Why Rod and Staff is my favorite Kindergarten Curriculum

Having homeschooled six children I strongly believe that Rod and Staff has the easiest and complete curriculum to give your Kindergarten student the academic advantage. Rod and Staff does not use colorful pages to appeal to students, rather they make learning fun through their series of A,B,C workbooks. They currently have books A-K and are working on book L at this time. Rod and Staff makes learning the basics painless and easy. By the time your student has finished all of the books in this series they have a wide range of concepts mastered. I typically use this curriculum for Preschool but not all children will be ready to attack this series until Kindergarten. http://www.milestonebooks.com/item/1-10020-GHIJK/?list=Rod_and_Staff_Preschool

How we do HISTORY

Instead of using boring textbooks that only give you a surface understanding of events in history I prefer to us autobiographies, historical fiction, and historical non-fiction books to learn History. I love Sonlight Curriculum to accomplish this. There is one problem though, Sonlight is way to expensive for our budget. To make this literature based curriculum a possibility I use Amazon, Half-Priced Books and various other online sites to purchase the books that Sonlight uses. In addition to Sonlights approach, I love the "A History Of Us" series. I find this series very informative and interesting. The series is the perfect compliment to the literature based History approach.

Wrapping up the year

May brings beautiful weather and an increasing desire to be done with schoolwork for the year. The end of the school year reminds me of the storybook, "The Little Engine That Could". I try to be my children's cheerleader as I repeatedly tell everyone that they can do it. This year brings another first for our family, High School Graduation!!!! Our oldest child is graduating.

Library Love

The library is an incredible source for homeschoolers. My 7 year old daughter has a love for animals, over the past couple of weeks she has checked out HUGE stacks of books on animals. Throughout the day my daughter will come to share the interesting stuff she learns about animals.

Homeschooling with medical issues

Chronic health issues and homeschooling make for a perfect match. Homeschooling gives you the flexibility to do schoolwork no matter where you are. Often times we take schoolwork with us to doctor's appointments. It is surprising the amount of work that can be accomplished while waiting on doctors. Academics do not have to suffer just because ones health is suffering. I can't count the amount of books that my daughter devours when she is inpatient. Some of the most brilliant minds in history learned much of what they knew from just reading.

Let's talk about Science

Hands down the only science curriculum that is worth looking at and using is Apologia Science. All six of my children use Apologia and love it!! We have used pretty much every level. My 2nd grader absolutely loves animals. This year she is working her way through Exploring Creation with Zoology: Land Animals of the Sixth Day. Megan enjoys this so much and really doesn't even see this as schoolwork. She is constantly coming to me to tell me new things that she has learned about animals. My 5th grader is using the new Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology. My daughter is fascinated by the intricacy of the human body. I then have kiddos using Apologia General Science, Apologia Physical Science and Apologia Physics.

Random photos

Having fun with our ABC's Lets make a rainbow Oh, the possibilities

Rod and Staff

After years of sticking my nose up at this plain, Mennonite curriculum I soon realized that I had landed upon a true treasure. After the urging of a dear friend I decided to give Rod and Staff a chance. My only regret now is that I did not implement it earlier. Of my six children only the last two will reap the rewards of using Rod and Staff from the beginning. I do not use all of their stuff but love and use their Spelling, English, Math (in the elementary grades), and Phonics. I use the entire curriculum for Preschool and Kindergarten and then branch out by supplementing with other curriculum's for History and Science in First grade. My older children have reaped the benefits of Rod and Staff for English and Spelling. It is a solid curriculum that has amazed me as I watch my children blossom academically. http://www.milestonebooks.com/list/Rod_and_Staff_Curriculum/

Simply Smart

In my early years of homeschooling I thought that curriculum needed to be eye catching so that my children would not be bored. I thought that the best way to make for the best experience was to use an all in one type curriculum. After spending huge amounts of money and seeing poor results, I came to the conclusion that I needed to investigate some more. After countless hours online and talking to more seasoned homeschoolers, I soon realized we needed change. I sought out to find the best curriculums for each subject. I found myself migrating to more literature based and Classical curriculum's. I know that all homeschoolers will not agree with my thought and ideas, that is the beauty of homeschooling. After revamping I ended up purging a large amount of what we had on the shelves. Seeing success in my children was a huge victory. I saw my children learning to love to read and enjoy learning. I have also learned that what works for one child does not always work for the next in line. I have been homeschooling for 13 years through the ups and downs of life and would not change the choice that we made years ago to homeschool.