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 Post subject: Curriculum for lower elementary
PostPosted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 3:40 am 
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I'm looking for something to replace Rod & Staff for social studies and science, possibly also English and health. We use Sonlight as a baseline and Saxon for math. I was homeschooled myself and we are using what amounts to my old books. R&S haven't been updated in over 20 years (Maria in Czechoslovakia is still part of the USSR and has a photo of Stalin in her house). I need something more up-to-date. We've looked into Heart of Dakota, but I don't need something that covers everything. I'm not happy with AOP or SOS for science (math either) because I don't care for how they teach/explain.
Thank you in advance for your help, suggestions and ideas!

V/R,
The Morey Family


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 Post subject: Re: Curriculum for lower elementary
PostPosted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 8:29 am 
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Welcome!! For history (That's what you want instead of social studies), I recommend going with "living books." Basically, what you do is get a "spine" book like DK's History of the World or the Kingfisher History of the World, and you use that as a guideline. For example, you could begin with early civilizations like Mesopotamia. (Skip the evolution sections of the book.) The spine will give you the basic facts. Then use the internet for more info or check out books from the library on that period. Living books are historical fiction and biography, and we have a list of them on our history page. (See the pull down "Curricula" menu up above.) This makes history SO much more interesting, and let's you spend lots of time if the subject is of interest or pass on by it if it's not.

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 Post subject: Re: Curriculum for lower elementary
PostPosted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:06 am 
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I ran out of time yesterday. :0) You won't find a better curriculum that R&S for English. With my younger kids, I used Primary Language Lessons by Serl before starting with R&S in 3d grade. We just skipped the 2nd grade book.

For science (my most challenging subject!), we did lots of practical things at young ages like plant a garden and identify critters, leaves, shells, etc. that we found on nature walks. We also blasted off rockets. At later elementary and middle ages, we did Lyrical Life Science. I know my kids were a little short in this area, but they made or are making up for it in high school and college.

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 Post subject: Re: Curriculum for lower elementary
PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 6:53 pm 
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blondentexan wrote:
I'm looking for something to replace Rod & Staff for social studies and science, possibly also English and health. We use Sonlight as a baseline and Saxon for math. I was homeschooled myself and we are using what amounts to my old books. R&S haven't been updated in over 20 years (Maria in Czechoslovakia is still part of the USSR and has a photo of Stalin in her house). I need something more up-to-date. We've looked into Heart of Dakota, but I don't need something that covers everything. I'm not happy with AOP or SOS for science (math either) because I don't care for how they teach/explain.
Thank you in advance for your help, suggestions and ideas!

V/R,
The Morey Family



I echo Martha's recommendations for history and English. We did this, and it worked out well for us. For science, the Apologia series is GREAT for kids! Lots of hands on activities while a splash of book learning, too.

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 Post subject: Re: Curriculum for lower elementary
PostPosted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 8:26 am 
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We also have a page here on HSC that has ideas for super low cost or free elementary teaching:
http://www.homeschoolchristian.com/curr ... /index.php

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