Which non-Christian homeschool curriculum do you use?

Question

We're thinking of homeschooling our children in the near future. I do not want a "Christian based" curriculum. I've looked in to several. However, I was just wondering what others out there people have used. Or do you set up your own curriculum?

Thanks for all the responses. However, guess I should clarify. Which may lead to another question. I'm looking for a program that would be a single cost...not something where I would have to pay a monthly fee for. Do these exist or are most of the pre-established curriculums within a certain program that costs each month?

Answer 1

Oak Meadows is secular, the nice people at Sonlight are an excellent resource for materials that are good and not necessarily faith based. I pieced a lot of my curriculum together. I used the "Easy Grammar, Easy Writing" series, Horizon and Saxon math, The Natural Speller, Spectrum Phonics, Mars Hill Latin. We unschooled science until grade 6 and then threw out a packaged faith based science curriculum because it was prone to errors and was to juvenile. We are starting Apologia Science at the high school level (Exploring Science through Creation) I don't mind it, it is faith based but I think it is a sound program. One of our kids is challenged by math so we have started "Math-U-See because it uses different approaches to learn math. I wish I could find a nice packaged curriculum that is not faith based. I tried a few faith based programs and they not only taught the subject badly, but the religion they pushed was not even biblical, just somebody's bad interpretation of the scriptures.

Answer 2

Back in my curriculum days, we quickly found out that curricula aren't as great as they first seem. In fact, I would strongly advise against a curriculum for three reasons. The first is that they're insanely overpriced and have nothing particularly special in them. The second is that they keep you stuck on one path, with no room to personalize. By the time you really personalize it, what was the point in shelling out a couple hundred bucks in the first place? And the third is that it keeps you on the same track schools are on. Homeschooling is more time-efficient. Once you remove schmoozing in the halls, going over the last class, collecting homework, giving homework, explaining to the kid who just doesn't get it, and yelling at the disruptive kids, you'll find that kids in school spend very little time doing anything education and a lot of time being trained. It seems like limiting yourself to that schedule eliminates one of the biggest advantages of homeschooling.

I would recommend Saxon for math, but people seem to have a love/hate relationship with it. Find out what works for you.

For English, you could save yourself a lot of time and hassle by printing a guide to writing book reports (or whatever) and telling your kids to write one a week (or whatever) on books they read.

Foreign language, anything goes.

Science: I used Scott Foresman but found it to be too easy. Might be good for you, though. They have experiments and review questions at the end of the chapters.

History: Honestly, I learned more through reading historical fiction than I am in an AP history class. My Name Is America and Dear America (boys and girls, respectively) are accurate and a good way to keep your kids engaged. Those books take the distance out of history. Also, PBS has some good documentaries you can get off of Netflix. And if a documentary has Ken Burns' name on it, get it.

Art: You can't teach creativity. Give them supplies and leave them alone. You'll be impressed.

I don't expect this to be a popular answer, but it's what worked for me.

Answer 3

I set up my own curriculum. I do Christian based, but I don't always use "Christian" books. I like to use Spectrum workbooks by McGraw Hill. They are self-contained lessons and work (the answers are in back - I pull those pages out and 3-hole punch them & put those in a binder with dividers as my Answer Key Book.

The Spectrum Series has Geography, Writing, Phonics, Spelling, Word Study, Test taking practice, and Math. (I might be missing some!) They are less than $10 per book and each book is written to one grade level. However, there is more work in there than I can fit into one year, so we skip some pages where they "get it" fast, and spend more time on others.

I also like to use a book called Springboards to Writing that I found at a rummage sale. We use that for creative writing (which my kids are doing right now & that's why I can be here writing this!!).

I like to go to www.rainbowresource.com They'll send you a GREAT BIG catalog filled with books & things for homeschooling and they give a very thorough description of each item, so you know what you're getting, and if you want to know for sure whether something is or isn't Christian, you can call their help line and they are very helpful.

Hope some of this helps.

Answer 4

Hi there!

I am being homeschooled with a wonderful curriculum by Calvert School; it's not Christian based and all the books are great. It helps me and my sister to study more independently - you'll love the break from your kids! ;) Here is the link to their website: http://calvertschool.org

I swear, this is the best curriculum you could have. This year we are even doing the online courses (our start on the 24th, so I can't tell you yet if I am enjoying it but I am sure I will!)

Anyway, hope this helps. Calvert rules and your kids will love it. :)

Cheers,

Maia, 13 years old
http://furkids.wordpress.com
http://www.pawradise.net

Answer 5

We've been using K12 as our spine for 5 years and love it!!! We use it as independent (Consumer Direct) users - not part of a virtual public school.

You *can* pay monthly with K12, but I do the one-year contracts. You save a lot of money, especially during the spring/summer sale season, and it's all done and paid for in one order (great for taxes b/c in my state we get a HS expense deduction).

K12 is secular, but it has a lot of moral stories built in. Think William Bennett's (who started K12) "Book of Virtues" and spin-offs. The children study ancient and current religions, myths, and all sorts of other topics to make them "culturely literate" (think E.D. Hirsch). The curriculum is based on Hirsch's Core Knowledge sequence, but has a lot of other great stuff worked in.

http://www.k12.com

Answer 6

We use the curriculum from K12 and it is secular. I just don't have the time or energy to set up my own curriculum.

Answer 7

We set up our own curriculum. Used text books are easy to find at used book stores. Ebay has text books. We use the library and internet.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

Yes. I used Calvert for my daughter. In my opinion it is an exceptional program. For high school I would recommend Texas Tech. Information on both is available on the internet. Good luck.

Answer 10

I have used curriculum that is based on our public school system and just extended it. Check out www.about.com, which helps you with particular courses of study per grade. Hope this helps.