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Scratch curricula?


EMS83
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Has anyone created their own on any subject? How did you decide scope, sequence, etc? I'm not talking about unschooling, just custom-schooling, I guess. I know they're learning basic skills in K-4, and I know that requires seat work. But I really, really want to avoid using 4 workbooks a day. And I'm kinda miserly and I don't want to buy workbooks I can't reproduce or resell. Or at least be charitable with when I'm done with them. Thoughts or advice?

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I'm with you on the workbooks. I've finally decided to finish off what I have (MEP math, KISS Grammar and more Miquon sheets than my kids can ever use). After that, I'm thinking of just writing out an interesting paragraph from the KISS workbooks on the whiteboard, since most of them are fully-parsed for me. Then we can analyze it together. I might do that this year.

 

For math, my dream is to go to a math journal, with something independent, like Math On the Level's 5-A-Days (5 review problems per day). Then do actual instructing on the whiteboard. But finances and uncertainty on my part stop me from ditching MEP right now - plus I really love the program's theory, rigor and variety.

 

But I'd suggest this:

 

I'm all ears though. But I'd better go check the oven .... :auto:

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World book has a typical grade level standards list that is really easy to follow:

 

http://www.worldbook.com/typical-course-of-study

 

Have fun!

 

The state of Texas and I assume all others publish a set of knowledge skills for each grade level and discipline. These may give you a good checklist of what skills to cover and when. In Texas these are called the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge Skills). You can look them up online.
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Yes, I have. I tend to have different priorities, than the textbook writers.

 

Lately, when I am tutoring, I'm creating my own custom workbooks for my students. Between the $1.00 Scholastic sales, Currclick, vintage textbooks, etc, I have have LOTS of pages to glean from. I decide what I want to accomplish and then try to find the most efficient resources to do that.

 

I also create handbooks for myself. I get tired of flipping back and forth from a variety of books to find certain information I use all the time, but have not memorized.

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For language arts, check out Brave Writer Lifestyle.

 

If it helps, I have a ton of links on my blog for math, science, and history, including notebooking, literature lists, and more.

 

I don't use any given curriculum for anything. We tend to do unit studies because I can organize those myself to reflect my kids' interests. We tried the whole workbook thing, and besides using worksheets here and there, it doesn't really appeal to my kids, or me. And I am not fond of textbooks either! We read a lot, do some hands-on, watch movies and documentaries, have great discussions, etc.

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