Homeschooling :)

This will be a non-picture post. I have a few friends that are asking about homeschooling (would like to get started), curious about different parts of our curriculum, etc. I'm going to lay it all out here with likes and dislikes here.

Math: we have always used Horizons. We like it because it's spiral (lots of review), colorful (Raelee loves this..lol), is not TOO redundant and is somewhat customizable. By that, I mean that I don't necessarily make her do all of the work. If she knows a topic, I don't make her do all of the work. We do a couple for review and move on.

A con would be that so far, it only goes up to 7th grade. They JUST came out with grade 7. I'm not sure about how it is just yet.  Other than that, we love it.

Keep in mind that you don't have to get the entire 'kit'. We never did because we already had a lot of manipulative. You can buy the books at Mardel which is handy for us. I do get the teachers manuals but rarely use them. I grab them when I can't figure out a problem.

Math: Horizons

Grammar: We just switched our Grammar. Previously, we were using Growing with Grammar. It worked great for us. We only switched because Raelee needed a change and frankly, so did I.  We now use Easy Grammar (both the Daily Grams and Student workbook). I don't have much of opinion on it yet..we are only 3 lessons into it.  You can also get Easy Grammar at Mardel.

New Grammar: Easy Grammar
Our old grammar: Growing with Grammar

Spelling: Raelee is not a natural speller so we do use a spelling program.  We use Soaring with Spelling. We like it but it's very much like public school spelling.  Other good programs are All About Spelling (which also has a new reading program). That program tells the why of spelling. It was too complicated for us so it didn't work. Sequential Spelling is another good program but wasn't for us. It's all about how your child learns.

Our spelling: Soaring with Spelling
Other good programs:All About Spelling
Sequential Spelling

Writing: To be honest, we do not have a writing program. Raelee has a difficult time writing and it's just too hard for her to do it in a formal curriculum. I used to worry about this, but I don't anymore. We will find something when the time is right.  I do have her do things like write a simple book report, write a formal letter to the president, write a friendly letter to a friend, etc. It works well for us right now.

Science: Raelee is very much science oriented so this has been something that has been a must. For the last 3 years, we have used R.E.A.L Science Odyssey.  It is very very much experiment oriented and it works well for us. We have used the 3 programs in Level 1 (Biology, Earth Science, and Chemistry). We will move up to Level 2 next year which is Biology. I like it because it's secular and has a lot of experiments. I do get the science kits for them because it's just easier having everything on hand.
R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey
Another have heard is good is:
Apologia

History: Raelee is also history oriented so we have had to make sure to get this in. In the past, for world history, we have used Story of the World. It worked great for us but we got bored. Probably our faults though. Seemed like nothing but fighting and killing..but that's history right? She got very curious about American history so we changed over to learning about that from World History.  We are fairly happy with what we are doing now...however we are still working our way through getting used to it. Good thing is that it's free. We get the books from the library and extra activities from resources online. It seems like a good accurate portrayal of history.
Guest Hollow American History
Story of the world

Handwriting: We just started back up with cursive and am using Handwriting Without Tears. It's pretty cut and dried...and less formal and the swirly curvy kind we are used to seeing.

Handwriting Without Tears

Reading: We don't have a formal reading program. We always have 1 or 2 read alouds going. One as a 'bedtime' story and other as a 'school' read aloud. The school one us usually based on what we are learning about in history..the bedtime one is usually a fun book. She also has 20 minutes of independent reading...whatever she wants.

We also do a lot of cooking, playing outside, gardening, playing in general, etc. It is important to get all of that in and they learn a lot from all of that too.

I hope this helps those of you with your decisions. If you have questions, feel free to contact me. :)