This is a post about curriculums I've used and what has worked for me. Keep in mind that there are tons of good choices out there and you have to find what works for you. More importantly, you have to find what works for each child. When choosing curriculum you will have to consider what kind of teaching method you are going to use, your child's learning style, and also consider the content of the books (do you support what it is teaching).
Preschool and kindergarten: This is a great time to unschool. We mostly played games, sang songs, explored the world. The key at this age is to have fun. Ask your school district what they expect kids to know by the end of kindergarten. Usually, they need to know their name, address, phone number, the alphabet (saying it and recognizing letters), counting to 10, and shapes and colors. These are minimums. I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Sam, Jane, and Ruth and loved it. If you have multiple kids, the older kids are great teachers! Chances are your child will soar with your loving attention!
Religion: The Bible. Read from it to your kids. Read a few verses in the morning, at lunch, after dinner. Pick a favorite book; Genesis, Acts, Letter from James, a gospel, and read it, verse by verse, over and over. The repetition is good and it will give each semester or school year a focus. I have also picked different prayers that we memorize by praying them either in the morning or at lunch. Some people go to daily mass and begin each day that way. We prayed around our school table in the mornings. Sometimes, informal prayers and sometimes the rosary. As the kids get older, I think it is great to just take the Catechism and study it. So many Catholics don't even know what the Church teaches and to read the catechism is to discover that She is beautiful.
Math: I start out with ABeka 1st-3rd and then switch to Saxon in 4th grade. The earlier Saxon I found boring for the younger kids but the older ABeka wasn't challenging enough. I love the younger ABeka because the lessons have other things incorporated. Each unit focuses on something like Around the World or Careers. The lessons are very colorful. I've heard good things about Math-U-See and tried it briefly with Ruth. She didn't want to do it, but I've incorporated some of the materials (manipulatives) in her early learning and I think it really helped; we still reference "decimal street." This is a subject that I don't think a lot of research is warrented. The biggest factor with math is consistency. Do it every day. Drill those math facts and get a good foundation. I treat math like tithing or my mortgage payment: it has to be done without fail.
English: I've used Rod -n- Staff for english all these years and I can't say enough good things about it. It is published by the Amish folks. It is very practical. The student has a text, workbook, test book and you have ONE teacher book. That's huge; I love that. My teacher book has the same page number that the student's are on. It has exactly what the teacher is supposed to say and each lesson begins with an oral review. Answers to review questions are on the same page, and answers to worksheets and tests are in the back. Whew! I wish they would all do that! Also, I have warm memories of my kids cracking up when they would read sentences like, 'Dorcas has been baking all day.' A little levity is lovely!*
Science: Apologia. Period. Love it and wish I had used it all these years. I used some ABeka, some LifePac, and others. I've always had a hard time picking a science curriculum. I admit, I had seen apologia science and didn't use it because it looked so boring. Well, shame on me. Lesson learned. Not only can you not judge a book by it's cover, you can't judge a book by glancing at it's pages! It was just SO much writing and few pictures. If I were a kid, that text would not excite me. But I've taken three kids through it (and plan to take Ruth, as well) and they consumed it. Sam was the second kid I took through it and when I mapped out the lesson plan for that year I planned on skipping a couple of sections because I felt they dealt with things he'd already learned. He liked the text so much he decided he didn't want to skip any of it and he did the extra reading to fit them in. I only wish I had taken my oldest through it, too! It's outstanding.
History: I have never found a history curriculum I liked well enough to use repeatedly or to recommend. In the primary grades I used How Our Nation Began (1st-3rd grade appropriate) and The Evangelization of the New World (2nd-4th, maybe 5th grade) and felt these were excellent texts for primary history. I used ABeka for some history as well. Sadly, much beyond 5th or 6th grade, the curriculum turns decidely anti-catholic. I tried Rod -n- Staff, but they too spend a great deal of time teaching their students how awful catholics are. (That's a whole seperate post!) Anyway, there is a curriculum out there for history that is based on developing a timeline. I think if I had it to do over, I would choose that. We did a couple of history timelines over the years and the kids always responded well. They were excited about doing them and learned from and remember them. Mostly, I've used the library, our encyclopedias, and research on the internet (supervised, of'course) to teach the kids history and that has seemed to work.
Spelling: LOTS of choices here. I now use Seton for spelling and penmanship. Beautiful books with faith woven in every page. This is a subject, though, that requires a lot of trial and error. My best advice is to try things and give them a chance before you throw in the towel. Too much switching can be detrimental. Honestly, I think reading and writing is the best way to improve spelling. That being said, I think you still need a curriculum and I believe that this is the subject I've thrown away the most money on. For me, the best formula is: new list (perhaps pre-test) on Monday, exercises with the words on Tu-W-Th and test on Friday. If a curriculum doesn't follow that methodology, I don't look at it anymore.
Literature: One thing we did that we all liked was reading at lunch time. Lunch had the potential to bring chaos to our world. It was distressing to me to end our morning studies only to have the kids run around like maniacs and leave me wondering why we were doing this homeschool thing. So, very early on, I decided I would read to them at lunch. I had heard that reading to kids is a very great discipline. It teaches kids focus, imagination, and how to sit still. I think we started with the Harry Potter series; it was Martin's suggestion. All the kids in school had been talking about it (the first 5 or so books were already out) and he thought maybe we should give it a try. Soon, we read that at night (so Daddy could hear, too) and I read Little Women at lunch. Yes, Little Women and my "little men" loved it. They couldn't wait for the next day to hear more and would beg me to keep reading. No one was more surprised than me, but a good book is a good book. We read the Series of Unfortunate Events, Charlottes Web, Treasure Island, Magic Tree House books, The Boxcar Children, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Ella Enchanted, The Little Princess, and many more I can't think of right now. Daily routine and practice helps to train children and with homeschooling you can maximize those opportunities.
I would be remiss if I did not mention my Emma Serl books. They were books that were mentioned by Laura Berquist in her book, Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum and I have used them with all 5 of my kids and I will never sell them. These are old books not easily found and they teach basic english grammar and what I especially love is the memorization exercises. Sprinkled throughout the books (there are two, primary and intermediate) are poems for memorization. My kids have memorized many a poem and I believe they are better for having done so. It's a good exercise for their brain (memorization is an integral part of a classical education) and I know that those good words are in their hearts.
Now, a word on testing. Many homeschoolers are wholeheartedly against testing. I don't really understand why so I can't speak to that. If a curriculum I buy comes with testing, we will use the tests. Maybe not religiously, but it's ususally built into my lesson plan. As far as standarized testing, I did test my kids once in a while. Really, for my own sake. I just needed to know they were on track and I wasn't missing anything. Then, as they approached high school, I tested them because the high schools want to see the test results. Testing is a tool. Nothing is all bad or all good, so use tests as a guide and not as a task master.
I have really labored over this post. I'm not sure I'm happy with it still. No one can really give you advice on curriculum. For every person you find that swears by a curriculum, I can show you a person that hated it. My advice, as always, is to pray about it. Talk to people, go to the conferences, look on-line and then take a leap of faith and dive in. As a homeschooler your job is to provide opportunities. Use the library, use encyclopedias, take field trips, join clubs and your kids will learn. Remember, as homeschoolers you're teaching your children how to be lifelong learners. You are teaching them how to teach themselves. Trust yourself and your child's ability to learn and enjoy the adventure!
* My apologies if your name is Dorcas.
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