Curriculum Choices 2012-2013

Curriculum Choices 2012-2013

It's that time of the year again. As August rolls in, so do boxes of books and bags of school supplies. They herald the beginning of another school year.

One major change for our home schooling family is the addition of our Kindergartener! Yup! I'm officially home educating 4 children now. Add to the mix an ever-growing and demanding toddler. I am not sure how our daily schedule will be.

Our curricula for this year won't be much different from last year's, except in Language Arts. My choice for DS last year was not a good fit for us. It required too much work from this mama.


Math
6th - Saxon 7/6/ALEKS
3rd - Math-U-See Gamma/Spectrum Math/ ALEKS
2nd - Math-U-See Beta/Spectrum Math
K- Math-U-See Primer/MCP Math K

DS is very comfortable with the Saxon system. This works for him so we continue with it. He actually started on Saxon7/6 in 5th grade. I have 8/7 for him once he's done. ALEKS is just an additional math resource for him. It's an online Math program that is intuitive in that it gives additional problems for areas the student has not mastered yet. DS has been on this program since we began. I will try it with DD1 and see if it will be a good fit for her.

I am supplementing the MUS programs with other workbooks for additional practice and to cover any of the holes we might have in our Math program.

Language Arts
6th - Easy Grammar 6/Daily Grams 6/ IEW Student Intensive/Phonetic Zoo Level B/Latina Christiana 2

3rd - First Language Lessons 3/ IEW Student Intensive/Phonetic Zoo Level A/Handwriting without Tears Cursive
2nd - First Language Lessons 2/Writing with Ease 2/All About Spelling 1/Handwriting without Tears Printing Power
K - Primary Arts of Language: Reading & Writing

I've been watching the DVD's of IEW's Teaching Writing Structure and Style and I am excited! I think this will be a good match for us - for the kids and for me. I've been looking for solid composition curriculum that matches my need for structure and yet is not stifling. From what I have seen so far, this looks very promising. I am really looking forward to seeing how this plays out in our home school.

Science
6th - NOEO Physics 2
3rd/2nd/K - Behold & See 3

The younger ones will piggyback on our Science time with DD1. This is a subject, along with History that I feel can be taught multi-levels.

History & Geography
Connecting with History 2 - The Middle Ages

We never did get around to the Middle Ages last year so we're doing it this year. Again, this is a multi-level course.

Religion
The kids will continue to go to Fr. Francis' class on Wednesday mornings. This year, he will take on Vatican II. We will also use Baltimore Catechism to continue learning about our faith. I also plan to follow the liturgical year and have activities/crafts that follow the different seasons/feasts throughout the year. I hope that in this way, our Catholic faith will be lived out more vividly in our home.

Electives
Art - Meet the Masters Track B
Foreign Language - Rosetta Stone:Filipino
Music - piano lessons at Upland Music School
PE - weekly classes at EMH

Most of our books have arrived. I expect to receive the rest this week. My next goal is get our daily schedule mapped out and their first month's worth of lesson plans laid out. It's going to be a busy week for me. I hope I can shake off the jet lag completely by then.