So yesterday I talked about what a day in our life looks like. Today I want to talk about what we actually use for our homeschool curriculum. Then tomorrow I will be talking about how I actually choose curriculum.
We have four children: three sons and a daughter and they are all individuals and are all different. What works for one child doesn't always work for another child. Or even sometimes, what works one year for one child doesn't work the following year.
Our oldest son is 18. This son has had numerous health issues for the past 9 years. It affected every area of his life and especially his ability to complete schoolwork. So this summer we evaluated where he was and where he wanted to go. We agreed that it was best for him to complete another year of homeschool. So this year all of his curriculum is online. He is the only child that is using one curriculum for all subjects. For him, we are using Alpha Omega's Monarch Online curriculum. I love the flexibility of this program in scheduling assignments. Also, it is almost completely self grading. It calculates grades, keep track of days school is completed and such. While no curriculum is perfect, it does work well at the point we are right now.
Our second son would be considered 10th grade if he was in public school. This year, he is doing Bible, Math, English, Science, History, Latin and electives.
Our third son would be considered 9th grade in public school. He does Bible, Math, English, Science, History, Latin and Electives.
Our daughter would be considered a 7th grader by public school standards. She is doing Bible, English, Math, Science, History, and Electives.
So now to get into more specifics starting with our 2nd son:
Bible: He uses a variety of items including some of his Dad's resources from his Ministry.
English: 180 Daily Grammar Lessons by Easy Grammar, IEW's Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course; Excellence in Literature's Introduction to Literature; English from the Roots Up; Phonetic Zoo for Spelling
History: He began the year doing Notgrass' Exploring Government and has now competed that and moved into HSLDA's Generation Joshua's ICitizen course for Civics
Science: Friendly Chemistry
First Form Latin
Music activities - he pretty much works on what he chooses for this including practicing singing, practicing instruments and working on music theory
Introduction to Criminal Justice
Forensic Science course with Lab
and some electives on Monarch
Son numer 3:
Bible: He is basically expected to keep up with daily Bible reading. We are getting ready to jump back into our Advanced Training Institute Wisdom Books, which will help give this more structure. And the whole family does this.
Math: Videotext Interactive Online for Algebra
History: Completed Mystery of History Volume I and now is getting ready to probably start Mystery of History Volume III, but I have to decide what I want him to do.
Science: Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology
English: Daily Grams by Easy Grammar, IEW's Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course; Excellence in Literature's Introduction to Literature; English from the Roots Up; Phonetic Zoo for Spelling
First Form Latin
Practices keyboard
Does Electives through Monarch Online. He is doing 2 now and will do 2 more in the spring.
Daughter:
Bible: Does daily Bible reading and will be resuming the ATI Wisdom Books
Math: Life of Fred: Currently has completed Pre-Algebra I and is working on Pre-Algebra II and then will move into Beginning Algebra
English: Daily Grams, IEW's Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course; English from the Roots Up; Phonetic Zoo for Spelling
History: Completed Mystery of History Volume 1 and is now doing History on Monarch Online.
Science: Doing Science on Monarch Online
Latin: Latina Christiana
Electives: On Monarch including American Literature and a couple of others.
All of the children are expected to do some activities related to art throughout the year.
So that is what we are using this year. If you homeschool, let us know what you are using this year. We welcome your comments.
So we are back for day 6 of the Ultimate Blog challenge and day 2 of my discussion about how I choose our homeschool curriculum.
If you read the blog yesterday, these were the last things I had to say:
"We have the lists of what we need, so we know what we are looking for and possibly what vendors will have those items. Then we go back to our hotel room that evening and have a frank discussion of what we saw."
We discuss the merits of the choices. We look at any literature we may have collected from the vendors. Sometimes we look online at the vendor's website or possibly Cathy Duffy's site to confirm our thoughts about the curriculum. Then we start making new lists. This time we typically pick 3 to 5 choices per subject that we want to investigate further. We have a good idea of what will work for our family. Day 2 of the convention is spent examining in depth curriculum. This is where things get really serious. If a vendor does not have time or interest in talking to us, most likely we will eliminate that selection. I understand that vendors are busy and we go to conventions that have a ton of people. But if I stand in a booth watching new people walk in and be helped, it turns me off to that vendor.
Of course, if the vendor acknowledges me and indicates they will be with me when they finish with the current customer, I can understand that and will wait patiently. So typically on day 2, my husband and I spend time looking and comparing together. Other parts of the day, he has a list of items he is responsible for looking at while I have my list of items. This is where we break our initial lists down further. We look at the materials closely and with our children and our lifestyle in mind. then that night we go back to our hotel room and again evaluate what we saw and learned that day. Sometimes, we bring a child or some of the children into the discussion since our children are older. It helps to have their opinions occasionally. Other times, we just make executive decisions. Finally day 3 comes around (if there are 3 days in the convention) and purchases have to be made. If there are only 2 days for the convention (like the one for CHAP in Pennsylvania), then day 2 changes to the day purchases are made. Usually by the time the CHAP convention rolls around we have already attended at least one other convention, so we have already looked at a lot of the material and are really just trying to fill in gaps.
Day 3 we have carts and items to place materials in. This is also the day that everyone is called to action. If we have a lot of material to buy, my husband and I may split the list and make purchases accordingly. Other times, we find it faster to stay together - that way we can make runs to the van or hotel room if necessary to unload things. With 4 children we can acquire quite a bit. Plus we usually end up adding in some extra items for my husband's Ministry collection or for my personal library.
I love when I can purchase books or materials and actually bring them home with me. However, that doesn't always happen. Sometime we have to order the materials and wait for them to arrive. But when the boxes start being delivered, it is a fantastic day. I hope you enjoyed reading a little about how we pick our homeschool curriculum.
We begin
So now it is day 5 of the Ultimate Blog challenge. I decided to blog today about how I choose what we use for our homeschool. Go to any homechool convention, browse any homeschool curriculum site, talk to any homeschoolers and you will get numerous ideas and differing opinions on what to use. Some people use a box curriculum - meaning they get all their material from one company (hence the name box - because it typically comes in one box if they order it and have it delivered). Others use all online resources. Still others are called unschoolers - meaning they let children lead the learning by what the children are interested in. Still others choose to use textbooks provided by their school district. Some go through umbrella programs where all the material is provided for the parent and possibly even a teacher/tutor is provided to grade the work and do the planning for the child.
However, none of those options really fit my style. When we first started homeschooling, as I stated in a previous post, we joined a homeschooling group comprised of military moms. This meant we had people from a variety of states who had been homeschooling for a long time between them. I have to say thanks to those ladies! They were an invaluable resource for me.
One lady told me that if we went to a homeschool convention, never buy anything on the first day and this has proved to be one of the best tips I ever got. Another lady brought up the book, "Cathy Duffy's Top 100 Picks". This is my favorite book and the one I most recommend to people just beginning their journey in homeschooling or that maybe are struggling with what they are using. This book helps you create a philosophy of education, determine your teaching style along with your child or children's learning style. But then it goes one step farther - Cathy Duffy actually breaks down all types of curriculum by learning and teaching styles so you can have a good fit. And she does this well!!!! I had the privilege of meeting and talking with Cathy Duffy several years ago at a homeschool convention. She is as amazing in person as she came across in her book.
Also, I listen to what other moms have to say. I have created a vast network of online friends that I can turn to when I have a question. And most of the time, they don't steer me wrong. Finally I evaluate our materials based on our needs and what is working with that child. So on more than one occasion I have thrown out my ideas of what I wanted to use in favor of starting over. Sometimes retreating and regrouping is the right course of action. Other times, it is beneficial to just put something up for a period of time. Then when the child comes back to it, the choice works fine. Other times, it may just take adapting the choice to fit the child (such as not doing as many problems or not following the exact schedule.
Choosing curriculum is one of my favorite and most dreaded parts of homeschooling. We try each year to attend at least two homeschool conventions, so we can physically touch the materials and get to talk with vendors and other homeschooling families about our choices.
I always begin by making lists for each child of the subjects they will be doing and the materials I plan on using or need to purchase. Then my husband and I take the first day of the convention to just walk up and down all the aisles. We choose conventions that are either in the state we live or that we know have a wide variety of vendors. We have the lists of what we need, so we know what we are looking for and possibly what vendors will have those items. Then we go back to our hotel room that evening and have a frank discussion of what we saw. Stay tuned tomorrow when I will continue my discussion of how we choose homeschool curriculum.
