Gifted Issues Discussion homepage
Posted By: RRD Sources for homeschooling materials in Ontario? - 02/14/18 07:59 PM
Hi all,

I know many folks on here are from the States but I was wondering if anyone might have recommendations for finding homeschooling materials that would conform to the Ontario curriculum? We intend to homeschool our boys in grades 5 and 3 and have no idea where to start.

Help? smile
How wonderful, RRD! So amazing you're going to take the plunge.

My only advice - don't waste this opportunity by conforming to the Ontario curriculum. There's not much in there. Your boys could do so, so much more, and have so much more fun. The whole point is of homeschooling is to get them out of that poorly-fitting box.

There's tons of threads in the forum on high-quality, engaging and challenging curricula in all areas. Browse it like a Christmas catalog! (hmm, am I projecting? Maybe only a little smile ) And also recognize you may mostly teach by more ad hoc materials that can take deep dives and follow the kids' interests, if you are comfortable doing so.

If all this open-endedness makes you hyperventilate, here's a couple of thoughts to help ground things. The entire Ontario curriculum is on their website, so you can see what's supposed to be covered (even if it's rather incomprehensible). If you're worried about gaps in math, you can use Jump Math, which is the Ontario Curriculum re-written to be coherent and useable. But you can use that as a double-check, while still teaching with something fun like Beast Academy. Also, you can get full grade, all-subjects workbooks at Costco, fully-Ontario compliant. Don't imagine they'd be much fun for the kids, but you can use them yourself as a topics checklist.

Wishing you and the boys a fabulous year.

Well... I'm almost embarrassed to say that the main reason we'll be homeschooling is not to offer them a richer educational experience. We'll actually be taking a different kind of plunge - we're planning a sabbatical year during which we'll be living/travelling in various parts of the world. So we'll basically be homeschooling out of necessity. That said, doesn't mean we can't make it fun while we're at it! smile

So I'll take your advice (and I also got some great advice via PM as well) and consider all the options. We have plenty of time to plan ahead, so I can enjoy the exploratory stage.
© Gifted Issues Discussion Forum