What’s the most rigorous homeschool curriculum?

[Anonymous]

We are looking at CTY, beast academy /aops


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[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Abeka is rigorous is early Math. Later Saxon Math would be most rigorous.

I also like the Mennonite English and Math curriculum Rod and Staff. Their grammar instruction is amazing and easy to follow. And their prices are great too.

No, no, no, no, no. Abeka is well known as very badly written "curriculum" by right wing extremists. Do not use it. It is really, really awful.

[Anonymous]

So my homeschooled son - who did 7th and 8th grade at home, but is off to TJHSST next year - followed this curriculum. We actively sought. out the most rigorous, old school curriculum.

For grammar, we do like Rod & Staff. It is definitely OG grammar. We are secular, and the examples in the book are very Biblical and very Mennonite at that. That wasn't a problem for us, but something to be aware of. It has lots of diagramming of sentences.

For math, we've tried it all, and every program has plusses and minuses. We did CTY Geometry. I tutored my son during it, and my impression was that it was very thorough and very rigorous. The homework and tests were hard and, given the strict time limits, quite stressful. My son learned alot in CTY, but it was high-stress given the time limits. We also did CTY Java and two classes in HTML. Also quite rigorous.

We did a number of AOPS classes (number theory, counting & probability, Algebra 2), too. These were really hard, but, paradoxically, less stressful. This is largely because the grading is easier. AOPS is really pass/fail (you go for the blue bar each week). CTY, by contrast, is graded as a regular school might, and, since it is computer-graded, it is merciless.

We looked at Life of Fred for trigonometry, and I personally really liked the book. But we opted for John Rosasco, a private tutor for math, to teach trig and up.

The benefits of CTY is that there are videos, readings, etc. AOPS has readings and occasional videos. Life of Fred and (I think) Saxon means you have to teach yourself right out of the book.

We've also done Lukeion for Latin and Greek literature; it's very good. We did physics via OnlineG3 and Jack enjoyed it too, and found it pretty low-key.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my homeschooled son - who did 7th and 8th grade at home, but is off to TJHSST next year - followed this curriculum. We actively sought. out the most rigorous, old school curriculum.

For grammar, we do like Rod & Staff. It is definitely OG grammar. We are secular, and the examples in the book are very Biblical and very Mennonite at that. That wasn't a problem for us, but something to be aware of. It has lots of diagramming of sentences.

For math, we've tried it all, and every program has plusses and minuses. We did CTY Geometry. I tutored my son during it, and my impression was that it was very thorough and very rigorous. The homework and tests were hard and, given the strict time limits, quite stressful. My son learned alot in CTY, but it was high-stress given the time limits. We also did CTY Java and two classes in HTML. Also quite rigorous.

We did a number of AOPS classes (number theory, counting & probability, Algebra 2), too. These were really hard, but, paradoxically, less stressful. This is largely because the grading is easier. AOPS is really pass/fail (you go for the blue bar each week). CTY, by contrast, is graded as a regular school might, and, since it is computer-graded, it is merciless.

We looked at Life of Fred for trigonometry, and I personally really liked the book. But we opted for John Rosasco, a private tutor for math, to teach trig and up.

The benefits of CTY is that there are videos, readings, etc. AOPS has readings and occasional videos. Life of Fred and (I think) Saxon means you have to teach yourself right out of the book.

We've also done Lukeion for Latin and Greek literature; it's very good. We did physics via OnlineG3 and Jack enjoyed it too, and found it pretty low-key.

Hope this helps.

NP here...This is really helpful. Thank you! If you don't mind me asking, what is your background? Are/were you in a STEM field? How were you able to support your son with the math component of his homeschooling? This is the part I fear I would not be as useful.

[Anonymous]

PP -

No. I'm a lawyer, and now a professor. I had not taken math since high school (calculus, back 25 years). So I really learned it with him in order to tutor. I didn't even really remember Algebra, much less geometry theorems, or above. So I would read the material and work through it with him. I found that this was very doable. There were a few times that the problems were so hard I was completely stumped. So I would usually search the web - sites like web2.0calc and others - and sometimes even post the homework problem. The community would explain it, and I'd use that knowledge to teach my son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I also like the Mennonite English and Math curriculum Rod and Staff. Their grammar instruction is amazing and easy to follow. And their prices are great too.

Like all programs popular with the Amish, R&S is relatively inexpensive.

I have also heard good things about Rod and Staff for English, but have yet to try it.

Rod and Staff for Math I've looked at myself. It looks right for the right student, someone in the normal-to-lower IQ range. However, a more advanced kid would probably poke his eyeballs out with a stick. R&S Math is a mastery curriculum, one with lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of practice problems, slowly developing skills over time. As can be expected of a curriculum used in one-room schools, it is progressively less work for the instructor, who needs to be more hands on with younger children but doesn't need to go over the lessons as much with the older ones. Reportedly solid prep for Algebra in ninth grade.

[StayAtHomeSchool]

My kids have been enjoying the programs offered on Beestar.org.