Homeschool Curriculum

[mommy111]

I need some help in choosing a homeschool curriculum for DD. I hope to use something in addition to (maybe even to replace) her current school curriculum. Since we are here in China, the curriculum and emphasis is very different and I don't want her to be lost when she returns home to the US.
I've looked at several curricula and, being a traditionally schooled kid myself, have no idea which ones are good. I want something that encourages creativity, independant thinking and responsibility. I've looked at sonlight and it looks great to me (they all do!) except for the religious component....I really want something that is completely non religious and non denominational for her, since I am not comfortable with religion being mixed with the school curriculum. On the other hand, if the religious component of the curriculum is only bible study books and the religious aspect does not flow over into the history, science, english, math etc books, I am OK with that.
I would love some input from other homeschooling mamas!

[plusbellelavie]

My brothers and I were homeschooled on and off depending on the situation when we were kids my parents used Calvert School. So when we moved to France and had a problem the first year with the bi-lingual school we put our DC in...I took them out and homesechooled them using Calvert School as well which is accredited worldwide. It was an awesome experience.

In my opinion it is an excellent program and everything comes to you in a box that you need for the school year (including paper, pencil, paint etc) and you have an accredited teacher who will grade the test of your child and send it back with her thoughts. The same teacher stays with you throughout the school year. The program is set up for you and your kids and is easy to follow and the explanations are wonderful and customer service before and after is excellent. Many families around the world use this program.

I could go on and on about this program but check it out for yourself...

The website is http://www.calvertschool.org/

BTW if my DH had let me keep homeschooling the kids I would have...we put them in a French school though so that they could get the language, culture, etc experience while we are in France but if I needed to I would go back in a heartbeat.

I hope this helps!

[plusbellelavie]

Sorry...I forgot to mention that I still use Calvert School even now to supplement my kids education because we knew we would be returning to the States and I didn't want there to be any problems when we returned with their grade levels.

But I use it now mostly for the spelling words, writing, grammar, and reading and some social studies/geography. The kids love to read the science books and do some of the experiments on their own as well and they have loved reading the story books that come with their grade level.

I bought the grade level necessary I just didn't get the teaching service with it...although expensive we have found it to be totally worth it.

[Raidra]

Are you sending your daughter to school, and wanting to supplement? Or are you actually planning on homeschooling her?

If you're planning on sending her to school and want to supplement, I would keep it super light. School is strenuous on kids and they need a LOT of time to just relax and be kids. One of the reasons we homeschool is to avoid the burnout that school (by itself) causes, and doing school plus a whole curriculum at home sounds like it would be really tough on a child.

That said, if you're just planning on homeschooling, there are a ton of options out there. You can also mix and match - pick separate materials for different subjects. We don't follow a curriculum at all, but we use Singapore Math, Story of the World, Highlights Top Secret Adventures, and Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons at various times. Mostly we just pick up books at the library and plan field trips and activities based on the kids' interests. There are tons of homeschool forums and websites that review curricula.

Seriously, though.. I can't caution you enough about overdoing it. I don't know how old your child is, but in the early years, all they really need to do is play and explore their world. I would be super careful about squashing her natural love of learning with too much academics.

[mommy111]

Thank you for the Calvert School link. I had not even heard of that! I am going to check the website out this morning!
Raidra, I am not quite sure what I am going to do :) One of the reasons I'm even looking at this is because the schools in our area here have very regimented curricula and there is no accommodation for students who are bright and may already have mastered what the school is trying to teach. The only accommodation is that they advance the student a class or so. I am now faced with a new term after summer break and the option of sending DD to a class with kids 2 years her senior (which the school is strongly pressuring me to do, it is considered a high honor here!) or keeping her in a class where she will not get any intellectual stimulation at all. Much as the teachers here want me to advance her, I am ABSOLUTELY firm that I do not want DD in a class with kids so much older than her....at this age, 2 years is a LOT, and I don't want her to face social issues now as well as to have to leave home for college before she is old enough to handle the stress etc etc.
So my options are:
1) Take her out and homeschool. I work full time, so stressful for me but doable. I could enlist the help of a private teacher a couple of days a week (labor is really cheap here!) and do the rest myself.
2) Homeschool but send her to regular school a couple of days a week to socialize
3) Send her to school...she spends the day there playing because if you already know something that they are teaching, you complete your assignment and then get to go to the 'play' room....well DD spends the day in the play room....and then let her loosely pursue her interests with the homeschool curriculum.
We do option 3 at present, and do not have a homeschool curriculum but a lot of books that interest her lying around available for her to read and for me to read to her. The issue I have with that is that *I* sometimes feel poorly equipped to handle some of her teaching...I need instructions on how to teach a kid math when she tries to do it on a work book and I have a hard time explaining math concepts. Nor do I want her to learn science from text books instead of experiments and I need step by step instructions to do this stuff. I am very non-creative. Basically, I need a home school curriculum to tell me what to do to be a good parent teacher :)
So anyhow, if I find something I really like, I may switch to option 2 or option 1 and go on from there.
Sorry for the long post!

[egoldber]

Honestly option 3 sounds a LOT better than what most advanced learners get to do here in the U.S. My older DD is expected to sit in her seat, amuse herself and stay quiet, even if she already finished the work. The play room sounds like a VAST improvement to me! That would eliminate almost all our behavioral issues in school.

But I digress......

If it were *me* and I had the option, I would choose option 1 or 2. I mean a private teacher, just how cool would that be?

If math is your big concern, you could choose something like Singapore Math (they have placement exams on-line) and have her work at her own pace. If she's self directed, then she will probably do very well with it. We use Singapore for "afterschooling" (totally self directed by Sarah) and she loves it.

The problem with box curriculum is that many kids are on different levels for different subjects. So it can be hard to make a decision for one "grade" level.

I do have to say that I would also consider the acceleration that they are offering. You would have a VERY hard time getting that offer in the US. Fore gifted learners, acceleration is an easy way to meet their academic needs and many do fine socially as well, because they find it very hard to be in a class where they have already learned the material which may create behavioral issues and social problems. Ans just because a kid finished high school early doesn't mean they have to go away to college the next year. Just saying....

http://www.nationdeceived.org/

Not that I am an actual homeschooler. :tongue5:

[plusbellelavie]

With calvert school you are able to do the subjects at your grade level...and if your child is ahead in Math then he can get the next level even if he is another grade level plus they have tons of supplementary subjects you can purchase depending on their interest.

Even though Calvert School is in a box...I find it is flexible enough to meet the needs of the child at their speed...and since everything is there the homeschool teacher and the child have a curriculum to follow plus the support from qualified teachers either by phone, email, or letters which is awesome in the beginning when you are trying to figure out how to organize your childs day and learning process.

The year I kept my kids home I enrolled them in lots of extra curricular activities so that they could socialize and speak French with kids their age and for us it worked beautifully and was less overwhealming for all of us not only language wise but culturally as well. We did playdates with the kids we met through the activities.

We also did trips outings etc.

I honestly think it depends on your situation at the time and what you have available. If your child is not be stimulated in school at a early age it is not in my opinion going to help motivate them later. And socialization doesn't necesarily have to happen at school it can be done with activities, playdates, and outings.

Both my children are a year ahead grade wise (it just happen that they tested in to the higher level even in French when we enrolled them and we agree to let them to go into the higher level) now in France and they are both the youngest in their class because in France they put the kids in by year born. So anyone born in 2000 is entering 4th grade now regardless if they are born in January or December. My daughter who is born iin 2002 will enter 3rd grade this year and she has kids who are 18 mths older then her but she is more muture then many in her class and this comes not only from me but her teacher and other parents who interact with her. People are very surprise to know that she is not even 7 yet! And the same goes for my son born in 2000 who is entering 5th grade. They are smart kids who are stimulated not only at home but at school becaue they are doing it another language. But I am behind them and on Wendesday when they are not in shcool they write an English composition. They also have extra curricular activities including music and sport during the week. We keep it balanced and flexible but all the material is accessible to the kids. (BTW my kids also watch TV and play Nintendo and Wii and have Legos etc they have lots of free time we are not focused only on school.)

Anyway I think you need to do what is best for your daughter and the environment around you...do you have other parents around who are in similar situation with their kids that might what to start something together?

Homeschooling have lots of Pros and Cons and being from a family who believed in it and marrying into one that doesn't I can tell you I have heard it all. And, many families do it for different reasons religion, difficulity in shcool, bullying of a child, medical reasons, travelling, moves etc...there are lots of websites for the homeschool parent and child on the web.

I could go on and on about this...sorry...hope it helps...Good luck to you and your daughter!

[AngelaS]

We use Saxon Math and Story of the World for history is a great chronological study of world history. I think that it starts w/Creation tho. (You could just skip that chapter tho--I don't remember there being other Christian stuff in it.) I LOVE The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading and prefer it to 100 Easy Lesson (I've used both). :)

I love the individual aspect of homeschooling. My oldest excels at math and is 3 grade leves ahead. She would be bored in a traditional school setting. :P

We do a few extra curricular activities but they're mostly 'socialization' (:P) rather then overly education.

[mommy111]

Beth, just downloaded the pdf of nation deceived.....and will definitely be reading it tonight after DC go to bed. I think my fear of acceleration comes from her being with kids who are so much bigger than her physically and the bullying potential etc that accompanies it rather than a fear of the academic burden placed on her. But those may well just be fears, I know that you have been through many similar things in advocating for Sarah and I really respect your opinion and experience with this so maybe I should look into allowing her to be accelearted. The teachers here are really excellent, they have a very regimented and organized way of teaching but it definitely works and gets all the kids in the class, including the ones that are not on par with the rest up to a desired level very soon. I am somewhat concerned about the lack of imagination and space to explore/open ended ness in the curriculum here. Everything has a correct and a wrong answer and while this works really well in terms of mastery of basic skills, I am concerned about what it means in terms of suppressing a child's creativity.......
Angela, I was hoping you would chime in. What I find really attractive about homeschooling is the ability for the child to explore up to whatever level they feel comfortable. I just placed the ordinary parent's guide on my amazon wishlist from when you mentioned it in the last homeschooling thread....I am hoping it goes beyond teaching reading and into the more advanced aspects of teaching reading such as comprehension etc. Going to add story of the world, if its mostly a well balanced history text.
Plusbellelavie, sounds like you have a very well organized system there for your kids and your experience with your DD comes back to the issue that Beth brought up that I may be unreasonably worried about DD with older kids and she may do just fine interacting with them once she is in the same class as they are.

[Raidra]

1) Take her out and homeschool. I work full time, so stressful for me but doable. I could enlist the help of a private teacher a couple of days a week (labor is really cheap here!) and do the rest myself.
2) Homeschool but send her to regular school a couple of days a week to socialize
3) Send her to school...she spends the day there playing because if you already know something that they are teaching, you complete your assignment and then get to go to the 'play' room....well DD spends the day in the play room....and then let her loosely pursue her interests with the homeschool curriculum.
We do option 3 at present, and do not have a homeschool curriculum but a lot of books that interest her lying around available for her to read and for me to read to her. The issue I have with that is that *I* sometimes feel poorly equipped to handle some of her teaching...I need instructions on how to teach a kid math when she tries to do it on a work book and I have a hard time explaining math concepts. Nor do I want her to learn science from text books instead of experiments and I need step by step instructions to do this stuff. I am very non-creative. Basically, I need a home school curriculum to tell me what to do to be a good parent teacher :)


If you homeschool, you'll probably find that you can easily accomplish whatever you want to get done in a very, very little amount of time. I know several homeschoolers where both parents work full time.. the kids are either watched by a family member or are in in-home daycare, and their 'studies' get done in an hour or so in the evenings. If you could afford a nanny (or something like it), then they can make sure your child gets to parks and whatnot for socialization, while you do any instructing you like in the evenings or on weekends. The beauty of homeschooling is that learning can be done any time you want.. it doesn't have to be M-F 8-2. And another bit on socialization.. remember that in schools, kids are discouraged from socializing, and they are only socialized with kids their age. When they're homeschooled, they socialize with a variety of people of all ages and backgrounds. Which, clearly, is more like real life than school.

I guess I don't really see the point of sending her to school if all she's going to do is a little bit of busywork and then play (By herself? If the other children are still working?). If you could afford it, it seems like a nanny would be a much better option.. all of the play and none of the busywork. ;)

A lot of homeschooling parents are really intimidated by math and science. If you feel able to teach her everything but those two subjects, you could just buy a curriculum for those areas. There are curricula that give you scripts to read from if you don't think you could explain. You could also hire a tutor for just those subjects. Lots of parents (re)learn right alongside their kids.. it sets a great example for children.

Good luck! I'm obviously a big believer in homeschooling.. if you get along well enough with your child and can swing it, I say go for it. :)

[mommy111]

Rachel,
To answer your questions, school playroom always has a whole bunch of kids, a couple of classes taking 'play time' plus all the kids in all the classes who finish work early. The kids really love it, and do try to get their work done ahead of time since it is a special reward.
See, I always thought you had to be a stay at home parent to homeschool, but over the last month or so, looking into this, I've come to the realization that with a little help, you can probably do it as a working parent.
And in the US, we would never be able to afford a nanny or a private tutor on my very basic salary, but since we're in China these couple of years, the going rate for a nanny/tutor is anywhere between $30-50 per week. DS already has a nanny taking care of him who gets paid about $30 a week arranged by my workplace, and the kids could be together with her, then I'd just potentially supplement with a tutor which would end up being less than $150 a month.

[AngelaS]

A friend of mine used to nanny for a family where the mom worked and then homeschooled in the evenings. She just had to oversee that they finished last night's homework before mom got home from work the next day.

Don't be afraid of math!! :) When I proposed to dh that we homeschool, he was worried about my ability to teach calculus. Um, hello?? I'm starting with kindergarten and I can work my way up. :D A's going to start algebra this year and I'm ready. I've worked my way to where she is and learned a few things I never learned the first time thru. :D

[mommy111]

A friend of mine used to nanny for a family where the mom worked and then homeschooled in the evenings. She just had to oversee that they finished last night's homework before mom got home from work the next day.

Don't be afraid of math!! :) When I proposed to dh that we homeschool, he was worried about my ability to teach calculus. Um, hello?? I'm starting with kindergarten and I can work my way up. :D A's going to start algebra this year and I'm ready. I've worked my way to where she is and learned a few things I never learned the first time thru. :D

Teaching math scares the heck out of me. Addition is just, you know, you ADD! Well, DD doesn't (or didn't) know that and she and I cross talk in math and become increasingly frustrated with each other. Then I find out my mom can get her to do subtraction AND simple multiplication!
Can I confess also that math was one of my majors in college. And that I taught math to gifted kids in my other life. :bag
Having kids is a very humbling experience:)

[AngelaS]

It's really not hard if you buy the right books to help you teach it. :D I promise.

[MartiesMom2B]

Just another plug for Calvert. My cousin did Calvert from 1st grade through 8th. Due to state law she had to go to public highschool. My cousin graduated this past year as the valedictorian. They attribute her success to the Calvert School Curriculum.

[brittone2]

I'm late to this, but I agree w/ the others to try not to overload her, especially if she's getting some school outside of the home.

nak w/ DD next to me, but

For math, some well-liked curricula are:
-Singapore Math (inexpensive overall, not a lot of repetition which is good for some kids...some kids need some extra practice over time, some families like not having lots of "busy" work). We have done Earlybird w/ DS (their Kindy program) and will be starting Primary 1A soon. I just follow DS's lead. We also do a lot of math games, etc. and play with math manipulatives (base ten set, geoboard, tangrams, pattern blocks, cuisinaire rods, unifix cubes, balance/scale, etc.)
Minquon math (also inexpensive
Math U See (more expensive I think? I believe this has DVDs that show the parents how/what to teach, and has a lot of manipulatives which drives up the price, but if you are going to buy them anyway, something to consider.
We also have gotten into some math stories, like the Math Start series (my library carries some of these)

For reading/language, we
Read a lot LOL
Use Explode the Code
listen to books on CD

for history we do Story of the World (does have a Christian slant...some of the segments are a bit Christian-centered for my taste, but this can be addressed through discussion and rounded out w/ other (secular) books. We use DK Eyewitness books, and some Usborne and Kingfisher books to round this out a bit. History Odyssey uses SOTW in addition to a bunch of other texts, etc. so that's something to consider. I am willing to use SOTW as we discuss and expand on it, and DS likes listening to stuff on CD in general. We also just do a lot of reading, and look at multicultural books, etc. about homes around the world, DK has a great book called Children Just LIke Me http://www.amazon.com/Children-Just-Like-Anabel-Kindersley/dp/0789402017 (they have a bunch of other great ones: A Life LIke Mine and Homes Around the World for example would fit in nicely with that type of theme)

Science for us is primarily nature study and just fun stuff. Sunprint paper, our own little experiments, nature walks/observation, raising butterflies. DS also at 5 is now really into the Magic Schoolbus books, DK Eye Wonder (more age appropriate than the Eyewitness series) and the DK Eyewitness books (which are somewhat over his head but we just follow his lead about the portions and topics he wants to read about). He also likes books like these:
Let's Read and Find out Series (Harper Trophy)
for example:
http://www.amazon.com/Seems-Change-Lets-Read-Find-Out-Science/dp/0064450651/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247423553&sr=1-14

http://www.amazon.com/Forces-Things-Lets-Read-Find-Out-Science/dp/006445214X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247423597&sr=1-1

we don't do it all every single day. We have times where we don't touch our homeschool "stuff" at all for days and days, but DS is still learning without any curricula. We have curricula available, and we mostly follow DS's lead...no "school at the table" or trying to reproduce school at home.

Even those HSers who use curricula daily will usually tell you they can accomplish a great deal in just an hour a day with a very young child, or 1-3 hours with an older child.

You can also check homeschoolreviews.com for more info.

There is so much curricula out there. Most seasoned HSers advise those just starting to go slowly...find what works for you and your family before spending a lot of money collecting curricula you will never use, or that doesn't work for your family (a common problem w/ so many things available!).

Best of luck!

[mommy111]

Beth (brittone) thank you for the excellent links. We used to do a lot of books on CD for fun but have lapsed completely to listening to music while in the car, so that is a great idea with the history curriculum.
And Beth (egoldberg), I am half way through nation deceived, (LOTS of interruptions from the two little ones) and it is indeed very interesting.
I will keep bothering all of you for advice as we embark on this journey, and thank you again! :)