Are there any homeschool curriculumm providers that are *not* Christian based?

Question

I am looking in to homeschooling, but so far all of the curriculum providers seem to be Christian, and we are not looking for a religion based curriculum to use. I have looked some of them over via their online samples, and they aren't just printed by a relgious group, the materials incorporate their religion in to the lessons/texts. I think they are great for those who are religious, but I am looking for something along a more secular line.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Have you looked at Sonlight? Yes it is Christian but you can easily skip most of the religious stuff. The lesson plans are written that you study Bible. Easy enough skip that section. You pick the science you use you don't have to go with Sonlight's. You can also skip certain books that are about missionaries.  

their site is http://www.sonlight.com

Answer 2

We use used public school text books.   Yes, it helps that we work in the public school and have access to the trash cans, but you can find used text books in the Goodwill Stores and used book stores.

Most of the books have online support from the publisher's website.

Answer 3

Not in the state of Alabama at least.  The way state law is written, schooling other than in public school is only allowed for church schools.  So, all the home school 'covers' here are church based.

Sounds like that's your situation, too.

Since you'll be in control of the material you teach, you don't have to present the 'churchy' stuff.

If there just isn't any way around it and you still have heartburn, you might consider a school program like Montessori.

Answer 4

K12 is secular.  We've used it for 5.5 years and love it.  We're even Christians ;-).  I can't find anything of its equal in the Christian market.

http://www.k12.com

K12 can be used via a virtual charter (public) school or as an independent HS'er (typically a private school in most states).  The former is "free" (typical public school fees) and the latter is anywhere from $1000-$7000/year depending on how you purchase it (Consumer Direct vs. iCademy).

Here are some other ideas:

http://www.teachingtextbooks.com

http://www.rfwp.com/mct.php

Some have mentioned Sonlight, that can be tweaked.  It uses a lot of secular, or neutral, books.  K12 uses a lot of the same.

http://sonlight.com/

You can also tweak Apologia's science - many secular users do just that since it's hard to find equivalent, deep & broad, sciences - especially for high school.

http://www.highschoolscience.com

There are individual curricula, such as Michael Clay Thompson's books above, that are secular.  You would just choose an eclectic method.

http://www.thinkwell.com

http://www.kineticbooks.com/

http://www.cosmeo.com (includes NutShell  Math)

http://www.brainpop.com

http://www.explorelearning.com

On and on...

If you get the Rainbow Resource Center catalog (larger than most city's phone books), it has secular materials marked.

http://www.rainbowresource.com/index.php

There are links to secular curricula:

http://www.angelfire.com/or/mtdewbydo/se...

http://www.atheistview.com/secular_homes...

Also a secular HS'ing magazine, and many groups:

http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/

You can also take courses at a community college when in high school for dual credit.  Check with your local one.

Answer 5

This page has a list of secular curriculum providers.

http://docsdomain.net/blog/?page_id=711

Also, as someone mentioned, Sonlight can be done secularly. Sounds strange, I know, but it's true.

Answer 6

Try Calvert ( http://www.calvertschool.org/calvert-sch...

There are others, but this is the only one that I know the name for right off the top of my head.

Answer 7

Calvert and K12 both offer secular homeschool curricula, and Sonlight can be "tweaked" into a fairly secular curriculum as well.