Old vs. New

It is that time of year . . . transitioning from one grade to the next.  We home school year round so the kids may start a new level of a subject before they transition completely.  It is so hard to believe, that Cassie will be entering her second year of high school – YIKES, she is going to be a sophomore.  Zack is leaving the easy years of elementary ed and heading into a more intense level of study as he becomes a junior high student.  Really – he’s going to be a seventh grader?!  Mackenzie is excited about being a fifth grader this year – don’t want to rush her too much.

As we enter our eighth year of homeschooling, I am reevaluating the curriculum we use, more so for the high school levels.  We have basically used the same curriculum from the beginning, which has been great because the ABeka curriculum provides great supplements, curriculum guides, and easy to follow lesson plans for the early years.  So, if it’s not broke don’t fix it . . .

Unfortunately, we have not found it to be as user friendly for the higher levels.  Cassie and I trudged our way through Abeka’s pre-algebra and are getting through Algebra I – luckily I am recalling some of those “am I ever going to need these skills,” which is hard to believe considering how horrible I was at it in high school (right, Dad).  I also have to give props to the internet for the many resources I have been able to utilize to help explain a concept. 

Anyway, because of the lack of user friendliness we have found the higher levels of ABeka’s curriculum not conducive to our schooling.  So, I have been exploring and investigating other curriculums.  I feel really intimidated by the many options and I’m not sure how to truly decide what will be a best fit.  Being a creature of habit, some of this is very overwhelming! 

For her freshman year, we did switch to Apologia science after it came recommended by a few other home school moms of high schoolers.  She seems to be liking it much better than ABeka’s and the labs are much more user friendly – we don’t need an in-home lab to do them.  I’m still waiting for the student text, but I believe we will switch to Saxon math for the remaining math requirements because they seem to provide a lot of info within and they also have a cd-rom/DVD that has an actual person teaching the lesson on a white board and it is affordable.

As we prepare for those grade level transitions, I am trying to find the curriculum that is going to work best for Cassie.  Which also means, Cassie needs to really start thinking about what her aspirations are after high school.  I think we have taken a turn . . .