Homeschool World Forum

[Deadhead1942]

Hi, I am looking for some help as I dive into the home school journey with my children. We did a virtual academy last year which was a public school but she stayed home. I thought it would be a good fit but it wasn't. I have decided to go full out home schooling for both my children. My oldest daughter is 10 and was a few grade levels behind when she started the virtual school and it didn't really improve much. My youngest is going to be 6 and has never sat foot in a public school except for when we would pick up her sister from the one she use to go to. I am having a hard time with trying to figure out how to go about with the curriculum for my girls but not have to pay an arm and a leg for one. I have been looking online for ideas and have seen things about unit studies and really structured curriculum's that can be bought but the structured ones are expensive and seam like the kind that k-12 was and we don't want a repeat of that again. Any ideas would be helpful. I have been looking at using math mammoth for math for them, has anyone used it, is it any good??? for everything else I am at a loss. I would like to be able to start our school year at the end of the month and could really use some ideas on which way to go. Thanks.

[hscoach]

Choosing curriculum is a big job. I personally don't prefer a pre-packaged curriculum. Instead, I like to design my own. When you put it together yourself, you can save a lot of money. You can buy used items online, buy workbooks at the dollar store or WalMart, go to used book fairs where other homeschoolers are selling things they don't want anymore, etc. I have even bought quite a bit at yard sales. The first thing you might want to do is read reviews of curriculum online. Here are a few places where you can do that. -

http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/

http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschool_Reviews/

http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/

http://eclectichomeschool.org/reviews/default.asp

My favorite place to buy new things from is Rainbow Resource. They have low prices and a huge selection.

http://www.rainbowresource.com/

If you want to buy used curriculum, here are some sites. -

http://homeschoolclassifieds.com/

http://vegsource.com/homeschool/

http://usedhomeschoolcurriculum.com/

My absolute favorite curriculum for math is Teaching Textbooks. It is easy to understand and it comes with solutions cds. If your daughter is possibly behind in math, you might consider getting one grade level below where she should be. (The program starts with 3rd grade.)

http://www.teachingtextbooks.com

To save money, you can also use your local public library and there are tons of free educational resources online too.

Hope this helps some.
_________________
Laura L. Barth
http://www.freehomeschooladvice.com

[Kasey443]

Hi, I am also from Minnesota and just starting to check out homeschooling. I wanted to ask if you checked out the free homeschooling sites. I have only found one, and do not know if it is a site anybody recommends. It is called Minnesota Connections Academy and claims it is all free. I wrote to one of the people on there, and have not received a reply. I also do not have extra funds for buying books and materials.