I have written the following post for parents who would like an inside look at our educational choices which have resulted in our daughter earning a full-ride scholarship. To learn more about our experience, read below.

Note: Since the publication of this article, our oldest son has also earned a full ride as well. We’ve used a similar approach with him, modifying our choices as needed for him.

 

 

 

Homeschool Curriculum Choices

 

Elementary: K through 5th Grade

Reading: I read classic literature and picture books as read alouds to my kids. Either of the two. Picture books teach poetry and figurative language. They teach style. They are highly underrated.

Classic literature teaches ideas, and introduces complex sentence structure. Also teaches vocabulary.

Literature: At the various co-ops we attended, my children have always taken literature classes. Nothing unusual. These usually included questions that had to be answered. I don’t use this approach myself, but I did have my children complete these assignments when given. We used them as an opportunity to reinforce basic writing skills-begin with a capital letter, end with a period, how to use commas. If the teacher was really committed, she would often make these lessons fun. Which helped my children enjoying reading more. That was a plus.

 

Writing: Again, Writing Through History up until about 5th grade. Middle school was some IEW.

 

Math: First grade, I started my daughter on ABeka. It was too much repetition, and didn’t work with my brain. We moved to Singapore math. That I loved. From there, I believe we dabled in Horizon’s Math around 4th or 5th grade. From there, Life of Fred Fractions, Decimals, and Percents.

 

Science, History, etc: Even though I have a degree in Chemical Engineering, I see no benefit to teaching these subjects outside of introducing the wonders of the world and the opportunity to read more. Some children love science and history. Science is like magic. History is stranger than fiction. Both are worth the time you put into it. But not for the purpose of memorizing facts. The facts stick because the material is interesting. For science, we used the Apologia Elementary books written by Jeannie Fulbright.

Language Arts: We started with First Language Lessons, but that was many years ago and after the first book, I had to find something else. Insert the Writing Through History books. I used them to teach Grammar and Writing.

 

Middle School: 6th through 8th Grade

 

Reading: Same as elementary. No special program at home. We went to the library, and she picked books she wanted to read. I did classic literature for her to read for school work. Books that would not be featured on the library shelves for middle grade–classics. I also kept reading aloud. Books like The Hobbit. (That book is now her favorite.)

 

Literature: 8th Grade she started high school literature. Here is the book list we used for 8th grade. I taught the class.

 

• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas by Frederick Douglas
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• The Chosen  by Chaim Potok
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

 

Writing: During the 6th grade, we used IEW history based writing lessons, but we dropped the dress ups. I didn’t care for them much. I do like the decorations, though. And I love the structure. 7th grade she took a writing class at co-op. It was taught by a friend of mine who is an excellent writer, so I was primarily editor at home. She learned a lot.

In 8th grade, I taught writing with literature, using The Lost Tools of Writing. I loved it. (Book list above.)

 

Math: In 6th grade, she worked through a used version of Chalkdust Pre-Algebra. (Used ’cause it is so expensive.)  After Chalkdust, we went to Life of Fred Algebra. After a year of that, she realized how confused she was, so we started Algebra over and did Math Without Borders with Foerster’s Algebra. (Algebra TWICE! This is something we did right!)

 

Science, History, etc: For 6th grade science, I tried using a biology text book. Big mistake. I should have let her continue with Apologia Elementary books. She did read the Horrible Science books for fun. Science is like magic, so it grabs their attention.

 

Grammar: We used Analytical Grammar and a Commas workbook (aff) Both worked okay. She really has always struggled with commas. 🙂

 

High School:

Reading: More formal literature. Here’s a book list I used for 9th grade World Literature. I taught the class.

• • Summer Read  Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (Needs to be completed by the first day of class.)
  • Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang
  • Julius Caesar by Shakespeare (No Fear Shakespeare edition is about $6.00 and has the original and the modern translation side by side.) Current Book
  • The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (Dover Thrift Edition)
  • The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (Dover Thrift Edition)
  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Dover Thrift Edition)
  • The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (The Cheapest I see on Amazon is the Deckle Edge Edition for about $10.00.)
  • Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (Dover Thrift Edition)
  • Frankenstein
    

• Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde
  

The library visits slowed down. Maybe every other week. Our workload was just greater. And we got Kindles. That changed things. I regret that.

Writing: For 9th, we used the Lost Tools of Writing. It was good again, and made me a better teacher. For 10th and 11th, my daughter did the writing in World Views of the Western World by David Quine. A friend taught it at co-op, so I appreciate that. (See more about that under history below.) The writing was straight run-of-the-mill 5 paragraph essays. Nothing fancy. Nothing like the writing in Omnibus. If she had been weak in writing, that would have bothered me, but she was already a strong writer.

 

History: We used World Views of the Western World. Excellent depth of reading. Reading all of that difficult material made test taking easier. One thing I’ve learned and really believe: You don’t teach to the test. You teach past the test. Quine’s curriculum does that in regards to reading. But not writing.

Also, the curriculum doesn’t actually teach history in the traditional manner. Some children will benefit from a history text alongside WVWW.

Science:  I mentioned before that I have a degree in engineering. Well, when we joined a co-op that used Apologia by Jay Wile, I kinda sorta complained. Now I eat my words. I initially thought I wanted a text book that wasn’t so wordy. Like the ones I had in high school or maybe college. More succinct.

Well, now I realize that all of that reading about science helped to prepare my daughter for reading about science on the SATs. It wasn’t foreign to her. I am sure it helped. I eat my words, Dr. Wile. Your books are excellent, not just in content, but also in delivery. I look forward to using your new books in the future.

Math: Again, Math Without Borders CDs along with the Foerster’s high school math books. Followed by Sat Test prepwork.

 

 

SAT and ACT Testing

From early on, I did academic testing with my kids.

It may seem like a contradiction, but I don’t believe in grades unless our co-op requires it. I just don’t really grade anything I assign to my kids. I don’t keep track of ’em. I do, however, try to give them as much practice as possible when it comes to standardized testing because taking a test is a skill. And we don’t get a lot of practice at it. So when our co-op organized test taking, I signed my kids up. Even in elementary.

When my kids hit middle school, I sign them up for the PSAT. We start early because it is a skill. I don’t expect much, and honestly they don’t do well at it. I don’t care. I’m simply trying to give them the experience of sitting in a classroom taking a timed test. Filling out bubbles. Keeping track of time. Working under stress. I do not believe these tests give a true indication of a student’s potential.

 

8th grade through 11th grade, she took the PSAT. (The local Christian school in our area allows area homeschoolers to sign up for tests at their school.)

We actually used her 11th grade test results as an indication of how prepared she was for the SAT that spring. She was not prepared.

Her reading was almost off the charts. Typical for a lot of homeschooled students, but her grammar and math needed work. (The last grammar book she had completed was in the 9th grade: ABeka Grammar.)

 

I reviewed some of her writing assignments and found her grammar weaknesses. I gave her middle school grammar worksheets to complete. She had a problem with perfect tense. So we reviewed that and commas. She has always had a problem with commas.

Because her PSAT math scores scared me so much, we stopped all math and reviewed. We used PWN the SAT. She followed the schedule laid out in the book. After about 3 months, she realized the mistakes she was making. Her math scores, on practice tests, jumped considerably. She raised her math score about 100 points, almost to a 700. After spending that time on the SAT math prep, she began to understand the way the SAT presented the questions. She raised the reading score about 100 points too–800.

For overall test taking strategies, we used Mometrix SAT prep test material.