curriculum that is adaptable to relaxed hs / us approach

[cheery]

dd is 7 and we've not used any curriculum so far. I am wondering if she might enjoy one though. Do you know of any secular curriculum that is not too heavy and that might be adaptable to our relaxed / unschooler approach? She did a BBC "game" on ancient civilization of India and enjoyed that.
The game was:
Join Professor Indus at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/indusvalley/

She wanted more games like that.

Any ideas?

[phathui5]

My kids like reading the Story of the World books. They also like Graphic Classics (classic books turned into graphic novels).

[SundayCrepes]

My son is only 4.5. I am buying the secular books from www.sonlight.com. He enjoys reading them and I feel like he's getting a well rounded exposure to the world. There is a secular sonlight yahoo group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SonlightSecular/

[naturegirl7]

We are pretty unschooly, eclectic too. But I found a few curriculums that I like and am loosely using.

History Odyssey (which uses Story of the World and Usborne books) is great for history. It is more secular than the Story of the World curriculum and on a slightly different (more secular) time line too. We are enjoying it. We have the resources and are using it loosely - love love love the Usborne Word History and Ancient History encyclopedias!! We read, watch some documentaries/movies, do lots of fun hands on stuff - we spent about 3 weeks on dinosaurs and the last 2 on prehistoric mammals and man. having lots and lots of fun with it and just moving along at our own pace.

REAL Science Odyssey Life Science - we are liking this. It is the human body and then the classifications of the animal kingdom. Lots of cool experiments and activities all neatly compiled in one place

Literature - we just use our books from HO and SO, and all the various books we read together... nothing formal there.

As for games - we splurge $10 a month for www.cosmeo.com - it is the best investment ever!! It is put together by Discovery Channel, History Channel and ANimal Planet. Lots of awesome videos and articles plus a ton of super fun "brain games" DS is addicted to this site - we do a pretty large portion of school time thru this site. Try the free trial - if you do, check out the pendemonium vids/games. they are a HUGE hit over here right now

[kittie313]

Sonlight is a pretty good program that can be used the way you want. In the lower cores the bible package is optional, and then you can just substitute a couple books where you need to. I've got the P cores and core K, and we have a blast with those books as a fun supplemental reading thing. We're saving now to buy core 1 and then core 2 so that I have more great literature that will tie in nicely with our k12 history lessons.

[cheery]

www.cosmeo.com - it is the best investment ever!!

It calls itself a homework-helper site.
Do you "assign" work and let them use the site for help. Or do they use it on their own, without any directions from you?

Since Sonlight is a specifically Christian curriculum, is there any reason one would want to use it if one wished to study Christianity idependently from other subjects? Is it easy to discard the Christian-inflected apsects of science and history, for example?

[yllek]

My favorite resource in the whole world is Discover Education Streaming. I think it is super-adaptable to a relaxed/US approach. If I start watching a documentary on it, my ds is sure to get sucked in.

I also think that inquiry-based science resources are really fun for most kids. The GEMS units from Livermore Hall of Science and Delta Science in a Nutshell kits were big hits over here.

[Juvysen]

[kittie313]

IMO (and this is based on cores P3/4, P4/5, and core K along with science K and the LA levels I have) Sonlight's religious content is pretty easy to eliminate if you do not want religion incorporated into other subjects. However, I feel that religion and history go hand-in-hand so you may have difficulty with the world history cores if you try to eliminate all religious content. I'm doing a secular history program (k12) and when dd1 did ancients last year she learned about religious beliefs of the cultures we studied, including listening to a few Old Testament stories. So much of our history is intertwined with history, so many wars fought in the name of God and so many terrible persecutions in the name of Gods and Goddesses, that you really can not avoid it if you want to teach a complete history (many ps'es don't teach world history much at all because of the deep involvement of religion in history, in ancients especially their faith was their way of life and everything revolved around it).

But in general, I feel Sonlight is pretty easy to adapt. Perhaps you would benefit from going to the Sonlight forums and asking them over at choosing about how easy it is to adapt to the way you want it at different levels.

[Marimami]

I think it also depends on your approach to curriculum use. We have several options available to us: All About Spelling, RightStart Math, R.E.A.L Science (from Pandia Press) Life and Earth, and HWOT. DD is 6, first grader, basically.

However, we use them in a very relaxed manner. I don't consider myself a full-out unschooler because I do have an agenda in regards to math and reading skills. I really think those are her windows to independent learning. But, we are very laid back and eclectic in our approach.

We do something reading-esque nearly every day. DD also really wants to learn Spanish so we usually work on that daily too. I work full time but I try to give her a chunk of my time every morning for us to work on these and any other things she'd like to do with me. DH is SAHD and primary homeschooling parent so she does other stuff with him every day.

DH started a monthly math club (a la living math) with one of our homeschool groups, and they work on math on their own too albeit not as regularly as reading.

For handwriting, if I see her struggling with something, I just suggest what letters she might want to focus on in her HWOT book. Our deal is that I suggest a letter and she chooses another. This is not a consistent or every day thing.

Science she loves and would happily do that every day. Same with anything arts/crafts. She also loves learning about other cultures and religions but I have not spent any time choosing a history curriculum. We just read books. I also don't use any particular literature program. I make note of different books and such to read, but DD has only recently started to enjoy fictional chapter books, and I have to choose them very carefully as she is very sensitive. She has never liked traditional fairy tales, for example.

We have a very active and vibrant homeschooling community in which DD participates in something just about every day.

Holli

[*Jessica*]

I think any curriculum that appeals to you or you children can be used in a very relaxed manner. Just don't do lessons unless you feel like it!

I've discovered that my son retains much more info if he has a computer game or video to watch or play. So we watch a lot of documentaries and he plays a lot of educational computer games. I keep track of them on the website we created for our homeschool. I think I can just copy and paste some of them here. Let me see if it works. (Not all of these have been previewed, so check for suitability before letting your children use them.)

Rome Reborn - A Digital Model of Ancient Rome
Gladiator: Dressed to Kill Game
BBC Dig It Up: Romans Game
BBC Emperor of Rome Game
BrainPOP Fall of Rome Movie

BBC Iron Age Celts Game
Funny Games Celtic Village Game
Barbarian Kingdoms Map
BBC Dig It Up: Anglo-Saxons Game

Illuminated Manuscript Interactive

Pachisi pdf Printable Game and Instructions For Play
Hindu Dharma
Story of the Buddha — Colouring Book
Buddhist Studies - Guided Meditation for Primary Students zip pdf

BBC Dig It Up: Vikings Game
BBC Viking Ships Video

BBC The Battle of Hastings Game

YouTube Video Jousting: Tournament at the Tower
Owl & Mouse Heraldry Game
The Samurai Creed
Metropolitan Museum of Art Knights & Samurai Quiz

Interactive Map of the Ancient Americas Online Activity

Macchu Picchu Virtual Tour Online Activity

Interactive Map of the Ancient Americas Online Activity
Reading Maya Hieroglyphs Online Activity
Maya Adventure Online Activity
Nova Maya Calendar Long Count pdf Printable Activity
Mayan Myths Online Narrated Story

Inca Creation Story Online Narrated Story
Aztecs Online Interactive Activity

Aztec Coloring Pages Printable Activity
Male Aztec Puppet Printable Activity
Female Aztec Puppet Printable Activity
BBC Famous People: Christopher Columbus Online Activity

National Geographic Kids Christopher Columbus Video
Weekly Reader Interactive Stories: The Story of Christopher Columbus Online Narrated Story
National Geograhic Kids Brainteaser: Mysterious Inca Online Quiz/Game

The Ruins on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu Online Photo Tour
Explorer Trading Cards Key Cards 1 Cards 2 Cards 3 Cards 4 Back

The Case of the Missing Trunks Online/Print Activity
Virtual Jamestown Online Activity

On the Trail of Captian John Smith Online Interactive Activity
Pocahontas Printable Activity

Pocahontas: Images of a Legend Online Interactive
Pocahontas Revealed - Teacher's Guide pdf Printable
Living with the Indians - Powhatan pdf Printable Text
Powhatan Nation - The Pocahontas Myth Online Text
Colonial America Map pdf Printable Activity

Weekly Reader Interactive Stories: The Story of Squanto Online Activity
Plimoth Plantation: Investigating The First Thanksgiving Online Activity
Talk Like a Pilgrim Online Lesson
The Game of Fox and Geese Printable Game
Colonial Williamsburg Kids Zone: Enslaved African-Americans

National Geographic: The Underground Railroad Online Interactive
Dear America: Colonial Period Online Activities
The Road to Revolution Online Game
Virtual Quill Pen Online Activity

Today in the 177os Online
Name That Founding Father Online Game

Weekly Reader Interactive Stories: The Story of Johnny Appleseed (online activity)

[yllek]

While it may be instructive to understand the religious beliefs of cultures throughout history, one can do so without a viewing those other religions from a Christian perspective. Sonlight's take on history seems pretty slanted, imo.

The Core Knowledge materials are secular, but hardly unschooly. However, the Scope and Sequence is free and the What Your __ Grader Needs to Know is cheap. I've been using those, the Teacher Handbook and some other CK stuff as resources for bringing in interesting materials, emphasizing certain objectives, etc. when my ds shows an interest in certain topics.

Ds is in "first grade" this year. It so happens that CK wants to cover some early civilizations and Egypt, along with early American history for first grade (CK also mentions world religions, Mexico and some geography too). Ds is totally interested in Egypt and the Revolutionary War, so we've been doing both, as our moods strike. I may or may not get to Mexico this year. No biggie. The CK resources have been really useful. The objectives that are listed in the Teacher Handbook give me ideas about what to emphasize, but there aren't that many, so I totally have room to follow ds' interests too. Like I said, it's not unschooly, but since you are willing to tweak and adapt, maybe this is an option.

[yllek]

Originally Posted by *Jessica*

I've discovered that my son retains much more info if he has a computer game or video to watch or play. So we watch a lot of documentaries and he plays a lot of educational computer games. I keep track of them on the website we created for our homeschool. I think I can just copy and paste some of them here. Let me see if it works. (Not all of these have been previewed, so check for suitability before letting your children use them.)

Jessica, you totally ROCK! Love this. THANK YOU!

[mom2ponygirl]

We really enjoyed grammar, vocabulary, and poetics books by Michael Clay Thompson from www.rfwp.com The elementary level books are so well suited to cuddling on the sofa together to read and discuss. The secondary level books are also great but geared more to independent work. The elementary level are visually lovely to look at and enjoyable to read.

[amis2girls]

Originally Posted by cheery

It calls itself a homework-helper site.
Do you "assign" work and let them use the site for help. Or do they use it on their own, without any directions from you?

I signed up for this after reading this thread. There trial period is 30 days without billing. They can use it either on their own or with you. Mine like to click through interesting subjects and find games/videos. I can also search for a subject using a grade filter (K-2, 3-5, etc.) and we work through that together.

[SandyBeachBums]

Teaching Textbooks
Story of the World on CD
Lots of paper
Rainbow Resource has these great blank books called Bright books. My kids like to make books. I like having the memories.

[SandyBeachBums]

Science kits are fun, too. We never got to science before I realized I needed to just buy kits. I like Home Science Tools or Rainbow Resource. Although, amazon does have good prices and you don't have to buy so much at once.