Having expensive curriculum isn't required to homeschool, but it can make teaching easier. At least when it comes to planning what to do. Earlier this year I posted here about the curriculum we planned to use for the year. The truth is, I've changed it up a lot over the course of the year. This year we felt it necessary to purchase some of the most expensive materials that we have ever bought for teaching. This decision is mainly surrounded by a few facts:
1) Nia started this year as a 7th grader that was working with 1 high school subject. She was so successful with this, we decided to challenge her with another and then another. Now she is working in all high school subjects, and, well good curriculum for this level doesn't come cheep. I want really good curriculum for high school for a few reasons. The next step is college, and we have to put her high school work into a portfolio to help her get into college. I've never taught high school, and I've been a little intimidated about it.
2) Up until now, we really haven't bought much curriculum. With the lower grade levels for Nia, we have focused on manipulates and I felt confident enough with my teaching experience and research skills to cover everything that needed to be covered.
3) Anara's school experience last year (she went to public kindergarten and missed a lot of year because of mono) left her behind her peers and really doubting her abilities. We started the year with Anara convinced she would never learn to read. We tried 4 different reading programs before finding one that she could really shine with.
4) In the past we have mainly focused on paper, hands on, and book work. Anara, however really excels at computer programs, so we have purchased or subscribed to some educational sites for her.
5) After finding their way threw Nia, Anara, and random other children that have been to visit. Much of our preschool material has been lost or used beyond acceptable condition, so we have replaced most of it with new stuff for Cam and our little bun in the oven. Not that preschool materials are generally that expensive but this has upped the price tag on homeschool this year a little.
6) Purchased curriculum is organized & generally ready to go when you open it up. With our family growing, I've got to make up some time somewhere. Not planning out assignments & search the web for activities is a huge time saver
Showing posts with label Curriculum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Curriculum. Show all posts
25 April 2013
14 December 2012
Curriculum for 2012
Just before we were about to order materials this year, our family took a big financial hit. So, the loathing I normally feel for picking out curriculum was doubled. I hate picking out curriculum. No, I HATE, HATE picking out curriculum. I get very intimidated by the price tag. If it’s low, I’m afraid it won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on. If it’s expensive, what if it sucks? We have to pinch a lot of pennies around this household to get materials. I’ve actually had nightmares about picking out expensive, horrible curriculum. All that being said, we mainly focus on math and language arts/reading and let the rest fall into place. At any rate, this is what we are currently using.
ixl.com
Instead of buying an actual curriculum, I decided to sign up for an account through IXL. I’ve taught and tutored more math lessons than I can count. So I don’t really need a book to tell me how to teach her this at the 1st grade level. I just need a list of topics to keep me on track and having a set of problems for Anara to work out saves me a lot of time. So, we are using a ton of manipulatives along with IXL for 1st grade. So far this formula = math love for this little girl. She even request to do extra math a lot of days.
Sequential Spelling 1.
I cannot rave enough about this spelling book by Don McCabe. I used it with my oldest when we started to homeschool her. Spelling test are set up a little differently. First off, there is NO studying. Second, you take a test everyday. Third, your child, no matter how bad they have proven to be at spelling, will do well. Ok, your thinking sounds ridiculous. It goes a little something like this. At this level your first word will be something like ‘at’ the next word may be ‘bat’ then ‘mat.’ Here is the special part. As your testing your child, you are writing on a white board or chalk board (we use the outer part of a 3-ring binder and a dry erase marker). We have just started using it with Anara, but Nia has had success with it, I can’t see us ever using anything else. Great for children with dyslexia. It has helped Nia (and myself) become much better spellers.
Daily Warm-Ups: Language Skills 1st grade
We haven’t totally gotten into this yet. Anara is still at the early stages of reading so we are focusing more on handwriting and plan to start this with-in the next month or 3 depending on how she progresses with handwriting. This includes a daily worksheet and a daily written assignment.
Handwriting Without Tears
We don’t actually have this curriculum. I was able to find enough materials and videos free online to piece together enough to get by with. If I were buying, this is what I would get though.
Update: We actually did wind up buying the book for this. This is one of those things that there are a zillion extra little options you can purchase. I decided to only purchase the student work book. Glad I stuck with just that, instructions are in the workbook and I don't feel the other stuff is necessary.
Explode the Code
We have just ordered Explode the Code. We also use a handful of manipulatives and several trips to the library. We started with a Teach Your Child To Read IN 100 Lessons and have decided to change. I really think if you force your child to suffer threw it, the 100 Lessons text would work. But it is incredibly, well, boring. It’s black and white text with no pictures. Anara needs pictures, momma needs pictures. I’ll have to let you know how Explode the Code works and what we decide on to replace the 100 lessons book.
Update:
Wilson Reading
This is designed to teach those with dyslexia in grades 3 through adult. I only pulled this out and used it with Anara for a few weeks because we already had it. I think we could have made this one work, but Anara was really board with it also. It was designed mostly with older kids and adults in mind so, no cute pictures, games, or anything else that makes curriculum fun for a 6 year old.
Reading Eggs
This is an online game sort of curriculum. Anara loves IXL for math, so I searched out something simular to do for reading. It offered a free trial, so we signed up. She really loved it and it helped a lot. However, she had made her way through about 1/2 the material in our free trial and you purchase a year at a time. I couldn't justify purchasing a year of a program that she would finish within another 2 or 3 weeks. If they took this up to a 3rd or 5th grade level, I would have been pleased as a peach to make a purchase here. With IXL you can purchase a month at a time, I would have been thrilled with this option for Reading Eggs. Those options just are not available.
Now that it is towards the end of the year, I'll fill you in on what we ended up doing. Anara has continued to work with Explode the code. She has also worked with a few manipulates for language arts. I read to her from a chapter book each day (we also read other small books). She also reads to me for about 30 minutes each day from books of her choice.
Update: We wound up being offered another free trial of Reading Eggs, which we took and Anara completed that program.
I think most save Algebra for high school, but Nia gets really board with math if it isn’t challenging. So far we are really liking this. There is a short lecture for her to listen to and watch each day via cd rom, although she generally skips it. Explanations are also in her text book if she needs to refresh on them. Each problem in the book can also be explained on the computer screen if she needs it to be. It’s the start of our school year, so Nia isn’t very far into this material, but she seems to be liking it. She says the way it’s presented it makes Algebra seem easy.
Daily Spark: Critical Writing.
Nia has the parts of speech down so this year I wanted to focus more on writing with her. This little book has daily assignments of interesting stuff to write about. It is geared more for the high school age bracket though.
Sequential Spelling 7
See above under Anara’s spelling curriculum to find out how I feel about Sequential Spelling.
Anara our 1st grader uses:
Math
ixl.com
Instead of buying an actual curriculum, I decided to sign up for an account through IXL. I’ve taught and tutored more math lessons than I can count. So I don’t really need a book to tell me how to teach her this at the 1st grade level. I just need a list of topics to keep me on track and having a set of problems for Anara to work out saves me a lot of time. So, we are using a ton of manipulatives along with IXL for 1st grade. So far this formula = math love for this little girl. She even request to do extra math a lot of days.
Spelling
Sequential Spelling 1.
I cannot rave enough about this spelling book by Don McCabe. I used it with my oldest when we started to homeschool her. Spelling test are set up a little differently. First off, there is NO studying. Second, you take a test everyday. Third, your child, no matter how bad they have proven to be at spelling, will do well. Ok, your thinking sounds ridiculous. It goes a little something like this. At this level your first word will be something like ‘at’ the next word may be ‘bat’ then ‘mat.’ Here is the special part. As your testing your child, you are writing on a white board or chalk board (we use the outer part of a 3-ring binder and a dry erase marker). We have just started using it with Anara, but Nia has had success with it, I can’t see us ever using anything else. Great for children with dyslexia. It has helped Nia (and myself) become much better spellers.
Language Arts
Daily Warm-Ups: Language Skills 1st grade
We haven’t totally gotten into this yet. Anara is still at the early stages of reading so we are focusing more on handwriting and plan to start this with-in the next month or 3 depending on how she progresses with handwriting. This includes a daily worksheet and a daily written assignment.
Handwriting
Handwriting Without Tears
We don’t actually have this curriculum. I was able to find enough materials and videos free online to piece together enough to get by with. If I were buying, this is what I would get though.
Update: We actually did wind up buying the book for this. This is one of those things that there are a zillion extra little options you can purchase. I decided to only purchase the student work book. Glad I stuck with just that, instructions are in the workbook and I don't feel the other stuff is necessary.
Reading
Explode the Code
We have just ordered Explode the Code. We also use a handful of manipulatives and several trips to the library. We started with a Teach Your Child To Read IN 100 Lessons and have decided to change. I really think if you force your child to suffer threw it, the 100 Lessons text would work. But it is incredibly, well, boring. It’s black and white text with no pictures. Anara needs pictures, momma needs pictures. I’ll have to let you know how Explode the Code works and what we decide on to replace the 100 lessons book.
Update:
Wilson Reading
This is designed to teach those with dyslexia in grades 3 through adult. I only pulled this out and used it with Anara for a few weeks because we already had it. I think we could have made this one work, but Anara was really board with it also. It was designed mostly with older kids and adults in mind so, no cute pictures, games, or anything else that makes curriculum fun for a 6 year old.
Reading Eggs
This is an online game sort of curriculum. Anara loves IXL for math, so I searched out something simular to do for reading. It offered a free trial, so we signed up. She really loved it and it helped a lot. However, she had made her way through about 1/2 the material in our free trial and you purchase a year at a time. I couldn't justify purchasing a year of a program that she would finish within another 2 or 3 weeks. If they took this up to a 3rd or 5th grade level, I would have been pleased as a peach to make a purchase here. With IXL you can purchase a month at a time, I would have been thrilled with this option for Reading Eggs. Those options just are not available.
Now that it is towards the end of the year, I'll fill you in on what we ended up doing. Anara has continued to work with Explode the code. She has also worked with a few manipulates for language arts. I read to her from a chapter book each day (we also read other small books). She also reads to me for about 30 minutes each day from books of her choice.
Update: We wound up being offered another free trial of Reading Eggs, which we took and Anara completed that program.
Sania our 7th grader uses:
Teaching Text Books Algebra I
I think most save Algebra for high school, but Nia gets really board with math if it isn’t challenging. So far we are really liking this. There is a short lecture for her to listen to and watch each day via cd rom, although she generally skips it. Explanations are also in her text book if she needs to refresh on them. Each problem in the book can also be explained on the computer screen if she needs it to be. It’s the start of our school year, so Nia isn’t very far into this material, but she seems to be liking it. She says the way it’s presented it makes Algebra seem easy.
Language Arts
Daily Spark: Critical Writing.
Nia has the parts of speech down so this year I wanted to focus more on writing with her. This little book has daily assignments of interesting stuff to write about. It is geared more for the high school age bracket though.
Reading
Even though Nia is child with dyslexia she has become a great, no amazing reader. She has trained herself to read blocks of words at a time instead of reading a single word at a time. Not exactly sure how she does it, but it works for her. At any rate, we just let her read what ever she wants. One month she might jump into a box of her dad’s old comic books and the next breeze through a couple of novels from one of Rick Warren’s series. More on Nia's journey with dyslexia can be found here.Spelling
Sequential Spelling 7
See above under Anara’s spelling curriculum to find out how I feel about Sequential Spelling.
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