Homeschool Resources/Curriculum Recommendations?

[mandies]

I saw in the comments of "My Son is Ready for Early Retirement" several recommendations for online curriculum. For a myriad of reasons, one of which includes the fact that we live in NC which has abysmal schools and the 46th lowest teacher pay in the country, we are homeschooling our kids, 5 and 2.

Right now, we know about Easy Peasy and Starfall for free online resources. Our son is 5, so Khan Academy is a bit over his head right now, but we're saving it for the future. We were paying for ABC Mouse, but it's nearly $80 a year and not very Mustachian.

Any other good recommendations for free online curriculum that we can bookmark for the future or even use now?

[Worsted Skeins]

You really need to check out the forums at the Well Trained Mind.  (http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/)  Also, borrow Susan Wise Bauer's Well Trained Mind book from the library.

A five year old does not necessarily need a lot of curricular materials.  I would make regular trips to the library, invest in good nature guides for children and then get outside, perhaps look at some Montessori at home sorts of materials to teach prehensile skills.

[acroy]

Congratulations and good work mandies!

We homeschool our 5 kids oldest 8. We use library resources and books from http://www.abeka.com/ for the 'core' subjects (readin, writin, math).

We do grade the subjects and keep an Excel file for each kid listing subject & grade for every day. This is to keep track and as an insurance policy if CPS ever decides to come knocking - we can give concrete evidence that yes, the children are being well-educated.

Best of luck!

[ace1224]

my friend homeschools in nc and has good things to say about the Life of Fred math curriculum and Sonlight  and supplements projects with the young scientests club

[velocistar237]

Some resources I've collected. Some of these are not free.

Ambleside Online - an entire Charlotte Mason curriculum for free
Starfall - Our kids got a membership for Christmas, and it unlocked a good amount of new content
Math is Fun - Math-related puzzles and games, been around over a decade
Beast Academy - Math for grades 2-8 by the people who prep students for the US math team. The rest of the website is good, too, and has some free content.
Science Demo - Videos and discussions of experiments, fairly new in its current form, looks to be for older kids
Dragon Box app - Fun game, familiarizes kids with algebra, though it's quite a jump from beating the game to doing algebra on paper

A five year old does not necessarily need a lot of curricular materials.

Agreed, here's an article/press release by a University of Cambridge researcher advocating for later school starting age.

I found Free to Learn by Peter Gray to be a good resource for understanding the un-schooling perspective. I'm still undecided on the subject.

[Milspecstache]

The very best math program I have seen is Saxon Math.  My 11yr old works independently to do his math each and every day.  He is currently halfway through the Algebra2 book which covers geometry as well.  He really gets it and I think he enjoys it.  We discuss a lot of the hard problems (which are hard for me as well now to just pick up and solve).  Very MMM is the fact that the books and answer keys can be repeatedly used so the expense is a one time thing if you have multiple children.  Or, you can buy used and sell when done.

I found Abeka to be very expensive.  Yes it is nice when your children are young because of all the nice pictures but after the first year or two it became a waste, I think.

[Michread]

BrainPop and Discovery Education are excellent online resources.  Once you officially contact your school to let them know you are homeschooling, ask them if they use BrainPop or Discovery Education in their computer classes.  If they do, ask them for the school logon/password; they should give it to you or give you the contact info to get it from their computer teacher.

If they don't use those 2 ask them what do they use in computer classes (it may be in higher grades).  There are other online learning programs that your school system may use and you can gain access to those for free.

[FunkyStickman]

As a homeschooler of 4 kids, aged 8 to 16, you do not have to worry about any kind of formal educational efforts until they're at least 7. Kids are curious, non-structured, inquisitive, and they will learn plenty if you just read to them and play games with them. They are miraculous little sponges, you'd be amazed at how much they learn from their environment with little to no intervention.

Don't give in to the pressure that says "your child must be reading by the time they're 6". It's not true, it's counter-productive, and defeats the main purpose of homeschooling. If you limit TV time to some educational things, and give them opportunities to explore and figure things out, they will amaze you.

A five year old does not necessarily need a lot of curricular materials.  I would make regular trips to the library, invest in good nature guides for children and then get outside, perhaps look at some Montessori at home sorts of materials to teach prehensile skills.

This is absolutely true.

My wife and I use a combination of Charlotte Mason, Montessori methods, and a smattering of cheap workbooks to single out problem areas. My kids have learned more biology from PBS documentaries than I ever learned in high school and college. At least 2 of my kids are dyslexic, all of them are "ADD" (like me) and when they are curious, there is no limit to what they can learn. We didn't start prepping my oldest for exit exams until she was 15, because before that, she wasn't ready to tackle those kinds of problems, and wasn't motivated to, anyway. Now that she's decided what she wants to do, she's flying through high school curriculum in about half the time it would have taken in school.

[OldAndInTheWay]

We (really my wife) home-school/schooled our 13 kids. oldest is 24 and finished grad school 3 years ago. 4 are in college, with 2 graduating this May. 2 HS age, 2 MS age, 2 ES age, 2 toddlers just bobbing and the house.
My wife uses a hodgepodge she has collected over the year. Never spends more than a $100-$200 a year total on books/supplies. Used is your friend.
Saxon
worldy-wise
are good.
Reading anything and everything is best. Get them to read and you are home-free...almost.
All my kids have finished HS studies either 1 or 2 years early and then headed to community college for 2 years starting at age 16. Then a local State Univ for the last 2 years. Paid for school themselves (plus got aid and scholarships). Now student loans so far.

[homehandymum]

FunkyStickman is totally right.

We homeschool 3 kids, aged 4 - 10. 

My general goal is to only fix what's broken.  I.E.  only buy curriculum/school stuff once a definite need is identified.

For instance, most kids learn to read by being read to and having the letters and sounds pointed out to them.  Happily, library books are free.

Maths literacy is acquired through counting things, playing with shapes and patterns.  Board games, card games, dice games will see you through here for most basic math concepts (and some other quite tricky ones)

Writing needs pencil and paper.  Free printable worksheets are available online.

If you need some guidance about these three things, Ruth Beechck's 3Rs book is fabulous  http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Rs-Ruth-Beechick/dp/0880620749

Basically, I find it helpful to sit back, think "What skills do I want my kids to have 1 year from now?"  "Will they learn that through our (deliberately chosen, intentional) daily activities?"  "If not, what are my options?"

Very rarely will buying a full curriculum be your only option, especially while they're young.

Edited to add:  I just re-read your OP and saw you were mostly asking about *online* options, not the full curriculum question. Sorry!  No ideas, we don't use a lot of online educational stuff.  If the kids are online it's usually to play MineCraft, or Hearthstone.

[Thegoblinchief]

First year of doing homeschooling, generally using a Charlotte Mason-inspired approach.

My kids are 6 & 7. I have a 4 year old who's already way past kindergarten level in factual knowledge, but not quite ready for any formal instruction.

Every kid is different, but don't spend on curriculum at that age. Focus on reading - the library is your friend! If he/she is ready, start basic addition with some "manipulatives" (physical counters, use pretty much anything!)

For penmanship and math worksheets, I use stuff from

SuperKids.com
Donnayoung.org

*ease* into it at this age. 1 or 2 in small chunks. Do nature hikes. Garden. Kids soak up a TON just through observation.

[mandies]

Thanks everyone for all your responses. So good just to have on hand so we're ready when the boys are a bit older, and the book/curriculum readings are helpful too. We just finished "The Smartest Kids in the World" which was insightful as well.

My kids have learned more biology from PBS documentaries than I ever learned in high school and college.

I agree totally. PBS is incredible -- Nature, Nova, etc -- and even at 5 my oldest will watch some of them 3 and 4 times, like a little absorbent sponge.

If the kids are online it's usually to play MineCraft, or Hearthstone.

We are hoping Plants Vs Zombies is teaching useful life skills. :)

[RootofGood]

We don't homeschool but instead send our kids to the great public schools here in NC (yay for wealthy urban areas with good schools and lots of resources!).

But I have certainly thought about homeschooling our kids if we decide to take off for a year and travel the world.  And I treat public school as a supplement to my kids' education.  It's the parents' job to ensure their kids are properly educated to the parents' standards, after all.  As a result, I try to keep track of good online education resources.  I just found a new one yesterday that I have explored a bit and it impressed me so far. 

It is http://www.sascurriculumpathways.com/  It's also a local NC company offering the service.  The service is free as far as I can tell.  They offer all the basic subjects plus Spanish.  The focus seemed to be more for older grades, but I didn't explore that many subjects. 

One thing to keep in mind if you want to roughly follow along with the state's curriculum - NC now follows the Common Core Standards.  If you plan to enter your kids in public school later, you might want to make sure they are meeting the standards.  I figure the move to these standards will be a positive in the eyes of homeschool parents because they focus more on critical thinking and reasoning, and require more explanation than the old standards.

[homehandymum]

We are hoping Plants Vs Zombies is teaching useful life skills. :)

Amen.  I haven't seen it being played in our house in recent weeks - probably because I'm too cheap to spring for the paid version myself and we've all clocked the free one :)   If the kids want a game, they pay for it from their pocket money.  I was hoping they'll club together and buy p vs z , but no, they decided it wasn't the best use of their funds.  sigh.  I guess when the zombie apocalypse comes, we'll just have to fight them off our roof with NO PRACTICE!

[mandies]

We are hoping Plants Vs Zombies is teaching useful life skills. :)

Amen.  I haven't seen it being played in our house in recent weeks - probably because I'm too cheap to spring for the paid version myself and we've all clocked the free one :)   If the kids want a game, they pay for it from their pocket money.  I was hoping they'll club together and buy p vs z , but no, they decided it wasn't the best use of their funds.  sigh.  I guess when the zombie apocalypse comes, we'll just have to fight them off our roof with NO PRACTICE!

Our son bought the full version with his pocket money -- he saved the $12 up $3 a week for a month! I have no idea how a 5YO can be so patient, but he is.

[read books]

I was homeschooled until college. I now have a Phd and teach college freshmen and sophomores.

I agree with the earlier commenters who said not to worry too much about curriculums and costly books. I suggest getting old editions that are generally quite cheap. Get connected with some local homeschoolers and buy and trade with them for the few textbooks that could make things much easier for you (Saxon math, for example). Most subjects can be taught very well with few curricular resources if you (and your children as they get older) are willing to put thought and time into it. A decent library and an Internet connection should cover basic history, government, art, political science, literature, natural history, etc. etc. I recommend language lessons early if you don't have native or at least fluent second language speaker in the home already. Other subjects can be addressed later on (lab sciences, drama groups etc).

The real reason I'm commenting is to reassure you about taking a more relaxed, less curriculum -oriented approach. Finishing text books and online lessons is not an end in itself but a way to work towards learning. This is just an anecdote, but homeschoolers do tend to test well in general: I had to take a state science test in 7th grade, and my parents figured I'd be awful as we had not "studied science" at all. I scored in the 98th percentile. It turns out that paying attention to nature and watching nature documentaries for fun was just fine.

Remember not to compare your home school to an idealized version of school ( home or other). No educational approach can do everything best. As a teacher, I have many students come to college bored by years of workbooks. It's a real challenge to get them interested in learning. They want "good grades" and generally expect to be bored a lot. Homeschooling can more easily avoid these particular problems than schools that must educate large groups of students can, but if home schoolers focus on replicating the lesson-oriented school methods, they're at risk of missing those benefits.

Good luck.

[1967mama]

We have homeschooled our kids.  The post by "read books" is BANG ON!

As to your original question, there is plenty of online free printables for young children in all the core subjects (math, english, science, socials) if you google around for it.  At those ages, I just made little workbooks for the kids out of stuff I've printed off. 

The library is your best friend as well, especially for science and socials. Do fun science experiments together, go to free museums, skating, swimming ... those early years of homeschooling are super fun!

Enjoy!

[kkbmustang]

I say this with a couple of disclaimers. I do not homeschool our kids, but a friend from college does and she has a blog with great printables, etc. Be warned, though: she is a very conservative Christian. I don't think her resources reflect that but her commentary sometimes does.

She was a music teacher for many years and has great music resources.

http://www.homegrownlearners.com

[RootofGood]

Seems like a reasonable warning to me with regards to homeschooling resources.  If you want science books instead of "science" books for example. 

[tmac]

I appreciate the warning. A lot of homeschooling resources come with a lot of Christianity inserted where you wouldn't think it was needed. When I was homeschooling, looking for new resources always meant finding out first whether they were specifically "secular" or if they were Christian, how much so.

[avonlea]

I appreciate the warning. A lot of homeschooling resources come with a lot of Christianity inserted where you wouldn't think it was needed. When I was homeschooling, looking for new resources always meant finding out first whether they were specifically "secular" or if they were Christian, how much so.

Yes, this is what I have also done.  We use a couple of book series that come from Christian-based companies but neither series are knocking the students over the head with the author's religious ideology.  A couple of times I have had us skip over a lesson or a paragraph, but for the most part, the information has been very good.  I never looked into Christian-based science texts, though.  Our local library has a lot of resources for that subject.

[avonlea]

Just in case someone else out there is homeschooling a child with dyslexia, we have found these two resources to be very helpful.

A Workbook for Dyslexics by Cheryl Orlassino
http://www.amazon.com/A-Workbook-Dyslexics-Cheryl-Orlassino/dp/1430328037

High Noon Books
http://www.highnoonbooks.com/index-hnb.tpl

ETA:  These are not the series I was talking about in an earlier post.

[RootofGood]

Seems like a reasonable warning to me with regards to homeschooling resources.  If you want science books instead of "science" books for example.

Care to back up this statement with an example?

At your service!

http://www.abeka.com/HomeSchool/SubjectInfo/Science.aspx

To me, these resources obviously scream "creationist science".  I would never select these books for my kids unless I was teaching comparative religions, clever marketing, or sci fi/fantasy literature.  A less astute homeschool parent just starting out or not paying close attention?  They might pick one of these resources. 

I'm not saying you shouldn't pick these resources, just be aware of what you're getting and that a large minority of homeschoolers are into "science" books instead of normal science books.  If "science" is your bag, have at it.  I think we can both agree that it pays to understand the particular slant of someone writing about or recommending resources (whether you agree with them or not).  I'm not arguing the legitimacy of creationism, but rather this latter point - understanding the point of view of an author recommending resources. 

The first link I included makes it pretty clear the angle the books are written from (creationism). 

Then I checked on ebay for a seemingly impartial book from A Beka:
https://www.abeka.com/ABekaOnline/BookDescription.aspx?sbn=18767
"Physics: The Foundational Science"

The first product for sale at ebay doesn't mention the slant of the book anywhere.  Hopefully anyone looking at homeschooling resources would check out the source thoroughly before buying it.  That's what I'm suggesting - be aware of the biases in texts. 

[tmac]

Seems like a reasonable warning to me with regards to homeschooling resources.  If you want science books instead of "science" books for example.

Care to back up this statement with an example?

Here's another:  http://www.sonlight.com/science.html. Nothing is said on the homepage about religion. It does say on the About Us section that they're a Christian company. On this science page, you have to read just beyond half a page of description before you get to this:

A Christian worldview bolsters your family's learning.

Sonlight integrates a strong Christian worldview into our Instructor's Guides so you and your children can look at the world through the lens of God's Word, the ultimate source of truth.

*We provide a counter balance to non-Christian content and ideas.
*We encourage your family to first seek to understand differing perspectives before critiquing them, so your children gain the ability to discern with you right beside them.[/li][/list]
*We present information and a response to evolution, highlighting God as Creator and Intelligent Designer.

"Sonlight's creation-based science program has been great for our family. I love how much the girls enjoy working together on their science experiments." —Sara R, Aug. 2010

Obviously, if this suits your worldview, that's great. If it doesn't, you sure need to know that before you waste any time figuring out if the particular presentation of information will suit your child and your homeschooling philosophy.

[avonlea]

Thanks for sharing those statements, RootofGood and tmac.  I had assumed that most Christian science textbooks would be like this (creation-based), and that is why I had never looked into them.  But for other school subjects, like tmac and I were saying earlier, some materials from Christian resources are seen as acceptable to many secular homeschoolers--The Story of the World and The Life of Fred are the two that we use--and some Christian-based texts will try to throw in scripture or ideology in as many places as they can.  I didn't look into any Christian materials when I first started homeschooling but soon learned that not all materials from religious companies are over the top.

Obviously, if this suits your worldview, that's great. If it doesn't, you sure need to know that before you waste any time figuring out if the particular presentation of information will suit your child and your homeschooling philosophy.

+1

[RootofGood]

Absolutely correct.  Although depending on your world view we would see the biases differently.

PEACE,
MTM

With tens of thousands of worldviews (or more) prevalent around different parts of our Earth, that's to be expected.  Take care! 

[avonlea]

Since there are a few other PBS lovers on this thread (yay!), I wanted to mention a great program that we watched recently, the 3-part series "Your Inner Fish" with Neil Shubin.  http://www.pbs.org/your-inner-fish/home/

[RetiredAt63]

PBS won't let me watch it - good thing I read the book.

Since there are a few other PBS lovers on this thread (yay!), I wanted to mention a great program that we watched recently, the 3-part series "Your Inner Fish" with Neil Shubin.  http://www.pbs.org/your-inner-fish/home/

Back on topic, here age 5 is kindergarten. Great for the kids who have been at home with only a few playmates (I literally saw a little girl hiding behind her mother the first day), old hat to kids who have been to play groups and day care.  The big advantage I can see for homeschooling at that age is you won't have your child's kindergarten teacher saying they will learn to read in grade 1, and so you then have your 5 year old hiding the fact that she can read. Yes, mine interpreted that to mean that she wasn't supposed to read until grade 1, not that they would all be reading by the end of grade 1.  Kids . . .

For older kids - Jerry Pournelle (yes, the one that used to write for Byte) writes a lot about his wife's software that will teach any kid how to read (http://www.readingtlc.com/), and he has now reissued the old 1914 California 6th Grade Reader (http://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/e-books/). I haven't used either so can't comment, but they could be useful.

[TeresaB]

A lot of it is going to depend on what works for your kid's learning style. My family used some Sonlight curriculum (carefully sorted through/edited, as we are not fundamentalists), some Kolbe Academy, some Mother of Divine Grace (can you guess what religion we are? lol), some home-made stuff. Math we used Miquon for younger grades and Key to ... or Singapore math for older grades. Then we had some big thick textbooks (Blitzer pre-calc and I can't remember the name of the calc book) for upper-level high school math. Different things have worked for different kids. The big pro of homeschooling is its flexibility, but because it can be done so many different ways, it's also easier to do it wrong.