All in One curriculum?

[RachelFlores]

I'm trying to decide whether to continue our homeschooling journey next year for many reasons, but one is that the lesson planning is killing me. I need something that is already written out (preferably for ALL subjects) and is totally open and go.

 

I was looking at K12 Virtual Academy and was very impressed with their sample lessons. I liked the layout, the teaching helps, the subjects covered (Math, LA, History, Science, Art and Music) and the computer enrichment that went with the Kinder lessons. I did not like the price (we would be using it independently) or that the subjects weren't remotely integrated.

 

Are there any other 1st grade curriculums that would fit what I am looking for? Thank you!

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

www.heartofdakota.com

 

www.mfwbooks.com

 

www.memoriapress.com

 

 

 

Is the K12 you are looking at the free virtual public school?? If so, I would advise you that it was not worth it to me to be restricted for free planned curriculum. I know many mom's who tried it and quit due to being told they were not allowed to go on vacation when they wanted and for as long as they wanted to. I was told by our "teacher" that I could not take off 3 weeks for a c-section, even when I told her 1 week would count as spring break and we would take a shorter Christmas break.

[skueppers]

It might help to know what about the lesson planning isn't working for you? Looking at your curriculum list, much of it seems open and go already. What needs to be more planned?

[angela&4boys]

I was told by our "teacher" that I could not take off 3 weeks for a c-section, even when I told her 1 week would count as spring break and we would take a shorter Christmas break.

 

Ummm... wow! That would definitely cause me to give it the boot!

 

Great suggestions, btw. We have really liked both HOD and MFW in the past.

 

I'll just add:

 

Sonlight

 

Easy Classical

 

Calvert

 

Oak Meadow

[Scarlett]

www.heartofdakota.com

 

www.mfwbooks.com

 

www.memoriapress.com

 

 

 

Is the K12 you are looking at the free virtual public school?? If so, I would advise you that it was not worth it to me to be restricted for free planned curriculum.

 

Please be aware that K12 is the curriculum, but the state controls how it is run. I'm in my 5th year of using K12 through Arkansas VA and I have had no problems. Take a look at the email exchange I had with ds's teacher this week about a planned vacation I am taking ds on next week.

 

>>I am taking ds10 to NYC the week of October 18. Unsure if I should mark it all off as vacation or log time with limited lessons since I believe the trip will be very educational.

 

Please advice how you want me to handle.

 

Thank you,

Scarlett>>

 

Her reply

 

>>I would mark any day that you spend sightseeing, etc. as supplemental. Of course, if he does complete any assignments or read a novel from the novel list, mark that time appropriately. I'll make a note of that week in my attendance report, though, so you won't hear from me asking you to update your attendance. :)

Can't wait to hear about it!

Thanks,

AR teacher>>

 

I have NEVER had an issue with the virtual school in 5 years. They do have a few hoops I have to jump through but they are minimal.

 

K12 is awesome. Pretty sure I would not be paying 1000 a year for a first grader to use it though.

[RachelFlores]

It might help to know what about the lesson planning isn't working for you? Looking at your curriculum list, much of it seems open and go already. What needs to be more planned?

 

One thing I would like is a daily plan spelled out so that I know if I'm on track or not for completing things in a timely manner and I would like it all in one place, like a teacher's lesson plan book. I taught PS for a year and I've been taking my different curriculum pieces and making my own weekly lesson plans, but it always takes longer than I think it should. I guess I feel that I need to do more than is listed in the FIAR lessons, it says talk about..., but then I get on homeschoolshare.com and see all the cool things to do and end up printing things off or getting more books and then we end up not finishing the lesson, but I spent an hour finding, planning and printing the cool activity and, well, then it feels overwhelming and slightly useless.

 

The only thing we are doing consistantly right now is math (because it IS open and go), reading, occasionally handwriting and SOTW reading because we are part of a co-op that does activities with it once a week. I WANT to do FIAR and Science consistantly, I'd love to add music and art, but I feel like we are barely getting the important stuff in. I look at our weekly schedule and I SHOULDN'T feel overwhelmed, but I do.

 

I feel like having all the plans in one place, ready for me to teach from would really help with that overwhelmed feeling. Maybe I'm wrong about that though?

[RachelFlores]

 

Is the K12 you are looking at the free virtual public school??

 

K12 is a curriculum provider with several charter schools offering it for free in different states. The charter school and state make up the rules on attendence, testing and checking in and stuff BUT you can buy the curriculum directly from K12, it just costs a lot, like $1300+ for a school years worth of classes. If it wasn't SO expensive I would seriously consider it.

[Ravin]

There's Oak Meadow, Tanglewood School, Ambleside Online...

[ALB]

I just wanted to say that I agree with you that FIAR does seem to take some planning time. We either do it conversationally when I don't plan, and that takes all of an extra 5-10 min. after reading the book, or I spend TONS of time searching for extras, planning special go-alongs, lapbooks, etc. just to make it seem meaty enough. From what I've heard, BFSU also requires a bit of planning ahead of time. For us, the answer seems to be HOD (VERY open and go), and I know there are many other similar options out there where you can know you've covered enough each day without putting in all the prep time.

Also want to add that I do LOVE FIAR and know that it's supposed to be open and go, and is for some people. Must be a personality issue that some of us need to be told EXACTLY what to do each day :tongue_smilie:.

[rootsnwings]

I think part of your frustration is just that this is something new for you and it certainly can be overwhelming in the beginning! I just now, in our 3rd year, feel like I have somewhat of a handle on this thing! :D You will become more familiar with what materials you want to use and if you have taught public school & planned a years worth of curriculum before it should be fairly easy to plan your homeschooling schedule.

 

All that to say do NOT waste your $ on something like k12 JUST for the planning aspect of the curricula. Now, if you check out my siggy you will see that we a tually DO use the k12 LA4 program (independently) but I just bought the books & materials. I originally signed up for the monthly online thing but then I realized that none of the actual WORK was done online, it was all done in workbooks & notebooks. The only thing the "online school" offered was planning--and I could figure that out for myself! SO--instead of paying around $300 for that course, I paid $100 to get the books & that is it. I actually LOVE their materials and am tempted to use their art curricula next year and have been looking at their foreign language options as well.

 

I originally set out looking for exactly what you're asking for -- the perfect, and perfectly planned, box curriculum. It just doesn't exist (for me!) ;)

[....]

CLE can be an all-in-one curriculum - especially at 1st grade. Their math, reading and language arts is great. Their 1st grade social studies and science is sunrise edition. CLE is always my emergency fall-back. If something happened and I had an hour or so to spend with the kids on school, I would just have everybody do CLE across the board.

 

My 3rd grader and 2nd grader zip thru CLE LA and Math in about 30 minutes, total.

[Guest TheBugsMom]

One thing I would like is a daily plan spelled out so that I know if I'm on track or not for completing things in a timely manner and I would like it all in one place, like a teacher's lesson plan book. I taught PS for a year and I've been taking my different curriculum pieces and making my own weekly lesson plans, but it always takes longer than I think it should. I guess I feel that I need to do more than is listed in the FIAR lessons, it says talk about..., but then I get on homeschoolshare.com and see all the cool things to do and end up printing things off or getting more books and then we end up not finishing the lesson, but I spent an hour finding, planning and printing the cool activity and, well, then it feels overwhelming and slightly useless.

 

The only thing we are doing consistantly right now is math (because it IS open and go), reading, occasionally handwriting and SOTW reading because we are part of a co-op that does activities with it once a week. I WANT to do FIAR and Science consistantly, I'd love to add music and art, but I feel like we are barely getting the important stuff in. I look at our weekly schedule and I SHOULDN'T feel overwhelmed, but I do.

 

I feel like having all the plans in one place, ready for me to teach from would really help with that overwhelmed feeling. Maybe I'm wrong about that though?

We used Calvert one year and the teachers manual sounds like what your looking for. Everyday is all laid out for you. The week includes poetry, art, and computer skills. It was the easiest curriculum I have ever used.

[Joyofsixreboot]

CLE can be an all-in-one curriculum - especially at 1st grade. Their math, reading and language arts is great. Their 1st grade social studies and science is sunrise edition. CLE is always my emergency fall-back. If something happened and I had an hour or so to spend with the kids on school, I would just have everybody do CLE across the board.

 

 

I have to agree, for ease CLE can't be beat. We're using LA, Reading and Math. It's just do the next lesson. I still enjoy other stuff for history and science but if time was and issue I would probably use theirs.

[Chris in VA]

I taught, too. I have to say that I think you will be a "tweaker," no matter how open and go your curricula are.

You are still going to find cool things, print them out, and supplement--it will never seem like enough just to do what the teacher guide says! :D

 

I would stick with what you have, maybe do all your planning in a couple hours on a certain day of the week, and realize that you can't do everything that's out there.

[MariannNOVA]

Oak Meadow -- I wish I had known about this when I first started with the twins in First Grade. WHAT a difference it would have made.

[skueppers]

I agree with others that there are a number of curricula out there that would provide what you're looking for.

 

I know folks who were happy with Calvert. Literally everything you need comes in the box and the lesson plans tell you exactly what to do. Calvert is a secular curriculum.

 

Sonlight would also provide a completely planned curriculum, from a Christian perspective. I've spoken with many who love it.

 

I'm sure K12 and some of the other options people have mentioned are great, too, I just know less about them.

 

I wonder if a planned curriculum is what you really need, though. I will come back to this thread later with more thoughts on that- time to read to my kid!

[Tabrett]

CLE-is a work text. It has a lesson a day to be completed, It is great for subjects like math and english, but has a little too much work, IMHO, since it was designed to be used in a private school and needs some "filler" work to keep kids busy. If you don't like to mark off problems it might drive you batty. I would steer clear of their science and social studies. Social Studes follows a traditional school format of your community, American History, then World History. I prefer a more hands on approach for those subjects. Unless you want your dc doing worksheets all day.

 

HOD-Uses the CM method. It is a guide that combines different publishers of curriculum into a nice guide. The guide has about a 2 year age range. If you don't like their math or english, it is very easy to substitute. It has a daily lesson plan for all subjects. Very open and go, but not worksheets. It has a good balance of hands on activities and living books. Science is very, very light in early grades. History in k-2 is Bible and American History. 3rd grade is a world over view. Then a more classical rotation starts with the ancients in 4th grade. All books needed comes with the packages.

 

MFW-CM inspired curriculum. K and first grade are designed around phonics. K is very easy and I think more like a preschool level. 1st starts off easy then flys. It is a all in one curriculum, with daily plans. Math in the early grades are a little less planned than I like. 2-6th grades are designed to be used for any age elementary dc as long as they are reading well and can write. In these grades, you can choose your own math and LA or used theirs. There is not history for K. It is unit studies designed around science. 1st grade history is Bible. 2nd grade history is World over view. 3rd grade history is geography and 4th grade starts the 4 year classical rotation with the ancients. You have to use the library a lot with this curriculum. It uses a book basket of weekly library books. It is balanced between hands on and living books.

 

SL-Ruth Beechick inspired curriculum. Beechick was an advisor for SL. Is normally one grade ahead (k is more like 1st grade) as far as living books.

You can pick which level of math and LA to go with which core you buy. The classical 4 year history rotation begins in 1st grade with the ancients. 5th grade does something different (can't remember what is it called, but it deals with China and asian history. I know I'm not saying this correctly, please forgive.) Then the 4 year cycle starts over again in 6th grade. All books are included. There are NO hand on activities.

 

Oakmeadow is totally different from any of the above. It teaches the subjects mainly through folk tales, art, handi-crafts and music. You would have to research it's history cycle. Many people love OM and it is totally secular.

 

All of the above are very good "all-in-one" curriculums. It just depends on what you are looking for.

Edited October 13, 2010 by Tabrett

[RachelFlores]

Thank you everyone for your help. You're right, I am a tweaker, but I like to have something to tweak from if you know what I mean. I don't like to start from scratch. I know I'm still trying to get a handle on all things homeschool so that is a work in progress and I admit that I am hoping a "just right" curriculum will help with this. I am wondering, what does CLE stand for? Thank you again, I'm looking into the options you listed. :D

[Tabrett]

Thank you everyone for your help. You're right, I am a tweaker, but I like to have something to tweak from if you know what I mean. I don't like to start from scratch. I know I'm still trying to get a handle on all things homeschool so that is a work in progress and I admit that I am hoping a "just right" curriculum will help with this. I am wondering, what does CLE stand for? Thank you again, I'm looking into the options you listed. :D

 

Christian Light Education

[susankenny]

Thank you everyone for your help. You're right, I am a tweaker, but I like to have something to tweak from if you know what I mean. I don't like to start from scratch. I know I'm still trying to get a handle on all things homeschool so that is a work in progress and I admit that I am hoping a "just right" curriculum will help with this. I am wondering, what does CLE stand for? Thank you again, I'm looking into the options you listed. :D

 

 

In looking at your choices, I feel FIAR and Building Foundations science would involve the most prep. I know when we used FIAR (or any unit study like Galloping the Globe, etc), I loved the product - but it did take extra legwork and prep on my part to gather books and supplies...and some days it was tiring.

 

Perhaps you could continue to buy from various publishers, that way the overall curriculum can still be somewhat tailored to your child - but try looking for things that are a little more "open & go" regarding curricula you feel is most time consuming for you. I'm not sure if this is actually an issue or not...I'm just guessing in looking at your siggy.

 

 

Susan

[lamamaloca]

Please be aware that K12 is the curriculum, but the state controls how it is run

 

It may not even be the state, but particular school districts. In my state, KS, more than one "virtual school" offers K12, and they have different requirements and different levels of flexibility. One friend used a school that allowed them to substitute different providers, such as Teaching Textbooks instead of the K12 math, and have an extremely flexible schedule. Other friends have used a school that is more particular and doesn't allow this flexibility.

[mom24boys]

Another vote for Heart of Dakota! This is my first year homeschooling and we are having a great time (ds6.5 and ds5).

 

The teachers manual is simple, open and go, and laid out very cleanly...super easy to see what's up for the day. There are 9 boxes to do each day. Each box takes about 10 minutes (at this level). You can spread them out or do them all in one chunk. You can rearrange them in any order as you please. AND you still get to pick your own Math and Reading. (If you go with her suggestions, then it is scheduled out in the book for you.)

 

Here's their sample for 5-7 year olds:

http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/little-hearts-first-week.pdf

 

It is very CM. They do have supplemental books for each lesson but those are not necessary. They have a gentle approach to grammar and science for the younger years and then they ramp up.

 

Hope you find what you're looking for!

[skueppers]

Getting back to this --

 

I can think of four reasons why you may be finding lesson planning draining.

 

1) You have a toddler. Your toddler probably sucks up a lot of your energy. This will get better with time, though it may take a couple of years.

 

2) Five In A Row and Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding both require a certain amount of running around to gather materials and books.

 

3) You are used to thinking as a teacher. Teachers need to keep an entire roomful of children occupied in order to ensure that learning is taking place. Homeschooling parents of one or two children (I'm not qualified to speak about larger families) don't have this problem. Reading a book and talking about it is, for many children, sufficient to ensure that learning has taken place. It's not actually necessary to do a coloring page about it, find some kind of cut-and-paste activity to go along with it, prepare a recipe, build a model, etc. unless you find that your particular child needs that.

 

4) Your Kindergartner is on the young side. This may mean that you need more "razzle dazzle" in your lesson plans in order to keep her attention. More crafts, more movement, etc. My daughter is also a Kindergartner this year, but she's almost a year older than your daughter. We didn't do any required academics last year, but I did find that she underwent a sea change academically during the six months or so after she turned five. She started asking for math lessons, something I had never provided, about six weeks after she turned five. She also developed a passion for nature documentaries. So you may find that some of these things become easier when your daughter is a little older.

 

One thing I would suggest is reminding yourself of why you are homeschooling in the first place. Make sure that whatever you decide to do for curriculum is in line with your values. One of the things I value the most as a homeschooler is the ability to provide my child with an individualized education. Because I have this value, I would not be inclined toward an all-in-one curriculum, as I know it would not suit us.

 

I do think you can provide an excellent education for your child without having the lesson planning make you crazy, and without using an all-in-one curriculum.

 

One of the ways I make this work for me is by focusing on what I think my child most needs to learn at this age. For me, it's skills -- reading, writing, math, German. Nothing else really matters very much. Of course it matters that we do something, but it doesn't matter whether we study world religions or geography, astronomy or animals. It doesn't even matter very much how we go about studying these things.

 

For our basic skills work, we use open-and-go materials. We have German workbooks, which also double for handwriting. We have a math curriculum. She reads out loud for 15 minutes a day from books we pick out at the library; we used to use an open-and-go phonics curriculum. I don't yet have a writing requirement outside of what she does for handwriting. Since I care whether she finishes the German workbooks this school year, I divided the number of pages by the number of weeks in the school year and put that number of pages on our weekly checklist. I don't care how much progress we make in math (she is moderately ahead, and I don't feel the need to be pushy about it), so I have specified how many half-hour sessions of math we need to do per week, but not how many pages.

 

For everything else, there's not much lesson planning involved. We're doing a world geography study this year, which just requires me to obtain some books and videos from the library about whatever area we're studying next, and maybe print out a blank map to mark up and a blank flag to color in. For science experiments, I always have one or two options available for when we need them. For music appreciation, we listen to Classics for Kids in the car, and I buy relevant music on iTunes to listen to in the car, if we don't already own a CD featuring that composer's music. My husband gives her a piano lesson once or twice a week, whenever they're both in the mood. For art, we often go to the natural history museum and sketch things. I might also plan an art project related to our geography studies, and my daughter does lots of art on her own as well.

 

I don't actually schedule any of this stuff. I just make sure I have the needed materials on hand. Then we do them using kind of a "do the next thing" model, choosing which subjects to cover each day based on mood, energy level, what we've already done this week, etc.

 

The reason this works for me is two-fold:

 

1) I set aside a specific time to work with my daughter every day. During that time, we do nothing else.

 

2) I use a weekly checklist to make sure we cover everything that I think is important every week. The checklist specifies that we need to have at least 4 math sessions a week, do at least one science activity, have at least two 15-minute German read-aloud sessions, etc.

 

To give an example of how this played out for our recent study of Australia, during the time we were studying the country:

 

* She read a book about coral reefs.

* I read books out loud about Australian animals and about Australia in general. I also read the entries about kids from Australia in "Children Just Like Me" and "A School Like Mine", and read the entry about Australia in our children's atlas. These three books are my "spines" for the year.

* We watched documentaries about Australia and about coral reefs. We do this during snack time.

* She colored in an Australian flag while I was reading out loud.

* She marked important features on a blank map of Australia.

* We added Canberra to the list of cities whose high temperature we record and graph each week.

* I added a map showing Australia's location and an Australian flag to her memory work.

* She did an art project based on her interpretation of Aboriginal Australian art she saw.

* She sketched a dingo (on two separate occasions) and a kangaroo in the mammals exhibit at the Natural History Museum.

 

Note that I am not worried about whether we will get to every important part of the world before the end of the school year. I am confident that we will get to enough different parts of the world that she will have a general grasp of world geography, and specific knowledge of some places. If I were concerned, it would be easy enough to allocate a certain number of weeks to each continent.

 

Of course I am not suggesting that this solution would work for everyone, and I do expect to do more planning as my kids get older. But it is one example of how things can work just fine without needing to spend much time on lesson planning!

 

As others have suggested, you can also reduce the amount of time you spend on lesson plans by buying curricular materials for individual subjects that are easy to use. For example, you could buy something like Nancy Larson science instead of using BFSU.

 

Looking back on this, I realize that I really went on and on! I hope it is of some help to you.