What curriculum are you using?

[Plibster]

:wave: Hi, new here. I will homeschool my DS 10 and my DD 8 in the Fall for the first time! Since they both were in 3rd and 4th grade, I'm thinking I can combine a lot of their curriculum. This is what I am looking at so far:

Math- Saxon 6/5 both
Science- Apologia (Botonay) both
History- ?
Bible- BJU both
Language Arts- Rod and Staff 4th and 5th or LLATL Purple both ; like to supplement with Spectrum Spelling and Easy Grammar if needed
Art ?


Can you tell me what you are using? What is good or not good with what I am choosing. Thanks!

Libby

[yellowpiano]

Hi Libby, :wave:

Welcome to homeschooling! I use Saxon with both my boys. (5th grade and 1st grade) I love the program and they are doing quite well in math. Just know it can be time consuming. I would suggest using Saxons placement test before placing both children in the same book. You can find it on their website. It might save you some headaches in the long run. The 6/5 book is geared for 5th grade. If your youngest jumps in too far ahead it might dampen spirit for math.

I tried using Spectrum spelling but my son got board. It seemed like a lot of busy work. We now use spelling power, easy grammar and writing strands. All seem to fit his needs. He really loves Spelling Power and even told me he thought he was a better speller because of it.

Easy grammar also publishes Daily grams. It is a review of five or 6 activities a day for 180 days. Exercises in capitalization, punctuation, writing, analogies, etc. We use that as well. I think having that daily has helped my 5th grader retain the concepts better.

For science we have used Home Science Adventures that we purchased from Rainbow Resource. Each kit has three topics for lessons and each kit can last a year. Each lesson is an experiment. The beauty of this kit is it comes with everything you need for the experiment and I mean everything except water. Worksheets and a parent guide are also included. The kit runs about $60.00 and we have loved it!

I tend to do unit studies or lapbooks for history. We have used abeka but spiced it up a little with extra activities. They won't enjoy their learning if you don't incorporate some fun into their lessons.

Hope this was helpful! Good luck and have fun!

[MamaSweetie2]

How about Story of the World for History?

[Plibster]

Well, I did more research on History and what do you guys think about Mystery of History? I wanted to do American History, but I am thinking that we need to start at the beginning. In two years we can start American History.

Yellowpiano- Both kids took the online Saxon tests and they both scored in the 6/5 range. My youngest was in GT this past year and they were working ahead on everything. She was doing the same if not more than my oldest last year. They both enjoy Math. We are drilling this summer.
By the way, what do you use for Reading?

Thanks!

Libby :wave:

[Dianna]

Hi Libby! :wave: Welcome to our forums!

For your grade levels, we use children's magazines, fiction, non-fiction, experiments, field trips, documentaries, educational TV, and similar things for science and social studies. They just choose a topic they're interested in, or I suggest topics, and they just delve into it.

For history, they also read The Story of the World as they would another book (it's interesting and covers history from ancient times to the present).

Apologia is good, but they may get tired of studying Botany all year long. Consider using library books, etc (like I mentioned above) in addition to the Apologia in order to provide variety, or add the Astronomy and/or Zoology texts and switch between them.

If you're using Rod & Staff for English, you won't need anything else for writing and grammar (drop the LLATL and Easy Grammar). Since your oldest is going in 4th grade, you can probably use the 4th grade text for both of them. However, if your children are competitive, you may want to get separate grade levels for them to avoid conflicts or one feeling that they're not as smart as the other.

For math at this age, we like Singapore math. It teaches students that there are several ways to approach a math problem (where Saxon usually teaches one way) and teaches math comprehension better than Saxon (teaches the "why's" better). Many homeschoolers use Saxon with success, others get bogged down with it. If your children start dreading math, or you start feeling that they can plug numbers into a formula but don't really "get" what they're doing, consider a different program. More information about Singapore is available here: http://www.singaporemath.com and reviews about it are here: http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/singapore.htm

A comparison between Singapore and Saxon word problems is here:
http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/singaporeword.htm

I hope this helps!

Dianna

[MamaSweetie2]

I second Yellowpiano's suggestion for Home Science Adventures. You can purchase the kits separately also instead of the bundle of 3 kits if you want to try them out. We have used the Astronomy and enjoyed it. www.homeschoolscience.com They also have great Cust Serv. I received my package in a couple days!

[yellowpiano]

Well, I did more research on History and what do you guys think about Mystery of History? I wanted to do American History, but I am thinking that we need to start at the beginning. In two years we can start American History.

Yellowpiano- Both kids took the online Saxon tests and they both scored in the 6/5 range. My youngest was in GT this past year and they were working ahead on everything. She was doing the same if not more than my oldest last year. They both enjoy Math. We are drilling this summer.
By the way, what do you use for Reading?

Thanks!

Libby :wave:




Libby,

We just read everything. I read once when I just started homeschooling that a curriculum for reading was just busy work. I just make sure they have a book. The librarians know us well. Sometimes, I make required reading with book reports or projects and fit in Newberry Novels. We keep a year long book record and we have family reading time. Our latest is The Chronicles of Narnia....great for Family time instead of t.v.

[Dianna]

Libby and Lora, I agree about reading curriculum. Once they learn basic phonics or decoding skills and can read, just let them read good books. All I have in the reading section of my portfolio for the boys is a book list. Curriculum publishers can make a curriculum out of anything and get money for it. I've seen children in the upper elementary grades in the public schools still doing phonics worksheets. :rolleyes2

Dianna

[Plibster]

This helps me. I see what the law requires and I want to make sure I have everything covered. So if I give them a "grade" in Reading, I could use the book list and we can maybe write about the book and so forth, right?

[Dianna]

This helps me. I see what the law requires and I want to make sure I have everything covered. So if I give them a "grade" in Reading, I could use the book list and we can maybe write about the book and so forth, right?

One way to give a grade in reading is to make a "contract" with your child about how many books you'd like him to read, the level of difficulty (you might want to throw some in there that would challenge him a bit), ask him to vary the different types of books he reads (appropriate to his grade/reading level -- biography, poetry, mystery, adventure, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, non-fiction, etc). Feel free to coordinate his reading list with other areas - historical fiction to match the history you're studying, science fiction to augment the cloning you're studying in science, for example). Then discuss the books with him after he reads them. Then you can periodically assign a grade based on how well he's reaching the goals you've agreed upon in your "contract".

I don't personally assign book reports simply because I've never seen anything kill the love of reading more than having to write book reports. My oldest is 19 now and he's never had to write a book report for any of his college courses, or his jobs, or anything else he's done. I haven't either - ever. So I think it's safe to say that they're not really a necessity. Being able to discuss the books you read is fun, though, and can lead to great conversations.

When they're older (high school level), you can get book notes online that include good discussion questions. They also often include essay questions than you can use as essay prompt based on something about the book (persuasive essays, opinion essays, etc, something that will actually be useful later in life).

I hope this helps. I'm very passionate about reading, so excuse me getting up on my soapbox about it! :smile2:

Warmly,
Dianna

[mary helen]

As written above by Dianna, my gradurated student had to write essays in college.
A lot of stuff that is done in highschool was pointless. I am doing more writng and less grammar with my younger students.

[duboisa]

Well after much thought and debate on my part. ( I think everything TO DEATH). I am going to use Learning adventures A world of adventure ( a unit study), for my oldest son and use Math-u-see Pre algebra. For my youngest I will use Math-u-see and someone told me about these really cool History pockets and they have science and phonics centers at www.evan-moore.com. I will also use some phonics workbooks and Hooked on phonics, Other than that we are going to read read read. I havent done anything this summer because my oldest was totally burned out with school. and when I first started homeschooling in Jan, I tried to do school at home, which made my kids nuts and didnt help them Learn AT ALL.. My 7 year old isnt reading yet, he is struggling there, so I hope that this year, he will be old enough to get it.

[duboisa]

My 12 year old son hates to write and to read, so I am not going to make him write book reports, instead this year, I am going to try to get him to love reading. Does anyone have suggestions of good books for a 12 year old that hates to read to foster a love of reading?

[Dianna]

My 12 year old son hates to write and to read, so I am not going to make him write book reports, instead this year, I am going to try to get him to love reading. Does anyone have suggestions of good books for a 12 year old that hates to read to foster a love of reading?

Angie, these are adventure/survival stories that boys your son's age tend to love:

Sign of the Beaver
My Side of the Mountain
The Cay

There are more, but this is enough to get him started and (hopefully!) hooked on books. :smile2:

Warmly,
Dianna

[BeckyB]

Hi Libby,

I've been away from the boards for a few weeks during a recent move, and just saw that you had asked about Mystery of History. If you have not already purchased your history spine, I highly recommend this! We used MOH Vol 2 last year, covering Early Church History and Middle Ages. I really enjoyed it and found it much more challenging than Story of the World, which we had used for Ancient History the previous year (I am not knocking SOTW, however -- it is a great curriculum for many folks.) In comparison, I liked the Christian worldview in MOH and the lesson plan layout better for the most part. MOH Vol 1 covers Ancient History with more Christian history interspersed than SOTW. MOH does not have Vol 3 ready at this time, so this year I am using Christine Miller's (All Through the Ages) suggestions for Ren/Ref/Explorers.

BeckyB

[chrispeters]

This year I'm using Math-u-see and a World of Adventure unit study. The kids were excited about their new math curriculum and couldn't wait to try it. They've only completed a couple of lessons but I am very pleased so far. It seems really user friendly for a homeschooler. I would appreciate tips from anyone that has used these programs.:lol:

[duboisa]

I dont have any tips for you but I am using exactly the same thing this year, so we can use trial and error together!!!. Have you signed up for the Yahoo group that they have? There is a ton of cool ideas and info there.