Choosing Curriculum

Earlier today on FB I posted a picture Pigby colored of Osiris and Set.  Someone asked: Where do you get homeschool lesson plans and pictures, etc.?

The quick answer to where I got this specific coloring sheet is: I use Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer as our main history text.  I use the Activity Guide for the supplemental activities.  The specific coloring sheet that Pigby used came from this activity guide.  I also use these pages as a schedule and a way to do our narration pages and to record our history work.

I started writing more of how I go about choosing curricula and trying to post links, but that got quickly jumbled on FB so I scrapped it so I could write a blog about it.  To me, reading on a blog is easier than reading a novel on FB, especially when there are a lot of links.  So here's the long answer to the above question.  This kind of chronicles all the curricula I went through and how I found the ones I wanted. I'm not even sure if the original poster is thinking about homeschooling or is just curious or just being polite, but there was so much info I am hoping it can help somebody.

When I first started researching homeschool curricula (back when Pigby was 2) I was very overwhelmed.  There are so many options out there.  Sonlight was looking very appealing because it was an all in one curriculum; everything you need comes in one box. However, it was very expensive.  I searched and searched for two years.  Finally, I joined a homeschooling forum (the first one that popped up when I Googled) and someone recommended a book called The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise.  YES!!  It was at my library so I got it and devoured it.  It was everything I loved and wanted: a method that made sense, was fun, rigorous, and gave plenty of curricula recommendations.  People often get overwhelmed after reading it, but that's because the authors covered EVERYTHING!  You don't really have to do that much, especially when you're first starting out.  And even if you choose not to follow a classical method of homeschooling, all the recommendations in WTM are really good options if you don't know where to start.

I started with the 3 Rs (Reading, wRiting, and 'Rithmatic).  I had been using Starfall.com as a way to keep Pigby occupied while I nursed Digby.  Pigby was *obsessed* with letters and thus became an early reader.  I just want it known that I didn't force him to read when he was three; it's just the natural result of his obsession.  We hit the end of what Pigby could do on the free section, so it was time to move on.  The WTM book has some recommendations for phonics.  One book called, The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, was also written by Jessie Wise.  I checked it out of our library and since it was free and Corey was unemployed, we just kept checking it out over and over again.  Before this one, I had checked out Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  I don't remember much about it other than the format made no sense to me and it was returned to the library.

Eventually, I had money to buy my own copy of OPGTR and when I did, the first thing I did was have Office Max chop the binding off and put in a spiral binding.  Hallelujah!  My biggest complaint with that book is trying to hold it open with one hand while using your other hand to hold an index card so only one line of text is visible and pointing to the words.  And thus my love of having books spiral bound was born.

For handwriting, I chose A Reason For Handwriting.  I don't remember why.  I don't think it's one that's recommended in WTM, but it might be.  Anyway, for us it was a disaster.  Pigby was behind in his fine motor skills and just tracing and trying to reproduce the formation next to the traced one did not work. At all.  So I went with Handwriting Without Tears.  It works on the foundations of letter formations first and gives them lots of gross motor practice before doing the fine motor practice.  It was amazing.  Then I just wanted him to be able to practice on regular handwriting paper (HWOT has unique paper that didn't work for him) so we ended up buying the Start Write software.  I guess it's a good thing, because shortly after that he asked to learn cursive.  Instead of buying him another program, I'm using Start Write to teach him myself.  He practices letter formation a lot.  Next we'll be moving to letter formation and then trying to copy the letter on his own next to the traced one.

For math, I went with Math U See.  It comes with a DVD that the parent watches so s/he understands how to teach the concept to the student.  I just play it on the computer and Pigby watches it with me.  Upper level math scares me, so I figured this would be one good way of holding my hand.  We use the Math U See manipulative blocks and that helps make the ideas a little more concrete for him.  

This year we are starting history and science.  I've started and stopped both of these subjects before. What we use in history is listed above.  Science is an interesting subject.  It's my other big fear besides math.  We are supposed to be using Elemental Science with it, but I'm not sure I like it too much.  There is a lot of reading that he often doesn't pay attention to.  There's a lot of busy work that I cut out because it seems tedious.  Sooooo....I'm not sure what we're going to do.  I *want* to switch to R.E.A.L Science Odyssey but it is pretty expensive.  

Once he finished OPGTR, we moved on to the rest of language arts.  For grammar, we went with Jessie Wise's First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind.  It's easy, open and go, and thorough.  For writing instruction, we went with Susan Wise Bauer's Writing With Ease.  SWB has an audio lecture available here.  It explains her theory of writing, why copy work, narration, and dictation are important and how to go about teaching it.  We are now on a break with grammar and writing.  He could handle it just fine, but I just didn't have enough time to get the the "have to get done" and the "want to get done."  I wanted him to have fun with science and history, there just wasn't enough time.  And with two little maniac toddlers running around, it's hard to get things done whenever I want.  School usually has to wait for Chuck's naps.

It's been said that there will always be some curricula that you buy that you end up not using.  That's normal.  By researching thoroughly, you can probably keep that to a minimum.  The problem starts when you start seeing someone else use a new program and they're excited by how great it's working for them, so you want to buy it too.  I would only switch if something is clearly not working out and no amount of tweaking will fix it.

As to lesson plans, it's possible to buy complete curriculum packages that already come with lesson plans.  Sonlight is one.  Some programs are pretty much open and go, so you don't need to do much lesson planning (FLL, WWE, OPGTR are such programs). Some programs are not open and go, but aren't too complicated to plan for (SOTW and Elemental Science).  I'm sure there are some programs out there that are very complicated and time consuming to plan.  I don't have any of those at the moment.  Like I said, first grade is fairly easy.  Which ones you buy depend on which ones you prefer, how busy you are, and how much time you want to commit to. 

Some people use planning software (like Homeschool Tracker) Right now, with only one young child, I just do my planning in a teacher's lesson book.  

I hope this answers a few questions.  I am not trying to come across as any sort of expert.  But I hope by giving a chronicle of my journey could help others.  Don't feel scared if you're overwhelmed at the sheer number of options (or all of their abbreviations!  I swear AoPS, TOG, HOD, LOF, SM, MM, BFSU, and about a billion others can get very confusing).  Again, that's very normal and you'll start to get the hang of it.  I also highly recommend The Well Trained Mind Forums.  You don't have to be following the WTM to post there; heck you don't even have to be a homeschooler to post there.  But it's one of the most popular forums and everyone is really helpful.