A while back, I began to review my curriculum choices for next year. My overall plan can be found here. I have almost everything in now and will begin organizing and working on overall lesson plans for next year. I REALLY wanted to have this completed before the end of this school year. I will continue to work towards that. However, sudden classroom and pantry makeovers, among other things have stolen my attention and I am definitely NOT on track to complete that goal.

First Grade items make me happy. I think I am a kid at heart. I love fantastic illustrations and the choices that I selected did not disappoint.

A Reason for Spelling ~ There is a lot of Bible throughout this curriculum. Each lesson focusses on one verse that is the same verse that is being used for practice in A Reason for Handwriting. It starts with a short phonics review and then begins with spelling word lists. Each list contains a variety of ways to practice the words and activities and stories to focus on the meaning of the verse for that week.

A Reason for Handwriting~ I chose this because each daily lesson is short and uses words from the verse of the week. These lessons are a “practice” for the big day at the end of the week where your child can select a background paper and then write out the entire verse for that week. It is suggested then to color in the paper and use these completed scripture sheets to send to a sick friend, turn into a placemat, or any other creative idea you can think of.

Apologia Science ~ After aborting A Beka science I was on the hunt for a new science curriculum. I couldn’t turn anywhere without running into Apologia. I read review after review and literally found almost no negative. This curriculum appears to have  a ton of hands on learning. It is for multiple age levels and offers a note booking journal. I am really curious to see how this one will go over. I have just heard so many good things, I can’t help but think, “How can a curriculum be THAT good?” I will let you know. I will be ordering this as soon as I sell off some more of our curriculum that we are finished with from this year. This kit comes conveniently labeled for each science experiment throughout the year with all of the necessary supplies.

Write About Me/ Write About My World ~ These are great and inexpensive books for beginning writing practice.

My Calendar Book ~ Additional calendar practice and practice in charting and graphing daily weather patterns.

6th and 7th grade curriculum just does not provide the cute factor anymore! However,I am looking forward to getting into all of these books and planning it all out. This is completely one of my most very favorite parts of homeschooling.

Teaching Textbooks ~ I  just love it. The kids just love it. It is so easy for them to understand. It provides explanations for missed problems and real life examples to implement the learned material. I found out last year while although I can DO math. I am awful at teaching it and I do mean awful. Trying to explain math concepts is difficult. I did not do well. I completely embrace the online approach and will stick to it. We are all happier this way.

Apologia Science ~ Astronomy for my 6th grader and General Science for my 7th.

Positive Action ~ I love their Bible curriculum. I have used it for 2 years now. These Wise UP books are based on Proverbs and I was able to purchase for just a few dollars each because they have redone the cover for this year. Yay for me.

Reading ~ I have selected 4 titles and purchased the unit guides for each title. We will be spending a quarter on each title. These guides offer, quizzes, project ideas, prompts for discussions and a ton more. In addition, my kids will do at least 30 minutes of reading of their own approved selections.

Writing ~ Open the Deck. I have noticed that it seems that most of the curriculum that I have looked at for language arts seem really skimpy in writing. This may or may not be true, but regardless this writing program that I have found looks awesome. It has very high reviews and goes through what appears to be super creative and thorough teaching of writing styles and basics.

Not so boring grammar ~ basic grammar review of parts of speech and all that jazz. Complete with a bit of a flair when it comes to the exercises. They do really look “not so boring”.

Expedition Earth~ These are the supplemental materials suggested to purchase for our Expedition Earth Curriculum. I still need to do the printing and organizing to put the kids binders and passports together. I look forward to doing this with all three of my kids next year. My crew is not so good at working together with their siblings. Magically they seem to turn into respectable citizens when placed next to a friend or stranger. However, ask them to do a project with one of their own peeps and they need some work. I am hoping that engaging in this year long program will provide some growth in this area for us. This program is so cool. It gives a great overview of different countries, prays for the countries and incorporates listening to their music, cooking some of their foods, and doing some international art projects. It should be a lot of fun for all of us.

IF you are new~ish to homeschooling you may be asking yourself HOW DO I CHOOSE CURRICULUM? This is my theory…you may want to sit down for this, as it’s pretty deep.

I am going to go in with the assumption that while I am quite certain that some curriculums are “better” than others, each one provides an opportunity to learn. All I can do as a parent educator is to pray, trust the professionals who have created the curriculum, read reviews, and talk to others for opinions. Ultimately, you absolutely can get lost and overwhelmed in the infinite number of choices out there. It can make your head SPIN. Spend some time researching, pick, commit and move on with life. Despite the distracting fun of shopping, I am pretty sure that learning is supposed to be the most important part.

First, let me say that I am completing my 2nd year of homeschool. I love my children. I have a brain. I have done lots of research, questioning, and prayer. However, by no means do I consider myself anywhere near of an expert on the subject of school curriculum….not one bit.

I have had multiple questions on why I chose what I chose and why I aborted A beka. If you are like me at all. I love to hear what other people use and why and then filter it into my world and how it fits into my gig. So, here goes. Random, unprofessional, thoughts on curriculum a la me….

First off, I tried SONLIGHT last year. We used it for weeks. The company has unmatched customer service and incredible return policies. This curriculum requires a ton of parental involvement and a ton of reading. My kids have had a strong classroom setting background for 5-6 years and they weren’t super comfortable with the switch in learning styles. Sonlight has little to no tests, quizzes, or worksheets. I think it is an awesome curriculum if you love literature and reading and plan to do a TON of both. It is a user friendly curriculum I think, as the lesson plans were super easy to understand and use. Another downside is because you are purchasing so many books, it is quite expensive.

A BEKA. From what I have gathered from people I have come in contact with, A beka seems to be viewed as a solid, traditional, kind of “old school” curriculum. It is worksheet driven. It is bright and colorful. It has incredibly detailed lesson plans. Down to…”say this, say that, etc.” I used A beka almost exclusively (Bible was with Positive Action) in year one. I used it almost exclusively this year for my kinder and parts for my 5th/6th grader. My Kinder is super tired of worksheets and I simply can’t seem to wrap my brain around the lesson plan/teacher guide books For some reason they are so tedious and confusing for my brain and we don’t play well together. This is one of my main dislikes about the curriculum. I have also heard that their science is super easy. I really can’t attest to that, other than to say it comes from people that I know and trust in the education field.

Why I’m eclectic ~

So, you can choose a curriculum company such as A beka, Sonlight, Monarch, Switched on Schoolhouse, or others. You can order an entire grade. With A beka for example you can order the student kit and teacher kit. Choose any additional supplements they offer and you will be set for the year. I would recommend this for the first year if you are unsure of what to do. There is so much to learn and figure out that using one publisher can really eliminate a lot of work by getting used to different styles and layouts of the various curriculum choices. I found it helpful.

The second year, I deviated a bit more as I become more comfortable with home school itself. This year I will became totally “eclectic”. I made a list of subjects and inserted the curriculum that I wanted to use to fulfill that subject. I have seen people who use exclusively one publisher, those who don’t ever use more than one subject from the same publisher and everything in between. I think there are pro’s and con’s to everything and every combination. I also think, especially for those of us who are new to this, that there is the possibility to get lost in the oceans of curriculum and all of the shiny options. Research is super important, but at some point you need to just make a decision. With that being said I also feel like if something is completely not working, go ahead and switch.

Personally, I have several teacher friends that I periodically check in with. I also plan to do the testing for my kids. I also continue to periodically check homeschool reviews etc. I also completely commit this to prayer as I really believe God will guide me to find what is right for my kids and this home.

I personally want a mix of learning options for my kids. It seems to fit us best. Some computer, some worksheets, some reading. Just well rounded with lots of variety. I want some tests and some quizzes. I want some independent work and some unit studies that will provide me teaching my kids together. I want everything with a pretty bow on top. I feel putting in a bit of extra work and going eclectic allows me my bow.

THIS YEAR….

I am using EXPLODE THE CODE. My six year old daughter is kind of “worksheeted out”. The downside to using all one curriculum is that everything starts to look the same. I love variety and I think its natural my kids will too. My daughter has done 2 solid years of A beka and I just think it is time to change it up. Explode the code offers an online deal for $65 a year that is a huge draw to me. It is the only part of school that I plan to have my first grader do online. I also have purchased the workbooks and she will do these as well. They are all black and white from what I can see, but have adorable little stick type figures that my daughter already finds “so funny”. The teacher books are written in a way that I completely understand which is huge. I need them. I will confess that I have a bit of anxiety knowing that I am really the one responsible for the foundational learning that she is doing. My other two were at a great school during the first few years of their education. When I brought them home, they had a wonderful foundation under their belt. Explode the Code has fantastic reviews and when you combine that with the ease of the teacher guides, the online options…I’m set and excited about the change.

I am switching to HORIZON from A beka for math primarily for two reasons. First, the lesson plan/teacher guide books again just make sense to me when I read Horizon. A beka does not. Second, there is a manipulatives kit that is used with this curriculum that I am looking forward to. I think this is going to be a great addition to my daughter’s learning. Again, she is kinda over the repetitive continuous worksheets. This will provide some variety for both of us.TEACHING TEXTBOOKS is a permanent fixture in our home for math. I love it. It begins in third grade, however. We will have to wait a bit longer for my soon to be first grader to start that.

WORDLY WISE is a program I found by looking on the Sonlight website. My kids have done A beka spelling for awhile, but I feel like they just memorize the vocabulary and don’t have a huge ability to use the words correctly. Soooo naturally I was drawn to a program that is primarily vocabulary. We will use the same vocabulary list for the spelling as well. This program begins in K. I will be using the first grade set for my youngest. I love it.

more tomorrow…….