I've been wanting to gather a list of links of free home school curricula. Lots of different home schoolers do something similar, so I didn't think it was necessary to duplicate their efforts, but I find that many have just resources mixed in with actual curricula, and there is not much full curricula out there that is free. So, here is my pathetic attempt. I will organize by subject, including subjects for which I don't have links, so I at least have a place to put them when I come across things I like.
*A note about the term "free". Anything that needs to be printed out first, is not without cost, but is generally less expensive than one published and sold for profit.
Math
Khan Academy
https://www.khanacademy.org/
"In Fall 2013, the option to assign a playlist directly to your students from Khan Academy's site will be available." This is a really exciting development that will make it easier to use Khan Academy as a primary curriculum. I like Singapore Primary Mathematics and use it through book 6B (approximately 6th grade). At that point, however, I explore options for the Algebra/Geometry sequence with my child and we choose something appropriate.
This year, I have a son who will be finishing 6B and I am offering Khan Academy as an option. From what I've read, KA works best after 2nd grade.
Language Arts
Grammar: KISS Grammar by Ed Vavra
http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/kiss/wb/PBooks/index.htm
While navigating his web site can be a little confusing, this link takes you to the page from which you can download the printable workbooks. He has all the grades and levels online, but only some are in printable workbook format. He continues to tweak things and responds to questions on the yahoo forum, which I recommend joining. This approach takes a little getting used to, but uses real sentences to teach grammar, so students learn grammar more thoroughly than they might other wise.
Reading:
LibriVox https://catalog.librivox.org/ and
Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/
This is one area where I don't think a curriculum is strictly necessary. I do, however, think it a good idea to have good lists of age appropriate classics to work through. I like the audiobooks to listen to with the whole family. The ebooks are great for individual reading. I'm still working on coming up with a variety of generic worksheets to round out reading comprehension and enhance meaningful discussion (we'll see if that happens).
History
Science
High School/College Physics: The Mechanical Universe
http://iws.collin.edu/mbrooks/documents/mechanical_universe/PHYS_2425_Physics_Videos.htm
These videos are very well done. While originally designed for college physics, they can work for high school, too. This particular web page has worksheets that go along with some of the videos. I will continue to look for worksheets to go with all of them.
K-8 Science: I. Science Mate
http://www.msnucleus.org/membership/index.html
I haven't used this yet, but it looks to be comprehensive and user friendly.
Foreign Language
American Sign Language 1,2 & 3 by Dr. Bill Vicars
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/lessons/lessons.htm
This course works for all ages. Dr. Bill suggests .5 credits for each ASL course for K-12, but also suggests each course is worth 4 semester credits for college. I believe there is enough material to last a whole year for K-12 and feel that giving a high school student 1.0 credit for each ASL 1, 2, and 3 course is realistic. ASL 1 is lessons 1-15 and ASL 2 is lessons 16-30. While he is still tweaking things to make an ASL 3, I believe you can assume that lessons 31-45 are roughly equivalent to ASL 3.
Fine Arts
Showing posts with label grammar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grammar. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Encore Middle School Advantage software review
I purchased Encore's Middle School Advantage and Elementary Advantage
for my home schooled children to use a couple months ago. For this
review I will focus on the Middle School product.
It was easy to install, but each component had to be installed separately. This was a little tedious, but once done, it's done. The user interface has much to be desired. Each topic is its own program and the quality varies greatly. Only Foreign Language and Encyclopedia Britannica have the ability to make use of most or all of the computer screen. The other components all are restricted to a little box in the center with small type.
Grammar & Writing:
Pros: These components have a lot of content with lessons and quizzes, perhaps even enough to be stand alone curriculum.
Cons: The space theme with its sound effects is sound effects is very obnoxious. Student progress is not able to be tracked, as far as I can tell. Also, the student can do lessons in any order with no controls to make sure they are done in an appropriate sequence. I had to create a syllabus for my daughter to follow and check off what she has done and to guide her as to what she should do next. Every time you try and quit out of the program, you have to click through the credits.
Overall: If you can stand the sound effects, this is a useful, generally thorough Grammar & Writing curriculum. I need to delve more deeply to make sure the content is sufficient to stand alone as a curriculum. I would say there is enough for one year's worth of school.
Math:
Pros: There is a fair amount of information presented.
Cons: This is rather light on interactive practice and quizzes with no way of tracking what's been done.
Overall: This is definitely only supplemental material, but may be useful as extra help for students who need it.
Life Science:
Pros: There is enough content to provide at least one year's worth of material as a stand alone science curriculum. This component has the ability to track student study and quizzes and provides reports. The user interface, while still not making full use of screen real estate, is much easier to navigate than the Grammar & Writing components without obnoxious sound effects. It has the ability to print out the lessons, so some content can be studied offline.
Cons: This component only uses a small fraction of the computer screen and you have to scroll up and down within the screen to read through the lessons. The student can do lessons in any order with no controls to make sure they are done in an appropriate sequence. I had to create a syllabus for my daughter to follow and check off what she has done and to guide her as to what she should do next. Every time you try and quit out of the program, you have to click through the credits.
Overall: A better user interface, making full use of the screen, and more sequential navigation controls, making sure the student uses all the extra multimedia and supplemental content before taking quizzes and making sure quizzes are taken in order, would make this an extremely comprehensive and useful product with the ability to be used as a stand alone curriculum. In its current state, with some parental guidance, it is a good option for a year's worth of 7th or 8th grade science.
US History:
This component is designed like the Life Science component and I would give it the same evaluation.
Foreign Language:
Pros: Finally, one component that can be used in an expanded window. It has great interactivity, quizzes, reports user activity, and has 4 different languages (French, German, Italian, & Spanish).
Cons: My guess is that you won't become fluent in these languages, but it provides familiarity with common vocabulary and is a good introduction. Some sequence suggestions would be helpful.
Overall: No real complaints. Easy to use.
Encyclopedia Britannica:
Overall: Another component that is able to be used in an expanded window. It seems easy to navigate with the basic things one might look for in an encyclopedia.
Middle School Advantage:
Overall, this is a good bargain, for the price. It has lots of content on core subjects with a poor user interface. I am comfortable using the Life Science and US History components as a stand alone year's worth of curriculum, with parental guidance to ensure lessons and quizzes are used sequentially. Grammar and Writing can be comprehensive parts of a language arts curriculum, but the obnoxious interface and sound effects detract from their potential to be a really good curriculum option. The Math component does not have enough practice and quiz problems to provide the depth I would like for a stand alone curriculum, or even as a very useful supplement, but might be helpful for teaching concepts from another perspective. Foreign Language and Encyclopedia Britannica have the best user interfaces, with easy navigation and lots of content.
It was easy to install, but each component had to be installed separately. This was a little tedious, but once done, it's done. The user interface has much to be desired. Each topic is its own program and the quality varies greatly. Only Foreign Language and Encyclopedia Britannica have the ability to make use of most or all of the computer screen. The other components all are restricted to a little box in the center with small type.
Grammar & Writing:
Pros: These components have a lot of content with lessons and quizzes, perhaps even enough to be stand alone curriculum.
Cons: The space theme with its sound effects is sound effects is very obnoxious. Student progress is not able to be tracked, as far as I can tell. Also, the student can do lessons in any order with no controls to make sure they are done in an appropriate sequence. I had to create a syllabus for my daughter to follow and check off what she has done and to guide her as to what she should do next. Every time you try and quit out of the program, you have to click through the credits.
Overall: If you can stand the sound effects, this is a useful, generally thorough Grammar & Writing curriculum. I need to delve more deeply to make sure the content is sufficient to stand alone as a curriculum. I would say there is enough for one year's worth of school.
Math:
Pros: There is a fair amount of information presented.
Cons: This is rather light on interactive practice and quizzes with no way of tracking what's been done.
Overall: This is definitely only supplemental material, but may be useful as extra help for students who need it.
Life Science:
Pros: There is enough content to provide at least one year's worth of material as a stand alone science curriculum. This component has the ability to track student study and quizzes and provides reports. The user interface, while still not making full use of screen real estate, is much easier to navigate than the Grammar & Writing components without obnoxious sound effects. It has the ability to print out the lessons, so some content can be studied offline.
Cons: This component only uses a small fraction of the computer screen and you have to scroll up and down within the screen to read through the lessons. The student can do lessons in any order with no controls to make sure they are done in an appropriate sequence. I had to create a syllabus for my daughter to follow and check off what she has done and to guide her as to what she should do next. Every time you try and quit out of the program, you have to click through the credits.
Overall: A better user interface, making full use of the screen, and more sequential navigation controls, making sure the student uses all the extra multimedia and supplemental content before taking quizzes and making sure quizzes are taken in order, would make this an extremely comprehensive and useful product with the ability to be used as a stand alone curriculum. In its current state, with some parental guidance, it is a good option for a year's worth of 7th or 8th grade science.
US History:
This component is designed like the Life Science component and I would give it the same evaluation.
Foreign Language:
Pros: Finally, one component that can be used in an expanded window. It has great interactivity, quizzes, reports user activity, and has 4 different languages (French, German, Italian, & Spanish).
Cons: My guess is that you won't become fluent in these languages, but it provides familiarity with common vocabulary and is a good introduction. Some sequence suggestions would be helpful.
Overall: No real complaints. Easy to use.
Encyclopedia Britannica:
Overall: Another component that is able to be used in an expanded window. It seems easy to navigate with the basic things one might look for in an encyclopedia.
Middle School Advantage:
Overall, this is a good bargain, for the price. It has lots of content on core subjects with a poor user interface. I am comfortable using the Life Science and US History components as a stand alone year's worth of curriculum, with parental guidance to ensure lessons and quizzes are used sequentially. Grammar and Writing can be comprehensive parts of a language arts curriculum, but the obnoxious interface and sound effects detract from their potential to be a really good curriculum option. The Math component does not have enough practice and quiz problems to provide the depth I would like for a stand alone curriculum, or even as a very useful supplement, but might be helpful for teaching concepts from another perspective. Foreign Language and Encyclopedia Britannica have the best user interfaces, with easy navigation and lots of content.
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