# Specific Homeschool Resources



## JML (Mar 26, 2014)

We are hoping to begin homeschooling our oldest this next Fall and I have two specific curriculum concerns:


I want the science curriculum to be taught from a young earth, creationist perspective
I would like for the history curriculum to be objective and not overly patriotic (i.e. not interested in books trumpeting America as God's chosen nation)

Can someone help me identify a curriculum that meets one or both of those concerns? Thanks.


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## Mindaboo (Mar 26, 2014)

Apologia has a Young Explorer's Series. I have heard really good things about that. You didn't mention how old your kids are, but Apologia has all grade levels. For history, I always used Sonlight and living books rather than text books. Those would be my recommendations.


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## Hamalas (Mar 26, 2014)

As someone who grew up homeschooled (and we used all sorts of curriculum over the years) and is now doing a degree in classical Christian education with an eye towards homeschooling let me second the use of Apologia for Science. 

For history avoid textbooks like the plauge. They kill imagination, are dreadfully dull, and often contain factual errors etc... What age are your kids? Also, are you asking for American history, church history, Western history, world history or all of the above?


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## JML (Mar 26, 2014)

My oldest will be in 1st grade in the Fall. She is currently in a private school for K-5 but we are hoping to homeschool this next school year. So at her current age we are talking basics. However, having seen some of the curriculum around, I had some concerns on those topics. I will check out Apologia. Thank you.


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## Mindaboo (Mar 26, 2014)

Go to Rainbow Resource. They have a lot of information on the curriculum, and you can ask questions through a live chat. They also have the best prices around. I wouldn't focus so much on history at that stage. I'd encourage a lot of reading and reading aloud to your daughter. That's just me. I'll try to go through our shelves and remember which books my kids loved that I read to them. Three come to mind off the top of my head: "Johnny Tremain", "Carry on Mr. Bowditch", and "The Great Turkey Walk". That would be a little intense for your daughter to read at that age. I read those to my kids and have read them a few times. They still love those books, and they are in their teens.


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## JML (Mar 26, 2014)

Mindaboo said:


> Go to Rainbow Resource. They have a lot of information on the curriculum, and you can ask questions through a live chat. They also have the best prices around. I wouldn't focus so much on history at that stage. I'd encourage a lot of reading and reading aloud to your daughter. That's just me. I'll try to go through our shelves and remember which books my kids loved that I read to them. Three come to mind off the top of my head: "Johnny Tremain", "Carry on Mr. Bowditch", and "The Great Turkey Walk". That would be a little intense for your daughter to read at that age. I read those to my kids and have read them a few times. They still love those books, and they are in their teens.



Thanks. In Alabama, the state law requires a church school "cover" and the one in our area requires history in 1st grade (although the state does not). Alabama homeschooling laws are a little odd. Unless we find another cover we will end up having to do some sort of history in 1st grade. Most history curriculum that I have seen are broad U.S. history at that level but are a little too much for me as far as what I mentioned above. My daughter does love to read and does so really well.


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## Mindaboo (Mar 26, 2014)

I'd look at Rainbow Resource and see what they have for history. They are very detailed in their descriptions.


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## Hamalas (Mar 26, 2014)

As far as state requirments go you might be able to simply assign a course of historically oriented reading to your daughter and have that as your historical module. Keep track of whatever books she reads/is assigned and if you want to flesh that out more you could have her give oral (or if she is able basic) written reports on some of her reading or encourage more creative interaction like putting on a play based on one of the books she is assigned.

I would agree with Mindy, at this age push biographies/historical fiction. Good biographies and historical fiction will do two things: 1) it makes history come to life and allows the child to identify with and understand various people, cultures, and cultural moments, and 2) it gives them familiar faces when they get to the survey material. That way when they read American history in a survey text at 3rd grade (or college!) they perk up when they see George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington Carver, or Robert E. Lee mentioned because they feel like they already _know_ them personally.

One other thing to think about is the big-picture of education. As I said before I'm doing a degree in classical Christian education which takes a very intentional approach to the structure of curriculum from the get-go. Rather than picking random curriculum options in all the subjects each year for each child it will be much easier (and more effective) in the long run if you and your wife take the time to come to a common vision of where you want your children to be and how you will get them there. Think of education in terms of 12-K (to borrow a phrase) rather than the other way around and things will begin to fall in line. That said, until 3rd grade the basic skills (reading, writing, and arithmetic) will be the same no matter your approach. This should give y'all some time to thoughtfully decide on which approach and philosophy best fits your goals, the needs of your children, and your own personal abilities. I'd be happy to share more about this but if you're looking at homeschooling and want to think through some of these things I would recommend reading Leigh A. Bortins _The Core_ which is a homeschool mom's thoughts about these subjects. 

Okay. I'll step off my soap-box now.


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## Mindaboo (Mar 26, 2014)

I second "The Core" by Leigh Bortins. I would also focus on memorizing at this age...timeline events, history songs, etc. The idea with Classical Education is to introduce your kids to terms and names so that they become familiar with them. Then when they reach a more mature level of understanding they aren't intimidated by the information. 

If she's a good reader "The Little House" series is very good. I would try to make the reading as enjoyable as possible at her age. You want to create a love for reading, not bog her down with a lot of heavy material. My girls have enjoyed the American Girl Doll books as well. You can read books like "Misty of Chincoteague" (not sure I spelled that right) to her, and she'll love it. Landmark books has a lot of good bite size books for her age that have books on presidents and other historical figures.


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## Scottish Lass (Mar 26, 2014)

Historical biographies at that age with a little basic geography should be plenty to satisfy the state regs.


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## Mindaboo (Mar 27, 2014)

This is also the time of year for homeschooling conventions to begin. If possible, go. It can be overwhelming, but you can also look around and see the books. I found that really helpful. If you know what you want sites like vegsource and homeschool classifieds are great sites to pick up used books cheaply. 

I was at a Classical Conversations co-op the other day, and I think I heard one of the moms say there are some nice apps for memory work. Lee Bortins founded the program. If you read "The Core" you'll get a good understanding of her philosophy. Classical Conversations is a nationwide co-op that might be worth checking into. It's a little pricey, but it's good. 

Enchanted Learning is another site I used when my kids were young. They have a lot of resources for geography, simple science worksheets, (labeling the parts of plants, etc.) 

I'm not big on overloading kids in the early years. I had my oldest doing eight subjects a day in first grade. It was awful for her and for me. With my youngest two, I kept it simple because at that point I had four kids I was schooling every day. We only focused on handwriting, math, reading, and me reading to them. My youngest is 13, but I still read to them every day. 

For your first year, I would make it as simple as possible for two reasons: it will build your wife's confidence, and it will help your daughter transition.


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## JML (Mar 27, 2014)

Mindaboo said:


> I'm not big on overloading kids in the early years. I had my oldest doing eight subjects a day in first grade. It was awful for her and for me. With my youngest two, I kept it simple because at that point I had four kids I was schooling every day. We only focused on handwriting, math, reading, and me reading to them.



Thanks. We only have 1 school age but there are two more behind her so that is great advice.


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## DeniseM (Mar 27, 2014)

Apologia is a great science resource. We use it for the upper grades, but for lower elementary I have just had my kids read the Nature Reader from Christian Liberty Press or similar nature books by Arabella Buckley.

For History, any of the books by Genevieve Foster are quite helpful. They are not super U.S. centered, although she may choose an American as the central figure for the time period that she covers in a particular book. Her books choose one major figure, such as Augustus Caesar or George Washington, and use the lifespan of that person to give a panoramic view of what was going on all over the world during the time of that person's life. Half of one of these books would likely fulfill your first grade history requirements and I'm sure your daughter will love the story format of the books. I read these books aloud to our children, since I have four currently in school, so that we are able to all do history together and our kids have really enjoyed them and learned a lot from them. Another good book, maybe as a supplement to read aloud, is Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin.


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## Mindaboo (Mar 27, 2014)

How could I forget about the Nature Readers by CLP? My children all read those in the early years. That was all my son read for a time. He couldn't get enough of them. 

I also did "Story of the World" by Susan Wise Bauer. I can't say it was my favorite, but my kids loved them. 

Denise, Aren't those books used with Beautiful Feet Curriculum? I've heard great things about that. I actually bought it one year and never used it.


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## DeniseM (Mar 27, 2014)

Mindaboo said:


> Denise, Aren't those books used with Beautiful Feet Curriculum?


I'm not sure. I haven't used their curriculum. I usually try out books that are recommended by Ambleside Online, especially if I can find them at the library.


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## jwithnell (Mar 27, 2014)

I've used Sonlight as a central organizer a few times and will likely use their US history 1860 and on next year. One advantage for us has been that it has me reading so much fiction and interesting non-fiction as both boys listen and they generally love it. (I use the grade level for my older child). I take the books the older boy is to read for himself and place them in strategic places around the house and the boys read at will, not necessarily on a schedule. Just keep in mind that this will take up the bulk of your schooling time. I haven't been that thrilled with their additional language arts material. 

I like Abeka for the younger grades in math and their grammar when it splits off as its on subject in fourth or fifth grade and have used it all the way through high school. I won't use their science materials and am wary of their history books.


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## Hemustincrease (Mar 27, 2014)

Answers in Genesis have a science curriculum. They have written in such a way that it can be done with little ones and then done again in more depth in senior years. That might be helpful to you if you have to cover certain subjects by state law. 

They also sell Diana Waring’s ‘History Revealed’. I use a living book approach and this curriculum seems to fit that well (from the reviews.....I don’t have it). I’m hoping to at least purchase the CD’s which go with the curriculum and use them as jumping boards to motivate us into more in-depth study (though history in this house needs very little extra motivation.........living books from a young age just create such a hunger for more!) This curriculum (as most decent history curriculums) is aimed at older children, but she does include an elementary workbook (I think.......from memory) so using that along with the CD’s and plenty of books would be a pretty solid start I reckon and might satisfy the state criteria.


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## ChariotsofFire (Mar 27, 2014)

Apologia is a great science curriculum. The curriculum is strongly in favor of creation and seeing the world around us as part of God's creation. With the Young Explorer series, you can choose a Junior Notebook for the younger kids who can't write and an regular Notebooking Journal for the kids who can write.
Science (K-6th)


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