During the spring, many of us homeschool moms start thinking of curriculum. We attend homeschool conventions and used book sales which present a myriad of choices. Sometimes it is overwhelming to make purchasing decisions:  either everything looks great or nothing looks just right. Then there is the added fear of making an expensive mistake with your family’s resources. Curriculum decisions can be downright stressful.

For Charlotte Mason homeschoolers, though, there are guiding principles that aid us as we evaluate curriculum. Here are six questions to ask as you look at that tempting set at the convention or that discounted resource at the book sale.

Ideas

ASK: Does this curriculum have worthy ideas?

Charlotte Mason says

We see, then, that the children’s lessons should provide material for their mental growth, should exercise the several powers of their minds, should furnish them with fruitful ideas, and should afford them knowledge, really valuable for its own sake, accurate, and interesting, of the kind that the child may recall as a man with profit and pleasure. (Vol 1, Part V Lessons As Instruments Of Education, p.177)

A quality curriculum goes beyond mere facts to present fascinating ideas that carry over into everyday life. It should give you something to discuss at the dinner table, something to wonder about when alone, and something to spark further investigation.

The ideas should be noble and important rather than base and trivial. They should cause the mind to work rather than merely passively absorb.

Living Books & Biographies

ASK:  Does this curriculum use living books?

Charlotte Mason says

The points to be borne in mind are, that he should have no book which is not a child’s classic; and that, given the right book, it must not be diluted with talk or broken up with questions, but given to the boy in fit proportions as wholesome meat for his mind, in the full trust that a child’s mind is able to deal with its proper food. (Vol. 1 Part IX.–The Art of Narrating, p.232)

Textbooks are like processed convenience food — all the hard work has already been done. The headings tell main ideas; the vocabulary words are in bold; and comprehension questions round out every chapter.

Just as processed food has little nutrition, textbooks have fewer meaty ideas than a living book. When evaluating a resource, look critically at the books. Are they classics or twaddle? Worthy or forgettable? Is the content pre-digested as if assuming a child is not smart enough to ferret out his own meaning? Or is the book full of deep ideas that require brain power to understand?

Are these books that you cannot bear part with or ones that you will sell as soon as you’re finished with them? Look for a foundation of living books in any curriculum choice.

Enjoyment

ASK:  Is this curriculum delightful or does it kill interest?

Charlotte Mason says

His lessons should be joyous (Vol 1, Part V Lessons As Instruments Of Education, p.178)

The children must enjoy the book. The ideas it holds must each make that sudden, delightful impact upon their minds, must cause that intellectual stir, which mark the inception of an idea. (Vol. 3 Chapter 16 How to Use School-Books, p.178)

Charlotte Mason was not a dry, Victorian fuddy-duddy. She said that learning should be fun. Does the curriculum you are considering allow for fun or does it strangle it? A quality curriculum will still be enjoyable during 2nd semester.

Narration

ASK:  Does the curriculum incorporate narration?

Charlotte Mason encouraged narration as the primary way for students to review the lessons and for teachers (parents) to assess them. Whether narration is oral or written, it is always superior to comprehension questions.

The great thing about narration is that with a few simple prompts, you can add it into any lesson or curriculum. But if the curriculum already has a foundation of narration, it will mesh nicely with a Charlotte Mason philosophy. Look for things like notebooking pages (or assignments), writing prompts, and graphic organizers.

Fill in the blank and multiple choice activities of traditional education do not make the most of narration.

Difficulty

ASK:  Does this curriculum challenge without frustrating?

Difficulty is often hard to determine without trying out a material. Do your research and look for samples. Don’t be deceived by grade levels. They are very arbitrary and can offer only a most general guide for difficulty. Look for curriculum that is just right– not too hard not too easy.

Real and Hands-on

ASK:  Does this curriculum utilize real experiences rather than contrived ones?

Children can see right through artificial learning experiences. Or worse, these contrived lessons are so far removed from worthy ideas that chldren don’t grasp anything of importance.

Does the curriculum offer direct observation and hands-on experiences or does it merely tell? Math and science immediately come to mind. A math program for elementary children should rely on manipulatives to teach. A science program should integrate lots of deductive reasoning based on actual observation.

But the same principles apply for the arts. A CM approved curriculum allows the child to experience the painting or symphony directly rather than merely reading about it.

Language arts lessons should always use language in context rather than in the isolation of artificial workbook exercises.

Do you have any additional questions that you ask when evaluating curriculum? I’d love it you add to the conversation in the comments.

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3. Living Math Review at The Curriculum Choice

Over the years, I’ve tried a lot of different living books based curriculum. I started with Sonlight, shifted to Winter Promise, used Beautiful Feet, and now I’ve started falling in love with Heritage History.

Although the basis was always living books, there is a definite thread in my choices. I went from high structure to less and less. In the beginning, I needed a well-planned, “check the box” type of “open and go” curriculum. But as I grew in experience and confidence, I realized that living books and narration were the cornerstones that I could trust. I didn’t need a lot of detailed lesson plans; I needed quality literature and a general outline.

I think my transformation has found its culmination in Heritage History.

What? You’ve never heard of Heritage History? Well, let me introduce you to this hidden gem of living books. But first, a little more background.

Public Domain Books

I have always loved public domain books but have found them difficult to integrate into our homeschool for these reasons.

1. In a chronological history study, I want the books to be in order. But I never know exactly what time period a public domain book covers.
2. I don’t want to print the pages from the Internet.
3. Reading a PDF on the Kindle is also not the best scenario — the type is small, the colors are faint, the pages load slowly.
4. The freebie ebooks are poorly formatted, full of errors, and do not make use of the normal Kindle features such as the dictionary, bookmarking, highlighting, etc.

Heritage History Curriculum

The Aeneid for Boys and Girls on the Kindle DX

Teaching Helps

Heritage History (HH) is great for a mom who

• loves living books
• wants affordable books
• appreciates the style of public domain books
• feels confident to make book selections from a list of options
• feels comfortable without the bells and whistles of an elaborate program
• has her own ideas of how to organize, schedule, and teach

[a mom like me!]

HH is more of a library than a curriculum. In fact, many people buy the curriculum libraries to use as reading material avid readers or for language arts.

A Mapping Activity-- designed by me-- with the Aeneid

There is no schedule to follow, no boxes to check. There are no hands-on activities, research topics, notebooking assignments, or tests.

There are just quality books (without the politically correct bias of modern books, by the way) plus reference material.

And at this point in my homeschool career, HH is exactly what I want. Just give me the books. We can read them, narrate them, notebook them, and choose our own topics for in-depth tangents.

When we wrapped up Beautiful Feet Ancients, I chose to continue our study of Ancient Rome with some of the great public domain books from Heritage History.

Sample Image from Heritage History CD

How to Use Heritage History as Your History Curriculum

If you trust that reading good books is enough (or you can create your own materials to go along with the books), consider Heritage History as an affordable history option. This is how HH recommends you use the books.

1. Choose one of the three core books to start with. (There is no right or wrong choice. Just choose the one that appeals to you.)
2. Read a set number of hours per week, keeping records with the reading log pages. Use notebooking to record what you read.
3. Select 3-4 supplemental books and read these in the same way.

A CD could last a semester or up to a year depending on how you scheduled and how many of the books you read.

Sampling the eBooks

If you want to sample the eBooks at Heritage History, each book can be purchased individually. Although these books are in the public domain, paying $1.99 for a well formatted book is very much worth it. On my Kindle, for example, a properly formatted book means that I can use the dictionary function and learn the meaning or how to pronounce an unfamiliar word. This function alone is worth $2.

Here’s a short video from when I first loaded the books onto our Kindles.

Corrections and clarifications to what I say on the video:

• The eBooks do include images. I simply had not found them at that point. Most of the books were not originally published with illustrations. But if they were, those images are within the eBooks.
• Also the notebook is an extra product and does not come with the CD. But the files are on the disc and can be printed out.

Special Heritage History Discount for My Readers

Dave, the owner of Heritage History has kindly offered my readers a special discount. Thanks, Dave!

Use coupon code jimmiescollage through June 30th for a free Early America CD library when you buy any other classical curriculum CD.

There are five  in all:  Young Readers, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, British Middle Ages, and British Empire.

It works this way. You need to add both the Early America CD plus any other of the five curriculum libraries to your cart. (That will bring your total to $44.98.) Then use the discount code jimmiescollage, and you will get a $19.99 discount — the cost of the Early America CD. Your total for both discs will then be $24.99.

Advertisement Please visit the current sponsors of Jimmie's Collage and take advantage of the special deals they are offering:
1. Heritage History SPECIAL OFFER FOR Jimmie's Collage SUBSCRIBERS through June 30: Use code jimmiescollage for a $19.99 discount when you buy any curriculum CD Library plus Early America. 2. Harmony Fine Arts Homeschool Curriculum
3. Fortunately For You Books Use code ffyb30 for 30% discount off of anything at Fortunately For You Books. No minimum purchase required.
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More Posts Like This One:

1. Beautiful Feet Ancient History Curriculum Review
2. Living Math Review at The Curriculum Choice
3. Looking for an American History Curriculum?

history notebooking with WonderMaps

We have a living approach to geography. It’s not a separate subject but one that we occasionally integrate into our normal curriculum by studying maps as the opportunity arises. Basically all we need is an atlas and some outline maps. But I had a big gap in my resources when it came to historical maps.

No longer.

WonderMaps Review

I have added WonderMaps software to my geography resources. I love it! Back in China, I had a CD of maps that I used every now and then, but WonderMaps blows that totally out of the water because the maps, besides being so plentiful, are very customizable. Watch my quick video to see what I’m talking about.

As I said on the video, the historical maps are designed to go along with Bright Ideas Press Mystery of History curriculum. But history is history, so the maps work whether you are using Beautiful Feet,  Heritage History, or something else.

Besides the historical maps, WonderMaps includes world maps and maps of the states of America. So basically, it’s an all-in-one resource that you can use for any mapping need for every child for every year you homeschool.

WonderMaps is perfect for

• map drills
• geography notebooking
• history studies.

When I asked Tyler Hogan at Bright Ideas Press about making the screencast above (he gave me permission, of course), he told me that registered users get free updates when new maps are issued. WonderMaps can be purchased as a digital download or as a physical CD.

Besides the maps, WonderMaps has a couple of MP3 talks and some print articles about teaching geography.

Using WonderMaps for Ancient Rome

In the photo above and below you can see how the WonderMap of ancient Rome was just what Sprite needed for her comparison of the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. Yes, she cut up a WonderMap. I hope the people at Bright Ideas Press won’t mind! But all Sprite needed was a thumbnail view of Constantinople and of Rome to complement her lists of features.

Sprite with her finished comparison page

Advertisement Please visit the current sponsors of Jimmie's Collage and take advantage of the special deals they are offering:
1. Heritage History SPECIAL OFFER FOR Jimmie's Collage SUBSCRIBERS through June 30: Use code jimmiescollage for a $19.99 discount when you buy any curriculum CD Library plus Early America. 2. Harmony Fine Arts Homeschool Curriculum
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More Posts Like This One:

1. Teaching Geography Without Buying a Curriculum
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Over the years, I have used three curriculum packages from Beautiful Feet (BF): History of the Horse, History of Classical Music, and now Ancient History Junior High. I like BF Ancient History for the same reasons I like BF in general. All three packages I’ve used have these same characteristics:

• a foundation of living books
• an emphasis on notebooking
• a loose structure

We have already covered Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Now, after taking a break from history for many months we are beginning Ancient Rome. Since we are over halfway through the material, it’s a perfect time for a curriculum review.

BF Ancient History in its essence is a teacher’s guide that outlines lessons. (The guide includes an answer key.) There is a junior high track (grades 5-8) and a high school track (grades 9-12) in the same book. At a minimum, you need this teacher’s guide. As far as the living books, you can purchase them from BF in a package or find them on your own. Besides the books and the guide, all you need are normal school supplies and general reference books (or the Internet).

Notebooking

Notebooking assignments are included in the lessons. Examples of typical notebooking tasks are

• to copy a quote from a book and comment on it
• to explain a person’s behavior
• to sketch a map of an empire
• to research a personality or event
• to write and define a few vocabulary words.

Left to right -- Guide, Notebooking Page, Living Books

The notebooking tasks are always meaningful. That means that not every lesson will have one just to fit an artificial standard. On the other hand, a particularly meaty lesson may have two or three notebooking tasks.  The BF guide recommends a composition notebook, but a three ring binder (our favorite) can just as easily be used. Alternatively, you can assign some of the notebooking tasks to be answered orally instead of in writing.

Note that these are notebooking tasks, not pages. There are no reproducibles or hand-outs. There are instructions.

In the photo, you can see an example of the notebooking pages with which I sometimes supplement the BF ancients study.  I either make my own or turn to the Ancient Times pages from Notebookingpages.com. [Use discount code discount5 to save $5 on your $10+ purchase;  use discount10 to save $10 on your $20+ purchase.]

Structure

I say that BF has a loose structure because although there are clearly detailed lessons, there are no charts or check boxes. I have no regret about skipping over things or adding in tangents. Part of that tendency is simply my growing confidence as a homeschooler. But the organization of the teacher’s guide has a less rigid feel that many other curriculum sets we have used (such as Sonlight or Winter Promise) which have daily lessons laid out on strict grids where you can’t help but highlight or check them off.

The Children's Homer and Teacher's Guide

The BF Ancient History guide for junior high has only 71 lessons. This means you do around three lessons per week to finish the course in a typical school year. (The senior high track has 90 lessons.) This kind of flexible scheduling is good for someone like me who appreciates an order to the study but doesn’t need a day by day guide.

The Books

Ancients Teacher Guide and Book Stack

The books are quality, of course, and are a mix of non-fiction and fiction. According to the directions at the opening of the guide, the  reading assignments are to be read out loud so that both parent and child hear the books together. However, the program can be done with the child doing all the reading independently. We do a mix of the two.

There is a single textbook among the selections – Streams of Civilization. I am not a fan of textbooks, so it’s not surprising that this book came off very dry and dull to both me and to Sprite.

The senior high selection includes more books and more difficult ones. Among the junior high choices, our strong favorites were The Children’s Homer and The Bronze Bow.

Timeline

BF sells a set of applicable timeline figures for each curriculum package. I have the entire Homeschool in the Woods timeline figure CD, so I use that instead. For each lesson, the teacher’s guide tells which figures should be placed on your timeline.

BF is a no-frills kind of curriculum. There are no hands-on project ideas. BF doesn’t do a lot of media hype although they do have a Facebook fan page. They have no forum where you can hang out with other users. They just make a quality, affordable curriculum and get out of the way so you can use it.

By the way, I have started an unofficial BF Yahoo group where you can ask questions and get support.

Advertisement Please visit the current sponsors of Jimmie's Collage and take advantage of the special deals they are offering:
1. Heritage History SPECIAL OFFER FOR Jimmie's Collage SUBSCRIBERS through June 30: Use code jimmiescollage for a $19.99 discount when you buy any curriculum CD Library plus Early America. 2. Harmony Fine Arts Homeschool Curriculum
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More Posts Like This One:

1. Beautiful Feet History of the Horse
2. Beautiful Feet Support Group
3. Ancient Greek Art

We’ve been using Teaching Textbooks (TT) for well over a year now, so it’s time for a curriculum review.

Background

Sprite has completed TT 5 and is currently finishing up TT level 6. I have every intention of moving on to level 7 as soon as she has worked through level 6.

In preschool and early elementary days, we used Singapore Math curriculum. In third and fourth grades, I slowly transitioned into a living math approach. Then we made a huge change by shifting to TT, a computer based math curriculum while we continued our math history studies and math notebooking.

Overview

Teaching Textbooks curriculum is computer based, so each level comes with four CDs. A large, paperback, spiral-bound textbook can be purchased with the CDs as a set or individually. It is a more expensive curriculum than many options, but the CDs hold their value very well when it comes time to sell your used curriculum.

The textbook is designed to be a consumable, with the student writing directly in the book. In that way it’s really a combination textbook and workbook in one. You could use notebook paper to write down the problems and save the textbook for another child or for resale. I want to make math as easy for Sprite as I can, so I allow her to write in her book.

Generally she finds that the book offers enough blank space to work the problems, but occasionally she reaches for some notebook paper when an exercise is especially problematic.

There is some teaching material in the book, but the discs present it with a visual and audio component that is good for auditory and visual learners both. Sprite tells me that she never looks at the instructional material in the book, preferring to listen to the disc’s lecture and follow along. Even when she needs to go back and listen again, she consistently chooses the computer format versus flipping back in the paperback book.

Of course, the program immediately gives feedback on answers, both in the practice and in the quizzes. In the case of a wrong answer, there is often reteaching that clarifies the problem.

Benefits of Teaching Textbooks

There is a lot of review integrated into the program so that the students won’t forget what they have learned. I have found this review to be a good fit for Sprite’s learning style. I discovered that without review, even if the new lesson builds on previous learning, she would forget how to do something she had worked on in earlier lessons.

Another advantage (or disadvantage depending on how you look at it) is that for the most part, TT takes math teaching off a homeschool mom’s radar. Because the discs include instruction via short “lectures” and walk the student through practice exercises and even quizzes, you don’t really have to plan any of the math lessons. In fact, it’s easy to let your child simply go to the next thing without your even knowing what she is studying.

If you’re looking for a math curriculum which a child can do independently, Teaching Textbooks Math Curriculum is a good choice. But if you really need to stay on top of what your child is studying in math, be aware that TT makes it easy to “forget” about math. I have to be very deliberate to look at the textbook at least every week to see what skills are being taught. Then I try to discuss the math with Sprite a few times a week.

The computer program gives her immediate feedback on each answer and gives an overall grade at the end of every lesson. There is an option to print out a grade report of the chapter quizzes (pictured above). At the end of the year, you can simply average the quiz scores to assign a grade if that is necessary.

The program is flexible and allows a student to move back to the instruction whenever necessary during the practice. A student can also skip problems and go back to them later. This is wonderful when there are trouble spots that require mom’s help. There’s no need to sit and wait for mom. Instead, the student can keep working on other problems and revisit the sticky ones when mom (or dad) can assist.

The program also allows for skipping around in the textbook and for omitting entire lessons or chapters as well. This means that you can customize your use of TT to match what your child needs to focus on.

The parent does have the ability to change quiz grades or allow a child to retake a quiz.

Purchasing Teaching Textbooks

Teaching Textbooks products are available at Christian Book Distributors. (That’s where I buy mine.)

TT has free placement tests on the main website. I do recommend printing those out and using them to determine what level your child needs — from grade 3 up to pre-calculus.

Be sure to see the DEMO offered at TT website. Before buying this curriculum, let your child try out the demo to see if this way of learning is a good fit. It has been a very good fit for my highly visual daughter, and I plan to continue using TT.

Do you have any questions about Teaching Textbooks or your own assessment if you have used it?

Advertisement Please visit the current sponsors of Jimmie's Collage and take advantage of the special deals they are offering:
1. Heritage History SPECIAL OFFER FOR Jimmie's Collage SUBSCRIBERS through June 30: Use code jimmiescollage for a $19.99 discount when you buy any curriculum CD Library plus Early America. 2. Harmony Fine Arts Homeschool Curriculum
3. Fortunately For You Books Use code ffyb30 for 30% discount off of anything at Fortunately For You Books. No minimum purchase required.
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More Posts Like This One:

1. Using Teaching Textbooks in a Living Math Approach
2. Living Math Review at The Curriculum Choice
3. Opal Wheeler Biographies Curriculum Review

Will Work for School Supplies

I’ve hit the big back to school sales at Walgreens and Freds to stock up our school supply cabinet with notebooks, paper, pencils, and pens. It feels great to start a new school year with a wealth of inexpensive supplies on hand.

I had an interesting conversation with another mom who was buying the bargains. She asked me if I’d gotten everything on “the list.” I told her that since we homeschool, we don’t have to adhere to someone else’s list. She was all in favor of that and questioned some of the “necessary” items that her children bought every year but never laid eyes on — paper towels, tissues — or never needed in class– glue, index cards. She felt it was a huge waste of money and energy to shop from the official school list and praised the benefits of homeschooling. I expressed my sympathies and inwardly thanked God for the ability to homeschool with freedom. Freedom to choose curriculum, world view, and even school supplies.

Have you bought school supplies yet? Any super deals or interesting conversations on the school supply aisle?

If you are doing back to school curriculum shopping online from any of the retailers below, please consider purchasing through my affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, but I will receive a small percentage of your purchase in commission (6-15% depending on the merchant). All you do is click on the link below, and shop as you normally would.

General Links

• Amazon
• Currclick
• Answers in Genesis
• Notebooking Pages
• The Old Schoolhouse Store
• Bright Ideas Press
• Book Depository
• Download N Go (Amanda Bennett Unit Studies and Lapbooks)

Planners and Calendars

Mom Agenda Deals

(Offers Expire Aug. 31, 2011)

Take 10% off all orders of $65+  Code: MOM10OFF65

Take $10 off all orders of $75+ Code: MOM10OFF75

Get 20% Off a small School Years book Code: SCHOOLYEARSMOM

Calendars.com

Desk calendars, wall calendars & notebook planners for mom and for children

Free Shipping On Any Order Over $20

Homeschool Planners

Special Deals on Curriculum & Teaching Aids

NotebookingPages.com Special Coupon Codes

• code = bts2011  $5 off your membership/renewal.
• code = treasury2011  Save 25% on membership/renewal

My aim is never to pressure anyone to buy anything but to pass on deals and recommend products that I like.  Happy back to homeschool!

Advertisement Please visit the current sponsors of Jimmie's Collage and take advantage of the special deals they are offering:
1. Heritage History SPECIAL OFFER FOR Jimmie's Collage SUBSCRIBERS through June 30: Use code jimmiescollage for a $19.99 discount when you buy any curriculum CD Library plus Early America. 2. Harmony Fine Arts Homeschool Curriculum
3. Fortunately For You Books Use code ffyb30 for 30% discount off of anything at Fortunately For You Books. No minimum purchase required.
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1. Back to School with Minibooks
2. How to Get Back to Homeschool When You are Unmotivated
3. Shopping from Street Vendors

As I said before, there were plenty of things I wanted to buy at the Mid-South Homeschool Convention but couldn’t.  Each vendor tempted me with small discounts or reminders that I wouldn’t have to pay shipping. But I was strong in my resolve. I kept reminding myself that I was doing research more than doing shopping. (Plus that heavy tote bag was screaming “Stop buying!”)

Here are the things that I want to buy in the future, broken down by likelihood of purchase.

Feel Sure I Will Buy Eventually

1.  Exploration Education’s Hands-on Science curriculum

One of my goals in attending the convention was to find a science curriculum for 7th grade. So far we have not used any textbooks  for science in favor of a living books approach. I was very impressed with Exploration Education’s Hands-on Science curriculum. It is a computer based physical science program with daily hands-on science activities and a consumable student log book.

CONS

I’m not a huge fan of learning from the computer; I prefer books. But I know that Sprite really likes that format (for example her Teaching Textbooks math curriculum.)

PROS

• The program is very hands-on and interactive.
• There are abundant visuals to make the concepts come alive.
• I love that all the supplies are included in the package.
• It’s designed for the child to do independently; all the directions are included on the CD. I am deliberately moving Sprite towards more and more independence in her learning.
• Physical science fits well into the cycle of science we have studied. In other words, it’s time for these sciences again.
• The log book emphasizes the scientific method, keeping lab reports for the hands-on activities, and scientific vocabulary.

Overall, the pros outweigh the cons. So for now, I’m leaning towards Exploration Education’s Hands-on Science. I’ll get the Intermediate Level– Advanced.

2.  NEW Zeezok composer biographies plus companion CDs

I was happy to find that Zeezok is publishing new Opal Wheeler titles for Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Paganini. Although they are not on the website yet, they are in the printed catalog. And the owner of Zeezok shared with me that he is working on an entire composer curriculum that will include all fourteen titles in the Opal Wheeler series.

Might Buy at Some Point

Answers in Genesis Pilgrim’s Progress Curriculum

This looks so intriguing to me as a crossover Bible/discipleship/literature study.

Want to Investigate More Fully

Summit Ministries worldview curriculum

I listened to two of John Stonestreet’s seminiars at the convention and was totally impressed. Watch some of his videos and see what you think. I want Sprite to internalize the principles that this man teaches, so I will be looking into their middle school and high school curriculum.

Advertisement Please visit the current sponsors of Jimmie's Collage and take advantage of the special deals they are offering:
1. Heritage History SPECIAL OFFER FOR Jimmie's Collage SUBSCRIBERS through June 30: Use code jimmiescollage for a $19.99 discount when you buy any curriculum CD Library plus Early America. 2. Harmony Fine Arts Homeschool Curriculum
3. Fortunately For You Books Use code ffyb30 for 30% discount off of anything at Fortunately For You Books. No minimum purchase required.
4. VistaPrint --invitations and more

More Posts Like This One:

1. The Convention — What I Bought
2. The Convention — What I Learned
3. What if I Had No Money for Curriculum?

The Mid-South Homeschool Convention was great. I could only go for one day (Friday), but I still felt I learned plenty. And of course, I bought a few items from the vendors. I could have bought enough to require a U-haul truck to take it home, but I restrained myself. After all, I can always buy these things online later.

Here is what I bought.

Curriculum

The Art of Argument: an Introduction to the Informal Fallacies from Classical Academic Press

With Sprite nearing age 12, the time is right for formal teaching about critical thinking.  The Art of Argument covers fallacies of relevance, of presumption, and of clarity. It’s quite thorough and is something that her dad is passionate about. I’m hoping to get him to teach this to her. I’ll be sure to write a review of this curriculum once we’ve used it for a few weeks.

Parenting and Homeschooling

Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens by Paul David Tripp

The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens by Debra Bell

See a theme here? Yep. We are entrenched in the tweens. I’m getting ready for the next steps.

Just For me

A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul E. Miller

Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands by Paul David Tripp

Just For Sprite

Imagine Your World in Clay

I knew my hands-on, crafty girl would love the ideas and how-tos in this book. Of course, I’ll have to buy more Sculpey Clay for her projects.

If you’ve read any of these books, I’d love to hear your feedback.

Advertisement Please visit the current sponsors of Jimmie's Collage and take advantage of the special deals they are offering:
1. Heritage History SPECIAL OFFER FOR Jimmie's Collage SUBSCRIBERS through June 30: Use code jimmiescollage for a $19.99 discount when you buy any curriculum CD Library plus Early America. 2. Harmony Fine Arts Homeschool Curriculum
3. Fortunately For You Books Use code ffyb30 for 30% discount off of anything at Fortunately For You Books. No minimum purchase required.
4. VistaPrint --invitations and more

More Posts Like This One:

1. The Convention — What I Want
2. The Convention — What I Learned
3. Winner Chosen for Heaven Revealed Giveaway

Poems Every Child Should Know in Print From CurrClick

Did you know that CurrClick is now selling printed products as well as ebooks? This is a brand new service that CurrClick asked me to try out*. I chose the book Poems Every Child Should Know.

The Process

As you can see from this screen shot, with printed titles, CurrClick givess two or three options for purchase. Besides the basic PDF ebook, you can select a softcover book or a combination ebook and softcover book.

At checkout, you submit a mailing address and a shipping method. By the way, the shipping charges are not included in the product price. I chose the least expensive shipping –USPS Media Mail: Estimated 2 – 9 Days. I ordered on Jan. 25, and the book came on Feb. 4 from Lightning Source via media mail. So in my case, it took ten days for the book to arrive.

Just like your regular CurrClick purchases, the PDF ebook was immediately available for download. Within a few minutes of my purchase, I received an email verifying my purchase and my mailing address for the print book. When the book shipped, I got another email.

While you wait for the book to arrive, you can check on the status of the order in your account information at CurrClick.

The Product

The paperback has a glossy cover and substantial–not flimsy– pages.  My book includes the standard things like copyright information, a preface, a table of contents, and numbered pages. There are a few black and white line drawings that appear to be from the original edition. Oddly, the index of authors is directly after the table of contents instead of at the end of the book. (Maybe that was the original layout of the book?) At the very end of the book, but before the flyleaves, is an advertisement for thetutorbook.com.

Overall Assessment

I thought the online purchasing process was seamless and easy to understand. The wait for the printed book was a tad long, but if  you plan ahead, the shipping time shouldn’t stop you from buying printed books at CurrClick.

Poems Every Child Should Know is in the public domain, so I certainly can find this for free to read from your computer or Kindle. But the feel of a real book is awfully nice. And sometimes it’s more convenient to pull a book off the shelf rather than turn on an electronic device. It’s wonderful to have an option to buy an out of print book like this, so overall I give CurrClick’s new print option two thumbs up!

*Disclosure: CurrClick gave me a $30 credit to purchase a print book and offer this honest review of the process and the product.

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I was recently pondering how blessed we are to have such fantastic homeschool resources in our home. And I also started thinking about what would happen if we lost all of that. How would we homeschool if we had none of those books on hand?

And although it would be quite inconvenient not to have books or any purchased curriculum, I decided that with an Internet connection, a printer, and our Kindles, we could manage with free online resources. Here is an outline of what I would use for homeschool if I had no money for curriculum and nothing on hand.

Free Language Arts Curriculum

Read books from the library or download free Newbery Medal Winners (PDF) at Learner’s Library (scroll to bottom of page) and use these reader’s guides:

• Reading Units
• Glencoe Literature Library study guides
• Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario Novel Study Guides

1. Daily Grammar Lessons Archive
2. Scott Foresman Grammar & Writing (grades 1-6)
3. Sentence Patterns & DIY Writing Curriculum
4. Writing Prompts (the parent site LearningExpress has some fantastic high school and college prep resources)

Free Math Curriculum

• XP Math (4th & 5th grades)
• Public Schools of NC Math for 3rd-5th grades or  6th-8th grades
• PASS (middle school and high school)
• LearningExpress math books (high school)
• Comprehensive School Mathematics Program (K-6th grades)

Free Science Curriculum

• Scott Foresman Science Readers with audio (grades K-6 with just a few selections in 7-8)
• Prentice Hall Science Explorer– life, earth, and physical science (middle school)
• PASS (middle school and high school)

What free resources do you use? What would you use if you had no money for homeschool curriculum?

Advertisement Please visit the current sponsors of Jimmie's Collage and take advantage of the special deals they are offering:
1. Heritage History SPECIAL OFFER FOR Jimmie's Collage SUBSCRIBERS through June 30: Use code jimmiescollage for a $19.99 discount when you buy any curriculum CD Library plus Early America. 2. Harmony Fine Arts Homeschool Curriculum
3. Fortunately For You Books Use code ffyb30 for 30% discount off of anything at Fortunately For You Books. No minimum purchase required.
4. VistaPrint --invitations and more

More Posts Like This One:

1. Teaching Textbooks Curriculum Review
2. Ask Yourself these 6 Questions to Prevent Curriculum Disasters
3. Living Math Review at The Curriculum Choice