I am looking for complete programs for math and Language arts fot my 3rd and 1st grader for our frst time at home school in sept. I'm trying to find stuff that's not so Christian centered. That's just not my focus but all i've been able to find.

Any Ideas?

-- Novina West (lamb@stellarnet.com), April 19, 2000

Answers

I've actually seen texts for various grades and subjects at Sam's Club. You don't have to be a member to buy there, though you will pay a little more if you aren't. It's a members discount club run by the Wal-Mart group.

-- Anne (Healthtouch101@hotmail.com), April 19, 2000.

Novina, I have been homeschooling 6 years and wouldnt trade it for anything! For Language Arts i use Learning Language Arts thru Literature, its the best i have seen. It is based primarily on classic literature. You read a book then from sentences out of the book you do dictation and grammar and spelling and writing. i like it because it is all in one book and very easy to use. For math i recommend Math U See or Making Math Meaningful. With the age children you have i wouldnt do much more than that except read read read to them. Homeschooling is not just about educating our children it really is a lifestyle of learning, and if you are homesteading they will learn more doing things like that than sitting at a table 3 hours a day. I know my goal for my children is not for them to be educated but to have wisdom. There is a big difference between the 2 and the public school system is not building wisdom in our children. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me. Good Luck.

-- Sarah (MikeBraddock@excite.com), April 19, 2000.

i have been looking into the calvert school, so far i think it may be a good choice

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), April 19, 2000.

Novina,

Try www.vegsource.com and click on the discussion board for HOMESCHOOLING. Lots of info for secular homeschoolers as well as religious and other topics. Has a good swap board too. Hope this helps and best wishes in your homeschooling endevours. - Kathy

-- Kathy (jubilant@ncweb.com), April 19, 2000.

I agree with Sarah, Learning Language Arts through Literature is so good for teaching to read. I can really tell the difference between my children who were taught with LLAL and those who weren't! The ones who were read much better! We also switched to Making Math Meaningful and are having great success with it. They are really learning to think through their math, not just memorize facts. And like Sarah said - read, read, read to your children! We love the old Landmark historical novels from the library! My children realy know their history just from listening to me read these to them. Hope this helps. Jean

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), April 19, 2000.

Two comments: Calvert is a good program, pretty neutral as far as religion is concerned (I prefer Christian myself, which is why we didn't use it for our girls, but my mom used it for me -- it used to be the curriculum supplied by the state of Alaska to people who were too far from a bus line to go to school, and was much better than the public school curriculum they supply now!). Second, re: the comment about learning to think things through and not just memorize facts: yes, children do need to learn to think things through, BUT they also need to memorize facts, i.e. multiplication tables, phonics rules, etc. They can do this easily when young (early elementary) and will enjoy it if you make fun games out of it. The reason most parents homeschooling don't do enough of the drill is because THEY don't enjoy it, so don't make it fun for the children. It will make life easier for your students when they get into the higher grades if they have all the basic facts down pat through drill, and don't have to stop and try to "figure it out". Also, just a note, according to research I've seen, and my own experience backs it up (homeschooled our girls seven years), homeschoolers fall down a little in spelling and penmanship -- again, I think not enough drill and practice. Just a few things to keep in mind as you are making your plans -- wish you all the best.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 19, 2000.

We have been homeschooling 8 years and have used Saxon Math the whole time. It it very thorough and has review built into each lesson. Check out their web site at www.saxonpub.com

I think they may have an evaluation test on site to help determine where your student should start.

-- Vaughn (vdcjm5@juno.com), April 19, 2000.

We used Saxon math for my son who is in public school, was very dissapointed to once again have a new teacher for my son in math, so we homeschooled in math. Saxon is great, you are able to proceed at your own rate, having him do Algerbra 1 just even problems, then if he got hung up on anything, had him do all of the problems. We were eaisly able to get through the entire book in one semester. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 19, 2000.

Novina, me again, I wanted to say something about Language Arts. Though a more structured cirriculum would be in order for High School. When my kids were small we had Library Mondays, during the summer, we would pick books at the library and read them, words that they had trouble with became their spelling and vocabulary words. They then wrote book reports, which helped them with their writing, once again using miss-spelled words for spelling lists. All of my kids were able to read before they entered school. If I had known back then about homeschooling I would have chosen it instead of public school, come to find out we were really homeschooling anyway! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 19, 2000.

For a math curriculum I really recommend the Saxon math series. It goes from K-12 and covers calculus and advanced math. Our daughter used it--the high school courses are the equivalent of honors courses- -and she did really great on her ACT. She now is going to Mississippi State on an academic scholarship. She hated math before we started the Saxon, which emphasizes word problems and reinforcement of every lesson. My other two children, 11 and 13, are doing Saxon now, too.

-- Kathleen Glasscock (katglassco@aol.com), April 20, 2000.

My children attend public schools two blocks from our house. I am fortunate enough to be very involved and welcome any time in their school. They have some really strong education programs in science, reading, and art. However, I felt math was being overlooked a little. I purchased several years texts of Saxon math from ebay to add to their schooling and have been most pleased. I also purchased a really neat game set called Math-It that my children enjoy. It is used to reinforce basic facts (multiplying, subtracting, adding, & dividing). Now might be a great time to pick up some books from ebay or another auction. As homeschooling parents finish with a book they might be ready to sell it to get money for new texts themselves. Jennifer (KY)

-- Jennifer (acornfork@hotmail.com), April 20, 2000.

I agree with those recommending Saxon math. Our girls also hated math until we got the Saxon math books for them, then decided they, well, not loved it, but sure liked it a lot better!! A-Beka is also good, but Novina's request was for non-Christian materials.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 20, 2000.

We use Saxon Math and have found it is the best math curriculum out there, (at least for our family). for language arts we like to use Enlgish for the Thoughtful Child, Primary Language Lessons, Intermediate Language Lessons and Shurley Grammar. Shurley Grammar is the most amazing curriculum! My younger sisters know more grammar than I do!! My sister in grade 1 (She's doing level 2-Shurley) can take a sentence like: 'The little boy ran down the street' and tear it apart! It is done by asking questions and goes something like this:

"The little boy ran down the street. Who ran down the street? Boy-subject noun. What's being said about boy? Boy ran-verb. Ran where? Down street. Down-preposition. Street-object of the preposition. The-article adjective. What kind of boy? Little-adjective. The-article adjective. Period-statement Declaritive sentence. Go back to the first, divide the complete predicate from the complete verb. Subject noun, verb, pattern 1-check. They do this really fast, too! It is mind boggling, how they can do it! Here's a website you may find helpful: www.sws.nb/treeoflife

Hope this helps you!

-- Abigail F. (treeoflife@sws.nb.ca), April 21, 2000.

Along with Saxon that I recommended above I also want to recommend the computer game Math Blasters age 6-9. It is great for practice with basic skills (add, sub.,mult.,div.) Each area has about 6 levels so you can use it a long time. Our kids love it because it is fun.

-- Vaughn (vdcjm5@juno.com), April 22, 2000.