What is the best "tried and true" highschool curriculum??

[Love2Smile]

My daughter is entering 9th grade. I need help planning all subjects except math. She has not been homeschooled before, except for 2 years but that was several years ago. She is an honor roll student and excells in reading and writing. Math and Science...not so much, however she gets A's she has to work harder with these. I plan on using Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1.

 

I am open to anything, I just want to know what you have used, what works and what gets the job done!

 

My worry as a new homeschooler (fairly) is I don't mess her up, she doesnt miss anything she'd learn in public school (which may be nothing LOL) and I feel confident the curriculum is top notch.

 

I know im asking alot, but please help

 

Thanks

[Faithr]

I think the best curriculum for high school are the ones that worked for a particular student. What we used may not suit your daughter. But anyway, the curricula I was most satisfied with were: Saxon Math (I know you already decided on math, though), A Beka Biology and Chemistry, Sadlier-Oxford Composition and Grammar combined with Writeguide.com, taking foreign languages at the local community college or local high school homeschool class (because we just never got it done on our own), self-designed classes in history and literature (we did Ancient History/Lit - 9th grade, Church History - 10th, British Lit/History 11th and American Lit/History 12th). We liked the Glencoe's Economics Principles and Practice as a text and Declaration Statesmenship for Government.

 

Those were the hits. I won't go into the misses!

[Janet in WA]

There isn't one. Seriously. There's not a single thing that works well for everyone.

[4wildberrys]

Yep---I was going to say the same thing. If you are looking for that "one' program that works best----it would be the program that works best for your child! The best thing about homeschooling is that "one size does NOT fit all" and we get to look for the programs that work best for our particular kids!

[FloridaLisa]

There really is no single way to answer to that question. :001_smile: We could all post our lists of the *tried and true.* Mine would be based largely on my teaching style, my educational philosophy, my worldview, my chidrens' goals, my budget, my interests and other personal factors.

 

My worry as a new homeschooler (fairly) is I don't mess her up, she doesnt miss anything she'd learn in public school (which may be nothing LOL) and I feel confident the curriculum is top notch.

 

I think instead of focusing on curriculum, you may get farther by asking these questions:

 

1) What courses does your daughter need for the next four years? What is the scope and seqence? Where do you want her to end up academically? Sketch out a 4-yr sequence *in pencil* to guide you as you enter the high school years.

 

2) What method of teaching/learning will you all use? Traditional, text-based, literature-centered? Will you teach, will your dd self-teach, will you outsource? There are a host of ways to go about putting studies together.

 

3) Do you want a worldview incorporated into the curricula? Do you want secular or Christian or other-based curricula? That can narrow your search.

 

4) Will your dd transition back into public school?

 

5) Will your dd have any particular emphasis in high school? Science or music for example? This can help you determine an area of concentration in which your dd may invest extra time and rigor. In our home, from year to year, I've eased up on certain subjects to allow my dc to invest more heavily in another.

 

Once you've begun to answer these questions, I would sit down for several evenings with your favorite cup of whatever and read the high school boards like it's a conference. :001_smile: You will begin to get a feel for what folks are saying about various curriculum for various circumstances. At that point, you might want to go to a home school bookstore or conference to look at the books themselves and determine what would work for you.

 

Okay, having said all of that, I'll go ahead and list what has worked for us so far in the high school years (as I haven't seen everything on the market and new materials are developed constantly):

 

Apologia biology and chemistry

Saxon math through Alg. I or II with DIVE CDs

Chalkdust math for Pre-calc

Florida Virtual School Latin

IEW Student Writing Intensive C and Continuation Course

PA Homeschoolers online

Sentence Composing for High School Students

Vocabulary for the High School Student; Vocabulary for the College Bound

Intro to Logic by Nance/Wilson; Traditional Logic I and II*

Total Health

NCFCA speech and debate

local community college courses for living language and other courses

 

*Not yet used; I'm working through these now

 

You can rest assured in two things as you homeschool: 1) there is a lot of "top notch" curriculum on the market and 2) you will miss teaching her something. We just cannot teach it all. How soothing, right? My rising senior has never had art history or music appreciation or a host of other subjects. BUT, he has (I pray) learned how to write well, think logically, read deeply. He's had a solid science and math sequence (after a couple dips and curves)and has pursued his interests. He's learned how to study, how to work and developed strong character and integrity. The curriculum choice has truly been the easier part of homeschooling in many ways. :001_smile:

 

Welcome back to homeschooling!

Lisa

[Brindee]

Yep, no one "BEST" program overall. It helps to make sure you know your dd's Learning Style. You can Google it to find out what that is, and order materials that work well with that kind of style.

 

Here's what we have used successfully:

 

BJU English

LoF (Life of Fred) maths

TT maths (but dd did the TT pre-Algebra in 5th grade and did fine. Just wondering if your dd took a math placement test on TT's website? They tend to be different levels than other programs. So, your dd may be able to do their Alg. 2, which is more like Algebra 1 to 1 1/2 from other programs. The first 10 or more lessons are review of the previous level)

Apologia Biology

Vocabulary for the College-Bound Student

Vocabulary from Classical Roots

Notgrass (variety of subjects)

Hewitt (variety of subjects)--Lightning Lit. is good

Rod & Staff English Grammar

 

 

Write Shop (soon to use, just heard a lot of good about it)

Edited May 3, 2009 by Brindee

[Mandy in TN]

There really is no single way to answer to that question. :001_smile: We could all post our lists of the *tried and true.* Mine would be based largely on my teaching style, my educational philosophy, my worldview, my chidrens' goals, my budget, my interests and other personal factors.

:iagree:

When people ask me about homeschooling I tell then that there is a ton of wonderful material out there. In order to shorten that list I suggest thinking about three things.

 

1. What is my educational philosphy? For example, say that you research educators and educational philosophies. Then you decide that you like the classical model. Well, the "best" curriculum list just became shorter.

 

2. Goals- where do we want to be upon graduation? Well, for the sake of argument we will give a basic goal of having a successful college experience at the state university. Now we know that the curriculum must at least be college prep level material and the courses should be those that meet the requirements of the state university.

 

3. How does my child learn best/ how do I teach best? You still have a lot of material to wade through, but lets throw a curve. Let's say that your child learns best by hearing the material, but you don't have the time or the knowledge to talk through every subject.

 

Now you have a much, much shorter list of material that will work well for your family. The "best" courses will reflect a classical model, meet the requirements of the state university, and have an audio component!

 

I would even suggest creating a homeschool name or motto. Sometimes that helps give you direction.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[Nissi]

Here is what we have used and liked so far:

 

Algebra I : Foerster's Algebra I

 

Biology, Chemistry, and Human Anatomy : Apologia and Thinkwell Biology

 

Physics : Conceptual Physics - We finished half of this text and liked it very much. This year we plan on doing Apologia Physics along with CP.

 

Grammar: Analytical Grammar - We have also used Rod and Staff in the past

Writing : IEW, Classical Writing Diogenes : Maxim and Chreia

 

History, Literature and Theology: Omnibus II and Spielvogel's Western Civilization Textbook. Veritas Press Scholars Academy also provides online classes for all their courses .

 

Latin : Wheelock's : We used Scholars Online

Greek: Scholars Online

 

Geography: BJUP's Geography and Brenda Runkle's Physical Geography.

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