Where can I find a good curriculum for home schooling?

Question

I want to begin a home schooling program for my children, but don't know where to begin drawing up a curriculum. Can anyone help me out?

Answer 1

I use Abeka to teach my son (age 7). *see below for link* it is very child friendly, and easy on the teacher/parent as well. Their curriculum is very well laid out and easy to follow. They have K4 and K5 as well as pre-K and higher grades.

You can either use their materials separately, or purchase the entire curricula (student and teacher copies) and also become sort of an *umbrella school* under them. You can either grade the material yourself or send it off to them for grading.

If you're not looking for a formal curriculum at this time, I found http://www.edhelper.com absolutely wonderful. Not only are many of their materials available without a subscription, the subscription itself is VERY cheap.

Good Luck and I hope this helped.

Answer 2

you have to follow your state rules, do a search for homeschool laws in your state

Basic rules are:

Grades 1-4

Reading

Spelling and Grammar studies

Numbers and arithemetic

Art

Music

Grades 4-8

Math to pre-algebra

English literature and grammar

Earth Science (Astronomy, oceanography, meterology)

World History and Geography

State history and geography

Art

Music

PE or Sports

Grades 9-12

General

2 years math

2 years science

4 years English

4 years history

Art

Technical Crafts (auto, electronics, plastics, metals, fibre glass)

College

Algebra 1-2

Geometry 1-2

Trig

Economics

Statistics

World History

Civics

English Grammar and Comp

English Literature

Composition in APA style, Harvard Style

Biology 1-2

Math Chemistry or Physics

Sociaology or Psychology

Art

Music

Optional:

2 years foreign langauge (required for private colleges)

The ciriculum is simply building skills from A,B, C and 1,2,3 up to the top levels.

Every year has to have a Reading, Spelling or English course

Every year has to have numbers or math

Every year has to have history or politics

Every year has to have some science

Every year has to have creative artistic outlet in some manner

Answer 3

try www.k12 .com love it good luck

Answer 4

It depends on how they are and you would like to approach homeschooling.  Theres different styles of education and there is just no way for anyone to tell you whats right for your family.

I use a mixture of products.  When I first started homeschooling I only used Alpha Omega- which is good- because you can get placement tests for them and put them in the exact level they need to be.  All your lessons are made up already and you have teachers manuals.

Now we use some of the Alpha Omega, Abeka, workbooks I get at the store, the internet and life experiences as well as old text books that school are tossing out.

A real good resource that is invaluable to my family is abcteach.com.  They have tons of worksheets, thematics and printable books, and tests.  Its real awesome.  I think we pay 25 dollars a year and you can download and print as much as you like.  Theres also wowio where you can get free ebooks as well and theres many other sites for free homeschooling tools.

If you would like more suggestions or guidance, email me.  I will be more than happy to help you find your teaching/learning style and give you some suggestions.

Answer 5

Here are some of my favorite resources:

http://www.rainbowresource.com (ask for the print catalog, its difficult to see what they really offer on their website.)

http://www.homeschooldiscount.com

http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com

http://www.timberdoodle.com

https://store.aop.com/aop/67.cat

http://www.aop.com/horizons/Subjects_Mat...

http://www.aop.com/horizons/Subjects_Pho...

If you choose to put together some subjects from library books and such, go to http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?cur...  for a little guidance.

I also recommend the following books:

"The Well Trained Mind", by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise

"A Charlotte Mason Companion", by Karen Andreola (sp?)

"When You Rise Up", by R.C. Sproul Jr.  (This book has a definite Christian focus, but even if you are not a Christian it has a lot of good information.)

Answer 6

There is Bob Jones. They offer the whole year on DVD or satellite. You can piece together a program from websites like cbd.com and exodus provisions.

Check on your states laws concerning what is required at each grade level.  Find a home school association in your area. Some of these parents had kids in the public schools in your area and are familiar with home school curriculum's. Go to the home school legal defense, they can give you advice pertaining to your states laws.

Don't be surprised when you start if your kids are behind there grade. When we started my son, he was just going into third grade.  What he was actually taught, and what was done in his workbook at school placed him in the first half of second grade going by the material we had for home schooling.

Answer 7

Some great sites for reviews of home school curriculum:

http://homeschoolreviews.com

http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com

A free curriculum based primarily on public domain texts:

(also has links to free math curricula)

http://oldfashionededucation.com/

A free Charlotte Mason style curriculum:

(Charlotte Mason is similar to classical education with an emphasis on nature studies)

http://amblesideonline.org/

The curriculum I use and love is CLE by Christian Light Publications, it is very affordable:

http://clp.org/

Answer 8

Not knowing you children's ages, or your family budget I would recommend starting by ordering several free catalogs.

We use Christian Liberty Press as our foundation, since they take an eclectic approach, and take the best of several great home school providers as well as their own materials.

CLP incorporates Abeka, Bob Jones, Modern Curriculum Press, Saxon, and other materials with their own.

http://ebiz.netopia.com/clpress/

The answer, and test packets/answer key's for these books; as well as teacher guides if you would need those; are much less expensive as well.

A complete grade year can start as low as $100.00 all books and planners included.

This is web site that will send you sample boxes, I have never ordered these myself, but I hear it is a great way to sample materials.

http://www.3moms.com/html/home.asp

We have home schooled for a long time, and are presently still home schooling; we have changed materials a few times to adjust them to the children's learning style; often times buying books, or workbooks is trail and error.

Do not be afraid to set something aside if it does not work, and move on to something else, it is the key that makes home schooling work so well; individualized education.

Another place to start is a home school coop.

http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/

Two web sites that cost about $20.00 per year to gain complete access are

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/

http://www.abcteach.com/

You can check them out for free, and you can make a whole curriculum up yourself with the resources they have on their sites.

Another great web site is;

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/

Don't overlook trying to connect with a local home school group for support, ideas, and activity opportunities.

These families help each other in many ways, and you can pick up some great pointers from them as well as trade, or borrow curriculum to start with.

If your state has a home school convention consider attending, these have great home school work shops, and vendors come to show, and sell their materials.

Good Luck.

EDIT:

We moved around a lot as well; this web site may also be of service to you; it has information on overseas home schooling.

http://www.militaryhomeschoolers.com/

This may be a good place for you to start as well, they will send you the materials for free upon receiving your request, check out the website, and take a look see.

http://www.booksamaritan.com/

It may not be an option for this year, but for next school year it could be.

For some dad "moral" support.

http://www.familymanweb.com/

I signed my husband up for his newsletters; he likes them; and some of his books like The Familyman's Bathroom Book of Fathering are realy great.

Blessings.

Answer 9

I used Calvert and Sonlight curriculums. Calvert is good because they send you everything you need with detailed lesson plans, and they will even have someone grade the tests and papers for you if your want. Sonlight was great for me because it is heavily literature-based and I love to read :). There are many many others out there, but those are the two main ones I have used.

Answer 10

Before you begin your curriculum search, you first need to know your childrens' learning styles.  Without that, you may purchase a curriclum that teaches to one style and it may be completely wrong for them (and thus, a waste of money).

You also need to decide if you're going with an "all-in-one" curriculum, or putting things together (eclectic), unit studies, making your own lesson planes, unschooling, etc.  There are many methods.

After you have those two things nailed down, *then* you can start your curriculum search.

I've used K12 for five years.  We also started using Teaching Textbooks this year for Algebra.

http://www.k12.com

http://www.teachingtextbooks.com

I recommend you read some HS'ing books about the learning style and methods.  Then order a Rainbow Resource catalog - they pretty much have everything in there - it's the size of a large phone book and has tiny print!  I find searching their website to be cumbersome, but the hard copy is great.

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

Answer 11

If your Catholic, Seaton Home study school is Great, Look up, Seaton home study, It should Show up on Yahoo!