Thinking Curriculum

With us being snowed in I have had lots of time on my hands. What better time to start thinking about next year's curriculum?

Since this was our first year homeschooling, we have totalling winged it. What we have done has been very successful, but there are some changes I would like to make based on many factors.

Here is what I have tentatively planned for next year, so far:

Dawson ~ 9th Grade (next year)

Language Arts: Easy Grammer Ultimate Series 9
Science: Apologia Biology
Math: Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra with Economics and then Beginning Algebra
Social Studies: American History by using "America: The Story of Us" video series from The History Channel with Notebooking using Advanced History from Hold that Thought!
Literature: Every three weeks we will read a Living Book based on our history topic
Writing: IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons Volume 1
Art: The Usborne Art Treasury ~ study one artist per month
Personal Reading: Student's choice
Typing: Good Typing (continuation of lessons from this year)
Spanish: LiveMocha (continuation of lessons from this year)

** Does anybody have any bad experiences with any of these curriculum choices? **

Brynne ~ 2nd Grade (next year)

Language Arts: Easy Grammar Daily Grammar Teaching and Review for 2nd Grade
Science: Interest-based (self built curriculum) starting with The Human Body and Health using primarily Living Books
Math: Math Mammoth Light Blue Grade 2
Social Studies: Following Dawson's curriculum with self-built lessons using primarily Living Books starting with Jamestown, Early Settlers and Boston Tea Party and with Notebooking using Beginning History from Hold that Thought!
Literature: Each week we will read several Living Books based on our history topic
Writing: IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons Volume 1 and copywork with Copywork for Little Girls.
Art: The Usborne Art Treasury ~ study one artist per month
Personal Reading: Classic stories and student's choice
Nature: We will follow lessons from Barb at Handbook of Nature Study

And those are my preliminary plans for next year. I welcome any comments or recommendations. I am trying to stay as much on a Charlotte Mason path as possible, keeping in mind that my son needs to be prepared to re-enter public school at any time we might decide that it would be best for him to return. (I don't have any plans for that at this time, but I want to be prepared.)

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

A Thomas Jefferson Education "This Week in History" ~ Schoolhouse Review

Talk about a GOLD MINE! A Thomas Jefferson Education's This Week in History by Rachel DeMille is her "labor of love" ... and I absolutely LOVE it! " This Week in History is a daily resource that brings your home school or classroom to life." For just $9.99 per month, you can log onto TJEd.com and click the "This Week in History" link to obtain many, many, many resources tied to specific events that occurred in the upcoming week in history. Or even better, you can receive the summaries and links to ALL resources right in your email Inbox each week! It doesn't get any easier than that! What does this really look like in real life? Each week, I receive an email from Rachel DeMille that sets out each date of the coming week. Under the date, there are listed anywhere from one to several events that occurred in history on that date. THEN there are ALL kinds of things to do related to that event, such as books to read, websites to visit, ac...

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

closedFebruary 6, 2011 at 12:41 PM
I think your off to a great start! I have also been snowed in and making my order list for next year(: I would suggest for math, math U see, it has great reviews...if you want to check out reviews for anything you have or are thinking about you should check out homeschoolreviews.com its great and has been very helpful! Blessings!!!
StandinginhislightFebruary 6, 2011 at 1:02 PM
Fabulous choices; stay w/ what is working for you all.
For the younger years, Math-U-See or Abeka arithmetic are good choices.
Keep on keep o;, you, dear mama, are doing fantastic!
~Sheri
Aloha AcresFebruary 6, 2011 at 5:16 PM
You probably already have a plan, but we love the history living books / study guide from Beautiful Feet. (www.bfbooks.com). You can purchase the study guide and get the books from your local library. Brad and I have used it for two years in a row and it's been great.

I know, I know .... you asked about "math", not "history". I get side-tracked easily. :)

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