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Choosing your curriculum
Posted by kirbymom
on 4/24/12 at 9:20pm
How did you decide which curriculum was the one for you? Was it by trial and error or did you already know what you wanted?

Replies (1-10 of 16)

Posted by 5BMom
on 4/24/12 at 9:31pm (2 likes)

Trial and error...and error...and hit...and error!!!

I think if I had gone with my mommy instinct from the get-go and had not let moms on HS boards sway what I knew in my heart was the best for my kids.

Another thing that brought me to where I am now is that I learned no curriculum is perfect and IT IS OK TO TWEAK!
Posted by SusanTheWriter
on 4/24/12 at 9:41pm

We're starting slowly with just one unit from one program for English - Total Language Plus: American Lit - Poetry. I'm primarily writing our own curriculum for most of English since that's an area of strength for me. She's already strong in grammar, so I'm picking a daily review type of program for her just to keep her in practice. Vocab will be focused on Greek and Latin roots and prefixes - memorization and application to English words. And her writing will be varied throughout all her classes. No formal curriculum for that, either, except for this poetry unit. I'm a truly awful poet!
I'm not picking a formal history curriculum, either, but using a "real books" approach with a spine text to keep things on track. I haven't picked the spine yet, but I've been reading reviews and recommendations.
Math and science will require a formal curriculum and I'm swamped by choice. Several people have recommended "Teaching Textbooks" for Geometry and Algebra 2 and it seems to be something that will click with DD, but I really won't know without a closer look.
Science is just...a mess. DD is still working out her faith, so something with an overtly Christian bent is simply going to distract her. I'm looking for a secular science curriculum and have heard of some folks who just go straight to community college courses for their high school science requirements.
So I know what I'm looking for, it's simply a matter of finding the things that meet my requirements.
Posted by kirbymom
on 4/24/12 at 9:50pm

I know where you are coming from. I write our own curriculum. :)

Quoting 5BMom:

Trial and error...and error...and hit...and error!!!

I think if I had gone with my mommy instinct from the get-go and had not let moms on HS boards sway what I knew in my heart was the best for my kids.

Another thing that brought me to where I am now is that I learned no curriculum is perfect and IT IS OK TO TWEAK!
Posted by KickButtMama
on 4/25/12 at 9:56am

Really it took time and trial and error. We first had to detmine what style of learning would best fit my kids learning styles and my teaching styles, plus cost, plus my goals as a hs family. We are eclectic child-led hs'ers so we do a little of everything.
Posted by oredeb
on 4/25/12 at 11:45am

had a choice between abeka and bju which were the only ones at the time available and very expensive

so decided to make my own! much cheaper and better!! and funner
Posted by wolvesfire
on 4/25/12 at 2:23pm

I knew I wanted to do Saxon Math as I did Saxon in 9th-11th grade. So I am familiar with Saxon. With everything else I looked online to find something that looked like it would be fun for the kids and I to do and learn from though some stuff I'll throw together myself.
Posted by bluevelvetKS
on 4/25/12 at 5:15pm

I make up my own worksheets and curriculum. I feel that for the most part, workbooks are a waste of money because it is just busy work. I follow the guidelines of Susan and Jessi Wise Bauer, though I don't use all their ideas either. That's part of the fun of homeschooling! Picking and choosing what works for your family. I will never do Saxon math as I hated it in school. My hubby found some great high school math books, I think by Paul Foerster, which he used when teaching high school math. I have different science textbooks that I use for ideas but the kids don't follow them.
Posted by kirbymom
on 4/25/12 at 8:34pm

I make our own curriculum as well. We buy used school books to bounce some ideas from but do not use them fully either.

Quoting bluevelvetKS:

I make up my own worksheets and curriculum. I feel that for the most part, workbooks are a waste of money because it is just busy work. I follow the guidelines of Susan and Jessi Wise Bauer, though I don't use all their ideas either. That's part of the fun of homeschooling! Picking and choosing what works for your family. I will never do Saxon math as I hated it in school. My hubby found some great high school math books, I think by Paul Foerster, which he used when teaching high school math. I have different science textbooks that I use for ideas but the kids don't follow them.
Posted by Boobah
on 4/25/12 at 9:00pm

Oh gosh, I researched for months and months after first figuring out what kind of method we leaned towards. But, being first time homeschoolers, we quickly found out that even with all that research, there were things that didn't fit us. :)
Posted by kirbymom
on 4/25/12 at 9:31pm

I just love the focus you have. Would you happen to have any to spare?

Quoting SusanTheWriter:

We're starting slowly with just one unit from one program for English - Total Language Plus: American Lit - Poetry. I'm primarily writing our own curriculum for most of English since that's an area of strength for me. She's already strong in grammar, so I'm picking a daily review type of program for her just to keep her in practice. Vocab will be focused on Greek and Latin roots and prefixes - memorization and application to English words. And her writing will be varied throughout all her classes. No formal curriculum for that, either, except for this poetry unit. I'm a truly awful poet!

I'm not picking a formal history curriculum, either, but using a "real books" approach with a spine text to keep things on track. I haven't picked the spine yet, but I've been reading reviews and recommendations.

Math and science will require a formal curriculum and I'm swamped by choice. Several people have recommended "Teaching Textbooks" for Geometry and Algebra 2 and it seems to be something that will click with DD, but I really won't know without a closer look.

Science is just...a mess. DD is still working out her faith, so something with an overtly Christian bent is simply going to distract her. I'm looking for a secular science curriculum and have heard of some folks who just go straight to community college courses for their high school science requirements.

So I know what I'm looking for, it's simply a matter of finding the things that meet my requirements.