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can you post your secular plan for next year?


moonlight
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Wow, I had no idea that Life of Fred was religious. I see it talked about all the time here, and it's never been mentioned. I'm really surprised.

 

I used Fractions, and Decimals and Percents as well as the first Algebra book. I remember a few references but nothing that we couldn't skip past.

 

Laura

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Wow, I had no idea that Life of Fred was religious. I see it talked about all the time here, and it's never been mentioned. I'm really surprised.

 

Actually, it is mentioned all the time. Maybe you missed it. :D

 

However, it is not a deal-breaker for most secular HSers. It is not pervasive, it is so strange anyway that it isn't weird in a bad way, and most people who it works for will look past it.

 

Although I don't disagree with it, his Pre-Algebra w/ economics can be a bit difficult if you don't agree with his POV. As I come from a family of rabid liberal socialists, I could see where some people would really not like that book. I think it is a good discussion starter... no matter where you stand on the issues.

 

BTW... I didn't list my secular curriculum choices on this list, as I listed them on the other thread. All but LoF are secular and LoF is secular-friendly.

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Although I don't disagree with it, his Pre-Algebra w/ economics can be a bit difficult if you don't agree with his POV. As I come from a family of rabid liberal socialists, I could see where some people would really not like that book. I think it is a good discussion starter... no matter where you stand on the issues.

 

We're still on the elementary levels. The religious references are... a little annoying in my secular perspective, but bearable, and since otherwise it's doing the job of making math interesting and more relevant for DS, I put up with them. I'm curious if you could elaborate a bit more about the above?

 

 

Here's my list, as far as it goes:

 

3rd grade

LA: MCT finish Island level, start the next level if we get to it; a literature list based on our history studies, Getty-Dubay handwriting, poetry memorization and recitation [DS has speech issues, and this is one way to help him] chosen by me to accompany our other studies, Conflict Resolution through Children's Literature [this is a book I got years ago when I was a kindy teacher but never used; I'm either going to use it with DS directly or as a class in a co-op-like setting]. Finish our spelling lessons based on Phonics Pathways, then start Simply Spelling. Our history [see below] includes a lot more writing this year, so I think we'll focus on that and what is included in MCT for now

 

Math: LOF supplemented with Math Mammoth [we're already in the 5th elementary book], and then maybe Beast Academy

 

Science: REAL Science Odyssey--Chemistry, I think

 

History: History Odyssey/SoTW Early Modern

 

Art/Music: I created a list of composers and artists to study that roughly follows our history progression. We'll read biographies view and listen to samples, and do narrations. For art, we'll also do some inspired works of our own. DS is also taking piano lessons.

 

PE: We finally signed up for the Y, and DS is taking a Homeschool PE class that he enjoys.

 

 

We're secular, but UU, so I'm looking into UU Super Heroes as our "religious" studies.

 

ETA: I forgot Latin! DS was taking a Latin class at the comm center we are members at, but I may take over that instruction at home and just focus on the more social things at the comm center. I've got Getting Started With Latin, but I also really like Lively Latin.

Edited by Mama_Rana
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Rana where can I find UU Super Heroes? I haven't seen it and am very interested in looking at it.

 

Here

 

I couldn't find it either; I finally had to ask the friend who had told me about it [Rivka, actually]. She sent me a link within minutes! Not sure what I was doing wrong!

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Grade 2/3

Winter Promise LA 3 with Scout the dog and animal readers

 

spellwell

 

Some version of combined whatever of american history yr 2 (WP+SL books, none of the missionary garbage)

 

Singapore 2a+b

 

Exploration Ed science (which she has done 1/2 of already) and nature study

 

german

 

 

 

Grade 7

 

WP grade 6 LA with later american readers

 

SL E/4 whatever, sort of. combined with WP kind of.

 

Exploration Ed science adv

 

Discovering mathematics from Singapore

 

Is Winter Promise language arts secular? They don't really say much about it on their website.

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Hi, Element. In schools, classes usually do one or two EiE units per year. Only the luckiest kids do three. ;-)

 

I would suggest looking on our 20-unit overview for the topics that align best with the science you're planning to do, then doing the EiE unit after the science one (or concurrently...depends on the specifics).

 

You could keep costs down by putting together your own kits (all materials listed on our website and in the teacher guides). I've also heard of hs coops that buy and share several units.

 

I would think that in the hs setting you could get a lot of mileage out of this curriculum: not only can most lessons be extended over several days with motivated kids, but there's a whole library of extension lessons available free online. Just register for the "Educator Resources" part of the site and go to town!

 

Happy engineering!

 

Jeff Odell | Program Manager, Outreach

Engineering is Elementary | Museum of Science, Boston

http://www.mos.org/eie

http://www.facebook.com/eiemos

 

Thank you for stopping by and giving us this helpful information, Jeff! This program looks great. I'll definitely consider adding 2 or 3 of these units to next year's fourth grade curriculum.

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  • 2 weeks later...

LOTS of good books

Brave Writer

Natural Speller

Grammar Land alternated with The Sentence Family

Life of Fred

Math Mammoth

Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery

Nature studies

Living books for sciences and math

Interest led science and history, though I plan to read from A Little History of the World once a week

Cultural studies using good books, documentaries, and Globalmania

Richard Halliburton's books

Artist and composer studies

 

I'm aiming for a cross between this and this

Edited by momto2Cs
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DS10 (5th):

 

MM6

MPH 5/6 (finishing 6), NOEO Chemistry III, Intellego Astronomy 6-8

k12 US History A

MCT Grammar, Practice, and Vocab

WWW5, Flip the Deck

Literature (8 novels), Figuratively Speaking

Latin Prep 1

SYRWTL Spanish 1

 

DS7 (2nd):

 

MM2

ScienceFusion2

Scott Foresman Social Studies: People and Places

Maps, Globes, and Graphs

Horizons Reading

S-V Phonics (review)

WWW2, GWG2

Spell By Color (free, follows 1 rule at a time)

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Second grade:

 

Probably TT3

Probably RSO Earth and Science

Middle Ages - combo of Usborne, SOTW2 CDs and activities, Little History of the World

Elementary Spanish

Song School Latin

Growing with Grammar grade 2

Nature Study

 

Nothing for reading or spelling because she's very ahead here and picks these areas up naturally on her own.

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  • 1 month later...

Caveat: I am more of an eclectic homeschooler with some Charlotte Mason and Classical leanings.

 

4th Grade

°Math Mammoth 4a/4b

°Jr. Analytical Grammar

°Brave Writer

°Megawords 1

°Real Science Odyssey Chemistry (also Exploratopia book, Intellego study I got for free on Astronomy)

°Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes

°Instant Immersion French levels 1, 2, 3

°History is designed by me and will incorporate math, science, and art. We will be starting off with a big unit on the Renaissance (Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Galileo, including the Inca here in the Americas, etc.) using some wonderful books and Netflix videos: Leonard da Vinci: 21 Activities by Janice Herbert, Renaissance World series, Zinn's A Young People's History (for exploration of "new world"), etc. I think the Renaissance gets short shrift in most classical curricula as it is usually split up between two years, yet it is one of the most pivotal periods in human history - plus my daughter LOVES da Vinci! Then skipping to the American Revolution (I'm not a great believer in chronological order - though we will have a timeline to keep it all straight) as I think it gets boring having to follow a set order of study.

°Piano taught by me, guitar taught by dh

°Knitting and other handiwork since my dd needs some more hand/eye coordination, as well as more patience in getting to the end of projects.

°Then I am leaving some room for my daughter to pick topics of interest to her.

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I think all my K plans are secular, even though we are Christians. Go figure!

 

Kindergarten:

finishing AAR pre-1, starting Phonics Pathways when ready

HWT

FIAR

MEP reception/lots of c-rod play based on Rosie's videos (maybe adding official Miquon in the spring)

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DS - entering 3rd

 

WWE3

SOTW3 (not sure I classify this as 100% secular at times)

Singapore 5a/5b

MCT Grammar Island

one day a week co-op with music, art appreciation, literature circle, Critical Thinking Press materials (science, editing, etc.)

Daily Paragraph Editing

Daily Geography practice

 

DD-5.5, entering K

Singapore 1a/1b and some Miquon

She'll sit in on SOTW and Grammar Island (she learned a good bit from doing FLL 1 and 2 with us this past year)

ETC

 

We'll probably revisit Grammarland again-we worked through reading it this year and we'll probably do it again with grammar.

 

Lots of read alouds

 

Both kids do logic work in Prufrock Press books.

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Here's what I've planned for my 6th Grader (first 12-week term):

 

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Simply Grammar (Andreola)

Spelling Skills 5 & 6 (Harcourt)

Wordly Wise 6 (Hodkinson)

 

MATH:

Saxon 7/6

 

LITERATURE:

Age of Fable (Bulfinch)

Robinson Crusoe (Defoe)

Chronicles of Narnia series (CS Lewis)

 

HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY:

This Country of Ours (Marshall)

Poor Richard (Daugherty)

Minn of the Mississippi (Holling)

 

SCIENCE:

Story Book of Science (Fabre)

Physics Lab in the Home (Friedhoffer)

Nature Study: Outdoor Hour Challenge blog

 

SPANISH:

Getting Started with Spanish (Linney & Orta)

 

ART:

Artistic Pursuits: JH Book 1 (Ellis)

 

ARTIST STUDY: Renoir, Rodin

COMPOSER STUDY: Debussy

SHAKESPEARE: Cymbaline

PLUTARCH: Pericles

POETRY: Tennyson

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secular on the books as K (using mainly 1st grade stuff tho)

 

finish Righstart B then into C

Finish saxon phonics 1 then into 2

zaner-blosser 1

Nancy Larson science 1

Finish up mama made prehistory and then into History odyssey ancients 1

using how to teach nutrition to kids for health

song school latin

Angel bear yoga and wii sports for kids for PE

RFP philosophy for young thinkers

lollipop logic

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Rising first grader.

 

When the last school year ended we started Saxon Phonics 2 and Saxon Math 2, because I'm in the second half of pregnancy and have no brain and need scripts. She's reading one story a day from the Elson Primer. I guess we'll do Treadwell primer when she finishes Elson, because I'm not sure we're ready to go to Elson First. When camp ends we're going to start Primary Language Lessons. Not right now; It's hard enough to get just the minimum done around 9-4 day camp.

 

At the current rate (one lesson a day, six days a week) I'll need to find something else to do around November.

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Starting with:

Right Start B possibly with Miquon

Phonics Road (haven't received it yet, but know I might have to edit a bit)

 

Adding on as he's ready:

BFSU

HO1

Classical House of Lit

Homeschool Spanish Academy (Spanish tutoring over Skype)

Possibly adding more math programs to keep him from flying through math (which he's already doing)

Still figuring out what to do for Fine Arts, kind of a low priority

 

Also working our way through AO's first grade literature list

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I use both secular and non-secular curriculum :), but here are the secular books we are using next year for my kiddos:

 

FLL 1, 3, 4

WWE 1, 2, 3

SOTW 2-3

Steck-Vaughn Spelling 1, 3, 5

Tons of reading - classics etc

 

Science and Bible (obviously :) ) I use Christian curriculum because it goes with my beliefs.

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Miquon

Singapore

Math Mammoth

Story of the World

Story of the World Activity Guide

Sonlight ( Secularly for history, readers, and read alouds. We pretty much toss the IG's and follow TWTM 4 year cycle)

Lively Latin

Song School Latin

First Language Lessons

Growing With Grammar

Writing With Ease

Winning With Writing

Explode the Code

All About Spelling

Tons of Copywork / Journaling for handwriting

Elemental Science

The Well Trained Mind reading lists for Science, History, Readers, Read Alouds

Ordinary Parents Guide To Teaching Reading

McGuffey ( Primer & 1 with a few edits )

Bob Books

HOP Books

Music Appreciation

Artistic Pursuits

Nature Study

 

Mine are all over the map as far as levels.

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(I didn't list our actual scripture reading, which is the only non-secular resource we use.)

This is what we'll use, but not everything every day.

 

K:

Poetry

Songs

Yoga

AAR

MEP Y1

World Cultures

Science (living books, possibly BFSU)

Lollipop Logic

First-time Analogies

Discovering Great Artists

Signing Time

 

2nd/3rd:

Poetry

Songs

Yoga

Dancing Bears Fast Track

Beast Academy

possibly MEP Y2 first

supplementing with MM

AAS

EftTC

plus some BraveWriter ideas

Signing Time

RSO Chem

combined with McHenry's Elements

McHenry's Brain

McHenry's Cells

World Cultures

Primarily Logic

Discovering Great Artists

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I generally pick all of my curriculum to be secular, although I am going out on a limb this year with Sonlight. I normally wouldn't have even considered that, but I happened to see it at a conference earlier this year and really liked the reading selections and the fact that one core could be used readily across 3 grade levels, so I thought we'd give it a try.

1st,2nd,3rd grades together:

Sonlight Core B (obviously not secular, which is kind of amusing since I am generally VERY secular with my choices - but I loved the reading selections when i saw them at a conference , as they went along smoothly with the sorts of things we usually read, and I appreciate the pre-planning, so we are giving it a try for the first time this year).

WWE (the overall, not the workbooks this year - I'll be using the Sonlight read-alouds)

REAL Science Odyssey - Earth/space

Salsa Spanish (free, and cute videos that my group of 6-8yos enjoy!)

Piano

Art

Co-op (presentations, home-ec, addl art/science, field trips)

 

1st grade:

RightStart Math A

Math Mammoth (MM) 1a/b supplement

Teach your child to read in 100 Easy lessons (100EZ)

All About Spelling (AAS) 1 (after reading)

picture books until reading, then independent readers

 

2nd grade:

RightStart Math B

Math Mammoth (MM) 2a/b supplement

All About Spelling (AAS) 2

Sonlight Language Arts 2 with readers (again, NOT secular but really the reading choices genuinely ARE what we like to read anyway!)

 

3rd grade:

RightStart Math C

ALEKS computer artificial intelligence math supplement

All About Spelling (AAS) 3

Sonlight Language Arts 3 with readers (again, NOT secular but really the reading choices genuinely ARE what we like to read anyway!)

Typing Instructor for Kids (maybe - it was on sale!)

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Great thread!! DD8 (9 in the fall).

 

Math

Math U See Delta

Teaching Textbooks 4/5

xtramath

 

Science

RSO Earth & Space Level 1 but with lots of extra reading from the library.

(This looks a little easy though so perhaps + the Intelligo Astronomy unit study I have or RS4K Astronomy if I can borrow it.)

 

Language Arts

Writing w/ Ease 2

Winning w/ Writing 3

Growing w/ Grammar 4

E-M Daily Handwriting Contemporary Cursive

E-M Daily Language Review 4

Vocabulary from Classical Roots Gr 4

 

Fine Arts

Artistic Pursuits K-3 Bk 2 Stories of Artists and Their Art

Music Ace Deluxe

 

History/Geography

Story of the World vol 3 with HO and the AG

E-M Daily Geography Practice Gr 3

 

Foreign Language

Minimus Latin

Co-op Spanish

 

Physical Education/Health

Competitive Gymnastics team

Harcourt Health and Fitness Gr 4 with workbook

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2nd grader: Math Mammoth, Writing with Ease, First Language Lessons, Story of the World, Explode the Code, Lollipop Logic, WTM style science, art history that I pull together myself from various sources. He'll also take outside music and art classes.

 

Pre-K: Using my own resources to introduce her to D'Nealian writing, maybe some of the Little Folk Art preschool resources, lots and lots of picture books, Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, some various Montessori works that I've pulled from various resources, art history with her brother, and maybe a preschool co-op twice a month. Lots of playing outside, arts and crafts, bubbles, playdough, park days, etc. At her age (4.5) it's all going to be very relaxed and tentative. I'll encourage her to have a little school time with me each day, but it won't be a requirement if she's just not ready for it yet.

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4th grade

 

Language arts:

Reading detectives/science detectives

Spelling workout E

WWE 4

Check the Deck

FLL 4

Math:

Math Mammoth 4

Zacarro challenge math

CWP

XtraMath

Science:

RS4K

Lots of Reading

Intellego Astronomy(maybe)

Nature class locally

History:

SOTW 2 with activity guide

Local state history(lots of field trips)

Geography:

Homemade US states

Language:

Lively Latin

Mango Greek

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4th grade

 

Mango Greek

 

Mango Greek? Tell me about that. 4th-grader Middle Girl is halfway through Hey, Andrew! Book 5, which isn't that great but was the only thing on the market a decade ago when we were looking for primary-level Greek. Is it Attic Greek? Do you like it?

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Mango languages. It's free through our public library. It's modern Greek. We haven't started using it yet. My son is dying to learn Greek but I'm out of cash so this will have to so for now. We already worked through alphabet Code Cracker.

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Mango languages. It's free through our public library. It's modern Greek. We haven't started using it yet. My son is dying to learn Greek but I'm out of cash so this will have to so for now. We already worked through alphabet Code Cracker.

 

Thanks. I guess it's still HA for us.

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6th grader:

 

Oak Meadow 6 for English/Social Studies and Science (non-textbookish, creative, hands on, secular, with lots of integration- love it)!

 

Story of the World (we're almost done with Volume 1 and will be moving on to Volume 2. We've really enjoyed it so far and find it to be neutral enough when it comes to religion).

 

Teaching Textbooks math, which is completely secular. We do incorporate some Life of Fred too (we've completed most of Fractions) and there ARE some religious references but not to the point where I have a problem with it, so far, and my daughter really likes the story aspect. I covered the issue and examples of religion in LOF in a review on my blog. Link is in sig, Reviews are in sidebar to left of my blog).

 

Sentence Composing for Middle School (this is a series of worktexts by the Killgallons. We've already finished Sentence Composing for Elementary School and Story Grammar for Elementary School, now moving on to the middle school series).

 

Getting Started With Spanish (started this last year and liked what we did of it; but it sort of fell low on the priority list and ended up getting put aside. Will try to pick it up again).

 

Grid Perplexors Deductive Logic Puzzles from MindWare.

 

1st Grader:

 

Oak Meadow 1. This includes the First Grade Syllabus and First Grade Fairy Tales. OM is very gentle in the earliest years, and kind of Waldorf inspired.

 

Combination of Reading Eggs and Funnix Beginning Reading lessons. We already started both of these over his Kindergarten year, but were somewhat casual and sporadic with it. Will continue to use them as desired this coming year.

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This is for 7th grade.

 

Language Arts:

WWS1/WWS2(beta)

GWG7

LL8 (plus additional reading)

AAS7

 

Math:

Lial's BCM

 

Science:

CPO Life Science

 

History:

K12 Human Odyssey Book 2 (last 2/3)

 

Foreign Language:

GP Latin Prep 3

Getting Started with Spanish

 

Logic:

Art of Argument

 

Fine Arts:

Appreciation using various sources (mostly from library)

 

She'll also be doing additional reading for literature, science, and history, though I don't have a complete list as of yet. The only nonsecular reading she's going to be doing is working through the DK Illustrated Family Bible with her father. We decided it was time she got familiar with it, for literary purposes. :001_smile:

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We use Sonlight, but have found it very easy to make secular.

 

DS (1st)

 

Rightstart C and LOF Apples and Butterflies

First Language Lessons 2

Grammarland

Spelling Workout

Zaner Bloser Handwriting

Sonlight Core B (finish, start C)

 

DS (4th)

Saxon 3 and LOF with his brother

FLL 3

Zaner Bloser Handwriting

Lively Latin 1

Sonlight Core D (finish, start E)

MCT Town Level

 

DD (6th)

Saxon 6/5 and LOF Decimals and Fractions

MCT Town Level

Latin for Children A

Sonlight Core D (finish, start E)

something else for grammar, undecided

Rosetta Stone Spanish

The book "Unjournaling"

Critical Thinking books 1 & 2

 

Everyone:

Bravewriter Lifestyle suggestions

Art Lab for Kids

Getting Started with Spanish

Nature study with The Nature Connection

Typing Instructor for Kids

Composer study with Lives of the Musicians Good Times, Bad Times, and What the Neighbors Thought....and World's Best Opera CD for Kids

 

I think that's it.

Edited by KAM
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For 8th, 6th, 4th and 3rd.

 

Lial Introductory Algebra

AoPS Pre-algebra

Math Mammoth

Singapore Challenging Word Problems

 

Derek Owens Physical Science

Real Science 4 Kids Biology, Physics, Astronomy

Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology

 

History of the Ancient World

Story of the World 1

 

Sentence Island, Grammar, Practice and Paragraph Town

Grammar, Practice and Essay Voyage

Caesar's English 1&2

Time4Writing 8-week essay course

Analytical Grammar

Excellence in Literature I

Lightning Literature 8

Barton Reading and Spelling

 

Galore Park French 1

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