Monday, August 3, 2009

Curriculum Week.

NBTSbloghop

Darcy of Life With My 3 Boybarians is hosting a Not Back to School Blog Hop. Every Monday this month will feature a different topic. This week's topic is curriculum.

I scored with history and science when I found Mystery of History and Apologia Astronomy earlier this year. I have been reading through both since February and I LOVE them!! I see us using both for a long, long time.

I struggled with math and still am really. I settled on Saxon for my oldest. Since he was in public school for K-4, he is used to this approach. Last year's Rod & Staff was a huge bomb. I really hope Saxon works better for him. The struggle was with what to do for my k'ner. I went ahead and picked up Saxon K and 1 at a great used price so I could look through them. I like Saxon, but I love MEP math. With the way things come and go so fast online, I don't know if I should start with MEP only to need a change later on down the road. I know he would THRIVE with MEP though. So my decision as of right now is to...do both! =) Actually we're supplementing with MEP with both older boys. We are using two years below his grade level for my oldest and level 1 for my k'ner. We'll see how it goes.

For language arts, my oldest is using R&S English 5. He had no *real* formal English instruction in public school and we did Seton English last year which I did not like at all. We will add Wordly Wise later on after we get going well with R&S. As for reading, Nathan is a reading champ so he will just read from a list I put together from the 1000 Good Books list and AO's book list for 6th grade. These he will be expected to narrate. His free reading will be his decision and not narrated. I have a few Total Language Arts workbooks that we can add in later on if he needs a break from R&S.

After disliking Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons and not enjoying Phonics Pathways, I decided to use SWB's Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. My k'ner and I have already been working hard with phonics. He is doing very well with cvc words and can read some cvcv/cvvc words with help. He gets the rules but sometimes forgets how to use them. We did our first lesson from OPGTR today and LOVED it!!! He enjoyed it and so did I! We actually did two lessons because we're starting with cvc words for review and he wanted to keep going. We're also using Explode the Code 1. He enjoyed A, B, and C. I'm sure he will continue to enjoy this series.

I have First Language Lessons 1/2 for my k'ner, but I think we'll put this off until after the first half of the year. I want him to get a solid grasp on reading before adding anything else to his plate.

I feel like I'm leaving something out, but that is the core of our curriculum. We are using various resources for bible study, art/music, and copywork. I had wanted to start Latin but I think we'll put that off for a while.

I am looking forward to this year! I spent a great deal of time planning our schedule this year. We have many fun extras to go along with all of our core subjects. We are also using a loose version of the workbox system. I think this will fit nicely into our school.

I look forward to reading other's curriculum posts!! Thank you for reading mine!! =)

8 comments:

  1. Sounds good! I love it when you finally find the "one". We found Apologia and Bob Jones History and love them both! We just started the Wordly Wise and so far so good. We also like Growing with Grammar.

    I have a like/dislike relationship with "How To Teach Your Child To Read..."
    with Haley it was a disaster but Tyler did great with it!

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  2. Sounds like a great year!

    I've heard nothing but good things about The Ordinary Parents Guide... My first dd taught herself to read but that is on my list of possibilities for my youngest.

    We LOVE First Language Lessons around here. It's so simple to use but boy does it get the job done.

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  3. I taught 2 boys to read (so far!) with OPGTR. It's simple but works. It took us 2 full years to get through. I notice ppl often start it and stop. It's great if you can follow through to the end. Those are some big words back there!

    Thanks for joining in on the NBTS Blog Hop!

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  4. Great Pictures of your kids.
    We love Apologia science. I think you will have a good year. For me getting organized and creating a schedule is half the battle. :)

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  5. we are going to be starting with OPGTR this year and i am thrilled to hear someone else is having success with it!!!

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  6. Great choices... we are doing Apologia this year.

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  7. I liked reading your thought processes and choices in curriculum. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing on the Blog Hop.

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  8. Both my older daughters homeschool and use http://www.all-about-spelling.com/ for their spelling program and have had amazing success. The kids love it too.

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