This blog is my attempt to document our busy but BLESSED lives raising and educating our children for His glory. A child of God, wife to one, and mom to 6 fabulous kids. We are in our 15th year of homeschooling using a Classical ~ Literature based approach.

Come along for the good, the bad & the ugly.



Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Essentials in Homeschooling ~ curriculum

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With so many choices out there it is easy to become completely overwhelmed! What learning style will you follow? Charlotte Mason, Relaxed, Classical, etc? Do you want to “boxed” program or are you going to piece your subjects together with different curriculum publishers?

A credit

If you have read this blog for awhile you will know that we are  homeschooling with a Classically Eclectic style. Does that mean we study Latin and memorize facts and tie it all together with rhetoric. Why, yes it does! Is it easy, not all the time, but it is worth it and I see the fruits of our labor as we are approaching high school graduation for our oldest daughter.

Now, we have had our struggles in these 5 short years of getting settled into our groove so to speak in regards to History curriculum. We, “ahem”, I have changed curriculum thinking one would be a better fit than the other. And I will say that at the time the switch was what we needed during our day. At the beginning 2014 we did, however, start the transition back to our original History/Literature curriculum, Sonlight, for all the girls. I have seen that the grass is not always greener on the other side and I am more determined than ever to make several Cores work for us in the fall of 2014.

I would encourage you whether you are just starting out or you’ve been at it for years to attend a homeschool conference. For me being surrounded by so many other like minded families, large and small, honestly refreshes my soul and helps me strive to do better for my girls.

HEAV

The vendor curriculum hall literally took my breathe away my very first year. The sheer volume of vendors and products to choose from is amazing. Now, I have learned to pace myself and try really hard not to make impulse buying. But hey, its going to happen and I would rather spend money on books or curriculum than other miscellaneous things.

Last year we attended our local state convention as a family and I loved that the girls were able to see that we were not in this small bubble of homeschoolers, there were thousands of people who share the same passion of educating their children at home. We were even lucky enough to see the graduation line up and one of our friends finish her schooling journey.

As I wrap up this post I wanted to tell you a few of our favorite curriculum providers. I am not an affiliate of any of the links below I just wanted to share with you what works in our schooling.

Sonlight

Classical Academic Press

Memoria Press

Rod & Staff

Homeschool Spanish Academy

Apologia

Saxon and ChalkDust Math

I hope you will join me again tomorrow and don’t forget to check out what some of my blogging friends have to say about their homeschooling essentials by visiting their links below.

Lisa @ Our Simple Kinda Life

Tabitha @ The Homeschool Four

LaRee @ Broad Horizons

Gwen @ Tolivers to Texas

Amy @ Counting Change. . .  Again

Gena @ I Choose Joy!

Adena @ AdenaF

Stacie @ Super Mommy to the Rescue

Jen @ Happy Little Homemaker

What’s your favorite curriculum to use in your homeschool?

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