Our Curriculum 2013-2014

Choosing curriculum for our homeschooling is a never ending process. I always ask people about what curriculum they use and we swap stories about what has worked and what hasn't. It is important for every homeschooling parent to go on their own journey of research to discover what philosophy and curriculum will work for them and then be willing to adapt, drop and change if something isn't working.

100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum is a great place to start this journey.

We are actually in week 4 of our 1st grade school year with A-man. The twin boys are 3 1/2 and in pre-school. In our house, that's lots of free play and books. No planning really here, just providing experiences. Baby L's (21 monhts) only assignment for the school year is to get potty trained. I decided we would start in the heat of the Texas summer and ease ourselves into a regular schedule (often interrupted by trips to the pool and last minute outings). We'll take more breaks throughout the year in October and April when weather in Texas is at it's best.

Over the past several months I have discovered a lady who I would give anything to sit down and have a chat with over a cup of coffee. Her name was Charlotte Mason. She was a late 19th century/early 20th century educator. Many homeschoolers have at least heard to her and many follow her general philosophy without evening realizing it. When I started reading about her and what she had to say about education I was instantly at home with her and had to know more. Not having any children of her own, she dedicated her life to the education of children and had so much insight into the mind of a child. One of her quotes is, "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life." This homeschooling thing is not just school, it's how we do life. She has written many volumes and I will continue to study her writings while teaching and developing a true love for my children (and myself).

Some Charlotte Mason ideas that we use in our school day include living books (textbooks are secondary), narration (telling back what we read), memorization, copywork, nature journaling, handicrafts, artist and composer study. Also, we keep lessons to no more than 20 minutes. So, our schoolwork (including PE, breaks, music practice time) is from 8:30-11:30 am. We shift around here and there as life needs to be shifted with three younger kids and an entire world to explore!

There are two resources (more exist I'm sure) of Charlotte Mason curriculums for free. You just purchase the books or find them at your library and follow the guides and schedules. I may use one of these for next year.

Charlotte Mason Help
Ambleside On-line

But, I still need a little more hand-holding as I figure out our homeschooling life, so here are my picks for curriculum 2013-2014 (1st Grade Year):

Sonlight Core B for: 
History/Geography
Bible (Devotional, Missionary stories, and reading from the Bible)
Language Arts (we don't do the worksheets, just the 3rd grade read alouds)--He reads to me
Read Alouds (Chapter Books I read to him)
Poetry (we just read it and talk about it)

I love Sonlight's book choice. I also love how the teacher's guides are all thorough and ready for me to grab and go. Many people just look up the book lists on-line and create their own curriculum from there. I might be willing to give that a go next year after getting another year of homeschooling under my belt. So far, Sonlight has been a great set of training wheels to get me on the path of teaching through great literature.

Sonlight B for Science:
Again, it's literature based and the lesson plans are all there and done for you to choose 4 days a week or 5 days a week (we do 4 days a week).

Math
We have used Horizons Math through Kindergarten and although we are continuing it into 1st grade, I am looking into using this free program available on-line. It's more teacher intensive, but I like how it presents math concepts. http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm

Kindermusik for the Young Child Semester 3 and 4
Yeah! That Kindermusik licensing I went through before our first baby was born is coming in handy! Kindermusik is thorough and age appropriate.  I gathered up some friends of mine and last year we did Semester 1 and 2, learning all about composers, music, basic notation and playing the glockenspiel. This year we'll continue our note-reading while learning a simple dulcimer and the recorder. Again, Kindermusik has it all planned for me, although you can only order and teach the curriculum after you have special Kindermusik certification.

Artist/Composer Study
I discover more and more blogging homeschoolers who develop their own curriculum and make available free of for purchase. I found this one and purchases the Year 1 curriculum.

Handwriting/Copywork
I just came across this recently and I'm intrigued. It is italic handwriting and then goes into italic cursive, which is sort of a blend of print and cursive. I thought that seem awfully complicated at first until the next day when I was writing and realized that I have developed my own print/cursive style. And, it's Charlotte Mason approved, so you can't go wrong! (famous last words!)

Bible Memory
The Sonlight curriculum does come with it's own bible memory CD. The arrangements and the version they use are not my favorite, so this year we are using a "Seeds" album to memorize scripture. The one we are using is "Seeds of Character". I type each scripture on note cards and laminate them and we work on bible memory for about 10 minutes each school day. I play the music at different point throughout the day. This is going well so far, so I imagine each year we'll pick a different album.

Also, I JUST found that through the Seeds Family Worship website, they have pdfs of the chord charts for all their songs. SWEET! We can get a little singing and piano playing into this as well!

Spanish
I bought this based on the good Amazon reviews. So far, I'm not thrilled. We'll see. I liked that all the kids could watch it and hopefully learn together. Again, we'll see.

Handicrafts
Just go to Hobby Lobby and let them pick out a handicraft type project that interests them!

I do believe that is it! Happy School year y'all!