Stuck on Choosing Curriculum--any ideas?

[emily31]

I had planned to work on basic skills for kindergarten and first grade and move onto a purchased curriculum for second. My dd will be 7 in June. So far I have used What Your First Grader Needs to Know, with a Comprehensive Curriculum--Grade 2 workbook, and occasionally a page from a Houghton Mifflin Spelling & Vocabulary (grade 2) workbook. We do lots of nonfiction books from the library, along with educational DVDs for history and science. Lots of educational websites/printouts, too.

DD loves to read, and is pretty strong 3rd grade level. Math skills are pretty good--she can do skip counting by 2,3,5,& 10, and counts money pretty well. Some lower addition/subtraction skill memorized. Hates anything to do with writing. So that's our background-overall we are pretty relaxed, but not willing to go all the way to unschooling.

I've been searching online for a curriculum that will work for us, but just don't really like anything--it either seems really dry or full of fluff that would bore dd. I like how we are doing things, but am afraid of missing something, becoming bored, or teaching something out of order (esp math) that will cause confusion later.

So far, I know that we would not like FIAR, sonlight, abeka, or lapbooks. Secular is fine--maybe better for us? Maybe unit studies, but I don't know what? Oh, and I don't want to pay a bunch either. Any suggestions of anything that might fit our style? Thanks for any direction you can offer.

[lakesuperiormom]

your daughter sounds very advanced for her age in academics. what have you done for artistic and creative handwork and the like? we like oak meadow and more waldorfy homeschooling curric. it sounds like your dd could benefit from some creative outlets painting,knitting or crocheting, playing the recorder or whatever talents you have that you can teach her. from what i have read, that you posted, you are a good candidate for creating your own curriculum. i would not worry about "missing out" on anything...you have plenty of time!

[emily31]

I leave all kinds of craft supplies out for her to create whenever she feels like it (almost daily). She spends lots of time making puppets, pictures etc.--lots of cutting, gluing, and glittering. She also has a more formal craft activity once a week at church along with children's church choir. We've done some sewing, but it's difficult with her 3 yr old little sister around. She goes to ballet and gymnastics once a week. She has mentioned an interest in violin, but will probably wait until fall for that, and drop one of the other activities. She would love more cooking activities, but that happens in spurts--tiny kitchen with two helpers is hard for me.

[TEAK's Mom]

It really sounds like what you are doing is working for her. I think it's natural to worry about missing something, but honestly, at this age, it is so easy to fill in gaps if you encounter them. She sounds great.

[lakesuperiormom]

yeah! it sounds like you've got it all covered!

[rsps]

i agree that what you are doing sounds good. You don't need a packaged curriculm.
If you are worried about missing something you can probably check out your states grade level requirements and scope and sequence on the dept. of education's website.

[yodellady]

an idea

Hi, I am new to this board. We hs'd for K and now my 6.5 yo ds has been in a private school for gr. 1. We will be back to hs full time after the year ends.

It sounds like you are covering your bases and it is all too common to feel anxious about missing something...

I "need" a curriculum, but I know it is not for everyone. We have used "Moving Beyond the Page." At the 7-9 level, this curriculum does not include math, but it is unit studies based, very integrated, secular and developed by a homeschooling mom with a background in gifted education.

One thing I really like is the way this curriculum uses literature. It is also very hands on. Some reviewers rave about how it works well for kids who need to think deeply, make connections, and learn outside the box.

Even if you don't go for the whole curriculum, individual literature or social studies/science units are available. I love the way these are integrated, though. I'd say it could be worth a visit to www.movingbeyondthepage.com.

Keep up the good work!

mom to ds : 6, dd :4 w/dh
::

[emily31]

Thanks for your votes of confidence! I just keep thinking there must be MORE, since other kids are in school for seven hours a day. Right now she really enjoys books of all kinds, so we go to the library once or twice a week. I meet quite a few HSing moms (who all seem to be curriculum junkies) out and about, and the first thing they ask is which curriculum I'm using. I would be like a pat answer.

Yodellady--thanks for the input about Moving Beyond the Page. I had already checked it out, and found it to be the most interesting curriculum so far, but I wasn't really sure which age range she would fall under. I think they were grouped as 6-8 or 7-9, but she seemed to old for the younger, but not advanced enough in writing for the older one. I will have to look at it some more.

[mackysmama]

It seems like your daughter is learning a lot from what you are doing with her. I think that reading, reading, talking about what you are reading, followed by more reading, reading can be enough of a curriculum for years and years. If you are worried about a particular subject, like math, you could stick with what you are doing but add in a math curriculum. Mabye Miquon or Singapore? The Sonlight website has sample pages and placement tests for several programs, though I can't seem to navigate their website to link them for you.

[mommy68]

I purchased some things from www.homeschoolsupercenter.com for my youngest children. They offer total packages or you can just pick and choose what you want. Most of it is secular.

[Mallory]

Sometimes at this age it just helps us to have some kind of focus.

I have this long list of subjects that I check every now and then just to see if there are any huge holes!

History (or social studies at this age)
Science
Math
Geography
English (or language arts)

• spelling
• grammar
• vocabulary
• reading
• writing

Foriegn languange
Art
Music
P.E.


Some of these are easy to do this age at the library. History, Science, Geography, Art, Music, Reading. Think of a list of topics to cover and check out books on them. Get expirament books and try one, get art project books, check out CDs from composers you never listen to. For the fine arts-music, art, theater, dance-it helps me to remember there are two parts, 1-the actual doing of the art (getting out the paints or the drums or dancing), and 2- learning about it, learning the history of it, famous people who did it, and the vocabulary that goes with it like forshortening, or forte.

Most of the English things can be covered with the books you are reading.
For writing it helps to remember there are two very different parts- the first is the actual step of making letters on the paper, and the other is composing essays or stories. Some kids are great writers long before they can actually write any thing down for themselves. So while you can work on making letters, don't forget the composing. Have her tell you a story you write for her, have her make a poem similar to one you are reading, have her tell you what happened in the book you read (fiction and non-fiction). Then have her help you edit it. Does this make sense? Did she get all the important parts? Eventually you probably need some kind of grammar and more formal work on spelling, but I don't worry about it this young. We do copywork and dictation so that things like capital letters at the beginning, spelling, and spaces between letters get covered, and all it costs is a blank handwriting book.

For math we use Miquon (cheap workbooks) and extra manipulatives like a balance, a geoboard, base ten blocks, dominoes, and lots of games.

We do use formal programs for History and science. STOW and the schedules from easyclassical for Chem this year but in the past we have really enjoyed R.E.A.L. Science.

We do school for about an hour a grade at these young ages. So for next year with my 2nd grader has about 1.5 hours of seat work and my 3rd grader has about 2.5 hours. We also do another additional hour or so of reading each day,

When someone asks about your curriculum you can either say child led or eclectic.