Making the decision to educate our children at home was not a decision that we made lightly. Conversations were had, research was done, and a lot of questions were asked.

Ultimately, the decision was made, long before our children were born, that we would be home-schooling. With the government taking control of the education in public schools and the cost of private schools home-schooling is just the best option for our family.

Choosing the Curriculum

Preschool

Research

The ABCJesusLovesMe Preschool Curriculum is a comprehensive, research-based preschool curriculum focusing on Bible, academics, and development. Each curriculum contains goals and objectives to gauge the child’s learning and growth. Beyond the weekly lesson plans, ideas, and materials are provided to support parents and teachers along the way.

Why I Love this Program: 

Grade School

So how do you choose what is the best one for you?

Veritas Press

“Our approach is an ambitious one. Yet using the method of classical education from a Christian worldview makes our approach possible. Classical education takes a three-fold approach. This trivium, which it is frequently called, is Latin for ‘where three roads meet’ and lays out three stages of learning: grammar, dialectic (or logic) and rhetoric. The genius of classical education- why it works so well- is because it teaches ‘with the grain’ of how children develop. When they’re young the enjoy memorizing and learning lost of things. The junior high years find them interested in challenging, arguing, and wanting to understand how things might relate to each other. During the senior high years, they become more concerned with ow they are perceived, wanting to be articulate and persuasive in winsome ways. Teaching according to their God-given tendencies proves to be remarkably effective, not to mention that it trains children to learn for themselves- as lifelong learners. 

Sonlight

My Fathers World

“My Father’s World (MFW) offers complete or almost complete grade-level programs for preschool through twelfth grade. MFW embodies methodologies from unit study, Charlotte Mason, and classical approaches with a strong biblical base (Protestant) and missionary emphasis throughout all levels. Each program centers around a single guide and uses a mixture of real books and hands-on activities along with a few textbooks. Basic or deluxe packages are available for each level. Basic packages provide essential elements. Deluxe packages include additional resources for art, music, read aloud, etc. A Bible (not included) is required for every level.” Cathy Duffy Review

This curriculum is designed to be a whole family approach. It begins with a foundation from pre-school through 2nd or 3rd grade depending on the ages of your youngest and oldest children. The lessons are easy to teach all together with less complicated concepts being taught to younger children and more complicated or complex thoughts being taught to the older children.

Math has to be added in once the 2nd and 3rd grade begin

The My Fathers World curriculum is the program that we are currently using for our family. The units are set up to be done in 6 days but for me that is a nightmare. The idea of starting a new unit in the middle of the week drives me crazy. Fortunately, we are able to condense it down to just 5 days by adding the read aloud times to the rest of the week. We really like this program because it has everything we need and I only have to make one purchase. We will be finishing up kindergarten with one of my kiddos in June and starting 1st grade with my other baby stepping into the kinder role in August.  When its time we will begin looking into math programs that suit our family.

Do you home-school? Have you considered it?  What programs do you use? Let me know in the comments!