Homeschooling curriculum

[momo3hods]

Anyone have recommendations on a great program for a k, 2nd and 3rd grader?? Thanks in advance... I am tired of googling them and knowing nothing about them... We are going to supplement with a Catholic religious course too.

 

[tina95]

I have really liked My Father's World and Winter Promise.

 

[mcglaughlins]

Personally, I like the unit study programs. I used KONOS last year and will be using the Weaver curriculum this year. The Weaver curriculum encompasses K-6th grade, which works out great because I have two 4th graders and one Kinder.

Anyway, I like the unit studies because I can use one curriculum for all the kids. THe only thing that the weaver doesn't come with is a math and the KONOS you need a separate language arts and math program.

I've used the Alpha Omega lifepacs, which are a bunch of workbooks, a set of 10 for each subject and I liked using them for language arts, but one year I used them for 5 subjects and my older girls HATED school that year. I can't say I blame them though.

I will tell you that I've see Abeka and used Bob Jones and I do NOT recommend either program, only because they were made for a classroom setting and not so much homeschoolers.

I hope this helps you at least some. I'm thinking this might be your first year homeschooling. Good luck on finding the curriculum that fits your family. And just remember, what one curriculum might work great for one family, might be a total disaster for another family. I guess that doesn't help much, but because the diversity of kids and learning styles, that's just the way it is.

 

[eatatmidnight]

I think Five in a Row is a great unit study curriculum. I used it for 2 of my children. It also has the best forum to support you as you teach your children.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We use Mother of Divine Grace.

Their syllabi and books are available through emmanuel books at www.emmanuelbooks.com .

We just ordered our curriculum for the next school year.

What I do is pretend I am ordering everything and then print the order list.

Then I cross check resources with Rainbow Resource. I saved a good $200 on materials doing this.

They follow the Classical Method of education.

Each student will only take about an hour--so you can feasibly teach them separetly while the others play.

By the time the 3rd grader gets a good momentum going, the syllabi are written to speak to the student and much can be done independently.

The syllabi includes Catholic Faith/Relgious Ed.

 

[kmvand1]

We have used Abeka for the past three years but are going to try K 12 this year. Also, Seton Home Study is a Catholic homeschooling program that is located near my home. We use them for testing every year.

 

[NYCDiane]

When I pulled my daughter out of Catholic school, I had planned on home schooling her (before we moved to a better area and I was able to put her in public school). Anyway, I did a lot of research and ended up getting the requirements off our state education website (NY) and created my own curriculum, syllabus, etc. I was also very fortunate to get a full set of brand new text books for her grade from a friend on Freecycle. All the other materials, I was able to get very inexpensively at a local educational store and at Wal Mart.

For my state, you have to submit the syllabus and curriculum to the school district you live in. If they have any issues with it they send it back, noting any needed changes.

I didn't end up home schooling her (as much as I truly wanted to), but I would have been ready. I didn't want to have to go through any company or organization to do it --- I know it would have been easier with them providing all the materials, guidance, etc --- but I just didn't have the $$ to spend on that.

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Before anyone asks... the reason I didn't home school her is because I have to work full time. At the time I was planning on home schooling her, I was going to get an evening/night job so I could be with her during the day to homeschool her and my husband would be with her in the evenings.

 

[jrasmom]

I use Abeka for my 5 yr old (he's doing the k5 program now, completed the k4 program in a few months last year). And ACE school of tomorrow for my 4th & 7th graders.

 

[dismom24]

We are using Switched on Schoolhouse for our 3rd graders this year. I used it several years ago when our oldest were homeschooled for 3 years and when they returned to school they were very advanced.

 

[Skatermom23]

I vote for Calvert! I especially love the 3rd grade from them. This program really teaches kids how to write...something seriously lacking in public schools.

 

[mickeyplanner08]

We REALLY enjoyed the Heart of Dakota series. Very open and go, and not a lot of teacher prep time-OK, none, really. You can check out their message board and see samples on their website. Check it out!

 

[6gr8kidz]

I homeschool 6 kids and we use the switched on schoolhouse and we love it. The nice thing, is it is done on the computer, it grades most of the stuff for you. You can print report cards, you can add other requirements. Like with the younger kids I add reading to their language course. Another plus is that if you have a 4th grader who is only at a 3rd grade level of math you can do that. The same goes if you have a 4th grader who is in a 6th grade level math you can do it too. You can reuse the program for any other children you may have and they have a decent resell value once you are done you can always ebay it.

I love SOS!

 

[Newstarr]

I homeschool 4 kids. I have a 1st, 2nd, 4th and 9th. With the three younger I use Weaver. I really like the unit studies. I didn't last year and deeply regretted it. My 9th grader uses Veritas Press recommended curriculum. She is super smart and it is extreamly challenging. I use Saxon with my younger kids with math, it is labor intensive for me but the best out there for them (use the grade above where they are, so 1st graders do book 2). This year I am also adding in Bob jones for English, I feel that it goes a lot deeper into grammer and writing than Weaver alone. I use weavers spelling and I use Sonlight reading guide for the two little ones. Weaver doesn't assign reading and Sonlight gives me an easy schedule with very simple discussion questions, it's better than just telling them to read for 30 min. (what we were doing before) but isn't a whole other thing to do. Then finally we use Latina Christiana for Latin for the younger grades.
I know this seems like a lot. If you have any questions feel free to message me.

 

[wshupnastar]

I just saw a TV commercial for that "K12" (or something like that). Has anyone had any experience with it? I looked at the website, but, honestly, it was kind of hard for me to weed through.

 

[Jennifer in MI]

We use Sonlight as our base. I absolutely love it! I spend quite a bit of time with the kids reading history and wonderful books that correspond to that period in history. Love it!

We're using a variety of other things for the other subjects - Saxon, Lial's, Chalkdust, Latina Christiana, Lightning Lit (for older kids), Rainbow Science, etc.

Next year we're homeschooling 8th, 6th, 3rd, and preschool.

 

[MiniGirl]

My kiddos are in 4th and 2nd grade, and we'll be starting Exploring Countries and Cultures with My Father's World in a couple of weeks. We used Adventures in My Father's Worls last year and really enjoyed it.

I don't know if you have found it yet, but there is a homeschool chat thread on the Family board here on the DIS.

 

[firsttimer2007]

We have used Abeka for the past three years but are going to try K 12 this year. Also, Seton Home Study is a Catholic homeschooling program that is located near my home. We use them for testing every year.

I also used Abeka for both of my kids k-3rd. Then I used SOS for my oldest when he went into the 4th grade. He and I both hated it. We returned to Abeka.

Last year we did the "public school/home school" program - they used k-12 for language and math. It took months (October) to get the books. So we dropped out and I just ordered the k-12 books myself.

We LOVE K-12. I am going to use it for both of my kids next year.

 

[minnie1928]

On a slightly related topic, has anyone heard of/used a math program called Brainetics? I don't home school per se, but I heavily supplement my kids public school education with other programs and was intrigued by this. Here's the website:

http://www.brainetics.com/

I thought of using this over the winter so I don't have to worry about driving my kids to supplemental math programs in icky weather.

 

[firsttimer2007]

I just saw a TV commercial for that "K12" (or something like that). Has anyone had any experience with it? I looked at the website, but, honestly, it was kind of hard for me to weed through.

We love k-12. It is an advanced curriculum. One that introduced a topic and then builds and builds on it. The teachers manuals were easy to use. I had to spend very little time preparing for each days lesson. We have used Abeka and SOS and like K-12 the best.

 

[mouselovr]

I use my fathers world, we just got done with Exlploring Countries and Cultures and we really loved it. We actually purchased the entire YWAM book series that goes with the read alongs and are still reading them daily together. We are using Character Quality through Language Arts for the first time this year and are pretty excited about it. We used Saxon math last year and my DS who was in the 3rd grade then hated it. We used Shiller Math for k-2 and really liked it and are going back to it this year in the upper level. We also did Abeka for phonics in the younger grades. Hope you find what your looking for! Good luck with your choices and the school year.