I thought I had settled on my kiddos curriculum. A beka for math, LA and phonics/lit. History we are doing Hero's of History through YWAM. Science...well, that's my DH's job. He's got some ideas of what he wants to do. I hate science, so I'll go along with it.... Spanish..well, still looking. Anyway... NOW, I find Christian Light Education. Advanced, like A beka, if not more so, but quite a bit cheaper. GRR! I have tried K12 (yeah, ok I guess...didn't work with more then one child homeschooling) LifePacs (not enough review in my own opinion) and A beka. As a home schooled child, I swore up and down I'd never make my kid do A beka. Sadly, it was the BEST of what I tried with my kids. But they are SO EXPENSIVE! HELP! I am however, glad that now there are so many options. There weren't when I was growing up.
K and 2nd grade for phonics/LA/Math. My ds is 2 grades (by a beka) a head in reading so I'm looking at the 4th grade lit program....
Don't forget that you can often find used Abeka on used curriculum sites. And maybe at curriculumshare.
If I am not mistaken, aren't CLE's workbooks an awful lot like Lifepacs. I think they have changed a lot of them to a sunrise edition, but I haven't seen them. I know in the past when I have looked at them at the book fairs, I thought I was looking at exact replicas of lifepacs.
If you decide on CLE I have the entire LA set for 2nd grade - teacher and student books totally unused. I also have 2nd grade teacher books for science and reading.
The difference between lifepacs and CLE is CLE is spiral based where as lifepac is mastry based. My kiddos do better with spiral based, which is why lifepac and k12 don't work well for us. When our tax return comes in (our school money! I will be going up to the local used homeschool book store to see what they have. MonkeyMamma, thanks, I will keep that in mind.
ALL the reading/literature and language arts/English is redone through high school. All the math is redone through 8th grade, with Alg I coming soon. Bible is redone through 4th with 5th coming soon. Science is only redone through 2nd at this time. Social Studies is redone in 1-6th, with 7th now being the former 6th which is in the process of being rewritten (3rd through 7th is in textbooks which you can do textbook-only OR with studyguides in the form of workbooks). The Sunrise Edition is lightyears better than Lifepacs: the content is different, they're all marked out in daily lessons, with 2 quizzes and a test.
There is a yahoo group for Christian Light Families and a lot of times there is curriculum for sale. I bought a lot of stuff for next year off of there, and filled in the gaps (missing Light Units) from the CLE website. christianlightfamilies@yahoogroups.com
So, I made my decision! YAY me! I decided to go with Abeka. I know how it works, and I know it works well for my kids. So, that's what we are doing. It's also easier to get used books for Abeka. However, my DH decided to take me to the homschool bookstore that is 1.5 hours away today. HEAVEN! Or, at least the closest I will get this side of heaven! I was able to get all DS readers and two of his workbooks, as well as a lot of biography books. DH got two science books for the kiddos. All total, the full price at the bookstore was close to 300.00, BUT, PRAISE GOD!, they were having a sale. 40% off used books and 50% off al novels. We spent 150. Bought somethings we weren't thinking about, but MAN, a good hall all around! I WANT TO GO BACK THERE!
Hey, I'm all for it....this is why all of us need to live on the same block...although we may be seen as a commune... What was funny is I went up there with my list, was going through it, putting things in my little basket, and my basket disapeared. I find it with my DH. With probably 20 books more in it and he's adding more. He didn't quit shopping until we had a total, then the checker said "Is that all?" and my husband's all "Umm...I THINK so...hang on...." And here I thought I was bad at sticking to my list!
We do have a lot of Abeka on CurrriculumShare and some CLE. Not as much CLE though! It is free, pay shipping only. You just have to give something away first. Check it out at www.curriculumshare.com
