curriculum
Curriculum to avoid
List curriculum that you'd recommend other homeschoolers avoid, and why, here.
Homeschoolers tend to be positive people, which is good, until you need to get an accurate impression of a curriculum you haven't seen first hand. It's easy to get people to talk about what they enjoyed, but there are a lot of curricula that people either love or hate, and i only the fans talk about it, the rest of us aren't going to get the real picture, and we're likely to waste money.
US History at Hippocampus- Free Units, Lessons, and Complete Curricula
Geared for high school and AP level students, this free resource has online multimedia lessons. Choose topics or units, or follow an entire course. The courses include: US History I for AP, US History II for AP, US History I, and US History II. Ideal for high school home
KidsGardening.com: Ideas for using gardening as a tool for learning
This website is focused primarily on school gardens, but there's little here that couldn't be done as easily by homeschoolers. The "Classroom projects" section includes a wide variety of gardening related projects-- from poetry and photography to meteorology to cooking and food preservation and more. "Thematic explorations" has information to help you plan your learning garden, including ideas for families without much space to devote to the project. If you want even more, check out the "pollinator curriculum", a free complete curriculum for upper elementary, which seems i
BBC Primary School Languages: French, Spanish & Welsh
The BBC has fun resources to help elementary aged kids learn French, Spanish and Welsh. These are the first free resources I've found that go beyond the absolute basics (i.e. colors, numbers, and a couple phrases) while remaining fun and appropriate for younger kids.
Mathematics Enhancement Programme- free curriculum for all ages
This is a complete mathematics curriculum available free online, including printable practice books, lesson plans, and copy masters. It was developed for the UK, and goes from "Reception", which seems to be analogous to kindergarten in the US, up through year 11 (similar to 11th grade). There are 2 versions of the 10-11th year curriculum, only one of which seems to be for college-bound students. The collegebound version includes guidance for customizing the curriculum for advanced students. The version of the 12th year intended for collegebound students is not
"Fieldwork" hands-on high school level marine biology for/by homeschoolers
A homeschool mom is generously sharing the marine biology course she's developing for her kids. Alas, the marine biology course isn't for those of us who live far from the ocean, but it's a very cool program for coastal families.
Community College Open Textbook Collaborative
An organization to make quality "open textbooks" available for Community college use. The website includes free or very inexpensive textbooks on a wide range of advanced topics.
School Run French by Radio Lingua Network
An audio program designed to teach 6-11 year olds French in short segments ideal for learning while running errands or, for kids who attend school, during their drive to school (i.e. the school run). For beginners. The first 5 lessons are available free through itunes. More advanced lessons and a "premium pack" with vocabulary lists and worksheets are available for purchase on the website. Made for a British audience.
