Weekly Wrap-up ~ An Epiphany About Curriculum Choices

I have been doing a lot of reflecting about our past couple of years of schooling ... the goods and the bads. Although we have accomplished so much in the past two years, I have noticed that we haven't had the fun that I desire for us to have. We spend the majority of our day on language arts and math and when we get to our unit study, we are rushed for time so just cram in what's easiest. We haven't put our full hearts into our unit studies which we desire to be the core of our studies. Somewhere along the way we have drifted away from it. I think it's probably because unit studies take a lot of work and planning, and regular ol' workbooks, dvd and online lessons are "easier". But I am bored. I haven't had my usual excitement to start school, and it's coming up in just a short month. And that has kind of worried me.

I have had a full-year unit study planned for us for this upcoming school year. But I realized that with everything else we have planned that we will only be able to half-heartedly accomplish all that the unit study offers.

And then I had an epiphany moment. The first year I homeschooled Dawson, we used a full-year unit study called A World of Adventure by Dorian Holt. It contained everything we needed except for math. It was a great year! So why not take that approach this year with Eli and Brynne? Why not use our unit study FULLY, doing everything it offers, add in some daily math, grammar and more intensive writing, and call it good?

And it will be good!

So here is our curriculum ...

It will cover Bible concepts and building character, Bible memory, crafts, health, history, government, social studies, geography, history through biographies, literature and language arts, living, general science, animal science, and the human body.

For math we will stick with what is working for us ....

For grammar we will pick up where we left off with Logic of English (and it also has us keeping up with our cursive handwriting) ...

And for writing we will be using WriteShop Junior Book D.

Additionally we will be doing lots of reading, attending programs at the library, and WE WILL GO ON FIELD TRIPS! We did not go on even one last year. Shameful!

And that's it. All of a sudden I am excited about school again. My goal is to make this year as fun and enriching as possible. Learning something is optional. (But we all know how that goes, huh?)

(And next year I think we will pull back out our A World of Adventure and learn all about the ancients in the same way.)

I am linking up with Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers for her Curriculum Weekly-Wrap up.

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.

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

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.

LaurieJuly 18, 2014 at 11:23 PM
That sounds perfect!! I actually think we used that Prairie Primer when my now adult children were homeschooling- if not that, then something very similar. Stick to your plan- it is a GOOD one. :)
LJS July 19, 2014 at 5:18 AM
Thank you for sharing this. Like you we are going back to what made us most happy - history as our spine and everything through history (except for math). We are trying Diana Waring's program for high school. Like you, I found much of the joy missing and realized we were happiest doing Story of the World and immersing ourselves in the study of history. I hope you update us on how you like it!
UnknownJuly 19, 2014 at 2:00 PM
Sounds like a ton of fun!!!
UnknownJuly 19, 2014 at 10:29 PM
Oh, I've heard such great things about Prairie Primer. I can't wait to hear about your year!!! I, too, have to be careful or LA and math will suck our day away...I've made some changes this year, so we shall see!

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