Enjoy your time together. Don't sweat the small stuff. If it's not clicking, give it time, and keep trying in a positive way. I think sometimes kids have to WANT to learn....to excel. Never let their love of learning die. Even if everyone around you is shaking their finger at your choices....protect that spark. That spark...that love of learning...is everything...in my opinion. That's my two cents.
If you like religious curriculum, I have two fairly inexpensive ones that are very thorough. www.clp.org is written by a group of Mennonites, and in most courses consists of 10 workbooks. Some do have textbooks. www.milestonebooks.com is not a publisher but a vendor of Rod & Staff which is written by a different group of Mennonites. It's more textbooky. The store also offers curriculum by Amish publishers. There is also Christian Liberty Press. They're I think Reformed. They write a good bit of their own materials, too, but also select materials from other publishers such as Abeka and BJU. http://www.shopchristianliberty.com/ I like Christian Liberty's science and social studies for second grade. I have used materials from all three of these companies, and been very happy with my choices.
It is expensive, but about 90% of it is reusable. If you only have the one child you could sell it once you are finished with it. Also, if you looked at the full grade package, that can be a lot more expensive than just ordering what you need. You really don't need all the extras. The math program alone for the 2nd grade package is $180 (Horizons math with a whole slew of manipulatives), but if you order just what you need it could be as little as $25 (Miquon is very inexpensive). But there are so many other options out there. For a program similar to Sonlight, but cheaper, there is My Fathers World. Instead of buying all of the books, there is a list of list of books you can sign out from the library. I am considering My Fathers World for my kids for the 2015 school year. For this year I am using a hodge podge of stuff. I have McGuffey's readers and Explode the Code for language arts, as well as possibly some penmanship books. For math we have Ray's Arithmetic and possibly Life of Fred. For Science my 2nd grader has a big science workbook from Schoolzone. For Social Studies we are studying Canada using Donna Ward's Canada My Country.
Actually, before you buy anything else, I highly recommend this little book http://www.christianbook.com/the-th...tt=620749&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP
Thanks for your help! So, if I decided to go with Sonlight, I don't need to order the lesson plans? Is it difficult to figure out how many lessons you should do each day? I will look into all of these curriculums. Thanks!
Not exactly. See the IG is what makes it Sonlight. It takes all those great books in the package and puts them together for you. It schedules the chapters to read and gives you notes and questions to discuss with your children. You could just look at their website and go to the library and pick up those same books, but the IG puts it all together for you and makes it into an actual program. If you are truly interested in Sonlight I would encourage you to stop buy the Sonlight forums, or even call and talk to an advisor. They can help you get it all straight and figure out exactly what you would need.
I highly recommend using an Instructors Guide with Sonlight especially if you are just starting out. You often can find older editions used on ebay, homeschoolclassifieds.com or vegsource.com They lay everything out for you. I will also say Sonlight has a great resale value.
Another good book to read is "Cathy Duffy's Top 100 Curriculums". BUT READ THE BOOK, it talks about learning your child's learning style; which you can then use that knowledge to pick curricula for the child. I have found that to be a useful tool ALL THROUGH as a kids style can change as they grow, as well. Also, if you are thinking Sonlight, make sure to read their "Reasons NOT to use Sonlight" document on the website. I have ALWAYS been attracted to Sonlight. But every time I read that document, I have to pause and say "no". I will say, I'm very Sonlight-esque and I love to grab ideas from their reading lists! I tend to wrap as many subjects as I can around our history curricula. If you do go with them, the IG IS a necessary item. I have several friends who are "all Sonlight" and love it. Good luck in your journey!
Lindina - Did you use Christian Liberty Press and Christian Light Education together in the same year or separately? Which did you like better? Thanks!
I tend to pick courses, rather than whole grade levels. So I have used 2nd CLE for Bible, reading, LA, math with 2nd Christian Liberty for science and social studies in the same year, for example. I tend NOT to use two publishers for the same course at the same time. I have used R&S reading for Bible while using either CLE or Pathways for reading at grades 2, 3, 4. Last year we did both R&S 3 AND CLE 3 for social studies, not at the same time but in that order, because each one is only half a year if done every day. What I like better depends on what my student needs that year. This coming year, my 4th grade grandson will be doing CLE Bible 4, Reading 4, Math 4, R&S English 4, Spelling 4, Science 4, and CLE social studies 4. Pentime penmanship 4, Daily Grams 4 when we can work it in, and Christian Liberty Nature Readers for bedtime reading. We've been working "behind" in English from the get-go, so when we finished CLE 2 at mid year, I picked up R&S 3 because I knew we could go faster orally and do most of it in one semester, to be ready to start CLE 4 this fall. However, his Language score on his achievement test went up this spring, so I'm thinking the R&S style may be a better match for him. So I asked him which he would prefer, and he chose R&S 4 for this year. We'll see how it goes.... We may go back to CLE or not later on. ETA: I really like CLE reading, math, and Bible, and will probably stay with that at least through 8th grade. We will likely stay with R&S science through 8th grade. English and history are subject to change. Right now I'm planning on CLP 4th AND 5th grade history for 5th grade.
I think over our 20+ years, we have used everything from Alpha Omega, BJU videos, Abeka, Saxon etc. to just putting it together by the interest of each child. We first started out with Alpha Omega LifePacs and a "schoolroom" with teacher desk, chalkboard, student desks and a schedule starting a 8:00 am and ending at 3:15 just like public school. That all lasted about 2 weeks! It didn't work because that wasn't who we were as a family. My gosh, we were getting AWAY from public school and there I was trying to use it as my model. It is easier to start out with something laid out as far as lessons and how much you should cover and such but even at that you will want to look at what "fits" your family and works with your family's flow. Personally, I feel that all of the sciences and history stuff is going to be covered in depth in High School and even some in Jr. High school so I just wanted to instill a love for both subjects mostly while in the lower grades. We still did science and history but much of the time it was through field trips, experiments, community happenings and PBS. Some years we spent $200 total for all the kids for the whole school year and others we spent $600 each (I was in a car wreck and that year we went with the BJU videos). I know that it can be very overwhelming with so many choices but just keep in mind two things: 1. what you have set as your budget for the year and 2. what you think will work for your kids/family (textbooks, workbooks, library books, videos, etc). I'm sure you will do great!
It's funny now to think that when I started homeschooling DS back in the early 90s, all I knew about or could find out about for complete curriculum were ACE, Lifepac, and Abeka. l found Abeka too expensive, and ACE not challenging/below level. So Lifepac it was. My DS tested right into his grade level with no problem. Then we switched to Saxon for math. We went to homeschool conventions and wrote for catalogs and gradually expanded our horizons. I diligently sought out used curriculum sites. I have used in addition to the 4 above, BJU, Christian Liberty, Jensen, Writing Strands, public school castoffs for many subjects and grade levels, and stuff off the internet. And finally after 13 years I've settled on my 3: CLE, R&S, CLP. Oh, don't think I've disposed of all else! I have a 20x40' building stuffed with bits, parts, pieces of curriculum, some of which I have bought, and some I "inherited".... And just yesterday, someone has offered to give me TWO sets of encyclopedias he doesn't need anymore. Will I take them? Absolutely!
Ludina - Would you recommend CLE or R&S for social studies in 2nd grade? Also what would you recommend for Science? Does a 2nd grader need to do Social Studies and Science everyday? Thanks!
Would you recommend buying one set of CLE first to see if it will work for us or would you buy all ten?
Actually, for 2nd grade I like Christian Liberty for both science and social studies. You'll have to figure out your schedule for yourself.... Check out the sample pages of CLE at the website www.clp.org. There are a lot, and there are free diagnostic tests for LA and Math to make sure your child is properly placed. When you click on sample for the test, it's actually the whole thing, and you only have to print just the pages you need. Some people do just order the first couple of workbooks and the TM to try it out. NOTICE that the first book of every math level is a review of the previous level's 'highlights", so it's a different format than the regular workbooks for the rest of the year.
