Recommendations for a Catholic Homeschool Curriculum?????

[babycat42]

I'm looking for recommendations for a Catholic Homeschool Curriculum. I need Preschool, Kindergarten and 1st grade. Cost is very important to me since we have to buy for so many grades at once.
Catholic Heritage Curricula has been recommended with a great review but I wondering if there any other good ones out there. I am so overwhelmed and we cannot afford the $4200 each kid a year the school down the street charges (we would pay $1800 each after scholarships but Dh only makes $19k a year.)

[2queens&1princenmyhouse]

Here is a site that has links to several. Maybe that will help.

That being said, we're Catholic and I don't use a Catholic curriculum, nor did the Catholic school my children attended before this year. They used primarily secular materials (other than creation-based science) and then added Religion, which is what we do.

For next year, we are looking at having a Ker, 5th and 7th grader.

For the Ker, we are looking at:
Math: Saxon 1 (paid $6 for the Teacher's Guide-used, I'm just making my own worksheets as we go along)
Reading: The Reading Lesson (paid $12 used)
Grammar, Writing, Spelling: WWE 1, Scott Foresman Grammar 1 and Spelling Workout 1 (very light on those, but DS seems well above the K level language arts at this point. We may not even start these until Jan 2014-I'll play it by ear.) (WWE new is $22.79 and Spelling Workout is $18.49, SF Grammar is free online)
Science: BFSU ($5 pdf download, can't print, but I don't think it will be necessary)
Geography: Evan Moor Beginning Geography ($10.49 new)
Religion: Faith and Life 1 (Paid $8 used)

I've found that Catholic Mom has prek things, but DS wanted to be more like the girls so I got the 1st grade book and we're just going slowly, working more on prayers and supplementing with Bible Stories and songs. We do a Chapter every 2-3 weeks.

[Britches~in~Stitches]

Thank you both babycat for asking, and Kristin for answering. I piecemeal our curriculum, but since we're converting to Catholicism, I had no idea what to use for religion.

[2queens&1princenmyhouse]

I'm not super impressed with Faith and Life. It's doctrinally sound, but I find it mind-numbing. :/ I really liked Blest are We from RCL Benziger, but then I read a few reviews that said it was too "fluffy," so I ended up going with F&L, plus I could get them used about anywhere and I try to be cost conscious.

Other options:
Sadlier
Harcourt
RCL Benziger
St. Mary's Press
Baltimore Catechism

[6ncountninwv]

We use the Seton Home Study School, for our three kids (10th grade, 8th grade and 7th grade) its about $1500 a year. They will spread the payments out for 10 months I believe..but you have to make a downpayment. They have an online website setonhome.org can give you all the info. They are definitely Catholic. They are based out of VA, and if you enroll full time, they will provide a high school diploma, they provide grading and work really well for us. Hope this helps!

ps. i believe its cheaper for pre-k and k

[steph_marie9]

I'm also interested in seeing responses to this! I've been lurking here for a few weeks, but haven't posted. We've used some of CHC's materials for my DDs. DD1 did PK at home, and we used the PK and K materials for her. She's been attending our local Catholic school for K and 1st, but we will bring her home next year for 2nd. DD2 is now 4 and working on the PK a bit. We're planning on mostly CHC next year, but using Singapore Math rather than their recommended math. I'm really drawn to CHC I think because their philosophy of gentle academics really resonates with me, especially the idea of keeping it "light" in the early years. We'll see when we really get into it, I suppose, but so far we've liked most of what we've used. I don't really feel up to doing too much piecing together at this point. Maybe in a few years.

As far as cost, I'm sure it's not the cheapest option, but with kids so close together, at least you'll be able to reuse the nonconsumables. The cost for PK is pretty minimal, it's set up more for the child who wants to tag along with older siblings than a family who wants a serious PK curriculum. Fine with us, but not what everyone is looking for. You could also keep to the very basics for the kindergardener. That might save a bit. Also, the PK/K lesson plans are combined, and I think you could easily have just 1 set.

[lisathib123]

Mother of Divine Grace is a classical curriculum, cheaper than seton.....you get advisors who call you periodically. You can pay a small fee for teacher assisted classes.....

[2queens&1princenmyhouse]

Originally Posted by lisathib123 Mother of Divine Grace is a classical curriculum, cheaper than seton.....you get advisors who call you periodically. You can pay a small fee for teacher assisted classes.....

I forgot about this one. Several families in our homeschool group use MODG. Most of them use Saxon Math instead of Abeka.

[threestraycats]

seton or mother of divine grace

we use seton & love it but i love a well-organized curriculum & no parent-involved syllabi making. seton does everything, you just teach.

they are well-known too & have a traditional based curriculum. cheap when you consider catholic/private school costs + uniforms/clothes/etc.

MODG would be my 2nd option & i believe it uses the aquinas method (classical style) & it just didn't appeal to me as much for elementary grades. i have heard super good things about them though!

GL!

[AZmommy]

We use Catholic heritage. This year Ive done a lot from Seton because I got a bunch of thing free so took advantage however we plan to fully return to CHC for next year. I do find it a bit light which it is designed to be but I really like that. She still gets a solid foundation and then we can add areas of intrests or other ways to challange her without overwheling her. The price is fantastic.
Academically I didn't find the Seton curriculum any more chalenging than CHCs as a whole. I liked both. CHC just fits us better.