homeschool

2012-2013 is our third year homeschooling. My son is in grade 9 and my daughter is in grade 5. This year, we are doing these subjects:


Math:

Saxon Math
I got several of the textbooks for free at a local Christian school that had closed, so all I had to get were the workbooks which were not hard to get on eBay or Amazon. The kids like Saxon better than Lifepac math that they used our first year, and I like the 5-minute math facts they do each day; I think they really help.


English Language Arts:

We are using Learning Language Arts Through Literature for the first time this year. One of the big selling points with me is that each child will be studying four classic books.

We used Switched-On Schoolhouse from Alpha Omega Publications last year (very difficult to study for tests and quizzes!), and the previous year we used Alpha Omega's lifepacs (a little repetitive and dull).


Science:

Apologia science is our choice for this school year: Zoology 3 for grade 5 and Biology for grade 9.

In past years, we used LIFEPAC from Alpha Omega Publications.











History/Geography:

Since the Beginning is an older edition of A Beka Book's History of the World grade 7 curriculum. I was able to get it for free and only had to buy the geography component--and the children really wanted to learn ancient history--so it looks like a good fit. They'll be able to do it together.

We really enjoyed the Exploring Canada's Geography series from Apple Press which we used for grades 3 and 4.
All of the provinces and territories are available (from Scholar's Choice, Tree of Life and more) and it takes a month or two to go through one workbook. The pages are reproducible, so you can use a book for more than one child. The only problem is that there is only one simple test at the end of each; my solution was to make my own quizzes and tests which I'm willing to share.

We used Alpha Omega's 6th grade Lifepacs for grade 7 (didn't want to learn US history) and Canadian Identity, the public school textbook, for grade 8 social studies since my husband taught it for several years (it is not designed for homeschool--I don't recommend it at all).


German:

We didn't finish German in 10 minutes a day from Bilingual Books that we started last year, so we'll keep working on it. We got this program from ChristianBook.com and we think it's great.



Typing:

Typing Instructor Platinum for Kids is a hit! My kids also loved Dance Mat Typing, an online course from BBC, which they did last year, but it only has 12 lessons. We also have Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing but they don't like it.


Bible:

Bibletime Lessons from Bible-n-more.com
These are nice, free Bible lessons that come by mail. I don't need to mark these since they are mailed back for marking.



Art:

We don't use any formal art curriculum; we just make a paper craft or something. I try to do a seasonal or holiday-themed craft.


In the past, we have also done penmanship, for which we used Bible Copywork from Teach Me Joy. Penmanship is not a favourite subject, but this curriculum (which I was able to get for free) was not too painful. This year we will just work on penmanship in their regular subjects instead of doing it separately.

Last year we did the Health Quest Switched-On Schoolhouse program from Alpha Omega Publications. The content was good, just a bit difficult for my fourth-grader.