New homeschooler (run away) looking for curriculum advice

[CaneKev]

My wife and I will be starting my twin 7th graders (11 years old) this year with our first venture into homeschoolong. At this point I have researched countless hours and picked what I think are good choices, but I wanted to solicit advice first before posting what I have picked.

 

They have been in a charter school from K and have done extremely well, the problem is that they are not being challenged. Our goal is to find curriculum that will remain "school-ish" but challenge them more and keep them close enough to what public schools do in the case that they opt for a high school IB program. Any thoughts and recommendations are appreciated.

 

Thanks, from the newbie.

[zookeeperof3]

Hi and Welcome!

 

Choosing a curriculum is a very personal choice and really depends on what you and your wife want to get out of it. Do you want a secular or Christian curriculum? Do you want a classical, Charlotte Mason or unit study approach? Do you want a boxed curriculum or pick and choose from different resources? Have you had your children take placement tests with different math providers to see where they are and what fits them? Are they on grade level with spelling, grammar and writing? Do they have any special interests you'd like to include in their education?

 

You need to answer all of these questions for yourself before deciding on a curriculum. Believe me, I wish I had taken all of that into account when I started on this journey 3 years ago, it would have saved us a lot of time money, and heart aches.

 

I would recommend to you to look at Cathy Duffy's top picks, she has very good reviews on all of the major curriculums. http://cathyduffyreviews.com/

 

Feel free to ask questions!

Blessings,

Kim

[CaneKev]

I have had the top 100 book from the library (returned it on the day that they would have started the late fees) and it was very helpful.

 

Fortunately, I know the levels that the twins are at so we have identified the options there (i.e. Saxon 8/7). Because they have been at a charter school we are hoping to have a mix of secular and christian (we have been very interested in apologia) in order to give them a gentle intro to bible studies (we are seriously considering arranging some sort of study of saints). They had a bad experience in a CCD class (were told only what not to do and what is bad about the world) so we want to ease them back in.

 

Using literature based studies will not be an option because we need to stay close to what the public schools are doing for the time being, but I want to find challenging and fun studies as well (i.e. Wordly Wise or Vocab from Classical Roots).

 

Hope this helps.

[OnTheBrink]

Secular or Christian?

 

So, if I understand you correctly, you're basically wanting a text-book approach that's more challenging than what they've had at the charter school? What subjects are you looking for? It sounds like you have math figured out already (which, IMHO, is half the battle!). Are you wanting "curriculum in a box" or do you want to piece together from different publishers?

[zookeeperof3]

It sounds like you've done a lot of research, that's great!

 

We are Catholic and we use Apologia Science, it's wonderful, very interesting and engaging. I'm assuming since you mention saints study and CCD classes, that you are Catholic. There are all kinds of things that you can do for a study of the Saints, Seton sells a history book that's about Saints from Around the World. Also, there is the Catholic textbook project, I am using them this year for my rising 6th grader.http://www.catholictextbookproject.com/

 

I do understand that you want to stay close to what public school are doing, in case your children choose to return. That's not a problem. You can go to your local school website or world book and get the list of what's taught in each grade and use that as your guide.

 

If I can help you with anything, please message me. I'm getting ready to head out for family fun day, so I won't be back online until tomorrow.

Blessings,

Kim

[CaneKev]

This is very helpful. Here is what I am leaning towards (we did look at the Florida Sunshine standards as well as what they would have been doing next year).

 

Math - Saxon 8/7 (definite)

Science - Apologia General (definite, unless I missed something)

History - This one is tough. I want to use more literature, but we are looking at All American History as a base.

Literature (language arts) - Believe it or not, this is the tough one. I am weighing Wordly Wise vs. Vocab from Classical Roots. Easy Grammar is on my radar. We are likely going to skip spelling from here on out (I would appreciate comments on this one), and the most difficult of all is literature...

 

I have looked at more literature courses than anything else. Right now, I am leaning towards Lightening Lit for 7th grade, because they have never had a formal literature program (it was always teacher driven, and not very comprehensive). EIL looks really good too, but I am not sure they are ready to start that. I looked at Abeka, BJU, and the Stobaugh books as well, but keep coming back to Lightening Lit (Bob Jones did impress though).

 

Do you think that I am moving in the right direction. I am kind of secular, looking to move towards Christian based, and trying to stay on track with local standards while infusing more literature. :confused: Hopefully my kids won't be as confused as me.

[Storm Bay]

This is very helpful. Here is what I am leaning towards (we did look at the Florida Sunshine standards as well as what they would have been doing next year).

 

Math - Saxon 8/7 (definite)

Science - Apologia General (definite, unless I missed something)

History - This one is tough. I want to use more literature, but we are looking at All American History as a base.

Literature (language arts) - Believe it or not, this is the tough one. I am weighing Wordly Wise vs. Vocab from Classical Roots. Easy Grammar is on my radar. We are likely going to skip spelling from here on out (I would appreciate comments on this one), and the most difficult of all is literature...

 

I have looked at more literature courses than anything else. Right now, I am leaning towards Lightening Lit for 7th grade, because they have never had a formal literature program (it was always teacher driven, and not very comprehensive). EIL looks really good too, but I am not sure they are ready to start that. I looked at Abeka, BJU, and the Stobaugh books as well, but keep coming back to Lightening Lit (Bob Jones did impress though).

 

Do you think that I am moving in the right direction. I am kind of secular, looking to move towards Christian based, and trying to stay on track with local standards while infusing more literature. :confused: Hopefully my kids won't be as confused as me.

 

My dd's have both done All American History as their base for middle school US history. There are suggested reading lists for each unit in the Teacher's Manual that we found very helpful. There are even a few living books in there (eg at least one book suggestion has reprinted letters from colonists.) The text is written like a textbook, but makes a good spine. The workbook is optional, IMO, if you plan to do other written assignments. We did it, mostly for my eldest who doesn't like history and needed to get it done. In it there are also suggestions for extra study, but there are also suggestions for projects in the Teacher's Manual.

 

We have used Easy Grammar with all three of my dc. It's okay, but unless your twins have a lot of trouble with prepositional phrases, I recommend looking for something else. It really isn't stellar, IMO, and we have found better grammar programs. I am Christian & tried to avoid Christian books, but ended up going with Rod & Staff starting in gr. 5. However, there are other good programs out there.

 

We have Stobaugh's first lit book. I bought it because he was the one who finally convinced me of the profit to literary analysis. I was very disappointed with it, however, because I eschewed this in school and need something to teach me how to teach lit analysis.

 

Since you're all set on math & science, I think this is all you're looking at that we have used.

[JudoMom]

This is very helpful. Here is what I am leaning towards (we did look at the Florida Sunshine standards as well as what they would have been doing next year).

 

Math - Saxon 8/7 (definite)

Science - Apologia General (definite, unless I missed something)

History - This one is tough. I want to use more literature, but we are looking at All American History as a base.

Literature (language arts) - Believe it or not, this is the tough one. I am weighing Wordly Wise vs. Vocab from Classical Roots. Easy Grammar is on my radar. We are likely going to skip spelling from here on out (I would appreciate comments on this one), and the most difficult of all is literature...

 

I have looked at more literature courses than anything else. Right now, I am leaning towards Lightening Lit for 7th grade, because they have never had a formal literature program (it was always teacher driven, and not very comprehensive). EIL looks really good too, but I am not sure they are ready to start that. I looked at Abeka, BJU, and the Stobaugh books as well, but keep coming back to Lightening Lit (Bob Jones did impress though).

 

Do you think that I am moving in the right direction. I am kind of secular, looking to move towards Christian based, and trying to stay on track with local standards while infusing more literature. :confused: Hopefully my kids won't be as confused as me.

 

Have you considered Sonlight, Winter Promise, or My Father's World for History/Literature?

 

For vocabulary, I like Dynamic Literacy.

 

Did you have any plans for writing?

 

Have your kids been using Saxon? If not, I'd recommend you have them take the placement test if you haven't done so already.

 

Your plan is looking good!

[Sunshine State Sue]

Here are some programs we used during middle school:

Analytical Grammar. Read my review here.

Write Shop. Read my review here.

Lightning Literature. Read my review here. A nice supplement is Figuratively Speaking.

Megawords. Read my review here.

 

You might want to look at Shurley Grammar 7 since it's used in schools a lot. The writing portion stink though, imo.

 

My understanding of the IB program is that Algebra 1 has to have been taken in 8th grade (or earlier). We used Foerster's Algebra this year. It in an outstanding Algebra program. Here's my review:

We used Foerster’s Algebra in 8th grade after completing MUS Algebra (easy) and LoF Algebra (challenging). With 20/20 hindsight, I wish I had done something different for 7th grade, perhaps MUS Algebra and Patty Paper Geometry. I was able to obtain the 1999 student book and 1999 teacher book used. I purchased the solutions manual new through Prentice Hall.

 

Pros:

• Clear, easy to understand explanations

• Explicit, step-by-step working through problems

• Sufficient practice and continual review of concepts

• Clear building upon and relationships between concepts

• Explicit demonstration of how to apply concepts to word problems

• Challenging, real-life word problems

• Solutions manual provides worked out solutions for every problem

• Solid preparation for SAT, sciences, college level math

• Amusing names in many word problems: Moe Delaune, Mary Thon, Fran Tick, etc.

• Math Without Borders DVDs available

 

Cons:

• None

 

 

Here is an example from Foerster’s Chapter 6 on the Quadratic Formula:

In Foerster's Chapter 6 they teach the quadratic formula. That's

x = [-b +- sqrt(b2-4ac)]/2a

(not easy to type here)

Within this chapter, they teach the vertical motion formula: d = rt - 5t(squared)

They have a section with 12 problems. The TM says to take 2 days to do these problems, but only do 3 problems a day. Here is the first one:

Football problem - A football is kicked into the air with an initial upward velocity of 25 meters per second (m/sec).

a. Calculate it's height after 2 seconds; 3 seconds

b. When will it be 20 meters above the ground?

c. Copy the diagram. Show the answers to part (a) in relationship to the 20 meters of part (b).

d. When will the ball hit the ground?

Edited June 12, 2010 by Sue in St Pete

[Avila]

Have you looked at any of the Catholic providers? If you like classical, you may want to look at Kolbe Academy or Mother of Divine Grace. Seton offers a very traditional school feel, but it is also very religious in all its materials.

 

I think some of what Kolbe Academy offers might work well for you. They offer full enrollment or you can just buy the materials and/or the lesson plans. They have some nice secular science books, and their religion courses are top-notch.

 

Kolbe has a great junior high literature course, and it includes some saint biographies. BJU and Abeka are not Catholic-friendly in the upper grades, but the complaints are mostly with their science and history.

 

We use Faith and Life for our religion program. It is thorough but encouraging. It may be more than what you are looking for, but many Catholic homeschoolers use and enjoy it.

 

History is difficult, since it is hard to find a good secular or Catholic-friendly program. We will probably use Seton's 8th grade American History for 7th grade, but it might be too religious for what you are looking for. Most of the Catholic American history programs lean that way. We will also use some of Sonlight Core 100 to add in the literature.

 

It looks like you have done a thorough job researching, and I think you are off to a great start.

 

Best wishes!

Edited June 12, 2010 by Asenik

[mcconnellboys]

Well, not knowing your children, it would be hard for me to do a better job of picking than you can.....

 

What sort of math will they be doing, i.e., ready for algebra or still doing pre? If pre, then I like Life of Fred books, Edward Zaccaro math books: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Challenge-Math/Edward-Zaccaro/e/9780967991559 (see more of them at bottom of page), or Russian math by Perpendicular Press: http://www.perpendicularpress.com/math6.html, to name a few.....

 

If doing algebra, I really like Brown, Dolciani. Other good books include Lial's, Forrester's, or Jacob's.....

 

I'm assuming they're ready for word study vs. a spelling program. I like Vocab for the College Bound, have used Vocab from Classical Roots in past, and of course there are other sounds programs out there, too.

 

For grammar, the two most thorough programs I can think of are both Christian. If that's okay, then Rod and Staff is probably best, but I also like Abeka.

 

I put together my own stuff for history and lit, as well as science, so can't really recommend any textbooks I actually love for those subjects. I really think it's better to read from a large variety of authors for those subjects than from a single text or book. I think better analysis is accomplished by reading from a large variety of authors....

 

I'm not sure what other subjects you might be looking at doing for the year....

[CaneKev]

I am glad to have joined this forum now - I have had more responses than I could have imagined. All very good advice. I am feeling good about All American History now, so that helps. Literature will still be a question, though I have heard others say that the Stobaugh programs are quite difficult to teach (I will have to investigate some of the others mentioned above now).

 

One additional question now. I had not even considered writing, so I am a blank there. Any advice for 7th grade writing will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks again everyone, this place is a real valuable source for new homeschoolers.

[LynnG in Arizona]

I'll chime in here and say "welcome". :)

 

Sounds like you're mostly set, so I'll give you my two cents about language arts.

 

For literature, I personally would stay away from the Stobaugh courses as I do, in fact, find them quite hard to teach. In your shoes, I would pick maybe 4-8 literature classics and teach them in conjunction with the Progeny Press guides (www.progenypress.com) or Veritas Press literature guides. (For Veritas Press (www.veritaspress.com), check their guides under 5th and 6th grades . . . they tend to schedule books into grades a year or two younger than most, imo.)

 

I would probably pick some all time classics like Treasure Island, Johnny Tremain, Tom Sawyer, The Hobbit, etc.

 

I've used both Easy Grammar and Rod & Staff. They are both good, but take very different approaches. If you are aiming for a very manageable workbook-style grammar program, consider Easy Grammar. If you are aiming for very rigorous/classical, consider Rod & Staff. I have also heard great things about CLE (Christian Light Education) language arts, which most people find to be rigorous, manageable, inexpensive, and comprehensive.

 

Either Wordly Wise or Vocab from Classical Roots would work just fine. If you wanted to, you could also just do the vocab related to your literature choices. Most literature guides will pull out the harder vocab from a book and give you a great starting point.

 

Those are my thoughts for now. Writing programs really vary. I liked Write Shop for this age, but opinions differ on writing curricula. :)

 

HTH a little!

[Sunshine State Sue]

I had not even considered writing, so I am a blank there. Any advice for 7th grade writing will be greatly appreciated.

 

We liked Write Shop, but writing seems to be highly personal. IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) and Classical Writing seem to be popular as well. Susan Wise Bauer seems to have come out with all sorts of writing advice just after I've needed it. There are tons of writing programs out there. Here's a current, humorous thread for you.

[zookeeperof3]

I'll tell you what my good friend who was a Catholic school teacher and now homeschool's told me. Don't make it harder than it has to be. Pick a history textbook/workbook that you like and use it. Find a list of the "great books" ( Angelicum and Kolbe have great lists) and use those for literature or just pick out books that you read at that age, feel free to go up or down a grade level. There are free literature guides online, here's the one she recommends

http://www.ntc-school.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/index.html

 

I use Hillside Educations English/Composition courses. Here's the link to the 7th grade one that I will use next year.It covers Grammar, Composition,Art Study and some Literature, and is non-consumable. http://hillsideeducation.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=19

 

Blessings,

Kim

[CaneKev]

This has been a real blessing. I want to thank everyone that chimed in on my questions. The advice is proving to be very eye opening and the encouragement will go a long way to making my foray into homeschooling that much easier. I will be sitting down with my wife today and making the final decisions so we can order our curriculum, my daughter is looking to get this into her hands as soon as she can (her brother will perk up once it is here).

 

I am looking forward to the year and all of the great advice I get from the forums.

[lisabees]

Welcome! I hs my 7th grader for the first time this year. He will likely be returning to ps. He was pulled out because he struggled, so what worked well for us, may not work for you.

 

First, it's a great year to get a feel for hs -and to get a feel for what kind of learners your dc are. And it can be lots of fun, without the pressure of high school requirements.

 

For history, I followed the ps schedule (middle ages to Renaissance). For science, I chose physical science, because it seemed the most engaging for my ds. Literature was not history-centered, but we included some, of course.

 

We started out the year using some textbooks, but it was completely tedious for ds and me!

 

Here are things we ended up using that worked:

 

Math - Lial's Basic College Math with Math Mammoth for remediation. Jann in TX, a board member, provides tutoring once a week for us. Dolciani's Accelerated Pre-algebra is a great book, but too fast for ds. I would have thrived on this book, though.

 

I always thought Saxon was difficult to navigate if you've never used it.

Science - Supercharged Science/Exploration Education/The Happy Scientist/Billy Nye Science Guy videos

 

http://www.sciencelearningspace.com/

http://thehappyscientist.com/

http://www.explorationeducation.com/

 

History - I ended up pulling together my own. In retrospect, I should have stuck to Oak Meadow, I think. I would have added the extra books and documentaries and cut back on some of the assigned writing.

 

I just recently saw K-12's Human Odyssey at the mall of all places. It looks as wonderful as others say. That would be a great choice, if looking for a textbook.

 

Don't forget documentaries. DS loved Netflix especially. We played them through our x-box so everyone could see instant shows on the tv. Discovery Education was used, but not nearly as much. Youtube was also a great source - even for full-length documentaries.

 

Language Arts - This is where ds struggled, reading at a 3.5 grade level before the school year started. He now reads above grade level, so something worked!

 

Spelling - Megawords. Not in love with this - sometimes feels like busy work. I do make ds spell the words out loud after I say them and he says the words after I spell them out loud. We also do daily dictation. That is more effective for us.

 

Vocabulary - MCT (and Megawords)

 

http://www.rfwp.com/mct.php

http://intervention.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?seriesonly=900M

 

Grammar - MCT. I also love Killgallon's book http://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Middle-School-Sentence-Composing-Approach/dp/0325009562/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276437939&sr=8-4

 

Writing: We loved Write Shop, but I think that's best for a struggling writer or writing teacher! ;) We are now using Lost Tools of Writing and that has caused him to reach another level of thinking and writing. Killgallon's Sentence Composing book is awesome and made a huge difference. I suggest starting with the elementary book. http://www.amazon.com/Sentence-Composing-Elementary-School-Sentences/dp/0325002231/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276437939&sr=8-2

 

http://www.writeshop.com/store/proddetail.php?prod=0011

http://208.112.20.50/index.shtml

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0325002231/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0KNMHSM5F9R2W83F1FNB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

 

Literature - Well, I read aloud each day for 30 minutes. He reads to himself daily. He listens to audio books. We used a mixture of Mosdos and whole books. We also watched the Teaching the Classics dvds for lit analysis and loved Deconstructing Penguins and used some of her suggested books. LTOW also elevated his desire to think about what he reads.

 

http://www.mosdospress.com

http://www.centerforlit.com/ttc.htm

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_4_5?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=deconstructing+penguins&sprefix=decon

 

That's all I can think of now. Enjoy your journey!! :001_smile:

Edited June 13, 2010 by lisabees

[Storm Bay]

My understanding of the IB program is that Algebra 1 has to have been taken in 8th grade (or earlier). We used Foerster's Algebra this year. It in an outstanding Algebra program. Here's my review:

We used Foerster’s Algebra in 8th grade after completing MUS Algebra (easy) and LoF Algebra (challenging).

 

 

My middle dc is going to do Foerster's Algebra 1 in gr 8 and she has just finised LoF Beginning Algebra, so I'm seconding this part. Sue writes good reviews, and it's our first time through Foerster's, so I can't give it a review. I'm glad she brought this up, because we weren't impressed with Saxon after my eldest did it for 3 levels & gave it up when she reached the Algebra level. She did Lial's & then followed with Dolciani (someone else mentioned that author) but she did an old one from the New Math era. It was excellent. However, my middle one is very different & I gave her a choice between Foerster's & Dolciani.

 

As for pre-Algebra, we have MUS pre-Algebra, and I would suggest adding Life of Fred pre-Algebra along with it. Not that MUS can't stand alone, but we've always used it with something else and have been happy doing that. LOF has some special things that MUS, as good as it is in many ways, doesn't. Or you could do LoF Fractions & Decimals along with MUS pre-Algebra.

 

My dd did something different for pre-Algebra, but my ds is doing LoF Fractions & Decimals. He's young & won't be ready for Algebra when he's finished, so he'll do LoF pre-Algebra next.

Edited June 13, 2010 by Karin

[Lovedtodeath]

Welcome! Don't feel trapped by your math choice. My nephew would have benefitted so much if he could have switched. I would use Grammar that includes diagramming, Easy Grammar and Michael Clay Thompson don't have it. I would see if you can find a placement test for spelling to make sure that they don't need it. I would add foreign language. Igniting your Writing is one writing program that I plan to look into.

I chose IYW

because it seemed to present lessons in chunk form and was geared to be

independently done while building confidence and fun into writing.

IYW has worked very well into the flow of the TM for us. We do IYW on the days

that WWTB would be scheduled. For my dd, I don't expect a lesson to be

completed in one day, but rather attempted, and if its not completed, she simply

picks up that lesson on the next day.

I like how IYW is broken into three stages. I have dd work one stage at a time

until all the lesson is completed. It has worked for us.

You can see example pages of IYW at

www.currclick.com and you can also purchase and download from that site.

[Storm Bay]

. I would use Grammar that includes diagramming, Easy Grammar and Michael Clay Thompson don't have it. .

 

 

This is why we switched to R&S, but there are other programs with diagramming, too.

[Mom in High Heels]

First off, I love your Avatar. :)

 

I'm curious why you want to keep close to what they would be doing in ps? Is it in case you send them back?

 

If you're having issues with Lit, you might take a look at Winter Promise's American history as it weaves history AND lit together. WP is a great company.

 

Best of luck to you and your wife!

[CaneKev]

We are trying to somewhat mimic the public school scope to be prepared in the case that my twins want to go into the IB program (this has always been on our radar, so we want to be prepared).

 

I have been writing down all of the suggestions - I will be spending some time with the computer reading reviews and checking prices. Thanks