Well, it is that time of year again. Time for watermelon and cantaloupe, bees, ants, and mosquitoes, firecrackers (almost) and cookouts. And, the end of school! Our testing is done-we are just waiting for the results.
But it also brings about a time of year that I dread. Time to look for new curriculum. I hate this part of homeschooling. There is just so much information available. I feel overwhelmed, there is way too much to process. So I need your help. I am going to be homeschooling second grade next year but I know that there are those who look at this blog who might be starting with Kindergarten all the way to getting ready to finish school with twelfth grade.
So, will you please take a moment and help me and a whole lot of other people out? By helping, I will enter you into a chance to randomly win a $10 gift card to your choice of one of the following: Target, Bath and Body, Walmart, CVS, Gap, or The Children's Place.
All you have to do is leave a comment about the curriculum you have used this past year or that you plan on using next year. You don't have to do every subject (maybe just your favorite) but include the name of curriculum used/Grade Level and whether or not you would recommend to other homeschoolers.
(If you are not a blogger, please leave a comment about your favorite curriculum/subject and a way for me to contact you!)
I will randomly select a winner on June 19th and contact the winner by 3:00 p.m. est.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
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I'm not a blogger, but my favorite subject was always science. Home-schooled kids in my neighborhood often got together to study science with one parent since it's one of the harder subjects to teach, particularly as you get older, and so it was a great way to learn but also interact with other home-schooled students. Plus, it's out of the house but not necessarily at a public school.
ReplyDeletee.estt[at]yahoo[dot]com
My favorite subjects to teach are language/grammar and history equally. We have fallen in love with the Mystery of History books. They're thick, pack in a lot, but you can read them to the kids and make it as easy or as difficult as you want.
ReplyDeleteI love looking for curriculum. I guess I just love books.
mommy_34695 at yahoo dot com
I have not used curriculum. I use the "Everything Your *** Should Know" (***= grade level) as a guide of what topics to cover and then I put together my own lessons using the internet.
ReplyDeleteldsmom2201 at yahoo dot com
http://juanshappywife.blogspot.com
http://homeschoolunitstudies.blogspot.com
I love history,science, literature. We like Mystery of History, it is a very comprehensive History study, it begins in the beginning and goes all the way to present, it reads like a story, and has many activities to pick and choose from.
ReplyDeleteI also love Sequential Spelling, I use it with both my girls my 13 year old struggels with spelling so beginning all fo us at the start is working good.
I love curriculum shopping , a great resource for finding things is Rainbow Resources, they have a catalog as big as a phone book.
my son is to young for school yet but its good hear other's responses. I have a lot to think about as my son grows!
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed reading through your blog! I am a homeschooling mama to Jonathan (8) who is sort of in 1st/2nd grade. We are not following a traditional school year or grade level right now though because Daddy was deployed last year and we fell a little behind. I am also teaching Kate and Lauren (5 1/2 - twins :)) who are in K and Bryan (4) is doing Horizons Preschool program. Your daughter's writing, spelling, and grammar reminds me so much of my Jonathan's - it makes me smile :) Oh btw, both me and my husband are homeschool graduates and met through our homeschool group back in high school - oh way too many years ago! :)
ReplyDeleteI actually LOVE LOVE LOVE looking for curriculum and planning out the school year. It is my favorite part!! Our best find recently is The Critical Thinking Co. books. I have them only for Jon so far but we have fallen in love with them! They are geared to the way he thinks and they feel different than his "normal" books so he gets excited about them :) I love the way they make him really think and hone his critical thinking, analyzing and problem solving. They do not take long and are a great little filler subject throughout the morning. We also use Horizons Math and we love it! We recently switched to ABeka Language Arts program after many tears, groans, and moans with AOP!! I graduated from school after using ABeka from 7th grade on and am now an English major in college. :)
Phew...sorry so long!! Hubby is once again away (Army) and I am somewhat lacking in the area of adult conversation!! :D
This past year I used some of Abeka and some the local amish school's reading program. I really like the simplicity of the amish reading books and the stories teach such great lessons. My daughter (1st grade) didn't get too dstracted by lots of colors and stories that are meaningless. If anybodywants more info on amish school books, the publisher is Pathway Publisher.
ReplyDeletethebovees49091@yahoo.com
We are attempting to homeschool classically, so we've been using the Foundations material from Classical Conversations. This year was our Kindergarten year, and I'm amazed at how much our son has been able to learn. I love Classical Conversations.
ReplyDeleteWe're also using Math U See for math. I love how it incorporates all learning styles as well as the classical process.
I have learned that no matter what curriculum you use we all get to the same place. The styles of teaching and the time in which they are introduced may be different but all of them will get you where you need to go. I get overwhelmed with curriculum too. I follow the Well Trained Mind because it tells me what to do, hehe.
ReplyDeleteHI! I just found you through Nifty Notebook. I know this was posted quite a while ago, but I thought I'd share anyway and also ask a few questions! =)
ReplyDeleteWe used My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum with my now 5 year old this past year and LOVED it!! I will be doing this curriculum again, for sure.
I was wondering though, where do you take your daughter to do the testing? It's not a requirement here in AZ, but I'd like to do it just so I know we're doing OK and that my kids are on track. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks! Have a wonderful weekend!!
I do the testing myself, as is allowed in my state of VA. I order a California Achievement Test (CAT) from a distributor and give her the test. I send the test back to the distributor and they grade the test and send me the results. It costs about 35 dollars. Hope this helps!
ReplyDelete