Please send me your questions! I didn't have anything this week, so I took a suggestion from the other blog: What is your favorite homeschool curriculum for overseas moms? And then I'm adding more to it, so as not to leave anyone out: If your children go to a local school, do you "afterschool" them to get in some English? If so, how? Or, if your children go to a school that teaches in English, what is your favorite thing about their school? Just tell us what you love about your children's education now! And you can ask us to pray for the challenges, too, of course.
(If you have a “Tuesday Topic” question, please email it to me at fylliska@gmail.com. Provide your blog address if you would like to be linked to, or specify if you would like to remain anonymous. Thanks!)
I love talking about curriculum! :-) Of course, I have to put a plug in for "mine." AmblesideOnline is a Charlotte Mason based curriculum, available for free online. Many of the books are also free. Especially if you have a Kindle, I think it's ideal for life overseas.
ReplyDeleteAlso, MEP for math is nice, because it's also free online. I don't love it like I love AO, but it works quite well for us.
I've heard of Ambleside. I'm no where near ready to homeschool yet, I'm interested in what others have to say!
DeleteI've looked at Ambleside and have always been curious about it. Do your children read ALL of the books listed for the age appropriate year? I just wondered because it looked like an ambitious reading list.
DeleteIn the upper years, the reading lists are more pick and choose, but early on, yes, we read all those books. They're deliberately spread out over a long period, so we move quite slowly and savour them.
DeleteOur kids are in Russian school and pre-school, so we are supplementing at home for reading and writing in English and will later add in some American history. I've used "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" for both kids and it has worked great. We've also used some of the Abecka early reading books and some Explode the Code (not a huge fan of them though.... the sentences often make no sense!!!). We use Handwriting Without Tears for handwriting and my kids like it.
ReplyDeleteSo far my kids are enjoying Russian school (though my oldest just started 1st grade, so we'll see how it goes! So far so good!). My favorite part has been the fact that they have made so many friends and also that we've been incredibly blessed with very kind, skilled, and understanding teachers. I know it can go either way with teachers and that really makes or breaks the whole deal. So far we've been exceedingly blessed and it has made early schooling so easy. I've also loved getting to know the other families and to feel connected to our community through the experience. I find it healthy for me who has high social needs to have this way to meet people, and I also find it a good ministry opportunity.
Charlotte Mason Homeschooling for us!
ReplyDeleteSonlight and AmblesideOnline have been the two places where I've gotten most of our books for school. As well as looking at Veritas Press lists for book ideas.
We've also used Handwriting Without Tears, Miquon Math, Life of Fred math, and Apologia science books by Jeannie Fulbright. Those are what I can think of off the top of my head.
Joy in Nepal
We're still working out what works best for us. We're trying Sonlight and loving it, but stymied by the number of books needed... we move every 1-2 years so sourcing and buying the necessary books is not going to work - even with getting as many as are available on Kindle, we still needed to buy 26 books for this first year!
ReplyDeleteI think we'll be moving to Apologia science and Story of the World.
I use Sonlight and abolutely love it even though it is hard to get a hold of all of the books (hard to mail and expensive to buy.) But the great quantity of books is why I like it. I figure one price we pay to living overseas is spending money on books. My kids have almost no access to English books here other than the ones in our home. We also got Kindles...
ReplyDeleteI use apologia science and saxon math, IEW materials for writing, and have used some Abeka grammar and composition work texts.
My kids are in a bi-lingual international school so they are learning Spanish and English and have subjects in both. The thing I love about their school is that it's made up of half national, and half international families. It's a small school so we get to know everything. My kids have classmates from all over the world...China, Sweden, Korea, Italy, Colombia, Argentina, etc. so they are exposed to many different cultures and the school does a good job of respecting and celebrating each culture. I also have to laugh when I find myself having a conversation in Spanish with a mom from China...never would have seen that coming!
ReplyDeleteMy kids LOVE Story of the World. I also really like All About Spelling as it actually makes sense/teaches the rules of spelling.
ReplyDeleteThose are probably two of my favorites right now. We too have used/liked Apologia science, First Language Lessons. A great beginning/fun Latin program for little ones is Song School Latin. My kids still enjoy listening to the cd.
this year our oldest will be in Kindergarten. We just received our Sonlight box. Not gonna lie...I am a bit intimidated by teaching someone to read! Ha! We're going to start on the Costa Rican calendar, so we have a little while yet (Feb is when they start). I am not sure this is a long term solution for our family. I really want the boys in a school with Ticos so they are learning Spanish and meeting other kids their age. We just don't really know our options at this point.
ReplyDelete