Homeschool curriculum

[Dan]

What homeschool curriculum do you use?

My family uses Christian Liberty for my 6th grader. Our youngest is not old enough for school yet. We only pay about $125 per child.

We tried Abeka and loved the books, but it was way to expensive. Over $400 a year per child. I even tried to ebay alot of the books, but I ended up with too many different editions. Nothing matched up.

Bob Jones we found were just a little confusing on some of the layouts of the books.

Does your state have alot of requirements for homeschooling your children? The only thing Arizona requires is to give notification that the child is homeschooled. No tests are required, no special curriculum, no "exact attendance" records, etc. Some states I hear even go to the point of inspections in the home to make sure the child has a special desk set up, records of attendance, the parents even have to qualify to be a teacher.

[Anon]

I do not homeschool (my kids are not even big enough to) but I have probably learned under and/or taught most different kinds of curriculum!

I want to say that the Saxon math program is EXCELLENT and I would strongly recommend anyone use that for their math classes. They do not give a chapter and then forget it, the child does a few problems every day for weeks from each lesson and by the end of the book, nearly all of the lessons are totally ingrained in their memory. I do like ABeka math up to 8th grade but after that I do not like it nearly as well as Saxon.

I think ABeka has very good English. ACE has a great typing class. I think Bob Jones has great Science.

I would recommend that for the best education, one mixes and matches curriculum; however I am not as familiar with price so that might be more of a hinderance unless you can get the books used at those home school fairs.

[EyeBLeave]

I can't help with curriculum as we are not yet homeschooling (hard to homeschool when you don't have children yet ;) )

However, I have been doing some research for when the time comes and found we are very fortunate to live in a state so lenient on homeschooling.

In Texas our only requirment is that homeschool must be conducted in a bona fide manner using a written curriculum consisting of reading, spelling, grammer, math, and a course in good citizenship. That's it. No need to register or tell anyone, no record or attendance keeping. No visits, and no set hours. I could even write my own curriculum if I so choose.

You can find all the states laws and current news on the Home School Legal Defense Association's website - www.hslda.org

Hope that helps,
Elizabeth

[Trish]

Connecticut is also very lenient. I do not have to register with the state, however if and that's not really an if for us, we were to put our children in a public school they do not have to recognize their work and could put them in a grade of their choosing. This happened to a friend of mine, She was having a hard time with hs subjects and tried to put her son in a public school as a junior. they said he would have to start as a freshman even though the principle aggreed he had done more that enough his hand were tied. another friend had her kids in a public school and then decided to home school the following year. with in a week of school starting they were knocking at aher door and wondering why her kids were not in school....they registered to homeschool which is not a big deal you just show the childs work at the end of the year. I however have chosen not too as of yet. my uncle has been a puclic school teacher for many years and he was very much against homeschooling for a long time...now after seeing my moms success and others...He is now overseeing 4 to 5 families and is quite amazed at the progress. He is not against i t anymore


oh by the way I am currently using ACE except for math I am using abeka

[Dan]

Under the Christian Liberty curriculum that we use, the Language book and science book are both from Abeka. So far they haven't used anything from BJU.

But the reason it is so cheap is because instead of a teachers manual (which costs over $25 each) they make up just an answer sheet for each chapter. Like for science the teachers manual is no different than the students except the answers are in it.

For the language though we go ahead and purchase a teachers manual because it helps to teach, it doesn't just have the answers.

For math they provide the Saxon math. I used it in high school for my senior year. After three years of trying to pass Algebra I the last school I attended used Saxon. It was the best. I aced the class. (I moved around alot in high school, three different ones).

[Chelle]

[quote]
I can't help with curriculum as we are not yet homeschooling (hard to homeschool when you don't have children yet ;) )
[/quote]

Indeed it is, sister. My husband and I are childless also (for as long as the Lord wills), but I will definitely be checking this board for ideas. It will kind of be my "Consumer Reports" for homeschooling, with a [i]welcome[/i] IFB slant. :D

[quote]
In Texas our only requirment is that homeschool must be conducted in a bona fide manner using a written curriculum consisting of reading, spelling, grammer, math, and a course in good citizenship. That's it. No need to register or tell anyone, no record or attendance keeping. No visits, and no set hours. I could even write my own curriculum if I so choose.
[/quote]

That is also very good to know, and may it remain this way. :D

[abtrenholm]

We are very blessed to be in one of the most lenient provinces in Canada for homschooling. We do have to register, but we can choose which school we register with, wether private or public.

I'm using a mix of curriculums.

Mostly Rod & Staff (especially for English, I have yet to find a better curriculum in that area)

Math - Grade 4 - ABeka (although I don't like it, but haven't found anything better yet for lower grades)

- Grade 6 on - Saxon Math (and yes, it is the best Math I've ever seen.

History and Science -I have switched to ACE for grade 7 as I'm finding we are getting overwhelmed (and I'd rather focus hard on Math, Englilsh and Spelling), and the children are supposed to do Canadian History some in Junior high and ACE is the only one who has it.

Spelling - ABeka (I prefer the R&S, but needed simpler this year)

Bible - Rod & Staff for lower grades, but you have to be carefull starting in Junior High as this is when most of their false doctrines come into play. It's safe until then, maybe with only a passing reference to passivism, which we quickly correct.

Of all the curriculums, I really like R&S the most. It is very well laid out and explained and the material is thoroughly gone over, reviewed, etc. Doesn't cost as much as ABeka either, maybe a third less, but way better curriculum.

[Dan]

[quote="abtrenholm"]
Mostly Rod & Staff (especially for English, I have yet to find a better curriculum in that area).
[/quote]

I have never heard of Rod & Staff. Do they have a website I can check out?

[abtrenholm]

No, they don't have a website, but their materials are available through some websites like: http://www.anabaptists.org/ras/#address

Here's their contact info to get a free catalog.

Rod and Staff Publishers, Inc.
P.O. Box 3 Hwy. 172
Crockett, Kentucky 41413-0003 USA
phone: (606)-522-4348
FAX: (800)-643-1244


They are Mennonite, so any of their junior high and older Bible material does have some of their doctrinal stuff, so we will be switching curriculums for that, but I have been very happy with their English. The only thing I have found that could be added a little earlier is book reports.

Hope this helps.

[Anon]

ACE has a neat little course for reading books called "Christian Growth"...have you looked into that? Also there is alot of Scripture memory in the ACE English. There are alot of things I don't like so well with the ACE but I do think they have a fairly good English/literature program....I took ACE English during all of high school and I got in the 99th percentile on my ACT college entrance exam in English....

Also ABeka English seems to do well, at least in 7th & 8th grade on up, of teaching all the basics of everything extremely well and also going into book reports and term papers.

(I am not too familiar with elementary grades but pretty familiar with jr & sr high...)

[abtrenholm]

I did ABeka English one year for my eldest daughter, and very much regret it, but I didn't get the larger Teacher's manual (another 30-50$). R&S is complete for much less plus I find they cover much more and explain more in the children's manual as well, so the child can do most by themselves, but the added review by the teacher really helps them too.

I am interested in that ACE Bible curriculum. I will be getting together with my Pastor's wife and see what they are doing right now. Their daughter is one year ahead of ours.

[Bob]

On our 40 year old daughter and 34 year old son we used ACE and purchased some public school text books.
Now with our 8 year old we used A Beka for K1 and K2, used ACE for first grade and last year and this year we are using SOS and Landmark Freedom Baptist Curriculum.
This we is a little teaching by me and most by my dear wife. God is great!!! He gave me a great wife.

[MsGuidedAngel]

I have never had chlidren and now I am too old... I do like to help people though a lot.....

Here's some HomeSchooling Links from [b][url=http://ka7.proboards30.com/index.cgi?board=ThisForumisforalltheHomeSchoolersthatteachathome]Kristi Ann's Haven[/url][/b]! :D


I am posting these Webpage Links for Everyone whom HomeSchools.


[b][url=http://www.homeschoolchristian.com/]"HomeSchool Christian's .com"[/url][/b]


[b][url=http://www.helpforhomeschoolers.com/]"Help for HomeSchoolers.com"[/url][/b]


[b][url=http://www.homeschooltoday.com/]"HomeSchool Today.com"[/url][/b]


[b][url=http://www.homeschools.org/]"HomeSchools.org"[/url][/b]


[b][url=http://www.christianhomeschoolers.com/]"Christian HomeSchoolers.com"[/url][/b]


[b][url=http://www.chfweb.com/]"Christian Homeschool Fellowship on the Web"[/url][/b]


[b][url=http://dmoz.org/Reference/Education/K_through_12/Home_Schooling/Religious/Christian/]"Open Directory Project"[/url][/b]


[b][url=http://www.baptisthomeschool.org/]"Baptist HomeSchool.org"[/url][/b]


[b][url=http://www.titus2.com/]"Titus2.com"[/url][/b]


[b][url=http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/]"TheHomeSchoolMom.Com"[/url][/b]

Blessings, \o/

YSIC
KristiAnn
MsGuidedAngel

[Bro.Hugh]

My wife and I homeschool our 9 yr. old son Benjamin. We have been teaching him since he was 2 and we all love it.

We started with Abeka and found that the pictures in math for him was too distracting. The history and science was not in depth enough to keep him occuppied.
This year we switched to Saxon math and the Robinson Curriculum and so far he is doing very well with it.
Bro. Hugh

[stewsgirl]

I homeschool my 2 children, 4 & 6. Right now we are using Rod & Staff, which i like very well. And it is fairly cheap, that is a big plus for me! Kansas is very lenient also. The only thing we ever have to do is register our school. They dont even want to know what kids you are teaching, nothing. It is nice to not have to jump through a ton of hoops to educate your children yourself. Almost every family in my church homeschool so it is a great support group for us!