Posted in Curriculum

I think I mentioned in my last post that I made a lot of changes to what our school year looks like so figured I should say what we are doing! :)

The biggest change is curriculum.  We decided to use Moving Beyond the Page this year after a really difficult year with Tapestry of Grace last year.  Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to like about TOG, but it was really hard to make it fit with our family.  I think we had a great year last year in many ways, but I think MBtP will be a lot less stressful for me in particular and we are having a great time with it.  I also brought the decision to the girls and let them have input.  They both wanted to switch and so we decided to try it.  A nice thing about MBtP also is that you can buy it one quarter at a time, so not only can you spread the cost out over the year, if it isn't working for your family you don't have to buy the next quarter.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks for me personally was that moving to MBtP meant a complete change in our homeschooling philosophy.  We have always been more of classical homeschoolers - albeit eclectic ones with other things thrown in.  MBtP is a Unity Study Approach.  Honestly I have always liked unit studies - it is part of what drew me to TOG originally, but never really found a true unit study program that I liked until now.  So for the past 10 years we have done history chronologically and used that as more of our focus.  I have also done more of a broad overview with this younger age group, knowing that we would go into more depth as we did the same period when the kids are older.  MBtP is a much more detailed program going into great depth and thoroughly covering a subject as part of the unit.  So there has definitely had to be a change in mindset in our homeschool.  But I guess I am never too old to learn to change too.

So, unlike with TOG which is made for all age levels, the first thing I needed to decide was what grade level to do.  The program is actually separated into age groups and you basically decide by your child's level where they should go.  So for example the 8-10 curriculum is appropriate for a gifted  8 yo, average 9 yo or a 10 yo that was a bit behind.  Little Miss will be 9 this fall and SPG is not quite 7.5.  Both are definitely on the gifted end of the spectrum.  So I was left to choose between 7-9 or 8-10.  I also thought for a while about getting both and doing them separately, but I am glad I decided not to do that!  Keeping them together is definitely the way to go.  I did speak with Kim Howe who wrote the program for a long time at the local homeschooling program and she really recommended doing the 8-10 yo program, but just adapting the writing level for SPG.  Both girls had already read most of the literature books in the 7-9 yo program, and had also read a few of the 7-10 yo ones.  SPG wanted some of the hands-on stuff in the 7-10 yo program so I got her that as well and we are all good.  We have definitely had to do some adapting for her, but she loves the program and is having a lot of fun.

So there are 4 unit studies per year (about 9 weeks each) and each unit is made up of 3 concepts (taking about 3 weeks each).  Each concept has a literature component and a science or social studies component.  And they work together to give a complete curriculum (every thing but math which we do separately).  So our first unit is called Interdepence.  For our first concept we read "Little House in the Big Woods" and also did a science unit on dirt/plants/trees.  The concept included everything from writing to cooking to square dancing to doing a ton of experiments with dirts and plans and how they grow.  And how we are all dependent on each other.  We discussed all the ways that the Ingalls used the woods around them and used the environment and compared it to how we use it today.  We finished off the unit with a "Pioneer Family night" as well as a field trip to Old Sturbridge Village where we had an absolutely fabulous time.

We are now working on our 2nd concept -Native Americans.  We are reading "Native American Animal Stories" and discussing myths and folktales, combined with a social studies unit on Native Americans and discussing how the different tribes lived differently depending on where they lived.  It just so happened that our local Audubon Society had a program this week for homeschoolers on Native Americans as well which was excellent.

When we finish this concept, we will move into a science unit on Ecosystem combined with reading "The Sign of the Beaver" so that should be exciting as well.

I expect we will finish this unit sometime near the end of October as we will be taking a lot of time off in Oct for Jewish Holidays.  But that is also the reason I started so early.

So far the year is off to a really good start.  The girls love the curriculum and we have been having a lot of fun with it.  I have high hopes that it will continue.