Curriculum 2010-2011

  Since this past year was our beginning, I knew for this year I wanted to search through blogs to see just what everyone else was using, and why they liked it. I was glad veteran moms let us peek into their schools! It was a great help. We will be doing year-round homeschooling this school year, which starts June 1st. These are my picks, based on other mom reviews, Timberdoodle reviews, and samples I looked at online.

Emma, 1st Grade. This is most of Emma’s curriculum , all is new to us, except the handwriting. I have subjects we use with everyone in a shot at the end. The “I Wonder” book is a reader that is part of a set that goes to 8th grade. *UPDATE* I sent the reader set back, as my kids just didn't like them, as a replacement I ordered McGuffey's Eclectic Readers boxed set on Amazon. They are shipping today. I also will not be using All About Spelling, I know many moms love it, I just don't think it was for us. I am teaching spelling in a more natural way, while watching for misspellings. I am also now a reviewer for Download N Go, and we will be integrating those unit studies every month.

Noah, 2nd Grade. Very similar to what Emma is using as First Language Lessons is 1st and 2nd combined, and Writing With Ease goes to 4th. *UPDATE* Miquon Math didn’t work for us, so we have ordered Horizons for 1st and 2nd Grade. It is working well. Teaching Textbooks is a hit, but if you can buy the CD only, you’ll save a few bucks. We haven’t even opened the textbooks.

Hannah, 5th Grade. We chose Easy Grammar for the older kids, and Teaching Textbooks. If TT doesn’t work, I’ll eat something foul. It was our biggest budget buster, we just bought a little at a time. We will be introducing Latin with Word Roots. *UPDATE* Easy Grammar wasn’t going so well for Hannah, so we went back to Sandi Queen’s curriculum, Language Lessons. We chose the Elementary Child Level.

Oops, forgot her Handwriting….

Christian, 8th Grade. Christian is also using the Word Roots, and does not do handwriting. Math is a big struggle, so I decided to bring him down a level before moving on to Pre-Algebra.

Evan and Leah, Preschool. This is not even a little bit of what I have for them, my living room was already stacked with books, and I was trying to outpace Leah’s unexpected nap! I put a sheet protector on the workbook pages for reuse. I ordered the Letter of the Week curriculum from Erica. I wish I had her talent! Since I don’t, I am very thankful for hers!

These are for everyone. The Book of Virtues, and The Mystery of History are the only repeats here. I have taken several of our books that will be reused to the local printer where they removed the binding and 3-hole-punched them. I put them in a binder. *UPDATE* Everyone LOVES Exploring Creation with Astronomy from Apologia! We are also enjoying Explode the Code. I have also ordered MapTrek World History and US CDs and the hardcover book that just came out from Knowledge Quest.

This is my planner. I have a few features I still wish it had, so Type A, I know. Because of that, I also have handy a binder I call Mom’s Homeschool Planner, with various stuff I want to keep at hand.

I took a LOT of time researching curriculum. I really pray all of this works for us, but I will keep updating as we go, if we have to change anything, or what we are enjoying.

What are your favorites??