I thought I would write a follow up to my last post on Homeschooling Resources.
I’ve been receiving several messages from friends and followers about curriculum suggestions. I am very excited how many are choosing to homeschool this year. I’m also honored they have reached out to me for advice. I have tried my best to answer their questions with curriculum that has worked well for us. But I’m realizing it’s kind of hard to answer that question. Every family has different needs. I’m also not sure how each family is viewing homeschooling this upcoming year. Is this temporary or long term? Will they return to public or private school as soon as life returns to normal. Would they prefer to virtual school with an online academy over homeschooling with a curriculum? Do they need to work from home while homeschooling? Or do they have more time to spend? One kid or five? Learning Disabilities? Joining a Co-Op or Tutorial?
SO. Many. Questions. 🙂
So I started thinking about how our family has been almost all those different families at some point in time. Here is what I would suggest for different homeschooling scenarios:
Needing to work? Prefer to have kids home but not teach? A Christian Virtual School sound appealing?
- With Abeka Academy, your children watch videos each day and use workbooks. This is a much richer curriculum than what the public schools will likely offer via virtual schooling. And with Biblical teaching! I think its about $100 a kid per month for elementary age. That’s an amazing price for both books and teacher instruction.. I’m pretty sure we spend more than that on our curriculum alone. Wait… is my husband reading this….. lol
Were your children thriving in a traditional school model? Leaving private school?
Thinking of returning to the classroom after Covid? Trying out a Homeschool Tutorial?
- We used Abeka our first year of homeschooling after leaving a private school. It was a good transition for us. They have a very solid phonics program. And my children still enjoy their math books. While using their complete curriculum and workbook style learning was not a good fit for us over time (I prefer living books for subjects like history and science). Their LA and Math is very popular with families that use a homeschool tutorial. Tutorials are usually heavy in humanities: history, literature, latin, bible, art, etc… So this is a simple program to use when you have less days to spend with your child at home. Beware: It is very teacher intensive. Their teachers manuals are huge! But it is very open and go and scripted to help you teach.
Looking for an open and go curriculum that will hold your hand as you sit alongside your child? Need affordable?
- We discovered TGATB during our second year of homeschooling. They were a brand new company and I loved how they combined many subjects into one. They are also one of the only companies who offer so many of their curriculum for free. You can download their Language Arts level 1-5 for free! You can scroll through and really see how their curriculum is set up this way. I wish more companies would do this. If you choose to download the books, you can print via the Homeschool Printing Co. They have great prices! I also wanted to note that TGATB is very teacher intensive. Your child will need you present for most of the coursework. But its a really great way to help new homeschool families that do not know where to start since it so open and go.
- Masterbooks is a gentle workbook style curriculum if you need short and sweet lessons.
Lots of little ones (PreK-3rd)? Interested in family style learning?
- One of my favorite online resources. Everything they sell you must download and print on your own. The year we used their Playful Pioneers unit was my favorite homeschool years to date! I loved that all my children could learn their history, bible, and science together all at once. They also have great units for preschoolers and their Kind Kingdom is great if your children are older elementary. I wish this existed when my older children were toddlers, we wouldve started with Peaceful Press from the beginning. It is literature heavy. So if you love reading aloud to your kids, this one is for you!
Starting fresh with a preschooler?
- My youngest child used Habitat Schoolhouse for preschool. It is very similar to the Peaceful Press but with more worksheets. I actually used it the same year we did Playful Pioneers because the curriculums were so similar and blended well. It gave me some extra books and activities to do with my youngest. I hear they have a kindergarten curriculum coming out soon that I cant wait to take a peek at.
Coming from or headed to private school one day? Classical education model appealing?
Joining a co-op that uses memory work?
Well Trained Mind: Story of the World Books and Audio, First Language Lessons Book and CD
Classical Academic Press: Song School Latin
- We’ve used all of these curriculums and love them! They each include some kind of music or audio component which is super helpful for my children to remember the information presented. It also helps give mom a break when you can pop in a cd or dvd to help instruct the kids.
Have children with special learning needs? Need multisensory?
Discovered Charlotte Mason? Prefer a literature based curriculum vs workbooks?
Plan on homeschooling long term?
Ready to jump in the deep end? Welcome to the dark side, we have cookies… with tea time!
Simply Charlotte Mason: Music and Picture Study
- We’ve used all of the above programs over the last couple years and have settled into the Charlotte Mason method. These curriculums have wonderful language arts programs and enrichment studies for morning time… a collective time for family to start the day. Charlotte Mason curriculum is known to be rich in literature and living books and uses teaching methods such as narration and dictation. You will find most that follow the Charlotte Mason philosophy plan to homeschool for the long haul and don’t measure their children to the state’s standards but to each individual child’s needs. My children have thrived with this gentle yet rich way of homeschooling that I can curate to their learning style.
Little Seed Lane 