What curriculum gems did you find this year?

[Donovans4]

Lial's BCM was a huge hit! We zipped right through it and it helped to reinforence all the things learned with Singapore. We will use the alegebra book next and my dd is looking forward to it (a major accomplishment!).

 

LauraD in MN

[Love2Learn]

Okay, I'm a first year homeschooler, but our favorites are:

IEW

Teaching Textbooks (Pre-Algebra)

History of Science

[Carol in Cal.]

--Went back to Saxon math.

--Found the science books by Tiner--"Exploring the World of Chemistry" was a great amplification to RS4K Chemistry. Just bought the Physics, one; can't wait to use it!

--Started doing some unit studies in American history a la Steward Ship. This is really, really cool. What freed us up to do this was, oddly enough, the SOTW3 CD's. DD listened ahead on them, and then went through all of them over and over. She learned the material so well that there really didn't seem to be any point in spending much time on it beyond those CD's. So we had the best of SOTW, and also were able to add the focus on US history topics that I felt we had been shorting.

--Started a literature study group for middle schoolers to read and discuss great children's fiction around a theme, and incorporate literary elements into the discussion. This has really, really enhanced the year. I use Rafe Esquith and TWTM for questions, and Figuratively Speaking as a rough guide to literary elements.

[lisa in ohio]

I really underestimated the power of memory work. Also, for me the bluedorns "teaching the trivium" book helped me prioritize my time.

lisa

[ncmomo3]

Definitely Lightning Lit.

Mine are absorbing everything from SOTW. I am amazed when they can repeat the lessons weeks later.

VfCR has been great also.

[H0MEFree]

IEW SWI program for my oldest.

 

Responsibility For Boys for my middle child.

 

B4FIAR for my youngest!

[Stirsmommy]

Since our new year started in Feb. I will say some of our switches have made a huge difference. DD (12) and I love the Lightning Lit, Latin Prep and AG. We are continuing with TT for algII and with Apologia Physical Science. We will also be adding in art and new history by fall. But I think we are finally hitting our stride as we go in to year three.

DS (7) on the other hand is still difficult to choose for do to his needs. We have begun MUS and that seems like it might be a keeper. We are also making some progress with RR. He loves nature study and SOTW 2.

[ssmeest]

I'll be checking out some of these for next year.

 

Thanks,

Sandra

[MamaChristina]

We are loving Learning Language Arts Through Literature this year and my other favorite it Latin for Children. Both of these have been big hits with my children. They love the book studies in LLATL.

 

Christina

[Carmen_and_Company]

Oak Meadow 6 History/Eng. Syllabus --easy to beef up as a secular outline that also included projects & writing prompts. Storm will complete half this year & half next year in 6th grade.

 

Oak Meadow 6 Science Life Science Syllabus--WOW! The OM science really requires dc to think scientifically--provides terms to learn, experiments, writing exercises, and exams. I'm quite pleased with what Storm & Blaze learned this year and the high level of rentention. Hopefully, they both do well on the end of year final exam.

 

Oak Meadow mathematics for my youngest--OM math texts remind me of Teaching Textbooks in presentation, as the text presents each lesson in a conversational way as it explains step-by-step how to manipulate various basic math algorithms, but OM is a mastery program where Teaching Textbooks is spiral/incremental. Blaze finished OM5 math in about 4 months because it was "easy and fun" to him. The math is about a year behind traditional texts & unlike traditional texts, does not take the mile wide, and inch deep philosophy, but teaches specific skills that get reviewed by applying previously learned math to various algorithms. Once the child masters the 4 basic operations, they are applied to fractions, then decimals, and then percents and so on. So, when working on fractions, the child learns to add, subtract, multiply & divide fractions all in one year--the same holds true for decimals, which are taught next in the 6th grade book.

 

Mastering Essential Math Skillsrades 4/5-- Oh, my! This inexpensive product in conjunction with OM 5 was a marriage made in Flatland. The book contains 120 lessons that take less than 20 minutes to complete & offers daily drill in addition & mulitplication, review problems of previously introduced material, 10 problems of new material, and a word problem presented in clean black & white pages--no cartoons or color anywhere.

We'll finish this book next year & move into the middle/highschool book that covers all the mathematics necessary for success in algebra I.

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Essential-Math-Skills-Minutes/dp/0966621131

 

Latin Prep 1--We really like this product for it's explanations & ease of use, but will use Latin Prep 2 as a secondary program to Cambridge Latin next year since Oak Meadow sells the series along with a syllabi for each level. DD wants more of reading program.

 

Mixing LCC & Waldorf for middle dc.