Curriculum Review - A World of Adventure

We are in our 11th year of homeschooling and, by now, you know that I have tried many different curriculums. When son #3 joined us in our daily lessons, I began to feel the strain of juggling multiple grades and subjects. It wasn't too bad at first because I focus primarily on teaching phonics and basic math skills during K-1st grades. But this year it changed.

Last spring, I was looking for something different for NG because what we had been doing wasn't a good fit for him. I found Learning Adventures, "a home-based publishing company that provides unit study curriculum guides and accessories." They are chronological history-based unit studies. The last time we used a unit study as our main curriculum, M1 was in 1st grade and it was KONOS. It didn't last long because it was too much work for me. There isn't as much online about Learning Adventures as, say, Truthquest or Mystery of History, but I did find several excellent reviews. It is almost a complete curriculum with all subjects (Bible, language arts, literature, science, social studies, and fine arts) except math. I ordered their first volume, A World of Adventure, and as soon as I received it, I loved it and couldn't wait to see what NG thought of it. The best thing about it for me is that it is scripted and I don't have to spend much time planning. I used to avoid that but I'm all about making things easier these days. It also has a nice blend of living books and hands-on activity. It comes as a hole-punched, loose-leaf packet and you put it in your own binder.

My initial plan was to use it with NG for 6th grade and let Isaac sit in during the read alouds and add some books at his level because the curriculum is geared toward grades 4-8. We took almost half of this year to finish up the rest of our American history {I'll admit, there were some bumpy spots that made it take longer than it should}. Then I broke out AWOA, which begins with Ancient Egypt, and it started off well, until we got to the point where he was to read the book, The Golden Goblet. NG read one chapter and proclaimed that he did not like the book and did not want to read it. Now, there are things that I will make my children do whether they like it or not and others that I will reconsider. When it comes to reading literature, I would prefer it to be pleasurable for my boys. I decided to find an alternate book for him and to skip the discussion questions and activities that centered on The Golden Goblet. Fortunately, I found A Place in the Sun {in the clearance section at Books-A-Million}. It is also about a young boy in Egypt, but it is shorter and an easier read. Remember that the curriculum is a tool; don't be afraid to change what isn't working.

It is also at this point that I discovered that Learning Adventures recently released supplements for Little Adventurers in grades K-3. IB really needed to be more involved but I just didn't have the time and energy to come up with age appropriate activities. So, of course, I ordered the first two units that are available now and I decided to get the AWOA student pages for NG also. They contain the Language Arts exercises that NG would have had to rewrite on his own. The packet is a bit expensive at $20, but as much as my boys hate to write, I didn't mind paying it to save myself some frustration. I will also be supplementing with Easy Grammar where I feel it's necessary. We started using these this week and so far, so good. The Little Adventurers supplements have lots of suggestions for varying abilities, so you can tailor it to fit your child. I have been skipping through it, picking out things to catch Isaac up to where we are. Monday, we'll start working together at the same place.

To sum this long post up...we like A World of Adventure and recommend it to homeschoolers who want a change from the textbook/workbook method, those with boys {although girls will like it too}, and for those Mommas and kids who are suffering from burnout and need to have fun learning together. I hope to be posting more about this curriculum regarding how I'm planning it, extra resources we're using, and what we're doing.

Special note to those of you who may be considering purchasing this curriculum: I am not affiliated with Learning Adventures, but I would like to be able to continue through the whole series if it works out for us. The issue is that they only have three out of the five projected volumes completed and how you choose to get yours determines if they can afford to finish them. Read more.