Posted on 06/20/2010 6:01:43 PM PDT by narses
My neighbors are thinking of homeschooling, three girls, 3rd, 5th and 6th grade. They asked my advice about online curriculum and resources, especially in math and grammar.
Any suggestions, links and experiences most welcome.
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They’ll even send the computer in some places. It can be “public school” at home in some states. Parents get to see and control what their kids are doing.
I can’t speak much to specific curriculum, my wife pick most of them out and we’re getting toward the end of the line with our kids so we’re not buying a whole lot of new stuff. My advice to them is to join Home Schol Legal Defense immediately. hslda.org.
Besides legal help, they are a great resource for all kinds of home school information.
SAXON MATH is basic and good, but more repetitive than I like. You can omit part of the problem sets. We homeschooled for 25 years. The danger with math is going TOO FAST, not too slow. You can’t get blood out of a turnip. But teachers of all stripes think they can. A child cannot be made to understand when he is not conceptually ready.
As for grammar, I believe in basic and old-fashioned, started at the 6th grade level. You can’t beat diagramming.
Stay away from complicated and expensive curricula. Look for copyright dates pre-1970’s. There is so much available at minimal price.
Mrs. Esopman
Math-U-See has been wonderful for our math-phobic kids!
As a core curriculum, we love My Father’s World. Took a year off to try something else and decided to go back to it.
www.mfwbooks.com
Apologia Science
Saxon Math (but son got bored in 5th grade) - now we do Switched on Schoolhouse, love it.
aBeka History and Science
Winston Grammar
We like to mix it up. ;-)
Easy Grammar (very easy to use but thorough) has several different levels that we used along with English from the Roots Up (gives the word background - applied latin and greek in small doses) and classic literature for grade level or above - research the Great Books program online to find their book lists. We also used Saxon Math and Apologia science. We used a Catholic history program, Land of Our Lady for lower grades then Christ the King Lord of History and primary source documents to launch into higher level.
And I bet those don't omit little things like WWII etc..
Before ‘myelination of the brain’ A-Beka math material was excellent - it was very repetitive. Once our kids could grasp the math principles easily the Saxon math or the Teaching Textbooks have worked out very well.
Our experience comes from homeschooling our two kids (so not a lot to draw from). One is working on his MBA in accounting and the other is a junior in HS.
Easy Grammer has been tremendous for our two as well.
I’ve just had my first graduate, I also have a sixth grader and an eighth grader. We use the following:
Saxon Math
Abeka Social Studies, Science, and Literature
Rod and Staff English and Spelling
Wordly Wise Vocabulary
Rod and Staff is awesome! It’s not expensive and built around sentence diagramming.
Tell them to contact the local home school groups and find out if there is a home school curriculum fair coming through the area during the summer time. They can attend the curriculum fair and talk directly with the curriculum suppliers. They can also attend classes for parents that are thinking about home schooling. These fairs will have everyone in one place and allow for quick comparisons. If they bring the children along they can even ask the kids which ones they prefer.
Thanks!
Thanks!
http://www.aaamath.com We used this one throughout all grades.
http://www.homeschoolcentral.com to find more.
I use the Seton Home Schooling curriculum. It is EXTREMELY orthodox (Catholic) and is working well for my son. The curriculum is very thorough, and can be a lot of work for the parent, though.
Please FReepMail me if you have any questions about it.
Regards,
PS: I should say that my John is enrolled in the Special Ed. program at Seton, and is using a hand-picked and very specialized curriculum.
1. Join HSLDA
2. Calvert Math
3. Rod & Staff English and Writing with Ease by Susan Wise Bauer.
Have fun!
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