There was a huge learning curve in my earlier years. I had no idea that homeschooling curriculum was a multimillion dollar industry. When I first started attending homeschool conferences and curriculum fairs I was completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice. I felt completely lost. The first curriculum fair that I attended was so completely overwhelming that I walked out. (It was a gymnasium full of curriculum vendors all trying to sell their goods.)
The easiest thing to do when you don’t know what you are doing is to order a complete box curriculum. You order from one source (K12, Calvert, Bob Jones University Press, Sonlight, Bookshark etc.) and the box will contain everything you need for the year. We did try this approach in our first year of homeschooling and although it works for many, it just did not work for us.
At the time, both my husband and I were running a business and working full-time hours. Someone was always home with the kids but still working. I needed a comprehensive, academically challenging curriculum that would allow us to homeschool our children with minimal to no prep, which was easy to administer.
It took us a couple of years of trial and error, until we found what works best for us and until I was able to network and collaborate with other homeschooling moms to learn what the “best of breed” within the homeschooling community was. Here is what we landed on:
Math: Currently using Horizons Math which I use from grades K to 2 or 3, and then switch to Saxon Math for the upper grades. In the past we have tried Math-U-See, and Calvert. We loved Calvert Math and would have loved to continue to use it but at the time you were not able to order it as a single subject. It was only being sold as part of a complete box set. Unfortunately, the rest of the box did not work for our family. I still think it is a great curriculum choice for some, I just didn’t have the time to prep that it required of me at the time. Supplement with www.ixl.com.
Language Arts:
Reading: Bookshark
Writing: Handwriting without Tears
Grammar: Easy Grammar
Spelling: Spelling Workout
History, Geography, Science: Bookshark
We order our curriculum from two places:
Rainbow Resource Centre www.rainbowresource.com by far the largest supplier of homeschool curriculum I have found to date.
Book Shark www.bookshark.com
If this is something you are considering for your family, feel free to reach out and I’d be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.
With Aloha,
Dagmara