I have just registered my children with Global Village and I love it!!! There are various different ways to use it--one is to simply order their curriculum guide. It is not a stand-alone curriculum, but a guide that lists tons of awesome books that jibe with their philosophy--earth friendly, peace-striving, diversity-supporting. Works quite well for my crunchy family. Their approach to homeschooling works well for unschoolers, eclectic homeschoolers, etc and they won't try to force you into a particular curriculum. It's just resources and subjects that you might not have thought of on your own. But then again, maybe you have :)
We registered because they will do regular portfolio reviews and generate transcripts or assessments for you. Because we live in the UAE and there have been suggestions that there may be a law passed about compulsory schooling, my husband and I just decided it would be a good idea to have paperwork proving our kids are being educated. I love their philosophy, I love their curriculum guides--I have ordered quite a few books off them (from BookDepository--they don't sell the books themselves)-- and I love that they don't try to tell me how to homeschool, since I've been doing it for a while (though they do have gentle suggestions about schedules, etc. for newbies). They also have a couple of other interesting services.
When you register with them (which is different from just ordering their curriculum guide and much more spendy) they have your kids take a "learning profile" assessment which helped me a lot. I already know how my children learn, but it made me realize some things about them that I didn't know. For example, I knew both my oldest need silence to work in, but I didn't realize that my oldest son really wants to be alone in his room when he's studying, but my daughter needs to be with people. It also reinforced my curriculum choices--my son's is much more eclectic, my daughter likes it to be organized and planned out for her.
Also, for folks who need this (I don't, but I see how it could be useful) they have a curriculum personalization service which I think does lay out step by step and subject by subject what work the child should do.
So here's the thing--if you're already homeschooling, are happy with your curriculum, you're in the US and you already have your ducks in a row as far as your state's requirements, then you probably don't need to them.
If you want an earth-friendly, crunchy, peacenik list of books divided up into subjects like "Whole Child/Literature" and "Science/Eco-Integrity" and "Citizenship/Service Learning" (as well as Math and Language Arts) then only order their guides. Their book suggestions are really great, and I wouldn't have known about a lot of them otherwise.
If you need someone to generate transcripts/ proof for you and don't mind paying for it, then you can register with them at various different levels of support. I did the least hands-on one, which is quarterly reviews of your kids' work.
If you are new to homeschooling, really like their philosophy, and need a lot of hand holding and reassurance, then go for their full package. You won't regret it because I really can see that they take school-minded folks and gently lead them to a more child-led way of seeing education.
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