Homeschool vs. Public School Graphic

I think on an almost weekly/biweekly basis I have to defend my choice of homeschooling my kids.  It's refreshing to get numbers, real numbers that help me recommit to my decision to continue home schooling my children.

Home schooling is hard.  It's a commitment to learning and taking charge of your child's education, often with out any outside help.  So mom's who homeschool, take a look, a deep breath, and smile knowing you're doing great.

Roman History and Latin Curricula

Ok, slightly obscure.  My son has expressed interest in all things Roman.  He wants to learn Latin, and for history this year he wants to study the ins and outs of Roman History. The beauty of homeschooling is child directed learning. However finding homeschool curricula on this has been challenging.  Here's a list of what I've found to save you some time.  I'm inspired to write a curricula...because there's nothing out there that is the way I want it to be. I don't even know where to begin, but I just might work through it.

Anyway, here are some links to curricula that I am considering until I can space the time away to write my own.

1. Heritage History: Ancient Rome: At $24.99 for a CD of the entire curricula and study guide, this is a bargain and will be a great resource.  It's definitely being purchased.
2. Roman History Pockets: These are great supplement when combined with other forms of study.  They are fun projects that my children have enjoyed in the past.  Last year it was American History, and they just loved them.
3. Literature Pockets: Greek and Roman Myths: Another great project resource.
4. Rome Unit Study: This is a free unit study you can download and print out to use as needed. Free is fabulous...isn't it?
5. If your child learns best through worksheets, then Ancient Rome Thematic Unit may be a good supplement, too.

Latin Resources:

1. Latin: First Year: I was drawn to this one because of it's quizzes and tests book. I am a secular/classical schooler, so this test booklet is super important to me. Before purchasing though, I do suggest reading the comments listed below.  It got some not so great reviews.
2. Beginning Latin for the Homeschooler looks like a strong contender for us. This has great reviews and is very basic.  It seems to me that this book may be used before you begin the first book I linked. 
3. Latin's Not So Tough is a classical curricula with pacing, tests, study guides...it seems to have it all.  It seems difficult to obtain, and I suppose you are lucky if you get your hands on one. It also seems to be geared towards younger learners.  It looks appropriate for 2nd and 3rd graders, or maybe even a gifted 1st grader.

Any resources out there that you think I should add to the list?  Just comment below and I will take a look. 

Finding a Secular Science Homeschool Curriculum

It's almost laughable. A secular science curriculum?  They are out there, and they are extremely hard to find. Lots of authors tip toe around the Christian majority who homeschool, and there are so many creationism curricula it's unreal.

Well, let me show you what I've found so hopefully you won't be driven to wine at 10:30am. Some stuff I've used, some stuff I will try this year. Please feel free to comment below if you've used any of these and have had success (or not) with them.

• Intelligo unit studies are a great resource.  Last year my son did one of their astronomy units, and found it very inspiring and thorough.  They are so secular they have TWO unit studies on Evolution, and frankly, they are one of the few curricula I have ever seen to have it.
• Last year we used Noe Science and if I get around to it I will write a complete review of it.  Currently the entire curricula is missing because of our move....so I'll have to find it first. It came with a science kit, lots of experiments and was pretty fun to use.  There are no tests, which I didn't like, so it was hard for me to know what my children were retaining.  We did Biology, and I'm sure it's pretty obvious, but evolution was never discussed.  Also, there is a biblical verse in the beginning, however the rest of the curricula had no reference to any religion.
• Real Science Odyssey is said to be a secular science curricula. This is a contender this year for my butterfly.  I'm betting this particular curriculum is to easy for my little science geek son, but it might be a good fit for my girl.
• Focus on Middle School Science is more of a contender for my son.  They also claim to be secular.
• Elemental Science is also a contender for us next year.  They go from pre-k to 7th grade and up. Edit: We ended up not choosing this curricula, so I have no personal experience with it. Comments below have noted that this is not quite a secular curricula but more of a neutral curricula. They do not cover evolution.
• Building Foundations is another secular curricula. It comes in different levels up to 8th grade.
• Last one I found that seemed worthy of a nod was the Nancy Larson science curriculum. This curricula is for kindergarten through fourth grade.

So there you have it.  Hopefully with this post I've saved some sanity for you.  If I missed any curricula just link it below, I'm happy to add any secular science curricula my readers may find.

Enjoy!

Guest Hollow -- American History Homeschool Curriculum Review

This school year my son has been working through Guest Hollow's American History curriculum.  I was initially drawn to this curriculum for two reasons.  One it was free, and secondly it appeared to be secular in nature.  The author of Guest Hollow does not hide her faith, but I feel this curriculum is suitable for a family of any faith or none at all.

My son is a gifted fourth grader who easily could have been promoted to fifth grade this year (it doesn't really matter that much when you're homeschooling).  My son loves reading, and this curriculum contains lots of reading. The author's  son was the one she wrote it for, and he also was a strong reader.

When I mentally committed to this curriculum for the year, I had initially decided it would be for both the lego boy, and my butterfly who's in second grade this year.  She states the curriculum is appropriate for grades 2-6. About 8 weeks into the program I found it to be too much to her, so we switched to a different curriculum.  Not much to worry though, when her reading skills are up perhaps in another year or two she'll be going through this curriculum too.

I printed out the curriculum and put it in a binder.  A step that later on I found to be unnecessary.  She has a week by week section online and I refer to that more than I do the notebook.  Online she also has links to print outs and websites with extra reading.  Not all of the print outs work anymore, and I'd love it if she fixed broken links or found replacements.  It's hard to complain though since she's put it out there free.

As far as books or supplies, that's what brings the price back up. I think I spent around $200 in books.  In hindsight I should have checked with the library on many of these.  Kept my purchases limited to History Pockets, and other supplements.

I also have to admit, this is the most time consuming of my curriculums this year to prepare for each week.  For me, it's removing pockets from their books, scanning them in and printing them out. That's the purpose of these books is to reuse the material, and I plan to with my daughter when she's ready for this program.  I also have to look a week or two ahead each weekend and request the books he'll need from the library.  All in all, I likely spend one hour prepping each week.

The best part though is my son loves this curriculum.  He doesn't fight me to do history, and enjoys the hands on projects that happen on an almost weekly basis. The book choices that go along with each week are age appropriate. Between this and the 39 clues series, he's actually become quite the history buff.  He loves it.

I haven't taken a look at her American History 2 curricula just yet, but I hope it's put together similarly and is just as secular as this year's was.  

Revamping History -- Homeschool tweaking

It's this time of year I always seem to second guess myself and wonder if we're on the right track.  History has been awkward...it's not the only thing going the way I don't want to, but I'm addressing this first. We've been doing the free history curriculum from Guest Hollow and don't get me wrong, it's thorough and quite awesome.  It's a wonderful history curriculum for my son.  He's an independent reader, and he gets so much out of it.  He's a gifted fourth grader.  It's not a good fit for my struggling second grader.

So, we're going to try Elemental History.  I love that it begins pretty much where we left off in Guest Hollow.  We just did Columbus, and that's week two.  I also love I can down load it and begin using it immediately.  It's my hope that by separating them into two different history curricula that my son will once again be able to move at his own pace instead of waiting for his sister.

I also love that there is less writing and more crafts.  The first week has us making a telescope, and coloring pictures about states.  I think at her level this type of work will be more meaningful, more fun.


This is the first of many revamps that will be happening this month, and next.

Soaring with Spelling -- A Curricula Review

This year both of my kids have been working out of Soaring with Spelling as a part of the overall Language Arts curriculum.

So far, I've been pleased with this curriculum for my children.  I think we'll continue to use this program so long as it's successful with them both.  Each lesson begins with a pretest.  It's an assessment test to see if the student already knows the words being worked on this week.  This is great, because my son initially had weeks that he scored 100% on the pretest, and when he did, he was allowed to skip the week, and move on to the next.  My daughter however has been stressed by these initial pretests, and cries when she doesn't do well on them.

The lessons each take roughly 5-10 minutes long each day.  With my daughter, I've had to add extra flash cards occasionally when words seemed slightly hard for her.

One thing that perhaps would have been helpful is a placement test.  My son probably could have gone ahead a level in their program...where my daughter may have benefitted from an easier book.

Overall, I think if you're looking for a secular spelling program for your children this program is appropriate for a student who is not in need of any remediation and who is on target for their grade level.

Homeschool -- planning resources

It's a beautiful sunny afternoon (and cold!!), and I'm sitting at my kitchen table with books and time to plan the kids school work for the week.  My son's birthday is Monday, and as a gift to him, we'll be enjoying most of the day with maybe only one or two lessons. The first resource I use is a free planner offered by Donna Young.  Donna Young's website is one that I used a couple years ago when my son was doing first grade at home, and I'm happy to go back to her again for a resource.

I'm still waiting on my daughters Christopherus curriculum to arrive, so in the mean time I'm supplementing her work with free worksheets and other books that I had laying around the house.  I didn't realize I had so much, but this isn't my first round of first grade done at home.






Here are some links to help supplement your kiddos:

Teachnology.com
Starfall
Kaboose has some winter crafts and other worksheets that we'll be adding to our mix this week.
The Math Worksheet Site is invaluable for creating personalized worksheets just for your kiddo. My son still seems to need at least one worksheet a day, and here's one of my resources.

I'm so excited to get into a groove with my kids and our own way of homeschooling.  We now have the freedom to do as we see fit, and it's so incredibly liberating.  Ahhh!!

This beautiful photograph was taken by Kevin McNeal. Please support the arts by checking out his photography.