a hodgepodge curriculum that works

When my daughter was in the second grade I began to worry that something was wrong. She had struggled in school her first and second grade years and I was about to have baby number three. As a teacher I wasn’t bringing in a huge salary, and when I priced how much it was going to cost to put my children in childcare my husband and I decided we needed to weigh our options. He was determined that the best decision would be to homeschool our daughter. I wasn’t as sure as he was about this decision, but agreed that she needed help and who better to help her than her mother.

When I say A Hodgepodge of Curriculum I mean just what it means. I pulled all sorts of curriculum together for my daughter. For the next three years we used Math-U-See for math, Pathways for reading, Apologia for science and Heritage Studies for social studies.

I will have to admit that my main concerns our first year of homeschooling was math and reading. My daughter was reading below grade level, but I didn’t see what the teacher saw at home. When we started homeschooling I threw out all the baby readers and began reading New Friend’s from Pathway’s. Pathway’s is a reader like we used as children and their teacher edition is wonderful. An English teacher would love this curriculum. The best part is that this company is very reasonable in price. This is a curriculum you can write in the workbook because it doesn’t cost much to replace.

Math-U-See offers a test that your child can take to see what textbook would be the best fit for him/her. We decided to go with Gamma. Gamma focuses on multiplication. Exactly what we learned in the third grade when we were kids. I can honestly say that this was the best math curriculum for us. We also got the teaching DVD with this book. Unfortunately this company is a little more pricey, but I will honestly say that if you ever have to put your child back in public or private school your child will be ahead and excel. My daughter is now going into the eight grade and has maintained an “A” average for the past two years. It wasn’t until the end of her seventh grade year that she began learning new concepts.

Apologia is a great faith based curriculum. We used Botany so that we could apply what we learned in the garden. This is a curriculum you can simplify for younger children. This series refers to scripture when teaching your child about science. If you are planning to practice what you preach this is a great way to encourage your children to help with the garden. Even if you don’t normally garden make sure to grow something while using this curriculum so they can apply what they learn.

I began to focus more on social studies and history when my daughter was in her fifth grade year. The Heritage Studies by Bobby Jones University (BJU) is an excellent curriculum. This curriculum had everything I needed to teach social studies to my daughter. I purchased the complete set: Teacher’s Edition, Teacher’s Toolkit CD, activity manual, student textbook, and tests! If you are not comfortable being the teacher this is laid out like the school books in public and private school.

I just felt lead to share with you what worked for my children when I homeschooled. We decided to put our daughter back in public school for sixth grade so that she would be able to play sports her seventh grade year. She is a very talented athlete and we wanted her to be able to get recognized for possible scholarship opportunities.  Remember to use your resources like the Facebook Groups to find curriculum at reduced prices.  My favorite is Facebook Group is Homeschool Curriculum Sell/Exchange, and some of this curriculum mentioned is still available.  What curriculum are you planning on using this year?  Will you be using any of the curriculum I mentioned?