Our 2016-17 Curriculum

Because of our big country-to-country, across-the-Atlantic move last summer, I never did get around to posting our curriculum for this school year!  To make this quick and easy, I'm going to briefly list what each child is using on this one post.

3rd Grade

1.  Bible:  Wisdom With the Millers (book and activity book)--studying the book of Proverbs
2.  Reading:  Doors to Discovery
3.  Seatwork:  Spectrum Test Practice, Grade 3
4.  Math:  Primary Mathematics 3 (Singapore)
5.  Storytime:  We're doing lapbooks along with each of the following books (I stopped lapbooks after grade 3 because they were too much work; however, each of the kids has wanted to do them, so I'm back to lapbooks again!):

• Abraham Lincoln (Anne Colver)
• Stone Fox (John Reynolds Gardiner)
• Door in the Wall (Marguerite de Angeli)
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)
• Key to the Treasure (Peggy Parish)
• Horse Heroes: True Stories of Amazing Horses (Kate Petty)
• Mr. Popper's Penguins (Richard Atwater)
• Justin Morgan Had a Horse (Marguerite Henry)
• The Apple and the Arrow (Conrad Buff)

6.  Language:  Language Lessons for the Elementary Child, Volumes 1 and 2 (we're finishing Volume 1 from last year)

7.  Spelling:  All About Spelling, Level 3

8.  Science:  Christian Kids Explore Earth & Space (unfortunately for my sanity, we do lapbooks for each science unit, too!  At least this is my last year doing lapbooks.)

9.  History:  The Story of the World, Volume 2: The Middle Ages (we use the CDs, the activity book, and other supplements)

10.  Geography:  I make my own geography units.  This year, we are studying the following countries:

• United Kingdom (sad that we moved from the UK just before starting this one)
• Saudi Arabia
• France
• Norway
• New Zealand
• Australia
• Netherlands
• Japan
• Russia
• Spain
• Mexico
• Germany

11.  Extracurricular:  We do these as we have time:

• Art
• Spanish--Teach Them Spanish 1
• Music--Singing Made Easy and piano
• P.E.--Right now, we're making use of our small town's basketball and tennis courts
• Health--Heath, Safety & Manners 3 (A Beka)

7th Grade

1.  History:  British History (I made my own course using a number of books--click link to view)
2.  Reading:  She's reading the following books and doing book reports on them:

• George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol's Orphans (Benge)
• Swiss Holiday (Yates)
• The Bronze Bow (Speare)
• Watership Down (Adamas)
• The Windy Hill (Meigs)
• The Hound of the Baskersville (Doyle)
• Tales of the Greek Heroes (Green)
• Full Steam Ahead: The Race to Build a Transcontinental Railroad (Blumberg)
• Stories of Don Quixote Written Anew for Children (Baldwin)
• Old Yeller (Gipson)

3.  Math:  Teaching Textbooks 7

4.  Bible:  Explorers Bible Study Quest: Faith at Work

5.  Science:  Interactive Science: Earth Science

6.  Language:  Easy Grammar 6 and Easy Grammar Plus (finishing last year's first)

7.  Spelling:  All About Spelling, Level 7

8.  Extracurricular:  P.E., Typing (Typing Instructor), Ancient Music and Ancient Art (Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool), and guitar (instruction from her grandma)

10th Grade

*Coming Soon*

9th Grade Curriculum 2015-16

My son is in high school!  Instead of picking and choosing my own curriculum (subject by subject) this year, I decided to order an all-in-one curriculum program.  I used Heart of Dakota for kindergarten and grade 1.  Although I loved their program, I began choosing my own materials after 1st grade.  For 9th grade, I’m returning to Heart of Dakota, partly to make things easier on myself since we’re beginning something new (high school) and partly because I really like what the program includes.

The manual we’re using for 9th grade is called Hearts for Him Though High School: World Geography.  If you follow the link, you can see exactly what it includes.  There are so many books that I am not going to list them all!  Here’s an overview of the program:

1.  Social Studies/Bible:  World Geography (1 credit), World Religions and Cultures (1/2 credit), and Bible (1 credit).  This includes an optional “Living Library” of books they can read alongside the other books, but I will only use some of those (can’t afford everything).  Follow the link to see the exact titles.  The world geography includes 3 books to read, 1 DVD set, a mapping with art book, a student journal, and a Book of Centuries notebook page set with a CD of timeline figures.  The world religions and cultures course includes 10 books to read and a set of notebook pages.  The Bible course includes two books (Rooted and Grounded workbook and Practical Happiness).  Of the optional living library books, I have 10 of them (I think), so we’ll read those to supplement the topics he’s studying.

2.  Logic:  Includes The Fallacy Detective (which we tried in an earlier grade, but it went over his head) and The Art of Argument.  This will not be done every day, and the it is a 1/2-credit course.

3.  Spanish:  Getting Started with Spanish (1/2 credit)

4.  English:  A combination of literature, composition, and grammar (1 credit).  Program uses BJU Fundamentals of Literature, Essentials in Writing (DVD lessons and student book), and Rod and Staff English.  There is also a set of 7 books he’ll be reading.  Follow the link and scroll down to see the titles.

5.  Science:  Physical Science (1 credit).  We’re using Integrated Physics and Chemistry (Tiner) and the MicroPhySci Kit.  I had decided about a year ago or longer to use Heart of Dakota for Isaac, and I’m glad to say that my science teacher dad approved of the science component after he looked it over.  I’ll be on my own for science after this and can only hope to choose programs he would have approved of (because I really valued his opinion when it came to science).

5.  Math:  Algebra (1 credit) using No-Nonsense Algebra.  This was the cheapest program offered (out of 3 choices) and also what HOD describes as working well with students who have struggled in math.  It has easy-to-understand, short and concise lessons, and you also get free online access to video instruction if needed.  It’s not an advanced algebra course, but it is supposed to be adequate, so I’m hoping this program will be a great fit for my son.

6.  Extracurricular:  I’ll probably do a few other things not included in Heart of Dakota.  This will include P.E., programming (Hour of Code) and typing (both continued from 8th grade), and possibly some art or music.  This Heart of Dakota program is designed for a 4-day week, so Fridays can be used for extracurricular activities and student interests.

Click on links to view my 2015-16 curriculum choices for 2nd and 6th grades.

This post is linked to iHomeschool Network's 7th Annual "Not" Back to School Blog Hop.

6th Grade Curriculum 2015-16

My middle child is in 6th grade.  How did that happen so quickly?  It seems like yesterday that I was posting this list for my oldest.  Anyway, here’s what my daughter will be using this coming school year.

1.  Math:  Teaching Textbooks 6—This program has been very successful for my family, and I highly recommend it.  In the past, I’ve read a lot of negative feedback on the program, which I completely disagreed with.  If you’re afraid to use TT because of what you’ve read (about it being too easy), I would recommend reading this post from Timberdoodle:  Is Teaching Textbooks Math Too Easy?  The only downside is the cost, but for us, it’s been totally worth it.

2.  Reading:  Drawn Into the Heart of Reading—We’ve used this program from Heart of Dakota since my oldest was in 4th grade.  This year, my daughter will be reading the following books for the program (not all choices are final at this point): 

Biography:  Jane Austen: The Girl With the Magic Pen! (Gill Hornby)

Adventure:  The Hobbit (J.R.R Tolkien) OR The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Joan Aiken)

Historical Fiction:  Adam of the Road (Elizabeth Janet Gray)

Fantasy:  Tom’s Midnight Garden (Phillipa Pearce)

Mystery:  Secret of the Old Clock (Carolyn Keene) OR Mandie and the Fiery Rescue (Lois Gladys Leppard)

Folk Tales:  American Tall Tales (Adrien Stoutenburg) AND The Golden Key and Other Stories (George MacDonald)

Nonfiction:  The Great Fire (Jim Murphy)

Humor:  Ginger Pye (Eleanor Estes) OR The Moffats (Eleanor Estes)

Realistic Fiction:  Treasures of the Snow (Patricia M. St. John)

3.  History:  Story of the World, Volume 4: The Modern Age—We supplement with the accompanying activity book and plenty of good literature and videos.

4.  Language:  Easy Grammar:  Grade 6—This will be the second time I’ve used this program, and I find it to be a very effective method for learning grammar.  Along with Easy Grammar, we do Daily Grams: Grade 6 for extra practice. 

5.  Spelling:  All About Spelling, Level 6

6.  Science:  Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Botany and Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics—The chemistry and physics book will be new for us because they hadn’t yet released that title when my oldest was in 6th grade.  We always do two Apologia titles a year between grades 4-6 by doing science daily.  Otherwise, we would never get through them all.

7.  Read-Aloud Time:  I’m hoping to read aloud to my daughter from some classics this year.  We’ll just read as we’re able, so I won’t have a schedule.  Here’s a list of possibilities:  Little Women (Louisa May Alcott), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (Kate Douglas Wiggin), The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum), Heidi (Johanna Spyri), Black Beauty (Anna Sewell), and The Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens).

8.  Electives: 

Music—Singing Made Easy, piano, and recorder and Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool Modern Music

Art—Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool Modern Art

Thinking Skills—Critical and Creative Thinking Activities

P.E.—Family Time Fitness

Typing—Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum

Click on links to view my 2015-16 curriculum choices for 2nd and 9th grades.

This post is linked to iHomeschool Network's 7th Annual "Not" Back to School Blog Hop.

2nd Grade Curriculum 2015-16

My youngest is almost a 2nd grader!  This will be my third time with this curriculum.  I don’t think there are too many changes.  Do keep in mind, in case you think I have an awfully large number of subjects here, that many of these will be rotated so that not every subject will be taught all in one day (heaven forbid!).

1.  Math:  Singapore Math—Primary Mathematics 2A and 2B (U.S. Edition).  I’ve used Singapore Math for K-3 with all of my kids, and they have done very well with it. 

2.  Reading:  Reading to Learn series—Happy Hearts and Helping Hands (2 readers).  I’ve used this series for grades 1-3 with each child, and we really have enjoyed it.  These readers are advanced, but my youngest read through the first grade reader so quickly that she’s been reading other books the last half of the school year.  She’s already reading chapter books in fact!  I still plan to use these readers for 2nd grade, but if she gets through them quickly, then I’ll come up with a list of chapter books for her to read.

3.  Spelling:  All About Spelling—Levels 2 and 3.  This is our favorite spelling program.  She’s already finished part of Level 2 in 1st grade, so she will probably get to Level 3 during 2nd grade.

4.  Handwriting:  Pictures in Cursive Primer—I used this with my daughter’s older sister, and we enjoyed it.  The painting reproductions are very nice.

5.  Language:  Language Lessons for the Elementary Child, Volume 1—This is where I’m changing things up from what I did with the older two.  With them, I didn’t use this book until they were in 3rd grade; however, I think my youngest will be able handle it easily.  We’ll try it, anyway.  She literally whizzed through all of her 1st grade work each day, so I think she’s ready.

6.  Writing:  Journal--There are writing exercises in the language book; however, since she already loves to write, I will probably have her keep a journal.

7.  Poetry: Poems for Memorization—She is very good at memorizing, so we’ll try working on some of these poems.  I intended to use it with my older two, but somehow we never got to it that often.

8.  Science:  Our Father’s World—We used the second grade book along with her Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory program (Heart of Dakota), so I’m using the first grade book this year.  We’ll probably supplement it with experiments and nature study.

9.  History:  The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times—All of my kids have used this program, and we really like it.  Because the book has only a few Bible stories, I do add a lot to the program.  We use the accompanying activity book and supplement with plenty of books.  To top it all off, we will take her to the British Museum in London, something I’ve done with my older two when they studied ancient history.

10.  Geography:  With my older two kids, we did three years of geography units on different countries, plus one year on states.  Now, my older two are finished with our geography units, and my youngest gets to start them for the first time!  I love geography, so this is a favorite to teach.  My units are on my blog (right side bar), but they may vary a little depending on what resources we have available.  My youngest will begin with the following countries:  Iraq, Egypt, Ghana, Israel, Greece, Italy, China, India, and Turkey.

11.  Bible:  Grapevine Studies—Stick-Figuring Through the Bible: New Testament Overview, Beginner Level and Seeds Family Worship (Bible verse memorization).  Our family has enjoyed these!

12.  Story Time:  I’ll be reading aloud to her from nine books as follows:

Biography:  Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims (Clyde Robert Bulla)

Adventure:  (Still working on this one)

Historical Fiction:  Little House on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls Wilder)

Fantasy:  Rabbit Hill (Robert Lawson)

Mystery:  Ghost Town Treasure (Clyde Robert Bulla)

Nonfiction:  If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon (E. Levine)

Humor:  A Bear Called Paddington (Michael Bond)

Realistic Fiction:  Misty of Chincoteague (Marguerite Henry)

Folktales:  Dick Whittington and His Cat (retold by Eva Moore)

13.  Seatwork:  Spectrum Test Practice, Grade 2—Just for skill practice.

14.  Thinking Skills:  MindWare Brainteaser books—Analogies, Venn Perplexors, and Logic Links.  Also we will use a variety of thinking skill games.

15.  Music:  Singing Made Easy, piano, other.

16.  P.E.: Family Time Fitness

17.  Art:  Joseph the Canada Goose and Draw-Write-Now books

Click on links to view my 2015-16 curriculum for 6th and 9th grades.

This post is linked to iHomeschool Network's 7th Annual "Not" Back to School Blog Hop.

P.S.  As I hadn’t published a blog post in several months, I experienced technical difficulties when I tried to publish this post via my Windows Live Writer.  If you experience this issue, this post was most helpful:  LEHSYS Side Notes

5th Grade Curriculum 2014-15

We’re due to start school on September 15, which is half a week after we return to the US.  We haven’t been home in over 2 years, so we’re pretty excited.  Our late start to school is due to our travels and the fact that all my son’s curriculum has been shipped to my parents.  Anyway, I’ve posted curriculum choices for my son and youngest daughter (8th and 1st).  This post is the curriculum choices for my middle child.  She’s going into 5th!  Many of these are the same programs I used with my son when he was in 5th, but we’ve changed some things.  Here’s our list:

1.  Math—Teaching Textbooks 5

2.  Reading—Drawn Into the Heart of Reading (using the following literature selections):

Biography: Jed Smith: Trailblazer of the West (Frank Latham)

Adventure: Escape to Leichtenstein (Ed Dunlop)

Historical Fiction: Amos Fortune, Free Man (Elizabeth Yates)

Fantasy: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Robert C. O’Brien)

Mystery: The Invisible Friend (Lois Walfrid Johnson)

Folk Tales: Knights, Kings and Conquerors (Geraldine McCaughrean)

Nonfiction: Christian Liberty Nature Reader, 4 (Lindstrom and McHugh, eds)

Humor: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)

Realistic Fiction: Swallows and Amazons (Arthur Ransome)

3.  Language—Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 2 (finishing from last year) and Simply Grammar: An Illustrated Primer

4.  Writing—WriteShop Primer C (continuing from last year) and World of People StoryBuilders

5.  Vocabulary—Vocabulary Cartoons

6.  Spelling—All About Spelling, levels 5-6

7.  Bible—Discover 4 Yourself Series:  Lord, Teach Me to Pray for Kids, Wrong Way, Jonah!, Bible Prophecy for Kids (Rev. 1-7), and A Sneak Peek into the Future (Rev. 8-22)

8.  Science—Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day and Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (Apologia)

9.  History and Geography—A Child’s Story of America, History Pockets (various), literature supplements, my own unit studies of 18 different states

10.  Extracurricular—Rotation

P.E.—Family Time Fitness and/or Swimming

Music—Piano, recorder, singing (Singing Made Easy), Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool Music (Early American)

Art—Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool Art (Early American)

1st Grade Curriculum 2014-15

Here in England, we still have 10 weeks left of school.  That will be the last of kindergarten for this family!  My youngest will be starting 1st grade in September.  Her schedule will be nearly the same as her older brother and sister’s 1st grade schedules.  So anyway, here is our first grade curriculum for next year.

For first grade, we are using Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory, by Heart of Dakota.  I have loved using this curriculum.  I used it only for kindergarten and first grades because I wanted to try other programs, but I’m strongly considering HOD for high school (which will begin with our son the school year after next).  Anyway, for first grade, we’re using this curriculum with a few changes (I have my own Bible, spelling, and reading & phonics programs).

1.  History—The focus is American history, using these books:  American Pioneers and Patriots, Stories of the Pilgrims, and Boys and Girls of Colonial Days.

2.  History-Related Activities—This rotation includes Geography, Science (2x/week), History Activity, and Art.  The activities for these subjects all relate to the history lesson, and the history activity day includes doing a timeline as well as projects.  The science slot uses the book God’s Wonderful Works.

3.  Poetry and Bible—A selection of poems are included in the program manual, one per week.  For Bible I use a different Bible program instead of the recommended devotional.  My older two loved Grapevine Studies’ Stick-Figuring Through the Bible Old Testament Overview (Beginners level), so my youngest will be working on this as well.  We’re still doing the recommended memory verse in Beyond Little Hearts, along with Steve Green’s CD Hide ‘em in Your Heart, Volume 2.

4.  Language Arts—This includes spelling, copywork, and language.  Instead of the included spelling lists, I use All About Spelling (Level One).  The copywork will be from the weekly poems.  The language lessons are included in the manual.

5.  Story Time—We read and do activities for books in the following genres of literature:  biography, adventure, historical fiction, fantasy, mystery, nonfiction, humor, realistic fiction, and folktales.  Our book choices for this year are:  Helen Keller (Davidson), The Twenty-One Balloons (du Boise), Little House in the Big Woods (Wilder), Charlotte’s Web (White), The Railway Children (Nesbit), …If You Lived 100 Years Ago (McGovern), A World of Winnie-the-Pooh (Milne),  Mountain Born (Yates), and Aesop’s Fables.  These are books I will read aloud to her.

6.  Reading—For 1st-3rd, I’ve been using the Reading to Learn Series from Christian Light Publications.  The first grade book is called I Wonder.  When that book is complete, I plan to start her on a simple chapter book to finish out the year.  For phonics, we will continue with the Explode the Code series.  She’s already finished the primers and is currently working on book 1, so I don’t know where we’ll be by first grade.

7.  Math—We’re continuing with Singapore Math (1st grade)

8.  Extracurricular—I’m not 100% sure where we’ll end up on this, but it will probably include P.E., music, and possibly Spanish.  For the first four months, we’ll be in the US, so we’ll probably do normal sorts of P.E. activities.  When we return to England, we’ll try to get back into swimming.  After 8 months being on a waiting list, the girls are just now getting to start swimming lessons.  With a 4-month stay in America, we’ll lose our place, so I’m hoping the wait won’t be as long when we get back.  Music will be basic piano and singing (Singing Made Easy), with a few other activities (rhythm instruments, music games).  For Spanish, we use Teach Them Spanish! (grade 1), though I may consider a different program or find something to supplement it, as it’s mostly just a workbook.

For more information and links to this curriculum list, see THIS post.

8th Grade Curriculum Choices

Yes, it’s only January.  I do this pretty much every January, but I’m almost certain that I now have my curriculum choices made for next school year.  If you have any input on my choices, now is the time to tell me!  I’ll start ordering soon, so that I can buy a little at a time.

1.  Social Studies/Bible/Language: Civics and State History

I've chosen the Uncle Sam and You curriculum package from Notgrass.  I’ve heard only good about this program, and I like the samples I saw.  My son has had very little study in civics, and he enjoys reading, so I decided this was the perfect program for him.

This social studies course includes several assignments in writing, reading (literature), Bible, and vocabulary, so I’m not planning to buy separate curriculum for those subjects. 

I don’t know if this is still the case, but 8th graders used to do some state history.  He did a lapbook state history on Missouri in 4th grade.  I haven’t definitely decided which state to study (since we don’t actually live in a state), but I’m planning to use State History from a Christian Perspective for whichever state we choose.

2.  Math: Pre-Algebra

I hate to say it, but Life of Fred hasn’t worked out so great for my son this year.  He likes the stories, but he’s struggling with the material and how it’s presented.  We’ll continue for the rest of this school year, with supplemental help from Khan Academy and some Math Mammoth ebooks I just purchased.  Next year, we’re going back to Teaching Textbooks, which he liked and understood.

Teaching Textbooks: Pre-Algebra

3.  Science: Life Science

This year we used Interactive Science: Earth Science, which is not a Christian textbook.  My dad, who is a geologist and science teacher, selected this program.  Other than a few sections we disagree with, he felt the rest was more accurate than other science programs. 

Next year, I want to teach life science, but I’m having difficulty finding what I want.  I would have liked a Christian biology, but everything I’ve looked at so far is either too easy (as in listed for K-8 but way too easy for 8th graders) or too hard (high school).  For now, I’m going to stick with Interactive Science.

Interactive Science: Life Science

4.  Language Arts: Grammar and Spelling

While the Notgrass social studies program has a lot of reading, writing, and vocabulary, I feel that Isaac still needs a lot of practice with grammar and spelling, so we’re continuing with what we’ve been using for both.

Easy Grammar Ultimate Grade 8 Teacher’s Guide

All About Spelling Level 7

5.  Thinking Skills/Foreign Language

I’m planning to alternate these two programs.  Thinking Toolbox is the sequel to the Fallacy Detective book we used this year.  My son tried a bit of Spanish when he was in grades 1-2, but we never continued.  I decided to plunk down the money for what is considered one of the best language programs, and I let him choose his language.  French it is!  (Unless he changes his mind before I buy.)

Thinking Toolbox

Rosetta Stone (French, Level 1)

6.  Other Electives:

I’m not 100% sure how we’re doing all of this.  I may choose less or rotate them.  These are the electives he’s interested in:

Typing—I’d like this to be almost daily at this point, for the whole year.  We use Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum.

Programming—He is definitely interested in this, so I’ll probably keep it as an all-year subject.  I’ll probably alternate it with typing.  We’re going to use Hour of Code.

Either Health & Fitness (Family Time Fitness and internet research for health) OR Football (meaning soccer, for those of you in the US) and/or Swimming.  The football will depend on if we can find an affordable program for his age (he currently takes football lessons but is going to be too old for that program next year).  The swimming will depend on finances.  He enjoys both sports.

Here are a few other possibilities, if I can possibly rotate them from quarter to quarter:

Cooking—He wants to learn how to cook, so we’ll work it in somehow.

Drafting—We might do this while we’re in America, as my dad has some of the necessary tools.  We’re looking at a program called Practical Drafting.  This is a maybe.

Clay sculpting—This is another craft he wants to learn.  I’m thinking sculpting tools, clay, and YouTube videos.

Stop Motion Animation—He has a kit, but he doesn’t get to use it much.  If we can manage to get an extra computer, I may add this on the list as a school subject.

I would love to have included some kind of music, but we may have to wait on that.  Although I believe every child and young person should have some experience with music (whether vocal, instrument, theory, or music appreciation), I’m trying to go with his interests for this coming year.  Music is not his thing at the moment.  Give him the music soundtrack for Star Wars, and he’s good!

That’s it!  I’m pretty pleased with my decisions for 8th grade curriculum.  I know my son, and I’m confident these programs will work best for him, but I’d love to hear your comments.  Have you used any of those programs with your children?

4th Grade Curriculum Choices 2013-14

Moriah’s 4th grade curriculum will have a few changes from Isaac’s, but it will be similar.  Here are my current curriculum choices for next school year:

Reading:  Drawn into the Heart of Reading, Grade 4

These are my current selections for Moriah’s reading (a few are different from Isaac’s 4th grade books, and nothing is set in stone):

Biography: The Story of the Wright Brothers and Their Sister (Lois Mills)
Adventure: The Black Stallion (Walter Farley)
Historical Fiction: The Cabin Faced West (Jean Fritz)
Fantasy: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C.S. Lewis)
Mystery: Five on a Treasure Island (Enid Blyton)
Nonfiction: Secret Missions: Four True Life Stories (Ellen Levine)
Humor: Centerburg Tales: More Adventures of Homer Price (Robert McCloskey)
Folktales: Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest (Ann McGovern)
Realistic Fiction: Stormy, Misty’s Foal (Marguerite Henry)

Language:  Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 2 (alternate with writing)

Writing:  WriteShop Primary C (alternate with language)

Vocabulary: Word Roots Beginning (alternate with spelling)

Spelling:  All About Spelling 4 and 5 (alternate with vocabulary)

Math: Teaching Textbooks Math 4

Science:  Apologia’s Exploring  Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day AND Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day—Doing 2 books in one year worked with Isaac.  I’ll try it with Moriah and see how she does.  If it’s not working, we’ll do something else.

Bible:  Discover 4 Yourself Children’s Bible Study Series—We’ll use the following titles:  How to Study Your Bible, for Kids; Jesus in the Spotlight (John 1-10); Jesus: Awesome Power, Awesome Love (John 11-16); and Jesus: To Eternity and Beyond (John 17-21).

History:  Story of the World, Volume 2:  The Middle Ages—I will be supplementing this program with some literature.

Geography:  I will continue the same country studies we’ve been doing the past 2 years.  My plans include the following countries:  United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Australia, France, Norway, Japan, Russia, Spain, Mexico, New Zealand, Germany, and Netherlands.  I will probably spend about 3 weeks on each unit study.  I have done all of these before with Isaac.

Extracurricular:  I’m not 100% sure on this, as we may rotate some subjects.  I’ll probably cover the following:

Art/Art Appreciation--Easy Peasy—All in One Homeschool, Joseph the Canada Goose (finishing from this year)

Music--Singing Made Easy, piano and recorder

P.E.--Family Time Fitness and/or gymnastics and/or swimming…depending on finances

Spanish--Teach Them Spanish!

Typing--Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum (software)

Life Skills—Life Skills for Kids: Equipping Your Child for the Real World

7th Grade Curriculum Choices…for Now

Yes, it’s that time of year when I am (once again) researching for next school year!  Actually, I’ve been researching since last year…  Anyway, I have come up with a preliminary plan for Isaac’s 7th grade year, and it helps me to have it down on my blog, nice and neat, so I can see it and make appropriate changes as the year progresses.  Here’s what I have so far:

1.  History—I had planned to do American History in junior high (split into 2 sections).  However, the thought hit me that we had never done a full British history.  We live in England.  We really OUGHT to do some British history while we’re here.  Yes, we have had some British history included in our 4-year cycle of world history, but we haven’t focused on it by itself.  So, unable to decide for sure, I finally asked Isaac what he would like to do.  He decided on British history, so that’s what we’re doing! 

I’m in the process of putting this course together myself.  While researching, I did find 3 good British history courses, but two of them are more of a high school level, and the other one is a 4-year program, which is not what I’m looking for.  So, I’m pulling from all kinds of sources, including quite a lot of literature, to put this together.  It’s a work in progress, so please do let me know if you have any suggestions.  It will be a full ancient to modern history (if that’s possible)…I hope.  We’ll see.  Here’s list of book ideas I have so far, and I don’t yet have all of these in my house, so my list might change.

NOTE:  All my British history book links are for Amazon.uk, just for your information.

Main sources:  My 2 main sources are books I already own, so I decided to use them, along with other supplemental material, instead of searching for a “perfect” textbook.  I’ll use what I can and skip anything I don’t care for.  Both books adequately cover British history.

British History Encyclopedia (Nicola Barber and Andy Langley)

Hamlyn Children’s History of Britain (Neil Grant)

Our Island Story (via LibriVox)

History of Britain: Roman Britain (Brenda Williams)

Tudors & Stuarts (Usborne)

Biographies:  I’m considering George Muller, Isaac Newton, William Booth, William Wilberforce, William Tyndale, and Eric Liddell

Historical Fiction:  The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day (Scott O’Dell), In Freedom’s Cause (G.A. Henty), Bonnie Prince Charlie (G.A. Henty), and some others I’m looking at on Project Gutenburg.  I’m open to suggestions. 

Other resources:

Brain Box: British History game

Tales from Shakespeare (Lamb)

Monarchs card game

Great British Speeches (Simon Heffer)

A selection of British poetry and literature

I’ll probably head to the local library as well. This British history planning may well turn into another post!

2.  Bible: Christian Growth & Logic

Boyhood and Beyond (Schultz)

Dig Deep (9-week study of Proverbs) (Powell)

The Fallacy Detective (Bluedorn)

3.  Science: Health & General Science

This could possibly change.  I really want a General Science but NOT Apologia (it’s looks too overwhelming for my son who hates math).  Any thoughts (even on Apologia)?  The Great Science Adventures mentioned below have several topics, and Isaac chose those 3 himself.

What is God’s Design for My Body? (Horner)

Passport2Purity Weekend Retreat Kit

Great Science Adventures: The World of Space

Great Science Adventures: The World of Insects and Arachnids

Great Science Adventures: The World of Tools and Technology

4.  Math:  As of right now, I’m planning on leaving Teaching Textbooks behind after this year.  The main reason in the price—I still love the program.  We are currently using Life of Fred: Fractions alongside TT, and we like it, too, so that’s what I will continue with next year. 

Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents

Life of Fred: Elementary Physics

5.  Reading

Drawn Into the Heart of Reading (Heart of Dakota)—The literature selections below COULD possibly change.

Biography: George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans (Benge)

Adventure: Swiss Holiday (Yates)

Historical Fiction: The Bronze Bow (Speare)

Fantasy: Watership Down (Adams)

Mystery: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Doyle)

Folk Tales: The Adventures of Robin Hood (Green) and/or The Golden Key and Other Stories (MacDonald)

Nonfiction: Full Steam Ahead: The Race to Build a Transcontinental Railroad (Blumberg)

Humor: Stories of Don Quixote Written Anew for Children (Baldwin)

Realistic Fiction: We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea (Ransome)

6.  Language Arts (Grammar/Writing)

Easy Grammar Plus

Daily Grams 7

Wordsmith

7.  Word Power (Spelling/Vocabulary)

All About Spelling 6-7

Vocabulary Cartoons

8. Extracurricular

P.E. (2x/week): Family Time Fitness along with an out-of-home sport (swimming and/or soccer)

Music lessons: Guitar or drums IF I can talk someone into giving the lessons for little cost or free; otherwise, he’ll be stuck with piano lessons given by Mom. 

I may also do some Music Appreciation, using Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool.  The current choices are Ancient through Renaissance and Modern Music.  There is also an Early American Music course, but she doesn’t recommend using it until September so she can edit and fix anything on it—that particular course includes European composers from the same time period.  The courses appear to be workable for any grade level.

Art Appreciation & Related Art: As of right now, I may try out Easy Peasy’s Modern Art for Level M as it looks closest to what I’m looking for and is completely free!

Technology:  Computer (Easy Peasy, Grade 7) along with Typing (Typing Instructor)

That’s what I have so far.  Believe it or not, I am already looking for 8th grade and beyond!

My Favorite Links for Free Printables

In our homeschool, I use a LOT of printable pages I find on the internet.  I wanted to share some of my favorites that I use on a regular basis.  Actually #10 and #14 are two websites I haven’t used in awhile, but I decided to include them in this post, I won’t lose the links! 

1.  Homeschool Creations—I use Jolanthe’s Geography printables regularly, especially the country fact sheet and the Children Just Like Me page.  In the past, I have also used the State Factsheet notebooking page, and some of the flags and maps for different countries.  I also use a lot of her literature based printables.  If you go to her main page, the tab for printables is on the right…there are LOADS of great printables here!

2.  Homeschool Share—This is my go-to place when we make lapbooks.  Not only do they have lapbook templates for a variety of topics and books, but they also have a large selection of blank templates if you want to make your own.  You’ll find some notebooking pages as well.

3.  Guest Hollow—In the past, I’ve found lapbook printables here as well as a template to make our own geography passport.  Currently, I’m using their timeline pages for my son’s history.  On the printables page, you’ll find charts, notebook pages, worksheets, copywork, and more! 

4.  Enchanted Learning—To use this website to the fullest, you must be a paying member.  There are, however, a large number of free printables.  I often use Enchanted Learning for maps to label.

5.  About.com Geography—When I can’t find a “Label the Map” printable for the country I want, I make my own using map outlines from this website (scroll down for blank and outline maps).

6.  More Coloring Pages—This website has a lot of printable coloring pages, but I mostly print out country flags to color for our geography units.

7.  DLTK—I use this website for various things, from geography to preschool to holidays.  They have color pages, puzzle pages, templates for crafts, calendars, booklets, theme units, bingo dauber pages, certificates, charts, and more!

8.  Confessions of a Homeschooler—Erica has a huge number of free printables, many of which I’ve used with Gabriela.  Currently, I’m just using the calendar notebook printables and some of the letter ones, but check out the others!  Categories include Animals, Art/P.E., Bible, Calendar Time, Geography, History, Kindergarten, Lap Books, Literature, Math, Mom Stuff, Phonics, Preschool, Science, Seasonal, Spanish, Weather, and Workboxes.

9.  Making Learning Fun—This early childhood website is a HUGE source of wonderful printables for dozens and dozens of themes.  I’ve used a lot of their alphabet printables and some of the themed pages.  I’ve just discovered that they also have geography printables for different countries…I will be checking this out!

10.  PreKinders—I actually haven’t used anything from this source for quite a long time, mostly because I forgot about it!  There are loads of free printables on this site, and I’m going to check out the pages for theme units.  They look really nice!

11.  Homeschool Helper Online—I’ve used this source a number of times, though maybe not regularly.  I’ve mostly used their lapbook and notebooking pages.

12.  1+1+1=1—Although I constantly read this blog, I haven’t really looked through the printables offered, although I knew they were there.  I do use some printables from the Raising Rock Stars curriculum for Gabriela’s preschool.  Have a look!  Just click on the “Printables by Theme” tab.

13.  Activity Village—This website has thousands of free printables on a large variety of topics!  I’ve used it several times, though mostly for geography.  I really need to explore this site more.

14.  Lapbook Lessons—This is another site I haven’t used in awhile, but it has plenty of free lapbook templates.  My only complaint is that all of the ads on the home page make the site a bit annoying to maneuver through.

UPDATES: Here's where I'll list any additional websites with lots of free printables (as I find them)!

15.  The Notebooking Fairy--This blog has lots of free notebooking pages for different categories.

16. Donna Young's Homeschool Resources and Printables--This website has printables both for organizing and for various subjects.

If I run across any more websites with free printables, I’ll update this post.  Also, if you have any favorites I did not mention, please do comment and share your find!

Unofficial Reviews: All About Spelling

By unofficial review, I mean that I was NOT asked to review the product and I have NOT received ANYTHING AT ALL for reviewing it.  I am simply reviewing a product because I LIKE IT and want to tell everyone about it!  : )  All reviews contain my honest opinions of products I have actually used.  For more details on my “unofficial reviews” click HERE.

I haven’t written one of my unofficial reviews in a long time!  Today I’m reviewing the program All About Spelling (AAS).  One reason I chose it is because we’re on our third year using AAS, and we still love it! 

I first read a review of AAS at Homeschool Creations.  I was looking for a new spelling program because my son hated the one we were using.  I was so impressed by what I read on that review and others, as well as on the All About Learning Press website, that I ordered the first two books.  I began both of my older children (grades 1 and 4 at the time) in Level 1 because each level builds on the one before, and Level 1 contains the basics you need to know for the other levels.  My son did progress fairly quickly through the first few books.  He’s most of the way through Level 4 at the moment. 

Level 4 materials:

There are several things I love about AAS.  One is that it is hands-on.  They supply you with magnetic phonogram tiles, syllable tiles, flashcards, and other helpful cards and booklets.  Also, it is very easy to teach.  Everything is laid out in an easy-to-follow way, and it doesn’t require any planning.

This is our spelling board:

(I’m not sure I have the tiles set up the right way, but it works for now.  I got this magnetic board at IKEA, and I like it better hanging horizontally, but space prevented that.)

Another thing I like about AAS is that the method makes sense.  The program is based on the Orton-Gillingham approach, which was designed for people with dyslexia; however, it is an approach that anyone can use (my children are not dyslexic).  In Level 1, you learn the basic sounds/phonograms you need to do the whole program, though you do add harder phonograms as you progress.  You also learn about syllables and syllable types in Level 1.  This is very helpful in understanding the various rules that are learned later.  I never have seen a spelling program that is so thorough and yet so simple to understand.  The hands-on aspect brings a bit of fun to spelling, and my kids honestly enjoy their spelling lessons.

Let me add another plus.  I’m convinced this spelling program helps with reading as well.  In fact, All About Learning Press also has a reading program (All About Reading) that is designed to be used along with the spelling program.  If I had to do it over again, I probably would have used their reading program; however, I have one I already have used with success, so I don’t see the point in spending money when I don’t really have to.  Even without using their reading program, the spelling rules my daughter has learned have helped a lot in her reading skills.

All About Learning Press is determined that every child learn to read and spell well.  For those who wish, the company sends out email newsletters with lots of helpful advice, and they have a blog, forum, and helpful articles on their website.  They offer lifetime support and a 100% money-back guarantee.  Those are all good things!

My only tiny concern is the levels.  While each level may not necessarily correspond to an actual grade level (we go at our own pace—as we finish one book, we go right to the next, no matter what grade they’re in).  As far as I can tell, the words in some of the higher levels (4-6) seem a lot easier than spelling words in public school grades 4-6.  However, I often wonder if that’s why so many people still have trouble with spelling today—maybe it’s too rushed.  I would much rather my children get the basic rules down at an easily-learned rate than to learn all the hard words for a test, only to forget them later and never understand the basic spelling rules.

The only other thing I can think of that might turn some people off is that it can’t really be done independently by the student.  The parent/teacher must be involved the whole way through—each day.  This is not a problem for me personally; in fact, I think it’s a good thing.

I recently read some comments on facebook comparing AAS to the spelling program we had used before.  In that family, the son hated AAS and loved the one my son hated (the mother loved both programs).  Hey, every child is different.  AAS may not be the program for your family.  We love it, though!

I am perfectly satisfied with this program and the way my children are retaining what they’ve learned.  They don’t complain about spelling, and I have seen much improvement in their daily writing.  I would highly recommend this program to anyone.

Back to (Home) School 2012: Our Curriculum (in a Nutshell)

I’ve already posted about curriculum for each of our 3 children, but I don’t want to link up all 3 to the blog carnival, so I’m going to list our family’s curriculum for 2012 in this post, with links back to the others for more details.  (Click student name to see those posts.)  I’ve also included links for each product mentioned, which I did not do in the earlier posts.  Note:  The curriculum lists may look long, but some things will be done only 1-2 days a week. 

Isaac, Grade 6

Bible—Discover 4 Yourself series (Genesis and 2 Timothy).  This is our 3rd year using this series.

Math—Teaching Textbooks 6 and Life of Fred: Fractions.  This will be our 3rd year with TT and our first with Life of Fred.

Reading—Drawn into the Heart of Reading.  This is our 3rd year using this program.

History—Story of the World, Volume 4: The Modern Age.  This is our 4th year using this series.

Read-aloud time--Classics

Language--Easy Grammar, Daily Grams.  This will be our first year using this program.

Vocabulary--Vocabulary Cartoons.  This is our 2nd year using this book.

Handwriting--copywork

Spelling--All About Spelling (Levels 4-6).  This will be our 3rd year using AAS.

Writing--Story Builders: World of Animals (and possibly WriteShop Junior, book D).  We used WriteShop last year.  Story Builders is from the same company.

Science—Investigate the Possibilities set (Physical Science) and Exploring Creation with Botany (Apologia).  This will be our first year with Investigate the Possibilities science but our 3rd year using Apologia elementary science.

Extracurricular—Fine Arts, P.E., Art, Music, Thinking Skills (Critical and Creative Thinking Activities), and Typing (Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum). 

Moriah, Grade 3

Math—Primary Mathematics 3 (Singapore Math).  This is Moriah’s 5th year using Singapore Math.  Isaac also used it for preschool and kindergarten.

Reading—Doors to Discovery (Reading to Learn series).  This is Moriah’s 3rd year with this series.  Isaac also used it for grades 1-3.

Bible—Wisdom and the Millers, book of Proverbs.  Isaac also used this book for 3rd grade Bible.

Language—All About Spelling (Levels 3-4), Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 1, Explode the Code (books 5-7).  This is Moriah’s third year using AAS, her first using Language Lessons (Isaac used it, too), and her third year using ETC.

History and Geography—Story of the World, Vol. 1:  Ancient Times and Galloping the Globe.  This is Moriah’s second year using this SOTW (she did volume 3 last year with Isaac).  This will be our first year using Galloping the Globe, although I have been coming up with my own units using the same sort of ideas.

Science—Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space.  Isaac also used this program in 3rd grade.

Story Time—various books and lapbooking

Extracurricular--Fine Arts, P.E., Thinking Skills, Seatwork (Spectrum Test Practice), and Typing (Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum)

Gabriela, Preschool

Main core—Early Education at Home.  I used this program with my other two children.

Story Time Units—Before Five in a Row.  This will be our first year using this program, and I will only be using it for the 15 books I own (unless I purchase some more throughout the year).

Math—Math Play! and Early Bird Kindergarten Math 1A and 1B (Singapore)—We used 1A and1B for preschool and 2A and 2B for kindergarten.  I’m not sure they sell them that way anymore, though.  They have new editions that are textbook/workbook.  I used both of these programs with Isaac and Moriah.

Montessori Activities—Teach Me to Do it Myself.  Only Gabriela has done Montessori activities, and we used this book some last year.

That rounds up our curriculum choices for the coming year!

I’m linking this post to “Back to (Home) School ~ Curriculum and Resources” at Classic Housewife.

Preschool Curriculum

Gabriela is now out of Tot School and into Preschool!  However, I still plan to keep a shelf of tray activities, sensory tubs, and imaginative play sets for her to do when I’m busy with the older 2.  We’ll also continue working on some Montessori stuff.

With Isaac and Moriah, I used the book Early Education at Home.  It contains weekly plans but no set daily schedule.  Each week has us studying one letter of the alphabet, one number, one color, and one shape.  Each week also includes ideas for theme units (relating to social studies and/or science), some ideas for math and language readiness, and ideas for snacks, stories, and field trips. 

Along with this book, I also use Singapore Math for the preschool level, and various other books (mazes, dot-to-dot, color by number, etc.).

Now, here’s where I’m going to attempt to fit in something new and different.  For a long time now, I’ve been very attracted to the Five in a Row series.  I’m already firm in my K-6 plans, so I thought maybe I could try the Before Five in a Row book with Gabriela.  However, I don’t have all the required books.  In fact, I have only 15 of them, which isn’t too bad I guess.  A few of the books are so rare, they’re nearly impossible to find for a reasonable price.  For this reason, I decided it would not be worth paying full price for Before Five in a Row.  Lucky me!  I only JUST found this book at my favorite used book store.  It was priced $10, and I happened to be visiting on their 40% off every book sale.  So, I got the book quite cheap.  Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations has free printables to go along with most of the books in this volume (others coming soon), so I am planning to make use of them.  I’m not quite sure how I’m going to manage 2 programs at once, but we’ll see how it goes.  Obviously, I won’t be doing every single unit in the book since I don’t have all the books.  Unfortunately, I can’t just go to the local library to find them.  Our local library in England has very few American children’s books.

For more information on Gabriela’s curriculum, see the Amazon widget on my sidebar.  Funny, but I put that up last year thinking I would do preschool with her then, and I never did…and never removed the widget…

I’m linking this post to the “Link Your 2012-2013 Curriculum Picks!” blogroll at {School} Days Gone By.

3rd Grade Curriculum

Wow, I can’t believe my daughter is already in 3rd grade!  Luckily, I already have lesson plans for most of these subjects.  Listing everything by workbox number, here are my 2012-2013 picks for Moriah’s school year:

In brief

Box 1:  Math—Primary Mathematics 3 (Singapore)

Box 2:  Reading—Doors to Discovery

Box 3:  Bible—Wisdom and the Millers, book of Proverbs

Box 4:  Language—All About Spelling, Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 1, and Explode the Code (books 5-7)

Box 5:  History and Geography—Story of the World, Volume 1:  Ancient Times and my own geography units

Box 6:  Science—Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space

Box 7:  Story Time—various books

Box 8:  Extracurricular--Fine Arts, P.E., Thinking Skills, Seatwork, Typing

With explanations

Box 1: Math—Primary Mathematics 3 (Singapore)

Unlike Isaac, Moriah has been doing Singapore Math since preschool.  She’s doing so well with it, I decided to continue at least through this coming year.

Box 2: Reading—Doors to Discovery (reader)

Like Isaac did, Moriah is using this set of readers only through 3rd grade, so this is the final year we’ll use a reader.

Box 3: Bible—Wisdom and the Millers, book of Proverbs

This fictional chapter book has interesting stories that illustrate specific verses from the book of Proverbs.  When we finish the book, we’ll read through the book of Proverbs.  She’ll have memory verses as well.

Box 4: Language—All About Spelling, Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 1

Spelling:  All About Spelling, books 3 and 4 (as continued from last year)

Language—Language Lessons for the Elementary Child includes short lessons on grammar, poetry, copywork, and picture study

Phonics--Explode the Code (books 5-7)

Box 5: History and Geography—Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient History and my own geography units

History:  Isaac did Story of the World, Volume 1 (Ancient Times) in 2nd grade, but last year I chose for Moriah and Isaac to do volume 3 (Early Modern) together.  Along with the book, I’ll have supplemental books and stories, and we’ll also do a study of the book of Acts, using an illustrated version of Acts.

Geography:  I haven’t finalized my plans yet, but I think I’ll do one geography unit (country studies) a month but only a few days a week.  I have lesson plans already for some of these countries, since I did them with Isaac.  There will be a few new units I’ll have to create.  This is a list of countries we may study (I’ll add 3-4 more to this list when I get it figured out):  Egypt, Israel, Greece, Ghana, Italy, India, China. I just bought the book Galloping the Globe, which has similar units, so I'll use it as well.

Box 6: Science—Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space

Along with the book and projects, Moriah will be doing lapbooks this year—one for each unit.

Box 7: Story Time

I will be reading the following books aloud to Moriah, and we will make a lapbook for each one:

Biography— Abraham Lincoln

Adventure— Stone Fox

Historical Fiction—Door in the Wall

Fantasy— The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Mystery— Key to the Treasure

Nonfiction— Horse Heroes: True Stories of Amazing Horses

Humor— Mr. Popper’s Penguins

Realistic Fiction—Justin Morgan Had a Horse

Folktales— The Apple and the Arrow

Box 8: Extracurricular--Fine Arts, P.E., Thinking Skills, Seatwork, Typing

Art--Joseph the Canada Goose

Music—mostly singing (Singing Made Easy) and piano

P.E.—Various games and exercises (see THIS post for more explanation of how we do P.E.)

Thinking Skills--Logic Links, Analogy Challengers, Venn Perplexors, various games and other books

Seatwork:  Spectrum Test Practice, Grade 3

Typing: I'm also adding in a new typing program for Moriah and Isaac to use this year, Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum.

If you're interested in any of this curriculum, follow the links on the amazon widgets on my sidebar.

I’m linking this post to the “Link Your 2012-2013 Curriculum Picks!” blogroll at {School} Days Gone By.

6th Grade Curriculum

I’ve just about finished ordering curriculum for the upcoming school year.  As of right now, here are my plans for Isaac’s 6th grade.  I will list his subjects by workbox number, but there will only be 8 instead of 12 this time.  I made this change so that Gabriela could have her own boxes, and because I didn’t have the space to add another 12 for her.  I’ll post Moriah’s and Gabriela’s (3rd grade and preschool) separately.

Isaac’s 6th Grade Curriculum

In brief:

Box 1:  Bible—Discover 4 Yourself series

Box 2:  Math—Teaching Textbooks 6 and Life of Fred: Fractions

Box 3:  Reading—Drawn into the Heart of Reading

Box 4:  History—Story of the World, Volume 4: The Modern Age

Also Box 4:  Read aloud time (classics)

Box 5:  Language Arts 1--Easy Grammar, Daily Grams, Vocabulary Cartoons, copywork

Box 6:  Language Arts 2--All About Spelling, Story Builders (writing)

Box 7:  Science—Investigate the Possibilities set (Physical Science) and Exploring Creation with Botany

Box 8:  Extracurricular—Fine Arts, P.E., Thinking Skills (Critical and Creative Thinking Activities)

With explanations:

Box 1:  Bible—Discover 4 Yourself series (This year, we studying Genesis and 2 Timothy).  We’re using the following books: 

God’s Amazing Creation

Digging Up the Past

Abraham: God’s Brave Explorer

Extreme Adventures with God

Joseph: God’s Superhero

Becoming God’s Champion

Box 2:  Math—Teaching Textbooks: Math 6 and Life of Fred: Fractions

Box 3:  Reading—Drawn into the Heart of Reading (I haven’t finalized the book choices)

Biography: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (Jean Lee Latham)

Adventure: The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Historical Fiction: Adam of the Road (E.J. Gray)

Fantasy: Tom’s Midnight Garden (Phillipa Pearce)

Mystery:  The Mysterious Message (Stephen and Susie Castleberry)

Folk Tale: Tales of the Greek Heroes (Roger Lancelyn Green)

Nonfiction: The Great Fire (Jim Murphy)

Humor:  Ginger Pye (Eleanor Estes)

Realistic Fiction: Treasures of the Snow (Patricia M. St. John)

Box 4:  History—Story of the World, Volume 4 (The Modern Age), supplemental books (historical fiction, nonfiction, biographies), History Pockets: The Civil War

Read-Aloud Time—I will be reading aloud to Isaac from a number of classics.  I’m choosing stories that take place during (or were written during) the same time periods that Isaac is studying.  So far my list includes the following (although we may not get to all of them):

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Little Women (I may only do the first half)

The Mysterious Island

Treasure Island

The Story of the Treasure Seekers

White Fang

Pollyanna

Box 5:  Language Arts 1—Grammar and Vocabulary/Handwriting

Easy Grammar: Grade 6 (Monday-Thursday)

Daily Grams: Grade 6  (daily)

Vocabulary Cartoons (Friday)

Handwriting Practice (Friday)—I’m going to have Isaac do copy work on Fridays (using Bible verses, quotations, book excerpts, etc.) because he needs the practice, particularly with cursive capital letters and overall neatness.  And yes, I am a believer in teaching neat penmanship!

Box 6: Language Arts 2--Spelling and Writing

All About Spelling, Levels 4-6 (Monday-Thursday)--We are most of the way through book 4 and will continue at a normal sort of pace and see where we come out at.

Story Builders: World of Animals (Friday)—I absolutely love WriteShop; however, I felt I had too much for Isaac to do each school day, and he will be doing a lot of writing in other subjects anyway.  I already had the Story Builders set we hadn’t used yet, so I’ll let him do this on Fridays.  I feel like WriteShop C gave him the skills he needs to progress with his writing.  Hopefully it was enough of a foundation, and I think it gave him the confidence he needed. I may change my mind and get WriteShop Junior, book D later in the year

Box 7:  Science—Physical Science and Botany

Investigate the Possibilities set

Exploring Creation with Botany

Box 8: Extracurricular--Fine Arts/P.E./Thinking Skills

Fine Arts (Monday/Friday):  I haven’t decided yet how to teach this.  I found 2 programs that I can purchase online (ebooks), and I love both of them.  However, both programs require supplemental books.  They’re just not in the budget this year.  I may come up with my own program, or I may substitute just art and music.  We’ll see.

Thinking Skills (Tuesday/Wednesday):  Critical and Creative Thinking Activities and other books and games

P.E. (Thursdays):  We do different things for P.E., but the focus is mostly on fun exercise and basic skills.  You can read my P.E. post HERE to see what we generally do for P.E.  I recently purchased a long jumping rope and some plastic bases to add to our P.E. equipment.

I'm also adding a new typing program (Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum) and maybe a little art and music.

I’m linking this post to the “Link Your 2012-2013 Curriculum Picks!” blogroll at {School} Days Gone By.  If you have any questions or need links for any of the curriculum I mentioned, let me know.  Adding links to everything on this list would take more time than I currently have. I did add nearly everything to Amazon widgets in my sidebar, so you can click on that as well.

Our Curriculum Choices 2011-12

This is a post that I’ve put off for awhile because I’ve only just now finalized all my choices and finished my ordering.  Just a note on these curriculum lists—not everything will be done daily! Anyway, here’s what I’m planning for this year:

Isaac (5th grade)

Math:  Teaching Textbooks 5

Reading:  Drawn Into the Heart of Reading (using the following literature selections):

Biography—The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk (Donald J. Sobol)

Adventure—Escape to Liechtenstein (Ed Dunlop)

Historical Fiction—Amos Fortune, Free Man (Elizabeth Yates)

Fantasy—Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Robert C. O’Brien)

Mystery—The Invisible Friend (Lois Walfrid Johnson)

Folk Tales—Knights, Kings and Conquerors: 20 Stories from British History (Geraldine McCaughrean)

Nonfiction—Christian Liberty Nature Reader, Book 4 (Lindstrom and McHugh, eds)

Humor—Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)

Realistic Fiction—Swallows and Amazons (Arthur Ransome)

Language:  Learning Language Arts Through Literature (The Purple Book), Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 2 (finishing from last year), English Grammar and Stories with Cartoons for Young Children, and various Mad Libs books.

Writing:  WriteShop Primary C

Vocabulary:  Vocabulary Cartoons and Rummy Roots game

Bible:  Discover 4 Yourself Series:  Lord, Teach Me to Pray for Kids, Wrong Way, Jonah!, Bible Prophecy for Kids (Rev. 1-7), and A Sneak Peek into the Future (Rev. 8-22)

Spelling:  All About Spelling, levels 3 and 4

Thinking Skills:  Building Thinking Skills, Level 2 and various games

Science:  Apologia:  Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day (only the flying insects section, to finish from last year), Exploring Creation with Zoology 3:  Land Animals of the Sixth Day and Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology. 

History:  Story of the World, Volume 3:  Early Modern Times.  Also, we’ll complete History Pockets: Native Americans, which we never finished last year.

Geography:  I teach geography units in a similar style to Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations.  I come up with my own lesson plans, which I don’t mind since geography is my favorite subject.  However, the ideas I include in my plans aren’t always my own.  I get a lot of my ideas (and printables) from other websites and blogs.  I chose a list of countries from those mentioned in our history program.  This year, I’m planning 2-week long units on the following countries and 1 continent:

Canada, Haiti, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Czech Republic, Iran, Mongolia, Burma (Myanmar), Korea, Angola, South Africa, Antarctica.

In my plans, I try to use literature, YouTube videos, notebook pages, art or craft projects, music, food, maps, drawing, resource books, websites, science projects, games and sometimes lapbooks.

Storytime:  Read-aloud classics.  Here’s our list of books we plan to read through this year, if possible (though I may add or subtract some): 

Anne of Green Gables
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Heidi
Around the World in 80 Days
Treasure Island (Junior version)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Extracurricular Rotation 1:  I’m not sure how I’m going to work this, but I’m planning to rotate these subjects by school quarter (we’ll see how it goes):

Art Appreciation & Handicrafts—Study paintings (M), reproduce paintings (Tu), do handicrafts (W), study architecture (Th), Art Appreciation notebook (inc. architecture)(F)

Music I—Composers, using A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers

Art—Drawing Textbook

Music II—Piano (4 weeks), recorder (4 weeks), singing (with Singing Made Easy) (Fridays)

Extracurricular Rotation 2:

Physical Education—Various activities and games (I do plan to include some daily exercise for the whole year)

Typing—Continue with Typing Instructor PC/CD

Health & Safety—Website SuperKids Nutrition and possibly others

Technology—Coming up with my own plans

 

Moriah (2nd grade)

Morning Seatwork:  Spectrum Test Practice, Grade 2

Reading:  Helping Hands and Happy Hearts (Reading to Learn series)

Math:  Singapore Math:  Primary Mathematics 2A and 2B

Spelling:  All About Spelling.  Right now, Moriah is in the middle of level 2, so we’ll work up as far as we can this year, up through level 4 if possible.

Phonics:  Explode the Code (books 4 and 5)

Language Arts Rotation:

Handwriting:  Pictures in Cursive Primer (M/W)

Language:  My own plans (Tu/Th)

Writing: Journaling (Fridays)

Poetry:  Poems for Memorization (daily)

Rotation (Science/Thinking Skills):

Science:  Our Father’s World and nature study (M/W/F)

Thinking Skills:  MindWare brainteaser books:  Analogies, Venn Perplexors, Logic Links, and various games (Tu/Th)

Bible:  Grapevine Studies Stick-Figuring Through the Bible: New Testament Overview, Beginner level and Seeds Family Worship, Volumes 2 and 4

History:  Story of the World, Volume 3:  Early Modern Times (along with Isaac)

Geography:  Same as Isaac (see above)

Storytime:  I’ll read aloud books from 9 genres:

Biography—Squanto: Friend of Pilgrims (Clyde Robert Bulla)

Adventure—Sword in the Tree (Clyde Robert Bulla)

Historical Fiction—Little House on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls Wilder)

Fantasy—Rabbit Hill (Robert Lawson)

Mystery—The Railway Children (E. Nesbit)

Nonfiction—If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon (E. Levine)

Humor—A Bear Called Paddington (Michael Bond)

Realistic Fiction—Misty of Chincoteague (Marguerite Henry)

Folktales—Dick Whittington and His Cat (retold by Eva Moore)

Rotation (Electives):

Music:  I may do Moriah’s music along with Isaac.  We have a keyboard now, so I’m planning to give her beginning piano lessons.  We’ll also do singing, using the program Singing Made Easy.  I’ll probably do some stuff on composers, music appreciation, and musical instruments as well.

P.E.:  With Isaac

Spanish:  Teach Them Spanish, grade 1 (if we finish that, we’ll go on to grade 2)

Life Skills:  Life Skills for Kids

 Art:  Joseph the Canada Goose,  Little Annie’s Art Book of Etiquette and Good Manners, and Draw-Write Now books.  May also do some Art Appreciation.

Gabriela—Preschool/Tot School

I’m not really sure where I’m going with Gabriela yet.  She won’t be 4 until October.  In the US, age 4 is preschool, and in the UK, age 4 is Reception (Kindergarten).  In either case, Gabriela would turn 4 too late to be enrolled in school if I had her in public schools.  So, this is a case of “wait and see what she’s ready for.”  In some ways, I feel she’ll be ready for preschool, but in other ways I feel she still needs Tot School.  I’ll figure out at the end of the school year whether I feel she’s ready for Kindergarten.  With Isaac and Moriah, I used the program Early Education at Home for Preschool.  With Gabriela I’m planning to use that program along with Tot School trays/Montessori activities AND Before Five in a Row…sort of.  I don’t actually have the book BFIAR, and I don’t plan to purchase it because it’s hard to get in the UK and expensive (not to mention that some of the required story books are out of print).  However, I like the idea behind it, and I have several of the books.  So, I’m going to come up with my own activities for those books and cover one a week.  I may even add some different books, if it goes well.  For Montessori activities, I use the book Teach Me to Do it Myself, by Maja Pitamic, as well as several Montessori blogs I follow online.  The Early Education at Home book covers the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, and various theme units.  To supplement the alphabet section, I’ll be using the Letter of the Week preschool curriculum from Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler.  For Math, I also use Math Play! and Singapore Math: Earlybird Pre-School Mathematics.  I have lots of early learning math manipulatives, too. 

When I get Gabriela’s preschool plans finalized, I’ll do a separate post!