Back-to-Homeschool Day 2: Curriculum Choices 2014-2015

In my previous post, I addressed many of the questions regarding curriculum decisions and purchasing.

Let's move on now to what we've settled on for this coming year.

Big Girl - 5th Grade

Math - Saxon 5/4 and 6/5
History - Tapestry of Grace
Geography - Tapestry of Grace
Bible/Worldview - What We Believe: Who Is God?
Science - Apologia Zoology 3: Land Animals
Spelling - Tapestry of Grace
Writing - Tapestry of Grace
Art - Tapestry of Grace
Literature - Tapestry of Grace
Piano - Simply Music Learn at Home program
P.E. - weekly karate lessons & softball traveling team

Big Boy - 2nd Grade

Math - Saxon Math 2
Phonics - Saxon Phonics 2
History - Tapestry of Grace
Geography - Tapestry of Grace
Bible/Worldview - What We Believe: Who Is God?
Science - Apologia Zoology 3: Land Animals
Spelling - Saxon Phonics 2
Writing - Tapestry of Grace
Art - Tapestry of Grace
Literature - Tapestry of Grace
Piano* - Simply Music Learn at Home program
P.E. - weekly karate lessons

*We are still debating on whether or not this is actually going to fit into Big Boy's schedule without overwhelming him. We will use the Simply Music system if we decide to move forward with piano lessons.

Baby Boy - Preschool

I use the Golden Books Step Ahead series. We will start with the following titles:
Before I Write
Counting 1 to 10
Shapes and Colors
I'm Ready for School

Once we complete this set of 4 books, we will move on to the Mickey Mouse titles. He will also be sitting in on the big kids' Bible/Worldview class with his own coloring book. In between books, at holidays, or just if I feel like we need a change of pace, I like to hunt for free learning packs, folder games, and simple lapbooks on Pinterest. Anything to keep his little hands busy is a good thing!

Baby Girl will of course be present during all of this, so I know scheduling is going to be a challenge.

Speaking of scheduling, come back next week to see how I make it all work!

School & Sickness

What a crazy few weeks! My family has decided to go out and catch every bug they could and pass it around the past 3-4 weeks. First Big Boy, then Big Girl, myself, the three oldest, my husband, and then Baby Girl! We are still not 100% here, but we are hopefully getting over our last round of this stuff.

School has pretty much been a joke through all of this, but we were able to get some stuff done here and there. Plus, I learned one disadvantage to the set up I have had for the past couple of years.

As I've mentioned several times, we use and love Tapestry of Grace for most of our subjects. I love the approach that they (and several other curricula) take in using with multiple age groups. It makes planning so much easier on me, allows the kids to learn from each other since they are covering the same topics, and helps dad (or the non-teaching parent) to keep up with what is happening in school.

The problem comes when one child gets sick. What then do you do? I could keep going and just have the sick child miss those days but then what happens when new lessons depend on the knowledge gained in the missed lessons. Plus, I could be back to planning separate lessons for each of my children. I could just give everyone the day off of school, but what if said sickness lasts for much longer than anticipated? Now, I'm having to scramble to get all of our allotted days in according to state law. Do I say forget the curriculum and do a separate unit study to pass the time with healthy kids? I could but then the library gets cranky because now all my school books are well past due.

So what did I do these last few weeks when we had pretty much every non-serious bug imaginable hit our house? A bit of a combination of all of the above.

I was blessed by the fact that the Winter Olympics were on when my kids all came down sick - instant unit study! Yay! We did really easy lapbooks (which I'll blog on when get all wrapped up with those), and the kids got the afternoons off to watch the competition. They loved the break from our usual routine and the fact that they got to watch lots of TV!

But then what about all those library books? Well, as I said, the lapbooks we did were super easy and had enough flexibility to be able to get caught up on when said sick child felt better. That allowed for all of the regularly schedule reading to take place on schedule. Sick kids can still hear read-alouds after all, and the healthy kids get out of the regular assignments since we're doing Olympics unit. Plus, I can return those library books on time, so the librarians stay happy with me! Win-win for everyone!

Now I just have to figure out how to convince the kids to happily return to their normal routine of full lessons and assignments. Hmmmm.....thoughts on this one?

2013-2014 Curriculum

So, it's been a while since I last checked in. Last year about this time to be exact. I thought what a better way to kick off my blog (again) would be to join in on the iHomeschool Network blog hop!

Big Girl (4th grade) - Seriously! Where has the time gone?

• Math - Saxon Math 54
• Science - Apologia Zoology 2 with Notebooking Journal
• Handwriting - American Cursive Handwriting by Michael Sull
• Piano - Simply Music - Click along the left hand side to find a teacher in your area! This is not a curriculum you purchase and teach yourself, but it is a wonderful program none-the-less. Last year we struggled so much with getting Big Girl to practice, and this year, she is practicing without needing the reminder!
• P.E. - After 4 years of dance, she will be switching gears and starting karate at our local dojo. This makes her mama (a former dancer) a little bit sad, but I'm excited to see her learn new things!
• Everything Else - Tapestry of Grace Year 3 - Yes, literally every other subject comes from this one place. It intermixes Bible/church history, geography, history, literature, spelling, writing, and art beautifully! Our first two years with the program I was so impressed, I've never looked back! Plus, it is all housed on the computer, so no big binders to lug around!

Big Boy (1st grade) - This is a big year full of big changes for him because he gets to join his sister for many classes!

• Math - Saxon Math 1
• Science - Apologia Zoology 2 with Junior Notebooking Journal
• Phonics - Saxon Phonics 1
• Piano - Music for Little Mozarts - I was horrible about staying on top of this last year, so we'll probably start over with this book. Hopefully I can be more disciplined!
• P.E. - karate at the local dojo
• Everything Else - Tapestry of Grace Year 3 

Baby Boy (2 yo)

No official school here, but I've been pinning things like crazy this summer and plan to get together busy boxes and other "school" activities for him. I also bought a few books that I used with Big Girl just in case he surprises me and wants to do "big kid school" like his sister did at this age. I'll be honest, though, keeping him busy is my biggest concern going into school this year! 

So that's it! Our curriculum choices for 2013-2014. I'm beyond excited to get started on it this September (as soon as it all comes in *wink*)!

Want to see what others are doing? Either click the button at the top of the page or right below for more great ideas, and don't forget to come back next week for a tour of our school room!

My New Love...

I cannot fully express how much I love my history program!

Before I try, though, let me tell you about my experience with learning history - BORING! When I determined to homeschool my kids, one thing I strived to do was to be as excited about teaching history, grammar, writing, literature, etc as I was about teaching math and science. I didn't want my kids dreading their classes but looking forward to them. I wanted them to hunger for learning, to "leave class" with their appetite wet but not quite satisfied.

Well, my history program does this and more! What am I using you ask?

The weaving of secular and Biblical history to give a truly well-round history is stupendous! I'm beginning to understand history and make connections in ways that I previously found to be confusing. There is no "here is your Bible lesson" and "here is your history lesson". It is all the same. As the student is learning about Moses, they are also mapping Egypt, learning about mummies, getting to know the Pharoahs, seeing who the Egyptian gods were, and understanding why the 10 plagues were so devastating to the Egyptian people. I was absolutely blown away!

For younger students, the use of arts & crafts not only gave them a break from the typical history lessons, but also allowed them to experience an aspect of that culture or time period. This year we've learning wall construction, scultped working oil lamps, painted Egyptian paddle dolls, created salt-dough maps, weaved paper, decorated crowns, etc. Warrior even started whining that preschool was boring after seeing everything Princess was getting to do. Guess who has been sitting in on 2nd grade history? I love it!

One of my husband's favorite aspects of Tapestry of Grace is the Pop Quiz. Basically, it's a CD with a short 15-minute weekly summary of what the child has been learning for dad to listen to, so he can feel involved in school. He doesn't have to ask "so, what did you do in school today?" because he already knows! There are also little quiz cards, which can be used for review with dad, if he wishes to be even more involved in the learning process.
Not only is the Bible/history aspect to this curriculum exciting but it also covers art, literature, geography, and writing. The only subjects you need to add are math and science, so it has also been a budget saver for our family. And speaking of budgets, you only have to buy 4 years worth of curriculum to last you from 1st-12th grade!

Want to try Tapestry of Grace for yourself? They offer a free 3 week mini-unit on their website. This isn't a flimsy sample, either. It is the full lesson plans, maps, activity pages, book lists, lapbook components, writing aids, evaluations, and even the Pop Quiz. If I have it as a user, you will have it in this sample!

I hope you find that after looking over the sample, you love it as much as I do!

Geography...the fun way!

Step away from the worksheets! Put the pencils down! Stop labeling maps!

Geography doesn't have to be boring. It doesn't have to be all pencil pushing. When it comes to making geography fun, get hands on! Even your most determined book and worksheet learners will have fun with salt dough maps!

First step is to make salt dough. You can find a multitude of recipes through a simple Google search. I love using salt dough for crafts because it is safe if ingested. We used the recipe found in the Tapestry of Grace curriculum. *Note: You can use wheat flour if that is all you have in the cabinet. I did, and it worked great!

Next, have your child build a country of their liking on a paintable surface. We used one side of a broken down cardboard box. Push toothpicks into the landforms you want your child to identify. Allow map to dry at least 24 hours.

Third, have your student paint the map. This was by far Princess's favorite step! We even used some blue glitter glue on the smaller water bodies to make it pretty!

Last but certainly not least, make labels for each landform and attach to the toothpicks. I used basic Avery address labels and folded them in half around the toothpicks.

Princess had so much fun doing this activity and it made learning geographic terms so much easier for her because she saw the formations come to life on her map! She was so excited to share her schoolwork with Daddy when he got home. Always a plus for me since he doesn't have to ask "so, what did you do in school today?" 

Another fun variation on this activity is to use cookie dough and "paint" your map with icing after baking it -- geography and a snack all rolled into one! I look forward to testing out this variation as soon as possible!