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Alternatively, what curriculum added the most value and got done?


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Analytical Grammar

Great Courses (we haven't regretted any Great Courses purchases, but specifically Economics and History of the Ancient World were valuable and so worth the investment)

Video Text Algebra

TWSS from IEW to help *me* know how to teach writing

These are all on the "more expensive" side of things and made me wince a little to spend the money, but ended up being totally worth it.

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Blessedmama,

MFW Kindergarten and Adventures in my early years.  I loved the units in MFW K and The Names of Jesus study tied to the Science in Adventures.

Natural Speller-all of my children have grown in spelling/reading due to word family focus.  Best 12 dollars spent.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons- Phonics Pathways-Alphaphonics-The Reading Lesson....I loved all of these and have used various ones with my children.....I love them all for different reasons....and use most of them when teaching my children how to read in K-3 levels.  I know I have an addiction to Reading Primers-lol.  They each have different strengths.  

First Language Lessons has been worth more than I paid for it.?

CLE K2- this is a gentle start to schooling and incorporates cutting and pasting....of which would not happen naturally at our house sadly.

LOF Fractions on up have been such a fabulous addition to our homeschool...as my children need constant review these are usually used after they have gone through the topic in our textbooks.  That way they can read through them at a faster pace...which is more fun.  I also purchased the lower levels the Elementary and Intermediate and while they are fun and nice to have they were pricey as they don't have as much practice in them per each concept.   I wish I had gotten Math On the Level instead...but now it is totally out of my budget.  I do stare at it lovingly though?.

Brenda

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Rod and Staff English - I always come back to it. It is so thorough and my older kids (in public school now) are so far ahead of their classmates in grammar and writing. 

MFW K and 1st - love these programs. K was so much fun! 

 

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5 minutes ago, Megs said:

Rod and Staff English - I always come back to it. It is so thorough and my older kids (in public school now) are so far ahead of their classmates in grammar and writing. 

MFW K and 1st - love these programs. K was so much fun! 

 

I should have wrote Rod and Staff English as well?.

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McRuffy Kindergarten Math. Lots of manipulatives scheduled in, but you could skip if your kid didn't like them. Scripted if you want to do it that way, easy to wing it if you don't. Lessons never take longer than 30 minutes even if you are playing a game (of which there are several) or you added in more spiral review (since my kids forget way too easily). 

Treasured Conversations - but only if I already had things printed out & ready to go.

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I think my favorite curriculum list would closely match this list as I tend to love curriculum that gets done and adds value to our day. I love curriculum that feels painless to get through. I would say the ones that most fit this list (and I hang on to because I love them that much and I might have grandkids someday) would be...

Abeka Phonics 1 

Right start 2nd edition level B

Simply Charlotte Mason cursive

BJU English 3

BJU Science at the elementary level. I always also use other stuff but oh my I just love their science and it gets completely done. Every bit of it and my kids ask for more. I prefer Supercharged and some other science curriculum but you cannot argue with thorough science that actually gets completed. 

First Language Lessons 1 and Writing with Ease 1 concurrently. It got done, was so incredibly painless and I could not believe the difference in my kids ability to narrate and form lovely sentences.

Spelling You See B book 2. If I did no other level, I think I saw the most growth in spelling and writing with this second semester book. 

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Story of the World with activity guide

The Humanistic Tradition

Michael Clay Thompson about poetry books, don't recall which ones

Ceasar's English (also MCT, amazing)

The Great Courses:

  • The Art of Reading (probably my #1 pick) 
  • Analysis and Critique: How to Engage and Write About Anything 
  • The Western Literary Canon in Context
  • Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century

Memoria Press Latin series

Breaking the Barrier French

Visualizing Geology 

Edited by katilac
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AoPS PA (got DD back to loving math). Athena’s Academy classes (DD not only wanted to do the assignments and learn more, but it provided a social niche that made her feel like she had friends, even when things weren’t always so great locally). Math for Elementary Education at the local CC (gave DD a great chance to develop skills needed for college, in a very supportive situation. It was a good first DE class).

 

 

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As I enter our 9th year of homeschooling, 2 stand out in my mind:

Memoria Press Latin

Rod and Staff English 

Both are tedious and require a lot of memorization, but are incredibly worth it!

We started with Rod and Staff Math this year after doing years of Singapore and MM.  We just finished week 4, and I am so pleased with the result so far! I have a feeling it will go on this list as well.

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26 minutes ago, MamaHill said:

As I enter our 9th year of homeschooling, 2 stand out in my mind:

Memoria Press Latin

Rod and Staff English 

Both are tedious and require a lot of memorization, but are incredibly worth it!

We started with Rod and Staff Math this year after doing years of Singapore and MM.  We just finished week 4, and I am so pleased with the result so far! I have a feeling it will go on this list as well.

Rod and Staff English, Math, and Spelling have been huge hits here for years.  This year we added their Science and Social Studies for the simplicity.

Brenda

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Beast Academy - it was more of a struggle at first, but it eventually got my daughter to be willing to struggle with more difficult material, and reignited her love of math

Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts - for showing me that I was underestimating my kid (yet again) and she really did love language that much

Great Courses Plus - because having a large buffet of choices means my kid can absorb the information she wants with no effort from me

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Right now, I am loving MEP Reception. It's 10-15 minutes, twice a week. It is not just math; it folds in other skills as well, including playing with blocks, drawing and ripping paper. There are no worksheets. It is the perfect amount of challenge, and perfect length of time for ds. And it's free.

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Only four years in, but so far:

 

Story of the World

Math Mammoth

Pentime handwriting

100 Favourite Poems anthology

Anything that's helped me develop my understanding about how to approach copywork/dictation (so WWE, The Writer's Jungle/Arrows, CM's Philosophy of Education, etc). 

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  • Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 when my oldest was struggling with algebra.
  • HWT Cursive when my youngest son was struggling with cursive.
  • Math Mammoth in the early elementary years when my oldest couldn't stand spiral math.
  • Story of the World for modern history - so much more engaging and interesting than anything else!
  • Apologia Zoology books for my animal lover.
  • Teaching Textbooks 3 for my math straggler (didn't struggle so much as straggle)
  • LLATL Gray for 8th grade English - wish I would have had my oldest do it but I found it in time for the rest
  • The Reading Lesson when Phonics Pathways was overwhelming for my kids (too many words on the pages)
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Jacobs' Elementary Algebra and Jacobs' Geometry (2nd edition)-- the child I bought them for crashed and burned with them, but *I* learned.  So many light bulb moments *for me.*  Hopefully I'm a better teacher for it.

 The year I bought two Sonlight cores was expensive (used, even!), and I did end up cutting books and wiggling things around, but my younger kids are using those same books and (mostly) the same schedules.  Totally worth it for us. I don't have to re-invent the wheel again and again.  Just make adjustments for the child in front of me.  

Scott Foresman literature textbooks--the America Reads Classic editions from the 90's.  I've been adding these into my high schoolers' reading lists, and it is making it easy to explicitly teach some lit analysis; each book has decent questions and good writing prompts, as well as author bios and historical bits.  We still read piles of books, but we also get to practice some skills without tearing apart some of those books we love. 

Rod and Staff math for grades 4-6.  Great review and pacing for my more math phobic ones and also easy to compact for the math able; it lays down a great base.  

Rod and Staff grammar for grades 3-6.  Great review and pacing for my more grammar phobic ones and also…:) It lays down a great base. 

I get warm happy feelings over Warriner's Grammar for jr. high and high school.  I'm talking about the older editions (from 60's and 70's).  I learned from them way back when, and I find them easy to teach from for my kids now.  

SWB's writing audio lectures…I learn from them every time I listen.  

Edited by Zoo Keeper
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Programs I have never regretted investing in:

Reason for Spelling
Daily Practice series (Grammar, Paragraph Editing, etc.)
Singapore Math 3A-6B (including Intensive Practice and Challenging Word Problems)
Galore Park Spanish, French
McGuffey's Eclectic Primer+workbook
Cover Story (middle school writing/literature)
Ellen McHenry's science (The Brain, Kitchen Chemistry, Carbon Chemistry)
Saxon Algebra I, II
Great Courses Art/Music Appreciation/History
Meet the Masters (Art)

I'm sure there are others to add to the list but it's late and I'm too tired to dig out my notebook where I keep everything written down.

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Memoria Press Latin (form series)

Sonlight Core F (the year we had a caboose baby)

Horizons Math (K-6) (doing this for the 3rd time)

Explode the Code

Abeka Phonics

Memoria Press Classical Comp

Analytical Grammar

Story of the World  (doing this for the 3rd time)

Edited by Mbelle
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Writing With Ease

Writing Road to Reading (handwriting/phonics/spelling portion)

Vocabulary From Classical Roots  (I've only used one book so far, so I don't know if the cost was really worth the value. it tends to take me more than a year of using something to see if it was worth it. But it does get done, so there's that.)

 

^gentle lessons packed with value for the amount of effort. Easy for me to pick up and teach, and easy to do orally for my reluctant (possibly dysgraphic) writer (with excellent handwriting thanks to WRTR)

 

Singapore math gets done regularly too, but sometimes it's like pulling teeth.

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