Share a curriculum that has blown you away

[mamaof2andtwins]

Five in a Row.

 

For the 2-6 crowd this is the most wonderful special, gentle, inspiring, enjoyable, do-able, affordable, fun, interesting, educational program you can get. You get more bang for your buck and your time than any other preschool/early ed "program." and it doesn't *feel* like a "program."

 

You have to stick with it for two units, and you have to understand that it's not a highly academic thing. It's more about enjoying each other and loving learning, than about teaching your children to be the smartest kid on the block, though they very well can be if you give them a good well rounded life alongside FIAR.

 

 

Our children used FIAR when they were young. It was great. They still remember the stories and things the learned. The stories give them great hooks to hang their learning on.

 

Jennie

[Amy from WT]

I have mentioned this curriculum before, but I love it so much, I feel it deserves a mention in this thread!

 

I've been using "The Great Latin Adventure" by Katharine Birkett (http://www.classicallegacypress) for years now, even though it's only been published for the past year. Both my two youngest kids have used it, and I've taught it in co-ops for five years. As a beginning Latin curriculum for 4th - 6th graders, it's absolutely outstanding!!!!

 

Mrs. Birkett has a wonderful way of writing that is appealing to both the students and mothers who may feel intimidated going into Latin. Not only that, she has come up with a new approach to Latin grammar that gets the students to learn and do so much more in a beginning curriculum.

 

While other curricula teach 1st, 2nd, and sometimes even 3rd noun declensions and verb conjugations, GLA only teaches 1st noun declensions and 1st verb conjugations. This allows the students to do SO much more with their grammar. They learn three verb tenses, lots of wonderful vocabulary that is very appealing to both boys and girls alike, direct objects, predicate nominatives, possessives, etc. Plus every chapter has a terrific worksheet that emphasizes those all-important English derivatives. With that wonderful push on derivatives and grammar, GLA really hits home on the main reasons I want my children to learn Latin!

 

And when they finish both volumes of GLA, the students can move into a higher level beginning Latin curriculum (middle school, such as Latin Prep, or high school level) with extreme ease.

 

I have to stop myself - I'm sorry to go on for so long! I didn't mean to. You can tell how much I love this curriculum. It's not well known yet since it's so new to the market. But I expect it to be a big hit relatively soon.;)

 

What a fun thread...especially at this time of the year! Keep 'em coming!

[violin69]

Still excited about Sonlight Cores. We've recently gotten excited about All About Spelling and Michael Clay Thompson LA.

[FriedClams]

CLE LA and Bible. They are super. I plan to add CLE reading next year based on the LA and Bible.

 

SOTW on cd. Love that it's on cd and everything gets pronounced correctly.

 

Gee Art. LOVE it.

 

Mark Kistler Drawing online through the homeschool co-op. Rocks.

 

The Bible. Really - could we do anything without it??

 

AWANA. Man, my kids have learned TONS this year. LOVE it.

[FO4UR]

Singapore Math and RightStart Games

 

Not a curric, but StartWrite has been a wonderful tool for me.:001_smile: I teach cursive first and there are not many materials available for preschool - 2nd grade. The materials that are available are not typically what I want - so with Startwrite I can completely tailor all handwriting and copywork for my kids.

 

Again, not a curric, but All Through The Ages by Christine Miller has been well used thus far. I break it out every few weeks and put library books on hold.

[momto2Cs]

Oak Meadow

Saxon Math

Real Science 4 Kids

I think History Odyssey will fit for us too.

[kloumc]

I am another huge fan of Tapestry of Grace!

 

For math, we've had great success with Math-U-See. We've used every book!

 

For Latin: The Great Latin Adventure by Katharine Birkett (ClassicalLegacyPress.com) for grades 3-6 followed by Latin Road by Barbara Beers.

 

For Writing, IEW.

 

For Grammar: Shurley English

[Aurelia]

Right Start math. We went from tears every day at math time to having to use math as the "carrot" to get reading done. I still can't believe how much she enjoys math and looks forward to her lessons.

 

Sonlight's and AO's reading lists - Ariel loved the P4/5 and K read aloud books and I'm so impressed with the selections for year 1 of AO that we're starting them as soon as my Amazon order arrives!

[Mommyfaithe]

CLE math 5 and IEW U.S. History Based Writing Lessons are excellent resources that we're using this year.

 

I'm blown away by CLE reading because it teaches SO much in just 15 weeks - lit. analysis, comprehension, etc.

 

CLE math 5 blew me away when I compared it to R&S math (used R&S math 3-8 for older ds).

 

IEW U.S. History Based Writing Lessons is exactly what we needed for writing after floundering around for several years with writing.

 

Michelle. I totally agree with you. I am blown away by CLE Sunrise editions.

I am hooked....wish I had these when my older kids were home...sigh...

Faithe

[sweetbaby]

Two free resources...KISS Grammar and MEP Math. Love it! :001_smile:

[dragons in the flower bed]

If I were handing out awards for curriculum design, I'd give some out to Lively Latin, Life of Fred, Writing With Ease and Artistic Pursuits (not that I ever get around to using it).

[kalanamak]

SWR has taught me so much, and I can't believe what my son can spell. He can spell far beyond what he can read. He loves marking the words and identifying the "second sound of ow". It has given us a shorthand for spelling and reading. If he mispronounces a word, I can literally say "it is the 3rd sound of -ough" and he will read the word correctly. Amazing.

[Melissa in CA]

I have mentioned this curriculum before, but I love it so much, I feel it deserves a mention in this thread!

 

I've been using "The Great Latin Adventure" by Katharine Birkett (http://www.classicallegacypress) for years now, even though it's only been published for the past year. Both my two youngest kids have used it, and I've taught it in co-ops for five years. As a beginning Latin curriculum for 4th - 6th graders, it's absolutely outstanding!!!!

 

Mrs. Birkett has a wonderful way of writing that is appealing to both the students and mothers who may feel intimidated going into Latin. Not only that, she has come up with a new approach to Latin grammar that gets the students to learn and do so much more in a beginning curriculum.

 

While other curricula teach 1st, 2nd, and sometimes even 3rd noun declensions and verb conjugations, GLA only teaches 1st noun declensions and 1st verb conjugations. This allows the students to do SO much more with their grammar. They learn three verb tenses, lots of wonderful vocabulary that is very appealing to both boys and girls alike, direct objects, predicate nominatives, possessives, etc. Plus every chapter has a terrific worksheet that emphasizes those all-important English derivatives. With that wonderful push on derivatives and grammar, GLA really hits home on the main reasons I want my children to learn Latin!

 

And when they finish both volumes of GLA, the students can move into a higher level beginning Latin curriculum (middle school, such as Latin Prep, or high school level) with extreme ease.

 

I have to stop myself - I'm sorry to go on for so long! I didn't mean to. You can tell how much I love this curriculum. It's not well known yet since it's so new to the market. But I expect it to be a big hit relatively soon.;)

 

What a fun thread...especially at this time of the year! Keep 'em coming!

 

OK, this is the first I have heard of this Latin curricula! I took a look at the samples and really like what I see. Just in those few chapter samples I learned things I had been pretty confused about beforehand.

 

Do you think this curriculum would work well for a 7th grader who is still relatively new to Latin? I have looked at other "middle school" Latin curricula and, frankly, none seem to have enough information/exercises/etc., for full retention and understanding. We are sloooooowly plugging along with LFC, but I don't know how much actual understanding and retention is going on. :confused: He often wants to know the whys, before the whys are taught and I surely don't know the answers. Having something that goes more slowly with a lot of explanation and practice seems like the ideal.

 

Would YOU consider using Levels I and II for 7th & 8th grades? Or do you think they just don't cover enough for Jr. High Latin?

[ElizabethB]

Webster's Speller.

 

I had used 20+ different phonics programs before finding it, it's a shame they ever stopped teaching phonics and spelling this way.

 

I first used it with my daughter as a guinea pig when she was in K, and found the combination of syllables and spelling really accelerated the pace with which she learned phonics, and got her to an amazingly high reading level at a young age.

 

Now, I've used it with about 20 remedial reading students, it's also very useful for them. While I've been able to get most of my students reading at grade level and a few reading a grade or two above grade level, now several of my remedial students have been reading several grades above grade level after completing Webster's Speller.

 

Before using the speller, I hadn't realized how accent dependent English was, using it with remedial reading students who were also ESL made me realize how accent dependent English is. The arrangement of words in Webster by accent pattern is especially helpful for my remedial students with speech/language difficulties and my ESL students.

[Rebecca in VA]

Lightning Literature 7. I ordered it last week, and the UPS man delivered it on Friday. I looked it thoroughly (it didn't take long -- things are very clearly laid out), found that it was EXACTLY what I wanted in a literature course, and started using it with my daughter immediately. We're going double-speed, which means we'll finish the course in 18 weeks (before the end of summer).

 

Lightning Lit is extremely easy to use -- it requires very little from the parent. Yet it covers the kind of material I would want a seventh-grader to know in an easy-to-use format. I'm excited and impressed.

[Amy from WT]

Would YOU consider using Levels I and II for 7th & 8th grades? Or do you think they just don't cover enough for Jr. High Latin?

 

Speaking here of GLA (Great Latin Adventure)...

 

You know, I think I would...that's how much I like these books! But I would go through the books at a faster pace. I think my goal would be to try to get through both volumes in one year with my Jr. Higher, and then go into Latin Prep. What a great foundation that would give him/her!

[littlebug42]

After many failed attempts at curriculum, I have fallen in love with Winter Promise and although maybe not in love but in serious like with Abeka math. I have even found the religion program that fits us perfectly this year. All is going well for us right now.

[Melissa in CA]

Speaking here of GLA (Great Latin Adventure)...

 

You know, I think I would...that's how much I like these books! But I would go through the books at a faster pace. I think my goal would be to try to get through both volumes in one year with my Jr. Higher, and then go into Latin Prep. What a great foundation that would give him/her!

 

Thanks Amy! I appreciate your getting back to me. I may actually try that...both books in 7th. I really like what I see from the samples. It seems well laid out and without the confusion of other programs that seem to want to teach too much, too soon, too quickly. ;)

 

Now, life would be wonderfully grand, if you could have WT3 available for me next year... (hint, hint) :lol:

[workingmom]

SOTW (we've only done Ancients but love the CDS and DS adores the activity book and CDs)

 

Singapore Math

Handwriting without tears

 

Hooked on Phonics (very effective)

[Wendi]

This looks very interesting. Would you think it would work well for a 7th grader who's had a tiny bit of Latin exposure and is a little weak on grammar? It's not babyish looking at all, is it? (Doesn't seem to be, from what I saw on the website.)

 

Wendi

[Amy from WT]

This looks very interesting. Would you think it would work well for a 7th grader who's had a tiny bit of Latin exposure and is a little weak on grammar? It's not babyish looking at all, is it? (Doesn't seem to be, from what I saw on the website.)

 

Wendi

Wendi, are you talking about GLA too? Nope, not babyish in the slightest!! That tiny bit of Latin exposure would help your 7th grader absolutely zip through the first several chapters, which would be great. And the whole thing would do nothing but strengthen his/her grammar, in both English AND Latin! That's one of the wonderful benefits of studying Latin :001_smile:.

 

Melissa in CA, we're just praying for my hubby to finally get a job! Then I will be able to get my family moved and finally concentrate on WT 3...can't wait to get it started myself. Thx for the encouragement!

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

We love:

 

Montessori Read and Write for pre-reading and pre-writing

Sandpaper letters

All About Spelling

Happy Phonics

Math on the Level (with some Right Start ideas)

Child-Size Masterpieces

[Wendi]

Wendi, are you talking about GLA too? Nope, not babyish in the slightest!! That tiny bit of Latin exposure would help your 7th grader absolutely zip through the first several chapters, which would be great. And the whole thing would do nothing but strengthen his/her grammar, in both English AND Latin! That's one of the wonderful benefits of studying Latin :001_smile:.

 

Melissa in CA, we're just praying for my hubby to finally get a job! Then I will be able to get my family moved and finally concentrate on WT 3...can't wait to get it started myself. Thx for the encouragement!

 

Thanks! Yes, I was referring to GLA. We tried Latin for Children earlier this year, and my ds was frustrated with memorizing stuff he didn't understand yet. For various reasons, we ended up setting Latin aside for now. But I would like to get to it next year (7th), and I want something that will help strengthen his grammar as we go. This just might be it! Now I'll go back to their website and browse it a bit more. I didn't look at the price yet; hope it's not too expensive!

 

Thanks again!:001_smile:

 

Wendi

[Wendi]

My son and I are both enjoying Story Grammar for Elementary School by Don and Jenny Kilgallon. You can buy it Amazon.

 

My 12yo ds has a language disorder, so his writing skills have developed a bit slowly. However, he has made quite a bit of progress in the past year. At least some of the credit goes to this book (and we're only halfway done!).

 

I can see the difference in his creative writing; his sentences have much more variety and description. And he WANTS to write more; when I ask him to write sentences using vocab words, he'll sometimes write a mini-story (4 sentences) for each word, just for fun!

 

We will definitely continue to the middle school book next year. The book uses sentences from popular literature (Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, Charlotte's Web, etc.) and helps the student imitate the sentence structures used by the authors.

 

Wendi

[teacalm]

Saxon Phonics K and Gr 1

 

Alpha Phonics

 

Teach Your Child To Read in 100 (is it 100??)

 

Horizons Math/Singapore

 

SOTW Audio cds

 

D'Aulaire Greek Myths audio cd

 

Rod Staff English (brought ds to grade level in just a semester)

 

Latin Book One (had so much fun with this before we switch to Henle/Lingua)

 

ALEKS (saved ds and keeps kids on top of their maths)

 

Growing with Grammar

 

Mosdos Jade and love Coral (havn't started)

 

BJU Reading 4 and 5

 

Galore's French Prep

 

Lively Latin/Minimus/Latin Prep

 

LLATL/Lightning Lit

 

Calvert Grades 3 and 4 set

 

History of US by Hakim

 

K12 Human Odyssey vol. 1 and 2

 

 

Enjoys using the above resources with my kids

[Beth in SW WA]

Chalkdust

SOTW 1-4

[OnTheBrink]

Thinking back over the years, the things that stand out are:

 

For my son:

TWTM

MP's Traditional Logic

BFB Ancient History guide

Henle Latin

IEW

 

For my daughter:

Phonics Pathways

Miquon Math

MathUSee

Classical Writing Poetry

IEW

First Start French

Mystery of History

 

And, I just read the Latin-Centered Curriculum and it's been like turning on a light! Taking the focus off history has revolutionized our homeschool for my dd.

 

Doing school TWTM way was great for my son, but not dd. CM wasn't the greatest for her, but it was better. LCC has brought it all home for us.

 

It's amazing how different kids are and how different things/materials/methods work with them.

[Impish]

This has been my first year really branching out into curriculum, rather than following more of the school board stuff, or using their guidelines as a template. So far this has been our likes:

 

Horizons Math: love that its not droning on a single concept in a unit, mixes it up, brightly coloured, short units keeps my dd interested. No more prodding or arguing about math, she just zips along, and its done! Yay!

 

Handwriting Without Tears: Love it! Her cursive has improved hugely, even though she still doesn't enjoy it, its legible now!

 

Story of the World: Stumbled upon it by chance, and adore it! Since I just found it a few wks ago, I'm using it solely for the history, geography and some social, since language arts is done for the year already.

 

Tapestry of Grace: Already planning to start that next year, give that a whirl.

[LadyAberlin]

Math: We love MUS

Phonics: Love Mcruffy

Grammar:FLL

Art: Watch Me Draw

Science: We loved LLB1 and haven't been able to find anything that we love as much.

Prek: Learn and Grow Prek This is the perfect prek for us.

[specialmama]

Tapestry of Grace

 

Cozy Grammar (it's true... it's grammar and it is cozy!)

 

Music Ace (both my kids LOVE this)

[tinkgumby]

I pretty much don't do anything I don't love, but my very favorite finds are:

 

- Sonlight (where I am as excited as the kids to find out what happens next!)

- Rod and Staff handwriting (simple, cheap, has improved my sons' handwriting SO much)

- SRA Real Math (one of the most thorough and yet fun math programs I've ever seen)

- Story of the World (I wish I was better about doing the supplemental activities)

[Debbie in OR]

Edupress "Quick Flip Questions for Critical Thinking".

www.edupressinc.com

 

We are very Socratic around here but I was always struggling to come up with questions if they weren't already scripted. I use this to pull together questions for a "scholar's reading lesson" we do each week. Additionally, I use it for math, science, history, Bible, whatever, whenever. It's allowed me to be very spontaneous and consistent in asking questions to lead my dc into higher level reasoning and critical thinking. I actually bought two, one for upstairs, one for downstairs, because we use them all.the.time.

[Annabel Lee]

Well there's nothing I'm doing cartwheels over, but here's what I like...

 

Horizons Math: after using it and switching to others in previous years, then back to it this year, then researching other curric's in depth mid-year, I'm stuck on Horizons for its' simple scope & sequence. If you're a "tweaker" like me, there is plenty of room in Horizons to add hands-on activities, living math books, or cross out problems that your child has mastered and you consider "extra", add supplements like word problems from Singapore or whatever you please. I like the simple but solid & effective track it keeps them on: K- addition, 1st- subtraction, 2nd - multiplication, 3rd - division, etc. Of course all the extra stuff is in there too - geometry, fractions, exponents, etc.

 

FLL: Short, simple, and you get to snuggle while doing grammar that they retain.

 

Abeka Writing With Phonics K and 2 for penmanship, student books only (though I've taught this out of their TM's before), have been great for my boys this year. They both have wonderful handwriting and my 2nd grader used the manuscript-to-cursive 2 book this year with ease. So good that we may not have to use an official penmanship program again until my youngest transitions to cursive in 2nd!

 

OPGTTR: SOOoo effective yet so simple in its approach. Like Abeka phonics based reading w/o all the bells & whistles, plus you get to snuggle during this too! (Can you tell I like to snuggle my little'uns?)

Edited April 9, 2009 by Annabel Lee
added OPG

[paulcindy]

A surprise and huge blessing

 

CLE for Math, LA, Science and History.

[TMarie]

Singapore math - the longer we use it and the more I see of other programs, the more I love it. It just might be the only materials that have worked for my 3 children with very different learning styles.

 

IEW - especially the History Based Units, makes me want to sing with joy

 

Mark Kistlers Draw Squad - the easiest, cheapest, and yet best drawing instructions we've had yet (sorry Mona, I feel almost guilty saying so.)

 

SOTW audio version - you can't find an easier or more entertaining history spine.

[johnandtinagilbert]

After all these years, Tapestry of Grace (including Writing Strands) is my favorite, hands down. Love the organization, the richness, and the options it provides.

[emmsmama]

SOTW and Righstart are working really well in our house.

[Liza Q]

I am so glad that I found this thread! I am off to research the Great Latin Adventure, Calvert Spelling, Apples and Pears Spelling and Story Grammar for Elementary Schools!

 

Thanks! :)

[FloridaMomTo5]

I love love love Apologia elementary Science books!!! It is a creation based curriculum with a Charlotte Mason flare. My kids enjoy it emensly and I find it very easy to use.

[aly9712]

We love our Story of the world CD's and have listened to them 3 times know.

We started Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading when she was 3.5 and just finished 2 months ago (yes, we went really slow and at her pace) really worked and she's now reading/comprehending at a solid 3rd grade reading level, singapore math (1a standards) is going really well as she's starting to enjoy math more and it forces her to really "know" math.

DD is almost 5 years old.

[zaichiki]

Sonlight Cores (with a little tweaking) and Singapore Math hands down!

[1bassoon]

TOG -

 

I just love it. When I'm having a bad week, and then my olders and I have a really deep discussion about History, Bible, and our own lives. . . .

 

Then I think, "Ahhhh - THIS is why I homeschool!"

[Sunshyne]

Galore Park Latin Prep is so much fun! We also love the RSO Chemistry (Pandia Press).

 

 

This is an old thread, but a good one! Thanks for bumping it up.

[trisharog]

IEW Medieval lesson- This was my first year to HS and cant believe this transformed my analytical son who hates to write into an incredibly creative writer.

 

TOG- Just getting my feet wet , but heart sings when I see the whole tapestry being woven together :)

[sagira]

I have to say I've been blown away by Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding. My child is comprehending and manipulating ideas I wouldn't have dreamed of exposing him to until much later, and it makes me think about the world in a different way too. I can't wait to learn more alongside him every week!

 

Deceptively simple Tanglewood's free Really Reading program was something I got.. because it was free. I went through it with ds, not knowing if he really got it or not. My goal for Kindergarten was for him to read. We started school in early September. If he had started reading by June this year I would have accomplished my goal. However, only weeks into the program, by October, he was reading. Now he's reading at a solid 3rd grade reading level. I'm so proud! This is all I used for reading instruction (along with real books of course). The best part is he loves reading and I don't have to prompt him at all or assign reading at all. It has become a habit :001_wub:

 

We also really like our MCP Math. I love the mental math and the nicely laid out lesson plans. I need more guidance in math, and this program offers it to me. No frills, no fuss, and ds does well with it. So far math doesn't seem to be his forte but this program offers him the explanations and problems he needs. He doesn't get distracted easily as it's not full of colors and illustrations.

 

I've been blown away by the Charlotte Mason method in general for several years now, but now I'm starting to see the seeds being planted of habit training, longer attention spans, and I'm realizing how everything is so beautifully interconnected. The vivifying ideas of whole, living books, narrations, nature walks, and emphasis on doing your best has been a God-send and has infused our new experience of homeschooling with wonder and joy. Thank you, Charlotte Mason!

[lovinmomma]

This is beautiful! Especially, ". . .the difference of teaching a child and reaching a child." My desire is to be my children's guide and observer, not a lecturer. They do not thrive on lectures and busy work, they thrive on exploration and choices.

 

This is a wonderful way to teach your children. It is definately what my heart is for my children, but I don't understand how it applies to things such as math.

[Tree House Academy]

I have been totally blown away by CLE. We are using Math, Language Arts, and Bible on two different levels and it is just working beautifully and is SO EASY to teach. What a blessing it has been.

 

My older ds and I have also really enjoyed CHOW this year. :)

[willowcreek]

Teaching Textbooks and LOF for a child who dislikes math, but is competent, and adding LOF for a child who is advanced but had been bored with drills.

 

Rod and Staff Grammar: simple and comprehensive. Leaves no doubt.

 

Bravewriter: TWJ: the teacher/mom needed the wise advice to balance things out after three years of IEW. We may go back and forth some, but the author's voice and ideas were helpful for me to see a big picture when my kids got a little burned out/"over strucutured" on IEW's format.

 

History Odyssey--just got it in, but it looks very promising.

[Caroline4kids]

I've been blown away by the Charlotte Mason method in general for several years now, but now I'm starting to see the seeds being planted of habit training, longer attention spans, and I'm realizing how everything is so beautifully interconnected. The vivifying ideas of whole, living books, narrations, nature walks, and emphasis on doing your best has been a God-send and has infused our new experience of homeschooling with wonder and joy. Thank you, Charlotte Mason!

 

:iagree::iagree:

[Caroline4kids]

I'm surprised I don't hear more about the Simply Charlotte Mason Organizer at www.simplycharlottemason.com. It is a great tool and the curriculum guide is complete for K -12. It is so easy to customize too.