Reading curriculum

    Pearson Education, Inc. is a well-known name in Public Schools all over the world.  Recently, they have added to their educational materials, creating programs to be used at home by homeschoolers throughout the world.  Pearson Homeschool is available for the Reading Street, myWorld Social Studies, enVision Math, and MyMathLab Algebra 1 and Algebra 2.

     For this review, Pearson Homeschool provided me with the complete Reading Street 3rd Grade reading program to use at home with my children.  I was able to adapt this program to use with my two oldest children using their thorough and extensive materials and guides.  Even my 4 year old enjoyed the colorful pages and stories found throughout the student readers provided in this curriculum set.

     A few months back, I received my curriculum package in a medium sized, well-packed box.  Inside I found the Parent’s Guide, Scott Foresman’s Guide to the Side (Teacher’s Guide), hardbound readers 3.1 and 3.2, the eInstruction ExamView Assessment Suite CD-Rom, and the Teachers Resource DVD-Rom.  All of these materials work together to provide a creative and complete curriculum for 3rd grade reading.  Everything I needed to provide a well-rounded educational experience was found within the cardboard box.

     In the parent’s guide, a full-explanation of the curriculum and how to adapt it to be used at home is provided.  From preparation to figuring out if this is the right curriculum for you.  Examples on how to use this curriculum are found throughout the guide.

     The Guide on the Side is a fully tabbed teaching guide for use with 3rd Grade Reading Street.  In it you will find ideas for lesson planning and pacing, oral language, word work, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, writing and much more.  I will admit that I found this guide a bit confusing in the beginning as it is written similar to a public school teaching guide and seemed to be shortened for the purpose of homeschooling which made it feel as much had been left out of the guide educationally.  Overall, after working with it and the program over several weeks, the guide came together to provide inspiration and extra ideas I wouldn’t have otherwise without it.

     Also included with this curriculum package are two CD/DVD-Roms.  One is the eInstruction Examview Assessment Suite.  This CD-Rom provides baseline group tests, assessments, Fluency and Comprehension reads, weekly tests and unit and End-of-Year Benchmark Testing.  The other included DVD-Rom includes the Teacher Resource materials: the Teacher and Student Materials in Digital Format, Vocabulary, Comprehension, Writing, Grammar and much more.  Transparencies and Graphic Organizers are also included for use on this disk.

      The Reading Street educational textbooks are intriguing in themselves.  They are hardbound editions much like what the public schools use.  Inside are colorful and interesting stories filled with imagination to help your reader maintain interest educationally.  Though these materials are Peer Based and not Biblical Based, the curriculum is still enjoyable and extensive in it’s lessons.

     I used this package with my two oldest children.  Though we were not able to go through the entire curriculum during the review period, we adapted the program to fit us for the short time we had to do this review in.  We covered reading the stories and completed accompanying worksheets, spelling and vocabulary lists, as well as some of the extra suggestions provided throughout the program.  I can honestly say my children learned a lot from this particular curriculum and we will continue to integrate it into our daily lessons as we move forward with learning.

    I do want to note that this is a secular based curriculum package, similar to those used in the Public School system.  It has been well-adapted for homeschool use and is thorough in it’s provided materials and program.  It is not biblical based and does not provide a firm base for most Christian homeschoolers.  I know many of my readers are interested in Christian homeschooling materials so I felt it important to mention this in my review of this product.

     We truly enjoyed reviewing the Reading Street 3rd Grade curriculum set provided by Pearson Homeschool.  This product sells for $124.99 for the full curriculum set mentioned above, including everything needed for educational use at home.  For more reviews of this product, please visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog online!

*Disclaimer – Pearson Education, Inc. creators of Pearson Homeschool, along with the Old School House Magazine’s Homeschool Review Crew, provided this curriculum package for me to use free in exchange for my honest opinions in a review.