That's right, I am {finally} talking about homeschool!
Let's start with the burning question...
"what curriculum do you use?"
We are totally eclectic
a mix of unschool, classical & monntessori
...and I {love} it this way!
So what do we use?
here it goes...
{Bible}
we start our morning with a fun devotion during breakfast
then we move to the school room and start our Bible study
...we use Foundations {and love it}
We learn our Bible verses through copywork, illustration, motions, games & contests.
The 2 big boys do these Choosing Studies and their Sabbath school study on their own.
We also do Character building for families {love love}
Through the week we do skits, artwork, bible verse memory games & search the Bible for verses talking about the specific quality.
{History}
We love Story of the World
We listen to the CD and since we read together all the time, the kids really enjoy listening to someone else reading. {grin}
It's also just a great audio story time... the boys have been known to listen way ahead over and over again.
{we use this written and verbally}We combine this with an Encyclopedia, Time Line of the Bible & weekly library books.
{Math}
We started with Math-U-See... and while I do think it's a great program it just never felt right for our family. After LOTS of reading and researching we have fallen in love with more of a living math style. What are we using now?
we've continued to raid the math bookcase at the local library
we use a wide variety of purchased and created manipulatives
and we're still learning and growing and buying books! {grin}
{Science}
We just started Apologia Science this year
We started with Zoology 1 and absolutely LOVE it we'll be moving on to Zoology 2 next.
we use the activity notebook, a bird guide and lots of library books!
The boys are also working their way through the Snap Circuits student training program. It's so much fun it really just feels like you're playing... but you learn tons. It's awesome!
We also make crazy concoctions from a variety of books, some owned but mostly from the library
{Language Arts}
and Pathway readers we LOVE both of these!
We use words from WW lesson for spelling. Spelling City is a great resource.
We also just started Big words for Little kids and love it so far. Since only the 2 big boys do Wordly Wise I wanted to find something that the younger kids could use... turns out everyone enjoys this book though!
{Grammar} We use Daily Grammar for basic lessons and Grammar Blast is for fun review.
Both are free programs and very simple... which I like {grin}
I will also have the boys dissect our weekly bible verses for real life review.
{Handwriting & Composition} Christian Liberty Writing Series
We also do Copywork with Bible Verses and Books we're reading.
and good 'ole letter writing!
{creative writing} Story Starters is absolutely awesome! Sometimes the boys write their own and sometimes I let them speak their story and I'll write for them... just depends on their mood.
{Art}
and lots of creative works from coloring, sculpting, sewing, metal work, origami and beyond
{Geography}
We love reading Window On The World
and usually pair it with these online Geography games
and the Geography games we used with My Fathers World
{unit studies}
We love unit studies... except I don't really call them that. {grin}
Unit studies for us are just following a passion and learning all you can about it.
Right now Vance is doing an Endangered Animals study
and both boys are doing The unofficial Lego builders Guide
I think that about covers it
...at least as far as curriculum is concerned! {grin}
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing. I am definitely going to check those out. I recently purchased "The Well-Trained Mind" and am very excited about it. The authors recommend many of the resources you listed, so it's nice to hear what you like about them. My oldest turns 5 this summer and is already reading, but I really need to establish an actual school routine. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteWith children of all different ages, how do you split up the curriculum/lessons so that they are all engaged? Do the little ones do the lessons with the big guys, or are they in class at different times?
ReplyDeleteSounds a bit like us. We're all over the place with methods and materials...I like it that way!
ReplyDeleteOooh, I'm going to have to save this! My little ones are only two and one, but I'm very interested in homeschooling, and I really value all the information that homeschooling moms (and dads) share... Thank you!
ReplyDeletewww.wyattzoo.blogspot.com
It was fun to read this post! I was homeschooled all the way through school, and I am so thankful that I was. I used apologia science in middle and high school and really liked it. I liked that it was made to be easy to understand and that I was (mostly) able to do my science on my own. As for math, my parents really liked saxon math books. If I recall correctly, the author(s) did a pretty good job of breaking everything down into bits and pieces that made the process easier to understand.
ReplyDeleteI'm about to start homeschooling, thanks for the insight! Small world...my Sunday School teachers are the publishers of Apologia Science...we love the Carman family, they have 7 kids!
ReplyDeleteSonya in NC
I bet you guys would love this book to make geography exciting...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.christianbook.com/geography-through-art/9781931397582/pd/397582?kw=397582&en=froogle&p=1013824&cm_mmc=CBDfeeds-_-froogle-_-books-_-397582
Really cool book that makes learning about geography fun and engaging..totally love it :)
Sounds pretty similar to how we homeschool. A little from here, a little from there. Some of what you mentioned I've not heard of before, so I'm busy bookmarking so I can check it out later.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you are mixing things up and adding in your own ideas to the curriculum instead of following one set curriculum. Kids learn differently and have different interests. By using parts of a lot of different curriculums (and using the many teachable moments in your everyday life) you are going to expose all of your kids and their individual learning styles to information and experiences that they may not get otherwise.
ReplyDeleteOh, how fun! I always enjoy hearing what other homeschool families are doing. It's nice to hear opinions (although I do know every familiy's needs are different) about curriculums too. I found it super helpful to write down what we do for homeschooling (aren't lists a beautiful thing?!) and put it on our blog too so I could copy, paste and look back at their progressions made each year. It's about that time to update too.
ReplyDeleteAlways love reading your blog and hearing what you are up to.
Blessings!!!
We've talked about home-schooling as an option. It's great to hear your ideas and how it's all working you all.
ReplyDeletewe have just decicded to start homeschooling again this fall!I am really excited about it but have no idea what to use curriculum wise. This post couldn't have come at a more perfect time! =) how did you go about finding these? my trouble is knowing what is worth spending money on...did you just like what you read and try it?
ReplyDeleteI´m not fan of homeschool, not only because mothers are not teachers and don´t have the appropiate training but also because in most cases they have children of different ages. I think homeschooling is a way to overprotect children. They will eventually grow up and then there won´t be mom and dad...
ReplyDelete