Curriculum choices

[restored]

Ladies,

I thought we needed to start a new thread here. I thought it might be interesting to see what kind of curriculum different ones use. I thought we could tell what kind for different subjects or ages and why we like it. It might just be interesting and we might get some neat ideas. Especially from those creative moms who don't use as much curriculum as others. I'll start and we'll just go from there.

We have a 5th grader and we use a variety for her. For math we use Saxon and she really likes it. It came highly recommended to us by other veteran home schoolers and so far has proven to be good. For Language we use Easy Grammar. We like the way it took the approach of prepositions first and then went on to teach the rest. Since we switch she has had great success and little frustration. There is always going to be a topic that mom must help a little with, but over all she gets it with little if any help. The teacher's manual has the teacher's instruction, answer key, and the student book in one. It is legally reproducible if you don't want to buy the student book separate. For spelling/vocabulary we use Wordly Wise. It only gives 15 words a week, but has a exercise a day to learn the words and their meanings. They learn all meanings for a word not just the main one. We may change to Rod and Staff next year, but this is still an excellent program. For reading we chose books based upon what we want for her to read whether it be about a certain topic or just a book we think would be good over all. When she is in between books she reads from a Rod and Staff reader. We also use Progeny Press Study Guides for some books, but they are a little pricey so we don't use them for all. These are also legally reproducible and they approach the book from a Christian outlook. For penmanship and memorization we combine these two. We pick a Bible verse for the week and that is their penmanship as well as what they are to memorize. I also want to start having all of us memorize different poetry with Godly meaning. For Science and History we are doing unit studies all of us together. We let the children pick what they want to learn and then we do it from a Biblical Christian approach. When we are in between subjects we use Rod and Staff text books.

For our 2nd grader: We were using Saxon Math, but we just weren't happy with it. We switched to Rod and Staff and so far we really like it and so does Nathanael. For Language we are using Rod and Staff but will probably change to Easy Grammar once we get to where they start grade wise. We use Rod and Staff for spelling for him and will probably stay with that. For reading he is using the Rod and Staff 2nd grade Bible readers and he LOVES it. He also reads every library book and at home book he can get his hands on. Penmanship is the same for him as for Brianna. He also does the unit study with us and he just does whatever between times. Phonics is also Rod and Staff, but I believe ABeka is the best by far. We still use their Handbook for Reading.

Liberty is doing K-5 and we just use various workbooks we get at the store. She kind of does her own thing at this point since she isn't even 5 yet, but we felt she was ready.

For Bible we do whatever God lays on our heart. We are doing Pilgrim's Progress right now. Sometimes we take a book of the Bible that we feel would be especially beneficial to the children and read and discuss it. We take time to sing songs some acappella and some around the piano. We work on our memory verse and spend time in prayer. We have a family prayer book that we keep out in the open so we can write things in it whenever something comes up. We can also write when God answers prayer in it.

Well next! I hope you ladies find this thread of interest.

In Him,
Heather

[MrsDeweySmith]

Great topic...I love hearing how others 'do' school in their homes

We have used many things over the past 8 years, but for 3 years now we have used Christian Light Education. We use them as our core, but we do bunny trail often with history and science. Math and Language Arts are subjects we prefer actually text work in as we feel those are the necessities in life.

Our history work has taken many forms over the years...we began studying out each President, his life span and time in office, including things happening in our country and abroad during those years. We don't read fiction or even biographical books -- I prefer to get our information straight from the source, as it were, with auto-biographies, when possible. Too many 'bent' views of people and their lives out there.

Our science has been one bunny trail after another...and a great blessing since moving to the mid-South. We have a whole new world of plants and animal life here that we didn't have up north. As an interesting bug is found, we start looking up information, checking out what we can, learning about how it lives, eats, etc. Same with nature in general. Now, if a child shows a particular interest in something, we follow it as best we can. If the time comes that one is interested in pursuing something of a more definte path in science, we will go with that as well.

Bible takes a simple form -- we read and listen to Scripture, Charity Tapes we can study out, and the like. We follow an interest or need there as well...sometimes a character trait needs dealing with or developed and we will go seek out Scripture concerning it. We flesh out weekly sermons, finding the nuggets of Truth and weeding out personal views.

Sister Deanna

[hsmomoffourmi]

I use a hodge-podge of curriculum for my kids, who are at the 8th, 5th, 3rd and K levels. This year I started using Apples Spelling, which is Christian, for my 13 year old and he absolutely loves it. We also use Advantage Reading.

For my younger kids I use the "Everything For Grade __" workbooks that can be picked up at Walmart for about $3.99 and toss in a few other inexpensive workbooks to round things out. Every time I go out I look for new ones to keep things exciting for them.

For science I use a book put out by Media Angels, Inc. called Creation Science: A Study Guide to Creation which has over 350 activities for grades K-12. We really like using this.

For social studies we study whatever state or country we are interested in at the moment. We've done ancient Rome, Germany, Guatemala and Italy. At the moment our social studies is focusing on many different cultures rather than one particular one. Since my husband insists on keeping a TV, I use the National Geographic channel for shows on tribal cultures, etc.

For Bible studies we have a family devotions book. But basically we just use the KJV Bible. I am looking for an apologetics or "know why you believe what you believe" book for teens so if anyone knows of a good one, please let me know. We also listen to Thru the Bible radio every afternoon and sometimes follow along although we're not structured to their schedule.

We are really pretty relaxed in our schooling, in that we do what we find fun and interesting at the moment and figure we'll get the rest in sooner or later. This is a great thread idea!

[debbiehigginbotham]

Dear Sisters,

Jesus has shown us two very important principles concerning curriculum:

…of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12:12-13.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33.

In the past I worried about leaving “holes” in our boys’ education. My standard was the institutional system from which I was educated. However, the Lord has a different standard. He graciously showed us that if we started each day with prayer and Bible study, as well as being willing to depart from my plan to what He might unexpectedly bring us each day, that “all these things shall be added unto you.” He would bless the education more if we focused on what was most important: Jesus! This has certainly been easier said than done! Thankfully, He is very patient with us.

Even though we are very blessed by specific curriculum advice, please use this as the Lord wills; don’t let it control you! Let the Lord control the direction daily. Some educational helps may work great for one family and not another. We have even realized that what works great for one of our children does not work for others. So we need to be flexible and listen to that still small Voice.

When we started seeking the Lord’s direction in this way, I prayed for him to show us what to do. That first day he brought us a spring peeper tree frog clinging to our glass door. We easily caught it and studied it. We took it to a local nature center to ask more questions about it. The “educated” naturalists were shocked to see we had it. They said these frogs are heard frequently but they had never actually seen one! Isn’t the Lord wonderful?! He continued in subsequent days to bring us unusual critters to study, as well as prime opportunities to work on Biblical character. Sometimes, He has had us use more typical book work. Other times he has had us work on projects for “school” like replacing the rotted siding on our house. (I call that Life Skills Class or Occupational Education.)

I have a neighbor who allowed her public-schooled son to read Harry Potter books because she said it was the only way she could get him to read at all. I told her that I would much rather have my sons illiterate than read books like that. We would rather have uneducated (by the world’s standards) sons who grow to be Godly men, rather than the opposite. Thankfully though, the Lord has promised that He will add these things.

May the Lord direct your paths,
Debbie

[debbiehigginbotham]

Dear Sisters,

Here is a list of what we use for our “curriculum” when the Lord does not give us a different direction (as I wrote in more detail in the last post.) It is more important to instill a love of learning rather than just filling a mind with facts.

-Bible: We just read some of it every day and discuss it.
-Learning to read (K-1st): Sing, Spell, Read & Write. We like this but are looking for a something which does not include foolishness, animals talking, or immodest clothing.
-Reading: Pathway Readers. These are Amish and we enjoy them. We also have an ever-expanding library of excellent Christian books for them to read.
-Math: Math-U-See. We tried Saxon, ABeka, BJU, and Cornerstone but this has been much better for us. The author is a conservative Christian pastor who used to teach math.
-History: No curriculum, just books, especially those from a Christian perspective, original documents & autobiographies.
-Science: K-6 we just study nature using field guides and the Handbook of Nature Study.
-Science: 7-12: Apologia courses (Dr. Jay Wile).
-Grammar: Shurley Grammar. It’s not Christian, which I don’t care for, but our oldest needed an auditory approach and this is all we found that worked well for him.
-Handwriting: Italic work books and writing Bible verses and in journals.
-Spelling: Spelling Power and Design-a-Study.
-Composition: Institute for Excellence in Writing (Andrew Pudewa). We purchased some used video courses.
-Typing: instructional books from the library. Once they know the keys, we have them type from the Bible. Currently they are typing from the Constitution and getting a double course that way.
-Government: 9-12, “American Civics and Constitutional Law” by Dr. Paul Jehle. The author is a conservative Christian pastor.
-Economics: ”Honest Money,” and ABeka.
-Foreign Language: we felt led to just teach Greek for now to help with studying the Bible in depth. We are using Harvey Bluedorn’s Greek course available from their family’s company, Trivium Pursuit. This course is based on the Stephanos 1500 /Textus Receptus (Received Text) of the Greek New Testament, which was used for translating the King James Version in English. The newer “versions” of the Bible use a different Greek text (the critical text). If you are not familiar with this issue, it is very important and valuable to study it with your children.
-Logic: Don’t skip this study!!! We have used “The Fallacy Detective” book as a read aloud with Dad. It is available from the Trivium Pursuit as above. This has been such a blessing to us with defending our faith! This is best for older children though as it does discuss abortion, etc.
-Music: singing hymns and learning to play an instrument.
-Art: Just good supplies. Sometimes library books (but be careful to check the pictures first!), also for our one son who enjoys art, “How Great Thou Art” and “Art with a Purpose” (Christian and inexpensive!).
-Health: just teaching as we teach to cook, clean, etc. “God’s Will for my Body” is also a good book for older ones to use with Mom or Dad. It discusses the “facts of life” and is Mennonite.
-P.E.: working and playing outside!

We outlined what our high schoolers needed to complete for rendering to Caesar as well as what the Lord wanted them to study. We allow them to complete this in any order. They will sometimes spend weeks on one subject.

Your sister in Christ,
Debbie

[restored]

Amen and Amen Sis. Debbie,

Thanks for your replies. I too have found it hard to let's say take a deep breath and not get caught up in the have toos. I have found that Brianna learns more from Animal books we get from the library than any text book. I can ask her a question about most animals and she can give me some sort of answer some more detailed than others. This is her area of interest and she literally eats it up. I was homeschooled and my parents ordered a big box of curriculum at the beginning of the year from the same place and this is what we did. I have had to learn to break away from that since that is all I have ever known. It does not work for every child. You have some interesting subject there that I may have to look into. I think the best was just stop and listen to what God has to say about our children's education. That is a hard one to do, but He is faithful to lead us if we will let him.

Hope all is well at your home. Let us know of any news. Tell Gary that Liberty is doing well and she reminds me to do her exercises with her We are very thankful for your care and concern with her.

Blessings,
Heather

[mommy4evr]

I am just curious, but what type of regulations do your School Districts have? Right now I do not have to register my children until they are in 3rd grade ( if I understand it correctly).

Currently we use Abeka for our schooling. My oldest is in 2nd grade and I also have one in Kindergarten. My husband used this when he was in the christian school and preferrs this curriculum. I do like what someone said earlier about letting the Lord guide you. It was like a lightbulb went off...........oh yeah, I am not sure if this is something I actually pursued or just took for granted. Time to do some searching through prayer and find out!

Michelle

[debbiehigginbotham]

Dear Michelle,

The requirements for us in Indiana are that we just need to provide 180 days of education ages 7-16 and that's it. We are blessed here with this law. There is much confusion about registering here though. Most secular sources and the state often say we need to register. However, Home School Legal Defense Association (www.hslda.org) states that for Indiana we are not required to register unless the state tells us we must. I would suggest going to HSLDA's web site and checking what they say about your state's laws. Anytime you can avoid having "Caesar" involved in your business is a good thing! (By the way, membership in HSLDA can be a real blessing if you have the funds and if you feel so led by the Lord.)

Your sister in Christ,
Debbie

[robinva]

Well, since we have been homeschooling for the last 7 years (my sons were in public school for the first few years ???I don't know what we were thinking) anyway, we currently have a 8th grader and a 9th grader At this stage in the game I'm not as excited about curriculum as I once was, but this is what we use or have used in the past.

English & Math -Abeka is my favorite
Reading/ Literature- BJU is my favorite
History/Science-BJU, Abeka, and we did 2 years with 2 other homeschooling families who live close by
Spelling- BJU
Vocabulary- I really like the Pathway vocab books
Bible-I just can't bring myself to label this as a subject, but we work on memorizing verses, family devotions/bible study, and personal devotions

[MrsDeweySmith]

For science I use a book put out by Media Angels, Inc. called Creation Science: A Study Guide to Creation which has over 350 activities for grades K-12. We really like using this.

I suppose one could call us 'book junkies' here as we have a great many. I am always weeding out ones that no longer suit our needs or desires, but then I fill in with others as I find them. This book sounds like a worthwhile addition...how would I go about locating one?

As to regulations...Illinois had very little...teach in English language, for x number of hours equalling x number of days in the basice studies. Simple enough.
Now Mississippi claims to not want children falling through the cracks...from all I have found so far, the state is plum full of children falling through cracks. Education claims to be big here, but I've seen little evidence of that so far. We did have to register with the local school, listing our intent to homeschool and what we use. I kept it basic...we plan to teach all core subjects plus electives using various curriculums for the following students, then listed first names.

Personally, I'd just as soon not register and be part of that system in any way shape or form, but it is done now and there's no going back.

Sister Deanna

[hsmomoffourmi]

mrsdeweysmith said:

I suppose one could call us 'book junkies' here as we have a great many. I am always weeding out ones that no longer suit our needs or desires, but then I fill in with others as I find them. This book sounds like a worthwhile addition...how would I go about locating one?

Hello Sister,

You can find this book at www.rainbowresource.com/search.php?sid=1129556030-1929101

It's about a quarter of the way down the page there.

I receive Rainbow Resource's hard copy catalog in the mail every year in late summer and do much of my curriculum shopping through them. They are a real blessing.

[robinva]

I would also like to add that the state of Virginia is one of the more homeschooling friendly ones. There are 4 options in filing for permission to homeschool.

1) If you or your husband has a college degree you list that parent as the instructor of your children.

2) You can go through a state approved correspondence school.

3) You can provide the school system with a copy of your plan of study and a letter asserting your ability to school your child at home. (this is what we do)

4) There is a provision for religious exemption from compulsorary attendence to the public school system. This involves submitting a letter stating your conviction against sending your child to a public run school. I know people who have been granted this exemption, but it must stand up under scrutiny in court should you ever be challenged on it.

Provisions 1-3 require some sort of yearly evaluation, either in the form of standardized testing, compiling a porfolio, or an outside evaluation by a recognized professional. The religious exemption does not require any accountability to the county in which you live.

Our particular county has been very friendly to homeschoolers since we have been involved, but I realize it could change with the appointment of a new pupil coordinator.

The state requires no record keeping, which is great. So-o-o-o, if any of you all would like to move to Virginia. . . .

[blessed]

A very interesting topic indeed! I also agree with not getting too caught up with the trends in schooling. It's easy to get side tracked and see education as an end in itself.

That being said, we do have an obligation before God to develop our talents to our full potential in order to serve Him wherever He may call us to be.

My children are all past the home school stage now. My son is on his own but unsaved. My daughters are at college.

We don't know where God will call our children to serve Him. My parents certaintly didn't expect me to be a single mother of three at the age of 22. They never thought I would be homeless or hungry. And they never thought I would be starting college with a 2, 3, and 4 year old in tow. God is always good and loving no matter what the circumstances may seem to be like. He opened many doors for me that were truely miraculous.

I've said all this simply to point out that education is important and yes I too would rather have my children illiterate that to read something like Harry Potter. That's one reason amoung many I chose to home school even though I really didn't have the ideal situation.

My favorite picks and things I'm most glad I chose in terms of purchased products include:

Veritas Press materials get top award. especially their songs and cards for history and Bible. The literature really provided stimulating discussion.

For 11th or 12th grade Bible my favorite was Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law. Hard but worth it.

Shurley English

Spelling Power gets tops because one book does all the grades and it worked when nothing else did

The Anne of Green Gables study was a lot of fun and hard work and included an emphasis on keeping a home.

Apologia science for high school. Truely Christian and truely independent. Interesting for adult reading also.

When the children are little, the best thing to teach is the word of God and a good catachism. I really wouldn't worry about formal science until seventh grade and I would teach logic in sixth and seventh grades. Many people today accept the lies of the world even though the arguments don't make sense because they have not learned logic.

These are just a few reflections I don't know if they will be helpful at all. Pray and trust and don't jump into something just because you feel pressured to.

Joanne

[benshelpmeet]

Michelle, Here is a great site. It tells what the differant states require.

www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp


Ronda, Thank you for the helpful web site! Does anyone else have any helpful homeschool web sites?

~ sister Darlene ~

[MrsDeweySmith]

www.donnayoung.org
printable forms and such

www.easypianobasics.com
www.free-online-piano-lessons.com
piano related

www.characterjournal.com
Character training units

www.foundationsmag.com/civility.html
George Washington's Rules of Civility

[e-mail]
weekly mailing of a science experiment you can do at home

www.nwta.com/couriers/5-97/sewing.html
handsewing techniques (check out the page for diagrams...)


Sister Deanna