When we made the decision to home school, we knew we had to look for curriculum that would fit our needs academically and spiritually. I decided to make sure that what we would use utilized the 5 R's: Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic, Religion, and Respect. I was curious about what was everyone's approach to finding curriculum and why they chose it (or why they didn't). Just thought it would be fun to share our insane (yet fun) journeys to finding the "correct curriculum" that works for our children and families!
I have been looking at curriculum since March. OY! I have changed my mind a zillion times. I finally decided to go with open/go format with religon but I have chosen a separate math and science program that fits better with DD learning style/ability. My curriculum choice for this year hinged on the fact that DD needs to decompress and relax from a horrible year at school. So we will have a no pressure/no test, lots of hands on activities and reading year that focuses on bringing her back up to speed with math. OH and I had to stop looking at what other people were using or raving about b/c their kids are not my kids and the fact that some ppl do a lot doesn't mean I need to do a lot.....etc etc. Did any of that make sense? LOL. Karen
I have decided to incorporate some religion this next year. (That is a first for us.) But for us we decided to do something about the lack of love of learning we have here. After an exhaustive search, we decided to go with Sonlight. My guys love to read and it seems smart to go with a program that is reading based. I'm still struggling a bit with 'rithmetic, but I'm leaning toward Teaching Textbooks for one and alllowing the other to continue to with Aleks until our year runs out and re-evaluating him then. (I'm still a bit "lost" with my eldest, since next year will be his first HS year.)
My approach is pretty much a deep and wide approach. We cover topics in depth and often use many resources or curriculum for one subject to look at something at different angles or to get more information. We also cover a wide range of subjects. I often make up our own curriculum for many subject areas. My goal is to ignite a spark in the topic that we are studying and depth does that with my kids. Also, I've found that the deeper we go that there is a tendency for different subjects to mesh together which can transfer a spark from one subject to another. (i.e. math encountered in the study of science, history encountered in the study of literature, literature encountered in a writing curriculum)
Ummm....approach....how 'bout the path of least resistance??? Although very bright, my kids neither one appreciate school for school's sake. We have been enjoying doing minumum requirements in favor of delving into natural leanings. Our day looks something like this: Get up, get school out of the way, then live life doing art, playing your instrament, seeing friends, gardening, learning to weld, serving others, etc. I used to think that because ds was gifted meant he would enjoy "doing school" like I did as a child. Not so much. As the kids get older you can see what direction they are heading. We are approaching their entire education the way most people approach college. You know what you want to do with your life. Take the classes you have to take, enjoy the classes you love, and know that all of it moves you toward your future. We do make light of the subjects they loathe. For instance, a retired English teacher friend just gave me a writing program called A Survival Guide for Teachers of Composition whose first chapter is titled Writing Stinx, or How I Spent My Sumer Vacation. It's gotta be did.
As a children's literature enthusiast - it's the majority of my pleasure reading - I incorporate tons of great books in our lessons. I read aloud every day, even to my "big kid," and I assign a companion novel for every history unit we do. I routinely give sales pitches and let my kids choose from a variety of quality literature. We often read the classics, even the ones from the 17 and 1800's. Ironically, I have one child who struggles with reading. He thrives on the read-alouds, but reads below grade level. I'm pretty well versed in tween lit, but not so much early chapter books. Anyone have suggestions for a soon-to-be fourth grader who reads at a third grade level? Maybe I'll start a new thread. While we're really pushing the phonics, sight words, spelling, vocab, etc. (he's made awesome progress this year!) it's nice not to have any pressure to repeat a grade. We simply move on in other areas and work at his level in reading.
That is exactly how it is around here!!!! Add to all of that the fact that I'm in grad school and DH is getting his AA, I need a program that's as stress-free as possible. That's where I started. I am going to have to add in a little more work for myself next year because DS8 isn't "getting it" with the LA we're using.
altho we have not begin with our hsing, this is what i have planned. since my dd10(today is her bday) had a horrible ps school year, we need to deschool then unschool very similar to deschool, in my own opinion. since all 3dds love to read, as usual they will do summer reading program in the summer. and math - might do in abacus method. this is very very basic just to reinforce in abacus method. as for electives, they're summer fun like collecting rocks/shells, laying on the beach, tons of arts and crafts, bowling, hanging out in the pool, exploring nyc, people watching and doing NOTHING! to me this consider deschooling. and for official hsing date in september will be basically unit studies for LA, science and social. math - hands on activities. also planned to do read aloud with CM reading list. materials will be from library and internet until it shows sign of needing more....... my concern is how will can i handle this more than 3dds resisting - lol! as a matter of fact, dd10 came up to me to give me her 2cents on how i should put together our hsing. she said "mom, we like art and science so let's do lots and lots of them. and for math which we do not like, PLEASE make it fun so we will learn. how do like this? where did she learn about hsing. definitely no in ps. this tells me she's so ready for hsing, don't you all agree? good health and happiness!
I'm eclectic w/ a classical bent. I would call us Sonlight-esque. I usually start by deciding on our History program, then wrap as much as possible around that history - our reading, our handwriting, our writing, bible, science, etc. I've finally learned that I cannot abide by another person's schedule - so I HAVE to make my own! LOL. Curricula that schedule it all out stress me too much. I always feel like I'm behind. If I schedule my own, and I'm behind, it's easier for me to say "whatever" and adjust it - don't know why! LOL Anyway, looking forward to next year! I have a lot of my stuff, but not all of it.
I started out not knowing of many/any curriculums. We are not christain and didn't want it in our schooling, so the few curricula providers I had heard of wouldn't work for us (the big names you hear first are things like Abeka, SOS, Bob Jones, etc). I started with the list of required subjects from our states homeschool laws. Living in PA we have some of the most rigid laws.. luckily, they only give us required subjects in general not specific things to cover. I then used books that weren't "curricula" and built our year around them. Over the years I found message boards, and curriculum.. felt we needed to do what everyone else was doing and slowly we started doing what looked like school at home, we all started to hate it. We are going back to our roots so to speak, my oldest will be using some bought stuff to ease my burden, but my littles are going the path of mommy made "curriculum" and they are enjoying it very much so far.
I create much of my own curriculum, especially in the younger grades, so I also start at the state website. Michigan has hardly any homeschool laws, and I appreciate the freedom that leaves me. But my own background in education pushes to the state scope and sequence guidelines so I feel confident I know what I'm aiming for each year.
