We’ve enriched in the past, but this is our first year completely homeschooling. Choosing a curriculum resulted in us changing our mind several times. At first we bought a set of textbooks for each subject in the correct grade level. We could just make our own. I joined Facebook groups that were full of advice! We definitely wanted to stick with secular curriculum. I picked a set of books that seemed to fit well for topics that are going on now in the world, reading level, and grade level. Besides ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, PE and Art. We added Coding and Spanish.
I AM MAHALA
Fahrenheit 451
I Will Always Write Back
Tom Sawyer
To Kill A Mocking Bird
Debating how to make sure we were meeting all the common core standards, we decided to add the website IXL. IXL sticks with the standards, making it a little easier to make sure we don’t miss anything. After adding IXL and receiving all the books I tried to line everything up…. but ugh! The Facebook groups are great for curriculum discussions also. Our local school district was still saying they were going back 100 percent in person with no online option.
One of my favorite Facebook homeschooling groups is Secular, Eclectic, Academic (SEA) Homeschoolers group. Curriculum recently has been a popular discussion. Moving Beyond the Page was one that looked good to me. Moving Beyond the Page is a complete homeschool curriculum for creative, hands-on, and gifted learners.
We decided to go with the Moving Beyond the Page (11 to 13) set for this year. The year is broken into two semesters with five units each semesters. Our first class day will start with ELA (The Pearl), Science (The Hydrosphere), and Social Studies (Egypt and Mesopotamia). For math we added the Life of Fred – which isn’t necessarily listed as secular, but we are going to give it a try.
We also have Tynker, Brainpop, and a few other subscriptions to enjoy! I’ve pulled out our old chemistry sets to go with and we are looking at Mel Physics right now. Time to start home school Monday!
I am a SAHM/WAHM of three boys ranging in age from 16 to 32. We are working on saving enough for college at the same time as dealing with school and our older independent kids. I author a few blogs, including http://teched4kids.com. I have in the past taught computer information technology classes for the local university and taught workshops for kid's in technology education besides being the Kentucky State FIRST LEGO League Championship Coordinator from 2005 to 2008. I now work as a computer consultant, run a handmade home business, and am available for workshops. Life here is always an adventure!
