2011-2012 Curriculum
One of my favorite things about home schooling is choosing which books to use. I don't believe there is any such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to what curriculum works best for your family. I haven't really encountered this myself yet, but I'm sure that's true even from one child to the next. In my 3 short years of home schooling I have found books that I adore, books that I strongly dislike, and books that I enjoy but they do nothing for Lorelai. I try my best to read reviews, talk to people who have used the curriculum themselves, and if at all possible look at the books in person before I order them. God has been so good to guide me in this department. He has placed such wonderful fellow home school moms in my life that I can bounce ideas off of and get valuable information from.
For 2nd grade, I have chosen to stick with First Language Lessons, Writing With Ease, and Math-U-See. We are switching from Apologia Science to Scott Foresman Science simply because Lorelai needs more variety. I will definitely keep Apologia in mind in the years to come, but for right now spending a whole year on one subject isn't a good fit for us. We started the new Science book last week and it is great so far. I also decided to switch her Spelling. We are now doing All About Spelling. I have heard rave reviews on this program and am so excited to be starting it with Lorelai this week. She wanted to learn how to write in cursive this year, so I got a Handwriting book from Christian Liberty Press. I love this because she can work on that by herself while I work with Toby in the mornings. Over the summer, she grew by leaps and bounds in reading and is now reading the advanced readers from 3rsplus, among other things. I think that pretty much covers her subjects. She's doing handwriting, piano, math, grammar, writing, spelling, science, art, and reading.
One thing I want to get more serious about this year is her piano. So far, I have given her an assignment and she does it by herself when she finishes handwriting. I'm using the same books from Hal Leonard that she used when she took lessons. Since I played saxophone for 7 years I know enough about music to teach her, but I just can't demonstrate it for her. Maybe I'll learn along with her!
As for Toby, he is doing his second year of preschool, which he won't technically be old enough for his first year until next school year! That's what happens to September babies. He remembers all of his colors, most of the shapes, some numbers and letters, and even a few letter sounds from last year. My main goal is for him to know all the letters and sounds by the end of this year and start reading 3 letter words. He has a color of the day, a number of the week, a letter of the week and scripture verse to go along with it, and right now he gets to color a shape every couple of days. He's pretty much just doing the usual preschool stuff that I find online.
We started something different this year that I am so excited about. I got this idea from an awesome blog called 1+1+1=1 for workboxes. (The original idea came from Sue Patrick. I have found several other bloggers who use this same system in different ways that work for their family.) The main purpose of using them is to stay organized and teach independence. I don't have room for the original workbox system, but I adjusted it to work for us and so far we are all loving it. Here's what our system looks like.
One day I'm going to have a separate school room, but for right now this wall in our dining room/kitchen is designated for school.
Basically, I have a folder for each kid. It has my lesson plans, copies, and records in it. I try to have several weeks planned in advance, which makes it easy for me every night to put what is needed for the next day in the subject files in their workboxes and stick the tabs on the front in the order I want them to do them. When we start school they simply look at the tabs on the front of their boxes to see what subjects they have to do that day. Each tab is attached to their boxes with a velcro dot. When they complete that subject they take the tab off, put it in their bowl, and move on to the next subject/activity. They love it because they have a visual of their day and their accomplishements, and I love it because it keeps me organized while training them to work independently. I work with Toby during his lessons, but he has tabs for puzzles, computer, playdough, coloring, etc...that he can do on his own. He feels so responsible when he accomplishes those things all by himself. They don't do every subject/activity tab everyday so the variety keeps them excited.
One of my favorite things about Toby's preschool lessons are these adorable letter crafts that I found at Totally Tots Here's our version of the letter Hh...
We've done Ll for Lion and lollipop, which also turned out so cute but I didn't take pictures. I am teaching him all the letters with straight lines only first this year, so we're going out of order. Each letter has a corresponding scripture verse and song to go along with it from Songs for Saplings that we use each week. I love to hear Toby and Lorelai sing those songs all day. It makes me smile!
For 2nd grade, I have chosen to stick with First Language Lessons, Writing With Ease, and Math-U-See. We are switching from Apologia Science to Scott Foresman Science simply because Lorelai needs more variety. I will definitely keep Apologia in mind in the years to come, but for right now spending a whole year on one subject isn't a good fit for us. We started the new Science book last week and it is great so far. I also decided to switch her Spelling. We are now doing All About Spelling. I have heard rave reviews on this program and am so excited to be starting it with Lorelai this week. She wanted to learn how to write in cursive this year, so I got a Handwriting book from Christian Liberty Press. I love this because she can work on that by herself while I work with Toby in the mornings. Over the summer, she grew by leaps and bounds in reading and is now reading the advanced readers from 3rsplus, among other things. I think that pretty much covers her subjects. She's doing handwriting, piano, math, grammar, writing, spelling, science, art, and reading.
One thing I want to get more serious about this year is her piano. So far, I have given her an assignment and she does it by herself when she finishes handwriting. I'm using the same books from Hal Leonard that she used when she took lessons. Since I played saxophone for 7 years I know enough about music to teach her, but I just can't demonstrate it for her. Maybe I'll learn along with her!
As for Toby, he is doing his second year of preschool, which he won't technically be old enough for his first year until next school year! That's what happens to September babies. He remembers all of his colors, most of the shapes, some numbers and letters, and even a few letter sounds from last year. My main goal is for him to know all the letters and sounds by the end of this year and start reading 3 letter words. He has a color of the day, a number of the week, a letter of the week and scripture verse to go along with it, and right now he gets to color a shape every couple of days. He's pretty much just doing the usual preschool stuff that I find online.
We started something different this year that I am so excited about. I got this idea from an awesome blog called 1+1+1=1 for workboxes. (The original idea came from Sue Patrick. I have found several other bloggers who use this same system in different ways that work for their family.) The main purpose of using them is to stay organized and teach independence. I don't have room for the original workbox system, but I adjusted it to work for us and so far we are all loving it. Here's what our system looks like.
Basically, I have a folder for each kid. It has my lesson plans, copies, and records in it. I try to have several weeks planned in advance, which makes it easy for me every night to put what is needed for the next day in the subject files in their workboxes and stick the tabs on the front in the order I want them to do them. When we start school they simply look at the tabs on the front of their boxes to see what subjects they have to do that day. Each tab is attached to their boxes with a velcro dot. When they complete that subject they take the tab off, put it in their bowl, and move on to the next subject/activity. They love it because they have a visual of their day and their accomplishements, and I love it because it keeps me organized while training them to work independently. I work with Toby during his lessons, but he has tabs for puzzles, computer, playdough, coloring, etc...that he can do on his own. He feels so responsible when he accomplishes those things all by himself. They don't do every subject/activity tab everyday so the variety keeps them excited.
One of my favorite things about Toby's preschool lessons are these adorable letter crafts that I found at Totally Tots Here's our version of the letter Hh...
We've done Ll for Lion and lollipop, which also turned out so cute but I didn't take pictures. I am teaching him all the letters with straight lines only first this year, so we're going out of order. Each letter has a corresponding scripture verse and song to go along with it from Songs for Saplings that we use each week. I love to hear Toby and Lorelai sing those songs all day. It makes me smile!
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