http://www.timberdoodle.com/
Very cheap and postage good....they are limited, but I have never bought something from them I don't love and use - i.e. they are very trustworthy and I have used them for many, many years! It is very easy to buy things that promise the world and give you nothing..... the most expensive part of home schooling is catalogue buying like this.
http://www.rainbowresource.com/index.php
Often the cheapest, if you can buy enough to get free postage ( over a certain amount) - I have bought with other home schoolers to get that perk, but it takes a lot of organising!
http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/ By far my very best buys have been from here...Student Excellence in writing A, B, C and more advanced courses too like SAT exam prep. Expensive... yes, but most worth while, they need to be writing well before you start. I would say grade 3 or 4 level. I have a lots of the writing DVD's and run work shops off and on, so you can check with me before you buy and I may be able to reduce cost by having you watch my DVD's in my home. Saying that many people who have done this have bought their won DVD's in the end as they are so good. Talk to me before you buy as I have a good contact in NZ who is worthwhile chatting to about advise as to what to buy!
http://www.christianbook.com/
Also reasonably priced
http://www.monergismbooks.com/home.php?cat=357 has very good reformed books, check them out and see if you can get it cheaper at Koorong, although usually you can't.
Things I use
Science: Grade KG-3 ABEKA see http://www.abeka.com/ , Elementary Science Apologia , High school Science Apologia see
http://www.apologia.com/prodas.php?PHPSESSID=a6f2e08adb5e31b5f8852938a1ca2d1f....you
can only get ABEKA from ABEKA, but Apologia is at rainbow and timberdoodle, christain books etc.
Literature and English: Sonlight has a complete program which is literature based. I have tried Learning Literature Through Language Art (LLATL) which is popular, but I really don't like it for the upper grades, so have gone back to ABEKA which I love! We read whole books too, I like the look of language Lessons which is a complete English program, see http://www.timberdoodle.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=language+lessons&Search.x=0&Search.y=0 and I am buying all grades so you can have a look.
Maths: We use Teaching Textbooks which has interactive lessons on the computer for you. Starts at Grade 3. Our very academic kids use Saxon Math, which now has both Saxon Teacher and Dive as a DVD teacher - USQ accept it as easily equal to Maths B and C.
History: Mystery of History is my favourite, it is on CD and my kids listen to it for fun....it is very Christian and integrates Bible history with secular history which is very interesting. My kids also love listening to Story of the World CD's , and although a Christian , Susan Wise-Bauser does not come from an especially Christian point of view in Story of the World. For high school we also use SOSE Alive by Jacaranda Press, which gives a good Australian element, it is secular! We also do ABEKA history too, their last World History, I think Grade 10 is accepted for Grade 11 and 12 for most distance schools here. Love it! Streams of Civilization is an alternative for a good Christian History text book and is two volumes which would probably do you for 3 years, with Ozzzie stuff added in, depending on your school.
Art I have heaps of resources, come and look, there is a lot out there.. we are about to try The Gordon School of Art has a DVD program http://www.newmasters.com/ for our older children, Gluck is okay, Draw Today is our most successful program! http://www.sonlight.com/EA011.html and is great fun to do as a group, although very messy as uses charcoal, have buckets of water handy to wash hands and do it outside! Remember every DVD you buy is a teacher in your home for forever, much cheaper than ongoing lessons for a number of children!
Music again a lot out there, but Music Ace Deluxe @ Timberdoodle is our best buy. http://www.timberdoodle.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=Music+Ace+Deluxe&Search.x=0&Search.y=0
Handwriting: We use Getty Dubay, as the style fits in well with school writing for Oz and NZ and love the results with bigger kids handwriting. http://www.rainbowresource.com/search.php?sid=1279964554-1268452 Tim and Emma have started by using "Draw Write Now" http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Draw-Write-Now+Boxed+Set+of+8/011045/1279964554-1268452 due to her learning difficulties and artistic inclination, I don't really like the ball and stick method though, far prefer Italic which lends itself to cursive adn fast - great for exams when in Y11 and 12 AND BEYOND! I cannot encourage colouring in enough, those who write well in our family have always coloured well and often, look at Dover for Hisotircal, good animal etc colouring books - really great.
Bible: Dare I write a separate blog for this one...I may never get around to it???? There is so much really good stuff out there.....where do I begin??? Just come for a visit if you want to find out sooner rather than later!
Of course Switched on School House from Alpha and Omega is a computer based textbook workbook style, all done for you program. I have used it for two kids for a year as a stop gap, when veyr busy....see Timberdoodle's description of it by clicking on a year
http://www.timberdoodle.com/switched_on_schoolhouse_s/192.htm . Timberdoodle are usually cheaper than Switched on School House themselves!
http://www.evan-moor.com/
Workbooks Style; I not used a lot of these, but I like their creative writing/paragraph writing books, and geography too. If you want to go work book style they are very nice.
Ozzie Distance Schools
I am with ACA, but do not do any of their paces as I am with their Learning Support Unit under Rhonda Davis who runs a totally seprate program. If one child qualifies for this program the whole fmaily can do it.
http://moreton.acc.edu.au/
Other than that I can recommend some who runs their own schools under Jubilee, a very old QLD distance school.
In particualr I would recomend Jason Kauffman
He is a Mennonite Missionary, and we have met him and he is reputable...a big thing in home schooling circles as it tends to attract some' not so reputable' people, sorry to say.
Jason Kauffman sells Mennonite Curriculum called light education I think, but and as far as I understand is flexible if you have your own curriculum prepared!
Jason Kauffman
Australian Christian Brotherhood
4 Tin Can Bay Rd.
Gympie QLD 4570
Phone (07) 5483 7741
Email: jasonkauffman@bigpond.com.au
Jubilee also has Paul Johnson, who is mostly ACE paces, but I have heard of him being flexible for some???? There is also Michelle Hornery, who is at Jubilee, but she requires heaps of paper work which makes my head spin but if you are okay with all the 'edu talk', you may find it easy....Michelle runs workshops once every two weeks and organises lots of fun field trips and gives good support. She is flexible but requires a good Ozzie component which means she is not so partial to the American programs sometimes . Personally if I had to make a choice outside of my present ACC choice I would chose Jason Kauffman.
Hope that is of help!
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