Diane~KJ Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 Hi there, my name is Diane and I'm home educating my twin sons (5 years) with assistance from their little sis who is 18 months! I'm totally, obviously, new to this forum. Just finished the book a few weeks ago and trying to sort out my curricula for next year. We just finished K and are gearing up for 1st grade with the boys. I'm utilizing my charter school, so I have to use only secular materials, if I want it paid for in my yearly budget. I'm hoping to meet some seasoned homeschoolers who can answer some of my inane questions and also some newbies like myself to commiserate with and compare notes. :) Right now I'm debating between MUS or Saxon for Math Handwriting Without Tears or Zaner-Bloser ( my boys are both lefties too) I will be using Explode the Code for phonics, with lots of reading etc.. I'm still uncertain of Science and History/Soc.Studies, any secular suggestions are greatly appreciated as well as any suggestions of what I might be "missing" at this point. I've been lurking for a while now, but still learning the acronyms, so be gentle! LOL I'm thankful I stumbled on to this book and website at such a perfect time in my homeschooling journey. Thanks in advance. -Di Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay in Cal Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 Welcome! Glad you are here! I think you mean "secular" -- which means non-Religious. "Non-secular" would mean religious. For first grade I would check out SOTW I (Story of the World) if you want to do the classical history rotation. It isn't religious, and I think charter schools around here have paid for it. I really liked R.E.A.L. Life science this year... very easy to implement, also secular. Do you have a good library near you for supplementary books? That is a great resource. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane~KJ Posted May 24, 2008 Author Share Posted May 24, 2008 Thanks for the suggestions Kay and I will research them this weekend. My library is just so-so, but it will work for now, I'm not too far away from other libraries, so it shouldn't be an issue. Can you tell me about the math program you are using? -Di Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BizyPenguin Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 Just wanted to say, "Hi!" If you've been lurking you already know how wonderful and knowledgeable the folks here are. They'll always chime in to answer your questions. You'll love it here. All the best and I'll 'e you around! Oops! I goofed!! My title should have read "Welcome to the boards, Diane." Forgive me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay in Cal Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 Lol! I think I'm one of the few here who use EPGY... It's basically an online learning program for gifted or accelerated students, run by Stanford University. We started out in K using a Miquon/Singapore blend, but I soon discovered that my son was much more of a "math head" than I would have imagined. We switched to EPGY early this year (we had already done some testing for other reasons, so we had the "official" scores needed), and it has been great. If you have a child who is accelerated in math, I can't recommend it highly enough. They also have classes in English, physics, computer science and music, but we haven't tried anything else yet. It is expensive, but they have easy and generous financial aid available. http://epgy.stanford.edu/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 Welcome and hello. Personally I like Zaner- Bloser, my boys are also lefties. As for the math, I think the MUS would be a lot more "fun", vs Saxon. Now for history use SOTW (story of the world) by Susan Wise Bauer. I also teach secular and I recently purchased this, it is awesome to say the least. Now for science I really like Singapore I science or the My pals are here. Also we really enjoy http://www.homeschoolscience.com these kits are awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 I'm still uncertain of Science and History/Soc.Studies, any secular suggestions are greatly appreciated -Di Welcome Di :) I'm anything but a seasoned homeschooler, but I am a seasoned researcher of homeschooling (at least I do a lot of it ;) ) Story of the World is the obvious choice for a secular history program. All the others I'm aware of are christian. I'm pretty impressed with this as a science program: http://www.amazon.com/Building-Foundations-Scientific-Understanding-Curriculum/dp/1432706101 I'd also recommend: http://homeschoolreviews.com/ as a good place to check reviews. Good luck with your research! :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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