One of the things that brings me great joy in life is to hear of a family that has decided they want to begin homeschooling.  Our family has been so tremendously blessed by it that it just thrills me to hear that another family is going to get to enjoy the many blessings that homeschooling provides.

Well, as I was reading blogs that I have in my Google reader this morning I came across this post that was posted on a photography blog I found recently and have enjoyed reading.  I was excited to share with her that we have been homeschooling for ten years and we absolutely love it!  A couple of the things that she asked for were advice and book suggestions and after looking through some of the comments I got to thinking… I never posted anything about what we were using this year!  Not that everyone has just been on the edge of their seat waiting, quite the contrary since I’ve hardly posted much this school year – I’ve lost most of my regular readers I think!  That’s okay though.  I don’t do this to get a huge readership – just to have a creative outlet for me and to meet whoever happens to stop by and comment. 

Anyway, back to what I originally was talking about – since I never shared with you what we were using I figured better late than never!  Our school year is quickly coming to a close but I guess that will almost make it easier to share my thoughts on each book.  So, here goes!

I am homeschooling a freshman and a junior this year – here is what we are using:
(I’m sorry for the books/pictures being misaligned – I cannot get them to stay in the right spot for some reason! ugh!)

Algebra 1 – Teaching Textbooks

My son, who is a freshman, is taking this class this year.  I used this same program with my daughter so we are getting year #2 out of this set.  I absolutely love this program.  It is laid out so well – it has enough work that it teaches well, but not too much that it’s full of busy work. The CDs that you can purchase as part of the set are amazing – they show each and every problem being worked out so if you ever have trouble understanding one or figuring out how to explain it, all you have to do is pop the CD in the computer and the explanation is there.  I just can’t say enough good things about this program.

Geometry – Teaching Textbooks

We followed Algebra 1 with Algebra 2 for my daughter, who is a junior, so this year we are doing Geometry.  The same things that I said above for Algebra 1 apply here as well.  This curriculum has been wonderful for our family.  We have now used Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry from this program and I would highly recommend all of them.

US History – Bob Jones University (BJU Press)

Both of my kids are taking US history this year.  We have not used any BJU materials since my oldest was in 2nd or 3rd grade but I have been pleased with this curriculum.  It is very thorough and covers quite a bit of information.  There is also an activity book that goes with the text and we are using that as well.  It has done a good job of reinforcing the material that they are reading in the text.   I would definitely recommend this as well.

Biology – Apologia

My son is taking Biology this year and we are using Apologia’s material.  I absolutely love their curriculum.  It is written extremely well – it’s written conversationally rather than the traditional way a textbook is written.  That makes it so much easier to read because it’s as if someone is talking to you and explaining things rather than just straight facts being presented.  I also really like it because, while it still teaches what the theory of evolution is, it teaches creationism as well.  Apologia has science curriculum from elementary all the way up through high school and I’ve loved every book we’ve ever used.   (The ones we have used are: Botany, Astronomy, General Science, Physical Science, Biology, and Anatomy. )

World Geography – Prentice Hall

I have actually written a book review on this book.  You can click here to read that.  This has been a great book and I’ve been very pleased with it as well.  I have to say that my son wasn’t as crazy about this book but overall it does a great job of presenting quite a bit of information, it has great maps in it, and it even has quite a bit of great pictures from places all around the world.

Shakespeare Literature – No Fear Shakespeare books

Both of my kids used these this year.  We have read through eight of these plays this year plus gone through the material presented in the No Fear Shakespeare A Companion book.  These have been a fabulous choice for studying Shakespeare and literature.  We have really enjoyed reading the plays as well as learning about Shakespeare himself.  The No Fear Shakespeare books are a great way to dive into Shakespeare because not only does it have the traditional Shakespeare language on one side but it has a modern day translation on the opposite page.  I think every high school student should spend some time with these books at some point – it will open up a whole new world of literature to them!

Well, those are the main books we are using this year.  I would love to hear from you if you have any experience with any of these!  Let me know what you thought of them!