Ordering curriculums?

[pelicantown]

I currently home Ed one of my children . Over the last year we have learned that our style is structured and organized! (Rather than child led which is how we started).

We have gone from no curriculum to having a day by day plan and set work and curriculum.we are loving that style!. I think we learned we are a family that like routine

Anyway! From September 3 of my other children have asked to be home educated, we would then have 11,8,7,5,2 year old at home (plus a 13 year old at school). So I would need to plan work for 4 children (plus entertain a 2 year old).

I DONT want to go back to having no plan - It was NOT good and with 5 at home it would be even worse!

Tbh I know I could plan it all out and put it into folders with work books but actually I would rather spend the money and have it all planned out for me - I know this is lazy but I am being realistic
This year we have been using a curriculum that you download a PDF and then buy in the books etc but I have been looking at alternatives like bookshark and timberdoodle

Sorry my 1 year old pressed post

So I have been looking at pre packed curriculum. The ones from this country I have seen look rubbish - am I missing something?

Not bothered at all about national curriculum we are not following it.

Does anyone have any suggestions.

I literally want to order an age set and get it sent to my house with plan.

This is only hearsay from me, as we don't use any curricula.

My friends who do use them say that there isn't much available which is specific to the UK. There is less demand here than in the US, I guess. Have you looked to see whether there are any American ones you like? I think most British home educators who use curricula don't tend to buy it all from one place but maybe use one source for maths, another for history etc so they can get exactly what they want.

I think this site is recommended for people who want to chat about curricula: alittlebitofstructure.webs.com/.

Hope someone with more direct experience will be along soon to advise!

Hi Pelican, we've been structured all the way with our 3, although I'm down to one now. We didn't use a bought curricula - we made our own and adapted to our own needs. What worked for one child didn't always work for another, so there needed to be some flexibility, although some resources were brilliant for everyone!

Feel free to PM me and I can give you more detail on what worked well for us but here are some of the things that worked really well:

Maths
KS1 we used Schofield and Sims workbooks because they were cheap, well laid out and simple to follow.
KS2 we used a few things but then moved on to Galore Park Junior range and if I'd discovered them sooner, I would have used them!
KS3 Galore Park 'So You Really Want to Learn Maths

English
First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind for years 1-4. Teaches grammar beautifully and they learned to recite poems, which was cute. It also taught 'narration'. We tried lots of other stuff which worked well with different kids but I do like Evan Moor products. Schofield and Sim were great for KS1.

French - Skoldo Elementary/Book 1 for littlies and Galore Park for older.

Spanish/Latin - Galore Park are great although we combined with CLC for Latin.

Science - hands on stuff when they were younger. Galore Park for years 6-8.

History/Geography - Evan Moor do a lovely study of each continent which were good. Their History Pockets are fab too if you like cutting/sticking!

Resourcemouse is a newish UK site that has some great Unit Studies which is more like project work. They are more for 8+ but younger ones can join in with some of the practical stuff. They make life easier because everyone can work on the same stuff.

Am happy to share further resources if you want and ideas for planning!

Pelicantown would you be able to tell me where you saw the UK ones. I know you didn't like them but I'd like to take a peek please.

We are a structured/curriculum HE family in UK too. I agree there isn't much choice here for curriculums ( although my kids love CGP workbooks for the barcode comments!) so I tend to buy US ones and adapt as necessary. Conquest Books are a good website to order from to avoid huge postage costs.

I've never bought a box set as mine are too asynchronous to fit into any year/grade for all subjects. Sonlight/Bookshark, Oak Meadow, Build Your Library are a few companies I know who do sell these though some I believe are biased toward a certain religion or world view so check if this fits with your family's beliefs before buying.

I've. Also heard of a company called Structured Home Learning who do box sets but get many complaints as the cost is mainly for the personalised (non-refundable) timetable and the actual books provided can be bought much cheaper elsewhere.

Would this be a business opportunity? Would enough people be interested in buying a personalized curriculum complete with work plan/timetable delivered to their house? I have been HEing for years and am sure I could put one together!

Tinuviel I have often thought that too!

When I began using curriculums, not many were a perfect fit for our family and as I said many were American and needed adapting. As time went on, and I became more confident, instead of buying and adapting I have just put together similar curriculums of my own. I always think that maybe I should try making them available to others too, if only I had more time in between HEdding, working, my own studies and the housework!

To the OP, I've thought of another curriculum provider- Barefoot Ragamuffins. Their English curriculum has been brilliant for my children, but they also do a full curriculum guide called Wayfarers which plans out how to use their curricula for each subject and for multiple children from pre-school through to secondary age. It's a sort of mix of Charlotte Mason and Classical style and you have to buy (or borrow from the library) the additional books, but it may be worth a look.

I am interested in this service if u were going to offer it!!!

Hyacinth - feel free to PM me if you want to discuss further!