Oak Meadow Homeschool Curriculum Review
SUMMARY of Oak Meadow Homeschool Curriculum Review:
- Grades: K-12th
- Subjects: all
- Category: Non-Religious
- Format: Traditional
- Price: Paid
How to Use Oak Meadow in Your Homeschool
The Oak Meadow curriculum provides students and families with an accessible, well-rounded, and academically complete education. When you purchase their curriculum materials, you receive everything you need to homeschool your student for an entire school year.
Each coursebook includes 36-weekly lesson plans, with a variety of assignments, activities, and readings. For the home teacher’s convenience, they’ve included assignment checklists, planners, materials lists, and learning assessment rubrics to track student progress. Many families enjoy the structure of our 36-week lesson plans, and others take advantage of the built-in flexibility of the curriculum design by adding, subtracting, or adjusting the material as needed or desired. Teacher manuals, craft kits, and supplementary materials are available for further guidance and enrichment.
While Oak Meadow can be used as a comprehensive homeschool curriculum, many families choose to use the materials as their academic foundation and supplement with other educational resources, or they purchase separate courses as part of an eclectic approach. Their K-4 coursebooks include lessons for all subject areas (note: Math is separate in Grade 4); grades 5-8 offer separate coursebooks for each subject and may be purchased individually; high school coursebooks are available by subject and course title.
In addition to Oak Meadow’s homeschool curriculum, they also offer the option for enrollment in their accredited distance learning school. While your child will still learn at home, they will earn official school credit while enjoying ongoing support and guidance from an experienced teacher.
Oak Meadow Highlights
- complete for grades PreK-12
- use as a comprehensive or supplementary curriculum
- offers homeschool support for parents
- accredited online distance learning option
- student-led curriculum
- holistic learning focus (teaching the whole child)
Oak Meadow Pros and Cons
Pros:
- By using the holistic approach, students engage their hands and hearts along with their heads.
- The curriculum can be used as a supplement for parents wanting to piece different curricula together to best suit their children.
- Online distance learning is great to have as an option for parents who aren’t quite ready to take on the role of a teacher. It also provides an accredited diploma and may forgo the need to register as a homeschooler in some states.
Cons:
- May not be affordable for all families
Personal Review from a Oak Meadow (2nd Grade) Homeschool Curriculum User
After reviewing everything (we were impressed!), we forwarded the Oak Meadow materials to a homeschooling Mom of a second grader (our kids are older) and her feedback is below:
Oak Meadow curriculum is easy to use which I truly appreciate. Assignments are clearly marked and explained in detail. There is a weekly planner, an assignment checklist, and a materials list for each lesson which helps me plan our week in advance. I’m homeschooling multiple kids, so I admit, things can get hectic, and on occasion, I can get overwhelmed. So, I truly appreciate the planning and checklist materials.
Learning assessments are included at the end of each lesson. These are good for understanding your child’s progress, and recognizing strengths and areas where more support is needed. I’m not a “test” type person – but I found these assessments to be very helpful. There were occasions when I thought my son “got it” – but the assessment showed me “not so much”. So I knew where to spend extra time.
Both my child and I enjoyed the focus on animals and nature for the reading and writing assignments. As the parent/teacher, I saw how well the writing and the reading assignments were integrated and I appreciated that as well.
Social Studies is taught through the use of fables and folktales – the subject matter is geared towards the child, and the topics are important. Again, something that I appreciated.
Math – I like that my son is already learning multiplication. I don’t think I started multiplying in second grade.
Science focuses on nature-type assignments – which children of this age really respond to (as do I!). Again, I appreciated/liked this.Art, crafts, music, and health are included subjects. These are important subjects that many public schools have had to eliminate. I’m glad that I have the time to do them as they are so enriching. We will have the opportunity to copy and illustrate poems, make books, perform puppet plays, grow indoor plants, and more. I’ve certainly enjoyed using the Oak Meadow materials. And I like that you can purchase these and use them independently, or enroll in their online program. I think we’ll always go the independent route, but I can see how some families might appreciate teacher support and official school records. It’s always nice to have options.
(By the way, Oak Meadow is accredited through The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA), and by the New England Association for Schools and Colleges (NEASC).