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Receiving new curriculum materials in the mail is like opening a gift on Christmas morning! It is exciting to look at the new materials and books and anticipate all the learning that will take place in the upcoming school year. In reality, all of our homeschooling days won’t necessarily be fun. Both the kids and I won’t necessarily want to do the work each and every day but I know we will have many good days too. It’s exciting to think of the possibilities that lay ahead and the idea of it all.
Getting to the point of receiving those materials in the mail can be quite the process though. It takes a lot of time and effort to research and think and plan and pray about all the choices that must be made as each of the child’s abilities and needs are assessed. There is also the consideration of my time, as teacher and mom and blogger, and how I’m going to manage it all.
Last year we used Sonlight which we are not using this year, except for Science for Kellan. There were things I really liked about it but ultimately I decided it wasn’t the right fit for us this year. At some point we may go back to it but for this upcoming year I need to have the time and energy to work with both of the girls as they continue to learn to read. It can be very time consuming to read Sonlight’s book selections and some of the book choices for Kindergarten wouldn’t be a good fit for our girls. Plus, I wanted to try out some new curriculum choices this year.
Our 2015-2016 Curriculum Choices:
Kellan – Age 7.5 years (2nd/3rd Grade)
- Science – nature study (attending an outside class that meets bi-weekly for 3 hours) and Sonlight Science C (2009 version)
- Math – Math U See Gamma
- Writing/Language Arts – Brave Writer: Jot It Down! with his sisters and Brave Writer: A Quiver of Arrows
- Spelling – All About Spelling Level 3 (he is about 1/2 finished) and begin Level 4
- Geography – Around the World with Kate and Mack, Five in a Row, The Complete Book of Maps and Geography
- History – Usborne Time Traveler
, The Usborne Book of World History, A Child’s History of the World
(we purchased all three of these last year for Sonlight B, didn’t finish them, and will continue reading them even though I did not purchase the Sonlight C instructor’s guide), Liberty’s Kids videos
- Bible – Daily devotions, Bible Verse memorization in coordination with Character Building Units (something I am putting together which will be released to my email subscribers in late August), What’s In The Bible? videos
- Physical Fitness – Karate and he is also attending an outside class one morning per week which includes gym
- Art – Home Art Studio
, Draw Write Now
, Sharks Chalk Pastel Art and he is attending an outside class one morning per week which includes art
- Typing – not sure which program yet
- Cursive Handwriting – a couple of workbooks I found at our local Goodwill
Jenna & Alaina – Age 5 years (at the end of August) – Kindergarten
- Science -nature study (attending an outside class that meets bi-weekly for 3 hours) and various science kits and books
- Math – Math-U-See Primer
- Reading – All About Reading Level 1, You Can Read Word Families from 1+1+1=1, and You Can Read! (sight words) from 1+1+1=1
- Handwriting – Various workbooks
- Geography – Around the World with Kate and Mack, Five in a Row, United States puzzles and activities
- Bible – Daily devotions, Bible Verse memorization in coordination with Character Building Units (something I am putting together which will be released to my email subscribers in late August), What’s In The Bible? videos
- Writing – Brave Writer: Jot It Down!
- Art – Home Art Studio
, Sharks Chalk Pastel Art
- Physical Fitness – Ballet and they are also attending an outside class one morning per week which includes gym
- Supplementary Learning – abcmouse.com
New choices for us this year are:
- Five in a Row – we will work on this all together and it will be supplementary for us
- Brave Writer – we will work on Jot It Down! all together and will be embracing the Brave Writer lifestyle this year which I am very excited about! (I will share more about this in future posts)
- Around the World with Kate and Mack – we will read through this all together
In addition to all of these selections, we will take field trips, read together, play games, complete hands-on activities, do learning activities just for fun and I will allow them to pursue interests as they come up. I keep a weekly list of things we want to accomplish but I also try keep things flexible and follow our children’s lead.
All three children will attend two outside homeschool classes. One of the classes is an enrichment program in a Christian environment with a focus on writing/speech, art and gym. The class meets weekly for 3 hours. The other class is at a nature center and is also a supplementary program for homeschoolers with a focus on hands-on learning and outdoor exploration. The class meets bi-weekly for 3 hours. Both programs are a drop-off and are quite honestly a sanity-saver for me as they give me the breathing room I need to be a better mom. Plus, the kids love being with friends and getting out of the house so it’s a win-win.
If you have any questions about our curriculum choices please feel free to contact me.
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