HOMESCHOOLERS!! Need Help Picking Curriculum.

Just a note to those posting about Connections Academy - they are NOT free in every state. Just logged on to their site to see what type of summer classes my daughter could take, and their tuition is outrageous. WAY more than local private schools.

Hi A.!

I homeschool my daughter (6th grade) and son (1st grade). I try to follow the Charlotte Mason method of education. I love it and you can learn more about it if you'd like at www.simplycharlottemason.com It is a living book approach to education. A lot of your resources come from the library so it can be quite cost effective.

There are subjects I teach both at the same time: Bible, art appreciation, music appreciation, science, literature, poetry, Shakespeare, map skills, and geography. They each have their own math studies. I use Math U See. Each have their own language arts program based on their abilities.

Unit studies are great. It is a wonderful way to incorporate multiple subjects. One website I use often is www.currclick.com There are many, many unit studies to look at on that site.

Enjoy your adventures in homeschooling. If you would like more information or if you ever need encouragement, please feel free to pm me any time!

Blessings!
L.

My daughter is getting ready to complete Kindergarten this year and she did her schooling through Connections Academy. It's a free online public school. They send you the materials and they actually have a teacher or teachers (the number of teachers depends on the grade the student is in) that they talk with every other week on the phone to discuss lessons and they have online lessons with their class as well. We have loved the curriculum. I think it is very thorough. They also offer elective classes and they have clubs that students can join. You can check out sample curriculum on their website www.connectionsacademy.com.

We pretty much just wing it for our "curriculum"; I've been using the BrainQuest workbooks for a guide, and then supplementing with my own projects and assignments. There are tons of free online resources and we go to the library once or twice a week for all of our books. There is one book that I've gotten from the library called Homeschool Your Child for Free by LauraMaery Gold and Joan Zielinski; it lists so many cool websites for every subject you can think about, for all different age groups.

My daughter is 8 and my son is 6, so sometimes it can be challenging. I'm more laid-back in my approach, though, so a lot of times when I'm working with my daughter on something that's beyond what he's learning, I will let him have "free time" where he can play with his toys, build with blocks, do puzzles, read books, etc. And then when I'm working with him, she gets her own free time. Lots of learning happens even when they're not doing a workbook page, and I think that as long as they are using their imaginations they are learning. We also do things together like read the Magic Tree House books, write a story together (where you write one line each and see how silly the story gets), or watch something educational like the Magic School Bus. Those are just some ideas; good luck, and have fun! :-)

Hi. I home school my two boys. My 6 year old just finished 2nd grade and my 4 year old kindergarten. I can't really help you out because my oldest son does really well with workbooks (I use McRuffy) and my youngest, well I'm not sure just yet what kind he'll do best with. I will tell you that it might be helpful to find out the best way he learns. http://www.ehow.com/list_###-###-####_seven-styles-learni... is a link to help you understand the different styles if you don't already know them. It would be a great way to start.
http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/reviews/default.aspx is another helpful review site to see what others have to say after using different kinds of curriculum.
Also we just really had to get used to of us all being in the class room together this past school year. Yes, it can be hard for some but I think it's possible if you plan out you school time. Like I had my oldest practice his handwriting while I needed to spend some letter blending time with my youngest. And then when my youngest son was spending some time coloring his letter page I could spend more time with my oldest and his math. There were times when I did spend some one on one time if they needed some extra time figuring out a lesson but for the most, we all learned to be patient and share the teacher and learn to stay focused on what lesson they were working on. It's taught us all some new skills. lol
Hope you can find a good curriculum that is a good fit for your son.
Best Regards,
C.

http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Montessori-Home-Pre-School Years
I bought this book when my dd was about 3 or 4.She is 9 now and in 4/5 grade :) My baby girl is 1 and I will use it again when she is ready.I love montessori because it is hands on.You can also get the older grades book,it has a TON of resources for making your own materials. I have tried unit studies when my dd was younger, it is pretty fun and you can use the library for most of the things you need. I like work boxes also.You can google it,there is a lot of info.Hope this helps and good luck in your homeschooling adventure!!

We homeschool with

www.connectionsacademy.com

THEY ARE FREE AND THEY ARE GREAT.

Because you are a teacher I would also look into getting a job with them.
You can be a teacher from home.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful summer break.

We aren't to homeschooling age quite yet, but I've done a TON of research! We also chose Sonlight and they are known to be great for multiple kiddos. It is a bit pricey, if you order every single thing. However, I was able to find almost all books listed in the curriculum at the library. It is a Christian based curriculum, and it's very heavily into reading. When you get their brochure, there is several pages of reasons why Sonlight might not work for you, in certain scenarios. I actually found that very helpful.

I use Sonlight. I was drawn to them because of multiple children (ages 8, 10, 16, 17, now but started when my oldest was in 7th grade.) You can order a catalog online and then put together your curriculum. I order the instructor guides first and then go from there and even order as many books from the library as I can. You can school them both together and tailor it to fit your need. They have a lot of awesome books and activities. Good luck!

PS. You can order the whole set at once and get a discount but I always place at least $150 order at a time for free shipping. I get as many books from the library as I can and order what I can't get from them.

Not knowing your kids, I can't tell you what would be best for them. I would recommend spending some time looking over books like "The Well-Trained Mind" and "100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum", as well as getting your hands on some hs catalogs. There are so many choices out there, enough to fit all different budget levels, leaving no reason to stick with something that doesn't fit each child, which is one of the greatest things about homeschooling!

Homeschoolreviews.com is a good site and has reviews from parents on almost every curriculum imaginable.
I don't homeschool any more, but when I did, I used 3 different currics
The one my son liked the best was time4learning.com, which is online $20 a month, and really a fun curric. We also used sonlight for a while, which was great, but I found the lesson planner to be highly disorganised, and I NEED organisation.
So in the end we settled on BJU press, very well laid out, and it is used in almost all private schools, so you know it has to be good.
My son was k and 1st grade.
Sometimes I have thought of homeschooling again, and I think I would try unschooling, it appeals to me.

Veritas
Sonlight
My Father's World
Bob Jones
ABEKA

THese are a few.
MIne are in 4th and 7th
I use Story of the World for both of them. THis is a HIstory text, secular. I have also used Mystery of History, Christian based. Both are good and both are geared to use with multilevels of children.
History Pockets, from Evan More. Excellent lessons and crafts, again for multi age teaching. Buy them at the teacher stores.

I use Singapore Math for my 4th grader and Lials Algebra for my 7th grader.
My kids sit in dfferent rooms and I divide my time accordingly.

Shurley grammar for my 4th grader and Rod and Staff for my 7th grader.

Bob Jones Science 4 and next year 5 and 8. My 7th grader does the science with my 4th grader, it's fun.

We do math, Grammar, spelling, Latin, reading separately.
Science, Geography, History together.

Because I'm a busy mom of 3 ages 1-6, I didn't have time to read all the responses so forgive me if this is redundant. I started homeschooling my daughter 2 years ago and just finished kindergarten with her last month.
I just focus primarily on reading, writing and math the first 3 years. I Abeka for her preschool year starting at age 4. She learned to read with their curriculum, so I'd say it was a success for little expense (under $75 for the whole year), but I didn't like the push to start cursive writing at that age so I just omitted that part and focused on teaching her to print. Her kindergarten year I used First Start Reading from Memoria Press which was excellent, Copybook for her to practice writing, and used dollar store workbooks to supplement and keep things interesting. For math, Horizon Math K ordered from www.heartsathomestore.com was a colorful, very comprohensive, easy to teach curriculum. I spent 1 1/2 hours a day focused on my daughter's school work and we finished all the curriculum in 8 months. I rounded out the year with Latin and Bible studies. I spent less than $125 for the year and my daughter looked forward to school so much that she often asked to do it on weekends. Perhaps some of this will help. Midwife mom of3