Have your say...

Just as the curriculum thread, below, use the comment feature!  :-)

Your Curriculum...
still working out the complexities of website management, but here's a place to list anything you don't already see or can't comment to for whatever reason.  You might try using the comment feature.  I may be able to edit it later, to give your post it's own entry and/or give it a curriculum-appropriate title.  :-)

Home Run Reading and Abeka
Home Run Reading

This program, I can't even find on the Internet. A friend got it, used, and was very successful with it and loaned it to me. It was produced by 'Educational Insight', but I see nothing similar on their webpage. It was published by 'Good Morning Teacher! Publishing Company', which I can't find at all. I think it's safe to say that the book is no longer in print - which is sad. It's not a terribly old book, the copyright dates are 1992, 1993 and 1994.

The program (book one, anyway) introduces one letter at a time, but the focus is on the sound of the letter. Each page is basically divided into 8 sections, each one being a chance to practice that day's lesson.

The first day, a single letter sound is learned. The next day, a second single letter sound which is learned independently and then also combined with the first letter learned, in order to make a word. The third day, the new word is practiced again, to help reinforce the learning. The fourth day, a third letter sound is introduced and then the fifth day, a new word is created and practiced, using the available sounds. It just continues on with one new sound at a time, until the entire alphabet is mastered.

I highly recommend keeping a lookout for this book (there is a teacher's guide, too) - at bookfairs, second-hand stores, where ever! It's good to have personally and a great item to share! ;-)

I think back to when Steve learned to read and how we used a similar approach. One sound at a time - our choice of first sounds included 'a' and 'd'. It really didn't take him long to figure out the sentence "Dad is mad at Thad" - it made him giggle - we actually knew a guy named Thad - not that Dad was truly mad at him! It was that day that Steve went from 'I can't read!' to being a good reader! :)



Monday, 23 May 2005

Abeka Books

Abeka offers a great program with high quality books full of details and information! The material is so well explained, older kids can practically teach themselves! It is a great program for students who like a challenge or who 'need' to achieve more to reach their goals in life. Students who aren't up to the pressure can still benefit from Abeka books - either by doing some of the work instead of trying to do it all or by doing it over more time than one grade per year. Finishing the grade 8 program still equates to a Canadian grade 12, so it is possible to ease up! One of the few that offers Creation Science, too!

The Teenage Liberation Handbook
This is not a curriculum, per se, but it is an excellent resource for anyone looking to go with a more relaxed approach to any or all subjects. The book is written for teenagers, but parents can benefit greatly from reading it, too. It's a wonderful book, too, in that you don't have to read the whole thing to get the point. You can read whichever part of it that meets your needs.

There's even a chapter on the legalities of homeschooling around the world and how best to deal with them.

Letterland
This programme comes from England and was designed to help teach children with a variety of learning challenges. We haven't used it specifically as a curriculum, but I did buy the Letterland ABC book and we use that to help learn the letters and sounds and what direction each letter faces (dyslexia lives here). It has been very helpful and did not cost too much. :)

This company is well worth checking out at your local homeschool book fair if you still have any pre-readers or children struggling with learning to read.

Retail Anywhere
This just has to be addressed. Book fairs are popping up everywhere along with the spring flowers. I used to love them. Trouble is, they are just so crowded and there's too much to see in too little time. And they can be very expensive, as far as admission goes. The less expensive, the bigger the crowd. Oh, what to do?

The point of this post (and hopefully others for other geographical areas) is to help homeschoolers know where they can go to buy/obtain material. Obviously book fairs are a starting point. There's a list of them in my 'Homeschool Information' page. A public library is good, too, especially when using something like the Charlotte Mason Method of teaching.

I pulled my kids out in October, back when teachers went on strike. No one was going to throw me a book fair for the glorious event, so I had to find retail outlets, too. That's what I'm hoping to achieve with this type of post - a homeschool material vendor's directory.

Many of the vendor's at a book fair do have companies large enough that they also have websites. Most have on-line ordering and everything! :D www.abeka.com, for example!

This, too, will be better if more people add to it, so feel free to add what you have!

oh, did you ever think of www.freecycle.org? I've met a few people who got free homeschool material from there! ;-) Our local group is now brantfordcheapcycle. There's a link for that back in 'Favourite Websites' page.

Don't forget to check you local thrift stores, too. I know one year a local Salvation Army benefitted from a family of nine moving away.

Retail in Canada
Scholar's Choice - a chain of stores across Canada that offer a great variety of materials. www.scholarschoice.ca will even tell you where the stores are located and what's available!

Chapters, Indigo, Coles, etc
www.chapters.indigo.ca/ ya gotta know a name, here! Everything from picture/board books to encyclopedias to foreign languages!

Staples/Business Depot - www.staples.ca - lot's of 'back to school' supplies at great prices, plus they do carry some elementary grade workbooks and a huge selection of educational software for any grade level.

Large department stores, such as Zellers and Walmart and places like Costco also carry a line of elementary grade workbooks as well as offering good/great prices on those 'back to school' items. They also offer great educational tools, such as LeapPad, VTech educational 'toys', etc.

Retail in Ontario
Scribbles To Scholars (519) 752-0500
84 Charing Cross Street Brantford, ON
I can't find a specific webpage for them, yet, but I can at least tell you that they also carry a nice selection of materials.

Charlotte Mason Method of Teaching
This one can cost as little as pencil and paper! Wonderful, relaxed method of teaching that stimulates minds. It is recommended that one use a math program, along with Charlotte Mason Method - I highly recommend the Japanese Method for teaching math.

enchantedlearning.com
Anything free is worth considering and Enchanted Learning is great! Arts and crafts ideas, a variety of languages available, and colouring work sheets on animals, inventors, artists and more!