Curriculum Advice for 4+ Elementary Kids

[Than]

I'm looking for curriculum recommendations for homeschooling 4+ elementary-aged kids.

 

Our kids are 5, 3, 2, and 1, so we're just getting started. Right now we are just planning K/1st, but we'll be adding in new grade-levels almost every year.

 

So far, we have done Before Five in a Row and are finishing Five in a Row volume 1. We have done a little with All About Reading and 100 Easy Lessons, but our oldest has seemed to lose some interest, and we haven't pushed it. We sometimes do an experiment from Science in the Beginning. We started reading chapter books aloud, usually a couple of short books a week.

 

Our Situation:

- We live outside the U.S., so shipping can be a big deal. Electronic resources are better.

- We also only check our mail every few months, so we can't just add an occasional book as needed.

- We don't have access to a library, so all books will need to be bought.

 

Things We Like (We Think)

- We like the idea of combining multiple grade-levels for some subjects (trivium style).

- We like the repeating, several-year cycle of history (SOTW-style).

- We like reading and reading aloud.

- We like teacher resources that are available as e-books.

- We like having a basic schedule that can be tweaked.

- We like the pick-and-choose style of FIAR and Heart of Dakota, which we can map out as a (loose) weekly schedule.

 

Things We Don't Like (Probably)

- We aren't interested in Latin.

- We don't really care about memorizing poetry.

- We aren't sure about copywork/dictation.

- We don't like crafts and projects that require a lot of supplies (often not available here).

 

Tapestry of Grace looks like it checks a lot of those boxes, but their digital products are annoying. I also find it difficult to use, and especially difficult when trying to filter out all of the Upper Grammar, Dialectic, and Rhetoric material. I've read reviews that make it sound like their booklist works better with library access (which we don't have).

 

Wayfarers seems to fix some of the issues I have with Tapestry of Grace, and is also intriguing. Layers of Learning looks nice. Or just the SOTW Activity Guide.

 

What do you think?

[mom2bee]

First and foremost, you have time. Plenty of it. You have a trio of toddlers and a barely-there Kindergartener.

 

Are you rural or will you be able to access resources in the community?

 

Is printing an option for you all? Do you want resources that can be printed out or things that can be read from a screen?

 

If you have 100 EZ, then that is your teachers manual for pretty much any phonics program. It's a great guide for parents/teachers in that it teaches you explicitly what to look for in developing readers and how to conduct a phonics lesson. Here is Ultimate Phonics Word List, a PDF that is as comprehensive as Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. You can use Progressive Phonics readers to go along with it. If you are willing to spend money on digital resources and can print, then I'd strongly recommend a year subscription to Reading-AZ, because you can download readers and have basal reading material up to the 6th grade level. My suggestion is to buy a years subscription and download everything during that year so you won't have to renew the subscription.

 

Do you want something for mathematics?

 

 

[Than]

First and foremost, you have time. Plenty of it. You have a trio of toddlers and a barely-there Kindergartener.

 

Are you rural or will you be able to access resources in the community?

 

Is printing an option for you all? Do you want resources that can be printed out or things that can be read from a screen?

 

If you have 100 EZ, then that is your teachers manual for pretty much any phonics program. It's a great guide for parents/teachers in that it teaches you explicitly what to look for in developing readers and how to conduct a phonics lesson. Here is Ultimate Phonics Word List, a PDF that is as comprehensive as Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. You can use Progressive Phonics readers to go along with it. If you are willing to spend money on digital resources and can print, then I'd strongly recommend a year subscription to Reading-AZ, because you can download readers and have basal reading material up to the 6th grade level. My suggestion is to buy a years subscription and download everything during that year so you won't have to renew the subscription.

 

Do you want something for mathematics?

 

Thank you for your suggestions!

 

Yeah, we aren't in a rush, and aren't stressed about it. But it does feel like we have a big decision coming up. We could be spending several hundred dollars on materials for the next year, or maybe scratching something together cheaper. And, if we make a good choice now, it's more likely that we won't have to re-spend a lot of money in a couple of years when the next ones start.

 

We are in a small-town in a developing country. So we can get basic school supplies but no English-language materials.

 

Printing is no problem. Our tank-style inkjet can print a ton before we need to buy an $8 refill (and has convinced me that the U.S. cartridge-based printers are a scam). There are local copy shops that can print and bind a book-size PDF for a few dollars.

 

We will print some things, but it is still easier to deal with digital for others. The tropics can be rough on physical books.

 

For math, we think we'll try Math-U-See Alpha. I'm not sure if a mastery approach is the best fit for our oldest, but we'll still have the manipulatives if we switch to something different.

[Than]

Double post.

Edited January 29, 2018 by Than

[OneStepAtATime]

The shipping cost for reading book resources may end up being a big issue long term.  Do you have access to a Kindle?  If you could electronically buy books, sometimes there are great deals that way and there would be no shipping costs involved.  Plus, if you got one with audio capability and some noise canceling headphones then your oldest could be listening to a book (fiction or fact) while you were working with another child.

 

Obviously you do have a ton of time.  Even your oldest is still little.  Right now doing a little writing/math/phonics based reading instruction with the oldest if you feel it necessary is fine.  Focus on exposure to life and life skills and lots of books and family interaction.  The lots of books seems to be the problem, though, so if there is some way to get an electronic book reader of some kind that really would go a long way to helping.  Some curriculum actually are available that way, too.

 

 

[countrymum]

Simply Charlotte mason has ebooks and I really like a lot of their history plans. You can always sub books too. They show you how to combine history geography and Bible for all ages with not too many books but I have liked most of their choices. Of course I tweak and add or skip as the kids need.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

I would get Story of the World and their activity guide.  You won't be able to supplement with library visits, but you could look at Sonlight, TOG and MFW suggestions in advance and add some good books on the subjects to your order to supplement, if you wish.  I'd get a good history encyclopedia too.  They have all sorts of games, coloring pages, crafts and enrichment ideas in the activity book.  It's all contained, and it lets you go at your own pace.  Another suggestion might be BF books if you agree with their ideology of providential history.  MFW is all contained, but you would have to skip their book basket suggestions.

 

For language arts when they get older, you might like MCT.  He has digital resources available that are beautiful.  It's a little different, but going through it, you see how rich it is.  

[Than]

The shipping cost for reading book resources may end up being a big issue long term.  Do you have access to a Kindle? 

 

Yes, all of our reading aloud is done via the Kindle app on my phone. And I hope that as kids start reading independently, they'll be content reading off of ebooks. Our situation has made us big fans of ebooks!

 

But we are still at an age of reading a lot of picture books, which just don't work (for us) on a screen. One nice part about Five in a Row has been building up a nice little collection of picture books. But the shipping is tough!

 

For everything besides picture books, I'd prefer to keep it digital.

[macmacmoo]

You already mentioned layers of learning

 

Maybe look at wayfarers: http://barefootmeandering.com/site/wayfarers/

Her preschool book list is really nice, a good portion is public domain books http://www.lulu.com/shop/kathy-jo-devore/pathways-english-lessons-through-literature-level-0/ebook/product-22317820.html

[Than]

Maybe let me ask things this way:

 

Let's say you use are using one of the programs designed for doing history/literature with multiple ages...

 

Tapestry of Grace

Wayfarers

Layers of Learning

Story of the World Activity Guide

 

Do you think one of these would be especially burdensome if you had no library access?

[Than]

Okay, I've still been thinking about this, even if no one else has. :-) Just thinking out loud and talking to myself.

 

Thinking more about the library issue: Once we finish Five in a Row, we should have put together a pretty good collection of picture books. Honestly, we probably shouldn't keep buying them. As we keep transitioning from picture books to chapter books, it becomes easier for Kindle to meet our needs without having to ship physical books.

 

However, it would still be nice to have books that go along with history... Maybe just order a bunch of "You Wouldn't Want to be a..." books like we get a bunch of Magic School Bus books for science? Or just rely on our Usborne Encyclopedia plus the internet?

 

---

 

For the material outside of the 3Rs, I think I am most interested in Wayfarers and Layers of Learning.

 

With Wayfarers, I really like the book choices and straightforward organization (an improvement over Tapestry of Grace). However, there is WAY too much scheduled... (For the Grammar stage, each day schedules about four chapters of literature, four chapters of science/history books, and a chapter for geography.) Everyone says you have to pick and chooose -- definitely. But, at that point, I'm not sure what the Wayfarers daily schedule is giving me. Really, I just want the booklist.

 

I'm seeing Layers of Learning as a nice update/revision to Tapestry of Grace. (I just noticed that they even use the same colors as Tapestry of Grace to mark Grammar, Dialectic, and Rhetoric assignments...) Maybe it's a little light compared to Tapestry of Grace for the high school years, but that's a LONG way off for us -- far enough to not even worry about.

 

So here's my thought: We use Layers of Learning to schedule a few activities for a 1-2 week unit study, much like we are currently using Five in a Row. Layers of Learning doesn't exactly align with Story of the World, but the Activity Guide is affordable enough that we could get it too for additional ideas.

 

Layers of Learning doesn't cover literature. However, we can grab some books off of other booklists (Wayfarers, Sonlight, Build Your Library) to read at our own pace on Kindle.

 

The final result:

 

3Rs: (each child works on their own curriculum)

Literature: Wayfarers + Sonlight + Build Your Library booklists

History: Layers of Learning + Story of the World Activity Guide

Science: Layers of Learning + maybe Berean Builders

Geography: Layers of Learning

 

("+" means pick and choose; not trying to finish them all)

 

The only issue then is deciding about illustrated history books.