Homeschool Complete: An All-Inclusive Homeschool Curriculum

The curriculum came as two separate PDF files.  One file contained the Teacher’s Manual and the other contained the Student Workbook.  The manuals are quite large and contain many full color pages, which you will want to take into account if you decide to print them out in their entirety.

The Teacher’s Manual is 690 pages, so I did not print it out at first.  Unfortunately, I found it frustrating to have to be searching for my lessons every time using Adobe and it was harder to use if I needed to quickly glance at a lesson, so I ended up printing it out.  The reason the Teacher’s Manual contains so many pages is because it also contains the blank student pages for each lesson.  I did not realize this before I printed the Student Workbook.  The Student Workbook by itself is only 270 pages.

Depending on whether you want to give your child the sheets each day or if you wan them to have a bound workbook, will make a big difference in how you decide to print.  Either way, if you decide to print it all at once, make sure you have either a three hole punch and 3 inch binder ready or have plans to get it bound.

The Teacher’s Manual gives suggestions for how to lay out the curriculum and use it in your home, including a morning routine that includes the Pledge of Allegiance and pledges to the Christian Flag and Bible.  We did not incorporate this, but you could if it fits into your family’s morning routine.

The curriculum is laid out in the form of unit studies.  In the Teacher’s Manual you will find the list of supplies needed for each unit.  (This can also be found in the Appendix at the end.)  This is important to check before starting because each unit will have a list of books that you will need to acquire.  If you do not want to buy, and cannot find them at your local library, you can also check YouTube for a read aloud version.  We were able to find a few of the books that way.  You could also supplement a book you have that follows the theme.  In addition, the lessons for subjects such as Music, Art, and Physical Fitness are sometimes found only in the Teacher’s Manual, as there may not be a corresponding worksheet for them.

One of the downsides to an all-inclusive curriculum is that it doesn’t take into account children who are not at level in all subjects.

We decided to start in Unit Three: Baseball, because that was where he needed to be for his weakest subject. And because he loves baseball, we didn’t want to skip it!

For this reason, we used this primarily as a review curriculum and to gauge where gaps in learning were.  This meant we worked a bit backwards lessons-wise.  I would give him the worksheets to do, and then I would teach concepts based on what he didn’t know or re-teach if he got problems wrong.  I really liked that everything was in one place for this.  If I thought it would be beneficial or fun, I would also add in activities or reading from the lessons.  We did not, however, do all the things.  I tailored it based on his interests and needs.

Haydn also liked the curriculum, which was helpful.  Everyday he would ask me for his “panda” work.  Because we were studying baseball, which he is currently playing, he found the lessons even more enjoyable and some of the activities listed for Physical Education helped him improve his current skills.

Each lesson consisted of two double-sided pages.  The worksheets took him about 15-20 minutes to do, depending on how well he knew the subject matter.  When you add in the reading and the subjects from the Teacher’s Manual, it will take longer.

The curriculum did include math in each lesson, but I do not know that I would be comfortable having it be the only math we did.  It would be close, though.  I liked the way they incorporated math into the lessons.  For example, in the Baseball unit, they taught mode, mean, graphing, statistics, etc.  Math that is very necessary to sports.  There was also review math of multiple 2-digit multiplication and division, place value, etc.

This was the pattern throughout the units–the math reflected the unit being studied and therefore the student was able to see the practical application in everyday life.

This is also a Christian curriculum and so Bible verses and Christian values are seen throughout.  In our baseball unit, two of the principles discussed were tithing and pride.  These were done using examples in the literature given.  I thought they were nicely done and flowed well with the lesson being given.

I liked this curriculum more than I thought I would and my son really liked it.  It was one of his favorite subjects.  I do wish that I could customize it a little.  You know, language arts for grade 3, math for grade 5, etc. but it was well done and interesting.  In you love unit studies, you will love this. Even if you are not a unit study mom, I think you will appreciate the way this curriculum is designed and flows together.

Other Crew members reviewed different grade levels as well as some individual unit studies.  Check them out!