What's your favorite 'full' curriculum?? (and a few other ?'s thrown in! LOL)

[JodiM]

Dh and I have pretty much made the decision for me to homeschool the kids... but he wants me to start hs'ing dd (6) after we get settled into our new house, to make sure I will like it... before 'jumping in' with the boys.

Anyhow, I think I will need something 'structured', at least for me, since this will be our first experience, and I have *no* idea what I am supposed to be teaching, and when. LOL

Can you recommend a good starter curriculum? (Preferably something reasonably priced, as I like being able to stay home and be a mom. LOL)

Do I grade tests or send them?

Also, do I need to keep a profile, agenda, and records?

[Dar]

The records and testing you have to do is totally dependant on where you live (what state).

As far as a curriculum, what are your goals for homeschooling? Christian or secular? Do you have a strong academic bias? Artistic bias? Literary bias?

What you're "supposed to" be teaching totally depends on what your goals are. Despite what the schools say, there is no overall agreement on what a "firs grader" should learn. If you want your child to be having the same academic exposure as the public schooled kids in your area, you can find out what they use and buy it yourself, or they may even have an independent study program through the district where they'll give you their stuff free.

Dar

[Faith]

Are you in IL? It seems like I remember that... If you are, there is legally nothing you have to do as far as tests or records, etc. You are free! You can look at the laws in each state at www.hslda.org

You might want to read a book or two on HSing to decide how you want to do it. LLL has a good one in their catalog called The Homeschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith (or close to that). It is the first one I read and it really helped.

For a good curriculum, I recommend ordering a catalog from www.sonlight.com They have it all laid out, but are not too rigid IMO. They offer every subject in packages for every age.
There are a lot of good curriculums out there!

Many HSers do not find it necessary to test their DC at all. Since you are with your DC basicly one-on-one every day, you are very aware of their progress in a natural way, and don't need to rely on tests like a classroom teacher of 30 kids is forced to, yk?
You can definitely test if you want to though. Depending on what you choose to do for a curriculum, you can send the tests in or grade them yourself. Different companys offer different options and you can pick what you like best.

[JodiM]

As far as a curriculum, what are your goals for homeschooling?

Honestly, I don't really 'know' yet... I want to make sure the kids are getting all the 'subjects' that need to be taught.

I would be good if someone would tell me, Ds1, should learn X, XX, XS, SX, and YY.... and DS2 should learn YC, IG, SO, PA and AW... and so on.

I think my biggest problem now, why we want so much structure now, is so I can 'get the hang of it' and figure out what it is I am supposed to do for this year. (Am I making any sense? LOL)

Are you in IL?

Yes, I'm in Illinois (And for once, thankful! LOL)

[saintmom]

Calvert school is the oldest and in my opinion the best.you literally get it all right down to the paper and pencils in the box.It is stuctured 1950's sort of type of schooling.The one family I know of( that stayed with it through all 8 grades) had children who only had to complete 3yrs of high school to recive their diplomas!I couldn't afford it.I have used some of their video art and music programs that are excellent.Happy hunting!

[Shantimama]

We really like Sonlight. The structure is there if you want it, but you can do things at your own pace if you want to sfter awhile. It is based in history and literature and the kids LOVE the books! It has some evangelical Christian content, but only in a couple of books which are easily given away to charity if you don't want them.

Their science program is engaging and thorough, they have a couple of math programs to choose from - we like Singapore. Their catalogue is a great help, even if you don't buy from them because it is so detailed and clear.

[Faith]

Originally Posted by JodiM

I would be good if someone would tell me, Ds1, should learn X, XX, XS, SX, and YY.... and DS2 should learn YC, IG, SO, PA and AW... and so on.

There is a book series out there called "What your [Kindergartener] Needs to Know." There is one for every grade as far as I know, so you could check them out for your DC's ages.


Here is a little chart that shows what each child 'should' know at what grade.
http://www2.worldbook.com/wc/browse?id=pa/tcs
There might be better ones out there, but it is somewhere to start.


I think things like this can be intimidating. Really, it is just someone's opinion and no two lists will be exactly the same. Every child is different. I went to a "good" school and I definitely was not taught all those things on those lists! No child, at school or at home, learns everything with no gaps, and I don't think every child even needs to.
I don't think there is anything wrong with using lists like these as long as they are seen as general guidelines. I just would hate for someone to freak out because their DC are not right where they should be in every topic, yk? Every one of us will be ahead in some things, behind in some things, etc. The beauty of HSing is that we can learn all we need to at our own pace.
(I guess that is my disclaimer! )

[Queen Gwen]

Sonlight is wonderfully organized, breathtakingly expensive, very Christian/pro-missions. You can pop it out of the box and follow it without any other work on your part. Or not...most people customize it. You

Well Trained Mind goes through and says "this is what you need to teach in this grade, and here are some book/curriculum suggestions". It's a book you can get at your local public library. ( love smiley inserted here because 4yo wanted me to, not for any other deep significance)

What Your (whatever) Needs To Know is more in depth about what each grade needs to know, but offers no suggestions insofar as curriculum.

Rebecca Rupp has a book out entitled something like Homelearning Year By Year that gives a scope and sequence, and I think some suggestions on curriculum. Rupp's stuff is secular.

There should be other scope and sequence type books at the library, too.

[Shantimama]

Good point about Sonlight - I think I have passed on about 5 or 6 books that were mission/bible oriented that came with Sonlight's packages - out of about 100 books purchased. The first year I used it I bought the whole package, this year I bought only the books and didn't purchase the Instructor's Guides. That saved a lot of money.

[Sasha_girl]

There is a book series out there called "What your [Kindergartener] Needs to Know." There is one for every grade as far as I know, so you could check them out for your DC's ages.

This is what I would suggest. I know Barnes & Noble stocks this series, and my local library has several.

Also, B&N has Learn at Home curriculums from the Editors of American Education Publishing (McGraw Hill). It's a pretty basic book with the general subjects covered. DD likes messing around with it.

[JodiM]

Sonlight is wonderfully organized, breathtakingly expensive, very Christian/pro-missions.

I liked sonlight from what I've seen so far, but honestly, I don't know if we can afford it.
We *just* closed on a new house (Thursday) and the new baby coming in August....so we have a limited amount of $$ right now.

Can I buy Sonlight used? I know some curriculum's are only good for 1 child?

I guess I could justify spending so much, if all my other kids would go through it later on. (kwim?)

[anythingelse]

Jodi,
I don't reccomend sonlight to anyone that has wee ones, even trying to do the four day was a lot of work for me. There is simply too much time spent preparing things for mom and reading aloud to your dc.
It is a wonderful curriculum with great books and IMHO best suited for family without toddlers & babies.

In IL you are supposed to be teaching-
176 days per year
Subjects:
Language arts, biological and physical science, math, social sciences, fine arts, health and physical development
to ages 7-16

and that is it

Here are some suggestions to fit the requirements-
Buy a children's museum and a zoo membership if possible
get her a library card
Buy singapore math text and base ten blocks
Buy a planet frog for science and chart frogs development for writing/science
get a small chalkboard and a small poster of the alphabet in the style of writing you will be using at home, mauscript, denalian whatever
Buy 'Come look with me' and Art with a purpose (if you are Christian) Art Pac 1 & 2
Buy/borrow a simple cassette player and get her good tapes to choose from while she is doing art and books with tapes to read along with from the library before bed.
Print out the reader list from Sonlight's website and check out the books at the library, put 5 into a basket & rotate as they are learned until mastered. Add the Beginner's Bible and the Child's History of the World or some of the Usborne books like Greek Myths and Time Travelers to read aloud to dc.
Get a small globe from Walmart to show places you are reading about.
I would let child narrate to me stories read and put them, her writing, and the art work together in a spiral bound art book. This book and a binder with plastic drop in sleeves to put her other keepsakes from the year and the print out of what your state requires are all you need for record keeping. You can put your support group info, catalogues etc.. all together in the binder and have her spiral to show gram and dad.

If you make a wish list somewhere like amazon you can ask for educational board games & software if you like for Christmas. You can find used sonlight on vegsource and ebay.

Mary
mom to four busy kids

[Shantimama]

Sonlight's curriculum is geared towards age ranges, rather than specific grades. All three of my children are using the same curriculum, but I don't expect them to get the same thing out of it. It is a lot less work than planning for three different levels. If you look at their catalogue, you'll see what I mean.

Check out their website - I think they have a forum for buying used materials. You could also just get their reading list from their catalogue and borrow the books from the library, although they frown on that. We use Singapore math, but I quickly learned we only needed to purchase the workbooks, not the entire package they offer.