HOW do you choose a homeschooling curriculum anyway

[Jemi]

Feeling somewhat overwhelmed.  I want to homeschool at least for the primary years (I refuse to think beyond that!)

Do I need to go into all the background philosophies to choose what or how I will do it? I just want something I can do every week day, but not for more than half a day that develops my child and stretches her so she can use more of her potential but does not just lead to academic attainment but personal development (character) too.

Learning by rote does not appeal to me at all because (in my case anyway) the knowledge only lasts as long as it is being regularly applied. I did not like school but loved learning. I felt it restricted my interests and I was pressured to learn within school guidelines and not to ask questions or even let it be known I was doing further study. I can pass tests (yay, and so what?!). My degree was a waste of time because I don't remember much of any of it, and left most of my knowledge on the various exam tables, except for the one or two units I thoroughly enjoyed. I don't want my child to go through that and want her to have a full and wide curriculum (no gaps), but to be able to have time and space to develop and explore her own interests, to live life, and to become. I do not want something that will require loads and loads of preparation, but don't mind some. I had tried to pick and choose programmes and books instead of using a curriculum or prescriptive path but KNOW I will need a structure and methodology or nothing will happen, and I don't want to miss anything out. - if this description makes you think of a particular programme / curriculum / style please let me know

I am most comfortable planning and researching and preparing before moving forward with things but there is just SO much information and opinion that feels like I am going around in circles and not getting closer to a conclusion! Some people say children learn like this, and others say something else.

trying to find a UK curriculum has been pretty unfruitful too and I have no intention of following the national curriculum. I was / am pleased with my decision to homeschool but it seems frustrating more than anything now. Although the fact that it is gone 2 am might be adding to my despondency!

[MummyRoo]

Hello from the UK

I know what you mean about finding an English curriculum - I guess there just isn't the same demand for homeschool curricula here It's frustrating because I don't want my son to learn vast amounts of American history or literature, but there aren't many alternatives for a complete curriculum. I get the impression that a lot of UK homeschoolers are actually un-schoolers and thus don't need a curriculum.

Now, as to figuring out a curriculum, I would avoid the Classical styles if you don't like rote learning. I'm not a fan myself Now I can't say I've read more than a vague overview for Classical, so someone else can tell you why rote memorization is actually a good thing (or whether I've got it all wrong) but that is the impression I got and why I'm not really looking any deeper.

Likewise Robinson Curriculum focuses only on reading, writing and arithmetic - even science is left until after completing high school maths. There are lots of good books on his reading list, but it is quite restrictive in what it teaches.

It sounds like you would like Charlotte Mason as a curriculum (I will be using this as a spine, so I may be biased) - this is a rigorous book-based curriculum designed to leave the afternoons free for nature walks and outdoor play. Have a look at Amblesideonline.org - they have some good overviews of what to expect from using CM and a free curriculum which has lots of freely-available books. Apparently a lot of Americans complain that there are too many English books and the English people complain it is too American  It is a good place to go to get a general idea - I do plan to substitute a lot of the US history/literature with UK history/children's classics. The Yesterday's Classics collection of books has a lot of (admittedly American-English) good old books covering English History. Did you know Dickens wrote a history for children?

I do think that science needs to be more practical, though, so am using Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding for more hands-on science. It is fantastically thorough and hands-on and I haven't really looked at anything else.

For maths, there is Saxon (a US-based but very thorough) or MEP (UK-based and FREE) as two complete curricula that I am familiar with. I know most people on here intend to go through maths at an accelerated pace and use Saxon to do so. MEP actually covers around 95% of the national curriculum material to a greater depth so you can be sure that you cover the 'important' bits Personally, I'm using Saxon now and hope to add in MEP in a few months (since MEP requires a bit more brain activity than Saxon at the moment) and will probably alternate days for the early levels of the curriculum (I don't really want to be doing middle-school work at age 4 which is where we would be heading otherwise). There is also Life of Fred, which is story-based but American, Miquon which is a great hands-on primary level course which goes to a lot of depth but not the breadth of the others, and IXL which is web-based and covers UK national curriculum. Rightstart was one of my favourite Maths curricula, actually, but it is expensive and has huge shipping costs.

I have just ordered Draw Write Now to use as an early art curriculum and am looking at Atelier (homeschoolart.com) for later.

Unfortunately, almost everything I have mentioned is American-based. This isn't such a problem for Maths, Science and Art, but Literature and Spelling are proving to be a pain. Even Reading Bear (which is fab) is causing problems because the short-o sounds completely different!

I hope I've given enough here to get you started

[Jemi]

  thank you so much mummyroo!

I have looked at a few of the things you've mentioned and actually came across ambersideonline this week and something struck me about it so I think I'll look again. It's finding the time to look in depth. My child is currently spraying me with water and climbing on me as I write this! So I end up hunched over my laptop at 2 am trying to work things out.Not good!

Anyway, I think that what you say about un schooling in the UK is true...
I'm half expecting the majority of home schoolers I meet might frown upon my hope for accelerated maths and reading etc and desire for a thorough curriculum. But hey ho.

It's also been suggested I use galore park books but it doesn't appeal! Except maybe the phonics book.

We do ixl casually, and I think I will favour Singapore math over Saxon but am tempted by the fact that Saxon require less of my active involvement with time than Singapore Maths. I have used some things from marshmallow Mathis but need to step it up. MEP does look interesting.

I'll definitely look at Yesterdays Classics. Thank you. I didn't know about Dickens history for children. Am intrigued! 

Whatever book list I use I will supplement or modify I think - adding my favourite books and a healthy dose of black British history probably.

I'm using letterland for reading / phonics but finding it a pain to be honest. Tho the cd ROM was very good for teaching the phonics sounds and my DD likes some of the games.

I need to find a good language program - thinking Rosetta Stone in a year.

Hadn't heard of the art stuff so will look into that ASAP. Thank u

I think once I settle on a curriculum to follow or use as a spine I'll feel more confident. I know I might still radically or slightly change what we do with time but we do need to start somewhere ... And soon. Otherwise before I know it she'll be twelve and we'd have done nothing!

Thanks again!

[MummyRoo]

I completely forgot about Singapore maths  whoops!

I know what you mean about finding time to read up on things - I am trying to concentrate on typing with my son singing the numbers 1-20 over and over in my ear...

It is actually a relief to know that there is at least one other mum in the UK with a kid who is the same age as my son who plans to homeschool with an accelerated curriculum!

[Mandabplus3]

Have you been reading this thread?
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-older-child/swann-family-10-children-with-ma-at-age-16!-book-review-and-discussion-thread/msg94933/?topicseen#new
It gives lots of thinking ideas to help you decide.
I think over all you need to decide first if you want a 100% boxed curriculum from one place or if you want some choice in program's to use. It seems you want some choice so far.
Next decide what you want to teach.

Keep in mind not everything has to be tackled every year but you should always cover the basics reading writing and math.

Then think about HOW you want to teach them.

Do you want to teach reading by reading lots of books together, or by a computer game or by systematic phonics?
Do you want to teach math using manipulatives as much as possible or get your kids off manipulatives as fast as possible? Do you want them to learn abacus? What do you think of calculators?
Do you enjoy teaching art? Or would a push the button and watch it program be better for your family?
Can you teach music or will you need a teacher?
Do you hate any topic? Do you love audio books? What makes your child happiest?

Once you know those thing you should be better able to research for a good set of resources. My advice would be to spend some time trolling the homeschool websites, to learn about the different curriculum. And always try out the free options before spending 'money some resource are worth their weight in gold other should be given away ;)deciding which is which at 2 am is not a great long term plan but you have plenty of time to learn before you need to get serious.
For resources be sure to include any Australian sites as they correlate better to the UK than America does. We don't have much but what we have is good! 
From reading your ideas I think you need to do more research, its best to start home schooling with a firm set of educational values. You will change them over time but at least start with a goal in mind.  The well trained mind forum is a good place to look after you have exhausted all the great topics here on Brillkids home schoolers.. Take notes as you read. Oh and just because you don't like rote learning doesn't mean you should ignore a classical education. You can teach the same ideas in another way.

Best advice I got was- decide what you want to cover in a year. Break it down into how many lessons you need to cover in a month a week and a day, and do that. Do only that and let your kids have a life too. Don't try to continually teach all day every day or you will burn out and so will your kids. Have a plan and cover your minimum expectations daily.

[Skylark]

Jemi,

I thought to chime in about Rosetta Stone. We own Rosetta Stone Chinese and Spanish, and to be honest I would not recommend it for early learners. The vocabulary is very limited, and it is more student/adult oriented. My kids love learning new things and they were dead bored with it!

When I compared LR Chinese and Rosetta Stone Chinese side by side, -- LR Chinese totally wins it, -- the vocabulary interests the kids, and that what matters for young learners! What language are you looking into teaching? There are a number of resources out there, that are way better then Rosetta Stone ( which is also way overpriced) in my opinion....

And yes, I hear you -- we are still in search of our perfect curriculum! But I found in-depth reviews here on the forum VERY  helpful, of course no one can do choosing for me, but reading through reviews and what worked for others, helped me to narrow down what to research and saved me a lot of time. Did you see these threads?

http://forum.brillkids.com/homeschooling/which-homeschooling-method-are-you-thinking-of-or-are-currently-using/

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-math/math-curriculum-for-toddlers/

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-math/math-supplement-for-advanced-3-year-old-(almost-4)/

http://forum.brillkids.com/homeschooling/homeschoolers-is-'the-well-trained-mind'-the-best-homeschool-curriculum/

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-other-topics/how-to-teach-your-child-science/

http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/el-goals-for-2013/

[Jemi]

Thank you very much for your responses.

I've made some changes and decisions already... 

It is easier for me to work out what I want to do with that maths fundamentals (ixl, marshmallow maths and level one maths start books - focussing on one a week and reviewing past concepts too)  then as I work out how she learns, how we work together I'll be able to plan a year ahead and settle on an educational philosophy and fuller curriculum etc along the way. We'll also be continuing with the reading / phonics (little reader, letterland CD ROM which she loves and I'll try Step by Step Reading: A 50 Step Guide To Reading With Synthetic Phonics. There are downloadable activities on the galore park website to go along with it). Along with our daily violin practice that's a full morning. Nothing planned for afternoons - maybe we'll do the more creative art based stuff then.

Mandabplus3 and Skylark for the links and questions to think about. I've seenone or two but will look at all and review the others with my more positive mindset!

MummyRoo - ditto about accelerated curriculum. 

I've got time. I just need to be flexible and make notes as I find info and instead of trying to work out who I agree with about how children learn just see what suits our lifestyle and what works with my girl.

Languaue - in my ideal world i'd do chinese and french but find chinese daunting! I'll give Rosetta stone a miss, thanks.... Dd came out with french for cat when we saw one randomly today - my mum has been very inconsistently going through a book with her. So there is hope! Thinking its too late to start little reader Chinese..... I have it but did not want to do too much as we only discovered Brillkids in Sept / Oct.

[MummyRoo]

We are doing Russian, Chinese (I'd prefer Japanese but just can't find any child-friendly resources) and I hope to start Latin once he is confident reading English. I studied Russian for years myself, so apart from lapses in grammar it is not too hard for me to at least read and encourage conversation in Russian so I'm aiming for near-native fluency for us both there. I have almost no resources that I could recommend - I am in the process of writing my own EL-friendly "textbook" to keep us on track with learning new words/reading.

Chinese, I am most worried about. I have found lots of great resources, but trying to learn a tonal language to teach my son scares me somewhat. For now I am sticking with DVD exposure (Ni Hao Kai Lan is a big hit - like Dora for Chinese) and hoping he is learning some words from the Wink to Learn sets. I'm kind of hoping to get off the hook and start him at the local Chinese Saturday school when he turns 5...

Have you looked at Muzzy. They are quite old animations but lots of people say they're great - I am pretty sure you can get them in the Library and they do Chinese and French. Little Pim is another DVD course, which we have in Chinese but can also be bought in French - It seems to cover most of the basics for kids.

I want to keep our afternoon lessons focused on one topic such as cooking, art, craft, practical science (experiments or looking at habitats/bugs etc) and perhaps foreign-language dvds. That way I don't need to spend lots of time organizing/tidying messy activities when I want to focus on book-work, and since they are pretty much all fun/easy/take as long as you want activities there shouldn't be too many complaints about 'school' in the afternoon. I'm thinking of having Montessori-style lessons available at this time, too, as free choice self-teaching activities

[Jemi]

I keep coming back to this thread to remind myself of the advice! 

MummyRoo, I have heard of but have not tried Muzzy because of mixed reviews. I just bought French Is Fun for about £15 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/French-Serge-Cheeky-Monkey-Salut/dp/056352006X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368718554&sr=8-1&keywords=french+is+fun). It is supposed to have really old graphics too but the reviews were good. I think one said it was better than Muzzy so I thought I would try this first next week. We are also going to take a trip to France at some point too.

I love your idea about the Chinese Saturday school. I thought about it as there is one locally but am nervous about my daughter feeling out of place. I set the idea aside but then a few months ago we heard someone counting to four in lots of different languages and my DD keeps repeating the Chinese so it is on my mind again..... we shall see!

How is all your stuff going?? Have you joined any UK homeschooling groups or met with any people who hope to homeschool? I have had such mixed experiences, I hope we don't end up isolated!

[crunchynerd]

Hello Jemi,

I'm an American, so can't speak on sources for British history and literature, except a small personal recommendation for British classic novel "Swallows and Amazons" by Arthur Ransome, which is an adventure tale written in the 1930's, of four siblings who embark on a summer-long sailing adventure to a small island close to their home. A pair of self-designated pirate girls on similar sojourn, join them for imaginative adventures, with a lot of sailing terminology and detailed descriptions of every aspect of their hardy outdoorsmanship and survival skills. Some of the content might be a bit much for very young children, but my rowdy 5-year-old boy found it riveting and delightful, and my 8-year-old daughter enjoyed it also, though she likely wouldn't have, at 5. We are about to begin the sequel.

Aside from that one small recommendation, there are also at least a couple of British mums on the secular homeschooling board www.secularhomeschool.com  and a very large and active discussion forum, with a curriculum comparison and discussion area.

 I'm largely leaving history alone except as it comes up incidentally in our lives. We have enough to be getting on with, and also need to have a social life, get exercise, and see the outdoors, so I don't want our sit-down studies to take more than 4 hours daily.

The reason I feel confident in leaving history for later, is that when they are older, they can read and learn about it, quite independently, when it will make more sense to them. I don't see any advantage in young children memorizing dates and names, or learning about major wars, when major wars and the complicated political underpinnings, will be both more interesting, and more assimilable, even without my help, if I but wait.

[cokers4life]

If you are thinking Rosetta Stone for a curriculum for another language, I would check Mango Language Software.  Its amazingly simple and yet incredibly thorough in getting started in learning another language.   We get it free through our Library, and I would choose it hands down over Rosetta.  Lots of reviews say it is way better than Rosetta too. 

[Jemi]

Thanks Cokers4Life and crunchynerd for your recommendations. I will check these out. I came across Mango Language on another site this week but dismissed as I couldn't get it from a library in the uk - as far as I could tell. But your recommendation has led me to consider buying it.

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