Have you ever had someone ask you what one thing you would want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island?
If I had to decide what makeup I'd take with me, it would be my Mary Kay foundation for sure. If I had to choose a book, I'd choose the Bible. How about a music cd? That would have to be The Romantic Piano.
And if I were asked what homeschool curriculum I'd want to have on the desert island, I would have to beg to take at least two!
I've switched numerous times between various curricula over the last three years of homeschooling, but there have been two in particular that I have stuck with—and will continue to stick with: 1) Story of the World and 2) Wordly Wise 3000.
Now, I'm not saying that the other curriculums we use aren't good (I am extremely pleased with what we've been using this year), it's just that those two in particular homeschool curriculums are so outstanding that I've simply stopped looking for anything better in those subjects…because I'm not convinced anything better exists.
As for Story of the World, it has been phenomenal for learning history, and my kids have all fallen in love with the study of history because of it. But of course it's written for elementary aged students, so as the kids proceed into the higher grades we'll be using other history curriculum. We plan to finish up all four Story of the World volumes over the summer and then we'll be starting TruthQuest History, but we'll still have the books on the shelf to refer to frequently. After all, TruthQuest History lists Story of the World as one of the spines in their reading list.
Wordly Wise 3000 is something we stumbled upon our very first year of homeschooling, and I'm so glad we did. It is the best vocabulary program I've ever encountered, and it's so simple to implement! Wordly Wise is a definitely a curriculum that the kids will complete in entirety, all the way through high school.
If you've never looked into Wordly Wise, you're missing out! It's not like the boring vocabulary program we had growing up in public school where we had to look up the definition of a word, memorize it, and then use the word in an original sentence. WW is so much better than that! I won't go as far as say it's pain-free for the kids (they do actually have to think to complete the work!), but it is most definitely effective. My kids have incorporated so many of their WW words into their daily speaking vocabulary, and they're constantly shouting out in the middle of a movie, "Hey, that's one of my Wordly Wise words!"
Did we ever do that with the vocabulary words we learned in school? I know I didn't. Most of the time, the learning of the vocabulary words stopped at my ability to write it in a (poorly worded) sentence. But use the words in everyday speaking? Yeah, right!
So, what's your desert island curriculum?
I have a friend of mine that is using Story of the World for her kids. She said that you can use it all through high school. You just start volume 1 over again but there is alot more detail in what the kids learn.
I enjoyed looking over your site. I love your kids names. We started out naming our kids with J's but failed on the last name. We have Jade, she's almost 9. Jonah who is almost 6 and Eden. She is 2 1/2.
Is Wordly Wise the only thing you use for Language Art? What do you use for Grammar?
I have been home schooling for 3 yrs also and do not have a desert curriculum. Oh, I do love Alpha Omega life pacs for Bible. I have been using mainly Abeka for everything else but think we're switching to Saxon for math.
Meghan Robinson
Is Wordly Wise set up so it can be used with just the student book or do you have to have the teachers manual as well? I've looked into it but the prices I've seen on the teacher's manuals seem so high.
I never used it with a teacher's manual, only the answer key. Sorry I can't be any more help than that.