Choose Curriculum

How To Shop For History Curriculum at a Homeschool Convention + Printable Cheat Sheet

February 7, 2014 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

This is a sponsored post and I am proud to be partnering with Great Homeschool Conventions this year because I LOVE their convention philosophy.

Convention season is just around the corner. I like to plan early so I have time to mull over my choices, but especially my choices for my favorite subjects like history and geography.

Today, I am focusing on giving you a few things that I look for in a history program. Instead of listing them in importance to me, I just listed them so you can decide which ones are important to you and which ones can take a backseat this next year.

Homeschool History Cheat Sheet

Too, I have prepared a cheat sheet for you by helping to separate the history vendors into different approaches. This saves valuable time at a convention because you can spend time with the vendors that fit your approach.

You can download the Vendor Cheat Sheet here.

1.) Time Period Covered Quandary. Before I purchase, I have to have an idea of what time period I want to focus on. Do I want to cover history chronologically beginning with the ancients or do I want to hone in on one particular time period? Look at my post here 8 Ways to Teach Homeschool History Other Than Chronologically if you are undecided. For example if you want to cover one time period then look at the companies like My Father’s World or Knowledge Box Central.

2.) Children’s Abilities Quandary. Instead of focusing on your children’s age which may be different than their ability, look for history curriculum that will either quench their thirst for history or scale it back into bite size pieces. Be sure you are looking at levels above and below your child’s level to be sure you are making a good fit.

3.) History & Bible Together. I am always up for covering more than one subject at a time, but I always like choosing my own Bible reference material too. Some history curriculum is lighter on Bible content, others not. You decide what works for you this year. For example, Story of the World at Rainbow Resource would be lighter on Bible content whereas Mystery Of History has more Bible coverage. The most important thing to me is that I cover Bible along with history.

4.) Hands-on/Hands-off Learner. If your child is not interested in crafts and wants to pick up and read and be done with it, then look at some of the text book providers or classical approach providers like Classical Conversations or Bob Jones. If you’re like me and you would prefer that your children didn’t want to do any hands-on things, but that won’t ever happen (just kidding, I love doing these with my boys and NO I am not a crafty person, I just know it works) then look at the unit study approach and some of the books in the Variety category. Look at BooksBloom, Great Hall Productions and Usborne books that can be used for hands-on ideas and for living books or audios.

5.) Business Matters. Look over copyright usage for multiple children or how you are suppose to use it for your personal use. Can you copy the material? Can you use it with more than one child? Determine the actual price for you.

For example, though a history program that covers several time periods may be more expensive, it may allow usage for multiple children.

Do your math to compare apples to apples.

Look at this sample: If the cost of the history program is $80.00, then divide that by 3 (or number of children you have) = $26.66.

Then, if it can be used for multiple years, then divide that number again by the number of years. If it’s a 4 year program, then it’s $6.66 per year per child.

Wow, what a deal, what a steal now. Use both your business mind-set and teacher mind-set when you are shopping.

Shopping for homeschool history and supplements at a homeschool convention is one of my very favorite luvs and one of the best parts about being a home educator. I love the smell of all the new books in the convention and the frenzy of shopping at each vendor’s booth. Even at big conventions I always run into somebody I know too and visiting with each other is such a huge part of the fellowship felt when you go in person.

What about you? What is your favorite part about shopping for curriculum?

Have you decided which convention/s you are going to? Remember to register with Great Homeschool Conventions! Click on the graphic above to register.

I have some more posts on how to choose curriculum and some more free printable checklists to add to your arsenal. Check it out below!

Free Checklists.

Master the Subjects Form – 5 Days Of The Benefits & Challenges of Teaching Mixed Ages Together – Day 4: Embrace Homeschooling Multiple Grades

Teacher’s Manual Checklist – {How To Series} How to Determine if a Teacher’s Manual is Treasure or Trash? + {printable checklist}

8 Ways to Teach Homeschool History Other Than Chronologically

How to Choose Curriculum Other Than the Looks Good Method

Hugs and love ya,

This is also a blog hop. This blog hop is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutual beneficial projects. Visit us on Pinterest, Twitter and Google Plus. And of course, click the image below to visit all the other blog articles from the homeschool moms of the iHomeschool Network.

Curriculum & Homeschool Conventions –Cures for Cabin Fever

January 17, 2014 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

This is a sponsored post and I am proud to be partnering with Great Homeschool Conventions this year because I LOVE their convention philosophy.

Before Tiny was conceived (okay not a TMI post) and when I only had Mr. Senior 2013 and Mr. Awesome, I started my homeschool journey in a tiny 800 square foot cabin and that included the porch.

Having just two bedrooms and one main living area for both schooling and living was a perfect size as I started my homeschooling journey. I loved that cabin because not only was it cozy but on the porch I spent countless hours reading and playing with my sons.

As much as I loved it though, I seemed to spend more time at the local teacher store hunting just the right hands on activities for my budding reader. That is until I found out about homeschool conventions.

Too, because there were times the cabin did feel like cramped quarters, I focused on learning several things as a novice teacher and one was how to navigate a homeschool convention.

Homeschool Convention Tools, Techniques and Tips

Planning in advance with the same passion I planned a family vacation, I was sure to not miss any conventions that were close to me. Guess what? Even if they weren’t close, I realized soon in my homeschool journey that attending a convention catapulted me ahead in honing my homeschool teaching skills.

Look at some tips I learned when I attended conventions and made an extra effort to attend the bigger ones.

1. Love them and leave them kids. When my kids were very young, I would try to leave them at home at least one day with Grandma. It normally was the second day. On that day I was more tired but also I had time to look through the booths. Too, I have had many years of living in the cabin with no family near me so that I could leave my kids. If it is the same for you, go slow and go the pace of the children. Do not miss the convention, but take breaks and plan on attending some workshops. When you attend workshops, you and the kids (hopefully) can sit down, take a break and at the same time still receive some much needed encouragement.

2. Avoid convention-itis. Try to give yourself one day to think about what you have looked over and then buy the next day. However, if there are limited products of the curriculum you want and you already know that you need it, then purchase it and it’s done so you don’t have to go back.

3. Deploy the Teens. If you have teens, they can be a great source of help if you put them to work. My teens enjoyed having a mission. Let them tour some of the vendors and call you back with prices and information.

4. Deploy the Gear. No teens? Grab a super size stroller and it serves as both snack holder and place for the younger ones to sit down.

5. Money Belt Must. I always liked having my money belt around my waist so I constantly do not have to bend over. Some moms I see leave their money on top of the stroller, but in this day and age even at a homeschool convention, we just can’t trust everybody. By having it around your waist, you can still hold the little ones on your hips too. My preference only, but I have never liked a backpack because I have seen many folks back into racks and other people. I do bring a tote though that I can stick papers in that I want to look at later.

6. Utilize the on-site Storage Room or Services. Most conventions have free storage rooms for your convention purchases. Even if they charge you for a space, it really is worth it instead of hauling around all your new purchases. At the end of the convention, back your car up and load it all up.

7. Distinguish between Workshops. Keep in mind there are generally two types of workshops at conventions. One is a “product workshop” and the other is an “informational workshop”.

A product workshop will be more specific and geared toward selling the product and it generally is hosted by a vendor. This is not really a negative especially if you are interested in purchasing it for your use. The product workshops can be so more informative educating you about the use of a product.

Information workshops will be about various homeschooling topics that are of interest to us and are normally put on by a seasoned mom who has had particular success with either a method or is sharing the how-tos of a subject. Look ahead on the schedule and try to plot out your course of action for the days you are there.

8. Make Ahead Do Not Forget List. My packing list normally includes hair clip, phone, extra cell phone, water, lipstick (yes have to be purdyyy), comfortable shoes, tote, credit cards and/or checks, printable list of my curriculum needs and wants and waist belt with cash. And do not bring all $100.00 bills (I did have a few of them at one time) because not all companies can make change for a $100.00 bill. Small bills are best.

Get Excited for Great Homeschool Conventions

Homeschool conventions do not have to be a time of wondering around aimlessly with no plan or standing out with a deer in the headlight look. The first time attending any homeschool convention can be downright overwhelming, but soon enough the contagious spirit of fellow homeschoolers fills the building. Walking away with enough zest and vigor to move ahead one more year in my journey, I make it a yearly habit of attending them.

I still love that old cabin with all its charm and character. It has a special place in my heart because not only was it my first homeschooling area but my craze for curriculum and love for conventions was conceived there.

What about you? Have you decided which convention/s you are going to? Remember to register with Great Homeschool Conventions!

Need some checklists for the convention? Look at the links below:

Master the Subjects Form – 5 Days Of The Benefits & Challenges of Teaching Mixed Ages Together – Day 4: Embrace Homeschooling Multiple Grades

Teacher’s Manual Checklist – {How To Series} How to Determine if a Teacher’s Manual is Treasure or Trash? + {printable checklist}

Hugs and love ya,

Stop Switching Your Curriculum, Switch Your Course of Study

December 5, 2013 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Spending hours poring over catalogs and websites to find the perfect best curriculum resources for your children only to find out mid-year that some are more time wasters than teaching helps is a huge disappointment.

The truth of it is that I could have saved myself hundreds of dollars through the years if I had stopped switching curriculum and switched my course of study, my approach or even my mind-set.

Are You Doing these Mistakes on Planning A Course of Study?

Now, I spend more time focusing on objectives and a course of study for my children. Finding a curriculum or tool that matches my goals is secondary to the plans I have laid out.

Course of study by definition is not overly intimidating to understand either. An easy definition is “the route or direction for a path”, “the way something progresses” and a “series of lessons in a particular subject.”

Who decides that? In public school the system is different for each school, but they all have one common thread and that is the almighty textbook. This is not a blog post about dissing the textbooks, but it is about deciding who determines what is best for your family.

I have learned that using a preset curriculum and doing every assignment in the textbook is still not a guarantee that your children will learn and remember it. Not once have my sons said oh yes I remember that textbook or worksheet, but they have remembered moments or projects that I created following their desire to learn.

Fear of thinking that we have to plan all our lesson plans or not knowing what to cover next may keep us magnetically drawn to textbooks. It did for me for several years. It wasn’t until my 5th year of homeschooling that I did the big switch over to thinking more about my course of study and less on curriculum.

In reality any curriculum is just a tool and that includes textbooks. Instead of switching curriculum, I have learned that adding better resources to my home library is the key to building my own course of study for my children.

4 Shortcuts to Curriculum Planning

Look at some of these things I have done over the years as I switched from changing curriculum constantly to planning my course of study.

1.) Limit my number of workbooks each year. Everybody is different on which subjects they decide to use workbooks for. I don’t want to print out math worksheets all the time, so a consumable math workbook is just fine for us.

Too, this year I’ve been using the books by Sharon Watson for teaching high school writing, The Power In Your Hands and I love them so much that Tiny is using the lower grade writing program too. But, they are both consumable. That is the extent of my consumables for this year. Here is the link to my review Review of The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School

2.). Choose Topical Helps. What I spend the most on each year are topical helps whether they are printed books, e-books or magazines. Investing in topical books like the Eyewitness Books gives you information to choose from through the years and it is an investment where you add to your collection and not get rid of them.

3.) Choose Reference Helps. The longer I homeschool, the more I also prefer reference books. Whether it is ideas on what to teach next or understanding curriculum, I’ve used these books below when I have needed them. They serve as a reference source through several years and it makes switching curriculum choices minimal when I use them.

4. Use Textbooks as Reference only. If you have budgeted your curriculum for the year, sometimes you don’t have the luxury of changing. But, you can change how you use it. When I made the switch to choosing more reference helps, I went through all my older text books and I tore out pages that I wanted to keep.

It was pretty liberating to tear the binding off and rip out sheets that I felt were worth keeping and pitch the rest of it in the trash.

I pick textbooks more carefully now.

Early this year, I purchased a textbook about teaching geography to use a reference. Too, I am not sure what type of library access I will have when we move to South America. Even if I have access to a library, sometimes I prefer to build our home library and so I may use textbooks for topical references.

Textbooks are good for putting a lot of different ideas into one small space. Those ideas serve as launching pads for our unit studies.

As homeschool teachers our job should be to think of what topics or concepts we are teaching and to view any type of curriculum as supplements to that study, not the other way around.

Time is in short supply when you are homeschooling, use it planning what YOU want to study by using topical references and helps and not switching curriculum all the time.

You won’t regret any of the purchases you make cost wise because you get several years worth of use out of each book.

Also, look at some of the links below to help you gauge some topics to study each year.

World Book’s Typical Course of Study

Scholastic has a site on what to know for each age.

Scholastic

Ambleside Online I have used several times to find good reading books for my sons. Too, it provides an outline for a rigorous curriculum through all the grade levels.

Ambleside on Line

Are you thinking about adding any new reference books soon to help you plan instead of switching curriculum?

Hugs and love ya,