I know some do unit studies - I am planning on doing some of that..... but I am looking at getting basic books for some sort of structure. I think with talking to my kids they will need that to help adjust (my 7 year old is worried about recess :love: ) The fairs in this area are all on days I really cannot make it. The 4-H fair is going on.... I need to work (kids and I all go to the farmer's markets on Saturdays and we need to do it financially right now)... So I'm searching for some feedback....based on what I am looking for.... so help me out some I do not mind religious text - but don't try to convert my kids to anything particular. It's just me... but we just aren't overly religious - but I respect it and think it would be good as an undertone. Hope that makes sense? I would also like something that isn't time oriented.. I believe my son's biggest issue is with time pressure. Both kids LOVE workbooks and computers and have easy access to their own systems - and personally we are able to set them each up with an older laptop to work with which can include internet. My son will be entering the 5th grade - but I'd like some lead in to that - like starting with light 4th grade work over the summer and working back into the 5th grade stuff. My daughter is going into 2nd and I think she can dive right in as she is currently repeating 1st in PS. Mixing and matching books is not a problem for me. I just want some opinions and what you actually saw in the books that made you get it or try it. I have some LifePac books coming in for my son and I plan on looking at those.... but I need personal opinions and reasoning - kinda to talk me through some of your experiences. Though I understand what works for you won't always work for me - but it might help me decipher some of the stuff I am reading
Hi Dana! This is my first year homeschooling so I don't have a ton of advice for you but we have loved it and it is the best decision I have made. My suggestion would be to have your child read. My oldest likes the classics so whatever your child is in to reading about would be great. For history we use "living books". Basically they aren't text books. They are biographies and we delve into things with that. I like to pull from all different sources. There are just so many options out there.
I have lifepacs for this year. Dh said to buy a curriculum so that is what I bought. (this is our first year) My DD came out of PS and loves workbooks. There are times she gets board and I will change it up. We have done time4learning (it's $20 a month) and get stuff off of enchangedlearning.com (twenty a year). We read alot of books from the library. I buy a lot of books too. Our latest was butterflies. Anything on that subject we bought. In the lifepacs for grade one there was a lot of drawing to be done. Instead of doing it in the workbook, I had DD do it in her journal. I also just had her answer alot of it orally. There are times when you can write just too much, KWIM? Some of the workbooks we whizzed thru and others we have gone slow. Right now it seems the second half of the math is review (workbook7) we have just started workbook 7 for language because we did some extra work on phonics and rhyming. Everything else we are on workbook 9. I also have Jumpstart software that we use. We do Independent 4-H, so there are some of my unit studies. I have Horizons Math and Horizons Spelling and Vocabulary Grade Two. I did get the Lifepac Bible Grade 2. We are both learning so I wanted to continue that. I was surprised that I learned something too. We are both doing the memory verses. We like to look up the different translations. My DD likes to go up to our Pastor and tell her what verses she has learned. My mom ordered Language Arts Grade 2, Real Science 4 Kids, Story of the World Vol 1 for me. That was really nice of here. She wasn't all happy with me about home schooling my DD since I also have two toddlers. Now she's starting to come to terms with it.
This is my first year of homeschooling also and I just research along the way and order what looks good. I don't have a history/social studies curriculum right now, we do unit studies for that at the moment but I'll be order Story of the World here soon. I don't have a science curriculum yet either but will be using www.noeoscience.com - I liked it because it had a lot of hands on, not a lot of writing or worksheets, and the price isn't bad at all. Math I'm using Miquon as my core and Singapore as a supplement. I chose them because again- lots of hands on and the Miquon gives you so many great ways to teach math in the teachers book and the Singapore- well it's colorful and dd really likes it lol but it also gives some great ways to do math. Grammar I'm using First Language Lessons- I like it because the lessons are short, sweet, and to the point. I can add supplemental work easily I do my own thing for phonics- not going to purchase a program because dd reads independantly and there is no need for it. I just do a sound of the week as needed and find worksheets online. Spelling I'm going to be using Spell to Write and Read- Basically how I've been teaching spelling already but gives me a betted idea of what to do. Basically I just did a lot of research and tried to find things that had a lot of hands on, not too much writing, ect.
Oh you mentioned Time4learning - is it worth it? I've been thinking about signing up. I have a membership for enchantedlearning and have really made good use of it.
Lets see...for my 7 year old we use Alpha Omega Lifepacs (all 5 subjects). I LOVE them, SHE loves them. Of course, reading and comprehending is her learning style so she loves to go thru her workbooks, when she hits a hitch we work on it. I supplement with fun things like Top Secret Adventures by Highlights, Gods World News and Horizons Penmenship (which, I also love). My son (5) hates his curriculum so we are in reorg stage for him right now. I'm working on it!
Here's a rundown of what I have: English: Bob Jones (dd, 9) Abeka (ds, 7) Lang: Bob Jones (dd, 9) Abeka (ds, 7) Math: Singapore (dd, 9) Harcourt (ds, 7) History: Mystery of History (both) Science: McGraw-Hill....and various unit studies Spelling: Bob Jones (dd, 9) Abeka (ds, 7) I knew someone who used Bob Jones and liked it, so I tried it this year with my dd. It is pretty good. I already had the Abeka stuff so I am using it for my son. Although I will say that Abeka is wonderful for reading, phonics and language. I really like Singapore for math. We also love mystery of history. I am still seeking a good science program but I have a few options I am looking into for next year.
we are using Lifepacs for the girls this year... I don't think so for next year.... They didn't like them at all.. and dh dislike the math...
Ok - I keep looking at everything - I am still leaning towards LifePac for my kids, at least in Math and I can expand it as needed and wanted and it might make it smoother for me since both like workbooks. BUT - looking at some of the other things out there - do you really NEED the all the parents guides? Like with Abeka (which was recommended by someone at our farmer's market to me)... they sell a child's kit and a parent's kit. With LifePac, it's all included and I found complete new sets with all subjects for about $190 +shipping which is doable on our budget right now Then I would add some computer use and even do unit studies. I was also thinking of adding latin as their young foreign language before we start in on spanish. I found one aimed towards younger kids and was thinking my vocabulary would probably do better with latin I guess right now, I seem to keep coming back to LifePac - but I'm afraid it's me and not necessarily the product. Because I think I'll feel comfortable with it and workbooks to start in on this journey, but at the same time I don't want to lose anything by using them. Any of that make sense?
Hmm let's see I don't know that I'll be much help this is just our second year. The first year we used "canned" curriculum from Seton. It was ok but enough that I didn't like about it that I decided not to go that route this year. I pulled together this year's by asking questions and looking at different things via message boards and such. We're using Easy Grammar 5 & 6 and I have Easy Grammar Plus for next year. I use MCP math but will have to find something different for next year as it only goes through 6th grade. For science this year and part of last year I used My World Science unit studies. http://www.myworldscience.com/ I really enjoy the unit studies. We did Rain Forest, Ponds, African Savannah, Woods and we are going to finish up this year with Human Body. I'm planning on using Apologia General Science for next year. I still searching for a history that we like. I used Seton's the first year and this year I used All Ye Lands from Catholic Heritage and wasn't happy with either one. Good luck - there's lots of good stuff out there you just have to find it. Ann
My daughter likes the Time4Learning. She has her own password to get on it that she made up. She reads the stories on her own. If she doesn't know the word, she just clicks on it and it tells her the word. On some if it she didn't quite know the stuff and wouldn't do so good. So at night I would go thru and write down what parts of Time4Learning she could do. If my DD doesn't do well she gets really upset (a bad thing she picked up from me). It shows you the work that your child did for the day. you can print out daily, weekly and monthly reports. I would do this to show DH. I did have a little problems the connection and it would freeze. It turned out to my on my side. After we changed somethings around I never had an issue since. We stopped using for now. Camping season is getting ready to start in two weeks. Fair time is going to be here before we know it. We do 4-H, so it's time to start getting projects ready for that. I will start it back up this fall. I just don't see the point of paying for something that I don't plan on using everyday like we did over the winter. I could have choose to hold/freeze the account (I think for a low monthly fee) but I will just redo the settings when I start up again. I just won't get my two free weeks again. No biggie to me.
We're eclectic also, not one curriculum, but whatever we have found that works well. English-Rod & Staff---we REALLY like this! Spelling-dd is doing R&S Spelling, ds13 is doing Incentive Publications "The Basic Not Boring Series Spelling". It's just to brush up on things and sharpen his skills, and he does it at his own pace. Handwriting-dd does Getty & Dubay Italic Handwriting Series Math-Both of them are doing Saxon Math History-We're doing a mixture of Timelines, Etc./Story of the World/Mystery of History, and other books they recommend. These are great, we love them! Oh, and ds13 is studying some US History Science-Both of them are doing Apologia---dd is doing Astronomy and ds13 is doing Physical Science Languages-dd was doing some Spanish, but decided she wanted to do sign language, so we're looking up info. on that. ds13 is doing Greek right now, and wants to add Hebrew or Italian. The Greek I got from the same place I got the Latin for the boys: www.greeknstuff.com Bible-We memorize scripture and do our own Bible things now ds15 is doing mostly LifePac for 11th grade. He is studying German from a variety of sources, and we're studying US History so he and his younger brother can take a CLEP test when they're ready. Best wishes!
English-Easy Grammar 5-6 and Writing Strands 3 Spelling--Wordly Wise 8 and 4 Math--Saxon 8/7, Saxon 7/6 and Horizons 4 (for dd's 6th,5th,4th) History-various American History currently we are watching The Revolution put out by the History Channel Science-Apologia Geography-studing Africa using the CIA world factbook online--making our own notebooks as we move through the continents Bible-our own study Reading--they choose books from the Inside Stories series and do the questions and activities Edit--- All that being listed, my first year I used all LifePacs. It is a VERY secure way to start. My dd's did fine with them.
Ok after re-reading my notes and WRITING down my "thought" list... (shhhh don't tell my mother I actually wrote a list - I used to laugh at her so much for doing that all the time!) Over the summer we are going to try Horizons math - I had it in my notes with a ? next to it. My thought was I would try them out each on their own current grade (DD - 1st grade & DS 4th grade) and see how they do. If they wiz through them - I'll continue if they are happy with it. Most other stuff I plan on doing unit studies - but supplement with some workbooks (like handwriting). I think for geography we are going to try "Mapping the World by Heart Lite 7th Edition" along with some unit studies. To add some computer time in - maybe time4learning and spellingtime. Then Latin - "Latin's Not So Tough", and KISS Grammar (hey it's free so I'm all for supplementing that way!) I think my problem is in trying to find a curriculum that has everything I want in 1 package - but it's not out there.
You are WAY ahead of the game if you are comfortable putting together your own thing. I so wish that I had been at that level when I started. I would have saved a some money, but I did learn a lot. I guess I needed that security. My dd's 6th and 5th used Horizons through the 6th one and my 4th grader is still using it. It worked well for us. You go!!!
No - not secure Just having budget issues at this point - it's that time of year for us on the farm where we need to do so much and yet no real money is coming in for awhile. So of course - it's the perfect time for me to plan something like this because otherwise I could go nuts on all the stuff out there!! I've found a lot of free unit studies out there and I think one place was like $80 for 6 months which would be more than enough time to download stuff - and I still have a TON of reading a-z books from when I was subscribed to the service which I used for my son. Personally I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping this all works. I am scared to death of missing something.
Just remember Dana, Even if your kids don't do something at the same time as kids in ps, they ARE learning, and most likely learning FAR BETTER than the kids in ps are! A couple of years ago my dd had a friend over. They were in the same grade, but the girl was into more division than dd was, and said, "You're only doing that? We're way past that!" And they were. I was a bit concerned, to tell the truth. Once my dd caught on to the division, she flew through her math. I wasn't pushing her, it just clicked and she was moving at her own fast pace. A couple of months later, she was at and a little past where her friend was. And by the next school year was past where her friend was working, because the school had to start out the year with a lot of review. That taught me a lesson. I don't worry about what her friends that go to ps or Christian schools are doing. It sometimes sounds GREAT! But some of her friends and their moms have told me that they think what WE are doing is great! So I guess the grass is always greener! Also, because you are at home, you may do different things anyway. If your kids DO go back to school sometime, they'll be able to pick up easily and move on with the class. I've no doubt about that! So don't be scared you're missing something, cuz you're kids are probably getting as much or more than ps kids are!
what about the math did your dh not like? I think it moves too slowly my self? but I use other things with it. We liked Horizons Math when kids were younger, now I am looking at it for my ds9 as well for next year. Since it now goes to that grade. He gets math faster than the other two , being the third one home taught. dd 13 is looking at video text if we stay home with her and other wise, she will be doing Saxon Math in highschool. I think she will be done with Algerbra 1 Life Pak by then. We use LIfe Paks and SOS here, btw. Have the whole time, with added things like Abeka readers and Christian Liberty readers too! kids love the short story things and the Abekas had questions right there, I think CL did too? Now my kids cant get enough books from the library we go nearly once a week and they actually read everything. Dd is reading young adult level books now and kids books as well as she is barely 13. ds 9 is reading chapter books, from the library as well as some of the ones that are actually comic books with a story line. He reads the State, or Country books I get from Library all the way through when he is studying a certain location too, I never knew someone to sit and read it all the way through so thats pretty cool, I mean I know they have pictures and words both, but still its information not stories! We also use many computer games, Oregon Trail was good when studying that, Amazon trail too, INf act ds needs to play that this weekend becaue it will be put away for a while due to us finishing the rain forest finallY! We are running behind in our lessons at present, but will make it in June for our summer vacation time. I think if we keep it up there will not be summer school this year, that will be weird for me! but we have already started planning our summer!
On Lifepacs - I say - yes get the teacher guides. I've liked mine, they have suggestions on how to expand on each workbook, etc. It's given me great ideas for projects and stuff. Although, Lifepacs are only good for kids who REALLY like workbooks! LOL If you're kinda doing your own thing, check out edhelper too. The subscription is $20 a year and you get access to TONS of stuff. Plus you can add your own word lists and stuff to make puzzles, quizzes, etc. It's well worth the money.
