Books & Bibles
Entertainment
Fashion & Jewelry
Gifts & Giving
Home Decor & Accents
Kitchen & Gourmet
Beauty & Health
Specialty Stores
Entrepreneurs
Service & Help
|
 |
|
|
|
100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Educational Philosophy for Your Child's Learning Style
| Our Price |
$ 18.69
|
|
| Retail Value |
$ 21.99 |
|
| You Save |
$ 3.30 (15%) |
|
| Item Number |
97 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Item Description...
The key to successful home education, homeschool veterans will tell you, is determining your educational philosophy and marrying it to your child's learning style. Then you can make an informed decision in choosing the right educational curriculum for the child. This is the formula for success. In 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, homeschool guru Cathy Duffy can help you accomplish these critical tasks. Cathy will give you her top choices from every subject area, approaching everything through a Christian worldview perspective. This book is a critical volume for the homeschooling community.
Community Description
Choosing the correct curriculum is essential for your child's academic success. Let homeschool expert Cathy Duffy help you determine your educational philosophy and the approach that best complements your child's learning style. Her product reviews will acquaint you with some of the best materials available for all subjects, including unit studies, electives, online classes, and all-in-one programs---all with a Christian perspective. 320 pages, softcover from Broadman & Holman.Please Note, Community Descriptions and notes are submitted by our shoppers, and are not guaranteed for accuracy.
Please Share!
If you like this item, please consider sharing it with your social communities!
Thank you.
Rick Allen, store owner |
Item Specifications...
Pages 314
Dimensions: Length: 0.75" Width: 8.5" Height: 10.75"
Weight: 1.95 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Feb 1, 2005
Publisher Broadman And Holman Publishers
ISBN 0805431381
EAN 9780805431384
|
Availability 8 units.
Availability accurate as of May 24, 2012 11:02.
Usually ships within one to two business days from Johnson City, TN.
Orders shipping to an address other than a confirmed Credit Card / Paypal Billing address may incur and additional processing delay.
|
Product Categories
Similar Products
Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Excellent book - highly recommended Jul 19, 2008 |
We have used this book for several years to investigate various options for curriculum. We have settled on Alpha Omega and the Switched On Schoolhouse Academy. We find this book helpful in pointing out additional resources.
While there is no one "perfect" book out there to help, this one comes pretty close and is ideal for someone seeking to get a basic understanging of options available. For the money, this is a gem, and i dont think there is any better starter resource. I would highly recommend this title and class it an essential addition to any Home Schooler's Library. | | | | homeschool curriculum reviewing Jul 28, 2007 |
| This book is very complete and categorized so that the types of curriculums can be found easily. | | |  | OK Jun 23, 2007 |
| At first, I really appreciated this book. I'm very new to homeschooling. Trying to cobble together a worthwile curriculum for my young son when I had no idea what all was out there was very daunting so when I found this at the library quite by accident, I was excited. Finally, I thought, I will learn more about the various programs, curriculm, etc. that was available to help me make a more informed choice. While I have settled on a Waldorf base, I was also interested in Charlotte Mason and Montessori among others. My son is a very hands on learner, a Wiggly Willy if you will. I was pondering the notion of ordering this because there was more information than I could absorb in only three weeks, especially with four children to chase after and trying to move residence. I noticed the Christian overtones but that's ok. I did like the ideas of putting quotes on the fridge to learn (it didn't have to be a bile verse), etc. I also don't mind the Bible. There are a lot of moral issues that everyone would do good to read and learn by. However, I started to get a little upset towards the end of chapter 2. She was talking how there is religion and spirituality in all aspects of learning, intentional or not. That didn't bother me too much because for the most part it's true. Ones spirituality directly colors your views of life and those around you, especially how you learn. I do believe in God, or a higher power if you will. I do believe that we were all created although not quite to the extent of the views in Creationism. However, this quote quite offended me: "In literature texts and readers we often find folk tales of various pagan gods that show us how each of the gods "blessed" those who followed their instructions. The implication is that all "gods" are created equal. Those same texts probably include no stores about the one true God, and certainly none that imply He is the only one we should obey." This offended me because although I do believe there is a God, I also believe that there is a Goddess. Everyone needs a helpmate and there are always two sides of a coin to balance it all out. I also believe that all the different names for Him in all the different cultures, all are describing the same power. I am on a Pagan path but I don't mind some Christian influence in my children's learning. Just as I don't mind several other religions in the mix. I'm a Unitarian and we embrace all religions as equal. I was expecting a book that told me of all options out there, but for this to be the most comprehensive book of curriculum, it needs to include all of the best, regardless of whether it had a Christian view or not. There were also several curriculum and programs that I had heard about and wished to learn more but were hardly mentioned, if they were there at all. If you are new to homeschooling, and you want curriculum with a Christian base, this is an excellant book and a must have. Even if you want a non religious base, there is still some great info on the products available, and I did like most of the chapter helping to choose what type of style best fit me and my child and to identify what area's are best for me to focus on. Even if you don't want a Christian based curriculum, this would be a good book to look at so you could get a good idea of what you may or may not want or need. I was hoping to add this to my small library of slowly growing homeschool books, but in the end I was glad that I checked this out at the library and saved my very small budget for something that I can actually use. | | | | Too much info Jun 21, 2007 |
| I bought this book so when I went searching for curriculum I wouldn't be so overwhelmed. I'm more overwhelmed now. Plus there really is no discussion on web based schools such as K12 or The Grace Academy. | | | | A must read, especially for the new homeschooler. Jun 13, 2007 |
| This is a VERY helpful book. I am easily overwhelmed by the shear number of curriculum choices and this book helped narrow my range of choices based on learning styles. The descriptions of the reviewed materials are quite helpful. The author also suggested writing a Philosophy of Education, which really clarified the direction I wanted to take with the education of my children. I highly recommend this book, but make sure you read the introductory chapters and answer the questions/write your own philosophy for your family; otherwise, I don't think it will be as beneficial. | | | | This Book is a "Top-Pick" for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum May 31, 2007 |
I purchased this book 2-weeks ago and have used it cover to cover! I will have a first grader and kindergardener next year. It is very helpful and has some great suggestions for curriculum. I have been doing kindergarden with my 5-year old daughter this year and we used an all-in-one curriculum (or "umbrella" as Duffy calls it). Snore! It is 3/4 workbooks and she "hates" it. That is not what I wanted for our start into homeschooling. So I went back to the drawing board.
The book begins with encouraging you to start with goal setting. Besides your state's requirements(if applicable), what do you want your child to learn? How do you want to run your homeschool? Then she explains the philosophies/methods of education such as, Charlotte Mason, Classical, Unit Study, Eclectic mix and traditional textbooks. She also covers "Umbrella" programs (those that sell complete curriculum packages such as Calvert). She leads you through detailed questions and charts to help you put together your philosophy of education so that you can narrow down your curriculum choices. The coverage of homeschooling methods is not as exhaustive as Mary Pride's Mary Pride's Complete Guide to Getting Started in Homeschooling book, but it still is very comprehensive. I already knew that I liked the Classical Method, along with Charlotte Mason, and Unit Studies methods and her guide helped me to find curriculum that incorporates all three!
Then she covers learning styles and learning modalities. I have a "wiggly willy" and a "sociable sue" (at least this year). As Duffy cautions, this may change as the children grow and develop. These learning styles are not meant to be labels, but rather to help you pick curriculum that will hold the interest of your child. She gives advice on teaching to your children's strenghts no matter what their learning style.
Duffy then puts all the information you've learned about yourself and your children into review charts and rates them by product. It's hard to explain on paper, but using a rating of 1 to 5, she rates products across categories such as learning style, whether parent instruction is needed, for one or multiple students, how much writing, how much prep time, whether it is grade-level specific or can be used for multiple grades (important if you have more than one child that are different ages and want to teach them at the same time), ease of teacher use, if a teacher's manual is necessary or not useful, whether it supports Charlotte Mason's philosophy, supports Classical education and whether it is suitable for Protestant, Catholic or Nonsectarian. Yes, it is comprehensive and it cuts to the chase! If you like Unit Studies, you want Christian curriculum, and you have a Wiggly Willy - look for 4's and 5's under those categories in the boxes beside each product. If you don't want a lot of prep time, look for 1's and 2's. I got my highlighter out and highlighted the 4's and 5's under the categories important to me and that weeded out the rest and showed the products that I needed to review.
The categories of curriculum covered are: Phonics, Reading and Literature; Mathematics; Language Arts: Grammar and Composition; Language Arts: Spelling and Vocabulary; History/Social Studies; Science; Unit Studies; Foreign Language (a few); Miscellaneous (like art, health, logic and umbrella programs). The chart also gives the page number to the review of that product.
The rest of the book is the actual reviews of the top 100 picks. In the reviews she tells you what is included with the product, which grade levels the product covers, some have how long the studies should take (especially in the unit studies), as well as what she likes about the product. She even tells you what she thinks the drawbacks of the product are if there are any in her opinion.
The bottom line, is this is a very useful book, but most especially if you are a Christian. The coverage is definitely more toward Protestant products, but there are Catholic and nonsectarian options as well. So far I have ordered Five in a Row unit studies and Media Angels science books. I'm very excited about this school year. We will keep the boring workbooks to a minimum this time! I chose a different phonics program (a vertical phonics program from TATRAS) but other than that, my picks will be from this guide. I also recommend reading Mary Pride's book and Rebecca Rupp's Home Learning Year by YearHome Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School. Happy Homeschooling! | | | Write your own review about 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Educational Philosophy for Your Child's Learning Style
|
|
Mountaintop Blog
Join Us Online
Welcome Message
Home School
|
(0 Items)
Get FREE downloadable contemporary Christian songs when you subscribe to our email newsletter!
