When we first decided that we were going to homeschool, I spent so many hours researching curriculum, that if you added them all up they would probably equal a full week or more. I was so panicked that I would choose the wrong books or educational philosophy and ruin my kids’ education. Anyone else out there like me? Frantically searching pinterest and google for curriculum reviews?
Oh friend, you’re not alone. And here’s the unfortunate news I have for you. Until you dig into a curriculum in your homeschool, you won’t know what curriculum will work out in your family. We “officially” started homeschooling around May or June of 2014. Mr. C flew through the curriculum that we got him, and we have changed every single curriculum that we chose going into his “first grade” year that we started in September. Now we’re pretty happy with our homeschool curriculum choices, and I’ll be sharing those here! First we’ll cover the core subjects [reading, writing, and math] and next week we’ll cover the extras.
Homeschool Curriculum: Core Subjects
Math
So when we first started out, we tried Math-U-See. It is a great curriculum, but my son really didn’t need the hands on manipulatives that the curriculum used. It ended up wasting a lot of time, so we just started only doing the worksheets. The worksheets are fairly boring, all black and white, so we needed something more exciting and advanced.
Enter Abeka Arithmetic! Okay, no throwing stones, homeschoolers, but we’re a workbook family. Mr. C, like me, really just loves to learn and isn’t as excited by all the extras. I absolutely love Abeka’s math program because they review things regularly, without being obnoxious. The worksheet is filled with full color pictures, too, which always makes math seem more fun!
Phonics/Reading
Alright, I’m going to level with you guys. I’m a reading nerd. I can whip through a novel in a few hours, and when I was a kid my parents had to check on me regularly because I was constantly in my room reading my newest book. I really, really want my boys to love reading as much as I did because I truly believe that reading is magic. It takes you into another world. Okay, off my soap box, and back to homeschool curriculum!
To start out for reading, we got Mr. C Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons which we really enjoyed. It’s so inexpensive that it was easy for his biological dad to get one to keep at his house to use as well. I really recommend this book as a starting point for learning to sound out words. It was quick and easy (we skipped the writing portions) for the first 50-6o lessons. We didn’t finish the whole book because once he was reading we felt it was time to switch to something more structured.
Again, for this subject we went with Abeka. I really feel that it gives kids a broad understanding of phonics without focusing heavily on sight words. We use the Handbook For Reading and the Language 1 and Phonics and Reading 1 workbooks. These are a recent start for us, but so far we’re enjoying it. We didn’t purchase all the charts and games and books that Abeka provides, but we’re making it work. :)
When Mr. C was done with the 100 easy lessons book, but we hadn’t yet received all of the Abeka books, we used Bob Books
which I love. We used set 2, advancing beginners and they fit Mr. C’s reading level perfectly. They’re written phonetically and there are very few sight words used [OK, the, a, etc]. We are still using these books on top of Abeka for reading practice, and they actually have entertaining stories that Mr. C loves to read over and over again!
Writing
For this, I really mean handwriting. We haven’t started official writing instruction yet because I believe that we need to have a firm grasp on how to write letters and words before we can begin writing thoughts. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, we started last summer using Handwriting Without Tears at the kindergarten level. I really like this program. They have a lot of hands on instruction and different ways for kids to learn the letters. However, again, Mr. C just didn’t need the hands on materials, and we ended up just using the workbook. He was doing two pages a day and could have done more if I let him, so we definitely needed something more for starting first grade.
Finally, something that’s not Abeka! We chose A Reason for Handwriting, and I am so happy that we did. My son absolutely loves this curriculum because he gets to write about God and Jesus, and those are his favorite words! This curriculum uses a five day schedule. The first 3 days are spent practicing letters or words that will be used in a Bible verse that they trace on the fourth day. Then the fifth day, they get to choose a paper with pretty border to write their Bible verse in their very best handwriting. They get to color the border and you can either make a book of these to have at the end of the year, or you can send them to friends and family to share God’s Word.
So that’s what we’re using for my four year old first grader! What kind of homeschool curriculum works for your family? Did you spend a ton of time researching like I did, or just pick the first thing you found?
Super awesome reference Kaylene! I will have to bookmark this for my (to come in the future) little ones or for reference as a teacher :)
Do you always stick to the days of the curriculum? Or if your kids need to spend extra time on something, do you deviate and spend the extra time?
I do interventions for math and reading at my elementary school and we are “supposed” to stick to the programs. Sometimes it is tough because I want to stop and practice something with some of the kids a little longer!
We definitely change things up if we need to. We just started our Abeka reading when we came back from our Christmas Break. Mr. C can already read, so there’s a lot of review for him. We’re doing 2-3 lessons at a time in that right now. In science we slow things down because it’s a third grade(ish) level, and Mr. C is only four.
With A-Man it’s the opposite. A traditional preschool curriculum would fly completely over his head, so we go very, very slow with him. We’ve been known to focus on one shape for an entire month. We also count therapy activities as lessons like choosing his own snack and playing with his sensory bin. Once he is older and doing more formal lessons, we will have to slow them down to meet his level. That’s the beauty of homeschooling!
Plus we take entire days off to deal with “heart issues” if we’re having a rough day listening or paying attention. I really believe in teaching the whole child, and not focusing solely on academics. Though I know that’s harder in a traditional school setting!
Not every program will fit every kid exactly, so it’s really important to go at the child’s pace. You want them to love learning, not dread it! Thank you for your thoughts!! :)
Awesome :) That sounds fantastic. What great things you do!
Can I send my kids to your homeschool? ;)
You know what’s funny? I really thought about homeschooling other kids before! I know there are families who don’t want their kids in public school, but private school tuition is crazy expensive and not every family can afford for a parent to stay home. I thought it would be a perfect solution! Unfortunately, it isn’t allowed in my state. :( Though I could totally be a “tutor” ;)
Thanks so much for sharing bits of your life and experience. It’s wonderful your son loves to write about The Father and The Son. When you study their Names back to their proper and original it gets even more enjoyable. God’s name is Yehovah, which was taken out and replaced with “The LORD”. Same with Jesus, His birth Name was Yeshua, which means Salvation. The english would be Joshua so the history of how it all came to be is a bit of a conspiracy if you like those things. Blessings