Here are what our upcoming 2nd (Mia) and 4th (PJ) graders will be doing. Our Kindergartner, will be doing ABCs at Home. Our ESL Middle Schoolers will be doing…yeah, I wish that was organized enough to tell you.
Bible/Christian Studies
- We re-enrolled in Community Bible Study (CBS), where our community will be studying Luke. They have age-appropriate homeschool classes that correspond to what the adults are doing which I love.
English
- PJ-Essentials through Classical Conversations. This is a grammar and writing course.
- Mia-Selected components of the Scott Foresman Reading Program. **FREE**
Spelling
- PJ-No formal spelling curriculum. Writing assignments will be checked for correct spelling and rules will be reviewed as necessary. PJ’s really a pretty intuitive speller.
- Mia-Spell to Write and Read. We went through 3 other spelling curriculums last year before landing on this one. We didn’t use it to its full potential last year as there’s a bit of a learning curve but we’re all in this year. I like that it uses the 70 phonograms and 30ish spelling rules and gives the kids a systematic way to spell words. It’s also multi-sensory.
Latin
- PJ-We were not big fans of Prima Latina last year and its default pronounciation is Ecclesiastical which differs from CC. We’re trying Lively Latin this year mostly because it’s so student-directed which is a huge plus since we’re adding 2 ESL Middle Schoolers and a special needs Kindergartner to our school this year. It’s also electronic so we will be able to use it for the next 4 kids in our house who will need Latin eventually…mucho budget-friendly.
Math
- For the main curriculum we use Math Mammoth which is based on the Singapore methodology but written for homeschoolers. Last year I was able to score a deal through Homeschool Buyers Co-op to buy 6 levels in pdf form. Another large family, budget-friendly curriculum.
- The one thing MM lacks is drilling so everyday the kids sign in to Xtra Math and do a set of drills. I love this because it’s FREE and taylors itself to the student.
- The kids will also memorize skip counting through 15’s and a handful of math formulas and conversions through CC.
Science
- I design our science curriculum around our CC Memory Work. This year’s cycle is mostly biology. You can see the outline I will use here. I will post specific lesson plans and activities separately.
History
- The kids will memorize over 150 timeline cards starting from the Age of the Ancients through Modern History with CC along with all the Presidents. They will also memorize 24 history sentences that are more detailed and specific to Ancient Civilizations.
- As with science, I will design our history activities around the CC stuff. Our plan is listed here, and I will post specifics as I plan them.
Geography
- The geography for this CC cycle is world geography with some focus on Africa. The history outline also lends itself to matching geography as we move to different civilizations around the world.
Art
- There will be 12 weeks of art at CC plus we’ll do some other art projects as we go.
Music
- There will be 6 weeks of tin whistle lessons with basic theory plus 6 weeks of exploring composers at CC.
- Mia is taking piano and PJ wants to start drum lessons.
Health
- We’ll move through the Health Problems and Personal Health topics at Kids Health. Conveniently there’s just about one topic per week. **FREE**
Phys Ed
- Our local athletic club offers drop in homeschool gym included in our membership…SCORE!
- We also take Tae Kwon Do about 3 times a week as a family.
- Oh, and Mia dances, and PJ plays hockey and soccer.
Other
- We have Rosetta Stone Korean which the kids enjoy.
- PJ is working through Dance Mat Typing. **FREE**
- We love CNN’s Daily Student News Reports. We try to catch them a couple times a week.
- Of course, we take advantage of lots of field trips (post coming on our field trip co-op) and play dates.