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Guiding Curriculum Choices with Q&A

bit.ly/Connect-23-Curriculum

FSJ Connect 2023

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Welcome!

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Cynthia Duncalfe

HCOS Curriculum Consultant and Chilliwack CC Coordinator
Happily married to my teenage sweetheart
Mom of 5 fabulous home educated children
Prior co-founder/co-owner of Cornerstone Learning Resources

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Session Overview

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Overview

1

Home Education Philosophies

/Styles

2

Strategies and Tools for Guiding Curriculum Choices

3

Curriculum Options & Curriculum Picks (How and When to Use Them)

4

Leveraging Learning Commons Resources

5

Curriculum Choices Step by Step

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Home Education Philosophies/Styles

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What is your home education philosophy?

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Home Education Philosophies/Styles

Charlotte Mason

Educate the whole person. Learning is a lifestyle; children learn in connection to everyday experiences.

Traditional

Develop the mental ability of students by bringing the classroom home using textbooks, workbooks, and tests.

Classical

There is body of information and a set of skills that every person needs to know, best conveyed through a specific pattern of learning.

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Home Education Philosophies/Styles

Montessori

Students explore their own interests and lead their own education within a structure; teachers and parents are facilitators of that learning.

Unit Studies

Students engage many different academic disciplines at the same time through the exploration of the same topic. Works well for multi-age learning.

Unschooling

Learning is unstructured. Students are free to follow their own interests and learn in their own time.

Unit Studies - Gather ‘Round Homeschool, Come Sit By Me, Tapestry of Grace, Further Up and Further In, The Prairie Primer, Trail Guide to Learning. My Father’s World, and Sonlight are similar to Unit Studies, but lack a unifying theme.

Montessori - uses various curriculum. similar to unschooling, but follows an outline of lessons as the student shows interest. Focuses on enriching the learning environment; parent inspires and gives tools. Curriculum from various approaches can be used, so long as they are introduced when the child is ready and shows interest in them.

Unschooling - No set curriculum

https://hopeinchaos.com/developing-a-philosophy-of-education-for-your-homeschool/

https://homeschoolcompass.com/homeschooling-philosophies-and-methods/

https://welltrainedmind.com/a/classical-education/?v=3e8d115eb4b3

https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/traditional-vs-progressive-education/

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Most families will operate with a hybrid philosophy

Take the Quiz: What's Your Homeschooling Philosophy?

Hybrid Home Education Philosophy

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Discuss:

What homeschool philosophies do you operate within most often?

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Strategies and Tools for Guiding Curriculum Choices

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Embrace Your Own Style

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Observe How They Learn

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What’s Your Budget?

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What’s Working?

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Trust Your Instincts

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Research

Learn From Those with More Experience. Online reviews Cathy Duffy Homeschool Curriculum Reviews are a favourite of mine because they are very thorough and generally quite neutral in approach. You will find this resource offers an impressive list of reviews for all popular curriculum.

Reviews written by parents are also super helpful because often you can see your own child in another’s comments, which helps you make more informed decisions.

Take the Time to Learn Something New - Some families have been at this home-education thing for a while now, and have a little bit more margin to investigate what else might be available that they’ve not yet explored.

Decide in advance how much time they are going to commit to this (as otherwise they could end up going down every rabbit trail of information endlessly), and then do a bit of research and see what else is out there.

A good place to start is the Curriculum Options page on the HCOS Learning Commons Website.

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Favourites First

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Adapt & Simplify

Perfection is not an option! There is no PERFECT curriculum - only the best fit for the family and student.

Be willing ADAPT! Use certain sections if helpful; remove pages or portions, or change things up entirely if needed.

The resource is there to serve you - not the other way around

Narrow it down … sometimes, less is more. Don’t rush just so you can get through all the resources you’ve selected.

Is there a way to combine subjects and/or grades?

It can be very easy sometimes to try and do too much. You will know if this is your family’s tendency if you still have a pile of resources in the corner yet to use.

Even with all my experience home educating and running a curriculum store, there were still resources I brought home from time to time that simply did not work. Don’t think of this as a failure. It is simply a learning experience.

Sometimes, it can be easy to project into a curriculum what we hope it will be, and then when we get into it, we realize it is not what we had hoped, and worse yet, may not work at all. Adaption is the key to using imperfect curriculum successfully.

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Take Your Time

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Curriculum Options & Curriculum Picks (How and When to Use Them)

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Curriculum Suggestions on LC Website

hcslearningcommons.org

Link

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StudyForge Subscription

a complete digital curriculum
$30/year for access to all StudyForge content
Available for Math Gr 5-9, Science Gr 5-9, and English Gr 5 and 6
Set up by your teacher

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Online Courses

courses.onlineschool.ca

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HCOS Curriculum Picks

What They Are

A selection of just one or two print curriculum options that address the content and big ideas of BC’s curriculum
For families who are overwhelmed with curriculum selection and just need a place to start
Options that typically work for the average student

Limitations

Not necessarily the best option for every student
Just print (not digital) options
There are not always home education curriculum options for every big idea in BC’s curriculum

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HCOS Curriculum Picks with descriptions, direct links, and insights:

bit.ly/HCOS-Picks

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Guiding Curriculum Choices Step-by-Step

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Guiding Curriculum Choices Step by Step

Step 1

Research and select a suitable curriculum for Math and English LA

Step 2

Select a few resources that stand out from the Curriculum Picks

Step 3

Fill in any gaps with HCOS Unit Study Kits for Science and Socials

Step 4

Use subscriptions, Sora eBooks, lending library and digital resources for non-core subjects

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A Strategy for Guiding Curriculum Choices

Subjects that Lend Themselves to a Sequential Curriculum Designed for Home Education

Science

Strong Christian curriculum options available like Apologia and God’s Design Series

Math

Often purchased curriculum, either digital or print

Socials

Limited print curriculum options; Consider HCOS Unit Study Kits

English Language Arts

Often purchased curriculum, either digital or print

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Christian Studies

HCOS online courses, Apologia Worldview Series, Explorer’s Bible Study

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A Few Science Options to Consider

Biology

1-4

Apologia’s Exploring Creation with … Zoology 1,2,3, Botany

Biology

5/6

Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology

Chemistry/Physics

Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics

1-6

Earth Science

Adventures on Planet Earth: Level 3 by MasterBooks (Gr 3); Exploring Creation with Astronomy (Gr 6)

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A Few Social Studies Options to Consider

History Revealed by Diana Waring

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Suitable for all learning styles
Develops critical thinking skills in a Charlotte Mason style Unit Study approach.

Courage and Conquest by Donna Ward

Content follows settlement history up to and including Confederation

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From Time Immemorial

Meets standards for BC’s Gr 3 Curriculum

3

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A Few Math Options to Consider

Crescent Beach Math

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Good prep for Foundations/PreCalc 10
Generally well received by students; can be used with StudyForge subscription videos

Singapore Math 2022 Edition

K-6

Instils deep conceptual understanding and computational fluency.
Aligns better to BC standards in the younger grades

Singapore Dimensions Math (middle school)

7-9

Academically rigorous; aligns reasonably well with BC’s standards
Correlations

Bridge the Gap Math

Gr 5/6 frustration/math gaps
Gr 7/8+ need to backtrack but retain dignity

5-8

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A Few English LA Options to Consider

Inclusive

K-6

Language Lessons for a Living Education

Literature Unit Study

K-2

Come Sit By Me

Letter Recognition, Handwriting

K-5

Learning/Handwriting Without Tears

Reading/Phonics

K-4+

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Access/Borrow HCOS Resources

Learning Commons Unit Study Kits
Sora eBooks
Learning Commons Subscriptions
Borrow Learning Commons Print Resources (10-week loan)
Free External Online Resources

Ways to Access Curriculum

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Purchasing Print Resources

Learning Commons Used Bookstore
Approved vendor list here (look for “comprehensive” vendors)
Purchasing procedure for companies that do not accept HCOS PO#s here)
Curriculum Picks
Curriculum Options

Ways to Access Curriculum

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Subjects that lend themselves well to using HCOS subscriptions

Career Ed

myBlueprint

EVERFI

AXIS

Fine Arts

BrainPOP

Discovery Ed

EBSCO

PE & Health Ed

EVERFI

AXIS

ADST

CODE BC

TYNKER

SCRATCH

Christian Studies

RightNow Media

AXIS

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A Few Key Takeaways …

Choosing curriculum is more about figuring out the BEST FIT than it is about finding the PERFECT curriculum
Most families have adopted an eclectic style of home educating
It is important to hold curriculum loosely and be adaptable
Some subjects are better suited to traditional homeschool curriculum than others
There are many Learning Commons resources available to fill in any gaps

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Discuss:

What has been YOUR key takeaway?

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Questions and Responses

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Live Chat Help

Access from any page on our Learning Commons website. The pop-up is in the bottom right corner

Chats are manned by the HCOS LC team

Hours of operation are from 9am-3pm weekdays

Leave a message when we’re offline

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Ways to Get Help and Information

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Reach Out to the LC Team

Pippa pdavies@onlineschool.ca (requests, research)

Cynthia cynthia.duncalfe@onlineschool.ca (curriculum)

Shandra swiebe@onlineschool.ca (booking LC)

Margaret margaret.basaraba@onlineschool.ca (subs)

Erin eduncan@onlineschool.ca (live chat)

Raine raine.oddy@onlineschool.ca (universal supports and shipping)

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cynthia.duncalfe@onlineschool.ca

calendly.com/cynthia-duncalfe

bit.ly/Connect-23-Curriculum

Thank You