Curriculum Favorites

When we first began homeschooling, I felt slightly overwhelmed by the task of choosing our curriculum. Back then Ashlee was my only student, but the responsibility of making sure that we had adequate material to cover every subject was rather daunting. As much as I love our ST, I have always felt that we could use more assistance in the way of having curriculum recommended to us. So, I am going to do what I wish someone would have done for us years ago, and that is to share some of what we have found to work. A.K.A., this is my accrued knowledge over the past several years, coming your way. All of the materials below can be found on the Rainbow Resource website.

First: Saxon Math. I knew coming into homeschooling that Saxon was a highly recommended program. My ST told me that it was the best. While I am sure there are other good math programs out there, this one has worked for us and so we stick with it. I am sure my kids are ahead of their game when it comes to math, and I give Saxon the credit. What I like is that each lesson begins with 2-3 examples highlighting the new concept to be taught, so even if it is something that is unfamiliar to you the teacher, you can walk through it with your student and learn as you go. Saxon is also a cumulative program, meaning that concepts reappear in subsequent lessons and build on each other. As I've mentioned before, the C.D.s are invaluable in terms of a self- teaching tool, and can be used by the student or parent. I use Saxon for both Ashlee and Jacob.




Does grammar instruction sound intimidating to you? Easy Grammar is the most user-friendly program we have found. Being an English major, I have always placed high emphasis on grammar and writing. However, in the wrong hands, grammar instruction can be rather dry. NOT SO with Easy Grammar. These books are so simple and straight-forward, and require very little instruction on the part of the parent. Ashlee has used this program since 3rd grade, and Jacob will start next year (*as a side note, grammar instruction is not recommended until at least 2nd grade, as it is rather abstract to students any younger than this.)
Okay, science. Rainbow Resource offers much in the way of science curriculum, however, a majority of it is religious based. This is wonderful, aside from the fact that a state charter can not fund religious-based curriculum (no surprise there,) so science is an area where we always need to get a little creative in terms of piecing it together. What I have found to be most effective is to glance over the CA state standards, then choose a theme for each student. I then get the books from the library or order them individually through Rainbow. Right now we happen to be in marine biology, and I found this wonderful series titled Exploring the Oceans for Ashlee. Each book covers a different part of the ocean, starting with the tidal zone, then going on to the sunlight zone, midnight zone, sea floor, etc. We read them together then discuss. They are so interesting, I wouldn't let her do science without me!
This is another great science curriculum I came across for Ashlee back in 4th grade. It is called Real Science-4-Kids level I, and covers Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Each lesson has about 4-6 pages explaining a new theory or concept, followed by an experiment. We would do one lesson a week over two days; one day for the reading, one day for the experiment. We tried to move up to Real Science level II this year, but found it to be too challenging. I think we'll revisit the series in the next year or two.


For Jacob: The Usborne Complete First Book of Nature. Let me just say I love Usborne books. Rainbow has plenty of them, but they are a worthy investment to have in your home library as well. This book covers everything from birds, to butterflies, moths and caterpillars, spiders and snakes, you name it. I started this with Jacob in Kindergarten, and our lessons consisted of reading a few pages, discussing what we read, then concluded with Jacob writing a few sentences about what interested him along with an illustration. Again, very interesting for both student and parent.



Geography is another one of those subjects that can be relatively dry, but with the World Geography and You series, lessons are broken down into 3-5 page manageable chapters that conclude with 1-2 pages of multiple choice and short-answer questions. Each chapter highlights a different region in the world, and talks about its climate, population, resources, landforms, problems, future outlook, and so-forth. This is another subject I read with Ashlee, as most of it I feel I am learning for the first time!

Ahhh, history. If you are like most students, history was a slew of names and dates without meaning. In The Story of the World, Susan Wise Bauer breaks world history down into easy-to-read, engaging, digestible stories that (gulp) incorporate religion! However, it is done in such a way that no religious biast is obvious (although we know she is a strong Christian.) She starts with the Nomads, then moves on to Egyptian tombs, The Chinese Empire, and so forth, all the while covering stories like Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors, God Speaking to Abraham, and many other monumental stories in our world's history. However, it is done tactfully and non-biast, which is why this book can stand as an objective text and will still be covered by state funding. Each story is like a springboard, and any one chapter can turn into an entire unit study if you wish to go to the library and expand your research. We have all 4 volumes on our shelf and intend to use them for the duration of our homeschool career. Again, this is another curl-up-on-the-couch and read together book.


Spelling Workout has been our trusty spelling curriculum for 4 years; not much more to say than that.

This is the book where Ashlee gets all of her daily writing prompts (which I get so much enjoyment out of reading each day.) I loved writing prompts as a kid, and I really think it gives students an opportunity to engage their imaginations and write about whatever they choose. It's the one subject where they have a lot of room for creativity.
Again, when Mom is an English major, you can expect an emphasis on writing. I'd say without compromise that writing is probably the most important skill one can learn; for without the ability to adequately express oneself, all other skills are compromised. That being said, writing is the subject that homeschoolers struggle with the most. That is why I love this little book: Simply Writing- The Five Paragraph Essay. As you move up in academics, writing is all about breaking away from the five paragraph essay, but it's a place to start. I love the five paragraph essay as a way to teach kids how to coherently organize their thoughts and ideas. Everyone needs to know how to write a five paragraph essay, and this book makes it so simple.

This is another wonderful series that makes writing instruction so... simple. Something we love to hear as teachers. The series goes from A-F, corresponding to grade level, and is broken down into 2 page lessons that can be covered in about 5-15 minutes. Book A begins by teaching parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) then moves on to what makes a sentence, capitalization, and eventually writing a short description, a book report, and a story. Jacob finished Book A in the first semester and we are getting ready to start Book B, which will probably take us into next year. Again, very easy, very digestible (which is important if you are to stick with it.)
Explode the Code: These are great little workbooks to have on hand, and kids can do them independently. They reinforce spelling, writing, and phonics, and are set up in drill format. Repetition is so important, and with language arts, you can't have too much of it. The illustrations are silly and make it fun.
We have used this series in conjunction with Explode the Code. It's just another spelling and phonics workbook, done daily and independently, to reinforce concepts.
Phew! If you have stayed with me for this long, you deserve a brownie. If you are not a current or prospective homeschooler, I'm sure you dropped off a long time ago. This is only a fraction of our curriculum, but it is what we use most prevalently. We learn as we go, and each year we discover new treasures. Here's to a last semester, a new year, and all the new and upcoming homeschooling families out there! I wish you all the best in your endeavors!