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Free or cheap curriculum recommendations?
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Hi y’all,
I have a very dear friend who is struggling. She has a 9yo ds and 7yo dd. Ds has autism. She has used MFW world with them, keeping them in the same grade – heading into 3rd this year. They have done tons of work with ds, using Little Giant Steps and some things from Dianne Craft. He has come such a long way and is really a delightful kid, as is his sister. But ds HATES school. It is such a drag for him, and of course there is whining, complaining, and lack of attention, etc… At the complete other end dd LOVES school and is so excited to do everything. My friend is just worn out from dragging ds and hanging on to dd to try to make sure she isn’t going so fast as not to retain anything. She’s just dreading starting up again. Several of us in our group of friends are encouraging her to delay starting and look into doing something different, maybe even ps for one or both of them. They are on a very tight budget, though, and can’t afford trial and error with expensive curriculums. I have sent her links for SCM, of course, and Easy Peasy, and also “An Old Fashioned Education.” And I’ve mentioned Five in a Row. But I’m not sure any of those are really right for them. Is there anything else you guys would recommend? I know ds does like books, just certain ones, though, like Berenstein Bears and Spider Man. And he likes to write and illustrate stories about super heroes, monsters, and people he knows. My ds often makes an appearance in some of his stories. 🙂
I guess the main thing is to pray for them. Pray her ds will accept that he has to learn things as he grows and that takes some work; and pray they will all find joy in the process and not have it be such a drag. Anyway, thanks for listening and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Melissa
This blog features lots of different free educational stuff – your friend might find something useful here.
I can also recommend math mammoth as a very low cost but high quality math program.
Best of luck to her – my 9yo ds is also not a fan of school-time and I totally understand her reluctance to pay out a bunch for curriculum that might not be used. I just gave away a box of unused curriculum today – over $200 worth. My two kids are so different. With my daughter, an expensive purchase is justified because she will work through a program and get all the money’s worth from it. But my son learns differently. For him I lean toward books and videos that we can read or watch together, and often the free or low cost option is just as good, if not better.
Has she looked at Easy Peasy(free curriculum all laid out): http://cathyduffyreviews.com/unit-studies/Easy-Peasy.htm
I’ve read reviews on the Well-Trained Mind forum. Generally, it seems that it’s geared to not be too rigorous, but solid college-prep. Moms commented that their kids loved it, but some moms didn’t like all the screen time. There are CM aspects to it…picture study, narrations, and I believe lessons are pretty short. I plan to use the free Spanish and possibly health next year. HTH some:) Gina
Oh, and here’s the link to the actual site. It’s amazing that someone had the time to put this all together for free! But I think it’s mainly what she did for her own kids and then shared.
There’s also MEP math. You can download each year for free. It’s British so some of the terminology may be a little different, but it should be easy to follow. I know Suzkimom used it before Right Start. Google “homeschool for free live binder” for a collection of free curriculums and resources. Sorry, don’t know how to add a link with my blackberry.
There is also a book that you can purchase from Amazon called “Homeschool Your Child for Free” that contains over 1,400 sources of free resources. It talks about the homeschooling how-tos, curriculum core (aka scope and sequence), education essentials, language, mathematics, art appreciation, history, music, social studies, humanities, science, health and graduation.
Lots of free history online from Heritage History and mainlesson.com, free books from Gutenburg.org, free audiobooks from librivox. org.
Thank you guys for taking the time to offer suggestions. I think she does feel a little encouraged to know there are some other inexpensive options, and had expressed interest in looking at FIAR. I am planning to use much of Easy Peasy with my ds this year and had sent her the link for that. I didn’t know that Cathy Duffy had reviewed it though. Was glad to see that. And I really like that Freely Educate blog and found another resource to share with her there. If we get to talking real options and possibilities I’ll be sure to share the math options as well as the book. Didn’t want to overwhelm her with all the possibilities. 🙂 Mainly I’ll just keep praying for them to find their way, and to find the joy in learning. I’ve also thought of suggesting the Laying Down the Rails books for working on habit training. We need to do some of that ourselves, I think.
Y’all have a blessed day.
Melissa
I don’t really have any better curriculum suggestions than what’s already been given, but I will pray for your friend. I can totally relate….my 14yo ds has mild autism, and he constantly tells me he hates school or “I quit school.” Add to that the fact that his dad’s girlfriend and his 20yo stepbrother keep telling him he should be in public school (“you would have more fun” and “you’d have lots of friends” and “you are missing out on gym classes”), and he is really against homeschooling–has been for a couple of years.
It’s an emotional struggle to know that you are putting your heart and soul into educating your child and that child rails against all you are doing. I will pray for your friend and her family.
I am reading a good book right now. It is called– ” homeschool your child for free:” by Lauramaery Gold, Joan M. Zielinski It is a wonderful book so far and it has great sites to find free material. I highly reccommend this book and I am only half way through it. I also just bought it for my library. The other resource that I wiould give her was that she contact Sue Patrick and learn from an expert. She has a son that she has homeschooled totally. She will give her advice on how to teach him so it is fun to learn and he doesn’t know he is in school. Her number is on her website. Sue Patrick’s workbox system. I have done many of her ideas and absolutely love her techniques. She could check out her book at the library. That was what I did. I then purchased my own copy and bought her webinars and spoke to her personally. She is a wonderful person and is so helpful. This is what I would do. Autism comes with it’s own quirks and it is helpful to find someone who has been through it and has some good advise. I found she was pretty good.
Good luck to her and blessings to the both of you.
Here are just some great thoughts and ideas to let your friend know that many moms have “hard” kids…. kids who end up doing just fine…
http://carolbarnier.com/writerspeaker/
Blessings and prayers for her and her son,
Jenni
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