What Homeschool Curriculums do you feel are the best and why?

Question

Please provide links if possible. I am looking to homeschool ages 3 (nearly 4), 5 and 7...

Answer 1

Most beginning homeschool parent/teachers feel the need to begin with a packaged curriculum at least until they feel more confident.

My personal favorite is Christian Light.  The price is about as budget-friendly as you can get and still be this complete.  Most subjects come in a set of workbooks they call Light Units, ten per subject per year.  At the primary level, the TMs are scripted, so a beginning homeschool teacher can't "miss anything".  As workbooks, they're very portable, so you can homeschool in the car, in waiting rooms, whereever and whenever you have to be.  Although scripted, it's very easy to be flexible and adapt to your own child's needs.  It's very academically sound, but not high-pressure at all.  It's often described as a very gentle approach.  There is reading, language arts (which covers grammar and usage and mechanics, spelling, and penmanship - no need for separate "tons" of books), math, science, and social studies, and Bible.  The academic approach is very gentle, with new things introduced incrementally, with spaced-out practice of previous skills in language arts and math.  It's not colorful, but I've never had a student yet complain about lack of color being a problem (it's printed in two-color, so they can color the illustrations themselves if they wish).

www.clp.org

Request a catalog, because the website is pretty much just an order form until they get the new one up and running.

Answer 2

I have yet to find a boxed "complete" curriculum that provides what we need.

I prefer to purchase courses individually.

Singapore Math-Us edition

Easy Grammar

MegaWords

Great Science Adventures

History Odyssey.

However if I had to pick a complete curriculum, I would go with Oak Meadow.

Answer 3

For younger ages I love Sonlight (lots and lots and lots of reading and exposure to language) http://www.sonlight.com (their site is very slow since they revamped it).  I also love http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/ (great selection of books and acivities) -- and my third choice is Abeka - http://www.abeka.com - Abeka is my third only because it seems like a lot of sit work and not as much in the reading area....its a personal choice here though - the Abeka curriculum is awesome.

For older I like to stick with the Sonlight and the RC reading lists, cover the Core Curriculum books by reading trhough them, Saxon in self study manner and adding Singapore CWP and IP in there for them.  Sciences until 6th we just do through reading books from the library following Core Curriculum and Worldbook.com.   We also use WordlyWise for Vocab, Reading for Concepts and Reading About Science for reading comp, Explore the Code for phonics, Loyola Press Exercises in English (grammar), and Rod & Staff English (textbook and worksheets) once they get past Kinder.

Oh - Forgot to add, I love Singapore math and RightStart for the very young ones along with facts cards - then we jump into Saxon w/the Singapore CWP and IP.  

Startfall.com is a great website for the ones learning to read.

Also look into lapbooks (they are great for the little ones)

Answer 4

I was home schooled up to 9th grade thru a local christian school (Chino, CA).  Their curriculum's came thru PACES which are booklets for each class (Math, English, Science, etc...) the lessons and activities are awesome, understandable, fun, and well oriented.  You and your children would love it!

Answer 5

Hewitt Homeschooling unit studies are excellent for younger kids.

A Bee Sees

Training Wheels

Across America

and others are perfect at ages five and seven.  Age three needs nothing but lots of one on one play time and stories.

Answer 6

I love A Beka DVD Program 1. I've home school my son from preschool to 10 grade (he'll start 11th grade in Aug.) They got great support staff. I have tried several other companies in his lower grades.

Answer 7

The best homeschool curriculum depends on your child's learning style and your goals for your child. It will vary from family to family.  I would start by looking at different homeschooling methods to see what fits.  This link describes different methods and tells which programs fit those methods:

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

As far as what I like personally, for preschool and kindergarten I like:

http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com ABC series - simple and easy to use

http://www.sonlight.com Preschool - fun and includes great books

http://www.fiarhq.com Before FIAR - includes great books and activities

http://www.winterpromise.com - literature based and includes hands on activities

Here is some information about homeschooling preschool:

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

For elementary school, we use A Beka for math and phonics and read, go on field trips and do projects for everything else.  A Beka is a workbook type curriculum that is easy to use and highly rated.  It is used by many Christian schools.

http://www.abeka.com

You can read reviews of different programs at http://www.homeschoolreviews.com

Hope this helps!

Answer 8

People make a really big deal about homeschool curricula.  They also make a big deal about how expensive it is.  Well, I was homeschooled until high school, along with five siblings, and my mother never used a "curriculum".  She went to the local libraries for textbooks.  College libraries tend to have a really good selection of textbooks for all subject - see if there are any in your area.  Just browse the books that they have, and take anything that looks interesting.  Since it costs nothing, you can always find a different book if the one you're using just doesn't work for you.

Answer 9

I've used K12 for 5.5 years and love it.  Their depth and breadth in their scope & sequence is amazing.  Their Phonics program is wonderful.  I like how they're a mix of classical education with Core Knowledge Foundation, and a lot of research thrown in.  I like how they have multiple activities in a lesson, for different learning styles, to meet the lesson objectives.  I love how they introduce things in one grade, then review it and go deeper the next grade, etc.

http://www.k12.com

I also love Handwriting Without Tears.  It is a gentle, fun approach.

http://www.hwtears.com

I have other curricula I like, but they aren't for the ages you listed.