Our Curriculum is Posted! Looking Back on the First Year

I've been spending some time tonight posting the curriculum we are using this year for Miss B and GMan. We have fallen into a great rhythm, and I feel like I am really getting to KNOW my children and the way the learn and what makes them tick. What an honor it is to spend these days with them and learn side by side.

Truthfully, when we first started homeschooling nearly a full year ago, I wondered how on earth I would adjust to this new lifestyle and how we would ever make it all work. Now, I cannot imagine going back to our old way of life. I knew God was calling us to homeschool, I just wasn't entirely sure I could do it. We have had many struggles and tears, but through it all I had the peace of mind that what my children were learning was consistent with our family's values, and they were safe and loved each and every day. My husband and I remarked tonight that God has provided us all of the tools we needed to educate our children at home. It has been the ultimate faith testing and building adventure for all of us.

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

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What's Working for Us

I enjoy reading The Homeschool Chick's blog, so I've linked up to her blog hop today. Honestly, I could get lost in blog hopping, so some days I have to keep it short, but tonight I have some quiet time to relax and see what's out there.

After a good six weeks of homeschooling for this year it has started to come to my attention the things that are working for us.... truthfully, not much isn't working, but I think that is because we started small and add on something new every couple of weeks. For my own records, I thought I would write a little about what our favorites are so far:

Sonlight Core 3

I can't say enough about this great program. My daughter began it last November. Right now we are finishing Carry On, Mr. Bowditch and also studying the US Constitution. Today my daughter wrote a preamble to the constitution of our household and completed a US Constitution crossword puzzle. Sonlight provides wonderful direction in its history and for a book lover like my daughter it is a perfect fit.

Horizons Math (K and 3)

I had heard so much about other math programs and many people had steered me away from Horizons, but I am glad I went with my instincts on this one. I am amazed at the difficult concepts my children are grasping, and without much difficulty. Horizons' spiral approach and constant review makes new concepts easy. Today, for example, we were working on fractions with like numerators and different denominators. I was illustrating to my daughter that the fractions with more parts (larger denominator) would always be the lesser fraction. She said "I knew that - we went over that already." Yes, we had - but just in a very brief introduction yesterday. I was impressed she made the mental leap.

The Kindergarten program is accelerated and engaging. My son is 1/2 way through, and I anticipate by the holidays we will be ready for level 1. We use the manipulatives daily, and both of my children like the colorful workbook and sophisticated approach to math.

Easy Grammar (Grade 4)

There are lots of different thoughts out there about grammar, but I believe in a rigorous approach that teaches the rules and teaches them early, so that my children have the tools to be good writers. Easy Grammar is great - understandable lessons and I'm shocked to hear my daughter say grammar is her favorite subject.

First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind

I have blogged about this before and still contend it is a beautiful introduction to grammar. My five year old has memorized several poems, is learning about common and proper nouns, and is learning to narrate to me quite nicely. We do a lesson each day, and use our large (portable) dry erase board and lots of fun colors of markers to practice writing.

These are the "biggies" for us right now. I have other thoughts about science, handwriting, music, writing, etc..., but I just wanted to highlight the big ones. All in all I would say homeschool is successful for us. Sure, we have our difficult days and times when I would really love to have a whole day to myself like most other moms. But, those days and times are fleeting, and we wouldn't be normal if that didn't happen.

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Our Curriculum This Year

Kris, over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers has asked homeschool bloggers to share their curriculum for the coming school year. I have been wanting to put it all down into a post so that I can really see everything we are doing (which I think is a lot!). Right now it's hard for me to come up with a daily schedule, but I can see that over the next several weeks a schedule will pretty much come into focus. I love having the flexibility to follow my children's interests and supplement with lapbooks, notebooks, unit studies, but still stick reasonably to our general plan for the year.

I wish I were more organized with plans spreading out over the whole year, but truthfully I think that would make me feel like I had to stick to the plan, and that in turn would take a lot of the joy out of our learning. Can some of you relate?

Miss B
Fourth Grade

• Bible - daily devotions with mom and Bible Verse copywork based on Awana scripture I love what she has done with these printables - I did exactly what the mom and this site did!
  
• History and Literature - Sonlight Core 3 (we will be finishing this mid year and will then proceed to Sonlight Core 4. LOVE this stuff!
• Math - Horizons Math 3 - we began this in November of last year and will hopefully finish November of this. Horizons is a very rigorous math program, so I'm not pushing to quickly. We are playing lots of math games to make things fun!
  
• Spelling - Sequential Spelling Volume 1
  
• Grammar - Easy Grammar Grade 4 and Daily Grams
• Science - a mix between Sonlight's Core 3 Science and Magic School Bus books which I supplement with experiments and other activities. I am trying to have both children do science together this year. I want to be more Charlotte Mason - like and add in some nature study and journaling.
  
• Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears Cursive Success- I also supplement with sporadic copywork, journal writing, etc...
• Writing - Daily 6 Trait Writing, Grade 3 (again, we began mid year last year, so we will be switching to Grade 4 mid year)
• Spanish - Miss B will take Spanish classes once a week for ten weeks from a local teacher. We are very excited to begin this class! It ends with a trip to a local restaurant where the children must order and converse with the waiters in Spanish - fun!
  
• Music - 45 minute piano lessons each week, along with lots of classical music, singing, and dancing (I was an elementary music specialist for 10 years, so this is MY AREA!)
• PE - We are members of our local YMCA. Miss B has been on a synchronized swimming team this summer. When this ends, both kids will continue with tennis lessons at the YMCA. We also obviously go outside each day for bike rides, walks, baseball games in the yard, etc.. I got a great book with a jump rope and lots of rhymes which I hope Miss B will enjoy, too!
  
• Art - looks like I will be coming up with some art activities this year. Last year we took art lessons from a wonderful woman who runs classes just for homeschoolers, but they are on the same day as Spanish classes this year.
  
• Co-op classes: sewing, book club, and geography (our co-op meets once every other week)

G Man
Kindergarten

• Bible - daily devotions with mom and Bible Verse copywork based on Awana scripture
  
• The spine of what we do is coming from Five In a Row, Volume 1 - we cover many subjects through this wonderful books! We've already "rowed" one book and I can tell we will love this.
  
• Reading - I really lucked out here! My little guy is a great reader, thanks mostly to his big sister reading so much with him. So, I do not have to teach him how to read. I have all of our reader books arranged by level in bins and each day we read through a couple together. I just want to maintain his reading each day and keep him interested. He claims he's ready for chapter books, but doesn't have the patience for them.
• Language Arts - First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind, Volumes 1 and 2
  
• Math - lots and lots of math games and manipulatives like unifix cubes, tangrams, blocks, dice - you name it, we can turn it into math. I have also purchased several workbooks with math problems that are at a Kindergarten/First Grade level... I really don't want to workbook this subject to death in Kindergarten!
  
• Science - G Man is tagging along with big sister here and doing Magic School Bus and lots of nature study.
  
• Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears Letters and Numbers For Me
• PE -- this is gonna be important for my little guy! He is currently finishing swim lessons and will swim lots at the YMCA this year. He will also be taking tennis lessons and play t-ball again in the spring.
• Music - fun fun fun! Lots of music with mom and I will be teaching his music class at the co-op as well
• Art - arts and crafts at home with mom and Miss B
• Co-op classes - music, crafts, geography

Of course all of this looks great, doesn't it? What I think is more important, however, is an overall attitude of learning. Last night while celebrating my daughter's birthday, a couple girls decided to let their balloons go in the sky (I wish I would have snapped a picture!) and watch them go higher and higher. My daughter was quick to point out the cirrus clouds and then another little one wondered what the record was for the farthest a balloon had ever gone. My husband was googling it on his iPhone - it's this spirit of inquisitiveness that I want to foster in my children. I think this is the greatest gift we as homeschooling parents can give them. Couple this with a love of God and family and I think we've done our jobs well.

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