Favorite curriculum choices for busy little boys?

[Shellydon]

My 6 yo is a busy little guy and my usual curriculum choices hold no interest for him (FLL, WWE, Reading Reflex).  I'd love suggestions for curriculum that has worked well with your active boys.

[rebcoola]

We used Happy Phonics and The Big Box of Sentence Building.

[mom31257]

I didn't choose curriculum based on his activeness.

 

Around that age I used Horizons Phonics, some CLE and BJU, Real Science Odyssey Life, Real Science 4 kids Chemistry, and history I put together myself.

 

I think of school like brushing teeth, helping in the house, eating vegetables, etc. Those are good for you and are a requirement, so they have to happen and do.

[Critterfixer]

I think it is less about the curriculum than it is about how you implement it.

Short sessions generally go over better than long ones. So you want to be sure you can break up a lesson if you need to.

Do everything you can do standing up. It's nice to have a whiteboard so that you can allow your boy to do his reading lesson on his feet. The whiteboard comes in handy for a lot of things, just make sure that the boy gets to stand up to use it.

Provide a noise outlet. We have several poems that are meant to have "loud" parts. We take full advantage of those opportunities to be loud and wild. Being able to have some time to be noisy seems to improve compliance when we really need to be quiet. Sometimes. ;)

[lllll]

..

[lilajoy]

My 6-year-old is also very active, and we have had great success with good ol' Hooked on Phonics. We've finished the Kindergarten levels and are currently working our way through the First Grade levels. The pages are bright without being too busy, the lessons are just the right length -- not too short, not too long -- and the little stories at the end of each lesson are sweet and funny. My son often rereads them just for fun, and some of them even make me smile. We skip the DVD component of the program and just do the books, but the DVD comes with it, too.

[kateingr]

RightStart Math is a great hands-on program for busy kids. 

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

My son is that age, but he really likes workbook work, and he does it fast. He doesn't like a lot of oral listening. However, SSRW has worked well with all of my boys. They like the treasure box, games and songs. Sitting quietly is a challenge around here.

 

We also like the Bede's history books from Veritas as a gentle intro to history that is short reading with quick, simple projects.

 

My youngest is likely to be my most active, so I am all ears.

[Kiara.I]

My extremely busy 6yo LOVES FLL and WWE--of course, neither of them is his to do yet, they're both his older brother's.  Which is probably why he loves them.  ;)

 

However, that does make me want to ask--is this an age 6 who's finishing grade 1, or an age 6 who's finishing kindergarten?  If it's kindergarten, I'd drop it completely and wait until grade 1!  And even if it is finishing grade one, he's on the young  side.  Would taking a break for a few months and trying again be an option?  Or shortening how long the lessons are?

[kirstenhill]

We love Logic of English Foundations.  I chose it because I like the methodology, but the active/hands-on components of the lessons are great.  My 6 year old loved it this past year for learning to read.  I think Miquon or RightStart are also both great choices for math.  Right Start is what I used with my two older kids and the games make it super fun.  My 6 year old doesn't connect with the abacus so I used Miquon with the C-rods instead, and that was also a good fit - he liked doing math with the rods.

[Coco_Clark]

Logic of English Foundations is written to work with an active child. Lots of large and small motor activities.

 

Miquon is very hands on but ime active kids go two ways- semi active/wiggly kids that love all those small blocks and the truly active/crazy kids that end up throwing, building towers and knocking over, ect and cannot focus.

 

But I agree with others- use what you want to use and name it more active with teaching. Math facts while bouncing a ball back and forth, reading sight words during different steps of an obstacle course, spelling on a white board on the wall (so you are standing and using full arm movements to write). Lots of breaks. My oldest does 10 push ups, 10 minutes of listening to me read, 10 crunches, 10 more minutes of listening, ect.

[UCF612]

My son loved Right Start Math B and All About Reading at that age. I plan to use them again with my soon to be 6 year old.

[AndyJoy]

My son loved Right Start Math B and All About Reading at that age. I plan to use them again with my soon to be 6 year old.

I'm using Right Start & AAR with my wiggly, chatterbox 5-year-old (6 in September) and we're loving them! :)

[Ellie]

KONOS is especially good for wiggly children, boys or girls, for everything except English skills and math. 

[MotherOfBoys]

I realized early on that manipulative s are a huge distraction to little boys. We switched to an abacus. It cut math time way down. There is no stacking, building, dropping, throwing of manipulative s anymore. My son just could not respect me while any manipulative was set in front of him. Too distracted. It can be used with most curriculums.

 

Eltl is also good if you do the book part as an audio book at bedtime. The rest of the lesson is short and sweet for the next day.

[Momto4inSoCal]

I have 3yo twins that are very active. We still have another year and a half before kinder but I'm thinking we will use right start, logic of english and konos. I agree with the poster above though. If you give them breaks and let them move they will be fine. I started homeschooling because my daughter was diagnosed with ADHD and I was hoping homeschooling would help her (she was falling behind in school). She often stands, drums her pencil, hums and just fidgets. I'm ok with it as long as she gets her work done. We take breaks and I make her go outside to play and get some energy out. She now test above her grade level so homeschooling has helped her so much.