What homeschool curriculum do you use?

We use Christian Liberty Acadmey Satellite School We go at our own pace with workbooks, scannable tests, nice books, and teacher editions. They have tutorials online. There will be a graduation after 12th grade and we get gradecards. This works really well for us and like the unstructured structure we create to learn this and more. We are thrilled that colleges, the military and others are beginning to look for us homeschoolers and we will be ready to take advantage of that. There are sometimes legal issues so this curriculum is very legit and we also belong to Home School Legal Defense Fund. You never know and it is better to be safe that sorry. Good luck. I would wish all children would become homeschooled.

Right now we use an unschool appoach, but I plan to weave in some Enki curriculum. www.enkieducation.org

We use a pretty eclectic mix of materials and resources. The two main things that we use are sonlight for history and literature and time4learning.com bowling on Mondays, homeschool park days, chess club, piano lessons, seasonal sports, robotics club----these things add some opportunities for learning in groups and developing good social skills with people of all ages and personalities

Unfortunately, I can't be much help as we're unschoolers. However, we do use a lot of lapbooks. A great site for that is http://www.handsofachild.com Brenda Marie Homeschool 4 Us (My homeschool blog): http://homeschool4us.blogspot.com/ My ebook: "Homeschooling Without The Headaches" http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=812683

We use OFE (old Fashioned Education) from Hillbilly Housewife.com . It's free. We also do Unit studies on one country at a time and the kids fill out sheets to put into lapbooks. When they are finished, they have a neat book with facts about different countries to look back and review. I would have to say to first of all, check your states laws on homeschooling. HsLDa has them listed by state on their site. Some states require that you report to them and take tests.Be sure to document everything! That way, there is no problems down the road if your states laws change!

We unschool and learn a lot from wherever and whenever. We have gained a lot of insight from www.sandradodd.com/unschooling

Here are some homeschool resources: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.littleexplorers.com/Dictionary.html Online picture dictionary http://www.makingfriends.com/f_Friends.htm Paper dolls and clothes for boys & girls http://www.teachervision.com/lesson-...sson-6281.html Lesson plan forms http://lessonplanz.com Free lesson plans http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ Free lesson plans http://www.kididdles..com/mouseum/index.html Database of lyrics for kids’ songs http://www.theeducatorsnetwork.com/m...sheetindex.htm Worksheet generator http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolworksheets.htm Preschool and kindergarten worksheets http://www.educationalpress.org/educationalpress/ Printable flashcards and worksheets http://www.dltk-teach.com/ Printable and online activities and crafts http://www.learningpage.com/ Free printable worksheets and clip art http://www.first-school.ws/ Very detailed lesson plans with preschool activities and crafts http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/print/color.html Links to lots of coloring pages and activities / also, lot of character coloring books (Barbie, Clifford, Garfield, etc.) http://www.first-school.ws/ Writing paper, ideas to teach letters and numbers, holiday ideas, craft ideas, Sunday School lessons and more! http://www.do2learn.com/sitemap/ Lots of neat stuff for kids with disabilities. http://www.letteroftheweek.com/ Letter of the Week! http://www.kidsgardening.com/ http://www.easyfunschool.com/ http://www.waldorfhomeschoolers.com/ http://www.nhen.org/ http://www.besthomeschooling.org/index.html http://www.funbrain.com/ http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ http://www.doverpublications.com/samplerkids/ph/ TEACHING WITH TIMELINES , she has pics too to explain and this is wonderful for hands on history!!! http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/TimelineHelps/ this nice mama is sharing her hs forms and awrds etc.. she has created for you to print out to use- http://www.geocities.com/highland_heritage/Forms.htm I have really been enjoying this site- http://www.4reallearning.com/ It is Catholic Charlotte Mason but has super links and lists for everyone that loves 'real' books http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/wondernetdisplay.html?DOC=wondernet\topics_list\index.html http://school.familyeducation.com/educational-issues/parenting/34358.html http://www.kinderart.com/ Christopherushomeschool.org Waldorfresources.com WEHomeschool.org Waldorfhomeschoolers.com Waldorfworld.net http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html http://www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets/ http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com/ Classic Educational Programs from the days of Old Time Radio Especially for Homeschoolers http://www.homeschoolarts.com/main.htm Free Art Lessons http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/ Web Guide For Kids http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/ entertain and educate the under-10s...coloring pages, puzzles, printable crafts and games, traditional crafts, worksheets and wallpaper http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/ Craft Ideas http://www.metmuseum.org/education/index.asp Metropolitan Museum of Art http://www.papertoys.com/ Paper toys to print fold and glue http://www.sanford-artedventures.com/play/play.html ArtEdventures are interactive online games for teachers and students. In these fun and educational activities, you'll discover how great artists made their famous works—while learning tips and techniques for creating your own art! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/krampf/ Weekly science experiments that can be done with household items. Topics vary from physics, chemistry, biology, earth science, etc. Most are easy enough for young students, and most can be adapted for older students and adults. http://www.brainpop.com Educational animated movies for K-12. The company creates original animated movies to explain concepts in a voice and visual style that is accessible, educational and entertaining for both children and adults...demystify Math, English, Science, Health, Technology and Social Studies topics. http://www.freecycle.org It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is run by a local volunteer moderator (them's good people). Membership is free. http://www.starhop.com/NASAERC.html NASA’s Educator Resource Center http://www.entre-ed.org/ This web page is for teachers, instructors, program developers and others who help students of all ages find their own entrepreneurial opportunities. http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/loanfinder/ Connect art and curriculum by borrowing free learning materials from the National Gallery of Art’s Division of Education. http://www.windowsintowonderland.org/attend.shtml Windows into Wonderland electronic field trips (eTrips) are designed for students in grades 5-8, although younger and older students will also benefit from them. All classes and individuals are encouraged to register free of charge. http://lessonplancompanion.com/FreeSamples.asp 24 free sample worksheets http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/electricCircuits/ A free series of textbooks on the subjects of electricity and electronics http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/readbooks National Braille Press, along with Seedlings Braille Books for Children, is distributing attractive braille book bags to families with blind and visually impaired children, ages birth to seven, across the country. The distribution process is a collaborative effort with educators and early intervention professionals. http://www.homeschoolfreestuff.com/ A FREE Weekly Newsletter with FREE curriculum, resources, and more http://www.sitesforteachers.com/ A ton of free resource links here http://www.abcteach.com/ 5000+ free printable pages and worksheets http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/ lesson plans, thematic units, teacher tips, teacher discussion forums, downloadable teaching materials, printable pages, themes, and more These sites have great visual learning worksheets. www.speechfun.com www.speakingofspeach.com A few astronomy links http://spaceweather.com/ http://www.heavens-above.com/ http://hubblesite.org/ (sorry if this has been posted already!) http://www.nineplanets.org/ ( solar system stuff ) ELECTIONS STUDY Ben's Guide to US Government for Kids http://bensguide.gpo.gov/k-2/index.html Printables for Election unit http://abcteach.com/directory/theme_units/social_s tudies/elections_theme_unit/ President coloring pages http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/presi...lor/index.html Scholastic News online (lots of activities) http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/election2004/ American President http://www.americanpresident.org/ Election lesson plans http://atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Elections/ Outline maps of the US (some good ones if you want to color in the states during election night) http://nationalatlas.gov/outline.html Congress for Kids - lots of election-related activities and links http://www.congressforkids.net/games/Elections_ele tionpres/2_electionofpresident.htm White House for Kids http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/go/jump2.cgi?ID=1038 Columbus Day Part 1 of 3 Sailing across the sites of the World Wide Web I discovered these interesting and informational resources for your files to use for Columbus Day activities. Columbus Biography: http://www.jeannepasero.com/colbio.html Columbus Books For Children: http://www.jeannepasero.com/colbooks.html Columbus Day For Children: http://www.jeannepasero.com/colprojects.html Columbus Day Theme: http://www.childfun.com/themes/columbus.shtml Columbus Report Form: http://abcteach.com/MonthtoMonth/October/report.htm Columbus Timeline: http://www.jeannepasero.com/coltimeline.html Christopher Columbus: http://metalab.unc.edu/expo/1492.exh.../columbus.html Christopher's Crossing: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec6.../Columbus.html Columbus Coat Of Arms: http://metalab.unc.edu/expo/1492.exh...s/columbus.gif Columbus's Crew: http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/crew.htm In 1492: http://www.teachingheart.net/columbus.htm The Columbus Letter: http://www.usm.maine.edu/~maps/columbus/ ABOUT MRS. ALPHABET.... Mrs. Alphabet is a National Board Certified Teacher (EC Gen), author, trainer, and educator who devoted 36 years to teaching young children foundational skills, creating original materials, and updating old techniques. I have a masters Degree in Early Childhood Education and have instructed children from 2-12. This newsletter grants me the pleasure and opportunity to share my wealth of knowledge and expertise with parents, students, and educators in cyberspace. ------------------------------------------------------------ Questions? Comments? email: mailto:alphabet@gophercentral.com ----------------------------------------------------------- To SUBSCRIBE: http://www.gophercentral.com/sub/sub-alpha.html http://sewfunky.ca/homeschooling.html For Christmas: http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/specialfeature/christmas-countdown-ms/ http://www.literacycenter.net/ http://www.writingfix.com/index.htm http://www.mymoondrops.com/info/spelling.html http://www.studydog.com/ http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/index.htm http://www.dositey.com/ http://budgethomeschool.com/ I use brainybaby and babybumblebee videos with my toddler.

My mom homeschooled my brother's and I. We went through Cambridge Academy. It's a correspondance school. They send you all the books and lesson plans. You teach your kid and send in homework and tests. They grade it. And if you continue through high school, you actually get a diploma (as opposed to getting a GED).

Hi! We use unit studies. You can see an example of them at homeschoolingk@blogspot.com

I use the Core Knowledge series as a basis for my made up curriculum. I wanted to save money on curriculum to use on field trips and supplies, so I found their "Need to Know" series helpful in helping me to plan my own curriculum. I use premade lesson plans from the Baltimore Curriculum Project and others, but I also only go at my ds's pace. So I guess I call myself a scheduled unschooler! lol Basically I have a plan, I have it scheduled, but we do the lessons when my son wants to. I feel that the learning should take place on his terms not mine, as it's his education. I just try to have the materials ready when he's ready!

Have you checked out http://www.homeschoolshare.com/? I was interested in FIAR last year for my 1st grader, but couldn't ever get a full grasp of what it is...and there were no samples to be found anywhere! I found homeschoolshare and it is very similar to FIAR only it's free! We have done several of the ones from that site and my boys both love them! Also, I love love LOVE Time 4 Learning as well, it is fun and educational and very inexpensive...plus, you can print off everything you need from the lesson plans and keep track of what kind of grades your child is getting! Good Luck!

My kids loved FIAR. I didn't love it so much. Mainly because I had a hard time with wanting to do *everything* the manual suggested and getting frustrated I couldn't do everything I had planned. If you are not a perfectionist planner sort of person, I think you'll love it.

We started homeschooling at the beginning of this year in January. I did alot of research the year prior to homeschooling. I visited our state homeschool convention which allowed me to do some actual hands-on research and speak with the representatives from the different programs and take a look at their curriculum, etc. I chose ACE - Accelerated Christian Education. I was looking for something simplified as I did not want a program in which you had to be a college professor to be able to use! This program is a self teaching type of program. There are no "books" involved, only individual PACEs which are about the size of a comic book. The child completes 12 of these PACEs per subject for each school year. At the beginning of each PACE they are taught a Bible verse along with a virtue which they learn and build upon through the PACE. I have been very pleased so far with this program!

Never heard of Weaver Interlock, but have heard of good things of the 5 in a row series. It starts before and beyond. If I'm not mistaken, it's sorta like Abeka. Sounds like you have made a good choice to me.

We had a good experience with internethomeschool.com when my younger sister was homeschooled. The only drawback is that many people might find it kind of pricey. They hold classes online and the kids can interact with each other as well as the teachers.

I try for a structured unschool approach- lol- what an oxymoron. I like the concept of unschooling & if I were the student, I know it'd work well for me. But I found with my eldest if I didn't give him a little nudge & a little direction, he'd probably have spent years sleeping or studying his toe-nail growth. I've joked for years that that child is part sloth. I would do things like forward news articles online to his account & then a day or so later that would be the dinner-time subject. Anything he had the tiniest interest in I would pick up as many related books & movies as possible from the library on the subject. And I encouraged lots of experiments & hands on activities. Which meant occasionally there was soda bottles of yeast blowing up in my kitchen. He 'finished' school last year & chose to get his GED. I think our approach worked well for him. My littlest one is turning 5 and our focus for now is on field trips and hands on exploring. Our library offers free & reduced passes for all of the local museums, the aquarium, some zoos & a half a dozen or so other field trip destinations. We give our library card quite the work-out. I'd say we average 2 of these trips per month. We also participate in flat traveler exchanges, a post card swap & a shoe-box swap groups, which is a lot of fun. Oh & we letterbox, which also leads us to various adventure places.

I think that preschoolers really don't need a structured curriculum as they can learn so much from books, videos,etc. However, I prefer to use Alpha Omega for elementary school and I am mixing things for high school. I feel that you can find so much free stuff online that there are months go by that we don't use our curriculum at all. We do unit studies and stuff like that. Good luck in your desire to help your kids and to home school them. You will be amazed at what you will learn as well.

I've been homeschooling my 5 kids for the past 3 years. We don't stick with a certain curriculum as what works with one child just does not work with another. However I have learned from experience if there is a curriculum "calling" to you, grab it. I have had this happen twice and am glad I went with my instincts - Math-U-See and Apologia Science are both absolutely wonderful curricula to go with. Especially for someone who has difficulties understanding those subjects. My kids are very bright, but math is a challenge for a couple of them and science is something a couple would rather just skip. lol Findind ways to engage them in learning is great. Pool, Basketball - 2 games my kids enjoy and I have taught them physics by helping them learn to "shoot" better. Angles - you need to use the cue stick to hit the cue ball, which will in turn hit the ball you want to put in the pocket. If you hit it at just the right angle, you'll sink the ball. If you don't, you'll cause other events to happen. Basketball's the same way - you have to know just how much force to put into your shot, as well as how low/high to aim to make a basket ... and that includes having it bounce off the backboard and into the basket. Sorry to ramble on - it's exciting when you find ways to help your kids learn while they are engaged in something they love. :)