When I was planning The Boy's kindergarten year, an earlier edition of this book was THE number-one best resource that I found. I checked out this new edition from the library as soon as it was available--partly because I wanted to use it to help me plan The Boy's next year, and partly just to see what's new.
The first few chapters of the book help you get yourself together--figuring out your homeschool philosophy, your learning/teaching style, your children's learning styles, and so on. I always want to skip those chapters, but I plow on...because the work you do in those chapters is important for using The Chart.
(That's just what I call it, capitalized like that. Because I love The Chart. A lot.)
The Chart is the next section of the book. It has each of the top picks listed by subject. The top picks are a pretty good mix of curricula I've heard of (Saxon Math, All About Spelling) and curricula I haven't (Genevieve Foster books?). And then The Chart rates each top pick, on a scale of 1 to 5, on all kinds of things--what learning styles it works for, which homeschool philosophies fit with it (told ya that you should do those first chapters!), how easy it is to use, how much writing it requires, whether it has religious content...and more.
After The Chart, you'll find the actual reviews of each of the top picks, with more details about how each program works. I've only read the first few chapters of this new edition, and I'm so excited to plan this next school year (our "year" starts in April) that I might explode or something.
Or...instead of exploding, maybe I'll just make myself a Super Nerd t-shirt and call it good. Hmm...yeah, probably that.
I agree with your summary! I hope she keeps updating it - I grabbed this book from the library and went through as part of my decision making process when my husband and I were debating if we wanted to tackle homeschooling! We actually used the chart on picking your style to see if those choices appealed to us and they do!
ReplyDeleteI've looked at this book a few times but wasn't sure if I should even try it, but now that I have an "inside scoop" on it, I'll definitely put it on hold at the library and read through it, thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteRadicalMommy