What is the best christian home school curriculum for kids who learn best at their own pace?

Question

Am considering teaching my son next year because of his problems with behavior. Anyone have experience with a self paced, christian based home school curriculum?

Answer 1

Well, really, any curriculum used at home is self-paced. Just because it may be set up specifically to do x pages per day doesn't mean you have to do that.

If you're looking for an all-in-one curriculum, A Beka, Bob Jones and Alpha Omega are all fairly popular. Sonlight is also popular, but structured very differently. It goes through all grade levels.

Answer 2

I agree with glurpy that any curriculum you use at home you do at the child's own pace. I also agree with that first poster who said that MathUSee is pretty much at the child's own pace. I use it, too, and i can explain why it is at the child's pace: Each year is divided into 30-35 lessons. Each lesson has a 5-8 minute presentation on DVD. [In early grades the parent watches then teaches the child; in middle grades they both watch; in later grades the student can watch then do the work.] Each lesson then has 3 worksheets JUST ON THAT LESSON, then 3 worksheets on that lesson + review, then a test. If your child gets the lesson right away, you have them do one regular sheet, a review sheet or two, then take the test. If they don't get it, you spend a couple of weeks on it. In case you are wondering why just 30 lessons when other math programs have 150 lessons [although including the test there are like 210 worksheets...], it is because other programs, like Saxon, are taught more incrementally. In MathUSee, each worksheet starts easy then gets harder as the child warms up to the task. Then the next day, same thing. I know this might not sound like it works, but it has worked WONDERFULLY for my two kids and many others I know. It is a different approach and my kids just love it! The only thing I have against it is the name...sounds like it is baby math...

Anyway, there are 2 [that I know of] Christian curricula that have these booklets that students work in at their own pace, and they do not require the subjects to be taught. These are School of Tomorrow, also called ACE [Accelerated Christian Education] or PACES [the individual booklets are called PACES]. The other one is Alpha Omega. Some people rave about these programs. I am not crazy about them personally, but they do work for some people.

Any curriculum you choose you can do at your son's pace. For instance, when you choose ANY grammar program [I like BJU the best], there will be a lot of sentences on each page, because the book is intended for classroom use, so your child might be responsible for only one or two of them. Because you are hsing, if your child gets the concept, you do not do the whole page. If your child does not get the concept, you say that you've spent enough time on whatever-it-is for the day, and put it away, and just resume it tomorrow. There is something about doing a certain learning task over a few days' period that can really facilitate learning.

If you have other specific questions, maybe I can help. Just email me throug my profile.

Answer 3

I used ABeka books for a lot of my curriculum in high school. I particularly liked the biology book, because unlike the science books you'll find in public schools, it's written from a Creationist viewpoint, rather than an Evolutionary one.

I started the Biology book in 10th grade, and didn't make it all of the way through. So, I came back to it in 12th grade. That's what's nice about homeschooling, you CAN set your own pace, and you can decide WHAT you learn and WHEN.

Ten years after graduating, I still have my biology book, and I still look stuff up every now and then! :)

Answer 4

There really is no such thing as the best home school curriculum. One can probably talk about a preferred curriculum, but best? Because each child is so unique, the approaches are so varied and the resources are vast. But since you know your child best, you are in the best position to pick and choose the resources from all that is available to make your child's education meaningful and enjoyable.

Answer 5

i dont follow one curriculum.. i do math-U-See for math and it is very much learning at your own pace. This math also uses visual thinking which also helps me. realy you can do anything at your own pace since your at home.
Sun light is a good curriculum to start with depending on his age... sunlight is k-7th grade i think.
It helps greatly to join a homeshool group you get support from them and sometimes people will give away old curriculum that they're not using anymore.. just research local homeshool support groups in you area.