WOW! The list is growing and growing... Thank you!!!!

Is there a low cost /free curriculum that can help a newbie like me to teach history/Lit? Or should I try doing my own thing? I do have SOTW all 4 vol., AG 1, MOH 1, TQ 1 + SOTW cd, Diane Waring cd 1-3 vol. and K12/HO book and student workbook. I bought too many history curriculum but, still can't decide what to do and I am lost:confused: Is History need it to be separate from a Literature/reading? My ds 11 listened to Diane Waring cds more than 10+ times ,read SOTW many times since he was 9. He also read "A Little History of the World ".He hasn't done any written narration though. My 2 youger kids (ds8,dd6)had no formal history. Just read some SL 1 books, other library books. Here are some of options I came up with....Please share with me what would be the best option in my case. 1.Should I just let ds11 complete K12/HO student work book by himself and just join in when I read or listen to audio of sotw and do AG with my younger 2? 2.Listen to sotw audio all together, but, let ds11, ds 8 read TQ or MOH book suggestions (if they have it in the library) by themselves and I read TQ summary and freely share/narrate. Written narrations for older 2 few times a week? 3. Just read together correspoding SL books/SOTW chapters and let them narrate. (2 older ones written). +ds 11 do k12/HO student workbook(selected questions). 4. ??? Thank you in advance!!! Alexia

Thanks! I will take a look at the sample on their website and do search here on the board. Alexia

Thaks OhElizabeh, Since I feel so inadquate being a teacher I am so tempted to find a curriculum that would almost "replace" me as a teacher. But, like you said there is no way around that! Yes, I did looked at SL, their IG. And thank you for explaining @learning styles...I will try to do some reading on 2 recommended resources you mentioned. I might get SCM planner it looks easy enough to use even for a non-comp. tech. like myself. Just weighing the cost if its worth it. Thank you so much !!!!

OhElizabeth, I started with a check list on the whiteboard in our living room but, since he wasn't so fond of RC booklist/vocab.worksheet he started to take so many breaks.....just never got done. He is pretty advanced in math but, he makes so many careless mistakes. Like wrong decimal placement, his basic math fact (even addition) wrong once in a while. So I thought he needed more review, drill so I chose Saxon. I am looking into other math curr. I do have MM. I want to find out the reasons behind his mistakes before I decide on a wrong curr. again. I will check out the ones you mentioned and Lof (Jackie recomm.). And like I said earlier if all this doesn't work out I might go for BJU. Thanks again. Alexia

Jackie, Thank you!!! I will check out the Lof math. It sounds very interesting.

I just wanted to thank you for your advice, wisdom and kindness. You all have encouraged both my son and I. (he read some of your posts too!) I realize I need to slow down and share a book or an activity with my son more that trying to force some type of "great" curriculum on him. Hopefully I can find the right type of learning curr. and tools for each of my kids. I will welcome my ds for his input as well. I will spend much more needed time here on the forum.... Warm regards, Alexia

Thank you so much for your input!! Yes, I did go ahead and read MomtoBostic's posts. Do we all have same kids or what!!! I even let my son read some and he smiled as well. He was comforted to know he was not alone. Wow, 3 years! I do realize more and more that this is really going to be a slow processes. But, knowing this actually relaxes me and look further down the line. so thank you for emphasizing that it is going to be hard! I struggle a lot with myself as well. I feel very inadequate to teach my kids. English is my 2nd language and writing/grammar were my worst subject area in school. I will look into MCT you recommended, I can see almost everyone just loves MCT here. Is it teacher intensive? Does it require a parent to have great english background knowledge? I thought about going for CLE because it seems like pretty thorough and independent work. But after what somethinking it does not seem like the type of curriculum my ds would enjoy. GTG. but, thank again for your input!!! Alexia

Karen, I never even thought of reading his math book aloud. I'll try that. I also like your ideal on having him narrate what he heard on cd. He is really enjoying just listening to Aplogia General Science before he goes to bed every night. As I am typing this he just came to me and "narrated" part about placebo. I guess when he takes in materials that fits he's learning style, he naturally want to share it with me. He really encouraged me just now!!!

onaclairadeluna, Thank you for that math website! Like you said I want so much for my son to be challenged and enjoy learning. I appreciate all your advice!!!

This is helpful "challenging curriculum that has more variety and less drill/repetition/rote learning." Hmmm, I might need to rethink about Saxon Math. He says he understands the concepts but, keeps on making so many careless mistakes.... Math used to be his favorite subject up until @3rd grade, then it became "boring" for him. I don't know the real reason behind it though.

Aime, I really appreciate all your input. You guys are so kind and helpful for a newbie like myself. I am learning a long as I try to Hs. But, I need to remember to take it slow and look at long term goals. Thank you again!!!!

Aime, thank you so much!!! Being flexible and open-minded seems to be the key! Gradually easing into it will make both of us more bearable too! I have been on his case everyday, making him miserable....But, somehow he still says he does not want to go back to PS. He was a star student there but, he'd rather HS. I did get the SWB you mentioned and her writing lecture as well. I need to listen it few more times to really feel comfortable enought to try it! I am not a natural "teacher".

:iagree:I am going through what OP and you have described. But, it's probably worse than your son. My son has been in PS for 7 years.(if you count the pre-k). It is truly an awakening experience for me. He was one of the top students there. All the teachers just loved him! Now that he's home I see the "fruits" of low expectation, passive learning, non-challenging material, emotional dependency on teacher/piers, reward/praise/punishment type of external motivators. I am having hard time easing into HSing. But, as I have been on the board reading posts like yours and I am encouraged and learning how to help my son. Thank you!

I prefer audio as well. My son said he can concentrate better. But, since I get it from library, I get whatever form they happened to have. I have also reserved few Schlessinger dvds too.

:iagree:I am just beginning to realize the "bare minimum" education he received at the PS. After all those years....he's so used to doing the minimum. I take comfort in the fact that my younger son does not show much of what I see in older ds. I plan to bring home my dd (6yr.kinder) soon. As soon as I feel my ds 11 is adjusted to Hsing. Thank you for your input! Alexia

I maybe repeating myself...(i am still learning to manuever on this forum, I am not sure how to quote,etc..sorry!) I guess in heart I want to do HS more with Unschooling way but, it reality I am not confident to actually implement it though. I tend to think about the big picture in everything and I am not the type of person to just do something because it "works". I am not good at learning through trial and error. I think I can enjoy hs if I can be more flexible and see what "works" or clicks for each of my children. Thank you again!

THank you Karen, for posting. He seems to be of auditory learner. I added sotw,Diane waring cds. I have also put on hold (at the library) Schlessinger and teaching com. cd or videos. But, is it o.k. to let him hear/watch so many of these? Shouldn't he be using mostly books? I am o.k. with audio but, video I still feel kind of uneasy.... But, he's so used to it from ps.

Thank you so much for all your encouraging words. I feel so much better knowing others had similar prob. when HSing previously pschooled kids. I naively thought my son didn't have any prob. and was an academically successful child. I just didn't realize what really occurs at PS, how low its expectations are for all kids. My personality is somewhat serious and not too flexible. I read about different methods of education/HSing. I did try unschooling (prob. not the right way...lol) but, it's too difficult for me and I am afraid my son would do online games or watch dvds all day long... From gleaning through few books and here on the forum I learned about different type of HSing. Like CM, Classical, TJ, LCC,RC, etc. one question I still struggle with is this. Is learning (maybe better to term it education/academics) supposed to be fun? Even for older kids? When(what stage) or how much of the hard work is still needed and should be exercised enough for them to "later?" use those to learn independently? (does this make sense? I am still kind of confused trying to figure out different type of Hs philosphy.) It seems in some circles "fun,entertaining"type of curr. or act. seems temporary and and real type of learning involve more of hard, challenging discipline work. Kind of stretching your mind... But, then my question is if a child does not enjoy the book or curr. then isn't he pushed to look for external motivators? vs. if curr.or task is fun then he does it cause he likes it/enjoys it=intrinsic? no or yes? It's esp. hard for me to discern knowing that my son was rarely or never challenged during his ps years. Don't I need to challenge him now that he's home? That was one of the reason I chose RC. I guess I need to deliver challenging content in more kid friendly type method. Am I right? And as my son hopefully changes to learn with intrinsic motivation then I can move him onto more "independent" type curriculum? I was shocked to find out he did/does almost everything with exterior motivations like rewards, good grades, praise from he's teacher and piers. I have stopped using RC for now. I have add on audio cds of SOTW, Diane Waring. He's favorite sub. is History! We are keeping K12/HO. Discovered through this forum Schlessinger (spelling?) videos at the library. Saxon math is o.k. I still need grammar. I don't like too much religious (though I am christian but, not that "kind" of religious.) content in RS so I am looking at Hake/Saxon grammar. I am not sure if my son can handle 2 same type of curriculum. He doesn't really enjoy Saxon math but, not everything is supposed to be fun and easy right? If all this curriculum changing doesn't work should I try BJU dvd? He did like the demo. But, if I do then would I deter him in the long run of becoming more of an independent learner? Thank you for any input!

My oldest son (6th gr.) was in ps all his life (7yrs if you count the pre-k). I brought him home 4 months ago and we are still struggling to adjust.... He always got almost all 4's, did great on CA. standarized tests, is identified gifted, his teachers raved about him at the parent conf. But, when I brought him home I was so shocked to find out all sorts of problems. Both personal issues and academic ones. Main one being the attention problem, have been conditioned to just do "enough" to get by or to get approval by a teacher or his pier. When he was done with all his work at ps he acted as TA to classmates or "staple" papers.... and he did that almost every year. (I found this out after a long talk with him why he hates to do anything too long or challenging.) He takes so many breaks through out the day. Just dribbling basketball around the house, play with cards (he's into magic these days..) just can't sit still for too long. What do I do? He has to be "told" what to do for every little thing. I thought since he is 11yr. old I expected him to do more independent work but, oh boy! My 3rd grade son also home for the 1st time this year is better at it. I chose Robinson curriculum for him and it is too drastic of change for him. Ps curriculum has a lot of workbook type (independent) but, somehow internally he has never learned to be an "independent learner/thinker". Robinson curriculum is mostly all independent work. He is not handling it well. I would appreciate any input! Thank you!!!!

For breakfast or anytime snack I hardboil 18 organic eggs at a time(from costco) and keep in in ziplock bag in refrigerator. I let kids have mix of a half of yoplait yogurt and a half of Fage a greek yogurt from Costco(no added sugar, they wouldn't go for just the greek yogurt!). When we have frozen strawberries or blue berries (organic) they mix in those as well. They also like the swiss lowfat cheese triangles(forgot the name). Some whole grain toast or waffle too. Another option is to make wraps(whole grain) with scrambled egg+mushroom,onion,bell pepper stir fried, salsa,shredded chees,. when we have bacon(I try to buy the uncured kind at whole foods) we add those too. Whatever we happened to have in the refrig. we can add in.

My 3kids(6,8,11) have pretty good understanding that our family is and choose to be "different" from most of their friend's families. Especially for my oldest son, I let him read few books by Jane Healy and others on harmful effect of too much tv,computer other digital media. We currently have a computer used mostly for emails, research, educational materials and a t.v. that is used only for viewing a family movie about 1-2 a month. We don't have any nintendo's or xbox or wii. They are allowed to play these games or watch t.v. at their friend's house but, we only visit once in a while. Of course they do have "fun" while they are there and playing those games, but they know it isn't for our family to have it in our home. I don't think I can control and limit their time if we had any of those gadgets. So I choose not to have it period. My youngest dd just says "my mom wants me to be as smart as I can be so I don't watch t.v. it dulls your mind." :D she explained to my in-laws last time we were there. One more thing I realized about most of the kids who do have games/t.v. are not used to unstructured time of play. It's like they don't know how to "free play" without a fancy toy or gadget for a long time. Very commom to see 5th or 6th grade+ older boys not knowing what to do with themselves in a environment that is not digital. I think it is in some sense "good" for kids to be kind of bored enough to let them create their own games and toys+ read more books.:001_smile:

Thank you, just the right information I needed for my ds.

:bigear:

:iagree:I had my 2 ds, 6th and a 3rd grader in CAVA. It didn't work out for us. I am in the process of withdrawing from CAVA. There are pros and cons but, it was not as flexible as they made it appear in their promo videos. Yes, it's true for their K-3rd curriculums most of it is not online. Their math, science, foreign language, history has some online activity but LA/reading/lit does not have online activity.