is there somewhere -- maybe here -- i can find ...

[Momma Aimee]

A list of stuctured home school Curriculum

I know of Alpha and Omega

I know of Oak Meadows

I know of Calvert School

I know of Catholic Heritage


what others should i look at?

Aimee

[daisymommy]

You need to read through "The Well Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer. It is like the Bible for Classical Homeschooling curriculum.

[elizawill]

aimee, it really just depends. there are SO many full curriculums, but many are vastly different from one another. a few of my favorite are www.movingbeyondthepage.com (what i currently use), www.fiveinarow.com, and www.konos.com

however, i really like unit studies a lot. but, if you wanted to follow a classical education - chances are, these would not appeal to you at all. not to mention, konos is christian, so that might be a big turn-off to non-christians. ykwim?

i'd suggest looking at www.homeschoolreviews.com there are lots of curriculum listed there that can give you more insight. good luck!

[Momma Aimee]

what is a unit studies



or i guess what is a unit study vs classical education



I guess i am really uneducated.

e ARE christian and I DO want a christian Curriculum. We want something structured -- outlined for the parent and child (a book for me for each subject or something) and most likly heavy on teh work books ( I know

Thanks

I am trying to get up to speed -- looks like a really good thing i am starting NOW

[elizawill]

aimee,
let me just throw this out there. what you think you want and what you will actually love may be 2 very different things. lol. i bought abeka christian pre-packaged curriculum when my dd was almost 4. it's expensive. it's very thorough & complete. it's laid out to a "T". it's everything i thought i wanted! well....can i just tell you, i absolutely HATED it. lol ....i sold most of it, and still have a HUGE binder of K teacher resources (want it??? ha ha).

imo, before you actually buy anything, just really read. read. read. read. there are also LOTS of free curriculums out there that follow specific "methods" or "styles", and those are great in trying to figure out what not only works for you, but more importantly, what works for your child, yk? if something is a total failure - you didn't lose anything but the ink and paper you used.

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/teacherslounge/styles/ is great for explaining methods and styles. labels aren't terribly important imo, but it is helpful if a curriculum follows a certain philosophy & you're familiar with it. it can save you a lot of money if you have an "idea" of what approach interest you (i.e. - i would NOT have bought abeka, as i would have known replicating "school at home" was of no interest to me). lastly, the curriculum i ended up chooing is not christian. it has character education and it's easy to incorporate our faith for sure - but i've found that teaching "bible" as a separate subject works much better for my family. just a thought.

hth!

[Momma Aimee]

Originally Posted by elizawill

aimee,
let me just throw this out there. what you think you want and what you will actually love may be 2 very different things. lol. i bought abeka christian pre-packaged curriculum when my dd was almost 4. it's expensive. it's very thorough & complete. it's laid out to a "T". it's everything i thought i wanted! well....can i just tell you, i absolutely HATED it. lol ....i sold most of it, and still have a HUGE binder of K teacher resources (want it??? ha ha).

imo, before you actually buy anything, just really read. read. read. read. there are also LOTS of free curriculums out there that follow specific "methods" or "styles", and those are great in trying to figure out what not only works for you, but more importantly, what works for your child, yk? if something is a total failure - you didn't lose anything but the ink and paper you used.

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/teacherslounge/styles/ is great for explaining methods and styles. labels aren't terribly important imo, but it is helpful if a curriculum follows a certain philosophy & you're familiar with it. it can save you a lot of money if you have an "idea" of what approach interest you (i.e. - i would NOT have bought abeka, as i would have known replicating "school at home" was of no interest to me). lastly, the curriculum i ended up chooing is not christian. it has character education and it's easy to incorporate our faith for sure - but i've found that teaching "bible" as a separate subject works much better for my family. just a thought.

hth!

thanks

I AM jsut starting.

I don't really need something, want something, that says on this day you must do this ... but i do want and need something that is laid out "here is what you need to accomplish this semester dna here is a guild line for how to get it done" that I can speed up, or slow down, as our life dicates. but i DO need to know the "goals" you know?

I do think we want to do more of a school at home approach -- both for me (I am a stuctured person) and for DH to be willing to agree to it.

I do forsee us doing something heave in work books, with supplemental stuff (mroe creative stuff) added in as additional.

thanks for the web link.

I appercipate all the help.

Aimee

ps still confused about what is a unit study vs classical education

???

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

I do think we want to do more of a school at home approach -- both for me (I am a stuctured person) and for DH to be willing to agree to it.

calvert and abeka would be good "school at home" approaches. be sure to read the reviews at homeschoolreviews.com too under "complete curriculum"

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

ps still confused about what is a unit study vs classical education

???

a unit study basically is taking a topic that all subjects flow out of. for example, we are currently studying animal habitats. all of our subjects tie into our study of animal habitats, does that make sense? classical education would best be defined by reading "the well trained mind". here's a link that has enough of the book online to give you a better idea.

http://books.google.com/books?id=mXI..._aG_OMunaZWw5A

hth

[Momma Aimee]

thanks

[CariOfOz]

My 2c.. I thought I'd like structured too lol. I don't I use Oak Meadow and that's about as much structure as I think we can tolerate.. and after we use the grade 1... there won't even be THAT much! Both the kiddo & I enjoy being free to decided he wants to learn about X for science, then checking out every library book we can find & researching it to death on the net You have a TON of time to read & look, going by your sig your oldest is just coming up on 3! Break out the crayons & fingerpants, take nature walks and learn about animals, read books, go to story time! Curriculum can definitely hold off a few years yet

[excitedtobeamom]

Have you looked at Sonlight? www.sonlight.com

[mommy68]

Homeschool Supercenter http://www.homeschoolsupercenter.com/ (click on shop at the top of the page) sells curriculum already pre-packaged and ready for the school year. It's essentially a lot of the big names you already mentioned plus even more names but they are all packaged together by the company and shipped to you ready to use. They even include a daily schedule to go by.

If you want to get "that" structured this place might be good for you. I'm using it this year for my 1st grader. I like it so far but she does have a couple of areas she is not ready for 1st grade level yet.

[lightheart]

I went to a Christian school as a kid and they used ACE, Accelerated Christian Education, was looking the other day for some supplemental material for my kids who are public schooled, and saw they have a homeschool section...
http://www.aceministries.com/homeschool/Default.aspx

I don't know how their homeschool is set up and compares to what we did in the school setting, would think it would be similar...

Basically we were tested and placed/started with workbooks (paces) in each subject at your level. Emphasis was placed on the student setting their own goals with how far in each workbook they would do in a day or week, you would grade your own work with the answer key and keep moving ahead in the series until you got to the end of the level/grade then you would move on to the next grade/level for the subject... you would work at your own pace..... if your strong suit was math you might be in 5th grade math but your English may of been at 3rd grade...

there are reviews at http://homeschoolreviews.com/reviews...ws.aspx?id=351

[True Blue]

I was going to recommend Sonlight. That's what we are using this year. While it does have a schedule, it's mean to be a guide and ok if you don't follow it to a T. But, I like having a list of things to do..whether we do it all on that day, I don't care. But we can check things off as we go along. It's a good, strong curriculum, with lots of literature....no textbooks. It's great. They have a forum on their site as well where you can learn more and ask questions.

We used Oak Meadow some last year, and for me the schedule wasn't structured enough. I need more of the organizing and planning done for me lol. I like that I can take what I want from their planning and go from there.

I know someone who used Covenant Home too. But that seemed pretty intense, IMO.

[Momma Aimee]

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

My 2c.. I thought I'd like structured too lol. I don't I use Oak Meadow and that's about as much structure as I think we can tolerate.. and after we use the grade 1... there won't even be THAT much! Both the kiddo & I enjoy being free to decided he wants to learn about X for science, then checking out every library book we can find & researching it to death on the net You have a TON of time to read & look, going by your sig your oldest is just coming up on 3! Break out the crayons & fingerpants, take nature walks and learn about animals, read books, go to story time! Curriculum can definitely hold off a few years yet

YEP I am still in the planning stage.

Gotta have my ducks in a row to get DH on baord

the current "plan" is to kinda sturcte p-k in 2010 and k in 2011. that first year gives us time to "wade in", show DH we can do it, get Theo used to it, and for me to have a "free year" to really get a grip, yk?


so for now i am reading all in can on theory and pratical stuff, and looking at a bunch of curr ...getting all the catologes i can too....

that way I won't feel rushing ot to chooseing and feel like i might miss something.

Also -- that way DH can really see the effot and time I am putting into it and slowly come to support it (like EBF or co-lseeping or leaving the boys intact or whatever ... he needs time to ajust and settle).

I want structure i can use or not. We DO want to do more of school at home, and I want a guide to know where we should be each week to get though everything we need to accomplish in a "year". My idea is we can work "ahead" so we can take time off, or a long weekend, or whatever, but we always "know where we stand" in the over all "goal" of accomplishing the whole grade by the end of the year. I can always change the structre -- but i am less sure of creating it all on my own.

I am learning a lot thanks

[onlyzombiecat]

I personally would steer away from doing a lot of workbooks for pre-K and K. I don't feel that is appropriate developmentally for that age.
If you are planning for those levels you might search for threads here or ask specifically about those levels to get curriculum recommendations.

We have used Sonlight for a couple of years now starting with Core 1 when dd was 6. Dd is 8 now and we are doing Core 2.
It is literature based. They provide a full 36 week schedule. You can use it all or not. We check things off as we complete them. We use different math, language arts and science. They do sell those subjects but we prefer using something different. I have found them to be very honest in their reasons to use or not use Sonlight. You can get a free catalog or look around their web site.
I haven't used their pre K or K level just their core 1 and core 2. I believe the pre K early levels are not as scheduled as the later levels but do have a guide. Sample of K instructor guide.

You could try Ambleside online or letter of the week for free to see if those would suit you.


My Father's World is a Christan curriculum. I think that uses more workbook type activities. I know someone who uses it and likes it.

[Momma Aimee]

Kim

thanks

We are looking at my father's world, as well as sonshine.

We will be easy on teh work books for p-k and k (doing more in K than pre-K) but in order for DH to "go for it" we are going ot have to show him a structrued curr that is well laied out and "accomplished".

I plan to do a great deal of supplementing and creative stuff TOO .. but the workbooks will be out road map, our gulid and out review.

I have nothing but respect for the families out there that wing it, do more child-led schooling and who peice together several "programs" however, DH is not gonna get on board with out a firm established and laid out system in front of us.

I want to really stress RAEDING and literature as well as ______ I am a loss for what word, but like studying the Old Masters as part of art and so on ...

but that is going to come into it as supplements (and will if the boys end up going to PS too)

the very foundation of what we do is going to need to be establish and "all in one place" for us -- at least the frist few years. I have a buddy who is HS 6 of her 7 kids and the oldest will graduate this year, i know her school looks a lot differn than it did 12 years ago too.

But for now anyway -- i need to keep it "school at home" as recongizabel to DH to get him to go for it.

ALso I DO see a benifit to sturcture -- if you ahve a great deal of structure you can "cheat" and be as lax as you want and you have something to get beack to ... if there is no structure to start with you can qusickly, imo, end up in chaos.

I apperciapte all i am learning

[Cullens_Girl]

www.letteroftheweek.com is structured and FREE.

[Momma Aimee]

thanks

[elizawill]

aimee, i forgot another great curriculum. it's free! you can also purchase it for a couple hundred bucks...but it's the EXACT same as the free version - the appendix with the blackline masters is the only thing missing (which is super easy to supplement...i.e. if you need a coloring page of a globe, just google one).

here's the scope & sequence: http://www.baltimorecp.org/lessons/lesson_titles.htm


here are the corresponding lessons to the s&s:
http://www.baltimorecp.org/lessons/draft_lessons.html - just scroll down to the grade you want & it lays out what to teach each month.


you would still need math & phonics programs though.

we used these lessons a lot for grade k, & they are really good! the "art" lesson for sept is missing - but all other links work. you could create the missing lesson though by looking at the scope & sequence to see what should be taught.

anyway....worth checking into