# Switching our homeschooling curriculum



## Pergamum (Feb 18, 2015)

Hello,

We homeschool using Sonlight. We love it. But it is a lot of work. Lots of parental involvement needed. With 3 kids and my wife pregnant and us heading back to the village in a few months (fatigue issues), we are looking for homeschooling options that would allow the kids to work more independently. Like some courses being on videos.

Also, options that reduce our packing would also help. Right now we must pack lots of books and workbooks and we would love it if homeschooling groups put more stuff in formats that could be accessed by ipad, laptop, cd, etc.

Any suggestions? My son will enter 6th grade and my daughter 3rd.


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## jwithnell (Feb 18, 2015)

Question: are you using a separate grade level for each child while using the core curriculum for Sonlight?


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## Pergamum (Feb 18, 2015)

I don't really understand the question. Yes, we have a 5th grade curriculum for Noah and 2nd grade curriculum for Alethea.


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## KMK (Feb 18, 2015)

I believe BJUPress has all of their textbooks available in electronic format on all platforms. They also have a hard drive option.


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## Miss Marple (Feb 18, 2015)

As I homeschooled 4 kids through high school (a fifth entering 9th grade next year) I have refined and winnowed what works best for me. I hope it is helpful. I was (obviously) overall happy with the results, academic and otherwise.

Sixth grade:

Foreign 
Language	*the Learnables* (involves a lot of listening to CDs and looking at pictures. NOT teacher intensive.) CAN DO WITH 3rd GRADER

Math *Saxon 65 or 76* (utilize DIVE CDs which teach each lesson on the computer. Really reduces teaching time)

Art *History of Art *(Barry Stebbins) – 2 year course. (note 2nd commandment violations in there, but difficult to learn 
history of art without them)

History	*History of our United States* (A Beka? or Bob Jones) (Have them just read a section at a time, then answer questions at the end,
to lessen teacher time. They should be able to read and retain at this point anyway, which is the common method of learning something)
CAN DO WITH 3rd GRADER if 6th grader reads aloud and asks the questions of the 3rd grader!

English	*Daily Grams* (blue book)
*Spelling Power*
*God’s Gift of Language C* (A Beka)

Music learn/practice an instrument; or singing CAN DO WITH THE 3rd GRADER

Science	*Observing God’s World *(A Beka) (As with History, read by himself and answer questions which lessens teacher time. I do recommend
teacher doing the experiments with them, though)

PE A sports team or a workout regimen or something.

Bible Daily Bible Reading, Family devotions, Weds. night Bible study
Sunday School, VBS’s, Bible and WCF memory work

Typing	Typing CD Rom like Typing Instructor or Mavis Beacon or whatever (basically no teacher involvement)

Geography	*Operation World* Read an entry a day, find the country on the globe, maybe make a notebook of pertinent facts about each country.
(CAN BE DONE WITH THIRD GRADER)

Third Grade:

Phonics	*Phonics Level D*, Modern Curriculum Press

Foreign
Language	*Learnables* DO WITH 6th GRADER

PE a sports team or workout regimen, make sure they can swim by now

Math *Math Level C*, Modern Curriculum Press

History	DO WITH 6th GRADER

Music learn an instrument or singing, lessons available online!

Science	*Exploring God’s World* (A Beka)

Handwriting	Cursive workbook, from a grocery store or whatever.

Spelling	Spelling Power

Language	*Language 3 *(A Beka)

Bible Bible study, Sunday school, family devotions, Cathechism work,memory work

Geo Operation World and notebook WITH 6th GRADER


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## puritanpilgrim (Feb 18, 2015)

We have done some option, but they cost money. We have used teaching textbooks for math along with life of fred. That hasn't been as intense as Saxon was. The kids also think it more fun. We also used some online classes from Veritas Press. Instead of buy one class for each child, we would use the history class for multiple kids at at time.


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## jwithnell (Feb 18, 2015)

We have been quite successful using a single Sonlight core curriculum and science for two elementary school grades. Right now, we're using the second half of US history for both our third and sixth grader along with a late-elementary school science. I read the more difficult books while my sons sometimes read the easier books to each other. This has been an extremely efficient way to home school. Since you are already using Sonlight, you could try experimenting with this during your current school year. 

If you wanted to do math and the rest of language arts more independently, Alpha and Omega has many different alternatives, electronically and otherwise. Bob Jones and A Beka, at least in the past, has been all or nothing for elementary school -- you have to get the whole grade. I'm not thrilled with A Beka science.


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## Pergamum (Feb 18, 2015)

Miss Marple said:


> As I homeschooled 4 kids through high school (a fifth entering 9th grade next year) I have refined and winnowed what works best for me. I hope it is helpful. I was (obviously) overall happy with the results, academic and otherwise.
> 
> Sixth grade:
> 
> ...



Wow! Thanks for putting all that down here! Looking into this now.


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## Miss Marple (Feb 18, 2015)

You are welcome - it was not hard as I maintain a list as I am often asked.


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