What site do you get your curriculum from? There are SO MANY!! :dunno

Since I'm only homeschooling K right now I'm putting together my own.

I used to tutor a bunch of home school kids, and when I talked to the parents, in terms of curriculum... it varied... some stuck to one and only one, based on whatever their religious/value system called for... others tried one or two and then switched... others used a "package" for one or two things, but made up their own from an assortment of materials from another... it really depends on what YOU want, and what you want to teach your kids... and what they want to learn when they are older.

There's a site somewhere that has free sample sheets and placement tests for Saxon math... that's pretty widely used.

Also, a lot of the sites have "sample boxes" that incorporate a lot of different things from the different curriculum's so the parents can figure out what they want to use. The sites for "teacher prep and curriculum development" with printables are also very good. Also, ebay is a good resource.

Just be flexible, and willing to try stuff... and you can do it without breaking the bank... something that may work for Joe and Sally's kids, may not work for you either because of how it's laid out, making it hard to explain, or for any number of other reasons....

I'm sorry if that's not much help... I babbled a lot, but I don't think I answered you very well. :puzz

i know kelly uses http://www.caliva.org/ (http://www.caliva.org/dg/dg_ca.html?se=Google&campaign=CA_Local_Job_926&adgroup=CA_LO_Virtual&kw=virtual%20academy)

Like you said there are so many to choose from. If you are looking for a Chrisitan based program then check out the Christian Book Distributors website and magazine. They have plenty to choose from. Bob Jones, Saxon, Alfa Omega, Switch on School House, Math U See, etc... You can also check out ABeka at www.abeka.org If you want something that isn't Christian based then check out the text books that the schools use. Google homeschooling, I'm sure alot of things will come up. I'd suggest going to a homeschool conference in your area. It would give you an opportunity to see alot of material displays. You can speak to the people who use them and see who likes what and for what reasons. Also a good place to start is www.hslda.org They have the laws for homeschooling in each state among other things.

i was ajn ABEKA kid...years ago its very chiristian based...and not so wonderful:) (not the christian based part the curriculum itself)

I DID google "Preschool Curriculum". :lol Soooo many options came up, so I was asking exactly which ones you use or who you go through (those of you that do homeschool your kids :) )

Thanks for the input ladies, and thank you Becky :giggle

So I have one positive Abeka review and one negative. What was it that you didn't like about it, LIW?

Since what I teach is spanish I usually search the spanish ones so they wont be of much help to you lol but most of the time I do my own following the books. I use 2 books, a christian one and a non religious one. Let me go through my bookmark and see if I find any that could help you.

You could try this http://www.teachercreated.com/lessons/

Thanks Shaky :)

I create my own for the most part. We use Sonlight for the reading program, Explode the Code for phonics, Singapore for Math and I just go to the Library for books for Science and History. We also watch the Discovery Channel and History channel when the show pertains to what we are learning.

For Gwen we just went to the local teacher store and got her a bunch of workbooks- Colors, Shapes, Alphabet Sounds & Pictures and Numbers 1-10.

For art for both of them we just do crafts for whatever season or holiday it is. When he's old enough we'll learn about Art and Artists.

well...i liked it until i was a teacher and i realized it was all kind of pointless...i just think there is alot better curriculums out there for preschool an amazing one is houghton mifflin (i dont know if they have a homeschool program) but i taught it for a year and there was a HUGE improvement in all aspects of my preschoolers academia...if you ask me (mind you my family is very religious) i think abeka focuses too much on religion and not academics...which is all fine and good but it just doesnt sit well with me...mind you this was like ten years ago though it might have changed alot

i was ajn ABEKA kid...years ago its very chiristian based...and not so wonderful:) (not the christian based part the curriculum itself)

What didn't you like about it?

What didn't you like about it?

See the post above yours ;)

See the post above yours ;)
LOL, I guess she posted right before I did! I didn't use the preschool program for my kids. Becca, the best thing is to look around and see what is right for you and your child. It all depends on what is a good fit for your family. What is right for some isn't the right thing for others. I wish you the best as you look to see what is right for your family.

im sure abeka is a good program but most of the time i fast forwarded alot through the videotapes :P lol and then would have to go back because my mom would ask me about my missing assignments haha i was in 4th and 5th grade so maybe the preschool curriculum is good? im not sure just from my personal experience it wasnt that intriguing as a kid:)

With my daughter I used Five In a Row her K-2nd grade years (although she did do K in public school but she wanted more when she came home so FIAR it was). It's a literature/unit based program. I love literature based curriculum. My kids are all huge readers and I contribute that alot to our using lit based curricula. My daughter and I had a blast with it! For reading I used Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons supplementing with Dr. Suess and Bob Books. She didn't even finish the book; she was reading, needing more so we moved on. We used Pathway Readers (books and workbooks) up to 4th grade (we both wish now we had stuck with that - no particular reason we didn't other than she was doing other things)

We also used Apologia Science elementary books (Botany, Zoology I) Unfortunately she got a little too old for those before we could finish the series. She loved those though.

My boys were a bit older when I brought them home so I used different curriculum with them (Abeka, Alpha & Omega, Beautiful Feet Books)

We've used alittle bit of everything over the years. Now that we are in high school though, we're settled on curriculum.

We use MATH U SEE and love it! I wanted to start with it but DH wasn't sure but after trying a couple other programs MUS ended up being the one for us afterall ;)

i was ajn ABEKA kid...years ago its very chiristian based...and not so wonderful:) (not the christian based part the curriculum itself)

It's surprising to hear you say the cirriculum from A Beka isn't so wonderful. I've heard nothing but good about it. I even have a rather rebellious teenage girl on MySpace who just graduated with A Beka's homeschooling and says it's "tough, going to challenge him. But I'm glad my mom used it".

I've enrolled my 7 yr old in A Beka's DVD program for next year and I can't wait to start! :cp

Also...I wanted to add that I'm using 'Sing, Spell, Read, and Write' for reading/letter recognition with my 4 yr old. It's working out wonderfully! He LOVES to do 'school' at home, even though he attends a public preschool twice a week. (DH insists on the 'socializing' aspect, i choose my battles)..

SSRW is fun, it uses songs and repetition and rewarding. We've not used it long enough for me to say anything like "He's reading!". But soon I hope!