Does anyone know of a good home school curriculum for a middle school aged child?

Question

I will be home schooling my son for the new year.

Answer 1

I plan to use Memoria press. It is a Classical Education Curriculum

Answer 2

For history I am doing switched on school house which you can get every subject with

Math I am using videotext it is very good

English I am doing format writing but Jenson's Grammer,punctuation and other things written by Frode Jenson

Literature I am using Abeka

Art I am using Penn Foster day school which if your son is interested in any career that is a very good program

Art history I'm not totally sure but unless your son is into Art i don't think he'd really need it :)

Answer 3

Switched-On Schoolhouse (www.aop.com) and Abeka (www.abeka.com) are both good programs. Good luck. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

I was homeschooled 5th - 12th grade and have used both curriculums. I am now a senior in college with a 3.96 gpa and plan to go on to get an MBA after I graduate in June. Needless to say, when done correctly, homeschooling can be a great thing.

Answer 4

It depends on how involved you want to be. [Just for reference I have always hs'ed and my kids are in grades 7-8 this year.]

If you want to completely teach everything [which, at junior high level, I am not sure I would recommend unless you just really WANT to], there are MULTIPLE resources. You can choose all one curriculum or look at the stuff at Rainbow Resource [which carries NEARLY everything except Abeka and MathUSee] to pick and choose.

If you want to go with total video, A Beka Books has video school and I 'think' it is about $900.

If you want your student to work completely on his own two self-instructional systems are School of Tomorrow and Alpha Omega. Only do this if you are desperate, though - for the most part [and I am not trying to make a blanket statement here] students educated solely this way do not learn a lot.

Some recommendations:
Grammar - A Beka and Bob Jones [bjup.com, also can be found at rainbowresources.com] are both good. I prefer the Bob Jones because the writing is really incremental and interesting.
Spelling - if you are going to hs for a number of years, A Beka is about the only system I know that has spelling through high school. If you are only going to hs for the rest of this year just correct his spelling or choose something from Rainbow.
Lit - at this point in the yr I would not invest in a lit book unless you can find one used. Just pick a few classics for him to read and write a one page report on.
Writing - this will be included in most grammar programs, but if you want a separate one Rainbow has a TON of them to choose from - just read the descriptions and see what grabs you.
Science - I use the books and DVD's from Bob Jones. Their science is top-rated.
History - I use the books and DVD's from Bob Jones.
Bible - I use Explorer's BIble study plus some character books.
Math - I use MathUSee. They have DVD's that have about one lesson/week, then the student does as many worksheets as he needs to do to master the topic. There are a few pluses such as if you do not understand it, you watch the DVD as well. Plus the problems are completely worked out in the teacher's edition. I know you'd think all math programs do this, but they do not.
Art - if you want to do this, we've used Artpacs [from Rainbow - but the 8th grade one is pen and ink drawings and is very hard, so I'd order 7th if he wants to do art]; also anything from How Great Thou Art is good [you can look on their website for descriptions but Rainbow carries most of their stuff, and you won't have to pay shipping from Rainbow if you order $150 or more, plus they are really speedy]
Logic/Thinking Skills - this is a fun one,and Rainbow has lots of choices

You need to check your state's rules as to what you have to teach and who you need to notify and how many days you need to have school.

Answer 5

I hear the Virtual Academy has a good curriculum.
Personally I believe in the public school sector for the best and most experienced teachers. They need your support! Students tend to fall further behind from teaching at home compartively, they lack important information best learned from the professionals in that field.

Answer 6

It depends on your long-term goals, how much time you are willing to invest, how capable he is, his interests, etc.

That said, however, "The Well-Trained Mind" (it's a book by Susan Wise Bauer) has some great recommendations and the Sonlight catalgue (http://www.sonlight.com to request your free print version) always has great stuff and may even entice you to purchase a year's worth, or at least the guides.

Answer 7

im homeschooled and when i was in middle school, my mother used abeka curriculum. it was quite a challenge for me but there was sooo much that i learned from it. i hope this helps..... good luck! :)

Answer 8

I use www.k12.com, it is a good school and they supply you with materials without you having to pay out of pocket. Give it a look and see what you think.

Answer 9

I heard a A-BEKA- is very good. My wife's friend is using it.

Answer 10

k12 independence