atheist homeschool atheist homeschool atheist homeschool
EVERY secular homeschooler and family homeschooling secularly spend HOURS, DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS online desperately looking for secular homeschooling materials. And you know I'm not even overstating it. It's a desert out there. Locating secular materials is like looking for atheists among homeschoolers. (yuk yuk yuk)
There is so little for secular homeschoolers that many families have given Christian curriculum a try. I have actually seen blog posts on how to evade the Christian part of Christian materials. THAT'S how desperate we can be.
Why have I put this blog post about secular homeschooling materials off for so long? Because many years ago I gave up on curriculum in total. When I am looking for leveled material, I go straight for textbooks.
Unpopular, I know.
Unpopular, I know.
I have used the Saxons. The Singapore. Easy Grammar. Spectrum, Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Math U See. Modern Curriculum Press. R.E.A.L. Science. Teaching Textbooks, and lots lots more. (I haven't used them in quite a while, but I have used them.)
Maybe five years or so ago I just gave up. None of these fit well. Either they were utterly and completely boring, dreadfully lean, limited in scope or material, freakishly expensive, gimmicky, or a combination of several of these. I started creating all of my own materials for the kids, in spite of the fact that I OWNED a homeschool supply store!
While having the store I dreaded the question "What do you use?" Because I am nothing if not honest. "Textbooks," I would say. ...then they would look at me funny, but my business acumen is fodder for another blog post... My point is, I couldn't really recommend any of the materials that are generally out there offering themselves to homeschoolers. You know...all of those materials in the Rainbow Resources catalog.
Instead, I recommend sticking with good, old-fashioned textbooks. Not flashy, not shiny, not cool, not as much fun to debate around the table of a group of homeschool moms. But reliable. Available. Solid. Full of good stuff. Well-organized. Expansive content. Current and up-to-date. I have even found some that are internet-linked and THAT is cool.Look for Houghton-Mifflin, Glencoe McGraw-Hill, Pearson Prentiss Hall, McDougal Littell, MacMillan, Steck-Vaughn, Harcourt, Holt and Winston, this page at Secular Homeschooling website, or any combination of these publisher names. I'm sure that there are other large textbook publishers, but these are tried-and-true, completely secular, generally readable, and no gimmicks. Learn stuff. Get the teacher guides if and when you need them. Expect to pay anywhere from a few bucks for a tattered copy to higher prices for pristine copies. But you will get good, quality material without fear of a board somewhere trying to decide if evolution should be taught in the textbook.
Also, a quick shout out to my readers in Iran!
Welcome!
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Note to my Former Self
Surfin' HSA
Pushing Pandia Press
Hi Karen! Just wanted to stop by and say I love you blog! Keep up the GREAT work!
ReplyDeleteSamantha @ customtaste.blogspot.com
Thank you, Karen. Makes complete sense to me.
ReplyDeleteAs a working homeschool parent I have chased my tail for the last year, flitting from the shiny to the shiny of the secular stuff: crap, I do not have the time for this! And then I looked in my local used bookstore and found some completely appropriate old textbooks (reading, social studies) that were fine to use with my 3rd grader. Not shiny, but fine.
Next year though we are going with a regular old curriculum, mainly b/c of that lack of time thing...
thank you for your work on your blog! I don't comment often but I read every post you make.
Very true and there definitely are some good textbooks out there. I have found some (granted some of them are old) at garage sales and that's pretty good too if they're not TOO old (especially in science).
ReplyDeleteI agree! I have used, and still sometimes use, many of the home school specific curricula out there with varying success.
ReplyDeleteI am starting to use more textbooks, especially with my oldest two. Glencoe literature, K12 history and the Miller/Levine Biology text from Prentice Hall have all worked well for us!
I have also found a lot of success with just your standard textbooks...they are easy to dress up with interesting activities and yet they do a good job of always covering the basics and then some. Glencoe/Mcgraw Hill have some of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying using the books from Galore Park with my nine year old.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI've just spent the last two evenings searching for secular curriculum...gah! It's been a while since I've homeschooled, we had a lot of life changes and my two youngest ended up in public school. Now the youngest is coming home. It's even more difficult to find anything for high school, the only thing I've ever tried and liked was Oak Meadow. Maybe I'll give the good old text books a go. Thanks for posting :D
ReplyDeleteWelcome back!
Deleteyeah, I figure if we could combine all of the time that secular parents waste looking for secular HS materials, we would have enough hours to turn the world back about a hundred years......
Let me know if you find any good texts!
I am having success using the (free) online texts and resources at CK-12.org. This is mostly math and science material for older kids but so far we have used Biology, Earth Science and Geometry for my 10th grader. The resources include videos and some interactives.
DeleteHi, Karen. It must be so frustrating not to be able to find the right curriculum for your family. I've always tried to stay away from textbooks, though I have one child that prefers them. Whatever works, right?
ReplyDeleteThat secular homeschool site is a great resource.
The curriculum that we use for my youngest daughter is one we've chosen not so much because it's secular, which it is, but because it's engaging and makes learning fun and interesting for her. She really likes both of these learning programs. I thought I'd share them with you, in case you haven't tried them. Time4Learning.com is for preschool through high school. And Science4Us.com is for K-2nd grade. I think you'd like both. :)
Thank you for posting this. I too have found tons of non-secular curriculum on our journey to home-school. Thanks to the ladies at the National Alliance of Secular Homeschooling (http://www.nationalallianceofsecularhomeschoolers.com/) I have found tons of secular home school materials combined with tons of pdf files on scribd and our local goodwill bookstore. It's hard very hard apparently when you live in bible belt states and more to not only find curriculum but even a co-op to join. It can be done, but I do agree there needs to be more options.
ReplyDeleteI've thought about writing some secular stuff myself.....now all I need is TIME and a clue as to how to do this....
DeleteThe Texas Board of Education approves textbooks for their state/the district does not choose. The big publishing companies who want to make money with what they publish dance to the recommendations of this Board. Houghton-Mifflin, Glencoe McGraw-Hill, Pearson Prentiss Hall and others have had the textbooks that they publish changed to meet the expectations of Texas Education Board( these people are not scholars but millions of dollars are spent each year on TEXTBOOKS) that is influence by their own personal opinion, politics and Christianity. Therefore the books purchased from these companies are not the safest as these publishing companies do not put a disclaimer : careful Texas Board of Education approved this book. Texas approved a history book that state Moses as a major influence in writing the constitution of the U.S.. Prentice Hall or Glencoe McGraw-Hill etc. is marketing this to other schools in the country now. I want a list of approved Texas books so I can stay clear of them.
ReplyDeleteYES, an excellent reminder.
DeleteI spoke with a teen in North Carolina recently who was very concerned about her science textbook because it did not mention evolution.
Yeah I wanted to comment something very similar. It's hard for me to trust textbooks in my state (MS) because so many are not factual or well-written. I was a public school teacher before I decided to homeschool my own kids, so I have seen MANY. I still remember issues with textbooks I used during my own education as well. Also, I do not support Pearson in any way and wouldn't spend a penny on their materials. I choose to support families who write texts and curriculum very deliberately and haven't regretted it even one time.
Delete(I do realize this post was written over two years ago but I'm commenting anyways :P)
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wish my kids enjoyed textbooks and learned that way (as I did) but sadly they do not. They also despise workbooks which made me so happy when I was a kid! l
I've had to get creative and try some different things for them and I'm fortunate that I've had the means to do so. Teaching Textbooks is FANTASTIC for my son although my daughter prefers Math Mammoth. I've used a few different things for teaching my daughter to read, but loved these Ready2Read Units by The Moffat Girls. I agree about your suggestions for history and plan to use those books (as well as primary sources whenever possible).
I'm so jealous you ran/run a homeschool supply/bookstore!!! I'd love to do that.
Hello, I was searching for "non Christian workbooks" for my homeschooler and read your post. You are completely correct. I don't like people asking me what I use either. I have found my son has learned much more and has retained what his learned by watching the history channel, ect... I I also found a lot of great assignments on Teachers Pay Teachers. I love the Mankind the story of all of us. TPT has a complete assignment for it. I still go online and search for new ideas.
ReplyDeleteUgh. No. Just all the NO. If I wanted my children raised on hot dogs and pizza, I could send them to school. Textbooks are the junk food of education - short on mental nutrition, and heavy on waste.
ReplyDeleteWhy not just give them a Charlotte Mason education? A literature-based education? You don't even have to buy curriculum for these.
Well I don't follow them from beginning to end!!!!!! LOL
DeleteThank you so much for this. Due to Common Core I have made the decision to homeschool my children, but choosing a curriculum is a little confusing (used books by Harcourt & Mcgraw Hill in example seem to be full of reviews that "scold" them for being public school books, but I can only assume their coming from a religious point-of-view, I'm not certain). I am an atheist myself and one of the most important things to me is that my children can think and make choices for themselves. That means if they choose religion they've done so of their will and choosing. Reading this I now feel good about the publishers I'm choosing from for next years curriculum. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome!
DeleteI'd love to hear what you and your kids end up choosing. :)
As parents, our ultimate mission is to find the right writing homeschool curriculum that is a bit simpler if you have at least some idea of the ones you want to achieve. Another great share!
ReplyDeleteHomeschooling though has its share of challenges. There is no perfect system or methodology – and that is why as parents - we should look for best reviews of homeschooling. It is always a two-way process – it is best that way.
ReplyDeleteThe idea is great!Try to put up this Geographic Globes for Homeschools were your kids learn history,landmarks and geographical events http://www.homeschoolsupplycompany.com/geographic-globes-for-schools-and-homeschools/ I am also using this for my kids.
ReplyDeleteThe idea is great!
ReplyDeleteTry to put up a world globe so your kids learn history,landmarks and geographical events http://www.homeschoolsupplycompany.com/geographic-globes-for-schools-and-homeschools/ I am also using this for my kids.