First of all, let me say that I am a firm believer in eclectic homeschooling. We have our overriding philosophy of Thomas Jefferson Education, but we don't use one curriculum for all of our subjects, or even the same location for all of our subjects. We pick and choose and do what is best for each student at that time.
History
The most recent question was about history. First, Jayne and Frost. For them we rely heavily on Story of the World, Middle Ages for this year. We read a chapter from this book once per week, and while they listen they color the maps and coloring pages from the Activity Book. We go to the library once per month and get a stack of books listed in the Activity Book just to have on hand. Sometimes they look at those, and sometimes they don't, but having them in the house increases the chances that they will be looked at. :D I will also have story time from books written about that time period, like The Sword and the Stone and Tales From Shakespeare. This may not sound very comprehensive, but we cover the same history time periods, while increasing the difficulty of the story time books, two times before they are high school age.
Emerson is a little different. He chose his history text from two choices that we had around the house; a secular one - Story of the Ancient World, and a religious one - The Fourth Thousand Years (an LDS perspective). He chose the religious one. (I'm still not sure what we can do for the Middle Ages era - something better show up in the next few months!) He has also taken two American History classes through our Commonwealth School - one about The Founding and the Constitution, and one about The Civil War. These classes are wonderful, and he has learned a great deal - much more than I did about the same topics at his age. We also add in books from the history and literature book-list in The Well-Trained Mind in the 9th - 12th grade section as original sources.
I really like to have a lot of stories when it comes to history, and original sources as they get older. The more "pre-digested" and diluted history gets, the more boring it gets, and the less we learn. History is so vital! We can't let boredom win!
Math
Math has been easy for me, material-wise. Emerson has used Saxon math all the way through. He is in Algebra 1 now, and is fully able to learn the concepts by himself. Since we don't take a full summer break, I allow him to skip the lessons in the first part of the book and just get to the stuff he hasn't learned yet. It doesn't feel quite so daunting when starting a new math book if you can start 1/3 or 1/2 the way through! We have now added a new math series to his curriculum - The Life of Fred . These books have a wonderful way of explaining the why's and wherefore's of math philosophy and when added to the practice-heavy Saxon provides well a rounded mathematical education. Also, when using Saxon, I don't have Emerson do all the lesson and review problems - I find it is just too many. So we have a deal. He does all of the "new concept" problems - the problems for that day's lesson, and on the review problems he does the even numbered problems on even numbered days, and odd on odd. It still gets the practice in, without overloading the student too much.
For Frost, Jayne, and Pinocchio I have found a better series for younger students. Singapore! I have found this program to be just fun enough (with cartoons, fun pictures, puzzles, etc) while still maintaining the rigor needed for mastery. I have been up and down on how many or how few lessons to ask my children to do in a day. At the moment, I ask them to do 2 lessons per day, unless it is a review and then I only ask for one. But with Pinocchio this is not enough. He tends to to a lot more than 2 lessons at a time in his book, he loves it! I plan on using the Singapore Math series through level 6, then add in Fred and Saxon at that time. At least, that is the plan right now - who knows what the future brings!
I know that the Thomas Jefferson Education philosophy says that we shouldn't require anything of our students before the age of 12. But, when it comes to math, I disagree. And since I am the "expert in my home," I get to choose! :D
I am going to stop here for the day, but I will continue this post! (I am sure you are thrilled!)
