After
weeks and weeks of praying and planning, the curriculum list for 2013-2014 is
done, except PE! (Thankfully, Georgia
has plenty of summer days so I have some time to figure it out!)
We
are mixing things up this year, remaining eclectic in style!
First,
my youngest son will be "officially" in school as a new
Kindergartner!
Second,
I really worked hard in making sure we focused on subjects that are not typically
in schools. After all what's the benefit of homeschooling if you cannot
give your children an unique education?
As
a result, we will be adding Life Skills, Health, Character, Computers, and
Keyboarding to our curriculum. For my Kinder, we are adding Logic and I cannot
wait to see the wheels of his little brain turn.
Finally,
because my little one will be more involved, we can actually spend some time at
the table learning together this year. Our "final" new entry to this
school year is more time together as a family learning about each other and
God.
I
am very excited for this year and cannot wait to get the ball rolling!
Personal Devotions/Bible
(We
study this as a family!)
God
& Me (Acute devotional that leads us into a quick Bible story & prayer for the day!)
A is for Adam
(AiG's alphabet Bible curriculum with cute riddles for us to remember!)
Godly Traits
(A jar of "Godly Traits" that we pick from a couple of times per week and discuss.)
Grapevine Studies
(Stick-figuring our way from "Joseph to the Promised Land" this year.)
Family/Group
Geography
RoadTrip
USA (and postcard swaps!)
State
Notebook by Primary Graffiti
We made our way
through the Northeast & Southeast! Hoping to finish up the west coast this
year (December would be ideal!)
Science/Health
Apologia: Zoology 2 Swimming
Creatures with Notebook (junior for Chipmunk!)
ABeka
Health 3 (for Peanut)
Readers on good
nutrition, hygiene, and exercise (Chipmunk)
This
is our first year with Apologia! We have heard all rave reviews and my oldest
soon is REALLY into sea animals. I am still a bit reserved teach a very
concentrated science as opposed to a broad view. Something inside of me still
says that science should include (matter, force, motion, plants, animals,
fossils, rocks, human body, etc) I am definitely going outside of my comfort
zone to offer him a better science experience. We will see how it goes.
At
the beginning of the summer, I was desperately looking for something in the
area of hygiene for my oldest son. We discovered Abeka's Health 2 and we loved
it. So, I am picking up the beginning of the year with Health 1 day per week.
It has really helped him and I am so grateful to not be preaching this concept
to him every.single.morning.
Logic/Critical
Thinking
Can
You Find Me?
(Chipmunk)
Mind
Benders Book 3
(Peanut)
This
is fairly new to us. I have been teaching logic to my Peanut through samples of
standardized and gifted tests. We are striving for hard for Mensa! Last
year, he scored three points less to get in! Ugh! I figured we should
supplement with Mind Benders to help us get over the edge. Because, I
knew Chipmunk would want to follow behind his big brother, I purchased a simple
workbook for him too. (I did not know providers sold logic curriculum for Kinders
until I asked; so this is a major bonus for us!)
Life Skills
As I was thinking
over “life skills” I really thought there wasn’t anything I could give them at
their ages. They were really too young for anything I came up with: cooking,
baking, consumer math, survival-hood, etc… I began to give up on it saying
“they’re just too young for ‘life!’” LOL!
I was watching
one my favorite pastors on TV and he revealed children are never too young to
learn about money. I loved what he shared and I wrote down some of his wisdom
to share with them in a few years! Then I found ABC’s of Handling Money God’s Way! Ta-da! I found a way to
introduce them to a life skill that they will need for the rest of their
lives.
Physical
Fitness
We will be going
outside at least through October, but I would like to find a DVD/curricula by
September so we can still get a bit of exercise in during the winter months.
Kinder (My Chipmunk)
Language A Beka Handwriting, K5
A Beka Phonics & Reading K5
Bi-weekly letters to pen pals
(One girl in South Africa and one boy who live in the English Channel!)
Story telling and read alouds (by mom) of classical/modern literature texts.
I
have planned 15 minutes of our day to read one picture book and one excerpt of
literature to both boys. I need to promote a love of reading and
literature in our homeschool! My oldest has the reading bug, but he is finding
other ways to occupy his time lately and I would much rather see him reading
more. Also, my youngest is beginning to learn to read and I need to foster
reading the same as I did with his brother.
Math
BJU K5
Social Studies
A Beka Community Helpers
Third Grade (My Peanut)
About a 3rd of his curriculum come from BJU Press. We love their content! My son could never quite get into their History so we need to change. We loved the Science and are only leaving it to study a more concentrated view of subject (sea animals!) I want to "test" something out in Reading and that is the only reason we have put it on hold this year. I have a strong feeling we will back to it for 4th!
Language
Creative Writing w/
mom-inspired writing prompts
Math
History
Gallopade’s1000 Readers
(We have some pretty fun people to study this year, see below for sample list!)
(We have some pretty fun people to study this year, see below for sample list!)
Christian Liberty Press is new for us! I discovered this on Christian Book one day, not even looking for it. I tried a few social studies/history programs last year and I could new quite get anything we both liked (and learned from!) By the beginning of July, I figured one will come to me and when it does (whenever is does) we will teach/learn it then. So far, I love everything about, especially the price! ($10 for the whole year and only $3 for my Teacher's Edition.) Hopefully, it lasts the year!
We found Gallopade's Readers at a homeschool convention this summer. Love it! What a quick, fun, and easy way to focus in one historical figure when it's time to catch a break from the main studies.
Enrichment
Latin: Rosetta Stone & Getting Started
w/ Latin
Character: Notgrass’
Walking in Truth
Keyboarding: Typing
Instructor
Art: See the Light
Music: Young Composers &
Steve Green
There you have it!
Reviews forthcoming.....
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your thoughts!