What do you use?

[daddys3chicks]

Do you use a complete curriculum like Abeka or others, or do you use different things for each subject.

We are piece mealing this year, but I am wondering if we would be better off with an entire curriculum.

So what do you use and why do you like it?

[chicamarun]

We are using http://www.amblesideonline.com as our main curriculum which covers everything it seems :) I like it because I am watching my dd start to read more difficult books for school then she is falling back on reading easier books for enjoyment more often. They have to read A LOT!! And I think that was lacking.

crud - I'll add more later - pigs seem to be in my back field (they shouldn't be there)

[dawninns]

I'll always go piecemeal because some of the stuff out there is just too fun to pass up. I also think more specialized curriculum vendors can generally produce more interesting stuff then any package deal provider.


Catherine:

Math - Singapore Primary Mathematics w/ Intensive Practice and Challenging Word Problems.

I love, love, love Singapore. It's progression is logical, building on the skills learned in the last lesson and it is consistently challenging.

Also Life of Fred but we haven't managed to get into it yet.

English/Writing/Grammar - Modeling the Classics, Language Arts Lessons from The Hobbit. (http://www.design-your-homeschool.com/language-arts-lesson-plans-the-hobbit.html)

We just switched to this because my duaghter loves The Hobbit and we were getting tired of fables and parables in Classical Writing I still wanted something with a similar approach. We'll be using Winston Grammar again in the new year.

Penmanship - Peterson Directed Handwriting.

Love it. Very thorough, beautiful cursive style and even through teaching it to the kids my own writing has improved.

Vocab & Spelling - Megawords.

Much better for my daughter then list because it shows how to break words down and build them back up.

Science - The Elements: Ingrediants of the Universe.

Fun and through.

French - LÁrt de Lire.

Really great little Canadian curriculum that my daughter is really enjoying.

Greek - An alphabet activity book from Hey Andrew! Teach me some Greek.

Great for brushing up on the alphabet and sounds of the letters.

Art - Artistic Pursuits.

Haven't gotten too far into this yet but it does look promising.

Everything else is informal and readalouds.

Harry:

Math - Singapore w/MUS blocks.

I bought MUS Foundations and Intermediate (the older versions) thinking it would be perfect for Harry. Turns out Singapore Primary Math 1 paired with the blocks is exactly what he needs.

Everything else is informal and readalouds.

[Autumnleavz]

We are completely mix/match here. Saxon for math; Well trained mind for grammar; clickn read phonics for reading (as well as other books aloud to me); spelling workout; Story of the World for history and lapbooking for science.

I haven't used any one curriculum for EVERYTHING yet, but I wouldn't rule that out. This is just what works for us right now.

[chicamarun]

ok back...

I love the literature based learning. My dd is enjoying history and my son has progressed to wanting to read "based on true story" books.

For math we went back to using LifePacs and my kids love them. So that works for me. I tried other stuff including Singapore and it just didn't work for us. They asked for LifePacs - so I couldn't argue :)

I just got "A Child's Geography" or some title like that and can't wait to get into it!! Both kids will do it. I just thought it would add more fun to their lessons.

Latin - we are using Prima Latina - but my son needs to move up - it's too easy for him which I knew.... we bought it for last year and didn't use it (well started but didn't complete).... so I'm going back with my daughter - reviewing and continuing.... my son is to complete it by Christmas I believe. Then he'll move on to Classical or whatever one is next.

[ColoradoMom]

I have never bought a complete curriculum - looking for "just the right thing" to stimulate my kids learning was just too fun. :D

[Jackie]

We use a little of this and a little of that!

[eyeofthestorm]

I am glad you asked this question. I in the process of preparing our next year of lessons and this is one more way for me to think it through.

We do a mix. Here are my guidelines:

For content, I refer to The Well Trained Mind (Classical Education)
For methodology, I rely on Charlotte Mason.
For sanity, I add in what needs/works for our family. For example, my DS likes worksheets, but I feel pretty strongly about relating math facts to real objects at his age, not just abstract numerals and operators. So, (for now) we only use worksheets that have images of real objects.
For material ideas, I pull from everywhere. I lean heavily on Old Fashioned Education, and Ambleside Online. I also sometimes peek in on Simply Charlotte Mason. We print many of our books and use the library heavily. On occasion, we may buy a book, but it really depends. We have the books lists from AO and SCM on the boys' Christmas lists. Last year, they got wonderful books for holiday gifts. We also put manipulative items on their wish lists, things for handcrafts and math play. They just LOVE those things. I do not tell them I consider that part of their eduation.
My oldest is obessed with science, so I only read to him from age appropriate materials, let him have access to science themed books, and try to prevent his experiments from doing too much damage to the house. (He has moved from horticultural interests to water, and I think dirt is easier to manage.)

[Aurie]

Well, we have switched around ALOT over 3 years. Our first year, we used www.k12.com . this curriculum was extremely complete. I enjoyed parts of it and didn't enjoy others. The kids learned from it, but it really was "school" at home. It was also very expensive since we don't live in a state where we get it free.

Last year, we pieced things together off line and bought some workbooks from American Publishers. The kids learned, but not as much as I had wanted or thought they should have learned.

This year we are using www.oakmeadow.com . Overall, we really love it. For the first time at home, the kids are REALLY enjoying schooling. However, I bought it thinking it was a complete curriculum. In a way it is, but I need more for my kids. So we have supplemented in different areas.

We needed to supplement the most with the 1st grade level. We are doing lapbooks (science & social studies), American Publishers workbooks (LA and math), Starfall and REadingEggs (reading). Basically, we are just using OM for the backbone for first grade. For 4th grade, we have supplemented some unit studies for social studies & science. They have a very good direction in which they go with their science and social studies. But it is all research based, so I replaced those areas with unit studies. For both 4th and 5th grade, we are using AP workbooks for LA and math just to reinforce what the curriculum is teaching as they only give a few examples in the curriculum (few in my view).

AP workbooks:

http://www.schoolspecialtypublishing.com/store/item.aspx?BrandId=12&pg=6&ItemId=1448
http://www.schoolspecialtypublishing.com/store/item.aspx?BrandId=12&pg=6&ItemId=1551

[sgilli3]

We use mixture of its and pieces.

Math- Math -U-See

English - LLATL

Spelling - made sheets myself

History - SOTW

Science- God's Design

Geography - made curriculum myself

Art- just use a different medium a week, though have ordered a book from Oz.

Religion- we study many religions and have just begun Hinduism ( which we we study for next 4 - 6 months)

Comprehension/creative writing- workbooks I purchased in Oz

Nature journals- own curriculum

Vocabulary - Oz workbooks.

[Autumnleavz]

ok back...



Get them back where they were supposed to be? Or did you have to make bacon and ham? rofl :lol:

[sylf]

This is our first year so I bought a "box set" from Christian Liberty Press" and I wished I hadn't. It includes Abeka Language and Modern Curriculum Press Math. I have ditched the Science Book that was included for my 3rd grader. I have ditched the History Books for both of them (3rd & 6th). Next year I will probably order Abeka for Language and Science (this is what they used in private school, I just couldn't afford it this year). There is a new Math program I want to try next year. I am also experimenting with Charlotte Mason, so we are using 'living books' for History and may continue to do so. I don't think I'll never order everything from one place again.

[Shelley]

I'm more eclectic.

We use Bob Jones grade 1 math; Singapore grade 2 math

Bob Jones Spelling and Grammar

Veritas Press Literature, History, and Bible

Real Science 4 Kids for Science

[Lee]

My dd 9th uses all abeka except grandma teaches her sewing once a week and lap-robing at church every other week and piano lessons locally.

My ds 7th uses -

abeka-bible, math, language (except spelling) and history
spelling workout
sonlight - science

mavis beacon typing for both

[Healthy Skeptic]

I use Rod & Staff for everything right now.

But I only do math, phonics and reading.

This week I started science with just reading a book and having them draw their observations.

I am looking to revamp for next year though.

[AngeC325]

So far I am enjoying piecing everything together. There may be a time when I decide to do things differently but for now this seems to be working.

For first grade we use Horizons Math, Explode the Code for phonics, print handwriting from online, print theme and seasonal worksheets online, check out and read theme books from library

[TeacherMom]

Okay, we used AOP from the boxes for years! (9 years?) before switching to mixed stuff... we kept what we liked and moved to more exciting hands on stuff for one child, and have since returned to SOS for the other.


So we use:
MUS- for high school
SOS-
Hardcore Art
and Life Pak health.


then for the other one its
Horizon Math - AOP's side kick we plan to go to MUS next year... not sure where to start for 7th grade
English 6, BJU, we love thier english !
We did use ACSI spelling because it was one page a day and this year we skipped spelling, I will bring it back next year just to keep him on top of things.

SOS science and CGC for hands on
California State history via a program we got online that sends you 30 lesson newspapers and a teacher book for 20 dollars! pretty good deal! and fun! that we use with CO OP

add in a few printables and some Spanish videos from the library , we are on level 3 of the videos and ds is learning a lot! GO VIDEO LESSONS!

[Birbitt]

This year we used MUS for math until they finished it and then added in some dollar store workbooks. We started with peterson directed handwriting but they boys don't like it so we moved to copy work and dollar store workbooks. Science and History we are pretty much making up as we go along using books from the library and worksheet from the internet.
Spelling/Phonics we are using internet printouts, dollar store workbooks, games, puzzles, and reading rods.
We also read lots of books/readers/magazines to get ideas, and for lessons.

This really works for us because we can change topics when it suits us and if something isn't working we just try something else without having spent a lot of money.

[Marylyn_TX]

For the past couple of years we used My Father's World as our main "spine", and I really liked it. For various reasons that have nothing to do with MFW, we're branching out a bit this year. :) Joy's in 2nd grade.

Math: Singapore 2A
English: Rod & Staff "Beginning Wisely"
Science: a mixture of Usborne books
Geography: Trail Guide to World Geography with an assortment of supplements, heavy on missionary stories
Spelling: Sequential Spelling
Bible: a unit study on character I found online, with additions... we're going to do make lapbooks
Spanish: finishing Flip Flop Spanish, not sure where we're going next
Writing: As soon as we get a little farther in the English text, we're going to start formally writing with Writing Strands. Until then, we write lots of letters to Grandma or to Joy's cousins. :)

Daddy's in charge of art since I am art-challenged. He's using "I Can Do All Things."

[Twice]

We use a little of this and a little of that!

I'm with Jackie. Here a little there a little. :angel:

[Jackie]

MARYLYN!!! I was thinking about you today!!! (TOTALLY off-topic here, sorry!) I was at the grocery store, and I saw DORIS from the group home!!! She was with "helper" named Dee. Of course, I spoke to her, but I don't think she knew who I was. I told her I was from Christ Church, and that she had attended my wedding. Heck, I couldn't remember HER name for the longest time; how the heck did I expect her to remember MINE? But it was a nice (if somewhat disjointed!) visit!

(OK! Now back to our regularly scheduled topic!!!)

[rmcx5]

We use what works best per child:

As a family: A Child's Geography, A Reason for Handwriting and Apologia Zoo 2 (use their AWANA books for Bible too).

10 yr old: Sonlight Core 3 (finishing up and then onto Core 4), Horizons Math 5 (start 6 in Jan), Spelling Power, Get A Clue (web-based Vocabulary), Real Science 4 Kids Physics, and Rod & Staff English 6 (using parts of 5 too).

8 yr old: R & S English 3, BJU Reading 4, Abeka History 3, Wordly Wise 3, All About Spelling 1 & 2, Horizons Math 3, and SOS Science 3.

6 yr old: Hooked on Phonics Level 4 & 5, Explode the Code 3 & 4, Spectrum LA 1, Abeka History 1 and various other supplements as needed. He'll start R & S English 2 probably in the spring and All About Spelling Level 1.

Rhonda C.

[mschickie]

We use a mixed bag here too.

For sd we use

BJU for Latin and US History
Apologia for Chemistry
Saxon for Math
Lifepac for Home Economics
Jensen's Format Writting, Apples Daily Spelling, Progeny Press, Novel Units for English

For Dd (we just supplement ps K right now) we use Horizons for Math and Phonics.

Next year we plan on doing Sonlight for dd but I will still supplement with a Phonics program and possibly a different Science, not quite sure yet.

I like being able to pick and choose what I like from each publisher. There are so many good things and some will work better with each kid. That to me is a benefit of homeschooling, I am not limitted in my choices.

[homeschooler06]

I use a bit of this and that. I use a mixture of Rod and Staff (language art stuff), Heart of Dakota (science and history) and Singapore and LifePac math. I also use workbooks from the store and online stuff. I was using A Reason For Handwriting but now use verses from Awana for handwriting. Then there are days were we just do lots of reading and talk and draw (notebooking) about what she has read. I have the Apologia books and we haven't sat down and do them, we have started but never finished. My DD8 or I just don't have the interest for long and want to move on but we will go back to them for stuff.

Right now I am focusing on reading with my son and getting him to draw more than just tractors, trucks and campers. :) My youngest tags along with brother when she wants to.

[amccleary5]

We use "Making the Grade, Everything Your 6th Grader Needs to Know" as a spine. It's really just a supplemental book based on National Stadards. Then I live on the Internet to find stuff to fill out the lessons and bring the topics alive.

I also sporatically use three supplemental books for extra practice - mostly in Language Arts:

The Walmart/Sam's - Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for 6th Grade.
Got Grammer
Hi-Lo Non-fiction Passages for Struggling Readers - we haven't used this as much lately.

I'm finding a lot of very cool stuff on University sites - especially for Math and Science. I also like the British Museum Ancient History site.

I even found some DNA games on a Drug Company site that helped my dd understand Punnett Squares.

Anyway, definately all over the place here.

[chicamarun]

Get them back where they were supposed to be? Or did you have to make bacon and ham? rofl

They are bacon and holiday hams in a few weeks.... love pigs though they crack me up and are probably one of the easier animals for me to move around.

[TeacherMom]

hey chica, I saw a thing for a moment on a talk show while clicking channels haha, they had a pic in a small pen that barely fit it, is this a normal thing? You can msg me private if you want to keep the thread seperate I am just curious.
If I had a farm I would so use it in my schooling I bet you have fun with it!

[jnicholl]

Horizons Math
Horizons Phonics and Reading
Easy Readers
Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind
Sid the Science Kid PBS
Story of the World
Bible
Printable Handwriting
Printable Seasonal
Printable whatever strikes us as interesting
Library

[jnicholl]

Also..
the zoo
the aquarium
the children's museum
the city (we live about 20 miles from New Orleans)

[Smiling Dawn]

AOP Publications throughout our hsing years.
This year I have purchased Explode the Code for one child.
I supplement with Scholastic and Evan Moore materials, they are a couple of my favorites.

[AussieMum]

Geography: Trail Guide to World Geography with an assortment of supplements, heavy on missionary stories


have you enjoyed world trail guide? We have it, but haven't started using it yet. What age kids used it? Also, where did you find the missionary stories? I LOVE that idea:) I was planning on integrating the sensory writing adventures (in Africa, America etc...) with ours. What else did you supplement with?

[*Angie*]

We're a mix'n'match, here, too. Josh is 6yo and doing 1st/2nd grade material.

Math- Singapore Math. Almost done unit 1A and will be moving onto 1B shortly.

Science & Social Studies- ACE PACEs Grade 1

French- L'Art a Dire bt Nallenart

Language Arts- Spectrum LA Grade 1, Spelling Power Grade 1 and Spectrum Phonics Grade 2. Plus lots of reading.

Geography - Dollar Store workbooks and Province studies.

[Apryl H]

We are using Weaver for Science, SS, Geography, Bible and some writing. We are using Saxon for math, and Spectrum for LA and spelling.

[mamamuse]

Total mish-mash of stuff here, too. The only thing we have that's a total all-in-one is my 5th grader's "Teaching Textbooks" math. It certainly is easier doing it that way, and he loves being on the computer. I might look into SOS for him next year, while still building my own curriculum for my younger boy.

[momofafew]

Boxed curriculums tend to burn people out. They also tend to not be of the highest quality. I find that the longer you homeschool, the more you start to pick and chose what you liked best from each area. Plus, if you have more than 1 student, boxed curriculums tend to have you do a different thing for each different aged child, because that is how it would be done in a classrom. But other curriculums have children of multiple ages doing the same thing. The second of those is so much better and children learn more from it. How they do it in classrooms is really just for the benefit of institutionalized schools where they have thousands of kids coming through and need to assign something to each place and keep things the same across the board.

Math needs to basically be done at whatever level the child is at. Spelling pretty much needs to be done at level too. Beyond that, it benefits the children so much to be working on the same topics in science or history or foreign language and so on at the same time. It really does not matter if they study the solar system in 3rd and 4th and then plants in 4th and 5th. Brick and mortar schools actually rotate what they teach on a 2-3 yr rotation. My son did solar system in 1st, 3rd, and 5th. It is really not taught effectively in the schools so it was completely new to him every time it was taught.

[Autumnleavz]

and lap-robing at church every other week

What is lap-robing? :)

[Autumnleavz]

They are bacon and holiday hams in a few weeks.... love pigs though they crack me up and are probably one of the easier animals for me to move around.

I'm trying to talk dh into getting a hog. We killed one when ds was 1 and I worked up the meat (first time in my life) and I loved it. (dh had done it many times before). But he didn't want to raise any though. Maybe if we move to the country like we are now, then I'll be able to. :)

Sorry, completely off topic :p

[scottiegazelle]

Wow, this thread is an interesting read! My DD is 7 right now, and just starting her first semi-official year of HSing, after three or four years of essentially unschooling.

We don't use a curriculum in any form. The only thing we could be using that might be considered a curric is a 1980-ish mathbook that I bought for "worksheet fun", so my DD can pull it out and do problems as needed and keep me from having to print math sheets constantly.

Handwriting - I print our scripture verse of the week out, and the kids write it neatly. Mine are still little. My 5 yo traces it for the first half of the week, then writes for the second.

Spelling & vocab - We don't do this significantly yet, although we will next year, I'm sure. Mostly we keep a list of "new" words pulled from the books we are reading.

Math - the aforementioned text, supplemented by manipulatives and real-life problems

Science - the library, with an occasional nose to the internet for more experiments

English - the library; DD is a HUGE reader, literally devours books. When she was 5 she was knocking out the Magic Tree House books in under an hour, and her skills have grown since then. So she does a lot of reading and writing on various subjects; this melds in very well with science and history.
As a subset, grammar: we talk about the parts of speech and play verbal and written games. I seriously doubt we'll go much beyond that, although I may decide to make a game of the total worthless idea of diagraming a sentence.

History - I mentioned in another thread that I think we are going to start a study of the US Presidents and use that to go through history, but I've decided to expand that a little and go through some pre-America time periods first (Greece, Egypt, Moorish culture, etc). This works well with geography, because we'll be IDing those places on the map as we go. We also implement geography into science - for instace, as we are studying the Venus Fly Trap, we have to find NC and SC on the map; when we were learning about Columbus last month, we had to find Italy, Spain, the Atlantic Ocean, North & South America, San Salvador, and Cuba on the map. We have a US puzzle that lists the capitals, and I'm amazed how much they've picked up from there; my DD had a world map placemat and would make up "games" for her and her bros to play, again amazing me with what was learned.

Art - merges into everything; we paint, draw, model, etc for various science, history, and English projects.

That's the crux of our curriculum, brought to us primarily by the library and the Internet.

[hmsclmommyto2]

We're very eclectic. A pre-packaged, all-in-one curriculum simply wouldn't work for us, for multiple reasons. 1)My kids are not at one level across the board. My dd is in 5th grade by age, but is not doing only 5th grade work, so trying to use a pre-packaged 5th grade curriculum would actually be holding her back in some subjects. 2) I've yet to read a description of a full curriculum that fit my kids' learning styles. 3) If we followed a full curriculum, we'd have to study what the publisher thought was important/needed for each grade. There are certain things that I don't believe are important for my kids to do (memorize all the states & be able to label them on a blank map, for example) and certain things that I don't appreciate the way they are generally taught. 4) I've never seen a full curriculum that covered everything that I believe is important for my kids to learn. 5) Too much structure.
I could use a full curriculum & leave out the parts that I don't like or feel are unimportant, and supplement it with the things I feel it is lacking. However, I feel that would be a waste of money because I'd be buying supplemental materials in addition to the 'complete' curriculum, and there would be parts of the curriculum that wouldn't be used at all. So, I pick & choose, using a variety of things ranging anywhere from actual programs (like Rosetta Stone) to creating materials myself.
Here's what we're currently using:
DS-4y.o., PreK:
Explode the Code, Starfall.com, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, art projects, homemade materials, Leap Frog DVDs (phonics/reading & Math), Math manipulatives, LeapPad books, puzzles, games, educational TV shows (Between the Lions, Sid the Science Kid, etc.), Signing Time DVDs (ASL), reading a variety of books together

DD-10y.o., 5th grade:
Latin's Not So Tough!, Rosetta Stone (Spanish), Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, Writing Strands, Signing Time DVDs (ASL), World Geography & You, hands-on projects, project books (lapbooks), notebooking, educational DVDs & software, art projects, mini-bios, various other homemade materials, magazines, many nonfiction books, Roots & Fruits (for Spelling & Vocab), Science projects, a lot of reading

I may have forgotten something due to not having the list of the current year's materials in front of me right now. Also, for some topics (mainly the periods we're studying in History), I'll buy supplemental materials & create a whole curriculum off of them by adding in additional reading, assignments, & projects.

[Deena]

hmsclmommyto2, That's interesting--what your 5th grader is doing looks a lot what my 6th grader did last year as a 5th grader! She did "Living Language--Getting Started in signing" for ASL, TT Pre-Alg, and the Visual Link Spanish program.

This year she's continuing with the Spanish, doing "Life of Fred" Algebra, Lightning Lit. 7, R & S English 5, NOEO Science Chemistry II, and unlike some people, I guess, we LOVE geography and do a lot of it. We like knowing about the states in our country and our world, in fact my dd's favorite subjects are science and geography. We are doing Trail Guides to US Geography this year with her. When we did SOTW, we enjoyed doing the mapping of the ancient cities and places.

She's all over the map with her levels as well so one set/boxed curriculum wouldn't work for her.


DS15 is in 9th grade and also using quite a variety of things. R & S English, Apologia Biology, Greek, BJU Spanish, Jensen's Vocabulary, etc., etc.


HOWEVER, I will say that when I first started homeschooling, even though I used to be a certified teacher, I had no clue how to homeschool 1 child! I ordered the 2nd grade boxed curriculum from Christian Liberty Academy for my ds. I didn't end up using everything, but it gave me confidence in homeschooling, seeing how it's all set up. It helped me figure out how to run things, and even though I branched out a little even that year, I totally appreciated the help it gave me, and I liked most of the 2nd grade curriculum anyway.

I think we need to be careful how we answer, because some people have been helped from the boxed curriculums, and some kids do well with it. I know people who have used it all the way through and it's worked well for them. So just because I wouldn't use it now, doesn't mean it's not good or useless for someone else!

[Emma's#1fan]

We are using BJ, A Beka, Spectrum, Steck-Vaughn, Making Math Meaningful (not sure who publishes it), Mc Graw Hill, and a couple other publishers. I am too lazy to go look!LOL

[goodnsimple]

OK,
anyone who knows me, has figured out by now that I have NO IDEA what I am doing.
This is our first year. and we are having a really good time. but are we learning anything. hmmmmm I don't really know.
So I abandoned Time4Learning for everything but math...which I think (although I have said before...) that I will drop with the next billing cycle.
We will stick with Saxon for math.
History. ahhh history/social studies, whatever you call it...we didn't like T4L, so I got MOH...and maybe I ruined it by supplementing with T4L, but ds HATES it. and quite frankly I am not thrilled. So, I have stated that I would love to do Charlotte Mason(y) sort of stuff, but with a struggling reader wasn't sure that was a good idea. Complete reversal
I just bought a bunch of new books...fun stuff, that I hope will create interest. and if I have to read them all, well, I was reading everything else anyway. So, if we do not know much about the Indus River Valley People, well too bad. We will I hope, know something about someone.
Soooo, except for math and science...which we are enjoying...we are going to do liturature. most of the grammar and 'writing' will be done orally.
He might not get ahead, but he will be able to carry on a conversation.

(so much depends on the teacher... my younger ds,who is still in ps, had many of the books I am buying read to him last year in 2nd grade... so he has some understanding of the issues... ds11 had a horrid 2nd grade teacher. He got the exerpts from the 'classics' that suck the life out of the story.)

[ArmyFamilyOK]

We use BJU Press (Bob Jones University Press) and absolutely love it!! It's so easy to use. My daughter absolutely loves everything about it. We use the curriculum for math and language arts. The format is so easy for me and her to follow. I've had a couple teachers locally look at it and say it's at least equal to or better than the public school curriculum. The ones that say it's equal don't agree with me homeschooling, but at the same time, can't find any TRUE faults with what we're doing or the curriculum.

I just went and got the teacher's manual for science as well. It's just so teaching science is easier for me. I use workbooks and internet materials for her actual lesson materials. For all other classes, I use workbooks, worksheets and various other materials. There's just so much out there, that it amazes me what it's all available for us or anyone to use!! I think much of it's a treasure!! LOL