Some thoughts about our curriculum and Schedule

I think the 2 main questions I get from people about home schooling is what do I teach them and how do I have enough time.  Well there is never enough time, but the curriculum part is easier to explain. 

For both Grinmaster and Allboy we use Teaching Textbooks  for math. 

I chose this because it is a computer based program and even though I feel comfortable teaching Allboy 3rd grade math, I had some worries about teaching Grinmaster.  Math is not my thing, and I didn't want to transfer my math anxiety and confusion to them.  It takes between 30 and 45 minutes per day and starts with a video lecture followed by the lesson which includes 20-25 math problems. The program keeps track of their progress and grades the work automatically.  My kids learn best with a spiral math program and it meets that criteria as well. 

For Grammar we use Growing with Grammar.  This and Teaching Textbooks are the only open and go programs use.  I tried First Language Lessons with Allboy last year and found out that the boys do NOT need a spiral grammar program and that it makes him a bit crazy to keep repeating the same lessons over and over again.  I also the year using Grammar Voyage with Grinmaster and it was a disaster.  I love Grammar Voyage, Michael Clay Thompson, and would have enjoyed learning grammar that way myself, but it didn't   have enough hand holding for Grinmaster.  He isn't able to pick out the main ideas in his reading and have the light bulb click on without more practice.  Perhaps if I had bought the other books in the series first it would have worked better, but since our other subjects are important to us, and take a lot of time, Growing with Grammar will get the job done. 

My favorite program and most helpful is All About Spelling        I can't say enough great things about this program!  We started with Level 1 as suggested even though the words presented were words that Allboy could easily spell.  But the success of the program is in the spelling rules and that is why it is important to start at the beginning with level 1, even if that means flying through the first couple of levels until you get to the point where you need to slow down and level out at where you child actually is in spelling.  The other great thing is that it also improves reading at the same time, because phonics are it's base.  If I could only buy one thing to teach this would be it.  The downside is that it isn't as cheap as many workbook types of spelling levels, but I have read and talked to so many people that skip around with spelling because they can't find anything that really works.  In the long run if you have to keep buying new spelling programs then you aren't saving money, and this saves a bunch of time that are too often wasted on programs that don't work. 


Because the Grinmaster went to traditional schools until this year (7th grade)  he is used to a Monday-Friday list spelling program so we went with Spelling Workout  It is inexpensive and it gets the job done. 



I will save the rest of our curriculum for another day because it is more detailed and I put resources together for Writing, History, Science, and Vocabulary.