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Sep. 1, 2008
This Year's Curriculum
Our school start date this year is a week from next Monday--about six weeks later than usual due to how our calendar has shaped up this year. I've had the curriculum chosen since May or June, for the most part. Here is the list of what we are using, keeping in mind that my son is 14, my daughter is 9, and my preschool son is 3 1/2 :
Language Arts:
- Easy Grammar (5/6 for the older--he's finishing it up in the next month or so, 4/5 for the younger)
- Spectrum Word Study Grade 5
- Writing Strands, Levels 3-6 (3 & 4 for the younger, 5 & 6 for the older)
- Writing Poems, Grades 4-8 (for both)
- Speak Up by Kayla & Cami Reish (Training for Triumph)--this is for both, a great guide for outlining, writing, and delivering different types of speeches--This will be the third year we've used it--a great resource!
- Vocabulary Mastery 2 & 3--This is an 11th/12th grade vocabulary workbook
Reading books include:
- 24 Lamplighter Publishing titles (for both children)
- Henty novels (for the older) (all are available from Vision Forum)
- The four-book Church History series by Mindy & Brandon Withrow, available through Veritas Press (THE BEST! Click here for to read a review of these books that I feel is very accurate. This is just a review for the first book, Peril and Peace. The other books are also reviewed on this same site, and they are titled, "Monks and Mystics," "Courage and Conviction," and Hearts and Hands.")
- And who knows what else--my children read everything I can find for them!
MATH
- Making Math Meaningful Level 4 (9 year old)--we switched to this last year and loved it!
- VideoText Interactive Algebra--we started this last year and we loved every minute of it and can't wait to finish it up this year--it's a 2-year course covering all of Algebra I and II. We will try to finish Algebra II this year and do the college CLEP test as well!
GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, SOCIAL STUDIES, GOVERNMENT
- Ancient Civilizations and the Bible, and Romans, Reformers, and Revolutionaries: This is the brand new history curriculum from Answers in Genesis that matches the Annals of the World as well as my wonderful timeline (see next item)! Woohoo! I love this curriculum and am so excited to dig in! I have been reading it for almost a month now to prepare for the start of school, and the more I read, the more I love it and the more excited I get!
- Ussher's Annals of the World
- Adam's Chart of World History: If you haven't seen this, you need to check it out. Utterly amazing and fantastic! It was my best find of the year last year. It is a world history timeline from Creation through about 1870 (when the author lived), and the center line of the timeline starts with Adam, follows his geneaology through Christ, and then follows from Christ up through modern times with known and documented dates. Then, all of world history is fit on to that biblical timeline, including the rise of civilizations AFTER Babel (Egypt as well). Fantastic! It is also BEAUTIFUL and amazingly well-priced, considering it is a 25-foot long, two-foot tall accordian-style line. It is gorgeous. We keep it folded and turn it open like a book to the section we are working on.
- History Through the Ages Timeline Notebook
- God's World News--fantastic for social studies! We subscribe to the top level for my son, and the next level down for my daughter. We use this for geography, too.
- Uncle Josh's Book of Outline Maps (all the states, all the countries, all the continents). My children each have one of these where they plot all the locations they read about in their God's World News publication
- Civics Activity Book (National, State, and Local Government), by A Beka (for both)
SCIENCE
- Switched On Schoolhouse 300 for the 9yo
- The Rainbow 2-Year Science for the older. This one looks fantastic and we can't wait to start it! He should finish this one faster than 2 years and then move on to their HS Chem course called The Spectrum
OTHER
- Balancing the Sword: This is a phenomenal book at an incredible price. For about $55 you get two large, hardcover books that each are a study guide to the whole Bible. There are an average of three to five questions per Bible chapter in each volume, and illustrations of famous artwork, actual artifacts, charts, and diagrams throughout. The questions are generally non-doctrinal and help the student learn the bible content, while you (and the Holy Spirit) can teach discernment and interpretation. For $55, you get two volumes, and each volume covers from Genesis through Revelation. The kids have already started this. My daughter started in Genesis in Volume 1 and my son started in Acts in Volume 2. They each started a spiral notebook. They read one chapter a day and answer the questions in their notebook. If they see any helpful or interesting illustrations, they can copy or sketch them into their notebook. I'm thrilled with this product!
- The Word on Health by Dr. Michael Jacobson, and What the Bible Has to Say about Healthy Living by Rex Russel, M.D. (for health for both)
- How to Manage Your Money, Biblical Counsel on Personal Finance (for the older)
- Rosetta Stone Spanish
- Garfield's Typing Pal (this is a very fun typing tutor and we've used it very successfully for two years. My 9yo types over 20 wpm, and my 14yo now types over 40 wpm. It is far better than 2 other typing programs we have evaluated)
- Mind Benders from The Critical Thinking Co.
- Private Piano, Voice, Guitar and Music Theory lessons (music is my children's No. 1 choice for extra-curricular activities. They love it!)
- K*I*S*S* Guide to Photography by DK Books-- A great book we will be using to help the children with their digital photography skills, teaching a lot about photo composition.
PRESCHOOL
After spending last year learning to identify letters and numbers, count, follow mazes and trace simple paths along dotted lines, circle things, identify shapes, and color according to instructions, this year so far we've got lots of marker board books for tracing shapes, letters, numbers, and pictures (great for independent work). I've also found some great workbooks for tracing letters, numbers, shapes, and more. I've also got the pre-K workbook from The Critical Thinking Company, plus other worksheets on opposites, matching, sequencing, and more. His writing skills are coming along. He just this past week showed that he is almost ready for phonics and reading work. He started, on his own, listing words that start with a letter, and he has been asking me to spell words for him and sound them out. I will start the search for a good Pre-K/K phonics program because I think he will be ready in the next few months or so. I'm thinking about Explode the Code. Any suggestions? What do you/did you like best for your 3.5-4yo who was starting to learn phonics?
I think that's about it on this end! Have a happy new school year, everyone, and may God bless it as you strive to teach and train your children for His glory! |
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