School Curriculum 2015/16
We are a classically leaning homeschool family.
I like to think that we homeschool with the classical method but we're cool and swanky here.
But then again, maybe not.
When I first started homeschooling I think the very first book I read was The Well Trained Mind.
Mind. Blowing. It was such a great book. It's thick so if you read it, just know that you don't have to read the whole thing. It's not a sit down and read from cover to cover kind of book. Rather it's a book that explains the way kids learn, how they memorize, how the one-room school house of learning and teaching was so great, and then the book is split in chunks for age groups from preschool through high school.
The book is not a set curriculum but as it was written by a mother and daughter who both have homeschooled their children, it's more of a "this is what we think is really great for this subject...." kind of approach and then it gives different suggestions for what to order.
Most of the things that they offer are relatively inexpensive which was my biggest concern when i started piecing everything together.
And since we piece everything together it is often difficult to tell people what I use when I am asked. So I thought I'd write it down here for you and for me have to remember, lol.
I'm just going to list everything together because there is a lot of duplication. When you have kids 18 months apart in age, they pretty much can study the same things just a little tweaked to be at different levels. You know, I'm lazy like that. In the subjects where they have different work, I've made a note.
So here we go...
Emma Kazoo's in the 4th grade!!!
Bible: Awanas (Cals in Sparks and Emma's in T&T)
Spelling: Spelling Plus
Grammar: First Language Lessons (Emma has level 4, Cal has level 3)
Handwriting/Writing: Emma: Draw and Write Through History, Books 1 and 2
Calvin: Handwriting Without Tears, Level 2
Math: Saxon (Emma's doing 5/4, Cal's dong 3)
Latin: Emma is doing Latina Christiana I, Cal's doing, well, Cal isn't doing any Latin
History: The Story of the World, Volume 1 (Ancient Times)
Geography: The Story of the World, Activity Book for Volume 1 (Ancient Times)
Science: Apologia's Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics
Music: Classical Conversations and Piano Lessons
Keyboarding: Scholastic Jump Start Typing
I listed links on everything to the publishers when I could so you can do your own research and see what all they offer and all of the supplemental products. But we buy most of our things from Christian Book. They always have great prices and a lot of times I can score a free shipping deal which makes it not as painless to shop.
This is a bit confusing (or maybe just to me???) so I hesitate to bring this up but...I also use Classical Conversations.
Kind of.
Just a little bit.
So here's some backstory for you.
Last year we did Classical Conversations because it seemed so easy. But we had to do it at home because we had ABA therapy for Cal and I just could not get it to work with our schedule.
From everything I've heard from all of my awesome friends I'm assuming I didn't dig it as much as I had hoped because we did it at home.
What I took away from doing CC for a year at home was that I really, really enjoying the methodology behind it all and how they teach kids to memorize and remember.
What I am not a fan of is how little it taught of history compared to The Story of the World. We have used SOTW since we started homeschooling and I've always enjoyed how the history reads like a story and that the activity book pretty much has everything that you need...including maps that teach geography.
So the long and short of it is I still have my CC foundations guide and I went through and compared everything in it to the story of the world and matched the weeks up. To do it, it literally took me two entire days and I was locked in a hotel room by myself trying to figure out how it all would fit. But it does and so we will have memory work that goes with the stories and the reading and maps and the activities.
I hope that all makes sense. It probably all sounds insane and like too much work but what I have found in the 5 YEARS I have been doing this is that everybody has something different that works for them.
I can't believe I've been homeschooling for 5 years. I should know how to do this already, right?
So there ya go, the long and short of what we will be doing. Pray for us please... I think, no I know we will need it!