Looking forward to getting to know you and ?.

[Eternity]

I just found this message board and joined yesterday. I have another message board I belong to but it doesn't have a homeschooling section. I am so happy to have found you all (on the recommendation of someone), and look forward to getting to know you all. I don't have any one locally to share the homeschool experience with so far.

I found a homeschool group that has a meeting on September fifth so I plan to go to it to see if I can meet some people.

Anyway, this is my first year. I will be teaching kindergarten, third grade and fifth grade.

I am using a variety of McGraw Hill workbooks, Saxon math, and a few other misc. sources. I have put together something of a hodgepodge curriculum. I am considering getting Abeka program for phonics for the kindergartner after I teach him how to read. He knows the basics. I am using "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" right now.

MY question is that I don't have a specific workbook or text book for science or history. Does anyone have any recommendations? We do a variety of science experiments and so far I am teaching about the discovery and beginning of America (Christopher Columbus and colonial times) using library resources.

I live in Indiana and my only legal requirement is for the children to be in attendance for 180 days.

[blessedmomof3]

Hi!

I don't have any suggestions for you...I just wanted to say Hello and welcome to the board!!!

This is my second year to HS. My dd's are 5yo (1st grade), 3yo (Preschool), 10 months (Pre-pre-preschool..LOL!!). I use Rod/Staff (phonics, reading, math), Handwriting Without Tears, and KONOS.

Hopefully the group in your area will be a good match for you!!

[Fieryfly]

Welcome!

MY question is that I don't have a specific workbook or text book for science or history. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I homeschool a 3.5 and a 7.5 year old. With my oldest we use The Story of the World text and activity guide as our history spine, which follows a chronological study of history. It is written by Susan Wise Bauer, one of the authors of The Well Trained Mind. Volume 1 focuses on ancient history while Vol 2 focuses on the middle ages.

We also use some of the suggestions in What Your 2nd Grader Should Know book for social studies topics. I also use this book as a guide to plan out our own science studies. We don't use any one book or guide for science.

HTH!

[Eternity]

I have heard of Handwriting without Tears but haven't seen a copy yet. Does it just cover print or does it cover cursive as well? I have also heard a lot about Konos. I would really like to preview it before I buy it though. The money is well worth it since each volume lasts two years, but I don't want to spend it unless I know it is a program that will work for us. I have been considering buying volume one - original. Do you have the original or the boxed set?

[Eternity]

Fieryfly-
Thanks. I am also using the Core Knowledge series (What your "fifth grader, third grader, kindergartner" Should Know) to help me plan out lessons. I am also using my state academic standards as a loose guideline.

[hslingmomof4]

I just bought startwrite for writing practice which I will be able to use for cursive writing as well. If interested, www.startwrite.com (I think) You can download a free trial but it wont allow you to use certain letters.
I used 100 EZ lessons as well but felt that one lesson a day after lesson 65 was too much for their memory. So, I bought the Abeka reading program for 11.45. A step by step to reading. I also bought Abeka's Letters and Sounds (10.10) and My Blend and Word Book (3.45). Within 3 months my two youngest were reading on their own. They would pronounce words out that they havent seen. We went on and bought addtl supplemental supplies from Abeka (not over 50.00) for 1st grade reading. I felt it was more organized than EZ lessons.
If you are interested in Social Studies and Science projects you can go to www.discoveryschool.com or www.about.com and select specific grade projects. I found that creating our own weather station was a fun project altogether. Also, I think it is wonderful that I am not the only one that uses a guide like The Core Knowledge Series (ED HIRSCH) as well. Also, www.about.com has a guide too. I noticed in the core knowledge series doesn't always match other guides that state it is the natl. avg. guide.

Have fun and congrats!

[Queen Gwen]

Hello! Isn't it fun (and overwhelming!) to consider all the options for curriculum?

We use Story of the World/The Well Trained Mind, also, with my 8yo dd. She likes all of the crafts and projects in the Activity Guide, but you can ditch all of those and just read through the main book...the Activity Guide also gives maps, additional reading suggestions and coloring pages. I like Story of the World because it present history in order, and in interesting little narrative bites.

Well Trained Mind science curriculum is really easy -- do biology the 1st year, earth science the next, then chemistry, then physics. Repeat sequence for next 4 years. Repeat again for high school. The authors give suggestions for books to cover the given subjects. Also, someone put together a snazzier curriculum based on this idea -- it's called Living Learning Books, I think. Personally, I just do units on whatever dd is interested in...right now we're doing a Great Science Adventure on insects (these are by Dinah Zikes. Do not attempt these if you don't like cutting out, coloring, folding and gluing!).

Handwriting Without Tears can be used for print or cursive. I'm planning on ordering the cursive books, although we used something else up until now. The website is www.hwtears.com

Dd hate 100 EZ Lessons, so I used Phonics Pathway as suggested in Well Trained Mind. For her younger sister (4yo) I'm using Reading Reflex and some Montessori games.

Favorite homeschool catalog -- Rainbow Resource Center www.rainbowresource.com

Favorite place to read curriculum reviews: www.welltrainedmind.com in the parent's forum and also the curriculum reviews by Susan Wise Bauer.

Alltime favorite homeschool resources: library card and internet connection!