Monday, March 14, 2011

Letter of the Week Home School Curriculum

As I have mentioned before, I home school my two oldest children. Because of my daughters learning style, she is currently on the same level with my 4 year old. We use Letter of the Week curriculum to teach our kids.

Through my research on home schooling, I have come to the conclusion that finding a good curriculum is like attempting to pull teeth from an alligator. It can be so confusing for some one just starting out. What is the best? What style works for my child? There are no easy answers but I have found this website to be extremely helpful. It spells everything out for you.

The Good: It primarily focuses on reading readiness in the preschool years. It has entire themes planned out, including rhymes, animals and songs to sing. It is based on a 26 week school year for the 2-4 age group, which teaches counting up to 25. A huge bonus is that it goes all the way to 10 year old curriculum. Including math, science, geography, history and more. Each module can be adjusted to fit any age level and gives suggestions on how to do so. Unlike a lot of sites that can be overwhelming, this site is super easy to navigate. The best part, it's all free..

The Bad: There are no direct print outs on the site that I could find. For example, each week has something specific you learn about. An animal, food, object etc. which you are on your own to find a suitable print out for to have your child cover.

The Ugly: I actually haven't found anything I would consider "ugly" with this yet.

The Bottom Line: This curriculum and website are an awesome resource for any one wanting a simple way to plan their weeks. It is not religion based, so if you want to incorporate religion into your childs learning, you have to work it in yourself. I love that I can slightly alter the themes or daily lessons to fit my childrens needs with out completely throwing off the curriculum.