Ten Things To Consider When Choosing A Math Curriculum

Math is not my strong suit. 

I was a teacher and have a masters degree in education, but I was woefully unprepared to teach math to my own children.

I remember my dad saying "How are you going to teach them math?".   I was offended by his statement.  But you know what, I should have done better research in the beginning - I WAS unprepared to teach my children in this area! 

Over the summer I have THOROUGHLY researched many math curricula available to the homeschool market.   We have also had experience with two different math programs in our homeschool.   

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Overwhelmed With Planning?

During much of our "off" time this summer I have been thinking about and planning for the upcoming school year.The down side to immersing myself in homeschool reading (books, blogs, magazines, etc...) is the tendency to try and over schedule for next year.  On more than a couple occasions, I have had to take a deep breath and remind myself:  "Keep it simple." and "Less is more."

How, then, to keep from being overwhelmed with the planning and the myriad of curricular choices?

{To read the rest of this post, visit me today at The Homeschool Classroom, where I am now a contributing author!}

The First Day of Not-Back-To School!

Today is officially our FIRST day of the new school year.   I don't feel like we ever stopped learning through the summer, but there's something about rolling over to a new grade level that gets us motivated for the new school year!  


After a year of seeing what worked and didn't work for us, I feel very confident about the curriculum choices we've made for the upcoming school year.  Much of our curriculum is based on The Well Trained Mind.   Other parts take on a Charlotte Mason approach.  I love that homeschooling allows me this flexibility!   


Last year, we did a lot of combining in our homeschool, and this seemed to work VERY well.   History, Science, and our foreign language will be taught together.  I want to stress:  This is just a plan for our year!   Last year I loved the freedom to jump around according to my children's interests, and I plan on doing that again this year.  I like, however, having the curriculum books on our shelves as guides (spines, if you will) for our learning.   


As a member of the 2011-2012 TOS Review Crew I am also sure there will be a lot of wonderful material for our family to review.   We may take detours to work on these reviews, etc...  I'm open to wherever God leads us this year!    

Homegrown Learning Academy:  

2011-2012 Curriculum

GMan - Grade 1/Age 6-7

Miss B - Grade 5/ Age 10

Math -  Horizons 2 & 3  (GMan) and Horizons 5 (Miss B) - Miss B functions exactly on grade level in math... GMan is some what of a math whiz.  He completed nearly three math levels last year and is still asking for more math this summer.    I am making him go through the formal steps of each book so we don't miss any vital steps.   I have been advised to add in The Life of Fred for Miss B, so we may try that as the year moves along.  

Grammar - First Language Lessons, Volume 2 (GMan)

                 Easy Grammar 5 (Miss B)

History - Story of The World - finish Volume 1 and begin Volume 2

Bible - Apologia's Who Am I? and What Am I Doing Here?   Daily Devotions through Keys for Kids, and Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System

Writing - Writing With Ease 1 (GMan) and Writing With Ease 4 (Miss B)

Spelling - Spelling Workout B (GMan) and Spelling Workout E (Miss B)

Latin - Prima Latina

Science - Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day; additional science units based on interest and nature study via The Handbook of Nature Study Blog

Reading - no formal reading curriculum for my little guy... he loves to read and reads quite well.  We do much interest based reading where he reads aloud to me.   I debate the need for a formal phonics program, because I think it would be redundant.   Both of my children are avid readers - this is definitely an area I do not need to plan for!  We like to do author studies throughout the year (last year we did Roald Dahl, EB White, and Tomie dePaola) and I hope to continue this year.   

Keyboarding - Typing Instructor for Kids

Fine Arts - Apprentice Arts Fine Arts Curriculum , piano lessons (Miss B), Draw Write Now

PE - Family Time Fitness, baseball (GMan), swimming (Miss B)

Co-Op - Two classes each semester for each child.  We love this time to be with other homeschool families and take classes led by other moms!  

Putting this all down in writing really makes it look quite ambitious.  I've developed our own modified workbox system (which I will be sharing with you later this week!) and everyone is excited to get back to work.  

Is your curriculum in place for the coming school year?   Are we using any of the same things?   Do you have any recommendations for me?  

~ Happily linking up with Heart Of The Matter's Not-Back-To-School Blog Hop!