The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers
VaHomeschoolers.org
Your Resource. Your Voice. Your Association.
The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers
VaHomeschoolers.org
Your Resource. Your Voice. Your Association.
Tip: Many experienced homeschoolers say they wish they had spent less money on a curriculum the first year.
Homeschooling Companion: "This supplement (I do not want to call it a magazine...it really is so much better than a magazine) is absolutely wonderful. It has articles at many different age levels and it took us a couple of days to fully enjoy it. I can already see so many jumping off points from here (and they make it easy, listing related books and resources). It worked relly well for us...we skipped articles that he was not interested in, and I was surprised at some of the articles he was interested in (like the ones about medieval fashion and gardens). They have projects for different age levels, and I can definitely see us using this again and again over the years" - Stephanie Elms, Annandale, VA
Homeschooling on the Cheap:, a great resource!
Calvert School:
(A complete correspondence school.) One mom wrote, "If your child is more advanced
in learning than most five-year-olds, the Kindergarten curriculum may not be
for you." Another says, "We've been happy with it for first and second grade.
Calvert offers a classical education in the "traditional school" vein. I appreciate
the level of detail in the daily lesson plans. We move at our own speed and
it gives me the confidence that we've covered the basics. We add other activities
as we follow our interests of the moment. Calvert is very strong in
writing and composition. Calvert is a solid course that is reassuring for novice
homeschoolers, who often move on to develop their own program of study."
A third mom wrote, "We spent too much on a Calvert 7th grade curriculum the
first year our daughter homeschooled. It was very structured, and for the first
two months my daughter and I adhered to it strictly, measuring margins, memorizing
poems. We got sick of that. I'm not 'structured' by nature and my daughter was
hating our 'school at home' as much as she had stumbled with middle school.
...Everyone's experience is different. What works for us doesn't work for others
and vice versa. I'm glad we had the Calvert curriculum to start out with. Like
a floatation device that gave us security until we felt comfortable swimming
away from it. My daughter always knew that swimming away from a structured curriculum
was fine, but I needed it before I developed the confidence to strike out on
our own." -Laura
Cheap Workbooks: "SAM's club has some cheap workbooks for various subjects and multiple grade levels: science, phonics, time & money, math & reading, and maps & geography, by American Education Publishing. Around 350 pages, each listed for $14.95, but at Sam's only $5.99. Sam's also has crafts, novels, etc. at reduced prices." "I look for workbooks at Safeway, Wal-Mart, and wherever else I go. A great value has been the 99 cent USA and World map kids' placemats at K-Mart! Amazing what kids learn from staring at the table."
Classical Curricula: "The goal of classical education is to teach students how to think. It asserts that there is a definite body of knowledge that one needs in order to be educated in our society."
Clonara: A private school. Appears to be very flexible with curriculum.
Core Curriculum: "Core Curriculum is based on your child's learning style. C.C. can be secular or Christian, whichever you choose. They both cost a few hundred dollars, but can be lower or higher depending on what you want to do."
Don't Spend Money on a Curriculum: "I use the public library, some workbooks from a teacher's store, Cuisenaire Rods and Pattern Blocks, and stuff we normally have on hand: puzzles, gardening, internet, games, dice, computer games, selected TV and videos, friends, field trips (most of our group's are free or low cost), historic sites, museums and so on. We follow our interests, and the kids are at or above their grade levels."
Five In A Row (FIAR): Literature-based curriculum for ages 2-12. A Virginia mom wrote "Five in a Row is a lot of fun for me and the kids. We love learning about classic children's books in-depth through geography, crafts, language arts, and math. We put the chart on our wall so we can see all the different parts of the world where the stories take place."
KONOS: A unit study program with some religious orientation. Eileen S. of Stafford, VA, said, "A unit-study course that lists everything you need, from which library books, craft supplies etc, to songs that tie it all together. A lot of fun, too--so much so that we couldn't believe at first that they were really learning." A second mom said, "My younger kids really like the dress-up and party planning. My eighth grader has developed what I think will be a life-long love of medeival weapons and armour because of one of our units. It is amazing to see how deeply kids will learn about something that sparks an interest in them. KONOS works best for me as a mix-and-match idea book." Another homeschooler wrote, "The KONOS highschool curriculum will give a child a good history and writing background. It is too 'crafty' for my oldest son. We let our high-schoolers choose their own goals and curriculum. Unless your high-schooler is really 'into' history, this curriculum is a lot of work for no 'real' credit. What I don't like about it is that the KONOS people have not developed a whole 4 year program (yet)."
Nebel's Elementary Education: creating a tapestry of learning, written by Bernard J. Nebel, Ph.D. Shay Seaborne writes, "This is a low-cost (under $30, and discounts given for orders of 5 or more copies) full curriculum that emphasizes hands-on, experiential learning that also integrates the 3 R's. Topics are open-ended and encourage children to venture further into their areas of interest. I especially like the chapter on teaching values. The author's philosophy would appeal to many homeschoolers: 'true learning with understanding is a process of building mental structures' through 'lessons reinforced with experiential activities that build on the previous,' that even preschoolers are far from 'blank slates,' and children have a 'wealth of knowledge garnered from everyday experience and self motivated explorations and observations.' This curriculum is designed to offer a solid foundation on which the children can build throughout their lives." You can peruse the table of contents, take a peek into some of the chapters and read reviews at the Web site. You can order this item from VaHomeschoolers' Amazon.com affiliated Bookstore, and a small portion of the purchase price will go to support your fully inclusive, member directed, all volunteer state homeschool organization at no cost to you!
Oak Meadow: A Waldorf-inspired curriculum. J.S. Kelly wrote, "We've been using Oak Meadow for 8th grade. The math and science books are pretty good. I also bought the history but found that it started at 1500 ad so we made an ancient history curriculum from various sources...The language arts was heavily [oriented to] grammar...and writing. I have to say I had some problems with support-they didn't send me instructions until late Oct., and I didn't get feedback on first quarter for many weeks. Things have straightened out since. Frankly I doubt if I would ever buy another history book; it's really easy to make your own course. And it's easy to supplement science with great stuff from the Net."
Jeanne Faulconer said, "Count me in as one who used Oak Meadow and liked it. We found ourselves moving away from curriculum altogether, but I was glad to have used Oak Meadow as our transition from school to homeschool...I ordered the 7th grade curriculum but sent it all back, as the things that I loved about the earlier years seemed less prevalent in that older years' curriculum. Oak Meadow has a lot of ideas for hands-on activities, art, music, drama, etc., and a lot of projects. i.e., for a history project, we made hardtack the way it was during Columbus' era, and we made boats and took them sailing in a creek. Now this may sound like it doesn't emphasize the real info, but of course, when kids are interested in these projects, they take in the surrounding 'stuff.' Nothing like standing by a creek listening to the kids say, 'If it's this hard for our boats to sail, imagine the explorerers' boats in the ocean,' etc. My kids also enjoyed the ancient civilizations material. However, this was where I began to realize the benefits of the eclectic approach. we got stuck on Egypt for most of the year, when it was just one of many civilizations! Oak Meadow folks are also good to talk to on the phone, or were a few years back when I was ordering. They have a good return policy (tho' you do swallow the shipping if you send back) and a 20% off sale during the spring that helps. Oak Meadow loosely uses a Waldorf approach. (I think that's what I missed in the 7th grade curric., less Waldorfian.) I think they say it is Waldorf 'influenced.' I continue to seek used Oak Meadow curriculum, to use as a resource for the kind of 'putting together' approach. It's a really rich treasure of ideas, but too expensive for me to buy when our family is going to dance around most of it. I know people who use other curricula that way, such as Sonlight. You just have to find what works for you."
Software: Homeschoolers' reviews of educational software programs, from FOLC eclectic homeschoolers.
Sonlight: Literature-based, Christian-oriented (but easily adapted for general use) curriculum. Offers FREE 8-week Trial Basis. Web site lists positives and negatives of the curriculum. Denise wrote, "We've used Sonlight for the last year and I've been very pleased with it. So much so that we'll be using it again this year. Although their curriculum is Christian-based, it is easily modified for secular use if that is your preference. In fact, I just learned of a new email list for secular Sonlight users. We've really enjoyed their approach to History, using a combination of literature and textbooks. A big plus for me is that I can get by in purchasing just the Teacher's Manual and the main history text as most of the corresponding literature can be found at the library. My daughter probably happily read more books in the last year through their program than she had in the last three years. I find their Teacher's Manuals very helpful as they lay out your entire year for you, all reading assignments, read-alouds, possible discussion questions, activities, etc. We don't always follow this to the letter, but its reassuring for me to have the structure to fall back on when we begin to go through really busy times at home and school needs to be put back on track. This year we are going to add their Language Arts curriculum -- many people find this to be their strength as it corresponds to the History that is being studied. Dictation assignments, creating writing, worksheets, etc. are taken from the books that they are reading. They have lots of very active discussion boards to help in your curriculum search."
Switched-On Schoolhouse: René wrote, "We didn't really want anything Christian based, but we just don't use the Bible CD. Although it still has Christian references, it's not heavily so, so it doesn't bother me. It's a computer-based program with five subject CD's: Grammar, Math, Science, History and Bible. We leave out Bible, as I said. It does all the grading for you, except for areas where the child has to write sentences or there are several possible answers. Then you grade those questions. There are science experiments for you to do on your own with the material lists, etc. There are also book reports and "extras" for the child to do off the computer, so that's nice. You set up the lesson plan schedule to meet your needs and can adjust it as many times as you need...My daughter doesn't care for the history much, so we might look into something different for that in the fall and just do grammar, math, and science. I don't really care for the history either; it's pretty dry. [The curriculum] leaves lots of time for her to explore other interests. It's the best of both worlds as far as I'm concerned. The only problem we've found is there are errors in the program, i.e. answers wrong when they should be right and vice versa. It isn't abundant, and if you report them to Alpha Omega, they generally put a patch on the site within a couple of weeks. If you download the patches every couple of months, it's not a big deal. The other drawback is if you have a slow reader or a child who doesn't enjoy reading, and/or a child that is not self-directed...There is a lot of reading involved in all subject areas, and teacher instruction is very minimal unless it is needed. They also have a placement test there to help you choose a grade. I would suggest buying it from www.inspiredidea.com or from some of the other dealers that sell on Ebay as their prices are better than Alpha Omega."
Web-Based Curricula:Reviews of sources for online curricula, many of which are free. From FOLC eclectic homeschoolers.
VegSource Buy/Sell Message Boards
Homeschool Fun! Classifieds
Homeschool Bookmobile On-line
E-bay Homeschool Auction
KonosCurricula sale list for items compatible with KONOS curriculum
Moore Expressions On-Line
Randi's Reruns
Free or Low Cost Materials