What we do

Lately I have had several homeschoolers asking what we use for curriculum. I thought I would share some of what has worked well for us. I do want to add a note here: there are LOTS of choices out there for homeschoolers. What works for us might not work for you. Each family is different and each child is different. I have found that things that worked for one child, don't necessarily work with the next child. So with that said I will share what we have found to work for our family. I will also try to share what we like and why. This might help add some insight as to whether or not it would work for you. 

For math - we use Bob Jones workbooks for the younger years (K-3rd grade) and then I put them into Saxon 5/4. We do use the Dive cd's for the teaching aspect. Those are fabulous and allow the student to work very independently. My children then only need help once in a while when I can tell they are getting the same kinds of problems wrong -- and so it is a concept they are missing - not just a mistake. Saxon seems to be a curriculum where you either love it or hate it. It seems to be one extreme or the other. It works very well for my boys but I know many people dislike it. Saxon is secular - but in math I am not so sure that matters. I do find that students that use Saxon tend to really know their math. 

For science - in the younger years we use Apologia's Exploring Creation books - by Jeannie K. Fulbright. We love them. They are fabulous. And we tend to lapbook them. My two youngest are doing the Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day. I back it up with more books from the library on the various animals --- so they are getting a fairly good in depth study of animals. Then we do a lapbook piece for many of the animals we studied. Not all of them but many of them. Here is a site that we get a bunch of stuff (free) for lapbooking. 

Lapbooking animals

For my older son - we also use Apologia - he is just finishing up Physical Science this month and will then begin biology. We would take the summer off but I found a great on line class (yep - virtual stuff again) that helps to teach this course and he wants to do it. He would rather not have time off and be part of the on line class then take the time off and have to do it all on his own. 

Apologia recommends - General science for 7th graders 

Physical science is recommended for 8th grade

Biology is recommended for 9th grade. 

After that the student will have a couple of things to then choose from - such as chemistry, Marine Biology, or Physics. Here is the site that explains more about Apologia (but don't buy there - you can get it cheaper through Rainbow Resources or Pennywise Learning - but this has a nice layout and explanation of the product. I bought the biology through Rainbow Resources because they also have the dissection kits and slides for the microscope that we needed.)

 

Apologia Science

One of the reasons we like Apologia is that it is one of the few science curriculums that teaches that God made the world and while the Theory of Evolution is explained it is clear the authors are creationists. The author also lends toward a young earth view point. If that is not the view that you want to teach, then Apologia is probably not the curriculum for your family. 

I will continue this subject in the next post or so. I have to run get kids to bed.