Our Curriculum {2015-2016}

Happy end of summer?!?  Last year we tried a hybrid....this year we are back to full time Homeschool and I am so excited.  Why we nixed the hybrid is another post... 

7th Grader

Bible - Christian Studies II by Memoria Press and Who is God by Apologia

Math - Abeka Basic Mathematics (7th grade math)

Latin - First Form Latin from Memoria Press

Grammar - Rod & Staff English 7 and Classical Conversations Essentials
Grammar - Fit It! Grammar 2 - Robin Hood

Writing - IEW US History based writing
Writing - Classical Composition - Fable and Narrative (Accelerated plan)

Spelling - Spelling Power

Vocabulary - Vocabulary from Classical Roots A

Literature Units - Tapestry of Grace Year 3: Dialectic level

History - Tapestry of GraceYear 3: Dialectic level

Science - Anatomy and Physiology from Apologia

Geography - Tapestry of GraceYear 3 and Road Trip USA (for fun) by Confessions of a Homeschooler

P.E. - USAG Girls Gymnastics Team level 8

5th Grader

Bible - Christian Studies II by Memoria Press and Who is God by Apologia

Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting

Math - Abeka Arithmetic 5

Latin - Latina Christiana I from Memoria Press 

Grammar - Rod and Staff English 5
Grammar - Fit It! Grammar 1 - The Nose Tree

Writing - IEW US History based writing
Writing - Classical Composition - Fable and Narrative (Accelerated plan)

Spelling - Spelling Power

Vocabulary - Vocabulary from Classical Roots 5

Literature Units - Tapestry of GraceYear 3: Dialectic level

History - Tapestry of GraceYear 3: Dialectic level

Science - Anatomy and Physiology from Apologia

Geography - Tapestry of GraceYear 3 and Road Trip USA (for fun) by Confessions of a Homeschooler

Classical Conversations Foundations Cycle 1 CDs

P.E. - USAG Girls Gymnastics Team level 5/7

3rd Grader

Bible - Listening to Christian Studies II by Memoria Press 

Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting

Math - Abeka Arithmetic 3

Latin - Prima Latina from Memoria Press

Grammar - Rod & Staff English 3

Writing - IEW Bible Heros

Spelling - Spelling Power
Vocabulary - Vocabulary from Classical Roots 4
Literature Units - Tapestry of GraceYear 3: Upper Grammar level
History - Tapestry of GraceYear 3: Upper Grammar level

History - Story of the World: The Middle Ages

Science - Anatomy and Physiology from Apologia

Geography - Tapestry of GraceYear 3 and Road Trip USA (for fun) by Confessions of a Homeschooler

Classical Conversations Foundations Cycle 1 CDs

P.E. - USAG Boys Gymnastics Team level 4

Kindergarten/1st

Bible - ABC Bible Verses

Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting

Math - Abeka Arithmetic 1

Phonics - Primary Phonics 

Phonics - First Start Reading from Memoria Press
Reading - Bob books and Primary Phonics books

Classical Conversations Foundations Cycle 1 CDs

P.E. - Gymnastics

Update: We don't do ALL of this every, single, day.  (I will post my sample schedules that I use for the kids soon.) For what I call our "core" curriculum, we do bible, math, history, latin, grammar, and writing every day.  Two to three times a week we do spelling, vocabulary, science, and geography. Then there is some other little "daily work" that the kids do, deepening on their age/grade.

Our Curriculum {2014-2015}

Its already August, and I know some states start school in August and some in September.  We are more of a year-round-school family, so our curriculum is ongoing and can sometimes change mid year. This year, we are trying a Hybrid school (kids in school 2 days a week).  Some curriculum is school (KCA) required and the rest we are doing here on our own.

This list might scare some, but know that we don't do everything every. single. day.  

Some things are once or twice a week.  Somethings are once a month. Some things are 5 mns a day, some are 15 mns a day. So.....while it might look like a lot its manageable....most days.  If/when it get to be too much, some of the extras slide.  I'm ok with that.  After all, I'm the teacher, right? 

6th Grader

Bible - *Big Truths for Young Hearts

Math - *Saxon *8/7

Latin - First Form Latin from Memoria Press

Grammar - Rod & Staff English 6 and Classical Conversations Essentials

Writing - *IEW Middle Ages

Spelling - Spelling Power

Vocabulary - *Vocabulary from Classical Roots 6

Literature Units - *Tapestry of Grace (through the hybrid)

Classical Studies - Famous Men of the Middle Ages from Memoria Press

History - *Tapestry of Grace (through the hybrid)

Science -*Chemistry (through the hybrid)

Geography - Road Trip USA by Confessions of a Homeschooler

Fine Arts - through KCA

Classical Conversations Foundations Cycle 3 CDs

P.E. - USA Girls Gymnastics Team

4th Grader

Bible - through the hybrid

Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting

Math - *Horizons 4

Latin - Latina Christiana I from Memoria Press and *Song School Latin

Grammar - Rod and Staff English 4  and Classical Conversations Essentials

Writing - *IEW Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales

Spelling - Spelling Power

Literature Units -  5th grade from Memoria Press and *Tapestry of Grace (through the hybrid)

Classical Studies - Famous Men of the Middle Ages from Memoria Press

History - Story of the World: The Middle Ages

Science - *Chemistry through KCA

Geography -  Road Trip USA by Confessions of a Homeschooler

Fine Arts - through the hybrid

Classical Conversations Foundations Cycle 3 CDs

P.E. - USA Girls Gymnastics Team

2nd Grader

Bible - through the hybrid

Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting

Math - *Horizons

Latin - Prima Latina from Memoria Press and *Song School Latin

Grammar - Rod & Staff English 2

Writing - Writing With Ease Level 2 and *IEW Bible Heros

Spelling - Spelling Power

History - Story of the World: The Middle Ages

Science - *Chemistry through KCA

Geography - Road Trip USA by Confessions of a Homeschooler

Fine Arts - through the hybrid

Classical Conversations Foundations Cycle 3 CDs

P.E. - Gymnastics

Preschooler/Early Kindergarten

Bible - ABC Bible Verses and Big Thoughts for Little People

Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting

Math - Abeka Arithmetic K and Numbers 1 and 2 from Memoria Press

Latin - *Song School Latin

Alphabet - Letter of the Week (simplified) from COAH  and Alphabet 1 and 2 from Memoria Press

Phonics - Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading

Reading - First Start Reading from Memoria Press

Classical Conversations Foundations Cycle 3 CDs

P.E. - Gymnastics

The items marked with the * are the books that are required from our Hybrid school.  There are more books within the history, literature and bible classes there, but those are course and time period (Middle Ages) specific.

Curriculum Series {Science}

Apologia is our go to Science curriculum for elementary.  (We are in the elementary stage still, but they do have Jr/Sr. High books too!) I like them for a few reason.  The main being its Christian based.  The lessons are very well laid out and can be split up a few different ways, if you so choose.  

We have started meeting once a week with another family to cover a chapter of the book.  We read the lesson, ask the questions and have the kids write/draw something they learned throughout the lesson.  We will then do an experiment or two, time permitting.  There are sometimes little things in the middle of the reading to do, otherwise they are at the end.  

You can buy the additional notebooking journals (which we did) or make up your own.  The Apologia journals are spiral bound and come with a lot of extras.  There are mini books, vocabulary puzzles, copy work and coloring pictures, to name a few.  They come in regular and junior.  I would definitely recommend Jr for 1st-3rd. 3rd graders could really go with either bock and 4th on up should use the regular journal.  The Jr. journals do have the coloring page (which my 5th grade LOVES), and the kids color while they listen to us read.  They could very easily draw their own pictures (space is available for that) or you could find and print one for them to color and paste into the book.

Our plan of attack using these books...

Astronomy (almost finished)

Botany

Zoology 1 - Flying Creatures of the 5th Day

Zoology 2 - Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day

Zoology 3 - Land Animals of the 6th Day

Human Body (probably here, but maybe after Botany since it will fit with CC Science schedule) 

Chemistry and Physics

The books average about 15 chapters.  There is a "Lab List" in each, broken down by lesson so you know what supplies to have and when for the experiments.  For Zoology there are flashcards you can download and print (but we aren't there yet).

Classical Conversations Science

The kiddos also do a science experiment or two each week at CC.  (Which takes some of the pressure of if we don't get to the experiments and projects for Apologia.) In addition to experiments, they have their weekly memorization, which will serve them (and me) well when we hit that area in our curriculum.  Those memorization "pegs" I tell ya....pretty amazing!!!

SkyView for Astronomy {App}

{Link to iTunes}

I can't remember how I found this app, but it has been a great "game" for the kids and its FREE!  (Don't you just love when they think they are playing, but they are actually learning!?!? :)  We have this app on my iPhone and our iPad.

We are studying Astronomy with Apologia right now and this is a perfect supplement.  We haven't gotten to the constellation chapter yet, but this will really come in handy then.

Here is an event happening now....

Its the International Space Station that's actually coming into view.  Their mission is over in mid-September, so there will be sightings until then.  Using the SkyView App makes it easy to locate.  (That blue ting is the ISS and the red line is the horizon.)

If you center the circle (not shown in this pic) on something on the screen it will tell you what it is, even the name of each star!

We missed seeing it in the sky, since we are in Houston right now (for the hubs job) and there is too much cloud coverage.  Hoping to catch in in a couple of days or again in September.  

You can go here on NASAs site to find out the dates and times of sightings in your area. 

Turning the iPad a little, we found the Hubble Telescope, too!

(That's the white thing on the left.)

Curriculum Series....

I posted awhile back on {How I Choose Curriculum}.

I also posted what our {Curriculum 2013-2014} will be.

I thought maybe I should post why I chose what I chose and how I move through the different levels.....so far.  

So I'm going to make it a little more in-depth. I'll try to highlight each subject, tell you what I use, how I use it, why I use it, if I've used something else, and anything else I think might help.  I'll start with what I call our "Core" curriculum, then move onto everything else.

In our house, Core curriculum means:

Bible
Math

Grammar

Writing

History

Science

2nd tier of my Core:

Latin
Vocabulary

Spelling

Literature

Classical Conversations
Handwriting

The Extras are:

Character

Poetry

Geography

Music

Art

The reason why some of these are "extras" is because they get Vocabulary and Geography in History, Christian Studies, Latin, Classical Literature, and in Classical Conversations.  They also get Art, Music,  and Science at CC.  We take Music Lessons (violin and piano) every week and we read classical literature and me throwing lit units in this year was an afterthought.  I'm not saying the "Extras" aren't important, just that its ok if we don't get to them every day and every week.

For us....I count a day of school if we get in Bible, Math, Grammar, and either History or Science.  I think there has been maybe one or two days that we've done that little of work; usually its those plus handwriting, spelling, bible and vocab etc. for a "basic" day.

Anyway.....hope my little series helps!  

Our Curriculum {2013-2104}

Before you freak out at the long list below....we don't do everything every. single. day.  

Some things are once or twice a week.  Somethings are once a month. Some things are 5 mns a day, some are 15 mns a day.

So.....while it looks like a lot (I've added more this year), I'm hoping it all works out.  

And if it doesn't....we drop some.  

Or work through the summer.  

Or every weekend.  

(Kidding!)

5th Grader
Bible - Christian Studies I and II by Memoria Press
Character -  10 days of Character Confessions of a Homeschooler (using this one per month!)
Math - Abeka Arithmetic 5
Latin - Latina Christiana I from Memoria Press
Grammar - Classical Conversations Essentials
Writing - Classical Conversations Essentials
Spelling - Spelling Power
Vocabulary - World Build from Dynamic Literacy
Literature Units - 4th/5th grade from Memoria Press
Poetry - Poetry for the Grammar Stage from Memoria Press
Classical Studies - Famous Men of the Middle Ages from Memoria Press
Classical Studies - Famous Men of Rome from Memoria Press
Classical Studies - D'Aulaires' Greek Myths from Memoria Press
History - Story of the World: The Middle Ages (finishing) then Early Modern Times
Science - Botany from Apologia
Geography - A Trip Around the World Series matching up with CC Foundations

Fine Arts - World Greatest Artist/Composers by Confessions of a Homeschooler

Classical Conversations Foundations

Music - Piano and Violin lessons

P.E. - USA Gymnastics Team

3rd Grader

Bible - Christian Studies I and II by Memoria Press

Character -  10 days of Character Confessions of a Homeschooler (using this one per month!)

Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting

Math - Abeka Arithmetic 3

Latin - Prima Latina from Memoria Press

Grammar - Rod and Staff Beginning Wisely

Grammar - Classical Conversations Pre-Essentials

Writing - Classical Conversations Pre-Essentials

Spelling - Spelling Power

Vocabulary - World Build from Dynamic Literacy

Literature Units - 4th/5th grade from Memoria Press

Poetry - Poetry for the Grammar Stage from Memoria Press
Classical Studies - Famous Men of Rome from Memoria Press

Classical Studies - D'Aulaires' Greek Myths from Memoria Press

History - Story of the World: The Middle Ages (finishing) then Early Modern Times

Science - Botany from Apologia

Geography - A Trip Around the World Series matching up with CC Foundations

Fine Arts - World Greatest Artist/Composers by Confessions of a Homeschooler

Classical Conversations Foundations

Music - Piano and Violin lessons

P.E. - USA Gymnastics Team

1st Grader

Bible - Listening to Bible stories from the Jesus Storybook Bible when read with above

Character -  10 days of Character Confessions of a Homeschooler (using this one per month!)

Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting

Math - Abeka Arithmetic 2

Grammar - First Language Lessons 1 and 2

Writing - Writing With Ease Level 1

Spelling - Spelling Power (All About Spelling was too easy so we are switching)

Classical Studies - D'Aulaires' Greek Myths from Memoria Press

History - Story of the World: The Middle Ages (finishing) then Early Modern Times

Science - Botany from Apologia

Geography - A Trip Around the World Series matching up with CC Foundations

Fine Arts - World Greatest Artist/Composers by Confessions of a Homeschooler

Classical Conversations Foundations

Music - Piano lessons

P.E. - Soccer/Gymnastics/Karate

Preschooler

Letter of the Week (simplified) from COAH 

Lots of active play and reading

Phew!!!  Its going to be a fun year!

(All the curriculum is linked either to the book on Amazon or the manufacturers site.)

An Accidental Science Project

Our neighbors behind us have a beautiful garden.  They are both wonderful at growing and maintaining plants (and did I mention retired?)  I, however, am not....retired OR good at gardening.  Simple and easy is my motto.  Every year I try to plant pots and every year they end up dying and quick death. Their garden is home to many creatures, including a cute little rabbit that is eating everything in sight.

Well...

I came home from CrossFit the other day to find we had a acquired a pet from out neighbors.  We have been in a "no pet" stage for awhile, and I'm not in a hurry to change that. This one, however is welcome because its temporary....and a great learning experience for them.  

My husband couldn't remember what they had told him about it so I did a quick internet search to find this was a Black Swallowtail.  I needed to know what it was before I could care for it.

{Source}

I also needed to know what to expect from this, so did some more googling.

Its about a month project.  

1-2 weeks for this late state caterpillar

2 weeks for the chrysalis

A few hours for the emerging and release

Its only been a few days but our "Calerpitter" (as my 3 year old calls it) has stopped eating, formed is silk hold and hammock and we are waiting for the transformation to a chrysalis.

In the last few days, we've observed a few things...

1. These things can eat!  My kiddos were shocked at how much parsley our little friend can pack away.  Its fattening up for its "hibernation" I understand.

2. It poops.

Another sign (I found out) that its getting ready to move onto the next stage.

3. We had another little friend that my husband found on the outside of its habitat.  The outside!  That my husband put back in when he found it.  A small little caterpillar that can easily crawl out of the holes in the container.  So since we can find it inside, I'm pretty sure we have a little something crawling around our kitchen.... 

Here is some more info on Black Swallowtail Caterpillars and Butterflies....

Wiki Link

(I love that from CC my kids (and I) already know the "Kingdom, Phylum, Class... ")

More about the Black Swallowtail

And some more

Here is a quick article about raising butterflies indoors.

Same sight, but link to the life cycle of a butterfly.

Astronomy - The Moon

We have taken quite a while to get through our first Science book.  We use Apologia for Science and are working through Exploring Creation with Astronomy.

This is the main book that I read from.

These are the kids notebooking journals. 

 

 M (10) uses the regular book and E (8) uses the junior book.  G (5) I have a three ring binder that I put his work in.  In hindsight I wish I had just bought him a Jr. edition, but we started this....ahem...a year ago.  

There really isn't that much of a difference between the two.  My girls could be using either of the books.  The junior has fun pictures to color in while I'm reading, while the regular journal doesn't.  There are mini books, vocabulary flip books and puzzle throughout, along with some word hunts and vocabulary crosswords.  We will be using Apologia's books for all of our science and I did buy the Jr edition for those for G who is almost 6.  

*****

We are teaming up with another family who just happened to be in the same chapter of the same Science book at the same we were.  Getting together once a week to review the chapter, fill out the journal, work on the lap books and do some science experiments. 

Last week we tried to work but none of us were "feeling it."  The moms were beat and the kids just wanted to run around.  We were so tired we didn't care! We were fine with it then, but not this week.  We moved the "party" down to the living room.  (Amazing how the lack of toys distractions helped their attention spans.)  Even the two littles (both 3) did fairly well with some busy bags and a coloring book.

We read the chapter, filled in the journal and had the kids answer some questions.  Then we moved to the counter for our cutting and gluing.  We did do a little bribing with a special treat at the end....which of course was part of the experiment.

I found this great printable on pinterest about learning the moon's phases from education.com.  And we combined it with Oreo cookies (this was our bribe!) to make the moon's phases.  

Its amazing how quickly these kids listened and behaved with the lure of cookies in front of them!

This experiment was a success!!!

We will continue to chart the moon this month.  We have a blank calendar in our journal that we will draw what to moon looks like each day.  Luckily, on the 23rd, we are having a supermoon.  Could that timing be any better! ;)  And yes....I will be waking my kiddos up at 6:30 to view this.  Bonus...we should be able to be on time for church too!

CC Cycle 1, Week 21 Review at Home {Game Plan}

For our "Weekly Review Session" we get all the kids together and make a little party of it.  We cover all the new information for the current week, plus go over the whole timeline and add a Geography study.  We are amazed at how much better the kids do during proofing on the weeks we meet.

Here's the Game Plan for our Week 21 review session.....

History Sentence and Timeline

The Exploration of Canada

Here is video (2mns) about the high tides and the Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick.
Here is a history sentence drawing sheet.

As always, listen to songs from CC CD

English 

Linking Verbs

Singing the Linking Verb to the tune of "The Ants Go Marching In"

(Working on a printable that goes along with the song.)

Science

The 5 Major Circles of of Latitude

Here is a worksheet to draw in and label the lines.

Geography

Canadian Provinces 

Extra Geography Unit - Canada

We will color in the flag while learning about it, study where Canada is on the map and any major rivers, oceans and land formations.

Latin

We will play a review game using this and placing the 4th Declension noun endings

Math

Here is a cute printable showing Associative Law.

Fine Arts

Bach

When we do our Famous Composers study, I download these on each one so we can listen while we study.  You get 100 of their hits for $1-2.  That's a steal!!!
In our homeschool, we are working through Confessions of Homeschoolers Greatest Composers study

At the end, they should be able to fill out this review sheet.

How I Chose Curriculum

One of the most asked questions I get from fellow homeschoolers, people who are thinking about homeschooling and everyone else is....How do you choose your curriculum?

Well...the most asked question by people who don't homeschool is something like, "How do you not go crazy having the kids around all the time?"  Which for those of you that HS will kinda make you sad, right?  I LOVE having my kids with me.  (Ok, let's be honest here...there are those days, but for the most part its true. :) 

But, I'm not getting into that debate here.

How I choose my curriculum???

A lot of researching!

When I made the decision to pull the kids out of school, I spent the next month researching curriculum.  I was obsessed!  I did a few things....

  

1) I called and emailed every single person that I knew who homeschooled.  I asked about what they used and why.  What they've tried, why they like it or why it didn't work.  

2) I read The Well Trained Mind.  What I really mean, is I devoured it!  Its a HUGE book.  But I read all the parts that were pertinent to us.  I took notes.  I combed over it again and took notes again.  (Actually I still do!  I look over it about every 6 months.  Once around Christmas and once in the summer.

3) I cross referenced everything from the previous two sources with Cathy Duffy Reviews.

4) I did check out some HS sites that did curriculum review, but didn't find them as helpful.  I was looking for a place that I could type in "Math" and see all of my options and the reviews, instead of a specific Math program.  (If anyone knows of such a site, please let me know! ;)

What I wish I could have done?  Actually look through the stuff.  I got to a little bit with the friends that were local, but that was a select bit of curriculum.  We have no homeschool resale store here and when we made the decision it was not during the time of a homeschool conference.

One piece of advice that I did receive is that if something doesn't work...don't be afraid to dump it and find something else.