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Homeschool Question of the Day is a new daily feature on Free Homeschool Deals. Each day I’ll choose one question that is submitted, emailed, or posted on Facebook. This question will then be featured on the site for readers to share their resources, experience, and helps. Then later in the day the question will be reposted on Facebook for readers to chime in and help one another there as well!
Reader Question: “I have a 1st, 3rd, and 6th grader and every week I sit down and spend a good 2-3 hours pre planning my lessons for them for the week. Is there good/rich curriculum out there that is ‘pre planned’ for me? The only one that I’m aware of like that is Paces. Thanks!”
Join in the conversation! Please leave your resources, experience, links and for what you think is the best pre-planned homeschool curriculum in the comments. Click here for readers answers to this question on Facebook.
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I think Heart of Dakota is great. Very much “open and go”.
I am also exploring All in one homeschooling at easy peasy homeschooling.
I really like Sonlight. At first it seems really expensive, but if you do your research you’ll find that the cost is significantly lower than traditional curriculums. There are a couple of reasons: 1. You can check most of the books out from the library (with the exception of the teachers guide) if you so choose to . 2. The curriculum can be used for more than one child at a time. So if you have kids that are close together in age, they can sit down together and do some of the same assignments/reading together (which also saves time!). This can save hundreds of dollars even in just one year. I personally have a hard time piecing together subjects here and there but I have looked in to so many other curriculums and keep going back to Sonlight. It’s so flexible and easy to integrate other subjects in to it.
We are switching to Sonlight this next year. It has everything, including an Instructor’s Guide.
I love Sonlight. We are able to use it with multi-ages and it is so rich in good literature. The highlight of my day is gathering my kids around me for read-alouds — even when they’re older!
We’re big fans of My Father’s World. It has everything we were looking for–biblical worldview, hands-on, Charlotte Mason, simple yet left room to expand on a variety of topics, etc. Definitely a good fit for my varied learners and my family’s wacky schedule. Very grateful for this curriculum 🙂
I’m using Christian Light Education for Math and it’s open and go. No prep, good spiral based, challenging, affordable, curriculum and has free assessment tests to print out. Using Rod and Staff English for my language arts and it’s also no prep, open and go.
We just started using Easy Peasy (allinonehomeschool.com). We love how easy it is to use and especially love that it is free! Check it out.
Honestly, I have never, in over 20 years of homeschooling, found one! I am interested in seeing what others recoommend! I use a combination of : Rod and Staff for reading and LA, Saxon Math, Unit Studies for Science and History and BJU for Bible( esp from Jr Hi on). I have used various spelling and health and Literature units throughout the years. I loved Spelling Power but found it too time consuming. Loved Writers, Inc, but found it a bit too much to use with a complete curriculum, so would use it for a semester at a time, alternating with a LA curriculum. All in all, I like Unit Studies the best, at least until 7th grade.
We’ve used My Fathers World and love it! It’s also great for multiple grades to learn together! You still need to supplement with math and language arts.
This was my first year homeschooling and I used My Father’s World for my 3rd and 5th grader.
I has been so helpful to have it all planned out. It is open and go as well and lets you know if there is
anything needed during the week so you can plan accordingly. Most everything you would already have in your
home. It is enjoyable and thorough! I have already ordered next years box!
Look at My Father’s World – it’s FANTASTIC!!! (www.mfwbooks.com)
We use SOS from Alpha Omega which schedules and grades almost everything, then we supplement whatever extras we like or if they need additional help we can easily add to it. They are in 3rd and 4th grade. I’m interested to read about any other programs that are out there though.
We use Sonlight and really love it. Everything is planned out for you. It is very good. My kids are only 6 1/2 (twins), but because of Sonlight, they know where North America, South America, Africa, and India are on a map. They have heard ALL of the stories from the entire Bible and have memorized dozens of verses. They know that the world is much bigger than just our town, state, or country. They know that not everyone knows the true God, along with many missionary stories of Christian men and women sharing the Gospel. Not only do they know where India is, but they know that a lot of people in India have dots on their foreheads because they don’t know the true God and worship idols (which my kids know and understand are just made of stone.) They know where Egypt is, that it is mostly desert, and that the Egyptians made the pyramids. They know that not everyone in the world lives like we do in America (i.e. some people live in mud huts, round houses, boat houses, etc. Some people hunt for food, etc.) They also know that life today is a lot different than life a long time ago, even in the U.S. They’ve learned about the rainforests, animals of North America, South America, and Africa, and they’ve done lots of science experiments. They’ve learned about all of the planets and understand that they all revolve around the sun. I am amazed at how much they have learned in such a short amount of time. We love Sonlight. Can you tell? 🙂 {You can use my referral code if you’re interested. It will save you $5 off your first order if it’s $50 or more. The code is AJ20322273}
The best pre plan for any child is that they grow up able to be resourceful, creative, wise and passionate. I would dispute any adult initiated curriculum being half as good as free play for exercising a child’s brain, heart and body. Whilst our children are still able to play imaginatively let them play, academic learning or reading is passive, play is creative. Your brain will work far harder whilst it’s creating, which will mean it is well exercised when the time does come for learning. Be brave and let our children be free 🙂
We’re using My Father’s World for kindergarten and plan to continue using it for now. I love how easy and integrated it is. I do zero planning. The parent manual is set up with a table for each week telling what to cover and then notes on the following pages. It’s also easy to do extra activities when I want (they also suggest some) or skip a few things when we’re pressed for time. I really like their educational philosophies too.
I’ve fallen in love with “Trail Guide to Learning” . . . . . . SO much is planned out with easy to use resources . . . . PLUS it is way less expensive than other similar programs that are bundled the same way!
I used Christian Liberty for 4 years when my kids were in elementary, and it was perfectly adequate. They send you EVERYTHING, and even grade the tests for you. Since then, I’ve been using Susan Bauer’s “Well Trained Mind” as a guide for teaching, now that I’m comfortable “free-styling” on my own. There are so many curricula choices out there.
I love all the responses, I’ve been trying to figure out the same thing. I love the way Sonlight and MFW look and I can’t decide. Can anyone share some differences between the two.
Thank you
Former Sonlight user here, but once I found HOD (Heart of Dakota), I knew I found what was perfect for myself and my daughter for her schooling through high school. I also love CLE (Christian Light Education) math.
I have always pieced my boys learning together myself with the guidance of “The Well Trained Mind” book. But now that I have 4 kids at home with me, I needed something already planned out. So we have been using Heart of Dakota this year and we love it! It uses a lot of really great resources, like Apologia, MOH, Childs History of the World………… I will never piece together on my own again and will continue to use HOD through High School.
We have been using Abeka, and each subject has it’s teacher manual that does the planning for you. My son is doing great in this first year of homeschooling.
I’ve been an unschooler/Charlotte Mason/Robinson Curriculum type for years, using Horizon math for the last 2 years. I understand the planning issues as we’ve moved away from unschooling and added children to the family. We’re now moving to Robinson as I’ve hung out on yahoo support groups and talked with my sister who used it with her son. Robinson is simple: self-teaching encourages children to take responsibility for their education, preparing them for adulthood. Robinson is math, rich classic literature and writing. Through the reading you’ll get character training, history, science, grammar, geography, etc. Many RC users supplement or modify as they need; the RC philosophy and curriculum is very flexible in that way. The Robinson story and the achievements of the family speak for themselves. I’d encourage everyone to at least read that, especially if your family situation is less than ideal for any reason. Whether it’s a family business that mom needs to manage, ill family member or other situation, Robinson provides for an excellent education with minimum parental time. It’s something to work toward, not something you fully implement in the next week!
This is our first year and we’ve been using Trail Guide to Learning from Geomatters. We have 12 yr old and 8 yr old boys and it has been great! History-based unit studies. The only thing you have to add is math. We use Mammoth Math for the younger, and Teaching Textbooks for the older. This year we did Pathways of Exploration and have studied Columbus, Jamestown, Pilgrims, Daniel Boone, and getting ready to start Lewis and Clark. It has worked well for our guys. One of the things I love is that there is a Facebook group where we all share ideas, successes, and can ask questions (the authors get on the site and will interact and answer questions. There is also a yahoogroup for support. Highly recommend!
I just wanted to give a quick answer to the question of the difference between Sonlight and My Father’s World. Basically, in a nutshell, Sonlight is very much a literature based curriculum. It uses living books that are very engaging and wonderful (although I understand every once in a while, a little bit upsetting-good for some who can handle that). There are really no hands on activities but really good reading except for typical writing for math, language arts, etc. or what you add yourself.
My Father’s World is more based on spines, (we found them really good!) some literature and some activities like games, notebooking, cooking, timelines, and that kind of thing. It is pretty low key on the the activities, it is not overwhelming or overdone, just enough through the week to spice it up. Try are usually pretty simple, which I appreciate because I will actually do them.
Heart of Dakota for me!
We use A Beka for everything but math. For math, we use Math-U-See. My kids love it!
We love Heart of Dakota! One guide will work for your younger two and it’s all laid out for you. Less expensive than My Father’s World too!
We’ve used Winter Promise (www.winterpromise.com) for many of our themed studies. It’s completely open and go, can be used for more than one kid at a time, and will be relevant when I use it again for the younger kids. Some of their themes are so interesting, I get giddy when we’re ready to start a new one 🙂
We have had so much luck with BJU Press. Their Heritage Studies series (Social Studies) is something we’ve turned to each year. I cannot say that about other brands. We did not do well with Math-U-See which was a huge disappointment for me because so many families swear by it. Good luck to you-it really is like hunting, but so worth the digging around to find the right fit.
The best curriculum I found is Landmarks freedom Baptist Curriculum. It is not expensive (about $45 for a subject set which includes everything you need to teach the subject including workbooks, textbooks if needed teachers manuals, weekly tests and quarterly tests for grades 4 and up. The link is : http://www.landmarklfbc.com/index.php The PreK and Kindergarten materials cost a bit more but they have everything needed to teach your child for the year. The others are in subject sets. English, Literature, Arithmetic, Science, Bible and Geography and eletives
We are big fans of My Father’s World as well. I loved Sonlight too, but for combining kids and getting it all in, My Father’s World is WAY easier.
Try using learn at home series books. The come complete with lesson plans for a full year plus worksheets. Then supplement as needed
My favorite is probably WinterPromise.
Hi. Each of my children have a spiral bound school schedule. Purchased from my book supplier. The two older are writing in theirs and I fill in the smaller one’s. We do bible as family, Easy Grammer M+F, Daily Grams T-T, Alpha Omega and spelling each day, Saxon math for two, Life of Fred and Key To series for the other each day, Mystery of History and Science rotating days, and they take turns with computer (one per day – 30 minutes). I did Five in a Row when we started our learning journey. I love the unit study. As you can see, we all do what we feel is right for our loved ones. When you have some one else teaching your loved ones, they do all the planning. Now you have all the responsibility 🙂 Take it slow, you have ADDED learning time to your day. Scheduling will take a “slice” out of your time but hang in there. Your post was timely for me because I’m proud to say that my youngest is doing all their learning work on their own. Yippee! It’s been quite a journey for us. YOU can do it!!
The Prairie Primer based on the Little House series. 11 kids and 17 years of homeschooling later, it’s still my favorite. A wonderful and comprehensive history unit study with a good 2-3 years worth of lessons plans from a yearly glance to a day by day schedule. Love it!
I have tried several first we tried AOP lifepacs
And I did like them they are very open go butwe did not like that them for all subjects became too overwhelming for my boys having all workbooks for all subjects! We then tried a little of MFW I do like the looks of it and the layout but was not a fit for us! We have just started the Trail Guide To Learning series begining with POE and I really like the looks of it I think its going to be a great fit for us very little pre planning!!:-) good luck on your search!
Thank you so much 🙂
I absolutely agree on this one!!!
I just started my first year of homeschooling for my Kindergartener and My Father’s World has been a tremendous help. I also work from home and this curriculum has allowed me to teach my daughter without really having to “plan” my day.
I would agree that some pre-planning already completed for you can be a great thing, but mom’s I would caution on the expectation that there will be little to no planning–this is your child(ren)’s future and they do deserve the time and energy it takes to ensure all aspects of their education is well thought out, prepared, and bathed in prayer and love–I’m sure that must be a given with every parent, but just felt compelled to leave a reminder as a homeschooling mom and an educator. God bless!
I’m a big fan of Ambleside Online, which is free, planned out Charlotte Mason curriculum. 🙂 Check it out at http://www.amblesideonline.org
I vote for “Trail Guide to Learning” as well. Everyone should really look into this one if their kids are at the 3rd-5th level. It makes combining grades SOOOO easy and it’s easy to supplement when YOU want to but definitely don’t have to. There’s plenty of good stuff all planned and ready to go!
Thank you, Kimberly. I have had Robinson Curriculum, for years. I think it was the first curriculum purchased. I’ve tried Sonlight (and like it), and various other curriculums which typically just sit on the shelves. In the end, I keep returning to Robinson Curriculum. I could have saved thousands and thousands of dollars, had I just stuck with RC, rather than getting caught up in the latest and greatest.
Rose, I don’t know about anyone else, but this link has been very helpful for me! I love the CM method, but it has always been just a bit too involved for me to use as a single mom. This link takes a lot of the prep time out and it is much like I am already teaching! Thank you, thank you!! 🙂
Wow! What an impressive recommendation! Which grade or Core did you use for your 6 year olds? (my oldest is 6, and I’m considering Sonlight)
Two-part answer. First, for teaching reading, I like Hooked On Phonics Learn to Read series, and I also like McGuffey’s readers. After children can read, I love Accelerated Achievement. http://www.accelerated-achievement.com/ It covers K-12. This is very much like Robinson and Charlotte Mason methods. Actually, the curriculum booklist itself is very much like Robinson, but more inclusive- there are MORE books on the CD, they are pdf docs. and can be formatted, and the math work for the first few years is included. Plus it’s half the price- only $99. For me, that is worth not having to go to look public domain books up. Even though that is relatively easy with archive.org and google.books, there is still that time factor. But I love the idea that kids can get their learning through reading, and that good books will cover all the subjects. There are also a few other good sites that use this style of education but have their own variation of what the required booklists should be. From all the similar websites that do this, I’ve been inspired to come up with our own book list that will cover our state’s topics by grade level. But if you want to look into free classical/Charlotte Mason/Robinson styles (which are easy to blend), I recommend:
http://oldfashionededucation.com/
http://allinonehomeschool.com/about/
http://www.puritans.net/curriculum/
http://amblesideonline.org/
http://www.greatbooksacademy.org/
We LOVE My Father’s World!! We are using it for 12 kids ages 18-6.
This is my first year homeschooling. Even though I am creative and my children grades 1st, 5th, and 7th enjoy homeschooling, it has been a challenge to tackle certain subjects (history and science) without having a well planned curriculum. We are in search of that. I am a night weekender RN. So Monday’s is always rough but our children don’t stop learning. They have come very independent based on how we have scheduled our studies during other days of the week. We are blessed with that! SO…we are looking for something we can use collectively, but does not take away their creativity. I think a curriculum that can help me pull some of the subjects together yet allow the studies to fit the grade level of each child will be perfect!! We need something cost effective and thorough enough to provide the children with what they need. It is all about what will work for each child. We will continue to pray for God’s guidance. I have enjoyed all of the input from these parents. All of you ROCK!!!:) By the way can anyone share the difference between Teaching Text Books and Saxon.? We are looking for a curriculum that helps our older two to build on skills but continues to reinforce old ones. We need a good foundation that will help for preparation for ACTs and SATs.
Thank you for this wonderful website of resources. Blessings!!!:)
I used sonlight for pre-K and it was good, some boring books but most of all it was worth the money. You can get most of the books from the library, except the instructor’s guide. I would suggest going on the website and getting the free samples they allow you to look at a 3 week plan of the guide. It was worth it for me to decide I will continue with their program for history/social studies curriculum, I like BJU for the reading and phonics program they have and I have been looking at Handwriting without tears for work on penmanship and writing. I also am going to start saxon math for 1st grade in the fall. My son is 4.5 and working on kindergarten material now and will be finished by December. we do year round school 3/days a week.
where are the groups? I’m seriously considering purchasing this curriculum. thank you!
This is very helpful. Thank you.
totally! #wildandfreemama here
Hi! I have one starting 3rd grade and one starting 1st grade. I’m trying to decide between My Father’s World and Trail Guide to Learning. In your opinion, would my 1st grader be to young to start Trail Guide to Learning? I am looking to teach them alongside one another.
There are ideas included for younger learners in Trail Guide to Learning. You will just need to adjust the expectations for them. Many people love and use MFW for large families, so I know that can be done as well. I think it depends on what will work best for your children’s learning style and the flow of your family.