Struggling with curriculum choices - any suggestions?

[mom4knights]

Hello ~ I know others have written about struggling with all the good curriculum choices for school next year. We are hs this year but I didn't have a lot of time to prepare before we decided to hs (and then moving btwn 3 states since the school yr started!).

 

I am wondering (from those with more experience than me :D) what would be a good path to start with my oldest being in 1st grade next yr. (4 ds - ages right now, 6 1/2, 5, 3 1/2, 2).

 

This forum has been great at given me a lot of information (sometimes too much information to digest at one time! LOL!:)). I am struggling with making a decision!

 

Possibilities:

 

1. Variety approach - Language Arts with WWE, FLL, CLE, R&S, etc. History with Mystery Of History. Add in math, science, music (already in piano lessons). If I did this approach, I would continue in MOH series and switch at 2nd or 3rd grade to MCT for Lang. Arts (I think:D).

 

2. TOG - will I only need to add in math and science? Do they include everything a child needs in the Lang. Arts category?

 

3. MFW, HOD, SL

 

Has anyone done a full chart comparison showing similarities/differences between the various companies?

 

Any suggestions you could offer on which program offers best of language arts and history/literature?

 

We have really enjoyed reading through the MOH book this year b/c it ties in chronologically what was going on in the World and the Bible. Is TOG or the other programs mentioned similar to MOH? Any opinions on which one does it the "best"?:bigear:

 

Of course, since I am becoming the curriculum junkie, I would love to get them all to review over the summer and decide ~ but I don't think dh will go for it!! LOL!:D

 

Thank you in advance!

[Krissi]

I would just point out that MOH is written for 5th-8th graders. It can be used for younger, but the intended audience is older. Can make for challenges. SOTW is written for 1st-4th and can be used for older. In my estimation, SOTW might be easier to implement. You can always check with Sonlight books that correspond with SOTW or Biblioplan to add more Christian sources to your history. Just my 2 cents. :001_smile:

[at the beach]

I'm going to suggest something not on your list. Ambleside Online. And I would suggest that you take a look at their Kindergarten Year--Year 0--for your 5 yo and Year 1 for your 6 1/2 yo. It's free but for the cost of books and many of those are free online. You would have to add in your own math program and phonics program. We used Phonics Pathways with our youngest. Easy to use and it works.

[Chris in VA]

I'd switch to SOTW 2 next year, b/c MOH 2 goes up in level a whole lot from the first year. Get the AG, too. I believe it's much more age appropriate--I do intend to use MOH as a spine for the logic stage, and I agree it's quite good!

 

Pick either FLL and WWE or Rod and Staff--you don't need all of them. Let history provide you with narration/copywork opportunities if you do Rod and Staff.

 

Personally, I like the pick and choose method, because I can make each component at the level dd needs. For instance, she is doing Saxon 7/6 starting next week, but just finished Rod and Staff 3. I also like picking my history and lit separately from a program b/c she's read so much that she often has already covered a majority of the lit in a program. I do tie most of our lit to our history. She reads a bunch on her own that is not necessarily assigned.

 

ETA:--oh, sorry, I see you are not necessarily using MOH1 this year. I still would consider just reading the Vos or Ergemeir Story Bible alongside SOTW 1, and saving MOH. There's a chart at http://www.paulasarchives.org that coordinates the bibles with SOTW 1 so you could do that easily.

Edited April 24, 2010 by Chris in VA

[texasmama]

For my first grader this year, we used Sonlight history, readers and readalouds, FLL1, copywork, A Reason for Handwriting, Singapore math (he did 1B and 2A), piano lessons, co op science class, Leading Little Ones to God (Bible program) and Sequential Spelling. (Hhe tagged along with his older brother with this one - this program is for a slightly older child.)

 

Have fun!

[mom4knights]

Thank you to all have responded. I have been so overwhelmed with the idea of all the choices out there. I feel like I don't want to "mess" this up for my kiddos ~ but then I hear the Lord reminding me that He will guide me through this and they are still pretty young - so enjoy the journey!

 

Again, things I know but have a hard time implementing.

 

Chris in VA: you wrote "Get the AG, too." Can I ask what that is? I have enjoyed reading through MOH1 this year (but we are only about 1/2 way through it!) but I may also look into SOTW.

 

I will also look into Ambleside Online - that is awesome that is free also!!

 

I just started looking into TOG b/c it looks very good but is also seems like a time/money commitment. Becoming a "curriculum junkie" I can see is bad for the health! LOL!:D

 

Thanks again!

[SandKsmama]

MOST people I know (even the TOG enthusiasts LOL) say that they don't recommend starting with TOG until your oldest child is at least in older elementary. I wouldn't attempt it with just a 1st/2nd grader.

 

I'm a long time MFW user, and for our family, it provides that "pick up and go" ease that I need. I don't spend a lot of time pulling things together, or planning, it's mostly all done for me. It DOES have the chronological history, and ties together what is going on in the world and Biblical history, etc. For the most part, it uses Story of the World as a main spine.

 

Total personal preference here, but if I knew I were moving, and I had as many "littles" as you do, I'd pick something along the lines of MFW (or HOD, or SL), where everything is all planned out for you.

[robsiew]

Just remember, the younger years can be very simple. Exposure is a huge thing in your history and science... not mastery. Focus in on your 3 R's and build a solid basis for your young ones.

 

I am not a "boxed curriculum" person so I pick and choose everything. My k/1st grade level kids this year did the following:

 

SOTW 2 (I started using MOH2 and it was way too much!) Volume 1 was fine, but I lost the K/1st grade age kids pretty quickly in Volume 2. SOTW is perfect and I wish I had started with that. We'll go back to MOH in Logic. And yes.. get the AG (Activity Guide) that goes with it! I didn't get it at first and was shocked at how great it is now that I have it! It has book lists, comprehension questions, narration examples and many added activities as well as simple age appropriate map work. Really, you need nothing else for history IMO.

 

I haven't used it, but from what I've seen my guess is TOG is a lot more than what you really need at this age....

 

Elemental Science (Biology)... this curriculum takes the WTM recommendations and makes them really easy to implement. Simple. Gets done!

 

Math (MUS is what we use)

 

Phonics Pathways for phonics and library books for reading (I have some Bob books, the Beehive Reader from AAS author, and some Abeka readers for my K level child)

 

Handwriting books which I will now just go to copy work for both young boys. My 1st grade level boy is about to start WWE1. If you choose to use that you don't really need anything else for writing.

[TracyR]

For that age I would just use my library card. For the lower grades history is just 'gravy' and things such as reading, math, and handwriting should be focused on more. If your child loves history or you have the time to do it then go for it.

 

Personally if I had to do it all over again I would of just taken a Sonlight catalog and gone to the library, get some of those books and do lapbooks . Over the years I have found that history is as important to children until they hit the logical stage of life. My oldest is 6th grade this year and I'm noticing that she is just 'getting into' history. Before she could of cared less. She just rather enjoyed me reading stories about famous people like George Washington or Abraham Lincoln or listen to her dad go on and on about WW2( he's a history buff). Other then that she could of cared less really. If you really think about it , how much history did you remember at the age of 6? I can't imagine much if at all. Now I can tell you all about different times in history at the age of 33.

[mrsrevmeg]

You also need to add phonics to TOG. With children that young I would take it at half pace. That way you don't have to pick through the fun stuff so much and leave as much out. :D

[PeterPan]

Well this is just me, but I would SIMPLIFY. I think you're putting a whole load of guilt, curriculum, and "ought to" on yourself. I would do math and LA with them, each at their own level, 3-5 days a week, depending on the dc and the age. Then I would find some fun things you like, SIMPLE things that take a single book, and do them together with ALL your kids. So find *a* science book and read it together and do a hands-on that fits it. Find *a* history-ish book you want to read together and read it. Please don't make it any harder than that! There's just no need. And then when your little horde is 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, THEN start looking at some of the more involved curriculum like MOH. And when they're 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th and you've gone through MOH1-3, THEN start looking at TOG. Think of this in stages. Defer till later stuff that will be later now and use now the stuff that is perfect now.

 

Things that are perfect at these ages:

 

FIAR

WP Animal Worlds or just any of the books from it

Let's Read and Find Out science books

science books from here: http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_SUPERARTICLE&node_id=180&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=2449d5a0-cd1c-4a3f-a1a9-c16e675c4475 LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these, highly recommend with your ages!!!

any history books you would like to read together: Eggleston, Rainbow Book of American History, SOTW, CHOW, the World of and activity books for the American Girl dolls, the delightful lower grade american history books from CLP, basically anything written as a story that you can read to your kids

 

Spend less on curriculum, more on real stuff you can read and do together. Your kids would probably LOVE to do real hands-on stuff, and you won't have energy for that if you're trying to do some formal curriculum. So you just pick a simple spine, read it, and do a project that goes with it! The Usborne books often have this format, with a 2-page spread to read and a hands-on project. Those AACS books are set up for that. History can be that way. It really doesn't need to be more, honest.

 

I tried WAY too hard when I was teaching my dd the first time through. With my ds, you can be sure I'm not. It will be like what I'm describing above, just reading and doing together. :)

[Smithie]

OP, I'll have a 6 y.o. 1st grader and a 4 y.o. 4Ker (and a toddler!) next year. We did a K12 public charter school this year for kindergarten, with 6 formal areas of study.

 

All I can say is WHOAH, that was too much. :eek: My son has done well in all the subjects, but I really feel like we've both been unnecessarily frustrated by skipping around a wide range of content on a daily basis.

 

My motto for next year (when we'll be independent homeschoolers) is "streamline, streamline, streamline." We'll be doing SOTW #1, history notebooking, age-adapted ancient literature keyed to SOTW, Singapore, FLL, Spelling Workout, Song School Latin, Zoology/Taxonomy notebooking, and that's IT. Seriously. If I spend less than 90 minutes or less per day with my 1st grader knocking off all the formal work, I will feel that I have done well for that day. My 4K dd will float in and out as she pleases.

 

Free reading, music lessons, art projects, science experiments, sports, religious school - all good things. But for us, those are going to be informally pursued in the afternoons, with "school" being the thing that we do at the kitchen table right after breakfast.

 

I have purchased my books for next year already, from Amazon and Rainbow Resource, for a total of about $400 with at least $350 being completely reusable for the next two kids in line. I selected them by reading through the curriculum suggestions in TWTM and The Latin-Centered Curriculum by Andrew Campbell.

[cjbeach]

I

 

ETA:--oh, sorry, I see you are not necessarily using MOH1 this year. I still would consider just reading the Vos or Ergemeir Story Bible alongside SOTW 1, and saving MOH. There's a chart at www.paulasarchives.org that coordinates the bibles with SOTW 1 so you could do that easily.

OMG I have been lurking here for 4 years and have had the link bookmarked for probaly all 4 of those years and always, always, always forget about the SOTW correlations. Ugh. SUCH a great resource!!!

 

:banghead:

[EppieJ]

From one curriculum junkie to another.....just say no! :tongue_smilie:

 

Lots of reading. Lots of hands-on. Lots of exploration.

 

Some of our favorites:

 

SL reading lists

History Pockets (Ancient Civilizations goes well with SOTW 1)

SOTW (audio books are great!)

Science Activities (Usborne)

Berenstain Bears Big Book of Science (this was a hit when ds was 5)

Tangrams w/Activities

Pattern Blocks w/Activities

Unifix Cubes

Kids Create!

Mudworks

Scribble Cookies

File Folder Games (a google search will give you lots of ideas)

Reader Rabbit

JumpStart

 

Oh, I almost forgot. One of the SL core K history books was Living Long Ago. I think it's an Usborne book. Good info and a few activities. It was top of ds' list. I still catch him reading it sometimes. Don't think we'll ever be done with that one! :D

[LauraQ]

With 4 kids you might want to consider ways to combine the kids for content subjects (such as literature, history, science) and only do separate materials for skill subjects (math, english). The 6.5 and 5 yo could work well together, as could the 3 & 2 yr olds when they are older. Getting them tracked together now will only make things easier on you later. If you need to separate them later in order to cover all you want to cover, remember it will be easier to do so when they are older (say >12 yrs old) when they are able to do a larger portion of their daily assignments independently. Right now, when they need soooo much hand-holding for nearly every little thing, combine all you can!! It will save your sanity!

 

If you want some more classical (and honstly way more vigorous in later years) you could go with VP and have the older kids start in their K or 1st grade program (you know what the 5 year old is ready for better than we do). If you need to spend less time planning because of the 2 toddlers tagging along, you should seriously consider Sonlight for the first 4-5 years. Even though it is not terribly classical, you will do a full cycle through World and American in 1st-4th grade, and it is SO easy to use. It is also lit based, uses many of the same readers recommended by more classical sources in the early years, and will set up the kids well for later years.

 

If you want to put it all together yourself, you could simply cover geography with them this year (such as with Galloping the Globe, Seterra, Geography Songs etc.) and then either this year or next start Story of the World as your History spine and add in lots and lots of readers at their reading levels plus lots more read-aloud literature. Use VP and SL catalogs along with WTM reading list suggestions for more ideas. Other great books to add in to SOTW for a do-it-yourself course would be the Famous Men books. They are definitely read-aloud for K/1st graders!

 

For Science, you don't have to do ANYTHING if you don't want to just yet! Just read hi/low non-fic from the library, take walks, do simple projects, grow plants, keep pets, etc. is sufficient IMHO for K-1st. You can also get fun project ideas from Janice VanCleave books and TOPS books, or check out some of the recommendations for Grammar Science in WTM. Some people feel strongly about some of the newer science books for these grades (mostly these weren't around when mine were that age) so check other suggestions about those.

 

For English, I urge you to keep things very simple. Don't bother with formal Spelling and Handwriting programs unless your children really need them. Find something simple, and do it just a couple times a week. I used English for the Thoughtful Child and loved it, and think First Language Lessons is similar (wasn't around when mine were that age). For K-1st you could simply give them a sentence or two to copy onto handwriting paper each day, and talk about how the first letter is capitalized, it ends with a period, etc. and let them absorb grammar naturally that way for the first year or two. Really, I feel strongly that the exact program you choose is not nearly as important as your approach--gently and gradually work into these things. Your children will progress in fits & starts with stagnant periods in between, not in a steady progression, so keep that in mind no matter what program you use. It is paced for steady progression, but kids aren't made that way!

 

For math, I'll stay out of all the debates ;-) Use what you think will work for your kids as noone knows them as you know them. I really loved Singapore's Early Bird math for K no matter what you use after that. It makes simple math operations simple, and gets kids off to a great start for making sense of word problems.

 

As far as I'm concerned, everything else is gravy at this point. I would urge you if this is your first year HSing to just start with the basics--Reading, Writing, Math only. THen add in stuff like History/Geography, and finally History. Don't even worry about all the other goodies until you get the regular stuff going well. Art, music, latin, and everything else can wait!

[Lightly Salted]

science books from here: http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_SUPERARTICLE&node_id=180&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=2449d5a0-cd1c-4a3f-a1a9-c16e675c4475 LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these, highly recommend with your ages!!!

 

thanks for sharing these! :D

[mom4knights]

Again, thank you all for your suggestions and the links to various sites for reference -- I have visited them all and added to my "favorites"! :-)

 

I also printed out the entire thread so I can continue to review it ~ especially when I am "tempted" to go looking at more curriculum!!:D

 

 

I do have one more ?:

 

We did MOH 1 this past year basically as a "read-aloud" and we are only 1/2 way through. I may just continue as a "read-aloud" until we finish (it is a rare "cuddle time" with my active boys!:))

 

I am also looking at SOTW 1 with the activity guide but I also read (from another poster) about TruthQuest History. They have a US history book for 1st-5th. Do you guys recommend doing American History (even as a read-aloud) or Ancient History (as is presented in SOTW 1 and MOH 1).

 

Any suggestions?