|
Curriculum Question(s) accredited online curriculum
|
Question:
I was wondering if anyone could recommend some middle school level
curriculum? My daughter is 11 1/2 and will be going into 7th grade next
year. I would like to start looking at some materials to see what might work
well for her.
Most of what we have for this year is ok, but I don't think they will work
or next year. We are using Singapore Math and there isn't enough repetition
and she finds it hard to follow what little instructions they give. Last
year we used Saxon Math and it was too overwhelming for her... too much
repetitiom, and she doesn't like to copy the problems over to a sheet of
paper. If there is a good math curriculum out there that has a text book
with instruction and workbook/work sheets for the actuall work that would be
good.. ot any other type of math program ( I am sure there are some of you
that have tried several things and have done this longer then i, you
probably know of some I haven't thought of or heard about yet)
Also, she is using Steck Vaughn Health. it is a 6th grade level workbook..
but it is just that .. a workbook. There is like 1 page to read and then
very minimal work. it is so thin as well. I know there has to be a better
health type book out there as well.
Those are the 2 problem areas we have right now.. but I would appreciate any
subject curriculum suggestions.
Also, we are still trying to find what works best for us. I have a good idea
what is working with each child. The harderd part for me I think has been
that I want to try and teach them all the same way using they same types of
materials for thier grade levels ( I have three kids.. 1st grade, 4th grade
an 6th grade). I know my children have different learning styles and know
that my 4th grader would benefit from a more unschooling/child led/more
hands on then text book-writing type of learning. I have ordered some books
about diferent learning styles, and the Unschoolers Handbook, but if anyone
can offer suggestions on how I can go about this or books/websites that will
offer information.. i would appreciate it. Also any suggestions as to how I
can relax myself about taching him in this way. I am so stuck in ,they need
to do actual work on paper rame of mind that I am afraid that I am goning to
mess him up, even though I KNOW he will learn better. He does learn better
from us reading together or watching shows together and then talking about
them. Him asking questions about things which sparks conversations.
Anyway...i am rambling.. sorry.. but i really would like to start learning
more about this, and finding out what and how we are going to do this next
year and so on and on. Probably with alot of tweaking what works and
doesn't here and there for awhile.. but still it would be nice to have as
much info as possible.
Answer: We have homeschooled six children and now operate a small "homeschool
academy" in Georgia. The easiest and best curriculum we have found that is
legitimately accredited (and totally online) is from Christa McAuliffe
Academy http://www.cmacademy.org/main.html. There is an online mentor
included. The mentors are professionals. The mentor we have now is actually
a former high school principal. They augment the material with all types of
activities and "virtual excursions". I asked many people to look at the
material for us before we began using it, including the accreditation person
from the local school board and have had nothing but good reports. Here is
our mentor's website: http://www.supercharge.org I believe you can choose
what mentor you want, from a list, but I am not absolutely sure. We took who
they offered first. You can also preview some of the material for free here:
http://www.apluslearn.com/als/index.html?customer=PreviewSchool Just type in
"admin" for the login and hit "enter" for the password. Select "preview
lessons" at the top right corner. You can look at the lessons but if you
take the tests, all the answers are number one. This is only a part of the
material, but it will give you some idea of what is there. Here in Georgia,
we have he hope scholarship for those who graduate from high school. It is
not available to homeschool. I learned tonight of someone who has graduated
from Christa McAuliffe and received the Hope. I will write more about this
when I have checked it out. If you contact them, please mention us (Don and
Vickie at FirstLight).
|
|