Homeschool With Tracey

Another complete curriculum that I have used in the past is Sonlight.  I used Sonlight from 2001-2004.  It was wonderful!  What a great curriculum to start out with.  My oldest child, who is now 12, loved for me to read to her.  She could sit and listen to me read forever.  Sonlight is made for children who love to listen to you read.  The books that my daughter and I read together are priceless.  Sonlight really goes all out choosing the books for their curriculum.We stopped using Sonlight after I started homeschooling my 2^nd oldest child, who is now 9.  She isn’t as into reading as my oldest child is, so I had to find a curriculum that better suited her “hands on” needs.  I did teach her (2^nd oldest) to read with Sonlight, and that worked very well for her.  However, Sonlight doesn’t have very many hands on projects, and it would have been difficult for me to combine my children with it (but many people do that!).

The following is taken from The Homeschool Library:

Curriculum: Sonlight

Type: Complete Curriculum

Educational Philosophy: Literature

Worldview: Protestant

Website: http://www.sonlight.com/

Review: Sonlight curriculum is a company that puts together complete curriculum packages for various grade levels. Their “Core” materials are their history packages which are literature based. Each grade level package has Bible, History, Language, and Science Instructors Guides available. The instructor’s guides contain detailed lesson plans for each subject. History, Reading, and Bible are in one IG, the “Core” IG. Language Arts and Science each have their own IG.

Sonlight’s website says:

Quote:

Strengths: Easy planning with thorough Instructors Guides; good high-quality literature; Can be adjusted to suit the needs of each student; Core programs can be combined to suit the needs of different levels. The strength of SL lies in the IGs which are full of notes and comments. These can be invaluable in explaining some of the finer points of the books.

Weaknesses: May be too many books for some students or not enough for others; requires active involvement by the parent, especially in the younger grades; I found adjusting the IG to not be a big problem but it did require some work.

Comments: I think that whether you enjoy SL depends somewhat on whether you and your student enjoy the “spine” of the core you choose. The books are not all that different from what you will see elsewhere in a literature based program. They are mostly Newberry Award winners and other classics. Many of the books SL chooses are sad tales, designed to elicit an emotional response. Not all children are going to enjoy such emotionally charged literature.

We use My Father’s World curriculum.  I chose My Father’s World because they integrate the Bible into history (i.e., you learn what was happening in the rest of the world when Jesus was born), they give great activity suggestions that aren’t too complex, I can buy almost everything I need right from them, they support Bible translation (part of your purchase goes towards it!), they have a mission focus (the family who wrote the curriculum are missionaries), everything is laid out in the teacher’s manual and explained extremely well (I never think, “What the heck are they talking about?!”), they teach history chronologically (each package year just continues from the last), they have curriculum from preschool all the way up through high school, and the support is wonderful as well as the PRICE!More information…taken from The Homeschool Libarary:Name of curriculum: My Father’s World

Common abbreviation: MFW

Optimal age of students: The 5 year history cycle program is designed for multi level teaching for students in grades 2-8. There is also a K and 1st grade program. High school is being completed (currently have through grade 10 finished…11th & 12th grade coming soon.)

Type: Complete curriculum

Educational Philosophy: combines easy hands-on unit studies, with Charlotte Mason, and Classical Education from a Christian view

Worldview: Christian

Website: http://www.mfwbooks.com/

Review: MFW is a chronological based history program that integrates the Bible throughout the program. The teacher’s manual is laid out in a weekly grid format with daily notes for teaching from the “spines”. The manual also contains an extensive listing of recommended library books that enrich the unit study in geography, history and science. It includes easy hands on projects that use common household items. The weekly lesson plans include a materials list for those projects. Notebooking is a primary method of review and “testing” in history and science. God’s word is a central theme to unify many subjects. Scripture reading and memory are scheduled. But doctrine is left to the parents to teach instead of from any specific denominational point of view within Christianity.

A quote from the website:

• Recognizes the Bible, God’s truth, to be the foundation of wisdom and education.
• Utilizes hands-on, unit studies with daily lesson plans that are easy-to-teach.
• Enables families and multi-age groups to learn together. Many of our programs may be taught to a range of ages simultaneously.
• Combines the best of Charlotte Mason’s ideas and classical education with a Biblical worldview, an international focus and our own observations of how children learn.
• Uses a comprehensive sequenced learning program beginning with preschool learning toys to develop readiness skills. Our complete unit-based curriculum includes a phonics-based learning-to-read program and focuses on God’s amazing creation (kindergarten), the world of the Bible (first grade), and U.S. history (second or third grade). Then a year of geography sets the foundation for four years of chronological world and U.S. history.
• Provides easy-to-teach, integrated curriculum that is enjoyable, academically strong, and focused on character development.
• Is committed to the Lord of All, who tenderly searches for people from every tribe and language. A portion of our profits helps support mission work overseas, especially Bible translation projects. Our heart’s desire is that someday soon all people would be able to read of God’s love in their own language.

Strengths: The teacher’s manual is easy to follow with daily lesson plans to combine 7-10 subjects over the course of the day. Strong at integrated Bible with history. Hands on projects are easy to do. The planning is done for you. Designed to help combine students in one main program for grades 2-8 to study as a family.

Weaknesses: Some families do not like to use libraries. MFW encourages library use for enrichment reading in the unit studies. However, all required books for the program are sold in either basic or deluxe package.

Comments: David and Marie Hazell lived in Russia for eight years working on Bible translation and returned to the U.S. in 2000. They now devote the majority of their time to the development of My Father’s World curriculum with the dual goal of providing support for Bible translation and raising up a generation of children that see God’s hand in all of history and share God’s heart for the nations

You have a big decision to make.  Here are some pointers.

If you have two or more children, and you want a complete (or almost complete) program (what I mean by “complete” is that the company that you buy the curriculum from would sell you a package that may/may not include:  History, Social Studies, Geography, Handwriting, etc.), then I would definitely try to combine them if possible.  I have 5 children who are currently 12, 9, 6, 3, and 1.  Can you imagine if I tried to teach each child separately for all subjects?  And they aren’t even all homeschooled yet!

Check around the forums I gave you links to in an earlier post and see what others are using.

Visit some homeschool curriculum review sites.  Just type into Google search “homeschool curriculum reviews” and see what you come up with.

Tristin’s first week with Apologia General Science went very well.  However, she did only get a B- on her first lab report (doh!) because she had some misspellings and/or incorrect wording.  I told her to proofread those labs before turning them into me.  Since this is her first year of receiving “grade” for something (a lot of homeshool pros recommend you don’t start actually grading things until around middle-high school years), I am hoping she will be motivated to remember.

Anyway, I absolutely LOVED the experiments that she did!  I will try to remember to take pictures from now on to post them here in my blog.  Her first experiment involved a jar filled with equal amounts of maple syrup, water, and vegetable oil.  She was to gather together a small rock, a grape, an ice cube, and a piece or cork.  She then put them into the jar with the liquids (which were all separated, by the way—the maple syrup stayed at the bottom, the water stayed in the middle, and the oil stayed at the top).  So, the rock sunk to the bottom, the grape floated on top of the maple syrup, the ice cube floated on top of the water, and the cork floated on the top of the oil!  It was so cool!

So far, so good with Saxon 8/7 with my 12 year old daughter.

She is pretty much learning this on her own with the D.I.V.E cd, so I am a big nervous.  Sigh…my baby is growing up.  As a matter of fact, she prefers to learn by just reading the textbook.  She isn’t very interested in using the D.I.V.E. CD.  That’s ok with me, as long as she is understanding everything alright.

She was a bit upset at all of the problems that she had to solve this week.  I assured her that www.mfwbooks.com (My Father’s World–the curriculum I use, and I use their Saxon 8/7 lesson plans) says that after Day 10, you won’t have to do ALL of the problems.  Apparantly, Saxon is kinda famous for giving a little too much review.

I almost wonder if I should be doing this math right along with her.  I am paranoid that she will get stuck and won’t be able to go with just the CD and textbook.  Yikes.

 This year, with my 12 and 9 year old daughters, we are using My Father’s World (www.mfwbooks.com) Rome to the Reformation package.  This is our 3rd year with My Father’s World, and we have really enjoyed their curriculum.  Their curriculum has worked the best with my large (5 children) family.  You are able to combine different ages (grades 2-8) with their curriculum, which is something that I really need to do.  I will post more on My Father’s World at a later time.

Our first week went very well, considering.

Considering I didn’t plan ahead as well as I should have.  We got back from vacation (a 2-week trip to my parents’ house in Michigan) and started up 2 days later.  I was semi-ready…but not completely.

I wish I would have looked through the Teacher Manual just a bit more.  I like to have EVERYTHING ready.  I was making a couple of copies of things at the last minute…but oh well.

I LOVED the experiemnts my 12 yo daughter did for Apologia General Science!  They were so cool!  I should have taken pictures.  I hope the rest of this year’s experiements will be as good as those were.  Lots of times, with previous curriculums, the science experiements may or might not work out.

It always helps to talk to others that have experience in homeschooling.  I feel very blessed to have met many people online, at homeschooling forums that have a wealth of knowledge under their belt.

When I first got started in homeschooling back in 2001, I didn’t even have a computer yet!  Can you imagine?!  So, I asked folks at my church.  Well, there were about 3 homeschooling families at the time, and only one woman was experienced enough to really give me any helpful information.  So, she handed me a ton of homeschooling catalogs.  Whoa!  I poured though them for weeks; picking and choosing.  It was fun, but I wouldn’t want someone to have to go through that.

I mean, yes, it should take you quite a while to decide what to use.  You don’t really want to rush in.  However, the internet is really your best searching source.

Now, here are some sites with homeschooling forums that I really feel can help homeschoolers with decisions:

The Well-Trained Mind Forums

The Homeschool Library

Since I have been homeschooling since 2001, I have come across a great many sites with wonderful information on homeschooling.  When I first started out in 2001, I didn’t know hardly anything about homeschooling.  So, I did a Google search and started reading!  There wasn’t too much information back then, but there was enough. 

The following are some websites that really helped me out in learning what homeschooling really consisted of: 

National Home Education Network – I think this was the first site I ever went to.  I remember being very satisfied with its information.

About.com:  Homeschooling – Good old About.com.  I just love their information.

A to Z’s Homes Cool – Great site!  Absolutely TONS of information here.

Thinking about homeschooling?

Ok, first things first.  Are you thinking about homeschooling?  Would you like some more information on what is involved, what your state’s rules and regulations are, how much time it will take per day, and what it will cost your family?  I can help!

Ok, first I will tell you about the Home School Legal Defense Association.  Almost every homeschooler I know has started out by getting information from the Home School Legal Defense Association (http://www.hslda.org).  This site can tell you everything you need to know about homeschooling in general, rules in your state, and what is going on around the country as far as homeschooling laws.

The cost to join HSLDA (joining helps to keep homeschooling legal in the U.S., and also helps protect YOU and your family) is $125.00 per year.  They have a payment plan that you can use, as well.  Also, some home school curriculums offer a discount on HSLDA membership after you purchase their curriculum.