Book update

I wrote my book several years ago. One lesson homeschoolers need to learn, and sometimes find difficult, is that as your family grows, your needs change. It is ok, even necessary, to change curriculums as this happens.


Just as an update, here is what we are doing, subject by subject:


Bible- the same as before. For those who haven’t read my book….buy it! LOL. You need a Bible of your favorite translation (mine is the King James Version), and a notebook and paper and art supplies for each student. A Hymnal, concordance, dictionary, and Matthew Henry commentary are VERY good helps to add if you can. They are all available online for free.

Reading- I have used the Noah Webster Reading handbook by Christian Liberty Press to teach my five oldest children. I stand by the statement that all you need is a pack of 3x5 cards, some markers and a knowledge of phonics to teach reading (total of less than$20). The NWRH has the phonics rules, as most of us have very limited knowledge of phonics.

However, after going through this book FIVE TIMES, I am heartily sick of it! I couldn’t face doing it again for my sixth child. So I am using Alphabet Island for her. This is a $100 (give or take) program. The authors gave each alphabet character a personality and invented stories to explain how they act with each other. For example, clever C has a pet kangaroo and has learned how to imitate him by jumping and making the /K/ sound. But when he is by girl letters (e, I, and y) he “actS So Silly they hope he leaveS Soon.” This makes it very easy to remember c says /K/ with every letter but e, I, or y, which cause him to say /s/. (L is also a female, but she is the queen and you don’t act silly around the queen). My fifth child needed some extra reinforcement with her letter formation (normal for a seven year old) and my seventh (4yo) needed an introduction to the ABCs, so I include them and spend about half an hour per day on this curriculum. I couldn’t afford that much time for one subject for one child, but by combining all three it is no problem. This is a cutesy curriculum probably best suited to girls.

Penmanship- I will probably be changing to “Handwriting without tears” come tax time. I have heard good reviews and my children take way too much after their mother in this subject.

Grammar- I have done a good deal of just teaching what I know in this subject. My oldest scored 80% on a sample GED test in grammar. However, I have been much less successful with my boys. I have discovered that, though I always got straight A’s in grammar in school, I didn’t learn very much at all. They never taught more than just the basics. I tried Rod and Staff for a year. I have discovered two things; 1) I LOVE complete text books that cover EVERY aspect of a subject in one series (this is what Rod And Staff does). And 2) There is a very good reason many homeschoolers are “textbook phobic.” They are incredibly boring with way too much work! Yes, I could easily MAKE my children do the work. They are good kids and do what I what I tell them without complaining. But why should either of us work that hard? Is the point of a grammar text to teach them to write for an hour per day or to use a period at the end of a sentence? They were spending so much energy on making sure they copied everything right they were forgetting what they were supposed to be learning. When a friend mentioned that she had just switched to Daily Grams and Easy Grammar, I knew instantly that that was what I needed to do. I have heard about this curriculum since beginning homeschooling and God has been bringing it to my mind a lot in the last six months or so. Her mentioning it just sealed it that I should check into it closer.

Daily Grams is a daily drill in the basics of grammar. One sentence to capitalize per day, one to punctuate, some practice with parts of speech, and combining simple sentences into one complex sentence. Takes less than ten minutes and keeps all the rules fresh. (Drill and Kill at its best)

Easy Grammar is based on the Prepositional method. First the child memorizes a list of prepositions, then he is taught to cross out all prepositional phrases in a sentence. Generally, what is left is the subject and the verb. This really simplifies English. One ten minute lesson per day. We have only been using this for a couple of weeks, but I can see a small difference in their other writing already. I expect more as we really get into it.

I am still using First Lessons in Language for first grade as EG+DG doesn’t start until second grade.

Math- I started with Abeka, but left it because it was consumable and I couldn’t see me having the money to buy new books for every child every year. I used Saxon next. It is the most recommended math curriculum on the market. Again, I LOVE it as a complete math program (a little OCD there, I think). My children hated it. Lessons were more than an hour long with lots of work and little progress that they could see. I have tried Rays and a couple of other things since, all just wrong some how. The one thing I have stayed with all the way through is calculaddars, a drill set. I gave Math U See a try starting summer of 07. WOW. All my children seem to understand what they are doing now. I have them watch the DVD and then do the work. It is like having a tutor come in everyday just to teach math. If they don’t get it from the disk, of course I teach them, but most of the time they don’t need me. I feel like the set is too light and way too easy, but since we have changed they are burning their way through the calculaddars. They are obviously learning way more. My oldest was the last to switch. She is now doing- and enjoying!- Algebra. She is not a mathematician so I will only have her do the Stewardship level after this book, but I have hopes of some of my other children making it to upper maths now; something I had given up on.

History- still using Story of the World. I have some complaints, but it is the best I have found so far. We will spend a year just reading biographies after we finish this level. Then probably a year studying American history (one of my complaints is that their US history is way too light). Who knows from there.

Science- I gave up on Physics and Chemistry. I realized I teach these mixed in with biology and earth/sky sciences so a lot of it was duplicated. What wasn’t duplicated is more than I ever learned even through high school. if they need more in these subjects I will buy them the books and let them learn from the experts. We are now studying the human body again. We are taking one system at a time (we are still on the skeleton as we just started a short time ago) and not only studying its parts and how they work, but how nutrition and exercise affect them. We are having a great time!

Everything else is pretty much the same, so if you want to know more you will have to read my book:-)