someone find/make this curriculum for me please

[ktgrok]

Literature based, Catholic friendly, includes government and economics at some point, and includes writing assignments. Written for the average teen, with some fun/interesting/thought provoking modern literature, not just older works. Oh, and that includes non western civilizations!!!! 

 

Basically, I want Sonlight and Tapestry of Grace to convert to Catholicism, get married, have a baby, and then that baby would be my prefect curriculum. 

You know, nothing much :)

[Mom22ns]

So is Sonlight not Catholic friendly? I'm asking as a clueless protestant, because otherwise it sounds like you have described SL pretty well.

[ktgrok]

So is Sonlight not Catholic friendly? I'm asking as a clueless protestant, because otherwise it sounds like you have described SL pretty well.

 

It is and it isn't. The bible isn't and you can't buy the history without the bible part anymore. We used year H and just dropped all the bible stuff, but I hate paying for it. And one of the highschool years is nothing but church history, which I'm assuming would be pretty much from a protestant viewpoint. 

 

However, I think I may have found my answer! TRISMs!  Wil start a new thread!

[Mom22ns]

I never used the bible in any of the cores we did. I was buying history. I didn't care what they threw in :).

 

Trisms went through a round of popularity, gosh it must have been 5 years ago now. It might even have been on the K-8 curriculum board that it was discussed a lot. If you don't get much response, searches should come up with some feedback. We looked at it long ago and thought the research looked too repetitive and dull here.

[ktgrok]

I'm over my Trisms lust. Now looking at Biblioplan. It has a government option. It covers some non western society. I've used their maps before anyway, and with the cool history pages, discussion questions, etc it might work well. And I could do the same time period with my little one. 

[sparrow]

Yes, it really sounds like you're describing Sonlight.  We use Sonlight, but I never use the Bible part. I buy it used, so I'm not paying full price any way. I like having the full Core for the resale value and don't mind having the Bible stuff we don't use.  You could skip Core 200 (History of the Christian Church), if that's a concern.

[ktgrok]

Yes, it really sounds like you're describing Sonlight.  We use Sonlight, but I never use the Bible part. I buy it used, so I'm not paying full price any way. I like having the full Core for the resale value and don't mind having the Bible stuff we don't use.  You could skip Core 200 (History of the Christian Church), if that's a concern.

 

We did use Sonlight one year, and I did like a LOT about it. But with highschool, skipping core 200 doesn't leave much left. I think core 100 would be too light, given that we are looking at sophomore year and up. so that leaves 300/20th century world history which does look fun, and that's about it as far as full Cores. Core 400 is government/economics, no history, and somehow I doubt they and I see I to I on government, and the economics is just outsourced to thinkwell. And Core 500 is just literature, no history. There is an add on for history, but it is called World History and Worldview, and their worldview and mine doesn't match. So it isn't that I don't want Sonlight as much as there just isn't much left that would work. I hear that the holtzman's didn't homeschool for highschool, and it kind of shows. 

 

I am really liking Biblioplan. Similar to Sonlight in some ways, but lighter, so he has some room for his own reading choices, and room for documentaries. 

[Mom22ns]

I felt the same way about the lack of usable high school cores from SL. We used Core 100 in middle school. We didn't want to use Core 200. That just left 2 high school cores. I didn't want to do Modern World History without having done a high school level World History. I know they've added Core 520 for world history and I'm glad, but it looks super light.

 

I loved SL in upper elementary and middle school. I think it is sad that they have never put the time into their high school cores so that people could stay with them. I always thought it was easy to ignore their flavor of Christianity and there are even large numbers of people who use SL secularly. Their high school offerings are just not there and their change to Core 400 to add in thinkwell Economics - video based, rather than to improve on a core that was frequently criticized as dense dull doesn't seem like much of an answer for a literature based history company.

 

I don't know if it is their lack of experience homeschooling high school, or just a lack of commitment, but many people can't make 4 years of high school out of what they offer.

[staceyd71]

We do like Biblioplan year 3 and it is a lot lighter then Sonlight. We have done Sonlight before high school and also loved it. After this year, we will  not continue with Biblioplan for high school because my son is begging to go back to Sonlight. I reminded him of how much reading was involved but he said he really prefers Sonlight. We felt we needed a brake from it and we have regretted venturing off ever since. We really do like Biblioplan but it is not Sonlight that's for sure. If you want lighter, cheaper, and more flexibility then Sonlight,  Biblioplan is great! I would continue with Biblioplan if he would not miss Sonlight so much. The truth is I miss it too. We will continue our last two years of highschool with Sonlight. He is looking forward to core 300! I really think you will be very happy with Biblioplan. 

[staceyd71]

Also, I wanted to mention Beautiful Feet Books. It also is a literature base curriculum. Stacey

[ktgrok]

I felt the same way about the lack of usable high school cores from SL. We used Core 100 in middle school. We didn't want to use Core 200. That just left 2 high school cores. I didn't want to do Modern World History without having done a high school level World History. I know they've added Core 520 for world history and I'm glad, but it looks super light.

 

I loved SL in upper elementary and middle school. I think it is sad that they have never put the time into their high school cores so that people could stay with them. I always thought it was easy to ignore their flavor of Christianity and there are even large numbers of people who use SL secularly. Their high school offerings are just not there and their change to Core 400 to add in thinkwell Economics - video based, rather than to improve on a core that was frequently criticized as dense dull doesn't seem like much of an answer for a literature based history company.

 

I don't know if it is their lack of experience homeschooling high school, or just a lack of commitment, but many people can't make 4 years of high school out of what they offer.

 

Yes, exactly!  I could just skip over the religion parts in the lower cores, but in highschool, one whole core is church history and another is worldview. And 100 is basically what we did for 8th grade. Leaving us one core for highschool. And it only does 20th century, which I wouldn't do unless we already did another wold history course. So...yeah. 

[Ellie]

Since coming back to the Church, I have been so surprised at the lack of homeschooling materials written by Catholics. Protestant Christian homeschoolers have written boatloads of stuff. Why haven't Catholic homeschoolers?

[Mom22ns]

Since coming back to the Church, I have been so surprised at the lack of homeschooling materials written by Catholics. Protestant Christian homeschoolers have written boatloads of stuff. Why haven't Catholic homeschoolers?

 

I don't know if it is true of the denomination in general, but here Catholics are much more likely to use private schools than to homeschool. I grew up in St. Louis, MO and the network of Catholic schools is huge there. I wonder if that reduces that perceived need for homeschool materials?

 

I would think that all those Catholic schools could provide a co-market for catholic school homeschool materials similar to those of Abeka and BJU which are written to the private school market but are homeschool friendly.

[Ellie]

I don't know if it is true of the denomination in general, but here Catholics are much more likely to use private schools than to homeschool. I grew up in St. Louis, MO and the network of Catholic schools is huge there. I wonder if that reduces that perceived need for homeschool materials?

 

I would think that all those Catholic schools could provide a co-market for catholic school homeschool materials similar to those of Abeka and BJU which are written to the private school market but are homeschool friendly.

 

I think that's true overall. And Catholic schools tend to use secular materials for most subjects instead of publishing their own, don't they? Protestant Christians, OTOH, prefer not to, which is why there is ABeka Book (written for Pensacola Christian School) and Bob Jones University Press (written for Bob Jones University) and ACE/CLP/AO and Rod and Staff and Purposeful Design and others (most Christian schools use materials from one of those publishers instead of writing their own). So many Catholic homeschoolers are coming into the whole homeschooling process with a different POV (in more ways than one, lol).

 

It is Catholic homeschoolers themselves who would write the materials, not Catholic schools. Most of the very popular materials that non-Catholic homeschoolers use were written by homeschoolers themselves, not by school textbook publishers, most of whom in their hearts of hearts believe children should be in classroom-based schools because parents can't possibly teach their own children at home ::rolls eyes::

[chiguirre]

I don't know if it is true of the denomination in general, but here Catholics are much more likely to use private schools than to homeschool. I grew up in St. Louis, MO and the network of Catholic schools is huge there. I wonder if that reduces that perceived need for homeschool materials?

 

I would think that all those Catholic schools could provide a co-market for catholic school homeschool materials similar to those of Abeka and BJU which are written to the private school market but are homeschool friendly.

 

Catholic schools usually use secular textbooks with the exception of the religion textbooks which are also used by CCE programs. They teach mainstream science and history so they don't need to write their own creationist or providentialist materials. There are some Catholic history textbooks from the Catholic Textbook Project, but my local Catholic school doesn't use them. They use the Texas editions of major publishers.

 

OP, Oak Meadow isn't literature based, but they do have a lot of creative assignments that make history come alive. That might work for you if you're willing to add in your own books. They have econ and government courses, too.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

What about Kolbe Academy?  I bought their Biology course outline, virtual lab access and tests/answers for the Miller/Levine Biology book.  They have multiple options for how to use their materials, including online classes, registering with them to use them as your school of record, or using their course plans independently at home.

 

I got SO much help from them this summer when I was trying to figure out our Biology options.  I exchanged bunches of emails and had several (long) phone conversations with their staff.  Really awesome people.

 

http://kolbe.org/homeschool/courses/high-school/history-curriculum/

 

Sample course plans are here:  http://www.kolbe.org/academics/curriculum-grade-level/sample-course-plans/

 

I think the Biology plans are laid out in a way that reminds me of Sonlight.  

[HomeschoolingHearts&Minds]

Have you looked at Connecting with History?  http://rchistory.com/ It is Catholic, classical, literature-based.  I have not used it myself, but keep thinking about it. 

[ktgrok]

Have you looked at Connecting with History?  http://rchistory.com/ It is Catholic, classical, literature-based.  I have not used it myself, but keep thinking about it. 

 

I have, but I think it is TOO Catholic for my not quite agnostic son, lol. And no daily lesson plans after the first year. 

[Homeschoolmom3]

I did happen to come across this Catholic online school they offer online courses live or self paced.  Just for those who are looking for a Catholic based education, no personal experience though.

 

http://www.rollingacresschool.com/online-classes.html

 

HTH