What Curriculum Should I Choose?

That is usually the first question people ask once they have made the decision to homeschool and make sure they are aware of all the legal requirements.  It is not a quick and easy question to answer however.  Google the words "homeschool curriculum" and you will get 6,320,000 results, and that number will continue to grow as homeschooling itself continues to grow and more and more curriculum is being developed and sold.

There are a lot of different things to think about before deciding what curriculum to choose.  One of the first things you need to think about before trying to choose curriculum is what kind of goals you have for your homeschool.  What subjects do you want your children to study?  What subjects do they want to learn?  My children may not get a say in everything we do (regardless of whether or not they like it they will do math!) but they do get a choice in what topic we may be learning about that year in science or what books they would like to read for literature.  Our first year of homeschooling my daughter was in love with the Little House on the Prairie series, so I chose the Prairie Primer for our base curriculum and added in Math. There also may be an elective like computer programming or a foreign language your child is especially interested in and you will want to add in to your curriculum plans. (*Note if you have just brought home a child from school who is not happy to be homeschooling it may not be the best time to ask their opinion.)  You do need to check with the legal requirements for your state to make sure you are covering anything that is required.

Figuring out what homeschool methods you may like or identify with the most may help you narrow down what type of curriculum you want to us. Do you want to follow traditional methods and be a school at home? Or maybe you would rather unschool. Perhaps you would be interested in classical or Charlotte Mason curriculum.  Or, if you are like me you might call yourself eclectic and just use a little bit of everything!  This article gives an overview of the different homeschool methods if you are interested in reading more about them.

Each homeschool family is different.  I would have a different approach to my homeschool and use different curricula than I do if for instance I only had young children, or just high school children, or only one child.  Because I have such a wide range of ages in my house, I look for curriculum choices that can cover a wide range of ages as we work together in as many areas as possible.   This helps me narrow down my choices quite a bit as many traditional grade level texts will just not work for my family.

How involved do you want to be?  Another way of narrowing down curriculum choices is to take a look at how teacher intensive they are.  How much planning ahead of time is required?  About how many hours a day will you need to spend on this curriculum?  Is it something that a child can do on their own?  Since we work together as a family, we do our bible, history, and science as read alouds and work on hands on projects together.  I know I will be spending that time in the morning doing that work, but I choose curriculum that does not require hardly any advanced prep besides gathering supplies for chosen experiments.  For our afternoon school work, I have to work one on one with the younger children, but the older ones like to work independently so I choose curriculum that they can do on their own with very little help from me.

With all of the advances in technology, there are a ton of homeschool options that you can access online.  Some options like K-12 require the child to do everything online.  Other options you can pick and choose which courses you want to purchase.  Some require you to be online at certain days and times for classes while others you can just go on and work when it is convenient for you.  You can even take music lessons or a foreign language via Skype!  There are so many options out there that you can take advantage of if it is something you can fit into your budget and will work for you and your child.

We have to talk a bit about cost.  That can be a big concern for a homeschool family and it is a big factor under the "what curriculum should I choose" question.  This is something that will vary from family to family.  Homeschool families are often single income families and it can be hard to imagine how you are going to afford school books and supplies when you are already on a tight  income.  You do not have to spend a lot of money to homeschool.  You can spend anywhere from next to nothing to thousands of dollars a year.  If you are willing to spend the time putting your curriculum together, researching, and organizing what you need, you can homeschool with nothing more than a library card, the internet, and some school supplies.  If you want to buy a "curriculum in a box" where everything you can imagine comes from one place and all in one box you will spend several hundred dollars.  If you want to do several online classes where a teacher collects and grades work, it will be more expensive.  Homeschooling requires a budget just like any other expense you have.  You have to figure out what you can afford to spend and find curriculum to fit those needs.  There have been times when I have wanted to buy some curriculum that I did not have the money for.  I usually can swing it by selling some other things that I no longer need.  Don't feel like you have to go into debt to provide the best possible education for your child, there is lot of great curriculum that is very affordable.

Definitely take the time to read reviews about curriculum as you are narrowing down your choices.  Do not pay any attention to whether or not people like something, but instead to what they like or don't like.  If for instance someone loves a curriculum because it requires heavy challenging reading but your child is not a strong reader, it is not going to work for you.

Don't be afraid to stop using something that is not working.  Especially when you are just starting out it can be hard to figure out what will work the best.  Often it is a case of trial and error and you will not know until you actually have been able to use it.  Unfortunately new homeschoolers especially feel like they are failing if it is not working.  Trust me you are not and it is ok to try something else!!

Happy Homeschooling!

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Spelling You See Giveaway!!

I first heard of Math U See my very first year of homeschooling when a homeschool friend recommended it to me.  All of my children have been successful with Math U See.  It truly is our favorite Math curriculum.  I was very excited to learn several months ago that Demme Learning, Math U See's parent company was developing a brand new spelling curriculum called Spelling You See.  

Spelling You See  is a natural, easy way to teach and learn spelling.  The program does not use word lists, rule memorization, or spelling tests to teach spelling.  Instead, children learn spelling through short daily activities using copywork, reading, listening, and speaking.  There are five levels of Spelling You See currently available, with plans to add two more levels.  The levels are not grade based.  They are based on ability starting with beginning readers.  You can read through this placement guide to see which level of Spelling You See you should begin with.

Current available levels are:

Listen and Write (Level A)

Jack and Jill (Level B)

Wild Tales (Level C)

American (Level D)

American Spirit (Level E)

Each level has an Instructor's Handbook and Student Pack that needs to be purchased.  You can use the Instructor's Handbook over again if you have more children or use it for multiple children using the same level, but the Student Pack is consumable and you will need to purchase one for each child using the level.

You can view samples, read more details on each level, and purchase here.

A few months ago I had an opportunity as a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew to review Level A Listen and Write with my 5 year old daughter.  You can read my complete review here.  One of the things I loved about the program was the ease of use.  I did not need to do any advanced preparation or read though many pages of teacher's notes.  We just had to grab the books and a pencil and sit down at the table. Lessons only took 10 minutes a day which is great for a busy homeschool mom, and Lily enjoyed doing the lessons and putting her stickers on when she was finished.  She had even started reading some of the words she had been learning after only completing a few lessons.

Giveaway!!!!

I am thrilled to be hosting a giveaway for the winner's choice of one complete level of Spelling You See!  Giveaway will begin on July 14th and end on July 21st  at 12:00 am.  Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.  Enter via the rafflecopter below.  Winner will be chosen at random and have 48 hours after being notified to respond or a new winner will chosen.  Prize will be fulfilled by Spelling You See.  

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Review: Jesus Get to Know Series by Nancy I. Sanders

Description

"Jesus - part of the Get to Know series - is a unique biography about Jesus, the son of God. Focusing on the life and character of this Biblical hero, using color photographs, maps, and other visual resources to tell the whole story, young biography fans will come to learn more about this man of the God and the role he plays in history. Featuring a bibliography and scriptural references throughout, this is sure to become a favorite for young readers and for first book reports."

A few weeks ago I had an opportunity to review the Apostle Paul-part of the Get to Know  series.  As soon as I had finished and posted that review, I requested Jesus-part of the Get to Know series.  It is wonderful!  I love this series of biographies for children!  I love the maps, photos, and artwork.  I love the included background information.  I love the definitions.  I love the sections on Bible Trivia, eyewitness accounts, and information on Bible heroes.  There is even a color timeline in the back of the book (there is a small error in this timeline: a BC where there should be an AD on the approximate date of Jesus' baptism.)  This little biography is packed full of information on the life and times of Jesus.  I love this series and look forward to reading more in the future!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations.

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Summer School

Some homeschoolers like to school year round, taking a break every quarter or longer breaks throughout the year.  Others follow a schedule similar to the public school starting in Aug/Sept and ending in May/June.  We follow a year long schedule that is similar to our local public school starting in August and ending in early May working 4 days a week, and also do school in the summer as well.

Most of the curricula we use is set up to finished over the course of a 9 month school year.  When we finish with those we move on to summer school.  For us, summer school mostly consists of working on various review products over the course of the summer.  The big difference is we are not doing this in addition to all of our regular school work and the pace is slower.  We also change our schedule to be outdoors in the morning and do not start working until 12:30 in the afternoon.  We also spend less time on our school work and are finished every day by 2 at the latest.  Some of the things we have been working on this summer includes: Veritas Press Self Paced History, Experience History Through Music, Moving Beyond the Page, Go Science DVDs, We Choose Virtues, Homeschool Piano, Analytical Grammar, Mathletics, Lightning Literature Grade 1, and Old Western Culture: The Greeks.  We also have a few more that will be upcoming.  It sounds like a lot, but a few of them we will just use for the review period, take a break and start them up again later on.  Others like the Science DVDs are great for rainy days, and some like Moving Beyond the Page only takes about 3 weeks to complete.


For those who may not have things like product reviews to do in the summer, there are many things you can do with your children that will still give you a break from your regular schedule and not allow them to become bored or forget what they have learned.

Unit Studies can be great for summer school.  Pick a subject your child is interested in and create or find a study to go along with it.  We love the Moving Beyond the Page Units and they are very flexible.  You can get a unit completed in three weeks by working everyday or stretch it out as long as you like.  Lapbooks are also a lot of fun and easy to do.  A Journey Through Learning (aff link) has some great lapbooks some that can even be completed in a day if you want to!

Just reading books is a great way to keep busy and learn throughout the summer.  Visit the library and choose several different types of books.  You can choose some fiction, some nonfiction, some to be read aloud, and some they can read on their own.  You can always add in a hands on activity or two to go along with what you are reading or find a coordinating lapbook or unit study if you want to dive deeper.  Every library no matter how big or small is a wonderful educational tool, and its free :)

During the school year, you may feel like you do not always fit in enough art, music, or other electives.  How about doing a summer study on composers, artists, or starting a new language?

Areas that your child(ren) struggle in may be best to continue working on in the summer as well.  It doesn't have to be intense or take up a lot of time.  We like to do some kind of math all summer long, but we do not continue in our math books.  Apps on the iPad, computer games, and hands on manipulatives are great ways to work on math concepts as well as real life problem solving like cooking in the kitchen and grocery shopping.  Handwriting is another thing we can work on in a matter on minutes everyday using an app on the iPad.

Field trips are fun any time, but summer is a great time to take advantage of them especially if you do not feel like you have time during the year.  The same goes with eductaional programs that may be available in your area.  Visit a museum or the zoo.  Sign up for a camp at at state park.  There are so many fun, educational, hands on opportunities available.  Just don't choose too many and get burned out!

Children never stop learning!  They are like little sponges soaking everything up around them.  Whether you choose to school year round, take the whole summer off, or do some summer school, I promise they are still learning most of the time when you are not even looking :)

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Favorite Recipes: Bubble Pizza

I saw this recipe floating around Facebook the other day, and knew it was one I was going to try.  It's quick, easy, and inexpensive and all of my children love pizza.  I made it for them for lunch and I have already had requests to make it again.  Next time though they want me to make two pans as it was gone rather quickly!

Ingredients:

2 cans biscuits
pizza or spaghetti sauce
shredded mozzarella cheese
any toppings you like on pizza: ground beef, ham, mushrooms, peppers, pepperoni, etc...


Grease a 13x9 casserole dish and preheat oven to 400.  If any of your toppings need to be precooked, (ground beef browned, peppers sauteed, etc) do that first.  Then add in your sauce.  I did not list an amount because people like different amounts of sauce, but we used one can of Del Monte Traditional Spaghetti Sauce.  Cut your biscuits into quarters and place in the bottom of the casserole dish.  Pour your sauce/toppings mixture over top.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and spread shredded cheese over top. I used half  a bag.  Put back in the oven 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Cut into squares and serve.

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Schoolhouse Crew Review: Moving Beyond the Page

The first time I ever heard of Moving Beyond the Page was when we had an opportunity to review the Ben and Me Language Arts Unit along with the Electricity and Magnetism Science Unit last year. We had a LOT of fun and learned so much through these units.  We were very excited to have another opportunity to review two units from Moving Beyond the Page.  We chose for our two units the  Language Arts Package-Holes and Science Package- Rocks and Minerals.

I received:

Language Arts Package-Holes ($19.92)

Holes by Louis Sachar

Holes Online Language Arts curriculum

Science Package-Rocks and Minerals ($64.89)

Geology Rocks 50 Hands on Activities to Explore the Earth by Cindy Blobaum

Rocks and Minerals Physical Copy Science Curriculum by Kim A. Howe

Dig a Dino T-Rex

Set 3 Minerals, Crystals, and Fossils Science Kit

The Holes Language Arts Unit is designed to be used by children in the 8-10 year old age range.  It can be used as a stand alone literature unit or used alongside the Rocks and Minerals Science unit.  To use this unit independently, students should be able to read or comprehend books at a 4th or 5th grade reading level and be able to write an organized paragraph.

The Language Arts Online Unit has teacher's notes that you access online and student worksheets that can be downloaded and printed out.  There are 13 lessons in the unit plus a final project.  Completing the unit should take around 3 weeks.  Each day there are assigned chapters to be read, comprehension questions to answer, and a variety of activities to complete.  Students will learn new vocabulary words, have lessons on punctuation, conflict, plot, run on sentences, sentence fragments, describe and draw an invention, learn about different types of dirt, biomes, and so much more.  They will also have an opportunity to make their own fossils, make spiced peaches, play homonym bingo, and cook an onion recipe.

You will need some supplies to go along with the curriculum and the book.  Basic school supplies like scissors, construction paper, tape, glue, dictionary, and thesaurus are used.  Plus you will need some supplies for the hands on activity recipes if you choose to do those, and access to the movie Holes.  A materials list is included in the curriculum showing what is needed for each lesson.

The Rocks and Minerals Science Unit is designed for children ages 8-10 as either a stand alone science unit or to be used alongside the Holes literature unit. The prerequisites are the same as the literature unit for students using the study independently.  They need to able to read at a 4th or 5th grade level and able to write an organized paragraph.

The Rocks and Minerals Unit (physical copy) contains the teacher's notes, supply list, reading assignments, and student activity pages.  There are 6 lessons plus a final project.  Some of the lessons are completed in one day, but most are completed over 2 and one lesson takes 3 days to complete.  The unit should take about 3 weeks to finish.  In this unit students will learn about minerals, rocks,crystals, volcanoes, and earthquakes.  There are several different types of worksheets to complete such as: tallying and graphing minerals found in food, birthstones, writing and illustrating a rock's life, charting information on rock tests, pick a rock, putting together a continent puzzle, studying different types of footprints, and worksheets for their final RAFT project. They will get to do a variety of hands on experiments such as: testing rocks, making a sedimentary and metamorphic rock, smashing rocks, making their own board  game to play with rocks, making rock candy, making a crystal jar, charcoal crystals, seeing inside a geode, making a mini earth model, continent puzzle, making their own volcano, and more!

Many of the needed supplies are contained in the Set 3 Minerals, Crystals, and Fossils science kit but you will need to provide some on your own.  Common household supplies are needed such as baking soda, vinegar, salt, and sugar.  Some outside items are required as well like rocks, twigs, and sand.  A few of the experiments use food items such as graham crackers, frosting, marshmallows, and candy. A materials list is included in the curriculum showing what is needed for each lesson.

Moving Beyond the Page has curriculum for ages 4-14.  They have both full year packages and individual units you can purchase.  You can start at their home page  to find full year packages or their Individual Units page to find literature, science, or social studies units for ages 7-14.  There are several samples you can view.  I linked to the 8-10 year old level but if you scroll to the top of the page you can choose samples from different age levels.


I used our Moving Beyond the Page units with my 7,8,10, and 12 year olds.  I chose units from the 8-10 year old range because it fell in the middle of the boys I intended it use it with, but even my 3 and 5 year olds listened in to the readings and did some of the activities with us.   The weather we had in Arkansas in June was gorgeous so we did our reading aloud and comprehension questions outside in the mornings as well as some of the activities.  I accessed the online unit using my iPad which was very easy to transport outdoors with us. We started out with the literature reading  and activities every morning and then moved on to the corresponding science reading and activities.  I read from the books aloud and we answered the comprehension questions orally instead of writing them out. The Language Arts pages we discussed together and then the boys completed them. Everyone worked on the hands on activities together. It look us 3 weeks to complete the units.

We love Moving Beyond the Page!  When your children are asking to do school in the summer, you know you have a hit! I love that there are units (science or social studies) you can choose to correspond to a literature unit so everything you are learning goes together.  We really enjoyed reading the book every day.  The boys we sad when we finished it. I think the worksheets and assignments are wonderful.  They are not worksheets just to complete just to keep your hands busy, they serve a purpose.  There is a great variety of different concepts being taught and a variety of interesting worksheets.  The hands on activities are fantastic!  They really do move you beyond the page!  All of my children learn much better by doing then reading and the Moving Beyond the Page activities made them comprehend the topic we were studying about.

The units are easy to adapt to use with multiple children of varying ages if a parent is going to be involved every step of the way.  My 7 and 8 year olds are not reading anywhere near the recommended reading level for this unit but had no problem understanding it because I read the book aloud and helped them with the language arts assignments. If a parent is not going to be heavily involved, the reading and activities could easily have been completed by my 10 year old with only some supervision required in the kitchen.

The units are very flexible.  You can work at your own pace completing as much or as little as you wish in a day.  You can take a day off when needed and pick it back up when you are able.  You do not have to complete every single activity if you do not have the supplies or just cannot get it all done in one day.  We did not make the spiced peaches because we did not have the necessary supplies on hand, and the children were just not interested in eating them. Also, several of the activities have different options depending on your child's preference.  For example in Lesson One of Holes gives two different options for one of the activities:
Option One- let your child record the names of animals and plants indigenous to the desert and write about two special animal or plant adaptations among living things in the desert
Option Two- Let your child select any desert in the US to research and then write a paragraph that describes the geographic location of the desert, the amount of rainfall, the plants and animals that are indigenous, and some adaptations that allow the plants and animals to survive.

I really liked the Geology Rocks book and activities.  In addition to the ones chosen for this unit, there were several others that looked interesting as well.  And, the science kit had everything separated into bags for each lesson.  I just love it when things are organized for me and I don't have to go searching for supplies!

When it came time to do the fossils and digging out the dinosaur bones, I knew that one Dig a Dino Kit was not going to cut it for my crew.  So I ordered a set of three more.  My 12 year old helped my 5 year old and my 3 year old helped my 10 year old.  We dug out and put together 4 different dinosaurs.  That was one of their favorite activities!

Now that you have seen and heard all about the great things we did, you may be wondering which is better the online or physical units.

Online Pros:

• instant access
• no shipping (but if you are ordering other items from MBTP this may not make a difference)
• less expensive
• links to websites and other information are just a click away
• lessons are checked off as you complete them
• I chose to print out the worksheets, but you could save paper and ink by completing them on your tablet
• tablets make the online option very portable
• copyright for the online option allows you to make multiple copies for your family

Online Cons:

• you have to have an internet connection to access
• you have 3 months to complete the unit once activated (the company will extend this time if it becomes necessary)
• you need to have a computer or tablet with you to read the teacher's notes student pages can be printed if you wish

Physical Copy Pros:

• physical copy that you get to keep
• very portable
• spiral binding allows book to lay flat and keep hands free
• everything is in one place

Physical Copy Cons:

• more expensive
• have to pay shipping costs
• cannot make copies for multiple students. Extra student sheets are $4.99 each
• teacher's notes and answer keys are in the same book as the student worksheets

Something that I found interesting is that the first time I reviewed MBTP, I preferred the physical copy, but this time I found that I liked the online copy better.  Not just because I could make copies for my extra students but I found the online version much easier to navigate this time.  Using it on a tablet is much easier than a computer or laptop.

We love Moving Beyond the Page!  It is great for our summer school and we look forward to doing more units in the future!

Members of The Crew reviewed a variety of different units from Moving Beyond the Page.  To see what my Crew Mates had to say, click on the banner below.

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Review: Apostle Paul Get to Know Series by Nancy I. Sanders

"Apostle Paul - part of the Get to Know series - is a unique biography about Paul. Focusing on the life and character of this Biblical hero, using color photographs, maps, and other visual resources to tell the whole story, young biography fans will come to learn more about this man of the God, his writings, his impact on the early church, and the role he plays in history. Featuring a bibliography and scriptural references throughout, this is sure to become a favorite for young readers and for first book reports."

 When I am searching for new books to review, I often am looking for myself.  Our book budget goes to text books and books for the children mostly so the best way I am able to read new books is by reviewing them.  But, after a friend's recommendation I went back and chose this book, and I am so glad I did!  It is fantastic!  It is packed full of information about Paul, including his child hood and how he was raised on through his time in Rome and his death.  It even includes background information.  For example when the book talks about Saul being from the tribe on Benjamin the book discusses the twelve tribes and where they came from.  It also includes full color illustrations, maps, photographs, art work, and even a time line.  Also, vocabulary is defined on every page.  At the end of each chapter is a section that includes: eyewitness accounts, did you know trivia, and information on Bible Heroes discussed in the chapter.

Apostle Paul, part of the get to you know you series is a wonderful resource for children and even adults may learn a thing or two they didn't already know.  I am definitely looking for other books in this series to add to our book shelf

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing htis in accordance to FTC regulations.

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