Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Curriculum
I'm lost in a world of figuring out what to purchase for our official homeschool kick-off this fall. (I've been homeschooling all along, right, Lisa?) A few weeks ago I was seriously overwhelmed by the multitude of options. Honestly, I just wanted to cry and have someone else decide for me. Thank goodness for veteran homeschooling moms who will share thoughts and walk you through the process, because now I'm feeling more aware, a smidgen more confident, and less nervous.
Actually, at this point I'm really enjoying all the research and browsing.
As I plug away at my choices, I'm honing in on the key areas I want to invest the majority of our time in: phonics and character training. For phonics, I'm still vacillating between a super laid-out program like this, or something much simpler but very well proven like this. (The price comparison of $90+ to $4 is definitely coming into consideration, too.) In addition, I'd like to get some sort of simple handwriting program that Bronwyn can also jump on board with since she is itching to be included in everything Gabriel does (and already showing some signs of readiness, which is still shocking to me), but I'm still sorting through recommendations. (Any ideas???)
I anticipate buying some things from here to help with training in character and diligence, particularly their charts. In addition, I'm planning on buying these books for Gabriel's daily devotions and Bible training.
I plan on purchasing basic science and social studies textbooks, and then I will utilize Sonlight, Five in a Row, and Beautiful Feet reading lists for ideas of books I can borrow from our public library to help flesh out the subjects covered in the textbook. For math, I'm going very simple.
Curriculum purchasing is a whole new world for me and there's a lot more to it than I ever imagined. When I was little, the curriculum choices were pretty straight-forward: A Beka or Bob Jones University Press. Now there are multiple unity study curriculum choices, tons and tons of phonics and reading programs and schools of thought, various approaches to science, etc.-- all just for kindergarten! While a unit study curriculum (like Five in a Row, My Father's World, etc.) appeals to a big part of me, I'm just not in a season of life where I can spend a lot of time on that sort of thing in addition to being diligent with phonics/reading, which I personally have decided is important. Maybe in the future, when my children are beyond the Learning to Read stage and have entered Reading to Learn, right?
Besides browsing curriculum this morning, I'm tending my oldest boy, who seems to have come down with the stomach bug that's been going around. Ugh. Oh, and Aubrey's been teething again for the past week or so. One of her top 4 teeth has broken through; the others are pretty close behind. Poor kiddos...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Oh, how FUN! I'm all excited and want to be there for the first day of school! Boy, did I ever love my first year of school. I can't wait to get to do it again with Jameson! And I also can't wait to buy that Bible in 365 stories. I hope my kids like the stories of Jezebel and Elijah at Mt Carmel as much as I did. :)
ReplyDeleteTook the kids to the library this morning. What a treat!
ReplyDeleteI definitely thought back on my countless hours as a child, just browsing the aisles and snuggling up with book after book.
Of course I had a couple who wanted to play Magic School Bus on the computer, but for the most part we all chose books.
I found one for me that I had only skimmed in college- The Art of Eric Carle. How happy I was to find it again. I LOVE his techniques and I plan to do a unit with the kids this summer where they can mimick his illustrations. What kid doesn't like painting?
Anyway, thanks for hosting the meeting last night. I would have loved to be there. Heather and Andrea both called me this morning and said they were very glad they went!
Sorry to hear about a stomach virus. Ugh. Like you needed that now. I'l pray!!!
hi brietta-
ReplyDeletelove your blog! i use my father's world for all my children and have for going on 5 years. i absolutely love it!! my children are 5, 6 and 9 and i have to say they are all great readers. my father's world is actually more than just a unit study. it is a complete curriculum. it is simple to teach, requires little to no planning and kindergarten work is "done" in 45-60 minutes leaving your afternoon free for outside exploring, free time reading, and housework. i know there are several of us that read your blog that use my father's world. i don't say this to influence you at all! there are so many great programs out there! but i know how much the users of mfw are blessed by this program! but whatever you decide to use, i hope you have a great year next year!
brae hogan
Joshua is starting kindergarten this year too, what fun! I am just kind of feeling out what will work best for him in kindergarten. It will be more formal than previous "preschool" years but also still a lot of fun. I'm not doing anything too formal but I am going to be using Math-U-See Primer Pack at (http://mathusee.com/) and I Can Do All Things 3 Year Art Study at (http://www.howgreatthouart.com/) For Geography/History I think I will find this website helpful (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/education/ideask4/index.html) Along with other books we have here.
ReplyDeleteAlso Literature will be bible and lots of other fun books I already own.
For learning to read I love this set of books (http://www.bobbooks.com/) My son was reading in a day! We will continue onto the Advancing Readers set this year!
But, for first grade I am using the curriculum suggested on this website: (http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/index_saved.html) Here's a link for the first 6 grades: http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/curriculum/scope-g.html
They suggest various ways to go about each topic of study and that allows one to pick and choose or pick something else entirely. I plan on doing a lot more than suggested for the science curriculum. I feel it is particulary weak and will develop my own curriculum for that but I love, love, love the history unit because it uses the bible the whole time. Wonderful!!
Hope this helps!
you know i had this same problem last fall. luckily after talking with both judy tomford and your mother i was able to decide on a curriculum that i felt really suited me. the only problem i feel, with your choice in phonics books is that as far as me, last year when going through them i lost interest REALLY quickly. there were hardly any pages to color on - not to mention they weren't themed. who wants a generic phonics book?i found the following to be most effective in my phonics training. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------People spell their name
ReplyDeletehowever they want,it has nothing to do with phonics or nothing.I'm not
sure what phonics is, but I saw the girl that was hooked on it. Shes got
a problem with it apparently. Have you seen that commercial? "Hooked on
Phonics worked for me" She's adorable, ya' know. I was thinking, wouldn't that be weird if she was applying what she
learned and she couldn't get the commercial straight ,ya' know?" Hoookid on fff-hhonicks
wer-kid for meh". "HHooookid on FFF-HHonicks wer-kid for meh, meh!". "Okay,CUT!!!" "You talk to her,man""We ain't gonna move a lot tapes this way, I'm
tellin ya' right know". Anyway I met his woman, her
name was ah, Amy, you know, so I go Oh," A-M-Y?" She goes no," A-Y-M-I-E". "OoOoOoaahh!""I have to
take a nap" " I'm Brian, B-R-I-V-O-L-B-N, the number 7,the letter Q,--"Brennemenahgah!!!","Look
at my name tag,it's,it's big.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------i hope my ideas have provided some insight to your curriculum choices for the fall. enjoy reading up on more choices online and talking to other wonderful mothers.
Oh, Brietta...as far as Bronwyn is concerned--check this out: (http://www.amazon.com/Vtech-Write-Learn-Letter-Pad/dp/B0007YDDS0)
ReplyDeleteMake sure you select the one on the side from Amazon--the 11 dollar one or KB Toys has it for 14.00 bucks if you want to check it out in person. This toy has lasted through two kids!
My younger boy loves to work on it while I work one on one with Joshua. He was really interested just like your daughter is and I wanted to keep encouraging him plus it helps them write!! He gets really excited about it and shows me his work.
Since we're also a MFW family, I wanted to clarify that their K program *is* phonics-based. The focus of the year is on teaching your child to read. Then science and Bible/character lessons are tied in. By the end of K the student is reading short vowel stories. (actually they start reading them much earlier) Then phonics are continued in MFW 1st grade.
ReplyDeleteMy oldest was ready to read before we started K, so I used 100 EZ Lessons with him. This book seems to get a love-it or hate-it reaction from hsers, but it worked well for us. He would beg to do more than one lesson and was reading fluently within 2-3 months. My next son is doing MFWK only and he's right on course with it. I haven't seen any big lightbulb moments for him yet. So each child is different in their reading readiness, as I'm sure you know.
For handwriting, I've used Handwriting Without Tears. The K book made my oldest cry when I first tried it with him! Just because he could read at 4.5, he couldn't handle the writing then. I used it between K & 1st with him (MFWK included handwriting practice) and it was good then. Next son did fine with it at age 5, just before starting his K year. For pre-school, I *really* loved their PreK book because it included a short activity and discussion questions (like basic counting and colors and more). It was perfect for my 4yo who wanted to "do school too", so he got some one-on-one Mommy time before I taught big brother. I'm sure you'll get a ton of different opinions, but that's what has worked for our family. God bless your research!
@gandw93 - I'm glad to hear someone mention Handwriting Without Tears because I've been wondering about it. I think one of the hardest things is knowing which curriculum is going to work best with your child. I'm really praying for Holy Spirit wisdom!Also, it helps to know that MFW is phonics based, because that's been one thing I've had a hard time clarifying just by looking at their website.Have you ever heard of singapore math? That's what I'm leaning toward after browsing more options. I'd love to get a firsthand opinion of it from someone (though like you wrote re: 100 EZ Lessons, just because one person hates/loves something doesn't mean the next will...).
ReplyDelete@gandw93 - Matthew used to cry with handwriting, come to think of it Alan still does.... I wish I would have used that one. Alan is still learning cursive, but it's his neatest writing. He used to use a stencil for writing letters when he was too young and wanted to do what Matthew was doing, he really enjoyed that. He didn't know what the letters even were, but enjoyed that he was making letters.
ReplyDeleteOh! I am SOOO overwhelmed with planning Will's K program this year!!! I really want to just get Sonlight's K program, but $900?? Eeeek. I just.don't.know.what.to.do. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteI was actually looking at KONOS, thinking it really did have some stuff I could use for Alan and Joy which is quite a stretch. And they have a new curriculum that is based on character traits which I like too. If I had a bunch like you do, close in age, I think I would use it for sure. If you haven't seen them lately, they have new stuff. I saw it at a show in March. I'm also going to a high school homeschool day in July with the Richmans. You'd think I would have it by now, but Alan is so different than Matthew and he needs more fun....I know when I did kindergarten with Matthew we only did it 4 days a week. I think it was Wednesdays we took off.
ReplyDelete@brietta - We're using Singapore now. I've used MFW since the beginning of our "official" homeschooling, so math was included in K and 1st. From 2nd grade up, you buy whatever math & LA you like, although they have recommendations. I really liked what I heard & saw of Math-U-See (you can get a free demo DVD) but MFW recommends Singapore and I've been very pleased with their other recommendations so that carried a lot of weight with me. In the end, I went with Singapore because it was the cheaper of the two. I figured I'd try it, and if it didn't work for us we'd go to MUS. It seems to me that learning math is even more individual than other subjects. So far (one school year) it's working. I don't know much about the Singapore Earlybird (we started with 1A) but I think I read that it's published by a different company???
ReplyDeleteI'll have to give you some more full length opinions later.. But for now could I make a simple suggestion??Why not buy the $4.00 Homestart in Reading Booklet and start over the summer. That way if it's not working for Gabriel you can go for the more expensive one and start in the fall. And if it is working.. well.. good
ReplyDeleteBrietta--
ReplyDelete(boy, talk of choosing curriculum can sure get all the quiet ones to speak up, huh?) I am a MFW user....just finished their K program for the 3rd time. It is a complete curriculum as others have said. Covers phonics, handwriting, lots and lots of read alouds, "words to remember" each week, etc. It has been an excellent start for each of my kids and MFW 1st continues with the phonics...they really do get a good, solid foundation and have fun while doing it.
Pauline
If you are looking for a good phonics curriculum, I highly recommend Sing, Spell, Read, and Write. I used it for all of mine beginning when they were 4 and up and they LOVED it. Laura even mentioned last week she can still remember the Alphabet song (a, a, apple, b, b, ball, c, c, cat, etc.) from the curriculum! The program was a complete kit and came with consumable workbooks, a book for each letter, beginning reading books, tapes with songs to go with the material, and games/activities. Lots of hands on materials that use all the senses. 20+ years ago it was in the $80 range.
ReplyDeleteWe've got the bug too ! YUCK!!!Just when it seems to die down a bit, it comes back for another full day of yuckiness! Seems like you've got all the bases covered for Gabriel. If you want to browse any Sonlight K stuff this summer, just let me know. I too am looking for a handwriting program for Noah. I've decided against Handwriting Without Tears, but am at a loss for what else to try. If you hear of anything, let me know!Praying for you guys to get better soon!
ReplyDeleteSarah D.
I'm getting Writing Road to Reading by Romalda Bishop Spaulding. Check it out on Amazon.com!
ReplyDeleteSorry for another comment, but I just wanted to let you and anyone know that i posted my kindergarten curriculum on my site with links. You can check it out.
ReplyDeleteHandwriting: A $5 book called "Get Set for School" by Handwriting Without Tears. It starts out with "point and scribble," moves on to drawing lines (bird legs) and curves (snakes)... the kids actually trace over a "crayon" line... then throughout there are more fine motor development skills combined with learning how to write every letter of the alphabet and numbers 0-9, with plenty of coloring on each page. I liked it for Cassie and Seth for preschool type stuff because they're learning real numbers and letters. I'll move onto something else for penmanship during "official school." But it's neat that they get their own book with their own name on it. All the HWT stuff is pretty inexpensive. I'd recommend it for Bronwyn. Otherwise, there's plenty of workbooks at the dollar store or Walmart that she can "work" through.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Let me know if you want me to remove the links from your name on the recipes I listed. I just didnt want to list them and take the credit since they are yours! Would love any more you care to share too!
ReplyDelete@frugalmeals - Don't mind a bit.Those are some of the best recipes I've got; if I think of some more we really like around here, I'll let you know!
ReplyDeleteHey, Brietta :)Yep ~ another MFW user & fan here. I actually led a workshop in SC a couple of weeks ago on how MFW combines the best of Classical Education, Charlotte Mason principles & Unit Studies from a Biblical perspective. If you'd like to talk specifics, I'm available. I've taught their K through 3rd grades. It's awesome, affordable & designed to be able to teach as many children together as possible (the writer is a mom of 6 and they were missionaries in Siberia!). Certainly, no pressure ~ there's no such thing as one-curriculum-fits-all, but it's been a blessing for this mom. :)Hope you're all feeling better ~Love, Paige
ReplyDelete