I'm sure this has been asked 1,000 times, but.....I'm going to make it 1,001, LOL! Please help me find curriculum. I know everybody says to figure out her learning style and go with that, but I'm still overwhelmed. She is in public school 4th grade right now, but reads at a 12th grade level, tests into sequential spelling book 4, and Horizons Math 5, book 1. So, I've picked the Horizons math, and the sequential spelling.....but then I'm stumped. She picks things up quickly, and likes to be fast paced. She likes hands on, but also enjoys workbooks. She LOVES science and doing experiments, as well as art projects. I had picked out Lifepac for Science, History, and LA, but then read somewhere that they are fairly slow paced, which would not work well for her. I am on about as tight of a budget as you can be (think I'm already spending money I don't have, LOL), and would love a Christian curriculum. I found CLE to be VERY affordable, but don't see many people using it. Is there a reason for that? I feel like I need something fairly structured, and thorough at least for the first year until I have a better handle on everything and can start to incorporate things on my own. Any suggestions? Help a mama out here lol.....I feel so clueless and overwhelmed.
I'm not going to be any good helping with Christian curriculum, but I have noticed many are starting to use CLE, I'm sure some on here will be able to help you with that. Have you looked at Apologia for science? That is my dream science if only it was a secular science instead of a Christian based curriculum. Language arts we like Writing Strands and also Easy Grammar/Daily Grams and I am also thinking Wordly Wise 3000 is pretty cool, but haven't used it.. they do have all the words/meanings and some fun games that you can use for free on their website. Oh and as far as spelling.. there is a free spelling curriculum at http://www.zaner-bloser.com/spellingconnections/practice-pages.html it could save you some money History.. we piece ours together. We have homeschooled on the cheap for years now.. we are about as broke as it gets most of the time, so I have had to get very creative
Here is my 2 cents if you like the way CLE looks/ is put together and the price try it out. Don't worry about what others are and are not using or for what reasons. This has been a problem for me. What did not work for 100 might work perfect for you. Also by the sounds of what you stated it sounds like CLE might be the right thing for you.
Aww yeah, JoAnna has a great point.. I picked up the motto years ago when I was big into off roading in my Jeep (I saw it on a pen while on my way to one of my favorite trail sites) "Don't go where the path may lead, go where there is no path and leave a trail." That seems to fit soooo many aspects of my life
Mix and match what you feel will fit your DD. I am just now struggling with the decisions I made on curriculum based on a friends suggestion. The curriculum for one child is not great for another. Last year we did MUS for 1st math and now half way through 2nd grade with MUS my DD stalled so we have completely stopped using it and are doing free printables online to keep up the practice. I have also learned pre-packs don't always come with what we need. so I would say keep it simple at first work your way into it Sorry to threadjack I hope this helped
It sounds like your dd is alot like my oldest daughter who began homeschooling around 4th grade. She thrived with saxon math, lifepacs for language arts, and apologia science. We never did find a good fit for history in a packaged curriculum so we made our own. We did notebooking, as she loves art and crafts. Her notebooks were elaborate and creative. In the beginning they wre done in more of a scrapbook format but around 6th grade she wanted to learn photo shop and a variety of microsoft office software and her notebooks started looking more like usborne encylopedias. She made powerpoint presentations, and even created her own film for our state history. Doing it this way made history fun for Kara. Up until that point, her opinion on history was why do I need to learn about a bunch of dead guys in wigs- her exact words, lol. By incorporating her creativity and her love for art, she not only learned alot but she also provided our homeschool group with many wonderful resources for teaching.
I haven't used it, but Rod and Staff is very cheap compared to some other curriculums and is advanced in some subjects (I have heard). The other thing you may want to try is using library books for history and science (especially at the young ages). Things get repeated so you don't have to worry about gaps there too much.
I like CLE for Language Arts.... I'm actually shocked that I like it this much because I wasn't thrilled with LifePacs.... these seem like Rod & Staff "Workbook style" and we like R&S!! DD is doing Grade 4 and it's right on pace for her with grammar. DS is doing 7 and it's a little ahead of where he was - but he's catching on quick. What the KIDS like is that they can move as fast or as slow as they want. If they finish a lesson and what to continue - I'm not going to stop them. They also know when lessons end (a big downer to LifePacs - they aren't arranged into lessons they can follow easily)..... We use CLE Math 4 as well and it's more advanced than the LifePacs Grade 4 so she feels like she is learning a lot of new stuff... plus before each lesson there is a pre-test....if she PASSES the pre-test, skip the lesson and move to the next pre-test.... if she doesn't pass, she gets another day to go over everything and she really likes that. CLE has a placement test you can download for math (maybe LA but I'm not sure)..... OH and you don't need to start at the first book!! DD started at book 3 for LA and book 1 for Math..... DS started at book 1 for LA.... You don't have to buy ALL the books either and you don't get penalized for it (in other words it's not cheaper if you buy them all at once so you can spread out the $$)
I haven't picked anything for older grades so I don't know how well this will work for that. I've always used 100 Top Picks by Cathy Duffy as a starting point for what I choose. It has a little test at the beginning to figure out what kind of a teacher you are and what kind of student your child is. Then it gives curriculum ideas for those. I find it very useful as a starting point and then I look into further details based on those recommendations.
if you want Christian curic try Considering Gods creation science, it has worksheets but the teacher book is the best! IT has all the stuff you need to say and extra reading if needed , were to look for information and you can span it out over a fewyears or do it all in one! LOts of fun! my ds loved the science detective logs they had to create! for history check into Story of the World if you want Christian style, or Mystery of History If you are looking for secular heck Stech Vahn or Mc Millan science, OH there is anothe rname for it but I forget ..they have a web site and everything with links where you can do lessons online for free too! Spectrum is good to! checkk all these out online as you can see thier web sites offer a lot more ALso check Coloradomoms site out! Simplezine ? If I spelled it right, she has tons of work at different levels!
I liked Considering God's Creation. I also like Mystery of History (for history, if you couldn't figure that out, lol!) If you want something for literature, check out Total Language Plus or Progeny Press.
Thank you so much for all your input! I really do appreciate it. Here's where I think I might start.....what do you think? LA - Michael Clay Thompson Level 2 Social Studies - Mystery of History Science - The Elements by Ellen McHenry (I think she's going to love this!) Math - Horizons 5 Typing - Typing Instructor Deluxe I'd still like to find a Spanish and Bible curriculum I think.
Looks great! Glad to see you picked MOH - I think that will be a fantastic choice for you guys. There's a great literature list in the back if you want to utilize that and expand history into literature some. We love doing that! BookPeddlar has most of the books. I think CGC is probably a great suggestion for your science, too. It's pretty teacher intensive, but for someone who catches on well and enjoys experiments, your daughter would probably love it. It's creation science through the creation week. Also check out Media Angels! Apologia is highly recommended as well, though I've never used it. We love R&S for grammar and writing here! Won't ever change it. Same with Math-U-See. I think CLE is probably a good suggestion as well. These are almost just like AOP LifePacs but MUCH cheaper. If there's anything you want to add or doesn't work out, I'd head there. For Bible, lots of people use the Explorer Bible Studies. We really like Christian Liberty Press workbooks, and you could use it alongside your MOH chronologically. Fits great! If you have the child do the background reading from the text, then the synopsis and do the sheets, it's actually quite an intensive little study. It's mostly history and what God's Word says and doesn't say, not so much heart issues though there are a few here and there. We add AWANA because the kids enjoy it, but when I asked about switching curricula my 5th grader said no! We've almost finished the second book now, book F I guess. (E and F cover the same time period as MOH volume 1. Sometimes I have to stagger or put a short hold on one or the other as they don't line up exactly, but they're pretty darn close!) And We'd love to find a good Spanish program, too. Jumpstart is great for the littles, but not so much for my 5th grader. Not sure we'll mess with it for a while; going to let him finish his Greek and Latin roots from English From the Roots Up first.
sounds fantasitic! we love MOH and I wish I had found it a few years ago! we are using it for JR High level now soyou have a lot of years to use it
If you're doing MOH Vol. 1, here's a book list I posted a good while back, when I went through it. It is not mine originally; someone on the MOH Yahoo discussion board posted it. I don't believe in re-inventing the wheel, lol! http://www.homeschoolspot.com/showthread.php?t=5108&highlight=book+list
Ok --- I couldn't STAND MOH.... my kids were lost and out in nowhere land with that one.... Biblioplan is another history suggestion I heard is good
Dana which books did you use? we are doing the RED books, ds loves reading it most of the time he will read further than I suggest, The lessons cover some things we have also seen movies about with dd so he remembers that stuff too, plus he is interested in artists and the ninja turtles haha, they are kind of related if ya think about it for a minute
We are using cle and are loving it. I would however caution you to make sure you understand the differences between the newer sunrise editions and older style workbooks. Though many find they can use the older workbooks just fine, I could not because the lessons were not organized as easily as I needed them to be. My fifth grader uses cle for all but science and history because they were not in sunrise
MOH we did year 1 and got through 1 month before my kids would start running away With the new program - Tapestry of Grace though for some reason he is really getting into the whole tomb/mummy thing....go figure.
T'mom, what books are you reading to go along with MOH 3? Right now we're in Elizabethean England. I'm reading The Shakespeare Stealer, and have just started a second book called "Red Hugh, Prince of Donagel". Then Phillip just started "Raleigh's Page", and Faythe will be starting a reprint of a book by H. Rider Haggard called Lysbeth, about William of Orange and the Dutch revolt against Spain.
