The Things I Love Most

Tips To Enjoying Life With Your Family

Back to School – Our 2014-2015 Curriculum

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Yesterday was our first official day back to school!  My 6th year of homeschooling! Wow, that has gone by really really fast.  We don’t really stress grade levels, but if I get technical I have a 5th, 3rd, and 1st grader.  First year really homeschooling 3.

Man, I love these cute kiddos, and I am excited to teach them all year long.  Really I am.  A few of my friends ask me how I keep them home with me all day and stay sane.  I’m going to tell you my little secret about this. Lots of people think “oh you had summer and now your kids are staying home and you have to entertain them all day, that must be really hard”.  Well the truth of it is, my summer is just like your summer.  It’s crazy and busy, and the kids get bored, and at times drive me crazy. We only really take a full, no school at all break, July and August.  That is actually when my kids are the hardest, they don’t have  as much structure, they get bored, they beg to do this and that. We have our two family trips, and then it is time to get back to a structured day.  By mid August, I can’t wait.  So my secret to being okay with having my kids home all day is STRUCTURE!  Yup, it’s as easy as that.  If I structure my day, by the time we are done with school they are off and running and don’t need me to entertain them anymore.  We stay busy, have fun, read, play lots of games and do a few extracurricular activities. We also get done with school around one, and by that time I think they are sick of me and they go and play for a few hours outside or play legos or games inside!

I thought I would share with you the curriculum that I chose this year.  I used to do Language Arts through K12, but really didn’t like it. This year I am dong my own thing and I am so excited!

For Math for all my kids we use RightStart Mathematics and play a lot of fun Math games.
We are going to learn a little Latin through Song School Latin.
I also found some fun songs to help us memorize facts though Singin Smart.
For Spelling we using Writing Road to Reading.

Jack Jack (age 6, Technical grade 1)
Explode the Code
Handwriting Without Tears – Grade 1
Wordly Wise 3000: Book 1
The Complete Writer: Level 1 Workbook for Writing with Ease (The Complete Writer)
First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 1 (Second Edition) (First Language Lessons)

Cowboy – age 8 (Technical Grade 3)
Explode the Code 
Handwriting Without Tears – Grade 3 Cursive
Wordly Wise 3000 Grade 3
The Complete Writer: Level Three Workbook for Writing with Ease (The Complete Writer)
First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 3 Student Workbook (First Language Lessons)

LaLa – age 11 (Technical Grade 5)
Learning Language Arts Through Literature: The Purple Book (5th Grade)
Wordly Wise 3000 Book 5:
Easy Grammar: Grade 5, Teacher Edition
Cursive Handwriting By Handwriting Without Tears (2013)

This year I will have my baby E, who is now 17 months, that will play and nap and eat all day!

I have my 3 year old Little Mister who will play with toys, listen to stories, play games, color, play outside and other preschool like stuff.

For our Core Subjects; Science, History and Geography, Literature, Music and Art we are using  Latterday Leaning, The Family School. We have really loved this program a lot, and are excited to continue onto year 3.

  • Art – we will be studying Renaissance and Baroque art, and the rebirth of individual expression in art. Lessons will include the lives and works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini and Donatello.
  • Geography- will be an in depth study of the continent of Australia, Antactica and islands of the sea!
  • Science – we will study cytology and biology.
  • History– We will study the Reformation (Bible in English), the Renaissance, and the exploration and settling of America.
  • Literature – 
    • Stories from the Bible, teaching the value of faith: Peter Walking on Water
    • Poetry by Christina Rosetti and Longfellow
    • Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
    • Peter the Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
    • Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
    • The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

My kids are also taking some Technology Classes –

Drawing, Sculpting, and Animation  & Electricity and Circuitry 

Once a week we will attend a group homeschool Co-op which my kids have loved.  There are about 15 other families and each kid takes two fun classes and then we have PE after.  


I have my boys in Karate this semester and they will participate in Soccer and Basketball in Winter and Spring
My daughter is doing Ballet and a Musical Theater Company class. She also plays the Violin with an after school Orchestra. 

We are using Hoffman Academy for piano (which I will have a blog post about next week)

So that’s our year!  It might look a little crazy, or too much, or to some, too little, but I feel good about it, and yesterday went really really well.  We started schooling around 9 and were done by 1!!

 

Comments

  1. I love having just the two kids home…but reading this makes me really miss it already. You get to cover so much more…and I really enjoyed learning with them an teaching them. Makes me sad…thanks for your awesome example and support you give me. Sorry I let you down. I feel like I let myself down too. Erg. I will go cry now. :/

  2. @BJ You did not let me down at all. We all do what we can do and what is best for our families. Homeschooling isn’t for everyone. Don’t be sad, go enjoy your day with your two sweet babies!

  3. Thanks Kendra! I’ve been struggling with a few curriculum choices but have now narrowed it down some thanks to your post. We are also going to do Hoffman Academy. We love our local piano teacher but just don’t have the funds right now so this is perfect.

  4. Woe I am very impressed with it all. I truly don’t know how one home schools but I do have one daughter that does it. I think it is awesome though.
    Blessings for you all in this school year.