I am hs my youngest ds who will be 6 in April. He started in ps and I pulled him out after Christmas break. We are loving the hs thing!! I plan to hs my ds8 this fall instead of going back to ps. He will be in 3rd grade. My question is this. Which Math would you suggest I use? He is pretty smart in Math, (both my boys are). The ps uses Saxon and that is what he has been doing since 1st grade. I really love Abeka, but think that the Abeka Math 3 would be too much. I'm not really sure since I haven't gotten to look through an Abeka 3 Math but knowing that they are usually a grade ahead of the ps. So, what Math curriculum do you all think would be best? Oh, and English curriculum too! I've heard that Abeka is good until 3rd or 4th grade so I plan to switch then. So I need ideas for my coming 3rd grader for Math and English!!
Most of the major curriculum offer placement tests for math so you don't have to guess. Check around the website, and if all else fails, call the rep.
We use Horizons for math so I don't have experience with Abeka but we are using Abeka Lang A (4th grade). It's thorough but we're switching to Rod & Staff for next year. I will add that we dumped Abeka Lang 2 after about 3 weeks. It was so boring that I just couldn't keep making her write out sentences just to add a period at the end. I felt like it moved WAY too slow. I might have had a different opinion if we had been using the other Abeka Reading/phonics/seatwork stuff but we weren't. I should add that it depends on the child's background in nouns/verbs/punctuation, etc. If this is their first formal exposure....Grade 2 might have been perfect. We're going to R & S because it has more precise lessons and more oral sections. Abeka could be done a bit more orally but with 3 kiddos, I need it set up a bit different (and both my girls disliked Abeka). BUT, my oldest has learned a lot from Lang A so it was worth it to get a good review and further her foundation. Abeka has a lot of display shows where you can see their stuff. Call them or check the website. You'll be surprised how many are probably in your area. Rhonda C.
Thanks I will look into Rod & Staff Publ. I just read a great book by Raymond & Doroth Moore calld Homespun Schools. It was great. I couldn't put it down. It seems like alot of families in the book used Rod & Staff.
We have used A Beka since day 1. If your son is smart in math, I think he will be ok. Yes, check the shows. A Beka usually comes to our area about 3 times a year. They come to a hotel and you can see the books, anything you order at the show is free shipping. I like the Math program that they have. We did try Math-U-See and that wasn't for Elijah. He was too used to A Beka.
R & S is definitely a no-frills type curriculum and I know that it would not work for us in other subjects but I think it's just what we need for English/Grammar. I'm also going to use another writing program starting next year (maybe earlier) called IEW. R & S does include writing but I want a bit more. The good thing about R & S English is that it's hardback so I can use them for the girls (and then my son). I thought that the Worktext format was going to best for us and it's been fine but I think R & S will work well also and the consumables part is cheap (like $3). The entire year including TM is less than $50 and even cheaper in the younger grades. Hard to find programs like that with the TM. R & S doesn't have a website. Several anabaptist bookstores carry it online but I prefer to deal with R & S directly. They have been wonderful. If you call them (they're in Crockett, KY), they'll send you a sample book for each grade. They've always mailed them priority mail too (for free). I decided to go with Abeka this year and ended up not using them but when I called and requested new samples and changed our address, they were wonderful! In case, you aren't aware, they are a Mennonite publisher so some of the stories have more "plain" dialog but that doesn't bother me. In fact, it might even spark a discussion or two with the kiddos . Good luck!
If he is used to Saxon, and is doing well, then you might want to stick with that for continuity. If he's hand-on Math-U-See might be good to look into. Horizons math is good as well. Some people use Singapore and Miquon as well. You can Google the names and look at the sites. If you have any questions, come back and ask! I second the opinion for Rod & Staff. It's no frills, but very thorough, and the Teacher books are GREAT! We do a lot of writing with History and other stuff, so I don't have any formal writing program...
There is nothing wrong with sticking with Saxon for your 8 year old. If it works...don't fix it. English....We used Rod & Staff English3 if you are looking for something secular you could look at Growing with Grammar. I have a copy of it and it looks good and easy to learn.
