Curriculum Fiend

Why is it that I feel compelled...nay, driven, to spend every last nickel on homeschool stuff?

We are not a wealthy family, not even close. We are a one-income military family, so that should make it clear that in no way can we afford an eighth of the crap that I buy. But I can't help it, it's a sickness, an addiction.

It started so innocently, preparing for my first baby, those eight long years ago. I discovered educational toys, books on child development and parenting, started amassing a collection of my favorite books. Within two years I had enough of that stuff to start a daycare (eventually I DID have a home daycare in Germany, mostly so I could justify my expenses to my husband and so I could network with other daycare providers who also got giddy about cheap montessori materials from Ebay. ) but I didn't stop there.

Oh no.

Homeschooling was the natural progression, even though we did try school for kinder and part of first for dd, and PK for ds. So now the obsession has taken over, the inmate is ruling the asylum, and educational materials have seriously taken over our home, which is rather small. I am looking forward to moving to Fort Polk in November so hopefully I will have room for more bookshelves, which of course will be full within minutes of being assembled, and then I will want a bigger house for more shelves...and on and on. Will it ever end?

Everyone collects something, I suppose.

So while I feel like the worlds biggest freak of nature for spending every possible cent on ant farms and workbooks, is it really that different than those ladies who collect crystal? Or fill their houses with beanie babies or turtle figurines? At least my collections are put to good use. Yes, I am beginning to feel better. I have now rationalized the following (impulse) curricular purchase from Books A Million (I love that store, I buy almost all my new books there, they have great prices and free shipping over 25 bucks),


Vocabulary Boosting Jokes and Riddles by Justin McCory (scholastic)
Writing Like Writers by Kay Johnson
Scamper ( imagination development from Prufrock Press, a favorite publisher of mine)
Poetry a la Carte (also from the above)
CPS for Kids (Creative Problem Solving)
Alphabet Soup (Language arts enrichment)
DRAW WRITE NOW 8 volume set (I got a terrific deal on this, 50 bucks for the set brand new)
Red Hot Root Words Part 1
No Problem! Taking the problem out of problem solving.
Beginning Writing Lab (another prufrock/dandylion book)
Primary Grade Challenge Math


All this is basically enrichment since we are continuing with the following which I bought mid last year when we pulled her out of PS,

GRAMMAR-Rod and Staff Building English, finish 3, I already have 4 waiting( great program if you can handle the Amishy-ness)
MATH-Mastering Mathematics (A complete 1-8 curriculum, we are currently finishing Mastering Multiplication( Bk3 , and will start Defeating Division in about a month or two)
**Primarily Math-problem solving unit for grades 2-4, we are about halfway through
** Scholastic's Mental Math Kids Can't Resist (Note: They can actually resist a little, but a valuable course anyway) about 1/4th left
And Can you Count in Greek? Plus we read alot of books about math and math games software, plus puzzles, Mathterpieces, Penrose the Mathematical Cat, etc. And SHELVES and SHELVES of math games, flash cards, and manipulatives. Some faves- SET game, Moneywise Kids game, Geoboards, Cuisinaire rods, and pegboards.
HISTORY- Story of the World , with Activity Guide (I love the guides, worth every penny)
***many. many library books and movies, Usborne book of World History, and Kingfisher History Encyclopopedia, Timeline (We make a History Scrap Book, it is a really nice for review and as a keepsake. We put photos in and make pop-ups and little interactive pockets and things for some of out activities, along with her narrations, maps, and worksheets from the Activity guide...it is really neat. I highly recommend this program!
SCIENCE-Ongoing observations-newly metamorphed frogs, baby fish (fry), bean shoots, plus finishing a unit on metamorphosis and beginning another unit on Human Anatomy, TOPS Lentil Science (see earlier post), and Dodo's Hogwarts "Potions" Assigments ( FUN Chemistry) and we read a ton of library science books, and videos
ART- Drawing with Children (I give the kids drawing lessons, I am a passable artist if I have something to draw in front of me), and Art is Elementary: Teaching Visual Thinking Through Art Concepts (interesting book, if you can find it) I want to put together a Great Masters art appreciation class but probably won't get it running until next year. I want to use some of the Dover art postcards for some sort of game or flashcards and some nice oversized art books and picture books about art from the library, and maybe that activity book they have (I forgot the name) where the kids make thier own version of famous masterpieces, and Art Fraud Detective...OK I am rambling on this one, moving on...
MUSIC-Music Appreciation (strictly listening and responding this year, I got a great deal on a set of classics, plus Peter and The Wolf)
LANGUAGES-Rosetta Stone Latin (I LOVE LOVE LOVE this for my kids and for me.)
WRITING- Writing Strands 3 (halfway, she doesn't like this one much, complains the whole time, actually, when she mostly loves everything I put together...but she writes a bunch independantly, so I don't push it too hard. Actually I am hoping she will like the Writing Like Writers or Beginning Writing Lab so we can drop this one, even though personally I like it and will be sad to see it go. Maybe next year.)
GEOGRAPHY-myriad magnetic maps, coloring books, games, maps, a globe etc. She's got all the continents and the states down so this year we are going to work on Capitals and Bodies of Water.
CITIZENSHIP-For Scote the Goat he is doing a Kinder America Unit I put together from some pages I found in an old workbook at the goodwill (One of those Comprehensive curriculum throwaways) and Library Books. He does alot of scrapbook projects similar to Dodo's History projects. Dodo herself did an Early America unit beginning of last year, so her citizenship this year is learning American Geography and Some Presidents. We have Kids Learn America and Smart about the Presidents and we collect state quarters.
READING- I would be here all night trying to cover what we do, but it is a LARGE, HUGE, ENORMOUS volume of reading of all kinds and levels, some silent, some guided, some aloud, some independant book projects from Junior Literature Companion and some quizzes a la Accellerated reader online at BookAdventure. We borrow so many books from the library each week that I am bowed over by the weight of the large mesh bag I carry them out in and I get funny looks. Its worth it. We also do a lot of Poetry reading and writing. I have some Junior Great Books collections and some Harcourt Brace third and fourth grade textbooks that she likes to zip through for fun. (good to read some easy stuff for fluency) all this in addition to my own personal library of about 300 picture books and nearly 100 chapter books (newberries, american girls, juvenile literature and faves like the HP series) Scote the Goat is going to start using the Ordinary Parent's Phonic's program, he is already reading some, but I'd like him to learn the phonics throughly. He loves Dick and Jane. He also watches Between the Lions everyday and we sometimes borrow the movies from the library. From time to time give them worksheets from the Gifted and Talented series of workbooks too.
LOGIC- The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis Software (LOVE IT), Mindbenders, Marvelous Mosaics game, tangrams, a set of wooden blocks and wooden marble tracks pieces with marbles, Montessori-esque manipulative puzzles and activities, Primarily analogies, Chess basics
SPELLING-We use a freeware program called Ray's Spelling and Wordgames, which I program with words from her writing or from the Reading Teacher's Book of Lists (Fantastic Resource!! It is FULL of good stuff) and we play alot of scrabble and upwords for fun
HANDWRITING-without tears, cursive for Dodo, beginner printing for Goat
There is actually alot more but this is the stuff we use frequently.


-EH