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Secular home school curriculum

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2019 6:25 am
by spoonwood
So, I've researched different secular home school curricula. I'm very interested in Singapore math, but I was just curious if anyone here might have experience or suggestions with homeschooling and/or teaching science and math in particular to Pre-k and up (to maybe 3rd grade).

Re: Secular home school curriculum

Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2019 2:13 am
by Chris OConnor
Wow, you have been gone for a while! Welcome back to BookTalk.org. :-)

I know next to nothing about homeschooling other than that most people that home school do it for religious reasons. I'm interested to know what makes you want to home school? Or is it more out of necessity than desire?

Re: Secular home school curriculum

Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 4:10 pm
by spoonwood
Thank you for the warm welcome back!

I plan on relocating to an area with good schools, but until I do, I may need to supplement my son's school work. Or home school him. He is currently only 20 months old (I like to plan ahead :lol: ). I'm in the Bible Belt (for now). And there just aren't great schools in this area.

Re: Secular home school curriculum

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:03 pm
by Harry Marks
spoonwood wrote:So, I've researched different secular home school curricula.
The only one I would consider is the John Holt approach, such as with "Growing without Schooling." Last I heard there were organizations of parents in many cities who take the kids on field trips and otherwise share the burden of enrichment.
spoonwood wrote:I'm very interested in Singapore math,
Singapore math is very good, because it is based on well-documented approaches to creating meaning and understanding rather than even a hint of rote learning or incomprehensible procedures.
spoonwood wrote: but I was just curious if anyone here might have experience or suggestions with homeschooling and/or teaching science and math in particular to Pre-k and up (to maybe 3rd grade).
Science and math to pre-K is quite silly, IMHO. I had a class in developmental psych and it demonstrated to my entire satisfaction that kids under 7 should stick to entirely concrete learning. Let them get experience with things like volume and leverage and electricity, but for gosh sake don't worry about "concepts". The Montessori people have long experience with training the child in skills without trying to eke out concepts, and their results are demonstrably good.