Sunday, January 22, 2012

Homeschool Curriculum Reviews

I wanted to update on what we decided to do this year and what has or hasn't worked so well for us and why...

Sonlight Core A - World Cultures - History, Bible, Literature, Geography...
This is the main thing we all do together. That means I have a 3 year old to a nearly 7 year old (and a 5 year old who is learning english) doing the read alouds, history, Bible and literature all together. Honestly, this has been a God-send to us this fall... it has been the unifier among all the different needs we have. Everyone is enjoying it. From time to time I see Cora (3 yo) loosing focus and I send her away to play doll house, but eventually she regains her interest and toddles back in for more. There has been a few of the read alouds I have skipped due to heavy "orphan themes" or because we just read it a year ago. But really we LOVE this curriculum. I've heard it get a bad rap for not "being Christian enough" which I think is sort of silly and also really surprising, and also sad because I think if you have a Christian world view as a parent you can point out God's providence and work in just about any thing. Lastly my most favorite resource is this book called... I Heard Good News Today
Get it! You will love it!
I literally cry reading ever single account. I would get it just as a family resource for Bible study or nightly reading, homeschooler or not!

All About Spelling/Reading - Phonics and Reading, with a bit of Grammar
Again, a huge huge A++. It has been exactly what both Addie and I have needed! She has taken off with reading and I find it simple, yet not boring to instruct with. The readers are really well done, not insulting and enjoyable. The resources provided use all the methods of learning and provide good repetition. After trying 2 other phonics programs I wouldn't recommend anything else!

Math-U-See - Math
This too has been really a great curriculum.
I've had Addie plus the 2 5/4 year old boys joining in, up until this week, because it just got too hard for the boys. The only thing I don't LOVE is the work book, it is WAY too expensive and the way that they do it, it makes it really hard to copy or reuse. Big bummer. I know that once I have 3 kids doing it, buying 3 books will be a hard pill to swallow.

Letter of the Week - Preschool
This is the only curriculum we've used that we just haven't "clicked" with. I think because it feels like a bunch of busy work to me, and also because I am not really ready to have the "littles" doing seat work yet. Maybe it will be a better fit for us next fall for kindergarten for the boys? But really I can't say anything definably bad about it. We've just dropped it for now.




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