Curriculum

I bet homeschool parents were kids who loved show-and-tell back in grade school. It's always fun to see what others are using in their homeschool and to get some new ideas. Below is what we've got in the line-up for this year.  I may be adding to it as we go along, so check back throughout the year.

**Updated: 2/23/2012**

High School

This one is easy. Brianna will be using Switched on Schoolhouse for all of her core schoolwork this year. We started it last year and she loves it -- well, as much as a kid can love school. She says that she likes it the best of anything we've tried for high school. That works for me.

Once everything is set up, all I have to do is check her computer once a week or so to make sure that she's staying caught up and see if there is anything that I need to manually check. I love that we can leave each other notes, which makes it easy to clarify anything that either of us may have questions about.


Elementary/Middle School

We completely changed up the younger kids' curriculum at the beginning of January, switching to Trail Guide to Learning (Paths of Settlement). We love it! Trail Guide is a history-based, all-in-one curriculum that covers everything except math. Each level covers a range of three grade levels and can be adapted for slightly younger or older students.

It's an easy-to-use, literature based, hands-on curriculum. It is based directly on Dr. Ruth Beechick’s philosophy of education, which also complements the Charlotte Mason style.

Trail Guide offers a a consistent pattern that flows through each day, week, and unit, which allows both the parent and the kids to have a predictable flow to the school day. Each unit is six weeks long, with the last week being a built-in review and wrap-up week. The units are just long enough to really delve into a topic, but move on before it becomes tedious.

The textbooks are written to the student (though I typically read them to the kids), but the margins are filled with notes to the teachers: tips, encouragement, and a materials list for each unit). Trail Guide also comes with a CD-Rom that contains all the printable student pages and teacher checklists. My planning consists of hitting the print button three times, hole punching some pages, and making sure that I have all the materials needed for the hands-on activities for the week. I love it!


I invite you to read my in-depth review of Trail Guide to Learning.

Math

Josh and Megan continue to use Teaching Textbooks. I love the video instruction method and the fact that the grading is done for me. I also love that this is one subject that both of the younger kids can easily do independently. We are at the place in our homeschool journey where it is a sanity-saver for me to be able to send them off to do some of their work alone in their rooms.

I also enjoy the fact that there are only 120 lessons, plus tests and quizzes in Teaching Textbooks. This makes it easy to get through a full year of the curriculum in a typical school year. Last year, the kids finished early, so we just started on the next level. It was a nice feeling of accomplishment.
That's it! Our most stream-lined year ever...and I am loving it!


Just in case the fine folks at the FTC were wondering: The following materials were provided to me at no charge for the purpose of reviewing: Switched on Schoolhouse and Trail Guide to learning. Teaching Textbooks was purchased by me for our family's personal use. This post contains affiliate links. All statements made in this post are my true and honest opinions.  Your experience may vary.