There are many good companies and lots of information on the Internet for home schooling resources. Here are a few that I have tried and feel good about recommending.
Sonlight - Literature-Rich Homeschooling
Make learning exciting and fun with Sonlight Curriculum's literature-based homeschool packages.
We used the Sonlight Curriculum since we started homeschooling in 2000 because I love the literature approach to learning. We read real books to learn things and not just text books. Also, the Instructors Guides are very much like Motivated Moms for homeschoolers! There is a column for each day with what work to do, pages to read or questions to answer each day. Although the check list is helpful, it's not rigid and we could mark off things we didn't want to do, add things we do and move things from one day to another. I liked knowing what was expected of me while homeschooling each day and being able to see what we've accomplished.
Request a FREE 2007 Sonlight Curriculum Catalog. Catalogs are mailed within three days of request and you receive a wealth of knowledge and understanding of Sonlight. "The Way You Wish You'd Been Taught. Guaranteed."
Sonlight now has what is called the Sonlighters' Club. It entitles members who buy a Core to a 10% discount on their first order, plus 10% off any order made for a full year following enrollment in the Club. This 10% discount is applied to all orders no matter how big or how small!
Sonlight also has Discussion Boards where experts (other homeschooling moms and dads) can answer just about any question about just about any subject! The boards are a helpful, friendly place for homeschooling parents to go to learn something new, ask questions or just visit with other people that understand the homeschooling lifestyle.
History/Geography
Bible
Language Arts
Math
Science
Enrichment
Testing
Future Purchases
History/Geography
We have used Cores 1-5 and books from Core 6 and Core 7 and have loved them all with very few exceptions! The Core includes: History books, Geography, Time Line figures, Readers, Read-Alouds, a Bible course, and an Instructor's Guide.
The Daily Geography Practice: Grade 6 with Transparency(s)
The Mark-It Map is a wonderful resource for a homeschooler. It comes with colored markers to write in country names, draw in rivers and fill in other landmarks as we read about them.
The Book of Time (timeline) sold by Sonlight is fun to do. Each Core comes with timeline figures with a peel off backing. We peel off the backing and place them on the appropriate date in the timeline book and look to see what else was happening at the same time. It's a good resource for getting a feel for how events in history are laid out. The figures can also be colored
We have also used the National Geographic Bee Study Guide as a quick geography review. We didn't use all the questions in the book but used it to memorize things like the Largest Lakes, Highest Point on Each Continent, etc.
For our Bible course, wholesome readers and English, we use Rod & Staff. They don't have a website but can be called at (606) 522-4348 and they will be happy to send out curriculum samples for free.
We prefer the KJV for our Bible study and memorization. I love the poetry and the way it flows so beautifully. We had borrowed a Living Bible one year but my son asked if we could quit using that one and just use his Bible which is a KJV.
We have used the Rod & Staff Grade 6 Bible Course and all Rod & Staff materials use the King James Version of the Bible.
I had purchased My Access one year and really liked how it gave my son feedback on his writing. He loved how it gave actual numbers on each section (as a "score") and he goes back in to work on his writing to try to raise those numbers. It still does require my help to look over his writing and make suggestions but it is a good tool in our homeschooling toolbox.
We also added Wordsmith Apprentice
one year to get in more writing practice and it puts the student in a "job" at a newspaper and gives
assignments based on that premise. I didn't purchase the next one in the
Wordsmith
I also purchased a thesaurus last year and it has really come in handy for my son in his writing.
For spelling a great resource is Calvert Spelling and Vocabulary CDs. They are very much like Spelling Power but on the computer. Because my son needed extra spelling practice, we also used Spelling Power. We don't use the Spelling Power Student Record Books, but many people do and find them useful. For the Calvert Spelling and Vocabulary CD and for Spelling Power, the student is tested on a list of words and only has to practice those that he gets incorrect. The CD has 3 small games to play to practice spelling any missed words.
For vocabulary work, my son really seemed to enjoy the Vocabulary Cartoons book. I bought all three and will use them over several years to increase his vocabulary to take the SAT. There is a silly cartoon for each word, the definition and several sentences using the word. The silly cartoons really helped him to remember the words. The drawings are such that they could be colored and that would help to solidify the word in a child's mind. Every 10 words, there is a test (or could be used as a review instead of a test).
After using Rod & Staff English for several years and My Access and Wordsmith Apprentice he was moved from a regular English class to an AP English class within the first two weeks of going to public school. While I had been concerned that his writing skills were weak, his public school AP English teacher really seemed to love his creative writing skills. I credit that to the wonderful tools we used while homeschooling.
We used
Singapore Math
through the end of the Primary Series. It's a great program. The drawings in the books look
more "cartoonish" and my son seemed to like that. It made him feel like he
was
getting away with something and doing "baby math". Of course, it
wasn't "baby
math" -- he learned many math concepts. I loved how geometry is spread all
through
Singapore Math
instead of being a separate course. We used
Saxon Math one year
and while he still learned, just opening a textbook and seeing all the work in
front of him for the day was overwhelming. Either program is good but with
Singapore Math, a
child that doesn't need constant review can get in, go over the work for the day
and get it done in short order -- while still truly understanding why they are
doing what they are doing.
Saxon Math seems to work well for children that need more review and need
more time to really process each new concept. Although, there are also
supplemental books and
CD-ROM
games with
Singapore Math to give more review and help to solidify the concepts, too. If I had it to do it over again, I would probably start with
Miquon Math and
Singapore Early
Bird programs. They can be done together and someone has already put
together a schedule on how to do them both. That can be found
here.
For 6th grade we used many of the Key to... series of books. I ordered all except the Key to Measurements. We took the year as a review year on Decimals, Percents and Fractions and move forward on Geometry and start some introductory Algebra.
After the Singapore
Math and Key to...
books, he went into public school in 7th grade in an AP math class using
Saxon Math (Algebra
1/2) and had an A average (many times in the 97-99% range). In my opinion
Singapore Math
gives a very strong math background and they truly learn the math skills with
it.
Sonlight has some great
science packages. We
have used
Science 1-6.
I love how they have a box of supplies and I only have to provide common
household items to be able to do the experiments. The year we did
Science 5, we added the
following two books: We just love the
Moody Science Video Classics. They are science videos from a Creation
viewpoint. They are beautifully filmed and very interesting. They are older and
don't have all the computer animation and flash and dash but are wonderful to
watch. We watch one every few weeks. I bought the whole set and to me they are
worth the money.
For a few years we
slowly went going through
Rosetta Stone Spanish. Right now my son is
still young so I didn't
require him to do any of the written part. I'm had him go through the
program and when he reaches high school, I'll have him start over and do the
written parts. It should really be a nice supplement to him taking Spanish
in the public school. We used
Mavis Beacon
Teaches Typing for several years. He started in 2nd grade with it and has
done very well, just for something different, I bought Typing Instructor Deluxe. I think either one
will teach typing very well and be enjoyable but my son did tell me after the
year was over that he prefers
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
to the
Typing Instructor Deluxe.
Discovering Great Artists is a book we had on our Wish List for a few years
before I finally bought it. We did several projects from it that were fun. I'm sorry to say we let art fall by the wayside (except for
Big Yellow Drawing Book)
but started it back up for 6th grade and did several more projects from the
book.
For music we are learned to play the recorder. I bought two of them and a beginner recorder book. We really enjoyed that and used to break into giggles when either of us hits a "clinker." Just the other day we were in Wal-Mart and say some toy recorders and my son looked at me and we grinned.
We are not required to test in Texas but just for my own information I do purchase and administer a test at the end of each year. I buy that from Bayside School Services. They are prompt on delivery of the tests and have been very helpful when I made mistakes that had to be corrected.
These are a few things I want that will probably be future purchases:
The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary
American Heritage High School Dictionary
Copyright 2008 Motivated Moms