What curriculum are you using or are you doing it on your own

[TinaA]

This year I pretty much just made up my own. He is a m=ninth grader and I bought school books from different companies. 

[cozanada]

I mix and match cirriculum. I use alot of Alpha Omega. I also use Glencoe text books for math in conjunction with www.cosmeo.com . For language, I use Roseta Stone. It's expensive, but worth the money.

[LeBoof]

We've been using an intro to algebra book from McGraw Hill, some online resources for history and did an online course for botany. If you haven't checked it out yet, you'll find some really good online courses for free through a site called free-ed. http://www.free-ed.net They even offer stuff for those studying for SAT and GED. We're about to start into English Comp. though and I'm picky about how that gets taught. I will probably be using worksheets for that and let her do a lot of writing. We are pretty much following the state recommended plan for high school graduation since all colleges here in Texas are required to accept homeschool students as long as they have at least followed the minimum class list.

Melinda

[LeBoof]

I like BeforeYouKnowIt.com (I think that's the site) for language. One of the languages we're teaching our 5 year old is Irish and Rosetta doesn't offer it. Before you know it offers a free trial/lite version. You can pay extra and get the rest later.

Melinda

[banneyrooster]

  I use LifePac, by Alpha Omega.  I like it because it comes with all the 10 workbooks plus the teachers manuals.  It is alot more expensive to buy it this way but once you buy it you dont have nothing else to worry about for the rest of the year.  Well..............of course theres Science project equipment, more paper, pencils, etc... but other than that I am set to go! LOL:-))

[cozanada]

Thanks for the input on the Before you know it programs.. I'm checking it out first before I put the money into my son's language cirriculum. He wants to take French or Japanese. So far it seems pretty basic. Have you ever bought the whole cirriculum? Does it go into verbs and conjegating and actual structuring of sentences?

[HMSCHL5]

I guess you could call this my intro and an answer as to what curriculum we are using.

I am currently homeschooling 2 highschoolers a middle schooler and a preschooler. Our oldest graduated last year. I also have a 8th grade level stepson that just moved in with us that currently attends a private Christian School (his bio-mom does not believe in homeschooling so we did the next best thing which she doesn't approve of either.) He desires very much to be homeschooled so we are praying for that to change soon.

We will be going into our 6th year homeschooling this coming year. I started out using Abeka everything as I needed that spoon fed curriculum. Soon I discovered aspects I did and didn't like about it. As the years have passed we have tried different curriculum finding out that what works for one child may not necessarily work for another. I have discovered that I HATE the textbook (read the chapter answer the questions at the end) approach. Children DO NOT retain information that way very well. I have found a more hands on, real life  way of learning helps children retain more information that just having them read the material and take a test. While some things are learned through memorization, others are not.

While we do still use quite of Abeka for some things, We currently use a Hodge Podge of Curriculum but what I have found to be exceptional curriculum for our family is:

Math: www.teachingtextbooks.com (expense is high but worth every penny as my kids have been able to teach THEMSELVES Algebra with NO help from me at all...they are all straight A students in it) We used Algebra text (also a DVD program) in the past and while it is still good, this one out ranks it by a landslide!!!

Science: Apologia by Jay Wiles (by far THE BEST Science program I have seen yet and the best part, all experiments are pretty much done with things around the house or items from local store) There are dissection kits you can buy as well as chem lab kits from them.

Everything else to include Literature, writing, art, and ESPECIALLY Highschool History:
WWW.KONOS.COM
Konos is the most amazing thing I have ever seen!! It is a unit study approach but there is nothing greater than to see your children actually ENJOY learning because they are having FUN while learning. No boring textbook appoach here, and the best part...Once you purchase the INITIAL core curriculum, all your resources come from your library for FREE. Jessica Hulcy just completed American History last year. It's great!  If you have multiple ages this is an excellent way to teach them all at the same time.
There are also 3 volumes for the elementary and middle school years. Each volume last THREE school years and can be combined with what your highschoolers are learning.

Languages: Definitely Rosetta Stone!!! Awesome program! Expensive but worth every penny.

Grammar mechanics: I don't really have a favorite here as I have yet to find a particular one that I absolutely just love or teaches it easiest. I would be interested in hearing about any you all have used.
We have used Abeka Grammar and Composition, Writers Inc (probably my favorite I guess) but I'm personally not real big on teaching all the mechanics of grammar i.e diagramming sentences etc. I teach the basics parts of speech and sentence structure and although we introduce other aspects we do not focus on them.
I personally find it useless and a waste of time. My goal is to teach my children good writing and communication skills to use in their daily life. I know I personally don't remember nor do I use half of that information I was taught in public school ....LOL

For general daily exercises I LOVE....Writing Strands (awesome way to teach your children to write) and Wordly Wise (great daily vocabulary exercises)

and for my preschooler....I absolutely LOVE Five in a Row, Math U See and Writing without Tears. We also just recently discovered Learning Science through Reading books. We have been able to find most in our library and she is just soaking up Science simply by curling up with mommy to read a good book.

Hope this wasn't too long.....lol

Blessings,
Angel in Virginia

[TinaA]

Since we now have more members, lets see what everyone is using now.  Tina

[TinaA]

I'm using Alpha Omega for language arts and history, Mathusee for math, CyberED for science, UW free online for computer tech.  I really don't want to use AO again because of the religious content, but I had a hard time finding something that was as inexpensive.  Tina

[LilyofPhilly]

I have designed my own curriculum. I would go nuts trying to follow someone else's.

[MajorBrie]

We design our own.  We start by going to a local used curriculm sale and I let my daughter look over the choices.  When she finds something she likes I will then look it over and if I agree we'll buy it.  That way if it doesn't work out we haven't wasted a lot of money.  Anything that hasn't been covered through the sale we'll find on-line, in the library, or at the local bookstore.