Moving on...
Anyone who knows me well knows I have great passions for education. Enough that I have committed to make sure I am super involved in my own children's education... this time of year really brings out the nerd in me. When everyone else is super excited about summer and enjoys all it has to offer, I am knee deep into books, catalogs, reviews, other blogger sites and books about books! And, I LOVE it. I mean nothing makes me more happy then searching/finding & planning out what we will be doing the next year. So because that makes me the most happy and because well.. I am the one typing I am starting with curriculum!~
2013-2014 Curriculum Choices
And writing it all down helps me plan for tomorrows trip to the homeschool store (and YES, there are homeschool stores AND most have HUGE used saving sections- I know- I too was shocked when I heard this). So here it goes....
What I know:
Math- using K12 Math + (the reasons are long but the short answer is b/c I have tried other math programs and honestly I have yet to find one I like as much as this. They are colorful and easy to complete and have a good price).
Handwriting - HWOT (for newbies this is Handwriting Without Tears). I have used this with the girls and its a great program- it is also something I don't exactly teach. Each child get the workbook and completes it at his or her own pace. Usually at the pace of a page a day. When they have completed them (usually about 3 months into the year- we continue to do daily journal - handwriting is one of the top must be down every day).
Phonics- This was a hard one for me. But, I have decided on K12's phonicsworks program. The main reason is well I used it to teach 2 other kids to read and it doesn't make sense to start a new program for this one and we already own it. We will see how this goes. If this doesn't work then I will look into another option. We have done a few lessons already and he is doing great with it!
Everything else: After looking a lot on this I have decided to use MFW K (newbies this is My Father's World Kindergarten)- sort of a unit study, it includes tons of subjects while learning lot of various things. Now before you praise the program and get all super excited about it please don't. I am not using the program in entirely. Actually, I am using just a small part of it. I will use the individual units and pick and choose the lessons. Ok, nerd claim here- I actually have already planned the entire year and which lessons we will be doing. For you out there not familiar with MFW. Here is an example: Unit 1 is sun. The kids have learned that, Jesus is the light of the world. We have done a lot of talking about the sun and we have done a lot of discussion on Jesus lighting our paths. There are art projects, science experiments, and lots of reading recommendations.
Wrap up for Red: I really believe kindergarten is about playing, learning, and being read to A LOT. My goal is to make sure he has a book read to him everyday (and trust me this isn't really a goal as much as one of his own demands) and it must be on my lap and that we include him in everything we older ones are learning because he is small but his mind is really mighty! He LOVES books, he has his own library card and uses it as much as I use mine. I have yet to teach him something because he is the baby and has already heard me teach everything before. Ohhh, and he is cocky so he knows EVERYTHING.
Red's Goals for this year:
1. Patience with all of us
2. Learn to love to learn
3. Being a boy doesn't mean to be mean... it means you are to protect and learn to lead your own family one day.
Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."
Math: K12's Math + (someday I will write about what we have used and why I am not working on using it again. I also have gotten the Mathtacular DVD's. I think this will be a nice change for them to watch someone else teaching math and it has lots of fun games we can learn.
Handwriting: HWOT (cursive) then journals. A page a day .. you can choose or I will choose. I really just want them to write. I don't grade I just read and hope they will find a love for writing.
Grammar: We will not talk about this- I am super frustrated on this one....
Art: Now for this one I am super excited.. I know, I skipped art up to the top of the list but I am excited! I am using Mike's Imagination station 12 dvd set. We are just going to have super fun being inspired to do all kinds of art. Drawings, cartoons, sculpting, painting... and so much more! Won't lie, we have actually already watched a few of these and are even more excited about it then we were just talking about getting it. We will do some art appreciation studies but that will be less formal.
Music: this is an area I haven't spent a lot of time... We have a great composer workbook that we have not used yet and honestly I need to find something that excites me as much as the art set does. Will continue to look for this. I do plan on everyone continuing piano lessons and believe the girls will be venturing out to learn new instruments in addition to the piano.
Science/History/Bible/Dictation/Spelling/Reading/Vocabulary/Poetry/Art: So this has me as excited as the art! We will be using Bigger from HOD (newbies that is Hearts of Dakota). The girls will be doing a lot of this together... We have yet to do a study of America... and bigger does history of America through bibliography readings. They also connect the science and bible to what is being taught in the history. We will be doing readings together and then MM (Momma Mea) will be doing extensions that the program has to give it more depth for her age. The bible is a character trait studies from Proverbs.. Can't wait to get into that! MM will be doing dictation with a bit of Spelling Power thrown in. BG (Baby Girl) will be doing spelling and emerging readers (also offered as an extra with this specific program). She will be taking another year to strengthen her reading skills and really learn to love to read. The ONLY way to do that is to READ. This means lots of trips to the library and constant couch sitting. Were we will be reading to each other all year long. She is a cuddle bug so this really is her favorite thing to do. Both girls will be doing vocabulary and poetry studies each week (also in this curriculum). MM is also doing DITHOR (newbies- this is a tough one... Drawn Into the Heart of Reading). This is a HOD program for reading that you use with any reading you are doing. It has you really map out and workout whatever story your reading. We will see how it goes.
Wrap up for girls: The state says we need to teach Ohio history (well do tons of field trips for this), fire safety (we will do a unit on all kinds of emergency skills such as 9-1-1 and fire safety), health (I am still looking into this- we have in the past covered this with science but I am thinking this year i'll just grab individual on your own workbooks for this). Physical education is also required and I know whatever we end up doing karate, gymnastics, or dance we will get lots of this. I also would like to introduce Spanish but we will see. There are lots of field trip we are going to be doing (that is one of my future post - a list of field trips for the year we would like to do for the year).
MM goals for the year:
1. Improvement in communication skills oral and written
2. Reading is an adventure (not a page number)
3. Finding her a niche in something she falls in love with
BG goals for the year:
1. A love for reading
2. Taking her vision of mission work and making it happen
3. Regulating her health to control her body
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil." ~ Proverbs 3:5-7
So this is a wrap up of curriculum choices for the upcoming year. Another blog I would like to write is why, how, and when we school. Inquiring minds always want to know! I need a whole blog post or two, to cover all of that. In short (very short), we are relaxed Christ centered family that chooses to learn together daily. We don't do schedules but we do do routines, experiments, messes, and exploring... I recently bought a plaque that explains it all - "We didn't know we were learning, we just thought we were having fun". Until next time,
Remember- making a mess with your kids is as much fun as jumping in mud puddles.
