Tuesday, July 22, 2014

CURRICULUM 2014-2015



I rather enjoy reading curriculum choices that others make.
Certainly not because it will change my decisions, but the diversity of it all is nice--plus, sometimes I will run across something that looks like it is worth checking out.

2014/2015 will see us with a 3rd grader, 1/2 grader (I'll say 2nd grade officially), and a K/1 grader.
I really don't think that #4 is ready for any official schooling and at 3 1/2 years old, I'm not pushing.  If he decides to join us, great!  If not, no problem.

So, what are we using?
* p.s. all the pictures are coming off of amazon.com, rather than take my own*

Bible:  Veritas Press Judges through Kings 

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Along with:

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for morning and/or evening reading.
We are about halfway through "Long Story Short" and if we finish, there is the New Testament continuation.

History:  My Father's World  Exploring Countries and Cultures

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(There is a different cover on our book, but still 2nd edition)
This year's history curriculum is actually more geography based

Science:  Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 3:  Land Animals of the Sixth Day

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We are using the Junior Notebooks, which I find to be more than adequate for both kids
 (2nd and 3rd Grade).
I only ordered 2, so if Missy wants to do the notebooking pages, we will make our own to fit her skills.

Also, we are continuing this:

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from last year.  Michael only did 1 animal per week last school year and it will fit nicely with the science for this year as well.

Math:  MCP Mathematics Level B & C

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and Horizons Level K

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I ordered Horizons for K, really only because I already had the Teacher's manual and it was a bit less expensive to buy just the K workbooks rather than the whole MCP level K set.  We used Horizons K for our first homeschool year and it worked just fine for us.

We also supplement with Life of Fred for a change.

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We borrowed this from a friend last school year, and I'm hoping we can use the next book for this coming year.  It is a complete change of pace and the kids enjoy it.  We would use the meatier curriculum 3 or 4 days a week and then Life of Fred once a week.

Writing:  Handwriting Without Tears K

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Cursive Connections for 2 & Writing Strands
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Patriotic Penmanship for 3 & Writing Strands
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Along with weekly journal writing.

Language:  We have a mixture of things.  Language Lessons for Today, 

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 (there is a new cover, but we also have this book that we will be using)

Write a Super Sentence.

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How to Report on Books.

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Art:  Global Art (works in conjunction with History)

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and 

Easy Origami (also works with our History program)

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and 
Masterpiece of the Month

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I'm sure there will be other projects as well, along the way.

Music:  Wee Sing Around the World (again, works with our History)

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and I'm hoping we can continue piano lessons. 
 That remains to be seen at this point.

We also use Then Sings My Soul weekly.

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Some other fun things for this year:

Writing Poetry with Children

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The Quiet Arts Series:  Level 1
Lessons in Responsibility for Girls

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Manners Made Easy for the Family

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You Can Change the World (volume 1)

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Some of these things I am hoping to incorporate into a Morning Meeting type thing.  
We will be trying it as something new this year.

I'm also hoping to purchase a Spanish Curriculum, but I haven't yet.
We will see if it happens or not.

I am not doing a formal Spelling curriculum.  We read a lot, and if necessary, I will pull out words from our literature.  

What do we plan on reading?

I won't list them all, but some on my list include:
"Adara"
"Justin Morgan had a Horse"
"The Sword in the Tree"
"Sign of the Beaver"
"Homer Price"
"Tirzah"
"The Sign of the Beaver"
"Kingdom's Dawn"

and more.

Whew!  I think I got just about everything in there.

Of course, we then have our extra-curricular activities!

I have not yet written out a weekly plan, but I shooting for a 4 day school week once again, with day 5 for errands, catch-up, projects etc.

I'll let you know how it all works out!

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