Curriculum Line-Up

Here's a run-down of what we've used in the major subjects over the last two years as well as what we'll be using this next year. If something is linked, it's something I recommend and the linked page is also the best place I've found to buy it. With the Amazon links, sometimes I buy from the marketplace when it's a big enough difference, but otherwise I've bought a new copy. You can find it cheaper if you want to find it used at eBay and your local homeschooling yahoo groups.

2008
1st Grade
Reading - picked books on our own and took quizzes for them on the Book Adventure (free) website. Sometimes we added activities that worked with what we'd been reading about.
Writing - Writing Strands 1. This was a flop. It just didn't mesh with her learning style and writing level at the time. She needed something more directed and engaging. We switched to Scott Foreman's free Grammar Workbooks for the rest of the year. Not my ideal choice, but it worked.
Math - Saxon Math 1. I can't say enough good things about Saxon. We considered switching to Singapore for a time, but will stick with Saxon. I feel like they are the two best homeschool math programs out there.
History - We followed the outlines in History: All through the Ages, checking out books for different time periods and events and doing activities that matched up. And writing about them. It was great, but too time intensive on my end. With a few more HSing years under my belt, maybe I'll revisit it if our experience with Story of the World is not what I want.
Science - Noeo Biology I. I loved this but felt it could be done a little better. It includes an instructor's guide, living books, and an experiment kit. It would have been our most expensive choice if we had done the full package. Something like $160. Instead, I ordered the instructor's guide and checked out the needed books at the library. If they were not available or were used for a long stretch of time, I bought them for as little as I could. Usually Amazon or eBay. We didn't buy the experiment kit. Instead, I used Janice VanCleave's Biology for Every Kid book to pick experiments that matched. This, like our history that year, was very time intensive on my part.

2009
2nd Grade
Reading - We wanted something more structured but to be able to work it around our own reading selections this last year. We used Drawn Into the Heart of Reading (DITHOR). I liked it. A lot. But again, a little too time intensive on my part. I'm seeing a pattern here...I like to bite off more than I can chew! Lately I try to remind myself that LESS IS MORE and the acronym KISS - Keep it Simple Stupid. :)
Writing - English for the Thoughtful Child. Seemed boring to her and not full enough. We dumped it early on and used writing prompts instead and I taught her the necessary grammar as we encountered it. We also used Handwriting without Tears, to recorrect her handwriting. How can a kindergarten teacher of 18 students be expected to sit by an individual student enough times to make sure they're holding the pencil correctly and forming the letters correctly? I'm glad I could be here to help her re-learn those things. She'll benefit in the long run. And her hand will thank me. :)
Math - Saxon 2.
History - Beautiful Feet. This was interesting. I loved the literary selections but felt the activities that went with it were too basic. More than that though, I just felt it was too heavily Christian. I know that sounds strange since I myself AM a Christian. I have a firm testimony of the Atonement of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love the scriptures. I love learning about the gospel. I love having a modern-day prophet to guide us! I just felt that this curriculum leaned on tying in virtues and scripture passages too heavily. It felt forced. Contrived. Over-the-top.
Science - Apologia's Young Explorer's Series (by Jeannie Fulbright). Exploring Creation with Astronomy. We all LOVED this. Perfect. You buy one book and that's it. The experiments are usually done from things easy to find. I did buy a lab kit (not sold by Apologia, but for the Apologia series) and will be doing that again this year. It saved on my running around and finding supplies not usually in my house and made the experiments HAPPEN. They wouldn't have otherwise. This year that was things like: heavy duty magnets, a pen-light, two lenses to make a telescope, Plaster of Paris, Alka Selzer...stuff like that. The kits usually cost between $25-$50.

Kindergarten
Reading - We started with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Her sister used that to learn to read and I think because of that (maybe?), it wasn't exciting to her. We now use The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading. I recommend it over the other. Both are ridiculously inexpensive and full phonics programs. We also used Explode the Code workbooks. Also very cheap and she loved them.
Writing - Handwriting Without Tears workbooks. I could have printed free worksheets from online and done this on my own, but I appreciated having the pages ready to go and the extra helps with getting her forming the letters correctly.
Math - Saxon Math 1. I compared Kindergarten vs the first grade level and kindergarten seemed so basic that we went with the first grade level. Saxon is so gentle in the way that it introduces concepts, that I plan to start the rest of my kids with Saxon 1 in kindergarten. The only adjustments necessary, are that you need to read them the directions on the worksheets. Even that becomes less necessary as the year goes on though. They recognize the format of the worksheets and only story problems really need explaining. And as they learn to read, that helps too.
History & Science - same as Autumn's

2010-11
Note: We are planning to start a foreign language this year as well. I hope we'll be able to use Rosetta Stone, which I've used before. Next year Autumn will start Latin, which I just learned is now available through Rosetta Stone.

3rd Grade
Reading - Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Yellow Book as well as First Language Lessons for the Well-trained Mind. I bought FLL intending to use it with only Heidi but like it so much that I have been using it the last few months of 2nd grade with Autumn. It's for 1st and 2nd grade, so we're working through it quicker than Heidi will in the fall, but I like the reinforcement of other things she's learned and the feeling that anything we missed in the last couple years (as we struggled to find a good program), we're picking up. We're working on it through the summer and will finish it up sometime during the school year. We will continue to Sylvan's Book Adventure website for quizzes for fun and a little extra comprehension check.
Writing - Writing Strands 3. I'm hopeful that this will fit her better this year.
Math - Saxon 3
History - Story of the World, Vol. 1
Science - Apologia, Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology

1st Grade
Reading - The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading, Explode the Code
Writing - First Language Lessons for the Well-trained Mind
Math - Saxon 2
History & Science - same as Autumn

I haven't linked any of the new curriculum for the fall but I'll post as we go and let you know what we think of each program!

Homeschooling How-to's: General Advice for new homescoolers

My thoughts and advice, generally:

• Find your own way of doing things.
  
• Know that you can go your own pace! You don't need and shouldn't feel like you have to do things the way public schools do them. Find your own style.
• If you're concerned about cost, don't be. It can be as FREE or EXPENSIVE as you want it to be. That's a post of it's very own though.
  
• Here's an article that I love to read from time to time, to remind myself when things are rough. But it's also great for anyone considering homeschooling or for family of new homeschoolers to read this.
• Get on yahoo and find local homeschool groups to join
• Ask around your area and find homeschool park days to attend (if your yahoo groups don't include that info)
  
• And one last tip...this is VERY IMPORTANT…don't allow yourself to get too sucked into the "curriculum searching" side of things. Don’t go to homeschool conventions either. Not until you have a couple of years under your belt. Really. It’s not a good idea. There is SO much out there. You just don’t need to spend all the money or time searching. Read a few books, talk to people you trust, brainstorm on what you hope to accomplish – and run with it! Check each curriculum against your own set of standards. You could spend all your days browsing online and find yourself extremely frustrated trying to settle on one. The books I’ve mentioned should give you a good foundation to work from.

Now on to some of the basic topics new homeschoolers find themselves needing to work out first…

Homeschooling Laws by state:
http://www.hslda.org/laws

Curriculum:
I won’t list ANY curriculum here. First read any or all of the books listed below and then come back if you still have questions about curriculum.

BOOKS:
Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool through High School by Rebecca Rupp
100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy (you can also go to her site at http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com but if it’s a Top 100 Pick, you’ll need to look in the book for a complete review.
The Three R's by Dr. Ruth Beechick -- this one I HIGHLY recommend if you’re starting with kindergarten.
Peggy Kaye's entire Games for.....series (she also has games ON the website)
The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer (this one is a lot to take in, and a good one to buy. But you could check it out from the library first to see what you think and read the sections that fit your children’s stages first. Be prepared to take lots of notes. And then re-read.)

Free programs to download:
All Tux progams: Math, Typing, Paint

Some websites:
Skillswise (Factsheets, worksheets, quizzes and games to improve skills in Grammar, Spelling, Reading, Listening, Writing, Vocabulary, and Math)
EZSchool (Worksheets, Games, Study Tools, Tutorials, Spelling)
First-School (worksheets and lesson plans for PreK and K)
Dance Mat Typing
Starfall (free phonics)
Poisson Rouge (my girl's call this "the Room Game" - go visit and you'll understand...)

In my Google Reader:
http://www.freelyeducate.com/
http://www.pioneerwoman/homeschool
http://www.thaden-pierce.org/school
http://www.homeschooling.net/blog

Upcoming posts:

• Specific curriculums; what we’ve used, what we’re going to use, what we’ve liked and disliked
• Our own decision to homeschool
• Answering other’s questions about your homeschooling (family, friends, strangers)
• How we feel about what our girls miss or don’t miss (In short, the VAST majority of what they miss, we WANT them to miss. What we don’t want them to miss, we find ways to get.)
• Homeschooling for free, near free, and however little or much you want to spend!