I know I said something about coming back with pictures last time I wrote, but that's been postponed for a bit. LOL I will have pictures to share soon, the biggest hiccup has been finding that elusive USB cable to download the pictures from my camera. But that's not the "search" I was referring to in the subject title...
I'm beginning the search for next year's curriculum for homeschool. I'm starting now so that I can be prepared to buy by spring. I noticed last year some "early" bird sales began to show up around that time. Now, I know you're asking, "dont you already have a curriculum you're using?" Yes, we are using Abeka this year, though, it's really good, it's not exactly what I have in mind for homeschool - after working this year with the children and learning more about "learning". It was really good for the boys to have had Abeka year though. It was a good transition from going to public school to homeschool - in my opinion. It's a lot like the work they did in school, it's made for schools: teacher instructs, student does workbook pages, read text book, rinse, repeat.
What I would like envision for us is more of a Charlotte Mason style of home school (see the links list I have to the side on Charlotte Mason if you want to see what I mean). In a nutshell, it uses, what it calls, "living books" to learn instead of text books, and nature walks (or field trips). So, instead of reading the dry facts in a textbook about the Revolutionary war, the boys might read (or be read to) a story about a boy who lived through the war and what he experienced. I've noticed they retain the facts better this way. For instance, when learning about the Pioneers and settlers, I got glazed over eyes reading from the text book but as soon as we read a story about Daniel Boone... click! They understood!
That being said, Abeka isnt being completely thrown to the wind. Most of these curriculum you need to substitute in a math and grammar/phonics program so I will be still using Abeka for that... and more than likely their Bible program as well - I love it so!
Some of the curriculum I've been looking at have been Sonlight, My Father's World, a new one called Illuminations by Bright Ideas Press, just to name a few.(I will have links to them on the side too.) I havent settled on any one of them yet but, so far, the one I'm leaning more towards is My Father's World. Sonlight, is a super duper popular one, I've read a lot of good things about them - but negatives are price and more importantly (to me) is their content. Some of the books they have, I dont like (though, those can be substituted - but I dont want to buy them) and it doesnt look to be Christ-centered as I want. They are a Christian curriculum, but when compared to My Father's World, or even Illuminations, from what I've read, they are better choices. On the positive side, their collection of books is enormous! I might use them for a book idea list, if nothing else.
Illuminations looks great, but it's a brand new creation... just started this school year. The books look wonderful but they dont have a "statement of faith" posted (I'm not sure on what they believe... other than saying their Christian). Another big factor, is they're new. I'm still new too, I'm not so sure if it would be wise to use a new curriculum that might still need some perfecting.
I know, it looks like I've already made my decision on My Father's World. I still have some thinking and praying to do over it. I'm concerned with its difficulty level (is it too difficult? not enough?). Then of course, there's the possibility of curriculum I havent come across yet, or even combining a few of them together.
Thanks for hearing me out, I just needed to get some thoughts on "paper". Enjoy looking at those links!
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