Sometimes I envy those who can just choose a curriculum, buy the appropriate grade level for their kids, and know that it's actually going to work for them. That's just not going to happen in the Poole household so here's what I have figured out for this year.
Further Up and Further In One year unit study based around Narnia books. I am really excited about using this. The boys aren't, but they are NEVER excited about school. So, I decided if they aren't going to get excited about anything I would choose I might as well do something I would enjoy. I think they will enjoy this, they just will never admit it. It includes English, Reading, History, Science, Art, Health, Bible all centered around the 7 Narnia books.
Math-U-See continue where we're at.
Spelling Power I use this in a revised way that works really well for the boys.
Handwriting Without Tears: Can-Do Cursive This actually looks like it will have enough Grammar in it to not bother adding grammar (I'm taking a relaxed approach to grammar until High School). It also teaches some Greek Roots which will help their vocabulary. My goals for cursive writing are that they can read it well when they see it and sign their names. I also think cursive helps with Ashton's dysgraphic style of writing. It forces him to place his lower-case letters that go below the line in the correct place.
Writing Strands 3 Steve is going to take over teaching writing this year. Why? Because I can't take it anymore!!  I really do not want to be the Top Story on Fox News, so it's time to turn writing over to somebody else. We have figured out that I'll type the assignment and e-mail it to both boys and Steve. The boys will then do the assignment and e-mail Steve for him to critique. He'll e-mail back corrections. This will take a LOT of pressure off of me. We tried it this Spring and it worked quite well.
Bill Nye the Science Guy's Big Blast of Science We're going to go through this just to add a little more science to our Narnia study which seems to only include notebooking plants and animals. This book has tons of experiments and seems to teach a lot of General Science. I may check out some Bill Nye DVDs from the library and add those in.
So, that's it. It will be hard the first week. They are very resistant to change and the Unit Study will be different for them. I plan to be like a Drill Sergeant the first week until they realize I'm not kidding, we're taking our schoolwork seriously. Works every year!! I can be mean, I CAN!! REALLY!! (Yes, I'm giving myself a pep talk.)
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