I think I'm a bit eclectic when it comes to buying curriculum. What I mean by that is, I choose different publishing companies for different subjects that I think best suit my kids. In this section, I'll be sharing what we've used, (and currently using), and my opinion on each of them. With that being said, it's just my opinion. What works for some may not work for others. The joy of homeschooling is being able to find what really peaks your child's interest when learning about certain subjects and to know what works for them and for you!
If you like short and simple lessons with little planning and supplies needed, this is good. With that being said, I felt like I wanted to give my child more than what the daily lessons taught. So, I found myself finding other worksheets off the internet and whatnot to fulfill what I felt needed to be taught for my 2nd grader. But if short and sweet is your thing, then I would recommend Master Books.
The math course was really good at explaining concepts of algebra in the beginning, but we did find ourselves getting frustrated toward the end of the year. I felt like there was not enough instruction for the latter part for explaining in detail how to solve the problems. I know they offer an instructional DVD as well, but I did not want to invest that money into it at that time. We got through it with the help of Khan Academy to finish out the school year.
The language arts subject (what they call Writing Strands) was okay for teaching how to write and such. However, I guess I was hoping for more from a language arts curriculum, like novel readings and classical literature and poetry. So, I just picked out novels for my son to read and give reports on.
My review of these subjects is the same pretty much the same: lengthy weekly lessons, worksheets to accompany each lesson or chapter, quizzes, and tests. All pretty cut and dry, and my son wasn't getting into it really.
The homeschool curriculum company, The Good and The Beautiful, was a really great course for English literature and grammar! It was engaging, colorful, and classic-style learning.
Math-U-See is a popular curriculum with most homeschool families. Steve Demme, the creator and teacher is great. There are videos to watch (optional) before each lesson. The textbook is laid out nicely and the workbook and tests were great. This was a great option for my son since he could work on his own while I attended to the other children.
For science, we used The Good and The Beautiful. They have tons of unit studies to choose from. Each unit is about 2 months long. We chose 4 units to complete; space, geology, classification of animals, and palentology. There are different workbooks for differnt grade levels. However, they do not go up to highschool, only 8th grade. I decided to let my highschooler do that workbook, but also had other reading i picked out for him to do on his own. It worked fine for us. The course is eye-catching and just overall wonderful! Would highly reccommend.
This course was also great from The Good and The Beautiful! This is to be taught all together for all ages/grades, K-12th. It has audio dramatizations, board memory game, colorful story book, and great lessons and worksheets for each grade level. Another great way to knock out multi-grades with one curriculum!
Just like all of their other curriculum, this was great for my daughter. It too, was engaging and colorful which kept her attention!
Loved this course for English Literature! They used a nice, classical approach, full of color and beautifully written! The storybooks it came with were also great! My daughter loved the challenge sight-words she worked on daily to increase her vocabulary. Another 5 stars from me!
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