Hello! I have decided to homeschool my girls next year and I think I've decided on a curriculum but I would love to hear your opinions and advice! My daughters will be in 3rd and 1st grade next year...they are now 7 and 5 years old. I want an all in one curriculum that has everything planned for me...at least for the first year. I also have a 1 year old so our days are very busy and I need something that is easy for me but thorough for my girls. I've been looking at the Abeka curriculum but I'm a little confused at what I would need to buy if I chose that. They have a Child Kit but then they also have Language Arts Kits, Arithmetic Kits, and Bible Kits so I'm a little confused. I appreciate anything you have to offer!

Welcome! We're glad to have you here!

I'm afraid I'm not much help on all-in-one curriculum packages, as I am an "eclectic" sort of person - using things from all over & crafting my own.

But, just wanted to say welcome, and I'm sure others will jump in soon with practical help : )

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Hi there!! Welcome! One of the things you'll want to be careful about is reproducing the classroom at your house. With homeschooling you have total freedom to teach your children in many creative ways. Please take a look at the testimonies linked from our beginner page to get encouragement and ideas: http://www.homeschoolchristian.com/beginner.php

Your children are young, and frankly, you can get away without spending lots of money for a pre-made package. So why not save that money? :0) Ambleside online has a free curriculum. We also have "low/no cost curriculum." Take a look here:
http://homeschoolchristian.com/allabout ... erelem.php

Keep us posted on your progress!!!

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teach what you want.
I know my dd loved simple science experiments a lot at that age.
We went to the library a lot.
We did not use one set curriculum. We mixed and matched.

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I used A Beka (and still do for some things) when my boys were younger. They have a great phonics program. You do have to be careful that you don't let the curriculum run your schooling. A Beka is more geared toward classroom but they have toned it down over the years for homeschoolers.

You really don't need the curriculum manuals. Just do a page a day or work at your child's pace. Trying to remember to have some fun too. You can buy each subject kit separately but you can buy the whole child kit and whole parent kit. I would go over the books and figure out what you need and go from there. I would also suggest you visit a hotel meeting in the spring. You can find out where they are by going to http://www.abeka.com/MaterialsDisplay/. I don't think they start back until the spring though.

You can find a lot of used teacher things on ebay or other used curriculum sites.

I loved A Beka when first homeschooling, but you have to remember you are in charge, not the books. Good luck!

One thing that you might want to be aware of with A beka - their phonics curriculum stretches out over 5 years (pre-k, k, 1, 2,3).

My personal philosophy (in keeping with "Why Johnny Can't Read- a book I highly recommend if you plan to teach reading) is that phonics should be intensive and be mastered in about a year.

I don't know what your take is on phonics, but that is something to think about when deciding what curriculum best fits you & your family.

A one year phonics program saves a lot of frustration and also saves a lot of money over a 5 year program.

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Actually A Beka does basics in K and advance more over 1st, then it just reinforces it. It doesn't stretch it out.

Good to know, Shelly.

I looked at their 5 years of texts (not counting nursery school) - and the prices & it looked like a VERY pricey program & too slow.

If it is just review, do you really need to keep buying a new text every year - or is that an optional part of the program?

I emailed A Beka to ask them about it, but they never replied : (

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Hi there~ Be patient. It's really a little hard for the beginning. There are a lot a lot resources. It will take you some time to pick up the appropriate ones.
For curriculum, we've been using beestar. It's for elementary kids and combines all the syllabus... The programs are systematic and cool, full of all real life world problems, challenging stuff to help kids thinking - some of them make my daughter think or is a great opportunity to teach her advanced concepts. She loves to compete on this site with other kids from a lot of other states.
Lisa

We just used workbooks we got at the grocery store book department for gr K-2. and I printed out math sheets . Got books to read from the library.
Not till later did we decide on Bob Jones. and teaching math books for math.
We used Ambleside online for literature books etc and study. Free and was very helpful.
Science for elementary we used http://www.hometrainingtools.com/scienc ... culum/c/7/ dd loved it because of the science kits.

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